Somewhere in the Middle

The Truth

"Evie!"

She looked up. "Hm?"

Luke laughed a little and continued turning down the bed. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said, fresh nerves taking up residence in her stomach as she pulled the covers down on her side, wishing that she still had the excuse of wanting space at night. She knew he wouldn't go for that anymore—she'd let it happen once, and that was that. "I'm fine."

If she were being honest, with him or with herself, the truth was that Evie felt wrung dry—like she'd never feel completely like herself again. Like the girl who could put all of her focus on her job, love her boyfriend the way she knew she was supposed to, and look at herself in the mirror and know exactly who she was, and who she wanted to be.

But she hadn't recognized herself in two days.

Forty-eight hours. Since Jamie had told her the truth.

"You sure?" Luke asked then, sliding into bed first while she tied back her hair. "You've seemed a little, I don't know... out of it, I guess for the past couple of days."

"Really?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant. She shrugged and sat down beside him, purposely not meeting his eye. "Guess I'm just tired."

Luke was laying down on his side beside her, his head propped up on one hand. "We all are. Just a couple more days though, and then we'll be able to sleep for a year."

She smiled, looked over at him. "A year?"

"Well," he said, wrinkling his nose a little, "maybe a month."

"Maybe a day," Evie offered with a grin. "You've got an album to record, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Luke said, slapping a hand to his forehead in jest. "Forgot about that."

"What would you do without me?" Evie joked, leaning closer to the handsome man beside her as he flashed her a smile.

His hand came over, touched hers, and he became abruptly serious when he said, "I'd rather not find out."

It was like someone had taken a bucket of ice water and dumped it over her head. Evie stared at Luke, her boyfriend, the man she loved, and wondered what the hell she was doing. What she was thinking. How she could possibly be feeling anything other than love for him, and only him. How she could be so frazzled by another man—a man she hadn't even particularly liked when she'd first met him.

How she could feel so upset to learn the truth, that Jamie was in love with her. How she could have gone two whole days wondering why that information had seemed to turn her world upside down, when really, her world was laying down beside her now, smiling at her like he always had, loving her like he always had.

She would give him the love he deserved. No matter the cost. To Jamie... or to herself.

Evie leaned over, pressed a kiss to Luke's lips. She pulled back after a moment, and stared at him, expecting him to be smiling as he always was after their kisses. But he wasn't.

He was staring at her like he'd never seen her before. But no, it wasn't surprise. It wasn't awe or love or desire. It was fear. Luke was staring at her with a darkness in his brown eyes that she'd never seen before. And he held the gaze. Held it until her eyes watered with guilt. Because in his gaze, it was like... like he was afraid that if she looked away, everything between them would change.

She kissed him again, afraid that the emotion of the moment would overcome her. But as their lips met again in a more frantic clash of teeth and tongues, the emotion of it did overcome her, and she whimpered into his mouth, afraid for what she was feeling—the guilt, the sadness, the confusion—but more afraid for what she wasn't feeling.