Page 64 of Surviving Lies

“So, Bec, there is something I need to talk to you about,” she started.

“OK, lay it on me, kid. What’s going on? I’ve had a shitty week, so you can’t have much worse going on in your life right now.” Walking around the island, I sat on the stool next to her, grabbing her hand. She clenched it.

“It’s not about me, Bec.”

My puzzled look must have convinced her I was still not catching on.

“Becca, Xander saw something that he feels I should tell you. And I’m not exactly sure how to. But, I don’t know, it may not be that big a deal,” she said.

Stalling.

“Lanie, what are you talking about?Whoare you talking about?” I asked. At that moment, I knew it had to be about one of the two of them.

But which one?

Ty or Gage?

“Bec, Xander saw Gage with another woman, or another girl. I’m sorry,” she said. “It was last night, as he was driving Ty home from his place. They had a frat meeting and Ty had been drinking, so Xander drove him home. When they were going by Gage’s place, Gage and a blonde were going into his apartment. She had an overnight bag.”

Lanie was talking so fast, she sounded a lot like me. I understood how it felt to be subjected to listening to me ramble all the time. But she was nervous about how I would react. I got it. I would be, too.

Funny thing was, it didn’t surprise me. Did Iknowhe was fucking someone else? No. But did it surprise me? Also no. We had a very non-committed thing going on. And guess what? I fucked someone else, too.

To be honest, it made me feel slightly better about how our night ended on Monday. I would have preferred that he separate the two of us. Finished with me before he dealt with whoever she was. Because that’s obviously who he had on the phone while I was there.

And that was what pissed me off. Not that he was sleeping with someone else, but that he couldn’t give me the time I deserved while I was with him.

“Becca, did you hear me?” Lanie asked.

I stood from the stool to refill my mug with more coffee. “Yeah, I heard you.” This time, I felt like making it a pumpkin-spice-flavored coffee, so I went to the fridge and took out the special creamer I hid in the back from everyone else. As I slowly stirred my coffee, I heard Lanie getting restless.

“Becca!” she yelled.

I was in no hurry to answer her as I leaned against the counter with my coffee in my hands. I took a big sniff, relishing the aroma, before lifting it to my lips for a sip.

“Lane, don’t you remember we aren’t in a committed relationship?” I finally asked her.

She stared at me in disbelief before answering. “Well, yeah, but still, that doesn’t bother you? I mean, I didn’t think he would take that seriously, did you? You don’t consider this him lying to you?”

Her annoyance with him came through. Let’s face it, she wasn’t his biggest fan in the beginning. This sure as hell wasn’t going to help.

“Well, yeah, it bothers me. But I guess I feel like it shouldn’t because of the agreement it all started with.” I shook my head as I stared up at the ceiling, as if the answers to my problems were in the cracks above. “I don’t know. I’m so confused. He didn’t come out and tell me he was seeing someone else, if that’s what you mean. But it was always, from the start, supposed to be casual. You knew that, I knew that. And I don’t know if I consider it lying or not. We are not exclusive. We were always just, I guess, a long-term booty call. He knew I was still talking to Ty.” I moved from the counter and started toward the couch in the living room, motioning with my head for her to follow me. “There’s something I need to tell you, anyway.”

We both settled in as I took stock of the dismayed look on her face.

“He’s not the only one sleeping with someone else, if that’s indeed what he’s doing.” Blurting it out was the best way. I just needed to tell her. There wasn’t as much shock on her face as I had expected.

“When?” she whispered.

“This past Sunday, the day before he sent the flowers. We spent the day together, remember?” I told her. She nodded, looking over my shoulder at the bouquet that still sat on the island in all its glory.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I needed to think about that one myself. Normally, I would have run to her with that news, but she wasn’t home the night I came home from Ty’s. And then when I came home from Gage’s, I was in no mood to talk, even to her. But I needed to understand why. Last year, I would have spilled everything to her no matter the mood I was in.

I didn’t like change, and things seemed to be changing already.

“Well, you weren’t here Sunday night. You stayed at Xander’s. And then Monday night, when I came home from Gage’s, I, um, wasn’t really in the mood to talk.”

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