Gravity Happens (Forcing Gravity) (32 page)

But I’d have to see her at the end of the week. We had a meeting at 57 Jeans on Friday. I couldn’t avoid her.

So after my class on Wednesday, I drove to Brentwood to her parents’ café, hoping she’d be there. She usually worked on Wednesdays, so I knew it was a safe bet, and since it was three in the afternoon, the café wouldn’t be busy. We could probably sit and talk
relatively freely.

I just hoped Jase wouldn’t be there. If he was, I was leaving. I couldn’t face him.

When I walked in Nora looked up from behind the counter where she was making a latte for someone and raised an eyebrow at me, but she didn’t say anything, so I wasn’t sure what that meant. I got in line, figuring I’d order something. I could use some caffeine.

As I waited, I surreptitiously looked around, feeling instantly relief when I didn’t see Jase anywhere.

“So,” she said bitterly when I reached the counter, “you finally remembered we were friends.”

I sighed. “I’m sorry, Nora, but it’s kind of been a rough week and a half. I wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk to anyone.”

“Except Ethan,” she said bitchily.

“Excuse me?”

“Ethan,” she repeated. “My
ex
-boyfriend.”

My jaw dropped. “He
broke up
with you?”

She folded her arms
across her chest. “Yeah, he did. The asshole. Because apparently all things Jase are somehow connected to me. It made absolutely no sense when he came over and told me he couldn’t be with me because of what Jase had done to you, but whatever. I guess I should have seen it coming.”

It was ironic that Ethan and I had the same thought regarding Nora’s allegiance to Jase,
and I felt like shit for assuming that. But I couldn’t dwell on it at that moment. Something she’d said struck a chord with me.

I narrowed my e
yes. “What do you mean you should have seen it coming?”

She rolled her eyes
at me and turned toward the backroom. “Paul, I’m taking a break. Can you cover out front?”

“Sure,” a male voice yelled back.

“Have a seat,” Nora said, gesturing to two armchairs by the window. “We need to talk.”

Then she busied herself making two drinks, so I figured I’d go sit down. I wasn’t exactly sure what was so dire about what she had to say, but she was so demanding that I decided to listen.
I figured I owed her that much after shutting her out and being a crappy friend.

A few minutes later, she handed me a drink. “Double mocha latte,” she said unceremoniously before plopping down across from me.

I took a sip of the strong drink that Nora always made for me and relished in the almost instant caffeine and chocolate rush that hit me. She made her drinks strong.

“Okay,” she said, taking a sip of what was no doubt a soy vanilla latte. “Here’s the deal. Ethan still has feelings for you. That’s why he broke up with me.”

I paused mid-sip and looked up at her. “Excuse me?”

“Lo, he likes you. He always has.”

“No, he doesn’t,” I quickly defended, even if I’d suspected the same thing. I didn’t want it to be true. “That’s crazy. He told me months ago that his feelings weren’t real, that he was just confused when he told me he loved me.”

She shook her head. “He was lying to you, because he didn’t want to lose you as a friend, but he’s liked you all this time.”

“No, that’s not true,” I insisted. “I know how much he liked you. Why would you think he has feelings for me? Did he tell you that?”

“He didn’t have to, Logan. Look, I
was hesitant to let him in because I was afraid that he’d always put you first. I knew he liked you, so I told him that until he could prove to me that he was over you, I wouldn’t date him, because I wasn’t going to be second to anyone, but he was so sweet and cute, and so persuasive that I gave in. And we had a lot of fun over the six weeks we were together, so I thought he really liked me, but then he ended things. And there’s just something really ironic about the fact that he dumped me the day you became available.”

I shook
my head slowly. “No, Nora, you can’t believe that. He was pissed at Jase, and I can see how he would maybe not be able to separate his anger for him with his feelings for you because you’re related to him. Ethan is fiercely protective of me, and I guarantee if he ran into Jase, he’d try to tear his head off. Of course Charlie would probably intervene and kill Ethan, but it wouldn’t stop him from trying. That doesn’t mean he has feelings for me. Not at all.”

“Logan, I love you, babe, but you’ve got blinders on
if you believe that. Ethan has strong feelings for you, and it sucks big time, because I really, really liked him, but I can’t be you.”

I hated hearing her say that. She was perfect and amazing and so right for Ethan. I was going to kick his ass later for ending things with her and not even telling me. What was he thinking? I’d never seen him as happy as I had when he was with Nora. He’d fought having a girlfriend for so long, but then he’d gotten one, and he’d b
een happy. Why would he end something so good?

Even if he did like me – which I still couldn’t wrap my head around, I wasn’t interested in him. We were just friends.

“He’s an idiot, Nora. Seriously. I can’t believe he’d be so stupid.”

She shrugged. “He’s a boy. They do really stupid things,” she said
pointedly.

I knew she was referring to Jase, and I loved how she’d segued oh so discreetly to him, but I wasn’t
sure I wanted to talk about him – especially with his sister.

“Have you talked to him?” I asked, my mouth having a mind of its own. Apparently
it
wanted to talk about Jase.

She nodded. “Yeah, he came over for dinner last night. He looked like shit
. He’s so torn up over what happened.”

I nodded slowly, not sure what to say to that. He’d looked awful two days earlier when I’d seen him, so I wasn’t surprised he hadn’t bounced back to a better mood.
But what caught me off-guard was that it sounded like Nora
was
siding with him which kind of surprised me.

“What do you want me to say?” I asked, wondering if she expected me to just turn the other cheek. “She was in his bed, Nora.”

She nodded. “I know, I reamed his ass for a good twenty minutes last week when he told me the full story of what happened. Then we talked.” She sighed and looked like she was taking a moment to decide how much to tell me about their conversation. “Logan, he’s – shit, I don’t know – he’s just broken. He knows what a huge fuck-up he was, but I don’t think he knows what to do about it.”

I shook my head. “There’s nothing he can do about it. You can’t un-sleep with someone. It’s done.”

Nora was suddenly watching me like she wanted me to tell her I was going to change my mind and make everything better. And I realized I did hold all the cards. I could make the decision to forgive Jase for his indiscretion and take him back, but I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t. My mom had cheated on my dad, and he took her back, and then she’d just gone and done it again. I wouldn’t be that naïve.

“I can’t, Nora. I can’t do it.”

“But you love him, right?” she asked, a pained look crossing her face, and I felt tears prick the backs of my eyes.

I
bit my lip and nodded a few times, fighting them. I wouldn’t cry in public.

She shook her head. “Lo, that isn’t like my brother. Seriously. He’s a good guy, and he is so head-over-heels in love with you. He wouldn’t do something like that.”

“But he did,” I reasoned, my voice cracking, so I took a few deep breaths.

“You don’t know that,” she said, attempting to poke holes in my theory.

I sighed. “Nora, I was there. I saw Chloe naked in his bed, and he couldn’t tell me that nothing happened. My guess is he got wasted at the cast party and did something he regretted. Do I think he wanted to sleep with her? No. But he did, and I get that he regrets it and he’s sorry, but it doesn’t matter. I can’t be with someone who’s been unfaithful to me.”

“I know,” she said, resigned to the fact that I wasn’t going to change my mind.

“Did he ask you to talk to me?” I asked then, wondering if he tried to take advantage of my relationship with his sister to do some reconnaissance and see if he had a chance with me.

“No,” she said quickly. “No, he wouldn’t ask that, although I knew he wanted me to talk to you. I just feel bad for him, Lo. He’s in
really
bad shape.”

I shook my head. “I get that. I do,
and the last thing I want is for him to be hurting – or for me to be hurting for that matter – but what’s done is done. What would you do if you were in my position, and the guy you loved slept with another woman, and he was sorry about it and regretted it, but it still happened?”

She sighed. “I’d never take him back.”

“See.”

She nodded. “I get it, but I at least had to try. You’re the best thing that’s happened to my brother in years, and he was so lucky to have you. I’m so pissed at him for screwing it up, but I love him, so I’ll continue to
be there for him.”

It wasn’t like I could get upset with her for that. I’d do the same thing if our roles were reversed and Ethan had cheated on her. He was the closest thing I had to a brother, and no matter what, I’d always be there for him.
No matter how stupid of a decision he made. And even if he was in love with me, which I really hoped he wasn’t, since that would just put a huge wrench in my life, and it was probably the last thing I needed, I’d never leave him alone when he was spiraling.

“Nora, I hate that he’s upset, but he made his bed, and he’ll have to lie in it until he figures out a way to get past this. I have to move on with my life too.”

“Are you going to move on with Ethan?” she asked then, and I could tell by her expression that she hadn’t wanted to ask me that, but she felt like she had to know.

“What? No. Hell no! He’s just a friend. I love him, but I have
no
feelings for him.”

She let out a breath she was holding. “Okay good, because I’m not over him, and I really couldn’t stand it if he was dating a friend of mine.”

I shook my head vehemently. “No, that won’t be happening. Trust me.”

She smiled, and I realized it was the first time she’d done so since we’d sat down.
“Thank you,” she said softly, and I saw just how Nora, who was usually tough as nails, was made incredibly vulnerable by a boy – just like I had been.

And it
secured in my mind that guys sucked.

“Okay, so let’s talk abo
ut this meeting we have on Friday,” she said, thankfully changing the subject since it seemed like we both needed to not think about how wronged we’d been and how bad it hurt. “I heard Christof is the photographer for the shoot next week which is good, but he’ll have his creepy assistant with him. So I think the question is, how are we going to avoid Daniel?”

I laughed, because I knew she wanted me to, but it didn’t feel natural. Daniel was creepy. He stared at us
in a stalker kind of way for too long and with almost leering eyes. I didn’t like him. But even as I listened to Nora recount a story from a shoot she’d been at a few months before we’d met, and how Daniel had asked her out, my mind was on Jase where it almost always was these days. I just couldn’t shake him.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ethan

Logan stormed into my house late on Wednesda
y. I was on the couch watching the Dodgers game, and she stepped in front of the TV wearing a hoodie and shorts that showed off her toned legs, and found myself thinking extremely inappropriate thoughts about her walking over to me and straddling my lap. I’d been biding my time since the break-up, wondering when it would be appropriate for me to make a move. I figured I had at least a month before I could even entertain that thought.

And I especially couldn’t entertain it when she looked as pissed off as she did with her hands on her hips, her nostrils flared and her eyes on fire.

I muted the TV and looked up at her as she continued to stare at me and breathe hard through her nose.

“You okay, Lo?” I asked, and her eyes just widened.

“No, I don’t think I am,” she spat.

“Okay. Do you want to sit?” I asked, patting the space next to me.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you in love with me, Ethan?” she asked, and I froze.

“Uh,” I said, not sure what else I could say. She was not supposed to ask me that.

She just glared harder. “Did you break up with Nora because you thought you had a chance with me since Jase and I are over?”

“No,” I
said quickly, but I was only half telling the truth.

I’d ended thing
s with Nora because of her brother, because I’d likely pound him into the ground if I ever saw him again, and being with her meant I would probably see him. But the benefit of not having a girlfriend when Logan was finally single was that I’d be there when she realized she wanted to be with me. It was twisted, and I was a bastard, but I couldn’t help the way my mind worked. I wanted to be with her.