Beneath Our Faults (24 page)

Ignoring Cora, Gabby grabbed the napkin and looked directly at me. "Daisy, you have to warn a girl before you start using the words ‘hooked up’ and ‘Keegan’ in the same sentence." She winked and covered her regurgitated food on her plate. "First, how do you kinda sort hook up with someone. Was it your first? You know, I don't even know if you are a virgin or not?" She was rambling.

Shit, rewind.

"Not hooked up like we had sex hooked up," I clarified. What exactly was the real definition of hooking up anyways? I reminded myself to Google it later. "It was more like, um," I paused, searching for the best words to describe what we had done, "second base?"

Oh god, second base? I had reverted back to my middle school days.

"Ohhh," Gabby said, stretching out the word with bright eyes. "Second base for you or second base for him?"

"Or both?" Cora cut in.

I looked at one girl then the other taking in that I had both of their full attention. They reminded me of two kids waiting in line at the candy store. "Well," I looked over at Cora with confusion, "he did it to me so second base for me," I guessed, giving her a questioning look.

"You go girl!" Gabby whooped, holding her hand out for a high five. "Who called it?" She yelled throughout the room looking around. "That's right, I called it!"

"Wrong!" Cora shouted over her cheers, holding her arm up. "I am definitely the one who called it. I knew I should have taken that damn bet!"

"I thought you didn't like Keegan and he was a manwhore?" I asked. I had been expecting Cora to warn me away from Keegan, not make bets about us hooking up.

She shook her head. "It's not that I don't like Keegan. I've known him since we were little. He just pisses me off sometimes but he is different with you." Gabby shook her head beside me in agreement. "Even Lane thinks so.”

“Yeah, normally Keegan is like some huge raging asshole to everyone, but he’s actually sweet to you,” Gabby said.

“Our Daisy girl is taming the beast,” Cora added.

“It’s not like that,” I replied. “I actually don’t know what it’s like.” I still had doubts about what Keegan had said to me before we left the cabin. Everyone knew he didn’t do relationships, so I wasn’t sure why he was willing to change his rules for me.

“Well, we will see, won’t we,” Cora replied. "Now spill it, Gab!" A pillow flew through the air, whacking Gabby in the side of the head. No! I wanted to ask her more questions about Keegan but it was clear our conversation had moved on. Gabby rubbed her head with her fingers and threw the pillow down on the floor underneath us.

"Here goes nothing," Gabby moaned, picking at the crust on her pizza. "Well…..," she hesitated, "that v-card that I always talk about sorta got lost during the break."

Cora jumped up from the couch pointing to the girl next to me. "I knew it you little hooker!" She stopped then brought her hand up to her chest taking in a deep breath. "Wait a minute. You were at a family party and you lost your virginity? That's just sick, Gabby. I told you to stay away from Piper and her damn messed up family. Gross," she shuddered then started to laugh, sitting back down on the couch.

"Shut up, idiot. You know it's not MY family, creep," Gabby answered, setting her plate down on the coffee table in front of us. She looked up at Cora and flipped her off. "Such a pain in my ass," she muttered under her breath.

"Yep, and that is why I am your bestest and you love me. Now details. I'm already pissed you waited this long to even tell me so you better make up for it with a damn good story."

"Okay," Gabby drew out slowly. "Well you know him, Cora." Her hand flew out to grab the pillow she threw on the floor and shoved her face into it hiding. Cora sprang up from the couch and plopped down directly in the middle of the two of us. Her hand grabbed the pillow, pulling it away from Gabby's bright red face and tossed it across the room, out of her reach. I laughed and Gabby let out a tortured groan.

"Gabrielle Nicole Taylor. Spill it right now!" Cora demanded, putting her hands on Gabby's shoulders and shaking her.

"Okay okay," Gabby shouted, flapping her hands around and breaking away from Cora's grasp. "Dalton Douglas," she said in a tiny whisper, using her hands to cover her face that time.

Dalton Douglas? I was fully aware I had a somewhat unusual name but who would torture their child with a name like that? I could make up a nursery rhyme on that spot with that name.
Dalton Douglas sat on the chair, Dalton Douglas puked everywhere.

"Piper's brother?" Cora screamed, prying Gabby's skinny fingers away from her face. Gabby's head nodded and she swatted Cora's hands away from her. "You lost your virginity to Satan's freaking brother? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Whoa. Definitely not what I was expecting. I didn't even know the little demon had a brother. Poor guy, he had a cartoon name and he shared the same bloodline as Piper.

"Yes," she moaned, shifting away from Cora on the couch. "I told you, stupid girl right here." She pointed over her head. "And he won't stop calling me now. The boy is driving me absolutely insane."

“How did that even happen? I can’t believe you lost your virginity drunk!”

“The party was miserable and everyone looked at me with their snotty noses turned down. They only thing they had to drink was champagne, so I just chugged glasses of that. I mean, I didn’t think that stuff actually got you that drunk. So I started wondering around his grandparent’s mansion to get away from everyone. The next thing I knew, I was in his room. Then his bed. Then we were naked and I was no longer a virgin.”

“How romantic,” Cora snorted. “Did you like it?

“Hell no! Do you guys remember when you lost your virginities? It hurt like a damn bitch. Any girl who says she got off during her first time is a downright filthy liar.”

“Didn’t you tell him to go easy on you?” I asked.

“I didn’t exactly tell him that my good ol’ cherry was still alive and intact. He didn’t find out until I cried out in freaking bloody horror from my poor vagina being ripped to shreds.” I opened my mouth in shock and Cora laughed.

“You didn’t stop him?”

“He tried to stop but I insisted he keep going. He had already broken through the barrier and I needed to get it over with, anyways. I was an eighteen year old virgin, for Christ sakes! But now, my vagina is seriously mad at me.”

“I would be mad at you too if you let a Douglas near me,” Cora said.

Gabby jumped from the couch and grabbed the remote. “Enough of stupid boy drama, let’s get back to our Salvatore brothers.”

I
GLANCED
up at a knock on my door and found my aunt standing in the doorway. A tray was perched in her hand with a box of tissues and two pints of ice cream. “Sophia mentioned you were upset when you got home," she explained. On the ride home from Cora's, all I did was think about Keegan's offer. My brain yearned for me to let take that leap but my heart kept grabbing my hand before I made the jump.

"That runt is worse than high school gossip girl," I mumbled, falling slack against my pillow.

She let out a light laugh. "I'm convinced she gets that from her father. You mind if I come in? I come bearing ice cream," she smiled, holding one pint up in the air.

I moved over, giving her room to sit down on the side of my bed. "You know I'm here to talk if you ever want to," she began, handing over a tissue. My crying had tamed down lately, but I think realizing my feelings towards Keegan and realizing I was ready to move on was bringing them back. They weren’t necessarily tears of sadness but they weren’t tears of joy, either. "In confidence," she added. "I won't go break our trust by telling your parents what you shared with me," she paused, opening up the ice cream. "Unless you're pregnant or it's a health issue, then unfortunately, I'm obligated to." Health issue? Dear god, please tell me she wasn't talking about me getting an STD.

Rocky Road and a spoon came my way. "I know you did some therapy back home but haven't gotten into anything here. I would be more than happy to find you something and take you if you would like a professional to talk to instead. When you let your problems build up, they fester and then you end up exploding in the end."

"Have you ever felt something for someone that you know you shouldn't?" I asked, looking up at her.

"Keegan?"

My head moved up and down in confirmation.

"And why shouldn't you have feelings for him?" She challenged, pointing her spoon over at me.

"Tanner," I whispered.

“I see,” she replied, “but Tanner is gone.”

"I just don't understand how I can have feelings for him when my heart is supposed to be with Tanner."

"You are going to have to move on with your life," she told me firmly, no bullshit. "He's gone and would want you to live your life and be happy."

"It's only been seven months. It's terrible I am even having feelings for Keegan.”

She grabbed my hand, clasping it in hers. “There is no determined time for someone to mourn. You do it on your own time and at your own pace; whether that is days, months or years. Did your dad every tell you why I moved away from home?”

“No,” I blinked. “I just thought you got a job here so you moved.”

She tucked her hair behind her ears, inhaling a breath. “I did get an internship here but that’s not the ultimate reason I wanted to get out of Indiana. I had a situation similar to yours happen to me. I dated a guy all throughout college. One night, at the end of our senior year finals, there was a party being thrown at one of the frats on campus. He asked me to go with him but I had to study. I assured him to go ahead without me and have fun with his friends. At the end of the night, he decided he wanted to drive over and spend the rest of the night with me. He got into his car drunk and hit another car head on, killing a family on their way to vacation along with himself.” My face fell soft, peering over at her and noticing the glistening around her eyelashes.

“I’m sorry,” I said, stunned this was the first time I was hearing about this.

“I understand our situations aren’t exactly the same because Tanner had no choice in his death but I think your parents realized what worked for me and decided to give it a try. They were so worried about you and were afraid you would try to harm yourself like your friend. I ended up moving here and interning for a company that Tommy's sister owned."

She smiled. "I was bringing her coffee one morning and smashed into him leaving a trail of coffee all over his white shirt. I was so humiliated and apologized profusely. I promised to buy him a new shirt but he just laughed off the entire situation, telling me the only way he would allow me to make it up to him was to have dinner with him that night. One dinner turned into two dinners then I found myself wanting to spend all of my time with him. Allowing Tommy to come into my life made me realize I needed to create a life without Christopher now that he was gone."

"We had so many plans," I cried out. "We had our entire wedding already planned. He was going to ask my dad to marry me the day we graduated. I couldn't imagine giving that away to someone else. He tried to get me to skip the day of the shooting with him to go to the lake with some of our friends but I was too afraid I would get in trouble. If I wouldn't of been so selfish Tanner would still be here with me!" My voice broke at the confession I had been keeping bottled up inside and the tears started to sprinkle down my cheeks.

My aunt leaned forward and wrapped me into her arms. "Honey, no one knows when something like that is going to happen.

“Why does it make so much more sense when you say it?” I asked.

“Sometimes, we know what we want but it helps to hear someone else agreeing with you.” She leaned over, squeezed my shoulder and left the room. I reached for my phone and sent a message to the person who had been changing everything for me.

ME: Do I still have that chance?

KEEGAN: Fuck yes. Dinner tomorrow night.

I tossed my phone beside me on the bed, taking in my aunt's words again. Maybe I wasn't as broken as I believed I was. Maybe I did need to realize that some people could stay in your heart, but not in your life.
I might not have pulled the trigger but I could have stopped that bullet from hitting him.
Now that I thought about it again, I was wrong. No one could have stopped that bullet from hitting him except for the person who pulled the trigger.