Keep From Falling (Markson Grove Series Book 1) (26 page)

“Yeah… I already know.”

“For how long? Who told you?”

“Since your little romantic date in Queensland last week. But I know it’s been going on even longer than that.”

“Sky—”

“No. Don’t try to lie to me this time, Bree. Don’t you fucking dare!” she screams, chucking something hard at my arm. I flinch and look to the ground where the item falls. It’s the necklace I bought her the day we got together.

My heart sinks. “I’m sorry,” I say regretfully. But am I regretful? Not for the same reasons I should be, and I know it.

“You’re not.”

“Who told you?” I ask as I pick up the necklace and hold tightly it in my hand. I move it around between my fingers.

“Why does it even matter? Someone I trust told me, all right? Is that a good enough answer for you?”

“I was planning on telling you tonight but it should have been sooner. I’m so sorry, I never wanted to hurt you.” I reach out to her, but she slaps my hand away.

“Fuck you Bree, you lying, cheating
bitch
!” She pushes me into Evan’s car. I drop the necklace and it lands in a puddle beside me. I instinctively reach my hand into the puddle to retrieve it.

“Leave it,” Skylar hisses. “It means nothing to me now.”

This is all happening in a way I wasn’t ready for, and I don’t like where it’s going at all. I turn to Evan and give him a look that says that I’m ok, and to stay out of it. He seems to understand the look because he doesn’t put himself in the middle of us at all, which I appreciate. It would do nothing but make everything a hell of a lot worse than what it already is and I really don’t need that. If I want to save my friendship with her, this needs to calm down.

“Don’t look so shocked,” Skylar scoffs, “What, did you think I’d be all right with this? That I’d be all like ‘Oh you want to fuck guys now, yeah go for it, I’ll just wait right here.’ Not very likely.”

“That’s not what this is,” I say, attempting to hold back angry tears. I leave the necklace where it is and stand up once again.

“Oh? What is it then? You think you’re in love?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. It’s written all over your doe-eyed face. But you’re stupid because this isn’t love. You want to fuck him because you’ve never fucked a guy before. You’re curious. And he wants to fuck you so bad his balls are probably aching. It’s lust, plain and simple. Look it up.”

“Shut up!” I yell at her.

“You don’t like what I’m saying because you know that it’s the truth. You can’t resist each other now, but it won’t be anything more than that, so don’t fucking kid yourself, Bree. This,” she says, pointing at me and him, “is nothing!”

“Shut up,” I say again. “Don’t act like you know anything about Evan and me. What we have is different than what I have with you—”

“Had.”

“What I
had
with you,” I correct myself, cringing at the sound of it. I go on, “but I care about him. I wouldn’t be doing this to you, to us, if I didn’t.”

Skylar’s bottom lip begins to tremble, but she quickly gathers her composure. “There isn’t an
us
anymore,” she says, and I can see how much those words hurt for her to say. A tear drips down her cheek and I want to reach over and comfort her so badly.

I did this to her. This is on me.

“I want us to still be friends,” I say quietly, pathetically grasping at straws.

Skylar lets out an exaggerated laugh. “Friends! Yeah sure, one big happy family, right? Just me, you, and your asshole boyfriend.” She wipes her tears away angrily as she shoots Evan another dirty look.

My mom emerges at the front door. “Bree, supper’s getting cold,” she begins but stops when she notices Skylar standing before me. “Oh Skylar, sweetie, I didn’t know you were back.”

I look at Evan who’s managed to keep himself quiet during this entire confrontation, but I can tell by the look on his face that he wishes he could just run away from all of this and never look back. What a complete mess this whole evening is turning out to be.

“Hey mom,” Skylar says feebly.

My mother smiles, seemingly unaware of the tension between Skylar and me. “Staying for supper, honey?”

Skylar shrugs, but beyond the nonchalant response I see her confidence gradually return. She’s thought of something that’s made her want to fight this out a bit longer. “What are we having?” she asks.

I glance over at Evan, but he doesn’t return the look. Instead, he keeps his eyes focused on the ground, both hands shoved deep into his pockets. He just wants this nightmare to end and, to be honest, I don’t blame him.

“Chicken Noodle Casserole.”

“My favorite,” she says with an exaggerated gleefulness that my mother doesn’t seem to take notice of. She walks over to the porch where my mom is standing. Once she reaches the stairs, she turns around to face us. “Well, come on you two lovebirds, supper’s getting cold.”

She’s up to something, but I can’t be sure of what.

I force a smile, attempting to counter her fake happiness. “We’re coming,” I say, reaching out my hand to Evan’s. After a small hesitation, he takes it into his and gives me that cute little half smile I have the hardest time resisting. And why resist it at this point? Skylar knows now. I’ve thrown any hope of keeping our friendship intact from this moment forward anyway.

Tonight seals the deal. I’ve lost my best friend.

Evan

When we get into the house, Bree leads me to the dining room, still holding firmly onto my hand. I follow her quietly, wishing I’d be anywhere but here right now. Her eagerness to upset Skylar, after spending the entire night worrying about her feelings, has left me completely baffled. I mean, I have a girl best friend so I understand the complexities of a girl’s mind probably a bit better than most guys do, but what Bree is doing to Skylar right now, that I just don’t understand.

“Where’s Dad?” Bree asks her mom once she notices her father isn’t seated at the table.

Bree’s mom smiles weakly, “He’s been busy with that case of his, I don’t think we’ll be seeing him for a few more hours at least. So, Evan you can go ahead and take his seat for tonight.” She gestures for me to sit in the chair at the end of the table centrally positioned between where Skylar is already sitting and where, I assume, Bree usually sits. I look to Bree with a raised eyebrow. I don’t think sitting that close to Skylar is a good idea and thankfully Bree is thinking the same thing.

“How about I take Dad’s seat,” she says, jumping in front of me and sitting in the chair.

Her mom shrugs, “Whatever you want, darling. I’ll prepare you a plate Skylar, be right back.”

As soon as she leaves the room and the door swings closed behind her, Bree glares at her friend. “What do you think you’re up to?”

Skylar smirks, carrying with her an air of confidence suddenly. She knows she’s getting to Bree and I don’t know why, but it’s blatantly clear that getting under her skin is the goal here. “I’m not up to anything,” she says innocently. “I just want to get to know your piece of shit boyfriend.”

Ooooor maybe it’s to get under my skin… Awesome.

I narrow my eyes but don’t say anything still. I’m honestly scared that if I start, I might not be able to stop, and then Bree’s mom will know a hell of a lot more than Bree wants her to know about this whole situation.

“I don’t want you getting to know him,” Bree says. “I don’t even want you here right now. Why are you doing this? You’ve made it clear that our friendship can’t be saved so why the hell are you here?”

“Oh, stop being so pissy because you didn’t like what I said about you and him out there. It was all the truth and you know it.”

“Skylar,” Bree lowers her voice to a whisper, attempting a more sensitive approach, “Please don’t turn it into this. I don’t want us to hate each other, ok? You’re my best friend, I don’t want to lose that. And I know that you don’t want that either.”

“Too late. I was considering looking the other way and I probably would have done just that if you hadn’t brought him here tonight. But it’s clear to me now that you weren’t planning on hiding him forever. You had every intention of telling me and then choosing him.”

“I did, but I didn’t want to lose you. I swear I don’t want to lose you,” Bree replies, her eyes pleading with Skylar to understand her; begging her to accept this and be ok with it.

The pitiful look that Skylar gives her back makes me feel nothing but shame. She’s broken and it’s my fault. What the hell have I become?

I reach under the table and take Bree’s hand into mine. It’s honestly just a gesture of comfort; I don’t do it to cause more conflict between them. But as soon as her hand is in mine and I see the look on Skylar’s face, I realize that I’ve just caused a shit-load more conflict. Sometimes I can be a clueless idiot.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You’re honestly going to hold her hand right in front of me?” she demands in disbelief. “Both of you are pieces of work! You truly deserve each other.”

Bree pulls her hand away from mine. “You’re right. Being a couple around you is wrong, it’s too soon.”

“How naive are you? It’s not too soon. It’s too fucked up! I’m not staying in your life if he’s going to be in it.”

“You don’t really mean that.”

“Are you delusional? You can’t have both of us. Can’t you get that into your head? You can’t have him as your boyfriend and expect me to just stick around and watch! It’s morbid. You have to make a choice and then watch one of us walk away.”

“I can’t do that,” Bree replies, shaking her head.

Skylar slams her hands down on the table so hard that it makes our drinks spill over the rim of their glasses.

Her mom walks back into the room with a plate in one hand and a look of deep concern on her face. “What on earth is going on in here?”

“Sorry Mom,” Skylar says, pushing herself away from the table, “I can’t stay for supper, after all.” She turns to Bree. “I’m going to make this really easy for you. I’m the one walking away and I’m telling you right now, don’t even think about crawling back to me when this asshole ruins you! We’re done! Our friendship is over!”

She storms off, slamming the front door behind her a few moments later. Bree drops her head to the table and begins to cry silently, her body trembling from head to toe. I reach over to her and take her hand into mine once again, squeezing it so that she knows I’m here for her.

I don’t know what else to do.

Bree’s mom is still standing at the head of the table with a plate in her hand but instead of having a pleasant smile on her face, a large frown is in its place instead. She puts the plate down and takes her seat slowly. She doesn’t take her accusing eyes off of me as she patiently waits for an explanation. I avoid her gaze and look down at the table.

After a few moments, Bree lifts her head and wipes away the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry about that, Mom,” she says.

“You want to tell me what that was about?”

This just got so much more uncomfortable, as impossible as I thought that could be. I wish I could disappear right now.

“Evan?” She asks when Bree refuses to reply.

I look into her eyes. She has no idea, and I can’t be the one to tell her. “I think Bree should be the one to tell you,” I say finally.

Destroyed and deflated, Bree closes her eyes, only allowing herself to open them a few moments later. She’s trying to come up with a lie to explain all of this away, but I can tell that she can’t think of anything to say. All the lies have finally taken its toll on her and I’m partially to blame.

I sigh. I know I’m going to regret what I’m about to say, but Bree’s been through enough for one night, she doesn’t need her mom finding out today.

“I was seeing the both of them,” I tell her mother, looking her right in the eye as I say it.

Her eyes narrow.

“No, Evan,” Bree starts but I cut her off.

“I fell for your daughter, though, and broke it off with Skylar tonight. I’m sorry I caused such a disturbance in your household. It was all my fault.”

Her mother purses her lips together tightly, thinking what it is she wants to say to me before she actually does. She’s angry, and it’s now becoming very clear that this might have been a bad idea.

“Was this a game for you, Evan?”

I shake my head. “No, Ma’am,” I reply honestly. “I care about your daughter.”

“And what about Skylar? Do you care at all about her feelings?”

The question catches me off guard. This might have been the wrong approach to take because even though she doesn’t know the true story, those words sting. “I do,” I reply because I think it’s the right thing to say, but it’s a lie. I haven’t given much thought to Skylar’s feelings at all in the last few weeks. Not until tonight. I pretended like they didn’t matter, so that I could feel better about what I was doing with Bree, but it’s hitting me hard tonight and I hate it.

She looks at her daughter in astonishment, “You’re ok with him having done this to Skylar?”

“Mom come on,” Bree says, finally seeming to come back to life. “We were both seeing him knowingly. She’s just pissed that he chose me and not her.”