“Trust me, as much as I wish it were, that’s not the case. You don’t remember showing up at the house that night, do you?”
Slowly, he shakes his head.
“He was worried about you.” Pausing as I look back at him and shake my head. “Wait, I told you if you wanted this information you have to talk to him… right?”
“Yeah. Okay.” He laughs again. “One last thing.”
“It had better not be about Eli.”
“It’s more Eli-adjacent.”
“We’ll see if I allow it.”
“You’re wanting to get back together with him at some point, right?”
I shrug.
“Then why go out with someone else?”
“I needed to keep my mind off stressing about the exam…” I trail off as I try to stop the smirk on my face. Lowering my voice as if Z’s the only one I can tell. “And I knew it’d piss him off if he found out.”
“Jesus Christ, we’re the same.” He shakes his head, causing me to laugh harder.
A knock sounds on the door, and Z looks at me. “This is the real reason I wanted to talk to you.” He tells me as he walks over to the door, opening it.
Zeke walks in.
“No.” I groan out as I look between my brothers.
“I’m not doing it by myself.” Z shakes his head.
“Do what?”
“I found out who Drew was seeing.”
Zeke looks at me for a moment, tilting his head before he laughs out.“Fucking Eli.”
“What?” Z calls out, shocked.
“I should have put it together when you told me you broke up with someone. When he showed up at the chapel, he didn’t give a fuck about talking to me. As soon as you walked up, nobody else mattered.”
The way he says it brings a new perspective to that day.
“Found you guys whispering in the corner and then you went out after him. And you going to work for Sherri right after Z tells you he was arrested.” He looks over at Z and shakes his head. “It was literally right in front of our faces. We just didn’t know to look for it.”
“You seem much calmer than I thought you’d be,” Z tells him, and I nod, agreeing. “You’re okay with it?”
“Fuck no!I’m not okay. I’m gonna beat the fuck out of him.”
“Zeke, no!”I gasp.
Z looks over at Zeke and nods. “At some point we’re gonna have to sit down with him and have a heart to heart.”
“Why they broke up?”
“For now.” I start. “But I feel like the heart to heart is equally about things not involved with my love life.”
I read the confusion on his face as he looks between Z and me.
