Changing Lanes (Lake Park University Book 1)

by Christina Escue

  We lay there for a while, Wes rubbing my back in small circles without saying a word. Once the tears stop, we continue to just lay there. His arms are comforting, his presence soothing, and I start to doze.

  “Tell me what happened,” he says softly and my eyes snap open. “Gabe called me and told me you needed me, but he didn’t take the time to explain anything.”

  “Ethan,” I say softly as I raise my head off his chest.

  “I figured it had something to do with him when I walked in and heard the tears,” he comments. “What happened, love?”

  I take a deep breath and tell him what Ethan told me earlier. When I’m finished, my eyes are filled with tears again.

  “I didn’t think I’d have any tears left,” I say as I wipe them off my cheeks and glance at the clock. When I see what time it is, I curse. “I’m late for work.”

  “I texted Uncle Marco before I came over here. I told him you weren’t feeling well and wouldn’t be in today,” he tells me. “I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew if Gabe was calling me before eight in the morning on a Sunday, it was bad.”

  “What am I going to do, Wes?” I ask as I pull myself from his arms and into a sitting position. “I love him, more than I ever imagined, but I don’t think I can trust him.”

  “He cheated on you, love,” he says tenderly, and tears form in my eyes again. “You don’t have to trust him.”

  “He couldn’t even tell me why,” I mutter and look at my hands. “Was it my fault? We haven’t done anything beyond heated kissing because I wasn’t ready. Do you think it was because of my inexperience, or my hesitancy to take that next step?”

  “If it was, then he’s a bigger asshat than I ever thought he could be,” he answers. “But, no, I don’t think that’s why. I think he got drunk and started thinking with the head in his pants instead of the one on his shoulders.”

  “He was supposed to go with me to see mom this afternoon,” I mutter and sigh. “I don’t even feel like going to see her now, but this is her last weekend in the facility, and she’ll be going back to Uncle James’ when she’s released on Friday.”

  “I’ll go with you,” he offers.

  “No, you and Gabe have plans,” I say and shake my head. “It’s your anniversary, and I’m not going to let you miss what he has planned.”

  “He’d understand, Gray,” he says but I shake my head again.

  “I’ll go visit mom alone,” I say and inhale deeply. “I’ll just tell her something came up and Ethan couldn’t come with me. It’s not far from the truth, and she doesn’t need to know what came up.”

  “Are you sure?” He asks, and I nod. “Okay, but you’re at least letting me buy you some breakfast.”

  “I don’t really feel like eating,” I mutter.

  “Too bad,” he says and stands from the bed. “Get a shower and get dressed. I’ll be back in half an hour. If you aren’t ready, be prepared for me to get you ready.”

  With that, he turns and walks from the room without waiting for my response. I sigh then crawl off the bed. I know if I’m not ready in half an hour, he will come in here and dress me himself.

  “Time to face the world,” I whisper to the empty room as I grab my shower caddy.

  I survived the loss of my twin, and I will survive this too.

  ****

  “Graycen,” Mom greets me with a huge smile. “I was wondering when you’d get here.”

  “Hey, Mom,” I respond and force myself to smile. She looks happier than she has in a while, and I owe it to this place.

  “Where’s this boyfriend of yours that I’m supposed to meet?”

  “Something came up, and he couldn’t come today,” I tell her, trying to keep the emotion from my voice. Thinking about Ethan makes me think about what he did, and I want to curl up and cry again. “Tell me what has you so happy today.”

  “Well,” she starts and grins. “I’m getting out of here on Friday and start a new job next Monday. And Roan has found me a small apartment here in Gainesville, so I won’t have to go back to that empty house.”

  “A job? Where?” I ask, letting the apartment thing go for now. I knew he wanted to find her somewhere local, but I didn’t think he’d be able to this quickly.

  “Right here, actually,” she says and looks around.

  “What on Earth could you possibly do here?”

  “Don’t forget that I have a psychology degree, Graycen,” she says, and I shake my head. “I’m going to help with the group therapy sessions as I work on my master’s degree. I want to help people who are dealing with the things I’ve gone through.”

  “Mom, are you well enough to do that?” I ask and look around. “You tried killing yourself a couple months ago.”

  “Yes, I realize that,” she says then shakes her head. “But I’m okay now and think my personal experience can help others. Roan and the head psychologist here feel that way as well and offered me a job. When I start, I’ll just be sitting and talking in the group sessions. Telling the others about what happened, and the roads that led to the choices I made.”

  “Okay,” I say and lean back in my chair. “If you feel you’re up for that, then by all means, go for it.”

  “I do and I am,” she says then sighs. “What are your plans for fall break? Don’t you have two weeks off for Thanksgiving?”

  “We do, but I have practice still, and a couple of matches in that time. Are you wanting to spend it with Uncle James?”

  “I was hoping to spend the holiday just the two of us,” she says, and I frown. “I know how much you’ve come to depend on James these past few years, but I wanted us to do something together.”

  “I was going to go see Dad over break,” I confess and look at the table. “But I can go the weekend after Thanksgiving.”

  “If you’ve already told your dad you’ll be there, you should go,” she says but I hear the sadness in her voice.

  “I didn’t talk to him yet,” I tell her. I have, but she doesn’t need to know that, and I know he’ll understand.

  “Are you sure?” She asks and I nod. “Okay, then we can have dinner, just the two of us, at my apartment.”

  “Where is your apartment?”

  “Oh, it’s not far from LPU, actually. It’s a small apartment above an art studio about two miles from campus.”

  I close my eyes and shake my head. “Mom, what’s the name of the art studio?”

  “Senses Inspired,” she answers, and I groan.

  “You know Mr. Sadler owns that building, right?” I ask as I open my eyes and look at her. “It’s his son’s studio.”

  “I didn’t know that, but what does it matter? I’ll be paying rent. Does it really matter who I pay it to?”

  “I guess not,” I answer and rise to my feet. “Who is picking you up when you’re discharged on Friday since you aren’t going back to Uncle James’?”

  “I was hoping you could,” she says and looks at her hands. “If you want to, that is.”

  “I’d be happy to,” I answer and smile at her. “I have to go now though. I have a little bit of homework to finish before class tomorrow.”

  “How are your classes going?” She asks, stopping me.

  “They’re going good, mom,” I answer and smile at her. “I’ll see you on Friday.”

  “See you then, sweetheart,” she responds brightly.

  I bend and kiss her cheek before I walk to the door and out of the room. I have no idea how I feel about what she just told me, but I couldn’t sit there any longer. I’m happy for my mom, I truly am, but I’m scared too. I’m scared she’s going to end up hurt like I have been, or worse, that she’s going to have a relapse, and no one will be around to help her this time.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Rico

  “Ready for this?” I ask as we board the bus Monday morning. We’re heading to a town just outside of Nashville Tennessee to bowl against a small, private college in the area. We’ll be on the bus for around ni
ne hours, and I can’t wait to tell Gray what I did this weekend.

  “I guess,” she responds with a shrug as she falls into a seat.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask as I slide in beside her. She’s usually excited about our away matches.

  “Don’t really wanna talk about it,” she responds then pulls her phone from her backpack, slides her earbuds in, and closes her eyes.

  “Okay,” I say and move to the seat beside Wes. “What’s going on with Gray?”

  “A lot happened this weekend,” Wes answers and shakes his head.

  “What?” I ask and look around. Nearly everyone has earbuds in and aren’t paying any attention to our conversation.

  Wes looks around too, and sighs. “Ethan and Gray kinda broke up,” he says in a whisper. “Then she found out when her mom is discharged, she’s moving into the apartment over Xander’s studio.”

  “How did she and Ethan kinda break up?” I ask but he shakes his head.

  “You’ll have to ask her about that,” he answers, and I sigh.

  “Fine,” I respond and walk back to the seat beside Gray.

  “What do you want, Rico?” She asks without opening her eyes.

  “How’d you know it was me?” I ask.

  “Your cologne,” she answers and opens her eyes. “Listen, I know you heard about Ethan and I, but I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

  “How do you know I heard about Ethan?” I ask and she raises an eyebrow at me.

  “I say you sitting with Wes,” she answers. “And even though I couldn’t hear your conversation, I know what he was telling you.”

  “Don’t be mad at him,” I say and look back at Wes, who is watching us intently.

  “I’m not,” she answers. “He helped me a lot the past couple of days. If not for him, I’m not sure what I’d have done.”

  “And you don’t want to talk about Ethan?”

  “No,” she answers and sighs. “Did Wes tell you the other thing that happened yesterday?”

  “The thing about your mom?” I ask and she nods. “He told me about her apartment.”

  “She also has a job,” she tells me and shakes her head. “She’s going to be working at the facility she’s in. Working with the group therapy sessions.”

  “Is she ready for something like that?”

  “I asked the same thing, and she reminded me that she has a psychology degree and sharing her life experiences with others could help them,” she answers, and shrugs. “Apparently Mr. Sadler and her therapist feel she’s up for it.”

  “Maybe we should question their sanity,” I respond. and she shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “Tell me what happened with Ethan.”

  “I really don’t want to talk about him,” she tells me again. “Tell me about this team we’re bowling against tomorrow.”

  I look at her for a minute, then shake my head. “Fine, but I’ll find out what happened even if I have to call him myself.”

  “I wish you’d drop it,” she says and looks at her hands, which are folded in her lap. “He and I haven’t talked yet, not since yesterday morning, and I’d like to see what happens before everyone knows.”

  “I’ll respect that,” I concede. She doesn’t need me going all protective right now. “I’ll tell you about the team we’re bowling against tomorrow.”

  “Thank you,” she says and smiles at me.

  “We’ll be bowling their men’s team because they’re not a co-ed team, but I don’t think we have anything to worry about. We have excellent women on our team who can hold their own against any male bowler out there.”

  “Yes, we do,” Joy speaks up from behind us. “I think Coach is changing things up a bit though. He said he wants to try something new for this match.”

  “What’s he changing?” Gray asks and Joy shrugs.

  “No idea,” she answers and leans back in her seat beside Micah. “Just said he was going to try something new.”

  “Lovely,” Gray says dryly and shakes her head.

  “You have nothing to worry about,” I tell her softly. “You’re the best bowler on the team, and he won’t pull you from the starting lineup.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” she mutters then looks out the window. “After this weekend, I’m not taking anything for granted.”

  I sit back and close my eyes as I think about what she just said. I know she had a bad weekend, and I would love to know what Ethan did to upset her, but I know better than to push the issue with her. I’m not sure how long I sit here with my eyes closed when her soft voice pulls me from my thoughts.

  “Rico?”

  “Yeah?” I ask and open my eyes to look at her. I can tell she wants to say something, but she hesitates. “You can tell me anything.”

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen between Ethan and I,” she confesses and looks out the window again. “He went to a party Saturday night with some friends and ended up very drunk. He did something while drunk that I don’t know if I can forgive him for.”

  “What did he do?” I ask softly. I can hear the pain in her voice, and it makes me want to get off the bus and go have a little chat with Ethan.

  “Does it matter what he did?” She asks, and I can tell from her tone that whatever he did was really bad.

  “Guess not,” I concede. “I can tell he hurt you though.”

  “He nearly had sex with another girl,” she mutters softly after a couple minutes pass.

  “Son-of-a-bitch,” I say loudly, and everyone on the bus looks up at me.

  “Rico,” Gray says, and I shake my head. I want nothing more than to pummel Ethan into a bloody mess, but I know that won’t help Gray any. “Please don’t tell anyone.”

  “I won’t,” I promise and lay my hand on her shoulder. “I’m here for whatever you need.”

  “I just need to figure out what I’m going to do now,” she says softly and looks at me.

  “Are you thinking about giving him another chance?”

  “I haven’t thought that far ahead,” she admits. “I’m trying to move past the pain so I can see what’s on the other side.”

  “He cheated on you, Graycen,” I say softly.

  “I know that, Alarico,” she responds, using my full name. “People make mistakes. I just need to figure out if this is something I can forgive him for or not.”

  I sigh and look at her for a moment before I move my hand from her shoulder. “I understand.”

  “Do you?” She asks with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yes,” I assure her. “Just remember that I’m here no matter what you decide to do.”

  “I appreciate that,” she says as a hint of a smile forms on her lips. “Even if I can forgive him, I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to trust him again.”

  “He told Gabe that he’ll never forgive himself for hurting you,” Wes says from beside us, causing us both to look up at him. “I know that doesn’t change anything, but I thought you should know.”

  “He told me the same thing yesterday morning,” she tells us. “He couldn’t tell me why he did it. If he doesn’t know why, how can I trust that he won’t do it again?”

  “Do you know the name of the girl he was with? Maybe if you spoke with her, she’d be able to tell you a little more about it,” I suggest and both of them look at me.

  “No,” Gray answers at the same time Wes says, “yes”.

  “You know her name?” Gray asks, looking at her best friend.

  “Gabe told me this morning,” he responds and shrugs as he sits in the empty seat in front of us.

  “I don’t think I want to know,” she mutters.

  “You sure? She goes to LPU,” Wes says, and I narrow my eyes. There aren’t many LPU students who go to UF parties, and I know most of the ones who do.

  “Then I really don’t want to know,” she says and rises to her feet. “You can tell him if you want, but please don’t tell me. I don’t want to think about seeing this girl on campus and comparing myself to her.”
<
br />   She moves to the back of the bus and puts her earbuds back in before Wes takes the seat she just vacated.

  “Who is she?” I ask as soon as he sits down.

  “Dylan Hadley,” he answers and my jaw drops.

  “Out of all the girls at LPU, it had to be my ex,” I say and it’s his turn to look stunned. “And Gray has a class with her.”

  “She’s your ex?” He asks and shakes his head. “We cannot let Gray know that.”

  “No,” I say and look over my shoulder at Gray, who has her Kindle out and is reading while bobbing her head to whatever she’s listening to. “Dylan is not the kind of girl you want to mess around with.”

  “Should we warn Ethan?”

  “Maybe,” I answer but keep my focus on Gray. “Or maybe we should let him figure it out for himself. He did make her cry, after all.”

  “You want to kick his ass, don’t you?”

  “More than anything,” I answer honestly. “But all that would accomplish is upsetting her even more, and I don’t want to be the reason she sheds more tears.”

  “She was broken, man,” he tells me, and I finally shift my gaze from Gray to him. “Yesterday morning after he left, she was curled up in her bed shaking and crying. It was all I could do not to track him down and kick his ass.”

  I shake my head and shift my gaze back to Gray. She’s closed her eyes, but her head is still moving to the beat of the music, so I know she’s awake.

  “She really is a beautiful girl,” Wes says, and I nod my head.

  “She’s more than that though,” I tell him as I watch her. “I just hope and pray him doing this doesn’t crush her self-esteem.”

  “Me too,” he mutters and sighs. “We’ll just have to be there to remind her how great she is.”

  “Yes,” I agree. Reminding Gray just how great she is, is exactly what I intend to do.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Graycen

  We’re just getting back to the hotel after we won our match when my phone rings. I glance at the screen and see Ethan’s picture flashing there.

  Sighing, I let myself into the room I’m sharing with Wren before I answer. “Hello,” I say softly.