Free On Solid Ground: Sequel to in Too Deep by Michelle Kemper Brownlow

puking.”
    The waitress came back with our food, fumbled some more, and quickly darted away. I could feel the vein pulsing in my neck. I nodded for her to continue even though I knew I didn’t want to hear the rest.
    “Jake, listen. Calon offered to walk me home and we kissed. That’s it. End of story.”
    She gulped down half of her water and I just stared at her. Instantly, I could see it, his lips on hers. I knew what her soft pouty lips felt like. They would make anyone melt. Gracie wore her heart on her sleeve, and in the throes of passion, she held nothing back. Gracie’s kisses were heaven. I know how she must have kissed him, and it ripped me apart. My heart experienced a sense of déjà vu when it skipped the same beat it did each time she went back to Noah last semester. I wanted to punch something. Gracie didn’t need a distraction like Calon clouding her judgment, and, selfishly, I didn’t need a rock god overstepping boundaries with my vulnerable girl.
    “So, it’s been a secret all this time?” I pressed my fingers against my forehead and massaged away the tension that threatened to split my head wide open.
    “No. Not at all. It wasn’t until just now, when you referred to us as having just met, that I realized I had never told you. I told Becki and Stacy the next day, and they agreed it should never get back to Noah, even though we were broken up. It was so long ago, I guess I just sort of lumped you with the girls and assumed I’d told you because I’d told them. I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you. We weren’t as close back then as we are now.” She seemed less nervous, which should have helped me calm down, but that didn’t happen.
    “God, Gracie.” It’s all I could muster. My hands were fisted on the table.
    The waitress refilled Gracie’s water but didn’t stick around. I was thrilled the Café was apparently understaffed so we could get through the conversation without her asking if we were okay every five minutes. My brain was spinning; I certainly couldn’t think about the food in front of me until the discontent worked its way through me. In those couple minutes of silence, I realized I wasn’t upset they’d kissed. Hell, Jessica and I were dating then, so it’s not like Gracie had cheated on me. But I
was
upset by the fact that what had obviously been an intense connection two years ago was still a force big enough to be visible from where I stood.
    “He kissed me on the walk home, Jake. That’s it. He didn’t come in. He left when I walked into the building, and I just assumed he’d been drinking, too, and didn’t remember. So, it was just weird that he remembered me today. Then he seemed cryptic, like he wanted to explain why he hasn’t approached me since. I was curious, but also ridiculously uncomfortable. That’s the intensity you saw when you walked up.”
    “Gracie. I don’t want secrets. I
won’t do
secrets.” I let my mind wander to how it all must have played out earlier at The Garage. Sensitive, broken rock star sees a beautiful girl he once hooked up with but didn’t get as far as he’d wanted. He strikes up a conversation, and when he senses she is broken, too, he swoops in with the cryptic, open-ended excuse for why he’s kept his distance all this time. It’s probably his normal MO. I hoped there was nothing about the night they met she wasn’t telling me. I raised my eyebrow.
    “No secrets, Jake. None.”
    “You two okay here?” Gracie nodded, looked up at me, and the waitress smiled and walked away. I wasn’t okay. It was the first time I ever wondered if Gracie could be pulled away from me again.
    She reached across the table for my hand. Another first...I pulled away from her.
    The look on her face cut me deeply.
    “Shit, Gracie, it’s Calon Ridge. I can’t compete with that.”
    As soon as it was out of my mouth, I regretted it. She looked up at me as though I’d poked a hole in her heart. I was disappointed, but I didn’t