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“No, she called me almost an hour ago, after she’d hung up with him.”
“Oh, okay.” Lex sat down on his bed leaning back against the headboard. “I just thought maybe they were one of those couples who could be on the phone for hours.”
“They are,” Vannah said, wiping the triumphant smile off his face. “But mostly because they’ve been friends for so long. And I wasn’t off about them. It’s what she called to talk about. But again, don’t mention I told you. She’ll probably tell you herself. Ironically, I think it’s because of her long relationship with him that she’s gotten used to wearing her heart on her sleeve. She doesn’t believe in beating around the bush or playing games and such. Says everything like it is.”
Byron asked her something and she paused to answer him. So, Lex hadn’t imagined Xochitl being purposely open. It’s who she was. Made sense now that she wouldn’t tone anything down for the sake of modesty. He had to smirk. Or even for the sake of protecting your feelings.Especiallyfor the latter, given how unapologetic she was about admitting she was a misanthropist. Good to know. “Sorry about that,” Vannah said as she came back on the line. “So, yeah. I guess he called to ask if she wanted go up and spend the weekend with him since he’s all moved into his dorm now and they likely won’t get a chance to see each other for a while with school starting up and all. She’s seriously considering it.” Lex stopped in the middle of the room. How the hell was this Vannahnotbeing off about their relationship?
“That’s cool.” Lex said as sincerely as he could then closed his eyes before casually asking the next question and bracing himself. “So, thingsarebetter than you thought, then?”
“No. Hold on.” She lowered her voice. “I don’t want Byron to call me achismosa. He heard me telling Nena about it when she called earlier. But Xochitl’s talked about this openly in front of Nena before. It’s no secret how back and forth her relationship with him has been foryears. And I told you, she’s an open book. It’s not like she even asked that I keep it to myself.” She was quiet for a moment then came back and spoke in a regular voice. “Oh, good. He went downstairs. So, only reason she’s considering not even waiting until the weekend, since he’s off for the rest of the week, is to break up. Said she’s made up her mind and there’s no point in prolonging the inevitable, but she wants to do it in person. The sooner the better. Obviously, she wouldn’t spend the night there after she breaks things off. She’d head back that same day.”
Lex had already sat up a little straighter the moment he heard the words break things off. “Well, that sucks for him,” Lex chuckled, hoping he sounded as playfully indifferent about this welcome turn of events. “He thinks she’s coming up to hang out and he’s getting dumped.”
“No. She told him they need to talk,” Vannah explained. “He knows her too well. She said he probably already knows something’s up.”
That had Lex curious about how much else Vannah knew about their relationship. But he had to be careful how he put this out there, so he didn’t sound like he was digging. “Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were him, I guess. They’ll likely end up together again. According to her brother, they’re soulmates and no matter how many times they break up, they always end up back together.”
“I don’t know. This time sounds different,” Vannah said, and Lex had to smile sitting back again. This was just too easy. “It’s probably why she’s been talking to her mom so long if that’s what she’s still doing in her room. She hung up with me when her mom called on the other line. It’s not often she gets a chance to actually talk to her mom for too long since they both keep such busy schedules and she wanted to talk to her about it because she’s really torn.”
“She is?” This time the words flew out without thought, and he sounded way more interested in this now than he had earlier. So, he cleared his throat backpedaling in a different route. “Doesn’t surprise me. Based on how emphatic her brother was about them being meant to be and all.”
“No, it’s not that. I think she’s known for a long time theyweren’tmeant to be. It’s why I was so surprised when she got back together with him last year.” Vannah sighed. “But she has said more than once that deep inside she knowshebelieves they are meant to be. It’s always been her doing the breaking up not him and she knows these breakups are way harder on him than they are on her. It’s why she’s torn. If they break up this time it’s for good. She doesn’t want to keep doing this to him. So, despite her not feeling everything for him shewishesshe did, she wants to be absolutely sure before she calls it off for good this time.”
Quiet for a moment as Lex took all this in, he struggled to think of a way to ask what exactly it was Xochitl wished she felt, without sounding as into this conversation as he was. For a moment he toyed with the idea of just coming clean with his sister and admitting to her about his interest in Xochitl. But he thought better of it. This situation was already an awkward one. Even if Vannah promised to keep it to herself it’d still be awkward as hell being around her and Xochitl if he turned out to be wrong about what Xochitl might still be feeling for him. Or worse, if she changed her mind about dumping Cade, even if just for now and Lex was ever forced to be around him when Vannah was around. Fortunately, Vannah wasn’t done spilling her guts about this just yet. Before he could even think of a way to address this, Vannah went on. “Please don’t ever tell her I said this. I don’t want her to think I’m full of myself. I just feel a little guilty because I get the feeling she compares her relationship to mine and Byron’s. Which I think is a mistake. For starters, I think how things happened for me and Byron was kind of a fluke. It all happened so fast, and it was as magical as it was frantic. Maybe even a little nerve wracking that we felt so much so fast. Oh, who am I kidding?” She giggled. “It wasverynerve wracking but in a good way.” Hearing her sigh all whimsically had him smiling despite his fast-beating heart now. “She’s known Cade forever and they were friendslongbefore they moved things to the next level. It was slow in coming for them. How in the world would she expect for things to feel frantic and nerve wracking or even magical for that matter? At one point she made it sound like they were two insecure misfits who just decided to go for it, since they were both too shy to try meeting anyone else.”
“Yeah.” Lex smiled even as his sister sounded a little down for Xochitl. “Doesn’t sound very magical to me.”
“I mean we both know childhood sweethearts can work out. Look at Aunt Sofie and Uncle Eric.”
“Yeah, but that was different,” Lex countered, smiling even bigger. “The way mom tells it. Dad and his brothers were over-the-top-protective of her, and she did a lot of sneaking around. That sounds way more exciting than Xochitl’s situation.”
“True. Oh, well I guess whatever happens with them, it’s for the best.” Lex was already nodding, feeling beyond hopeful until she added the next part. “I just hope Cade doesn’t think her decision had anything to do with you.”
The nodding ceased immediately, and Lex froze. “W-why would you say that?”
“It’s what Byron mentioned when I told him about it,” she explained. “He wondered if maybe Cade wouldn’t associate the timing of her decision with her new male roommate moving in. Said it’s what he’d think. Especially given that when I asked her about Cade just over a week ago, she never once mentioned anything about considering breaking up with him. But no, I told Byron that Cade doesn’t know that, and besides he knows her too well. He’d know if she were lying about her reason.”
Even more to look forward to .Obviously, there was no way his sister would know Cade knew about his and Xochitl’s history and wasn’t thrilled about it. This would be interesting. Would Xochitl do her thing and be open and honest with Cade if in fact this decision did have something to do with the magic she’d felt with Lex? Would she be open about it with Lex? Would it be a good thing or make things even more awkward? He’d find out soon enough and he could hardly wait.
