beautifully broken:if i break 3(25)

“Oh Chris,” she lets out a deep sigh that worries me even more.

“Lisa called you while…while Cal was here and he blew up on her,” she says carefully.

“Oh no,” I say aloud.

“Why the hell was he a jerk to Lisa? What did she ever do to him?” I ask angrily and my phone rings. It’s Aidan again.

“Hey Chris.” It’s Lisa’s voice.

“Lisa. I’m so sorry. That w-wasn’t me. Whatever he said to you, ignore it...”

“Chris. It’s okay. I know,” she says, reassuring me.

“It’s not okay and I’m sorry,” I apologize again.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine, are you okay? Why were you and Aidan fighting?”

“You know me and Aidan. We’re always fighting,” she laughs, but it’s dry and seems forced.

“What’s wrong Lisa? Is this about what Cal said to you?” I glance over at Lauren who looks down uncomfortably. It must have been pretty bad to upset Lisa.

“He didn’t upset me Chris. I’ve been called worse. It’s a little strange when it sounds as if it’s coming from you, but it was nothing,” she says dryly.

“So everything is okay?” I ask unsurely.

“Yeah. Aidan just saw how upset I was and wanted us to talk about it,” she says, sounding nervous.

“If you weren’t upset over what Cal said to you, what was it?” I ask, sitting down on the couch and preparing for the worst because the way things are going now it has to be bad.

“It can wait. It’s not a huge deal with all you have going on right now. Just when you get back, let me know so we can talk, that’s all.” Her voice is calming, it's how she talks to the kids she works with but it’s setting off all kind of alarms.

“Are you sure?” I ask her again.

“Positive. It’s nothing that can’t wait,” she says. I let out a deep sigh and glance over at Lauren who’s sitting quietly, listening in. If it can wait, I’ll let it wait. I have enough on my plate anyway.

“Okay. We’re heading back now I think. I’ll come over tomorrow morning if that’s cool,” I say with a shrug.

“Awesome,” she says quietly.

“Cool. Does Aidan need to say something to me?”

“No Aidan’s cool. Right Aidan?” she says tightly.

“Yup. I’m all good,” he responds dryly.

Whatever.

“Okay. Later then,” I say before hanging up the phone.

“Is everything okay?” Lauren says quietly and I run my hands over my face.

“They say it is, so if they say it’s okay, I’m going to let things be okay,” I say exasperated. She nods slowly, and looks down at her lap.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” I ask her. She looks up at me and lets out a breath.

“Lisa knew about Cal when you guys were younger,” she says in one breath. I feel my eyebrow shoot up. I definitely didn’t expect her to say anything about that. I was thinking more along the lines of what happened with Lauren and Cal.

“No. Lisa would have said something,” I tell her and she starts to squeeze her wrist.

“Did Cal tell you that?”

“No. Lisa did,” she says quietly.

“When was this?” I ask, trying to keep any annoyance out of my tone but I’m not being that successful.

“It was about two weeks ago. She asked me to not say anything. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal until Cal blew up on her.” I shake my head.

“Did she say anything else?” I ask, nervousness in the pit of my stomach.

“No, but she asked me not to tell you for some reason. I didn’t want to break her trust but with everything that’s happened I just don’t want to keep secrets anymore, no matter how small,” she says, her big hazel eyes, usually so bright, only sparkle now due to the tears in them.

“I don’t want there to be any secrets between us either,” I tell her and a half smile spreads across her face and she takes a deep breath, sitting all the way up and facing me.

“Well, in that case, I think you should know that we slept together. Both you and I and me and Cal.”



*



Her statement is like a knockout punch. Her eyes stay on mine and don’t drift away. Lauren and I slept together? Then she slept with Cal? So many emotions are hitting me at once I don’t know what to respond to first. She’s looking at me for a response and I know there shouldn’t be any secrets between us but I really wish she could have waited before sharing these pieces of information with me. I open my mouth to say something but no words come out.