For All The Wrong Reasons

by Brownell, Rachael

  Chapter Four

  QUINN

  Gabby’s levelheaded. She keeps her shit together better than anyone else I know. It’s hard to rattle her, which is part of why I adore her so much. I’ve seen people try and fail miserably.

  Working in customer service will test anyone’s nerves on a daily basis. People don’t realize how rude they can be, and it’s hard to keep a smile on your face when dealing with people who feel entitled to whatever they want. A simple please and thank you goes a long way.

  Gabby was meant to work in the industry. She can deal with the worst people all day long and still walk away with a smile on her face. I don’t know how she does it.

  So when I see her standing on the other side of the glass doors to the Commons, breathing deeply, I know exactly how much my text and this meeting has gotten to her. I’ll calm her fears once she comes inside, I have no doubt. She just needs to hear me out. We can help each other get what we both want.

  Happiness.

  Love.

  We can help each other find the missing pieces of our hearts.

  For me, that means a chance with Kara. A chance to prove to her she deserves better than James fucking Camden. To show her she deserves to be treated like a fucking queen, not a doormat someone wipes their shoes on.

  That she doesn’t need to give herself to every man to try and erase the pain one man caused her.

  For Gabby, a second chance with Gavin. Her soulmate.

  I always liked them together. They seemed like the perfect couple. Always happy and in love.

  Then he broke up with her, and instead of relying on her friends for support, I had to hear about it from Tess three weeks after it happened. I’m not even sure who she heard it from, but the story was whispered all across campus, traveling at light speed. And Gabby was nowhere to be found to extinguish the rumors.

  It’s been almost two months since their big breakup, and although people have stopped whispering about it, I still see the way people stare at Gabby anytime she walks in the room. Like they know something she doesn’t.

  She’s put herself back together, but she’s still not the vibrant, upbeat woman I’ve grown to admire. I wanted to talk to her about it when we met Jade and Nathan for lunch earlier this month, but she didn’t seem like she wanted to talk about it. She had just come from the gym, wouldn’t stop complaining about how gross she looked, and was avoiding eye contact with everyone. Not to mention I was in my own world dealing with the hell I was living in.

  Not wanting to wait on her any longer, I keep my eyes trained on Gabby as I make my way across the lobby. Pushing through the first set of glass doors, I stop dead in my tracks when I look up and see Gavin standing behind Gabby. On his arm is a perky blond. Her tits are practically hanging out of the tiny tank top she’s wearing, and her shorts leave little to the imagination. I think I’d get a glimpse of her ass cheeks if she turned around.

  Scratch that. I’m sure I would based on the way two guys behind them are staring at her ass. Another guy trips up the steps next to them, practically smashing his face into the concrete as he stares.

  That’s the kind of girl Gavin left Gabby for? I’m shocked. He seemed like a better dude than that. A stand-up guy. Not a slut-bagger.

  He seemed to have standards.

  Maybe he’s playing the same game Kara is right now. Having his ‘fun’ while he heals from the breakup. That would make perfect sense if he was the one that been dumped. If the rumors going around campus hadn’t shifted from his breakup to his new fling overnight.

  He’s not sleeping around according to the rumor mill. He was moving on.

  Turning my attention back to Gabby, I notice the second her back stiffens. She slowly turns and her eyes fall to the girl. I can only imagine what she’s thinking.

  Time to rescue her.

  This wasn’t part of the plan, but it will work to our advantage. No time like the present to announce our relationship.

  I have nothing against the guy, really. I’m not after Gabby, but I need to make him think I am, so once I reach her, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her close. Her body is stiff, her hands shaking slightly. There’s nothing I can do to calm her, so I play the game and kiss her on her neck.

  I’m getting under Gavin’s skin, so I continue to keep my voice level and calm. We have a short exchange, and then he breezes past us and into the building.

  “Oh my God,” Gabby finally says, letting out an exasperated breath and relaxing back against me.

  “That’s only step one. We have more work to do.”

  Pulling out of my embrace and turning to face me, she says, “I don’t know if I can do this. It feels wrong.”

  Maybe this isn’t a good idea. Maybe I shouldn’t involve Gabby in my plan. I don’t want her to get hurt again. She deserves to be with someone who will worship her, and I’m starting to think Gavin isn’t that guy.

  But I need her. Without her, I’ll never have my one shot with Kara. Selfish, I know. I’m not proud of it.

  “You can do this, Gabs. You’re already doing it. I saw the way you were looking at that girl. Like you wished you could trade places with her. If that’s what you really want, you can have it.”

  Her face contorts in concern as she sucks in her bottom lip, chewing on it as she contemplates my offer.

  “Why don’t we go somewhere else and talk. Coffee?” I suggest, hoping to explain the plan to her before she discounts it without a second thought.

  “I have an hour before class. You have half that to make your case.”

  Her reply is stern. If I’m going to convince her to go through with this, I’m going to have to work fast. I don’t have all the details worked out, but I wrote down the big-ticket things this morning so I wouldn’t forget to mention them. Concerns I had myself. Details I wanted to make sure we discussed and agreed upon.

  My needs, basically.

  I’m sure she’ll have her own, and we can discuss those as well.

  “First,” Gabby begins as we plop down into two oversized leather chairs in the far corner of the coffee shop, away from the growing line of students. “No one can know. This has to remain a secret. Now and forever.”

  I’d already thought of that. If anyone found out what we were up to, not only would our plan backfire but I can only imagine the backlash that would follow.

  “Agreed. Second?”

  “We need to make a contract. One that we both sign that lays out all the stipulations. It has to detail everything we can and can’t do so there are boundaries.”

  “Boundaries? What do you mean?”

  She’d given this more thought than I gave her credit for.

  “For instance, no sex. That would change the dynamic of our friendship, and I don’t want this to ruin what we have.”

  Fuck. Not that I was planning on having sex with Gabby, but knowing it’s not an option has me thinking about it now. What it would be like. She shouldn’t have taken it off the table that quickly. It could have been beneficial for both of us. After all, everyone has needs.

  “Okay, no sex, but to ensure our relationship is believable we should probably sleep in the same bed together from time to time. Let them draw their own conclusions about what’s going on. I know you live alone, so we can stay at my place.”

  Gabby slowly nods as she thinks it over. It’s a non-negotiable for me. There’s no way in hell people will think we’re more than friends now if we’re not intimate. We’ve been friends for too long. That’s how our relationship has always been perceived.

  We need to change that perception.

  And the primary way we can do that is if people believe we’ve evolved into a sexual relationship.

  “What else?” I prompt when Gabby continues to nod but remains silent.

  “Walk me to class.”

  I glance at my watch. We still have plenty of time before we need to head across campus. Almost forty minutes. “Sure.”

  “I don’t mean now. I mean you
should walk me to class a few times a week. Gavin and I have one class together. You saw how he reacted this afternoon. If he sees us together, it’ll get to him every time. Wear him down. It’ll get him thinking about me, about what he lost when he broke up with me.”

  I see where she’s going with this now, and I have the perfect counteroffer.

  “Deal, but that means you need to have lunch with me on campus. Kara, Tess, and I eat together when we can. What days work for you?”

  As we discuss our schedules and what works for us, Gabby pulls out her laptop and begins making our contract, adding in the details of our arrangement. The lingering question of if we are actually going to do this is a lost thought. We’re moving forward with our plan.

  Twenty minutes later and it’s all been laid out. Detailed. Down to the hours and times we see each other each week. Our schedules are included, and we’ve made the most of the time we have around our everyday lives. Gabby doesn’t work, so she’s available pretty much all the time unless she’s in class.

  I, on the other hand, am going to be pulling some long days and late nights. I work at the local television station Monday through Thursday mornings from six o’clock until ten o’clock. I’m only an assistant, bringing the anchors coffee and making sure everyone has what they need before the cameras start rolling, but I love my job. One day, I’d like to be on the other side of the camera, bringing people the news of the day instead of their non-fat mocha with extra whipped cream.

  FYI. If you add the whipped cream, the non-fat milk becomes pointless. And don’t even get me started on the chocolate and sugar in those overpriced coffees. Yes, I enjoy them myself on occasion, but that doesn’t mean I ignore the fact they’re bad for me.

  Friday and Saturday nights are going to be the biggest test of our plan. Gavin is a frat boy, and although I never held that against him before, I am now. One of Gabby’s top requirements is that I attend the Friday night frat parties with her.

  Even though they’re not together anymore, she still gets invited. The big event of the year is coming up in a few weeks, and she needs to start making regular appearances. As much as I hate the idea of being crammed into Gavin’s frat house with a hundred sweaty, drunk college kids, it will help spread the word about our relationship.

  My counter to her demand was that she spends Saturday evenings at my house, stays over that night, and hangs out for most of the day on Sundays.

  We’re calling it our Netflix and chill day.

  Kara and Tess have parties at our place Friday nights—another reason I’m not completely pissed about going to the frat house with Gabby—and go out on Saturday nights. Sundays they tend to be hungover and stick close to the house. There’s no way they won’t notice Gabby hanging around.

  With the plan in place, Gabby and I set out across campus, hand in hand. This is going to be an adventure, to say the least. It might not be the smartest way to gain the love of another woman, but it’s worth a shot. I’m optimistic things will work out for both of us until we reach Gabby’s classroom. Gavin’s standing outside the door, talking to another student.

  A sincere sense of panic at the thought of failure washes over me as he barely glances in our direction before disappearing into the classroom.

  Chapter Five

  Gabrielle

  Sitting through class, staring at the back of Gavin’s head, there’s a renewed sense of faith growing inside me. This plan might actually work. Quinn might be onto something.

  I’ve been sitting around, sulking, wanting the one thing I can’t have. I’ve avoided seeing him as much as possible because I knew seeing him would only compound my desires and magnify the pain of losing him. It’s bad enough I dream about the night he broke up with me all the time.

  The dream never ends the same. Sometimes he proposes. Sometimes he orders dessert, we eat it, and leave. Then there are the nights where the actual events are on replay as I sleep, the words he spoke echoing through my mind. I wake with tears streaming down my face.

  I’m ready to put those dreams behind me. To forget that horrible night and move forward. To create new memories with Gavin that will bring me peaceful dreams with happy endings.

  The only way I’m going to be able to move forward, to win him back, to make things happen is by taking action.

  Today Quinn and I took the first step.

  Sure, all we really did was finalize the plan. Agreed to each other’s demands.

  Still, we have a plan in place. One that I think will benefit both of us. That will work to our advantage so we can both walk away with what we want.

  Especially after the way Gavin reacted when Quinn neither confirmed nor denied that we were in a relationship. Well, he basically confirmed it with actions but not words.

  As long as we dedicate ourselves to the cause, we have a chance to get what we want.

  And that’s exactly what I plan to do.

  Quinn and I are eating lunch together in three days. It’ll be our announcement to his roommates that we’re a couple, but Tess will know before then. She has a way of finding out everyone’s business. Hell, when Gavin broke up with me, half the school heard about it from her. I’m not sure who her source is, but they seem to know everything about everyone.

  And Tess is known to be a gossip queen.

  She thrives on sharing it.

  It used to bother me a little, the fact she has no issues spreading everyone’s business around campus, but now I plan to use it to my advantage. The one thing I will say in her defense is that she makes sure she’s not spreading lies. We need to convince her that our relationship is legit if we want to use her love of forbidden knowledge to our advantage.

  She’s seen us together before, hung out with us on multiple occasions, both her and Kara. Tess is also aware of the fact Quinn has been trying to attract Kara’s attention for years. It’s not going to be an easy sell. We can’t come on too strong, but we also can’t play it too cool. There’s has to be a happy middle ground.

  Now to figure out what that is.

  Taking a day to think it over, I finally text Quinn with my thoughts. Thankfully, he agrees with my sentiments and is on board with my idea.

  ME: Kara probably won’t think twice about me joining you for lunch, but Tess is going to be watching us closely. I think we need to ease into things, not make it too obvious. If she thinks we’re trying too hard, she’s going to see straight through our plan.

  QUINN: I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we should meet in the parking lot, walk to lunch together. Play it cool, like it’s no big deal, and then I’ll kiss you or something before we get up to leave. What do you think of that?

  Quinn . . . kissing me? I’ve never thought about it before. In fact, since we took sex off the table, the idea of being physical with him never crossed my mind. We’re going to have to be intimate to a point. We can’t just hold hands like we’re twelve years old. That’s not how adult relationships work.

  Well, adult-ish relationships anyway.

  People our age tend to go overboard showing each other how much they care in public. It’s annoying. I don’t need to see people swapping spit everywhere I turn. There’s no need to climb your boyfriend like a tree and wrap yourself around him when you know you’re going to see him again in less than an hour.

  Damn, I sound like a scorned bitch.

  QUINN: Where’d you go? Did the thought of kissing me make you vomit or turn you on?

  QUINN: ;)

  ME: Asshole. Neither. It made me realize I hadn’t given any thought to stuff we didn’t talk about, stuff that we probably should have. It all happened so fast and I was focused on making sure we covered the big items that other aspects of being physical weren’t on my radar.

  QUINN: What stuff? Kissing?

  ME: The whole physical aspect of things. Yeah, we’re going to sleep together, but I didn’t think about kissing. It was all about the illusion.

  Shit! Did I just say we were going to sleep together? I really ne
ed to read my texts before I send them

  ME: I mean . . . not sleep together like sleep together.

  ME: Not sex.

  ME: You know what I mean.

  QUINN: Calm down, Gabby. Yes, I know what you meant. I promise not to make you uncomfortable if I can help it, but I do think kissing, holding hands, cuddling, and things like that will be necessary. You let me hold you yesterday when you were talking to Gavin and didn’t seem to mind. It’ll be like that. Awkward at first, but eventually it’ll feel natural.

  Natural? Kissing Quinn will eventually feel natural? Doubtful. Maybe if we’d kissed before. It takes time for it to feel natural. To learn how to kiss another person. Everyone is different.

  What if he leans his head to the right and so do I?

  What if I stiffen up like I did when he wrapped his arms around me?

  What if—

  DING

  QUINN: I’m free tonight if you want me to come over and we can get that awkward first kiss out of the way.

  ME: That might be a good idea.

  QUINN: Somehow I knew there was an internal war raging inside you and that the only way to call a cease-fire was to put you out of your misery. Plus, I think the more we kiss, the more natural it will look and the less nervous you’ll be in public. I know you’re not much for PDA as it is.

  He knows way too much about me sometimes. The PDA thing is common knowledge. I barely ever even kissed Gavin in public. The fact Quinn knew I was fighting with myself in my head . . . that scares me.

  It’s not a new development. I had plenty of internal fights the summer we lived together. Gavin and I went through a rough patch being so far apart. There were a few times he caught me talking to myself out loud. One, in particular, stands out now.

  I was in the kitchen, staring into the fridge. I don’t remember what I was looking for, and my phone vibrated in my pocket, a reminder I hadn’t responded to Gavin’s last text. He was being a jerk. Making snarky comments and pissing me off. I started cursing at him out loud, unaware that Quinn was watching me.