Imperfectly Perfect (26 page)

"You guys ready?" Charlie asked.

"Hell yeah!" I called out over the roar of the engine.

It was so noisy on the airplane that we couldn't pass the time with conversation, so for the next fifteen minutes while we reached altitude, I was left with only my thoughts. I thought about Shane, and how truly lucky I was to have realized how much I loved him. The thing I was most thankful for was that he loved me back because you can love anybody, but in order for it to be true love it should be reciprocated; and it was.

I felt Steve tap my shoulder. That was my cue. Shane had said he wanted me to jump first. He claimed it was because he knew it was important to me, but I think he may have been freaking out. He would have never admitted to it, but I knew deep down he wasn't all that crazy about the idea of launching himself from an airplane. Steve and I worked together to stand and walk towards the door. I looked out over the edge of the plane and saw nothing but clear sky. I had no worries, not a care in the world, as I gave Steve the thumbs up.

I felt myself catapult from the plane and was surprised by how it felt. I had expected to feel as though I was free falling, but it was peaceful and exhilarating, like I was floating on air. I couldn't help but think how perfect the feeling was, because everyday I was with Shane I felt the same thing.

I jerked backwards as Steve pulled the parachute and we began to slowly drift towards the desert ground below.

"How was that?" he asked.

"It was everything I could have ever imagined," I sighed, sad that it was over but thankful that it happened, "it was perfect."

The ground came closer with each second and before I knew it we were sliding through the hot Nevada sand. Steve and I had just about stood up and separated when Shane and Charlie skidded to a halt a few hundred feet from us. I ran towards Shane and jumped into his arms just as Charlie unhooked him.

"Thank you
so
much," I sighed as he squeezed my waist.

"You're welcome."

I wrapped my legs around his waist as he held me, and pressed my lips to his. At that moment I didn't care that we weren't alone, because all I wanted was to show him exactly how much I loved him.

He pulled back from my kiss and placed his forehead on mine. "Now that we've got that out of the way, what do you think about spending the next eighteen hours locked up in our hotel room?"

"I think that's the best idea you've had yet," I smirked.

"Someone's pounding on the door," I jammed my elbow into Shane's side in an effort to rouse him.

"What time is it?" he groaned, obviously worn out from the hours we spent shacked up in our room. We had returned to the hotel around noon, skipped lunch and went straight to the good stuff. Stopping only for catnaps and calling for dinner around eight at night.

I glanced at the clock, "4 am."

"We
just
fell asleep," he got up from the bed and pulled his pants up over his hips. "I'm sure it's the guys. They can never keep track of a hotel key."

I listened as Shane went and opened the door and Tyler and Rob stumbled into the suite.

"Where's Emma!" Rob yelled.

"In bed, where you should be," Shane spat.

"Screw that, we're in Vegas!"

I heard footsteps approaching the room as Shane pleaded for them to leave me alone and go to bed. They both slurred as they argued back with him, and I just shook my head. Some things just never change.

The light snapped on and I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the brightness.

"Get out of bed Emma!" Rob commanded. "You wanted to come to Vegas to party, so let's party. This isn't your goddamn honeymoon!"

I pulled the covers tightly around me, ensuring that my goods were covered and sat up. "I think you've partied enough for tonight Robbie Boy."

Rob stared at me, "Well shit!" Then, as if coming to a sudden realization, he continued, "I feel left out. Now I
know
I'm the only one here that hasn't been with Emma." He fell back into the chair propped in the corner of the room.

I shared a look with Tyler-who seemed to instantly sober up-and he shrugged in response. This was exactly the reason why we had decided to keep our fling secret. My mind immediately flashed back to few years ago, when both of us were lonely and bored. We did too many shots of tequila one night and things ended up going too far. I'd like to say that things stopped there, with one drunken indiscretion, but we found the convenience of our agreement exhilarating. We spent months sneaking into one another's room in an attempt to curb our thirst. It was strictly no strings attached and we were good at keeping feelings out of the equation, but we decided after six months that we were playing with fire. We put an end to it and never spoke of it again… until now. I was shocked, and I didn't know how Rob knew, but the biggest concern I had at that moment was Shane. I just prayed that he hadn't heard his comment, and if he did I hoped he would shrug it off as some drunken nonsense.

"What did you say?" Shane's words ripped through my core, because I knew that tone of voice and he wasn't going to let it slide.

"Now I'm the only one who hasn't had a shot at Emma."

Shane looked puzzled as he tried to process what Rob was saying, "What do you mean you're the
only
one?"

"Rob man, you should go to bed," Tyler quickly offered.

"No, shut the hell up Tyler," Shane fumed, "let him finish. Go ahead Rob,"

Rob hiccupped as he stood from the chair. He was hopelessly drunk and I knew he wouldn't remember any of this tomorrow. I just wished I could say the same for Shane.

"You didn't honestly think you were the first of us to hit that," he put his hand on Shane's shoulder and smiled, "did you?"

I cringed at his vulgar words; Rob was such a douche sometimes. Ashamed, I pulled my knees up to my chest. Shane directed his attention towards me.

"What the hell is he talking about Emma?"

I considered lying, but thought better of it. It would do no good. If anything it would only make the situation worse, if that was even possible.

"It was years ago," I tried to downplay the magnitude of Rob's revelation.

"It was only two years ago, you little minx you," Rob interjected. I wanted him to stop, but he didn't. He beat me to the punch and told the one story that haunted me. The one indiscretion in my past that I thought was a secret. It was the one thing that could be a deal breaker. "They thought they were being sneaky," he slurred, "but I was on to them. I knew something was going on between them. I could tell just by the tension in a room anytime they were together. I didn't have any proof though… well, until I showed up from work early one night. I knew they were both home because their key rings were on the holder and there were no signs of anyone else being there. I wanted to be sure so I checked Tyler's room, and lo and behold it was empty."

Shane immediately directed his fury towards Tyler, "How long?" His face was red and full of hurt and hatred.

"Don't do this man," Tyler pleaded.

"Answer the question, how long were you fucking
my
girlfriend?"

"She wasn't your girlfriend back then," Tyler argued.

"Answer me damn it!" Shane screamed. I felt myself jump, startled by his anger.

"Six months," Tyler gave in, staring at the floor, "we stopped just after I met Cheyenne."

Shane chuckled, even though there was nothing about the situation that was funny. "So you only stopped because you met someone else. What if you hadn't? Would you have kept on sleeping with each other?"

"No," I spoke now, softly, hoping to soothe him, "we would have stopped eventually anyway. We were questioning what it was doing to our friendship."

"Or maybe you would have started dating."

"No we wouldn't have. It wasn't like that, because there were no feelings at all. It was purely physical." I felt the lump in my throat grow, increasing in pressure with every word.

He laughed again. "Even better!"

"Ahhhh shit, I've really fucked things up," Rob slurred as he stalked past Shane, then Tyler. "I'll leave you guys to it. If you need me, I'll be sleeping."

Shane collapsed onto the chair. His face was white and sullen. I had seen that look a lot recently; it was the tortured look that had been a permanent fixture whilst I was with Bradley. He was hurt again and I felt sick.

"This is unbelievable," he muttered, throwing his head into his hands.

"Shane, man, it was dumb," Tyler spoke quietly, never breaking his gaze from the floor, "It's in the past. Emma loves you, she needs you."

"I don't know what's worse," he slowly lifted his head and made eye contact with me. "The fact that you did it," he then turned his gaze toward Tyler, "or the fact that my two best friends never thought to tell me about."

"It wasn't a big deal Shane," I spoke while fighting back the tears. I sensed the urgency of the situation and I needed to do everything I could to remedy it. "It meant
nothing
."

He stood from the chair, threw on a shirt, and grabbed his wallet. "Until now. It didn't mean anything until now," he said. "Now, it is a
big deal
."

I watched helplessly as he pushed past Tyler.

"Where are you going?" I called.

"Out," he answered as the door slammed behind him.

The slamming of the door opened the floodgates, and the tears began to stream down my face fast and furious.

"He just needs some time Emma," Tyler offered, "he loves you too much to let this ruin him. I'll go try to talk some sense into him later. Let him cool off first."

Unable to speak, I nodded.

"If you need anything I'll be right down the hall."

And just like that, I was alone again.

I did nothing but pace and cry until lunchtime when Tyler and Rob finally rolled out of their bedroom.

"Emma, I'm so sorry," Rob wrapped his arms around me. "I really thought he knew. It seemed so obvious."

I broke away from his hug. "It's not your fault. Tyler and I did something stupid, and I have to face up to it."

"Well if you ask me, he's overreacting," Rob added, tossing himself onto the couch. "You're not exactly a virgin and neither is he."

I cringed because Rob was right. I'd had my fair share of partners over the years, but what he didn't know was that Shane was purer than his reputation would have led people to believe.

For years I thought Shane was a charmer of the ladies, a Casanova of sorts. I always saw him bring girls home from bars, and just assumed where things went from there. I jokingly brought this up one night shortly after we got together, and he immediately set me straight. He informed me that his list of lovers stopped at three. There had been Christy, Ginger-which he claimed was a total moment of weakness-and me.

He confessed that bringing home girls from bars was nothing more than a game for him. He liked to do it because it made him feel confident, but he also did it to protect them from doing something stupid with someone else. He said that he saw something of his mother in those girls. Poor doe-eyed, defenseless girls looking for love, and he wanted to prevent men like his father from preying on them. So he brought them back to the condo and let them sleep it off in his bed, while he slept on the floor.

So to Shane, sex was a big deal. It wasn't something he took lightly. He didn't understand casual sex because, bar the mistake with Ginger, for him it didn't exist. To make matters worse, he had to walk around knowing that his two best friends had not only slept together, but that it had happened right under his nose.

I felt my stomach lurch.

"Oh my god, he's never going to get past this."

"He will Em," Tyler put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed, "we've just got to find him and help him understand."

I wanted to believe Tyler but I had my doubts. He didn't know Shane like I did. Nobody did.

"He's not answering," Rob spoke calmly as he put Tyler's cell back down on the table, "It's ringing straight through to voicemail."

I frantically looked at Tyler. I was beginning to worry. It was dinnertime and we still had no word from Shane. To make matters worse our time in Vegas was coming to a close. Tomorrow was going to be Sunday and we had a flight first thing in the morning.