Page 67 of Yours, Unexpectedly

His eyebrows fly up to his hairline. “A girlfriend, huh? Anyone I know?”

“You’ve met her before…”

His curiosity has piqued and I can tell this is distracting him from the Luci situation. “Really? When?”

I act like I have to think really hard about this answer. Mainly because I’m killing time. I really don’t know how he’s going to take this.

“I think the first time was about twenty-two years ago… probably in a hospital room, shortly after she was born.”

“What are you…” he trails off as my words start to make sense.

I brace myself as the final piece clicks into place.

“What if I just don’t go?”

Mom looks at me as if I’ve grown three heads. “You can’t skip your brother’s graduation, Rebecca.”

“Why not? I have two more of them.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “We are going to Gabriel’s college graduation. He would never miss such an important day for you and if you want to know what I think—”

“I don’t.”

“I think you’re avoiding something, so either we can talk about it or you can go change clothes and meet the rest of us at the car in thirty minutes. Your choice.”

I guess I’m going to Gabe’s graduation.

Anders drops me off and then heads back to his apartment to bring Gabe up to speed. I’m expecting a call from him soon, after they get a chance to hash things out.

What I’m not expecting is to walk into my apartment to a sobbing Luci, Riz sitting next to her, rubbing her back in soothing strokes.

I rush over to her side because it is such a rarity to see Luci cry that something must be seriously wrong. “What the hell happened?”

Riz looks up at me and answers, “You need to hear her out.”

That statement only confuses me further. “Of course I’d hear her out,” I answer indignantly. “We always hear each other out.”

Turning so I’m sitting on the floor in front of Luci, I grab her hands and try to calm her down. “Luce,” I whisper. “What’s going on? You’re freaking me out.”

“It’s—it’s just… I’ve been talking to someone and he, sort of, well… we kissed last night.”

“That seems like a good thing? Why didn’t you tell me? We tell each other everything.” I’m pretty hurt by this revelation, but I also know the feeling of wanting to see where something is going before you talk about it.

She pulls her hands out of mine and covers her face, choking out another sob. “Itwuzz”—sob—“urbruuhhhther.” Her back is shaking, but I did not catch any of what she just said so I just keep trying to touch and soothe her.

“I’m so sorry, Luce. I didn’t understand that.” I look to Riz for help but she shakes her head in a don’t-look-at-me gesture. “Can you repeat what you said?” I try.

She takes a cleansing breath, pulling herself together slightly. “It was… your brother.” And this time I hear her crystal clear. I rear back as though I’ve been slapped, pushing to stand to my feet.

“Oh God. You’re mad!” she cries. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, Bex. I don’t know how it happened!”

“I—I’m not mad,” I try to reassure her, because I’m not. “I’m surprised maybe? In shock, definitely. And confused as hell.”

She nods, wiping a tear that threatens to spill from her eyes. “You are valid in feeling all of those things. I should have told you.”

It hits me after a second that I still don’t know exactly who she’s talking about. I lower back down to her level because I’m unsure of how to ask this tactfully. “Uh, Luce… I don’t know the right way to say this, but which brother was it exactly?” I give her a half smile. “There’s too many of them for my liking, if I’m being honest.”

That pulls a laugh out of her before her face crumples again. “It was Gabe.”

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