Lost and Found

Chapter Fourteen

It might take a year, it might take a day, but what's meant to be will always find a way -author unknown

***

"Paul, I can't forgive you if I don't get an explanation," I told him.

"What am I supposed to tell you?" he responded.

We were in a local cafe talking over the Lexi thing. Well, I was. Paul didn't seem to care about this bump in our relationship.

"Um let me think," I said sarcastically. "Maybe why in the world you were on a date with Lexi."

"Because I thought we were over and guys have a thing called rebounds."

"You slept with her?"

"No..."

"Oh Paul." I buried my face in my hands. How could he? Even though I didn't love him I felt my heartbreak.

"I realize now that it was a really stupid mistake."

"Really? I thought that you'd think it was the best thing ever."

"No need to get snarky with me."

It was like a lightbulb went off in my head. "Where did you learn to call me that?" I asked slowly as I stood up and backed away from the table.

"Why?"

"Just tell me."

"I learned it from your mom." He shrugged like it was no big deal. It was a huge deal. I blame myself. I never told him that she was abusive. I never opened up to him. I should have.

"When?" I could feel my jaw clenching and unclenching.

"What do you mean when?"

I took a deep breath. "When did you learn to call me snarky?"

"Like last week," Paul responded.

My mouth fell open. I couldn't breathe. Tears threatened to make their appearance. He had been hanging out with the mother, who he knew I hated. But I never told him why.

"Paul..."

"Look, Juliette, If you want to give us another chance then just say it."

"I-I thought I did."

"Then what's the problem?"

"You know that I hate that woman," I said, my tone sharp with accusing eyes.

Paul stood up. "That woman is your mother. And it's not like you ever told me why you hate her."

"Because she's been abusing me since I was little," I blurted. I covered my mouth with my hands. Shoot, I screamed at myself, he wasn't supposed to know that.

"What?" he questioned.

"N-nothing."

"Your mom is abusing you now?" His voice bugged me. It sounded almost as if he was making fun of me.

"Excuse me?"

"You know when my dad first told me he knew a girl who I'd like he warned me that you liked to make up stories."

Of course, my mother would say that. She liked to lie about Hailey and me to build herself up. She sometimes got so lost in the lies she came up with that she started to believe them herself.

"I really liked you Paul, but now that I see who you really are, an ignorant pig, stay out of my life."

I grabbed my coat and stormed out of the cafe. After getting in my truck it took me five minutes to compose myself. I pulled out my phone and called Layla. No answer. Then Jessica. No answer. Then Ethan.

"Hey Foster!" he yelled through the phone. My heart immediately started to quicken its pace and my breathing became shallow.

"Can we hang out? I really need a friend." I made sure to stress the friend part.

"Um...sure."

"Great. Meet me at Starbucks."

"You hate Starbucks."

"Correction, I hate their coffee not there hot cocoa."

Ethan chuckled through the phone. "What's with you and hot chocolate?"

"I don't know. Maybe I should get it checked out."

"Yeah, cause they'll do that," Ethan responded, sarcasm leaking through every word.

For some random reason that made me smile. Isn't there a rule about smiling after a break-up? Aren't you supposed to wait a week?

***

"So what happened?" Ethan asked as we plopped down at a table, drinks in both of our hands. "And why do I have a feeling it has something to do with that boyfriend of yours?"

"Because it does," I responded as I played with my straw so I didn't have to look him in the eyes.

"Did he hurt you? Do I have to go beat him up?" I glanced up at Ethan. He was dead serious.

"No. I...I don't know how to explain it. I think he was working with my mother without him actually knowing." I leaned my head on my arm.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we were having our date night and he was planning on making me go back to her house. If he did, I told him we were over. Then as a 'rebound', he slept with the school's slut. I agreed to meet him so I could figure out what really happened, and he started to accuse me of being just like my mother. So I broke up with him."

It took a moment for Ethan to react. "What?"

"I am not repeating that monolog."

"Can I go have a little talk with this Paul guy?" he question, hands forming a fist.

"Ethan," I put my hand over his, "he's not worth it."

"Are you alright?"

"I guess. But I feel like I can't trust anyone now."

Ethan moved so he could hold me. I smiled at this, my face instantly turning red. I let my hair fall in front of my face so Ethan couldn't see that he had an effect on me.

"Hey," He said gently, "you still have Shawn, Layla, Hailey, Arianna, and me."

I felt tears sting my eyes. That small word, me, made me realize something. I might not completely trust Ethan but he was more than willing to try to get us back where we once were. Back to being closer than close. Back to always standing beside each other. Back to being best friends.

"Thank you for not using this break-up to your advantage," I told him as I buried my head in the fabric of his shirt.

"I know you better than anyone, and I can tell that you're not in a place to start a relationship."

"We just started talking again."

"You don't need to explain yourself. If you walked out on me I'd feel the same way."

"That means everything."

Ethan just nodded his head before moving away and picking up his coffee. I was overjoyed that he wasn't going to pressure me into a relationship but what if this was just another game he played. Ethan could get any girl he wanted, so why me? Maybe this is how it went. Become friends, tell them that you like them, say you won't pressure them, date them, leave them. This could not, this would not happen to me. Just because I didn't have to think about Paul anymore didn't mean I wanted to think about Ethan

"Your phones going off," Ethan told me, breaking my train of thought.

"Oh, yeah," I responded as I grabbed my phone.

Layla texted: Everything alright? You called.

Me: No, Paul and I are over.

Layla: I'm sorry. He doesn't deserve you.

Me: It's fine.