Without You

Page 36

I walked right into the back of Lauren as I watched Luke pulling Libby away from us.
“Shit. You don’t think he’ll do anything, do you?” Lauren asked.
“No! Gesh, Lauren, you know better than that.”
“I know, but the last couple of months, the two of them have been at each other nonstop. Now, they’re pretty much avoiding each other, and with Libby going off and saying what she just said…”
I shook my head. “I think they need to talk. Things need to go back to normal.”
Luke stopped and let go of Libby, and she turned her back to him.
Lauren let out a gruff laugh. “Things will never be normal again, Alex.”
I turned and looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“Alex, come on. I know you and Will are happy and all, but you have to see how the rest of us are all drifting apart. Luke never does anything if he thinks Libby will be there—or worse yet, if Jason and Libby are both there. Colt hasn’t talked to me in over a month.”
“That was your doing, Lauren.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess so, but still. We all used to be so close, Alex. Maegan is acting like some sex-craved nutcase. Grace is dating the biggest dick on the planet, and somehow, she is the only one who doesn’t see it. Taylor is burying herself in schoolwork and has no life whatsoever. Things are not the same. Y’all are leaving in a few weeks for college, and well…”
I saw the tears building in her eyes, and my heart broke.
“I just want us to be…us. I want us to have fun without everyone fighting. I’m going to miss y’all, and if you leave with our group being broken, I’m just afraid it will never be fixed.”
I pulled Lauren into my arms as she began crying. “Shh…it’s okay, Lauren. I promise you, I’ll fix this. I promise you.”
I looked over and saw Colt staring at us. I knew he had been hurt so badly the night he admitted to Lauren that he liked her, and she’d walked away. He had begun dating Rachel again, and I knew he was so unhappy. Every time I tried talking to him, he would just tell me that he was fine.
Colt looked directly at me and mouthed, Is she okay?
I smiled and nodded my head slightly.
Lauren pulled back and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. What a baby I am. I think I’m just sad that y’all are leaving for college, and it’s just going to be me, Taylor, and Colt left.”
“I know, honey. I’m sad, too.”
Libby came walking by with Luke following closely behind her.
I grabbed his arm and stopped him. “What did you say to her?” I asked as I looked at Libby walking over to everyone else.
Luke smiled weakly. “I called a truce.”
“Oh,” I mumbled.
“Let’s go to the river and cool off, y’all!” Luke yelled.
Everyone began walking over to their cars.
Will came up and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Is Lauren okay?”
I shook my head. “I need to talk to you, Grace, Libby, Luke, and Maegan. I need to talk to y’all sometime today.”
Will nodded his head. “Okay. Yeah, I’ll make it happen.”
When we got to the river, Will told me to head over into the open field behind the large oak. I began walking over there.
Maegan walked up right after me. “Hey, what’s going on? Will said we all had to meet here. Something about Lauren?”
I heard Luke, Will, Grace, and Libby all talking. They stopped and all stared at me.
“What’s up?” Grace asked.
I took a deep breath and just went for it. “We need to get our shit together, all of us. Lauren broke down today because Luke and Libby are fighting. And, Maegan, you’ve turned into a sex-craved bitch.”
“Hey!” Maegan said, putting her hands on her hips while giving me a dirty look.
“Grace, you’re so wrapped up in your boyfriend that we never see you anymore, and Will and I have been so wrapped up in us that we’ve forgotten about Lauren, Taylor, and Colt.”
Everyone began looking at each other. We all knew things hadn’t been the same within our tight little group.
“So, here is what we’re going to do. We only have a few weeks before we leave for college, and we are going to make the most of it, starting today. Luke and Libby, either admit how you feel for each other or move the hell on. It’s getting old.”
Libby’s mouth dropped open as she stared at me.
“Maegan, for Christ’s sake, stop throwing yourself at Luke.” I faced Luke and raised my eyebrow at him. “Luke? Are you ever going to sleep with Maegan?”