"Sorry, but it's true. So I'm over there and there's a knock at the door so she asks me to get it while she gets dressed. I answer the door and see Gabe of all fuckin' people standing in front of me. She had lied to me … they had never broken up. Of course I told Gabe that she'd said they were done, not that he listened to what I had to say. Can't blame him, really. But I didn't give two shits, either. He fucked up my life. Whatever pain he went through was nothing compared to what he did to me."
The story was still messed up, on both Wes and Emmy's part, but it definitely wasn't as bad as the version Gabe had told me. And after everything I now knew about Emmy it wasn't hard to believe that she'd lie about them being broken up. There were parts of the story that didn't make sense, though.
"But I don't get it. Why would she lie to you about being broken up with Gabe?"
"She didn't think he'd find out. She had an itch to scratch. Said she wanted to fuck a ‘bad boy,' whatever the fuck that means."
"Why do you still hook up with her, then? Especially knowing what happened with Jade's sister?" I asked softly, avoiding is gaze. I didn't want him to think I was being judgmental but I had to admit that, to some degree, I was.
"I've only hooked up with her twice since that day." He said, with a sigh. "Again a few days later, cause I was pissed Gabe had called me a liar, accusing me of messing around with someone's girlfriend knowingly. Like I said, I don't do that shit. And then again the night of the frat party. She was all over me, practically begging' me, so I just went with it. After you and Gabe walked in, though, I ended that."
"Why?"
"Because she started going off about you, asking who you were and what you were doing with Gabe. She didn't care to cheat on him but she cared that he moved on. It was fucked up. I didn't need that drama in my life."
We were both silent for a few minutes. He was assessing my reaction to everything he'd told me, and I was still trying to process everything.
It seemed like every bad thing that had happened between the two boys pointed back at Emmy.
"Not everything, no." Wes shook his head and I realized I had spoken that last thought aloud. "Emmy wasn't even around yet when things blew up between me and Harris."
"So then what happened to make you stop being friends?" I asked, missing what seemed to be the biggest part of the puzzle that was the demise of Gabe and Wes's friendship.
I could tell that Wes didn't want to answer me but he closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath. When he opened them I could see sadness in his depths.
"Gabe got into a lot of trouble when he was in high school. He fucked around a lot and got arrested a few times. His parents were able to get most of the charges dropped but he still has a record. My brother came to visit and the three of us are cruising around sharing a blunt when Gabe supposedly notices a bunch of drugs hidden in the trunk of the car. We end up getting' pulled over because Reese was speeding but luckily we had finished off the bud and so we didn't get in trouble for possession. Then Gabe starts telling the cops about the drugs he found in the trunk, thinking the cop was gonna arrest us all. So he pinned it all on Reese and got him thrown in prison for possession of narcotics."
I gasped at the idea of Gabe doing something like that to his best friend's family but also because Wes just admitted that his brother was a druggie. I had seen what drugs could do to people. How they could turn someone kind and charismatic into a tornado, destructing anything and anyone in its path.
"Even though he knew that the day Reese had come to visit, his car was in the shop and so he'd borrowed a buddy's car for the afternoon. Gabe knew that the heroine wasn't Reese's but he ratted him out anyways."
My head was spinning now. I didn't understand why Gabe would do that, especially knowing that they weren't Wes's brother's drugs. I didn't know what to say so I searched my mind for anything that might make sense through the jumbled haze of my brain. Except, before I had a chance to find the words, Wes spoke again.
"I know it wasn't his fault but I can't help but hate him for everything that spiraled out of control from that point on. Reese called my mom from the police station later that day but she never came to bail him out. She had dropped dead of a heart attack a few minutes later."
NINE
The end of October seemed to appear out of nowhere. The air was getting colder, leaves started to fall from the trees, and the sun started to set a little bit earlier each night. I had been managing my time better in the last three weeks and so my workload was less overbearing. I was doing well in my classes so I wasn't worried about losing my scholarship. Finding the balance between work and play had lifted a weight off of my chest, and probably Elle's as well. She could finally stop hounding me about staying in most weekends to prevent myself from falling behind.
My relationship with Wes had changed after that night in my apartment. We hung out frequently, usually in groups, but there were times when it was just the two of us. His mood was lighter and it seemed that sharing that information with me had helped him tear down some of his walls. I was still in disbelief over what he'd told me but I didn't let it show. I knew that if he thought I pitied him than he'd put those walls back up.
He had opened up even more to me a few times and he even explained the reason for which he had to take a leave of absence last year. It turned out that his father had ran off when he was only four years old, right after the birth of his little sister, Ariana. When their mother died, Reese had been able to take care of Ariana while he was released on bail, awaiting his trial. Unfortunately, even though Reese didn't own the vehicle with the drugs and pleaded to not knowing that they had even been in the car, he was sentenced to two years in a state prison for drug possession. Apparently the owner of the car had adamantly denied owning the heroine and placed the blame solely on Reese. There was nothing just about the situation but the jury had found him guilty and so he had no choice but to serve the time. Reese had been sentenced during the beginning of Wes's second semester of sophomore year and a family friend had been able to care of Ariana, but only until Wes finished up the year. He had no choice but to take a leave of absence and care for his younger sister as well as sort the finances following their mother's untimely death. While Wes didn't blame Reese's imprisonment for his mother's heart attack, the timing of her death made everything more painful. During that year, Wes was able to get in touch with their father who offered to take care of Ariana. Because she had never known him, Ariana was looking forward to living with him. Wes said that he wasn't a bad guy and that he just wasn't ready for a family. He lived a couple of hours away and was remarried with two other children, and so Wes was able to continue finishing his degree without too much worry about his younger sister.
Wes would occasionally ask me questions about myself but he never probed me for answers when I was vague or changed the subject, which I appreciated. I knew he was curious but my past wasn't something I enjoyed talking about.
The little flutter in my chest every time I was with Wes only grew the more he was around. I never acted on my feelings, however, and he never treated me as anything more than a friend. I hated that I would find myself silently begging for him to kiss me.
I managed to keep avoiding Gabe for two more weeks after the scene at Dusty's but he eventually caught up to me. He apologized for what he said, using his state of intoxication as an excuse. I explained that whatever we had was over at the fraternity party when he got so drunk that he had called me Emmy. I told him that we could be friends although we both knew that I didn't have any intention of doing so. He looked pissed at first but finally conceded and walked away. Now whenever I see him he gives me a forced but friendly smile and quickly looks away.
Tonight's Halloween and, upon Elle's insistence, we were dressing up as the Spice Girls. We invited Jade to join us but we were still short one person so we decided to forego Scary Spice since she was everyone's least favorite anyways.