“That’s so romantic,” Meggie coos.
“Yeah, you’d think so,” Jesse teases. “Not so much fun for a while there, and part of that is because ofallof us. Not just Xan or Tera.” Jesse confesses all, earning evil eyes and gasps from others around the room.
“Jesse James Kingston!” Mama Russo snaps.
“I know, Mama. I learned,” Jesse defends.
“All of you boys,” she huffs. “Thank goodness you grew into good men.”
I laugh when I hear “Yes, Mama” come from multiple male voices around the room.
“I should’ve videotaped that,” Linc laughs.
Ethan shoves Linc. “You just wait.”
Xander clears his throat. "I’ve loved Tera every day, together and apart since I was eight years old and saw her on those monkey bars singing Alanis Morissette so off key, I'm surprised the dogs in the neighborhood weren't howling," I tell them with a smirk, remembering that day fondly.
I huff and playfully shove him. “So rude.”
"After that, I went to her as often as I could, but it was too much for her. I hated it, but I started going to her every other month or something like that. We talked every day on the phone, Skype. About four years after that, Tera had an identity crisis."
“That wasn’t just on me,” I defend. “You remember the first time Xander was in the tabloids with one of the chicks that always hung around?
“Yeah,” Lucy says aloud, narrowing her eyes.
“Holy Hannah, I see where this is going,” Nicole whispers.
“We had all made a promise,” Jesse cuts in. “We promised Tera we’d keep Xander out of the tabloids and shit. We were doing really good, too, until that night.”
“We hit number one for the first time,” Ben defends.
“Oh, would you shut up with that already,” Linc demands, exasperated with Ben.
“Still, we let our guard down and at the same time let Tera down,” Kennedy reasons.
“What wedidn’tknow was that while we were celebrating after our concert, Tera was having a miscarriage,” Ethan says softly.
Gasps. Then silence.
“Oh no. No, no, no. Who could blame her for having an identity crisis after all of that?" Lucy asks, wiping her tears.
"Whoa," Summer says, Jace holding her close.
"Well, then," Meggie replies.
“Assholes,” Nicole mutters and playfully slaps Ben.
"She wanted a break after that," Xan continues. "Not just from me coming to see her often but cutting back on phone calls as well. She wanted nothing to do with me. She pushed me away, and I blamed myself for letting her down. It wasn't until two years later when I finally had enough of being apart that I found out just how much I'd let her down."
"No one's judging you, Xan," Summer tells me.
"Maybe you should."
"No," she replies. "We weren't there. I can only imagine."
I nod. "It fucking sucked. The photos came out and were every fucking where. They'd been trying for years to get dirt on us, you know? They'd heard rumors but never had there been any photos or anything."
"I remember that," Lucy says. "They plastered those images everywhere, and they made it look so nasty."
