Page 54 of Ask No Questions

“You’re being dramatic. Why don’t you just try talking to him?”

“After he ignored me? No way!”

“Fine. Just lay here and sulk all night.”

“Whatever. Stop worrying about me. Let’s talk about Aubrey instead.”

I looked up and saw all three of them staring at me. “What? What’s there to talk about?”

Talia laughed. “Hmm where to start? We could talk about you and Mike, you and Gage, or you and Luke. Take your pick.”

“Mike and I are just friends. Well, we were. Things are kind of tense between us right now. Gage is just a friend too. I’ve only talked to him a few times. He’s really nice and easy to talk to, but I don’t know what he thinks of me. And Luke is… Luke. He’s so sweet and so cute, but I’ve only been here for a few weeks. I can’t expect anything to happen yet.”

“We still don’t understand the whole Gage situation, but that’s your business.”

Mckayla interrupted Talia. “That’s right, it’s your business, but be careful. Mike is worried about you. Not just with the Gage thing, but he knows Luke better than you do. Luke is pretty flaky. None of us want to see you get hurt.”

“I appreciate that you guys, I do. But I’m not invested in any of them. I’m still recovering from everything that happened before I got here. I just want friends right now, and Gage has been nothing but nice to me.”

The girls all seemed to turn to me at the same time. Alexis was the first to speak, though.

“We have been wondering about that. You’ve never told us what happened in Chicago. We all love you being here, but it feels like there’s a big mystery behind it.”

I thought I had been doing a decent job of acting normal, but I guess not. I was deciding how much to tell them, but Talia put her hand on my knee and smiled.

“You can trust us, Aubrey. We’re your friends.” I never thought I was missing out by not having close friends before, but now I saw the importance of having people you could trust and rely on.

“It’s a long story, but it’s time you guys knew, I guess. I’ve only told Brandon and Carter about everything. Mike only knows about how much of a jerk my ex was.”

“Mike knows more about this than we do?” Mckayla looked genuinely hurt. I felt awful now that I hadn’t been more open with them, especially with how quickly they accepted me.

“It came up one day.” I looked down at my toes trying to avoid their gazes. “This isn’t a happy story. Are you sure you guys want to know?”

They seemed to be communicating silently, but eventually, they all agreed they wanted to know what happened. It took me over twenty minutes to tell them everything from the beginning, starting with my relationship with Derek, then the events with Morgan, and finally the Christmas party. When I finished, I looked up and saw tears in Mckayla’s eyes. Alexis looked shaken, and it seemed like things were still sinking in for her. Talia looked furious, shaking her head and clutching a pillow.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you all of that.”

“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. Your ex is an idiot, and I can’t believe how your parents handled things!” Talia was getting even more worked up. “It never should have gotten that far with Morgan. I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that alone! I can’t even imagine.”

“It was rough. I was so unbelievably happy when my mom told me that Brandon asked for me to move in with him. He didn’t know all of what was happening until the night of the party. I should have told him sooner.”

Mckayla scooted over to my side and wrapped her arms around me. “I wish you would have called me. I would have gotten you out of there.”

I looked into her sad eyes and hugged her back. “I was so messed up. I tried telling my mom so many times, but she never believed me. I told myself that if she wouldn’t, there was no way anyone else would.”

By that time, Talia was sitting at my other side hugging me, and Alexis slid off the bed and completed the group hug. I relished the moment, realizing for the first time this is what I always needed but never had before.

“Thanks for being so supportive, you guys. I can’t even tell you how much I needed this.”

We all had one of those cheesy movie moments where we sat on the ground smiling and hugging each other. It was perfect.

Another movie and about two bowls of popcorn later, we were laying around the room talking about the movies and laughing at nothing. I was enjoying listening to my friends until I heard the dreaded words ‘Truth or Dare’. I think it was Talia that brought it up and soon we were seated in a circle ready to start.

I laughed through the first few rounds as Talia dared Alexis to eat a spoonful of ketchup, her least favorite thing on earth. Alexis got her revenge later and dared Talia to complete the gallon of milk challenge. She made it about half way through before she threw up. I was not interested in eating or drinking anything so when it was my turn, I immediately chose truth.

Mckayla looked at me like she was trying to see into my mind before asking me the question. “Who do you like most Mike, Gage, or Luke?”

Talia and Alexis oohed and ahhed as if she just asked me to explain the meaning of life.