Julianstarted the fight? None of this is making any sense to me.
“Oh, IknewI liked him,” Bella says to me as my sister’s mouth drops open in surprise. My best friend completely ignores the way my eyes widen in panic as she says, “I told you you should’ve given him a second chance.”
“You know Julian?” My sister’s jaw drops as Bella realizes her mistake. She mouths asorryat me as I shake my head at her.
The jig is up. Might as well confess now.
“Yes, I know Julian.” I sigh. “We went out on a date a while back. It didn’t work out for reasons we don’t need to get into, but we sort of became friends.”
“Friends?” Elena’s expression doesn’t change. “Really?”
“Obviously that term isn’t accurate at the moment, but I don’t have a better one.”
Bella turns to me now, surprised.
“We kissed.”
“Youkissed?” they both exclaim, but are stopped from asking more at the sound of fussing from the living room. Bella goes to get the kids settled in her bedroom before shutting the door and returning to us.
“Tonight. And last weekend.” I cringe at the looks of bewilderment on their faces.
“You didn’t tell me about kissing him last weekend.” Bella cuts her accusing eyes to me. “Way to keep me out of the loop.”
“You thinkyou’reout of the loop?” Elena glances down at her. “All this time, I thought they were strangers to each other. What kind of a person keeps afriendshipa secret?”
“Andrew doesn’t need any more ammunition to use against me,” I tell Elena. “I could already hear his taunts in my head after learning that I not only went out with his best friend, but also that Julian was now taking over my dating apps because I’m too helpless to pick out my own romantic prospects. I didn’t want to hear it, so I chose not to tell him.”
“Listen, I get why you kept it from Andrew,” Elena says. “But why did you keep it fromme? I’m not our brother. You know I would never make fun of you for that.”
“Because you have a million things going on in your life,” I tell her. “We haven’t hung out by ourselves in ages. This isn’t exactly the kind of thing that can be explained through text.”
“Leti, come on.” She grips my arm. “You know I always have time for you. You’re my sister. Don’t pull this you-don’t-have-time-for-me crap on me.”
“It’s not crap.” I shake my head. “You have kids and Diego and a full-time job. My dynamic with Andrew alone exasperates you. Be real with me. If I asked you to keep this kind of a secret from Andrew, would you really have gone along with it?”
“Well, maybe not.” She crosses her arms. “I would have at least convinced you to tell Andrew you knew each other. Adults don’t have secret friendships, Leti. That’s ridiculous.”
“Not for me. Is it really so bad that I wanted my relationship with Julian to be completely separate from Andrew? At least for a little bit?”
At this, Elena lets out a long sigh. “No. I guess I can understand that.”
“I should’ve known it would blow up in my face, though,” I tell her. “You probably would’ve warned me about that.”
“You’re damn right, I would’ve,” she grumbles. “So, what exactly are you and Julian to each other?”
“Tell me about the fight first,” I say. “Is Andrew okay?”
“Andrew’s fine.” Elena shakes her head. “Julian’s the one who got hurt.”
“What?” I turn away from them, immediately grabbing my purse and keys off the counter. “How bad is it? What hospital are they at?”
“We think he got a concussion after Andrew tackled him,” Elena explains. “He hit his head pretty hard on the leg of the patio table. God, you should’ve seen Andrew’s face when he puked on his shoes.”
My blood boils at the thought of my brother giving Julian a head injury. But even though the fault lies with Andrew, there’s a pit in my stomach that I can’t easily overlook. I’m the one who kissed Julian. I’m the one who asked to keep our friendship a secret from my brother. I’m the one who keeps relying on him like a crutch, like way more than a friend should.
At the end of the day, I’m the reason Julian is in the hospital.
I dial his number in the stairwell, my heart in my throat as I wait for him to pick up. But it isn’t his voice on the other line. “Leti, it’s me. The doctors are seeing him now,” my brother says. “They don’t think it’s serious. I’m assuming Elena told you what happened.”
