The Broken Road - A Zac Efron Novel (18+)

Chapter 93 - New Year, New Us

I had done a lot of thinking the night before. I had never pictured myself as "the other woman" – hell, I knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of that.

There was no excuse for what we did – and we had definitely crossed a line. But it was Zac. Karma sure had a cruel sense of humor when it came to us. I was single, unattached, and the universe kept throwing us together in these improbable, crazy situations. And he wasn't available.

I thought about what Anna had told me at Thanksgiving- how he really loved Alex and how he hadn't been that happy since we had been together, and I felt tremendous guilt for inserting myself in their relationship.  I felt horrible for what I had done.  Saying we were both caught up in the moment and didn't think about her at all is the honest truth, although that somehow seemed just as bad as doing it intentionally.  I couldn't help but think about the pain the truth would cause her and I didn't want to be a part of doing that to another person.

The next night, Anna's party was in full swing and there must have been 200 people there.  I nervously looked around the party, searching for Zac and Alex.

"Alright, what is going on?" Anna finally asked me.

I knew I looked guilty as fuck.

"I can't tell you," I said as I poured myself another drink and avoided eye contact.

"Oh no," she said sternly.  "What did you do?"

"Trust me," I sighed.  "You don't want to be involved."

"Like hell I don't," she said sarcastically.

"You can't tell Zac," I told her.

"I won't," she said as she drank her cocktail.

"Yesterday...we ran into each other at the airport.  I don't know why, but I asked him why he never proposed.  He said he wanted to show me something when we got to LA," I said and I got choked up.

"What?  The ring?"

"He took me to the house on Robin Drive.  Did you know he bought that house for us?  When we were together?"

"Yes," Anna said flatly and I snapped my head back around and stared at her.  "I'm sorry! I didn't know until after you weren't together anymore.  We were at a party after he got out of rehab, and he just...he broke down and told me everything.  I didn't think you would want to know...you were already with Kyle."

"Did you know he kept it?  He never sold it."

"What?  No, I didn't know that. I told him to sell it..."

"Well...he didn't," I said as I took a drink.

"So...what happened?"

"Things got...intense," I sighed.

"What does that mean?"

I hung my head in shame as I confessed, "It started with kissing, and it ended up with us naked on the living room floor.  We didn't have sex," I said, as if that somehow made what we had done better.

"I know, he didn't have a condom with him, otherwise you would have," she said matter-of-factly.

"He TOLD you?!" I practically shouted.

"He didn't tell me about the house...just that you guys ran into each other and things got out of hand. What the hell are you two doing?  You're playing with fire."

"I know," I shook my head with tears in my eyes.  "I know.  But Anna, it's Zac."

"And he told me the same thing, 'But Anna, it's Jess.' It doesn't excuse what you two did.  And I'm going to tell you the same thing I told him.  Right now, you two are caught up in the fairytale aspect of what happened.  Running into each other randomly.  Your dad telling him you were meant to be together.  Have either of you thought about what it would actually mean to get back together?  Your lives are totally different now..."