Veer (Clayton Falls #2)(22)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Why’s Molly hurt?” I asked.

“Because Becca didn’t tell her about what happened. Girls are supposed to tell their best friends that kind of stuff,” Kelly explained.

Jake brushed it off. “Oh, that’s bull. It’s obvious why she told me.”

“Care to enlighten us?” Ben asked with a smile.

“Because she cares what Molly thinks, but not what I think. She thinks she messed up and didn’t want anyone whose opinion mattered judging her. She may have only known me a week or so, but she knows nothing she can do is worse than what I’ve done.”

“That’s all very nice, but I’m going over there. I need to talk to her. I can’t let her think I actually meant anything by what I said.”

“Do you really want to cross Molly and Becca when they’re mad?” Ben asked. “Two angry girls can be brutal.”

“I’ll risk it.” I stood up, putting my beer, of which I’d yet to have a sip, on the table.

Chapter Fifteen

Becca

“Open this door up immediately, Becca!” Molly yelled.

I pulled the covers over my head. I’d actually resorted to getting into bed at eight o’clock on a Saturday night.

“Becca? I mean it, or I’m getting the key from Ben’s mom and then we’ll both come in.”

That did it. I was up and at the door within seconds. “Hey.”

She pulled me into a hug, propelling us back into the room. For such a petite girl, she was strong.

“I know what happened.”

“Oh. Listen, I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you, I just couldn’t face you.” I walked over to sit on the couch.

“Couldn’t face me? You can always tell me anything.” Her voice revealed a level of hurt I wasn’t expecting to hear.

“Not this.”

“I knew you liked him. That much was obvious.” She took a seat next to me.

“Really? I didn’t even really know it…”

“Well, I did. I knew it was just a matter of time before you guys got together. I just wouldn’t have thought it’d be like this.” She squeezed my hand reassuringly.

“Yeah. I know I’ve been blowing it out of proportion. I just felt dumb, and like a failure yet again.” I buried my face in my hands.

She moved closer. “Why’d you think you were a failure?”

“I can’t even have sex well. What does that say about me?”

“Becca, please tell me you don’t actually believe that. It had nothing to do with the sex. It was just Gavin being a jerk. Although I have my suspicions there too.”

“Suspicions?” I wondered what she was implying.

“I kind of think he got scared.”

I half coughed-half laughed. “Scared? Of me?”

“Of how he felt. This just doesn’t feel like Gavin. Tell me, what was it like?”

I shook my head. “I’m not going there, Mol. No way.”

“Not the details, but what was it like to be with him?”

I dared to look at her. “It felt good. It felt safe.”

“I think he felt something too, but he knows you’re leaving at the end of the summer. That’s the only explanation I can think of. I think he was shocked when Jake told him you cared—he thought he was giving you what you wanted—a clean break.”

“When Jake told him? What? Oh my god. I am going to kill that boy!”

Molly laughed. “Finally, you’re making sense.”

“Who else did Jake tell? Please tell me, it was just you and Gavin.”

She looked away. “Tom, Kelly, and Ben were there too.”

“What!” I couldn’t believe it. “How am I going to face anyone now? I just need to leave and go home.”

I got up, ready to start packing. I’d have to find a job back in Boston. “Becca, stop it. They’re your friends.”

“No, they’re your friends. Big difference.”

She looked hurt by my words, but they were the truth. “They want to be your friends too.”

“I can’t do this.”

“If anyone should be humiliated, it’s Gavin, not you. What do you have to be embarrassed about?”

“You’re joking right? Because being completely inexperienced and flipping out when a guy didn’t want me isn’t embarrassing?”

“Being inexperienced isn’t shameful, and you got upset because a guy treated you badly—it’s not that he didn’t want you.”

“Whatever you say.” Even I could hear the coldness in my voice.

“You could have told me though. You didn’t have to shut me out and hide.” The hurt in her voice was crystal clear, but I was the one who had to live through the experience. Still, my telling her brother-in-law first might have been a slap in the face.

“I didn’t want to be that girl, you know?”

“I know.” Something about the way Molly said it made her words ring true. She’d certainly been through her share of hard times, so she probably understood the need to keep things private.

“I don’t see how I can face any of them, especially not Gavin. He’s probably regretting what happened even more now.” It hurt to say those words. I didn’t want him to regret it.

“I already told you he didn’t regret it. You don’t have to be embarrassed to face him, and it’s no reason to leave.”

There was a louder knock on the door. I knew with a sinking feeling it wasn’t Kelly.

I looked at Molly, letting her know I wanted her to deal with it. She opened the door and slipped outside, but not before I saw Gavin looking in at me. I wanted to disappear.

Molly came back inside, closing the door most of the way. “He wants to talk to you. But you don’t have to, you know.”

“What is this, sixth grade again?”

I tried to fix my hair a little, glad I was wearing yoga pants and not pajamas, and walked to the door. “Yes?” I made myself look up at him.

He looked nervously down at me. “Can we talk?”

“Sure.” I walked over to sit on the lounge chair I’d been sitting on when I opened up to Jake about my non-existent sex life. Real great decision that was.

Molly looked at me.

I nodded. “You can go. I promise we’ll hang out tomorrow.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” She waved and slowly walked away.

I looked back at Gavin, who sat down next to me. “So…”