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Chapter 23
Brandon and I spent Sunday locked in his apartment, alternately working and distracting each other. There was no talk about Miranda or the gala, or his candidacy; we both seemed content to pretend none of them existed. I even managed to keep the guilt over my own secrets at bay, eager as I was to feel normal with Brandon again.
On Monday morning, I surprised Eric by showing up in front of our apartment for the carpool to Andover.
"Thought you might have gotten, um, different transportation," Eric said when he found me waiting in the building lobby with my messenger bag and a to-go cup of tea.
I took a sip of my drink. "Well, Brandon tried. But he knows better than to pick that fight with me."
"I heard the party ended eventfully."
I tapped my sandaled foot on the ground. "Who's talking?"
Eric shrugged. "Oh, you know. The good old Sterling Grove rumor mill." He looked knowingly at me. "Is it true that you were making out with Jared on the dance floor and that Sterling punched him in the face?"
"Great," I groaned, "just great."
This was exactly what I wanted to avoid. A lot of the staff at Sterling Grove knew me and would now assume that I had been sleeping with their married boss while I was interning for the firm last year. The truth was that I hadn't gotten involved with Brandon until I had finished. I hadn't even met him until I was almost out the door.
"For the record," I clarified, "Jared and I were just dancing. Then Brandon arrived, so I stopped. Nothing happened."
"So you weren't thrown out of one of the back rooms by his wife either? Someone saw you booking it out of there."
A flush rose over my shoulders and up my neck as I studied the cracked tiles of the lobby floor.
Eric nodded sympathetically. "I see. Sorry."
I looked up. "Well. It is what it is."
"So does that mean the cat's out of the bag and he won't be sneaking into the apartment anymore?" Eric asked hopefully. "I'm assuming you stayed at his place through the weekend."
I frowned. "I don't know. Maybe. We haven't really talked about it."
"You should probably get on that, Cros."
Before I could reply, Jared's BMW pulled up, and we filed outside. Through the rearview mirror, Jared watched me get into the backseat with a surprised expression.
"Well, hi there," he said. "I'm shocked you were allowed out of your cage."
"You're my ride," I replied evenly. "Unless you'd like me to take the train..."
Jared shrugged, although his face looked like he was tempted to tell me to leave. "I'm fine if you are."
After he shut his door, Eric looked between us dubiously. "Nothing happened, huh?"
Jared just watched me through the mirror, waiting for me to take the lead. His brown eyes were darker than usual.
"Nothing," I repeated. "Let's go."
~
The class passed uneventfully, with me and Eric sitting relatively far from Jared, who pointedly took a seat at the opposite side of classroom. The car ride back to Boston was equally uneventful. I sat in the back seat, staring out the window while Eric and Jared argued about the upcoming Red Sox-Yankees game.
It was when the car pulled up in front of our building and Eric stepped out that Jared turned around to look at me directly for the first time.
"Can we grab some lunch?" he asked abruptly.
I stopped, one leg already out of the car. Eric had entered the building.
