The Space In Between(50)

Eric cleared his throat and turned back forward. Ladasha rolled her eyes and spoke softly. Tears formed in her eyes. “I’m so stupid…”
“You’re not,” I promised. Even Cooper’s look showed sadness. Ladasha had lived a tough enough life, and the last thing she needed was to set herself up for another heartbreak by going for an engaged man. My brother.
The silence filling the space was heavy, somewhat tainted. Eric cleared his throat again stared straight out into the darkness. “It depends,” he said. Ladasha sat up and looked at him, waiting for him to explain.
“On what?” she asked.
Eric turned as far back to face us as he could, ready to enlighten us. “It’s like a kite. There are millions of kites in the world. Different shapes. Different sizes. Some kites are made for the crazy winds. Some get torn a little. And some plop! Instantly hitting the ground right out of the package.” He locked eyes with Ladasha as he continued.
“And then there are the kites that are breathtakingly beautiful. The kites that have never even tried to fly because other bad kites told them they weren’t good enough to soar. So that breathtakingly beautiful kite believed them. It wasn’t her fault. She did what she was taught. She lived in self-doubt. She stayed grounded. That kite was stripped of a chance to ascend from the ground and rocket past the trees, into the blue sky.”
Oh crap. Ladasha wasn’t the only one who was tearing up now. Eric continued.
“So your question was, could a stripper who was a bit wacky—in the best possible way—and a teacher who was…” he said, smirking and winking towards Ladasha, “handsome, smart, charming, dapper, strong…”
“Yeah yeah, we get it.” Ladasha laughed.
“Right. Could they ever have a shot with one another? Well, for starters, I think the girl isn’t a stripper. She just stripped. There’s a big difference. But if the timing was different, and the teacher wasn’t already engulfed in a different lesson plan, there would be no way in hell he could let her beautiful kite pass his way without entangling their strings together forever. And ever.”
And that was the end of it. He turned back forward and everyone went silent. Cooper pulled up to the house and Ladasha quickly shot out of the car, running for the house. Cooper chuckled to himself as he helped Michelle out of the car. I followed after her. Cooper laid the passed out Michelle in Eric’s arms. He continued to chuckle as I turned away from him to get rid of the idea of how much I was falling for his laugh. Eric turned towards him. “What is it?”
“That was a good speech you gave.”
Eric laughed and shrugged as he opened his door. “I majored in English.”


Chapter Thirty-Two

I SHUT THE car door, watching Eric carry Michelle towards the house. What a f*cking night. Andrea looked at me and I gave her a half smile. She still looked pretty drunk, and cold. “Let’s get inside.”
“Wait,” she said as she walked closer to me. I took her cold hands and rubbed them together between my hands to warm them up.
“What is it?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I know from day one my signals towards you have been confusing and all over the place. And I make rules. And I change them. I cry and say panda. But next I’m begging for soda pop. Then I want you to go away. And I change the rules again. And now we are friends, with no benefits, and I don’t know how I messed this up so much.”
“It’s all right, Andie.”
She chuckled. “It’s not. I just wish…” She wandered off with her sentence, shifting her feet on the ground. I kissed the top of her head and rubbed her arms.
“You’re drunk.”
“No,” she shook her head. “I’m wide awake. And I know deep down in my heart that if today were opposite day and you had told me you hated me…I want you to know that I would say I hate you, too.”
Her eyes glimmered like the white snow as she poured her heart out to me. She loves me. I went to open my mouth to speak, but before I could, she was bending over, violently vomiting on my shoes.
How f*cking romantic.





“THIS SUCKS,” ANDREA moaned into the toilet as I sat on the edge of the tub.
“At least with your new haircut you don’t have to worry about holding your hair back.” I chuckled towards the tequila-suffering beauty. Tequila was never a good choice. It had a way of making you feel like its best friend and suddenly, without any warning, it stabs you in the back and mocks you.
“I’m never drinking again…” she whispered. I laughed, secretly hoping she would remember her confession to me. My smile faded a bit as I thought of the other confession I’d heard today from Steve. I was beating myself up for knowing the lies Derrick had kept from her. But Derrick was gone, so what good would it be to tell her about Rachel and him? I wondered if she would still be mourning over a cheater…
I should tell her. If it came out I’d known and hadn’t told her, she would kill me. Even worse, she would hate me. And I didn’t mean the ‘opposite day’ kind of hate. And there were all the things I already wasn’t telling her—all the information about Iris, my past, and the paparazzi that she deserved to know.
I’d tell her when the time was right—and when her head wasn’t in the toilet.



Chapter Thirty-Three

I WOKE UP with the need for a garbage can next to my bed. I felt awful. Dammit Jose. No more tequila. Ever. Pushing myself up on my elbows, I was pleased to see Cooper walking in with a tray of all types of liquids and foods on it.