Rex returned from Kentucky for about one week shortly after he and Noah left. Barely able to look me in the eye, he checked in on my injuries briefly before running back off as soon as he could get Michael to agree to franchise Gatsby’s in Nashville, which just happens to be only a little over two hours from Noah’s place in Kentucky. I guess hiding out on the other side of the United States is easier than facing one of your oldest friends you helped stab in the back. Guy code and all that bullshit. It still hurts though, because I never thought Rex would let someone come in between our brother-sister type relationship. Just like I never thought Noah would ever leave.
“I have a confession to make,” she says. I glance at her as she nervously stares down at her lap. I watch as she peels the label off her beer bottle and wonder what she could have to say that would make her so hesitant.
“Save it, Gwen. If this is another remark about how shitty I look, or how pathetic I’m living my life these past few months, I don’t want to hear it.”
I look out across the room and take another drink from my bottle. She shakes her head no, but still doesn’t look me in the eye. Continuing to peel the label off her bottle, anxiety beckons as I begin to imagine what kind of confession may be lurking under the surface of this conversation.
“You got to promise not to kill me when I tell you. Although, in your state, I’m probably pretty safe from the ass-kicking I may or may not deserve.”
My brow furrows.
“It wouldn’t be the first time I may or may not have wanted to kick your ass. So go ahead, it can’t be that bad,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.
She blows out a breath and takes a long drink from her bottle. She looks back up at me and puts her drink down on the coffee table.
“I know why Noah left, and it’s not what everyone has made you believe.”
Sitting up straighter, I start to demand answers. Holding up her hands, Gwen cuts me, “Noah didn’t tell me, but I put it together from what I did hear shortly after he took off with Rex six weeks ago.”
“And, you’re just now telling me this?”
She takes a deep breath and glances away.
“Honestly, I thought you might get over him. I thought you might forget about everything. I figured with time you’d let it go and everything would just go back to the way it was before he ever existed. Just like you always bounced back after all your other breakups.”
I’m not buying it.
“Forget about everything?” I ask, angrily. “How the hell did you think I would forget about everything after what I told you in the hospital?”
She shrugs and looks down at the floor. Tears fill her eyes when they finally lift to meet mine. “I almost lost my best friend,” she whispers. “If you knew the truth, you’d run off and I’d lose you for good.”
A tear falls down her cheek as I try to reel in my emotions and not lose it on her like I really want to.
“Gwen, how could you?”
“Damn it Eva, it wasn’t just that. I was sworn to secrecy. Rex made me promise not to say anything to you. He said Noah needed space. Hell, you did, too.”
I sit silently and drink in her words. As angry as I am, she may be right.
“Since when the hell do you talk to Rex anyways, let alone listen to any of the stupid shit he has to say?”
She stays silent. She doesn’t answer me like I need her to, then proceeds to pick up her bottle and continue to take drink after drink until it is almost empty.
“You know what hurts the most,” tears threaten to break free, and I swallow them back. “I was so close. So close to having all I had ever dreamed. I had so much to tell him. So much to say. And he just walked away. He left and still doesn’t know that I chose him. What the hell do I do now?” I ask the question aloud, more to myself than to her, but I know she will have some sort of smart answer even though it’s a rhetorical question.
“You can go to Kentucky,” she suggests. Looking her way, my eyes widen.
Yeah right, like that is ever going to happen. I’ll admit, what woman doesn’t have a fleeting thought of living in the south and channeling their inner Scarlet O’Hara - but Kentucky?
I laugh. “I don’t think so.”
“Come on, Eva, I’m being serious. It’s better than moping through life around here.”
I glance around the apartment and actually debate doing this crazy thing she has suggested for about two seconds before reality kicks in. “Gwen, I have a job here. A life here. I can’t just up and leave it all on a stupid whim and move across the country to a state and culture I know nothing about.”
“Who said anything about moving?” she smirks. “I meant a trip. Like a girl's trip to find the guy that broke your heart. You know, like all those sappy Hallmark movies you are always watching.”
“Who even knows if he wants to see me again,” I whisper.
