Page 57 of Back To You

I feel so many emotions rush through me as the door shuts behind the three of them, but I don’t have time to process them before I turn back to the living room, where Emmett and Eddie look at me, Eddie still holding Lennon. “You wanna tell us what that was about?”

A laugh escapes my throat, one free of humor, at how I’m supposed to answer that question. “I have no fucking clue,” I say, running a hand through my hair before basically throwing myself to the ground in front of the two of them.

Mia and Eddie’s apartment is about the size of mine; a big living room that connects to the kitchen, with a dining table that separates the two rooms. Their living room has a white fluffy rug in front of the couch, and I feel the material tickle the back of my neck as I lay back, pressing my palms into my eyes until I see stars.

“Well, you can either tell us your side of the story,” Eddie continues, gently putting Lennon into her portable rocker as Emmett watches his every move. “Or, we can hear Annie’s side of the story from the girls later tonight. Your choice.”

I let out a groan, only for Emmett to kick me in the head. “Ow,” I mumble, letting my arms fall to my sides. My vision is blurry as my eyes re-regulate to the light.

“What did you do?” Emmett growls, and it actually sparks a little fear in me.

Emmett took a while to warm up to me. Whether it was because he suspected some sort of history between Annie and me or because I made every effort to counter his grumpiness when I started working for him, I’ll never know. The two of us built a relationship solely because I refused to let him not like me.

I spent our shifts together trying to get him to talk to me, smiling at him, and asking about his day even when he looked like he wanted to kill me, but it worked. We’re more than coworkers or friends, we’ve become family along the way.

But right now, Emmett doesn’t feel like that.

Right now, he feels like someone who will hurt anyone who hurts Annie.

Emmett and Annie rarely acknowledge their history. Emmett is over a decade older than us, but he’s known Annie since she was a kid with her dad always bringingher to the bar he frequented before he left her and her mom.

Emmett hadn’t seen her since she was in middle school when she randomly turned up for a job the summer after we graduated high school, a lot happening to the both of them during their time apart.

I sit up from where I’m lying on the floor and shake my head, pushing myself up to standing and walk over to the dining table where there are stacks of plates and bowls and piles of silverware. “I honestly don’t know what I did, but I know I did something.”

Eddie and Emmett follow me, Emmett keeping Lennon in his line of sight but following Eddie to the table.

I start setting the table, just to have something to do with my hands.

“How do you not know what you did? Annie is always the first to tell you when you do something to piss her off,” Eddie mentions, holding out a hand to help me set a plate for all six of us.

I look over at the oven, seeing a timer for twenty more minutes. “Aren’t we on dinner duty until they come back?” I ask, not being able to look either of them in the face while I avoid Eddie’s question.

“The lasagna is basically done. Just need to throw the bread in the oven and toss the salad, but we’ll wait for the girls,” Eddie answers.

I nod because what he’s really saying is “talk”.

So I do. I start at the beginning when I met Annie in first grade, all the way until the last time I saw her the night of Grant’s party, and I can’t stop. I tell them about running into Annie at Lenny’s and seeing her for the first time in months, and I try to put into words how it felt to see her—that new person she was.

I talk about my feelings for her and how all they’ve done is evolve over the years, and I tell them about how I can’t picture my life without her.

My shoulders feel lighter and lighter the more of our story I share with Emmett and Eddie, who genuinely listen and ask the occasional question as they help me set the table. They never once make me feel guilty for not telling them the truth about Annie and me, and I’m grateful for that.

While I’m at it, I tell them about how she’s always been there for me, during all the shit with my dad and my decision to give up what I wanted to do to please him. They know the complexities of my parental dynamics, all of us at one point over the years confiding in each other about our issues with our own families. They echo Annie’s sentiments about doing what I want, not what I think my dad would want.

I tell them about my decision to not become a lawyer and how I want something that’s mine, and that I just don’t know what it is yet.

I see a thought cross Emmett’s face when I say it, but I don’t pause to ask him about it, wanting to get everything out before the girls get back.

I know Annie doesn’t want our friends to know our whole history, but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep my feelings for her to myself if I’m going to get her back.

I need help figuring out what the hell I did wrong in the first place.

“Wait, was she with you that night before the Grant guy’s party?” Eddie asks. We finished setting the table, so we’re now just standing around the set dining table. I’m leaning on the chair in front of me, rocking back and forth on my heels.

“No,” I answer, “but I had a lot to drink, and I didn’t drink at Grant’s party the following night because of it.” I exhale. “I honestly barely remember that night.”

Eddie crosses his arms as Emmett leans back on the kitchen island behind him. “But Annie saidsomethinghappened that night?” Eddie’s brows are tight, his green eyes concentrating on me.

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