Free Summer Solstice by Vanessa Lockley Page A

fonder just like that stupid Hallmark saying that they print inside greeting cards.
     
    A sudden knock woke me out of my reverie. Shutting off the TV, I stood from the couch and went to my front door.
     
    I can't say I was surprised to see Rich on the other side of the door. We'd always been close, so being angry at him and ignoring him was really difficult for me. It wasn't a surprise that it seemed to be taking such a toll on him.
     
    "Hi," I said to him.
     
    "Hey." He rocked back on his heels nervously. "Can I come in?"
     
    Opening the door further, I let him in to my apartment. "Nice place you have here," he said, looking around. I nodded dumbly, hating the small talk.
     
    "What'd you come here for?" I asked. "It must be important if you were willing to fly here."
     
    "To apologize," Rich said simply. "For being such a hypocrite and for being so hard on you about the whole thing."
     
    "I'm sorry too," I sighed, sitting on the couch. "I never should have gone behind your back with your best friend like that."
     
    Rich took a seat next to me and shook his head. "Don't apologize, Lex," he began, "because you don't have anything to be sorry for. I knew how you felt about Seth."
     
    This surprised me. "How?" I asked. I thought I'd hidden it so well.
     
    "You always kind of wore your heart on your sleeve when it came to him," Rich said simply. "Maybe not boldly, but I could still see it." Rich stared at his hands for a few moments as if weighing his words. "And I could read Seth just as well as I could read you. I knew how he felt about you. I just didn't think he'd ever actually do anything about it."
     
    Rich knew Seth liked me and that I liked Seth?
     
    Before I could respond, he kept on talking, "And I'm sorry for sleeping with Sarah and keeping it from you. I think we both knew it had been a one time thing and for me to get so angry at you and Seth for something that Sarah and I had done that didn't even have the emotional attachment that you two do was completely wrong of me."
     
    "Rich," I cut in, "I don't care what happened with Sarah. That's your business. Just like my relationship with Seth is my business. Rich nodded and sighed. "But don't tell me that what Seth and I had was any different from what you and Sarah had."
     
    "What's that mean?" Rich asked, sounding confused.
     
    "It means," I began, "that to Seth, it wasn't anything more."
     
    "That's where you're wrong." This conversation was taking a bizarre turn. "Lexi, Seth is so in love with you, it's pathetic. Ever since that night at the bar, he's become somewhat of a hermit. He wakes up everyday and goes to work where he throws himself into the task so that he won't think about you. He rarely goes out with me. He mopes around the apartment like someone stole his puppy."
     
    I took a moment to let what Rich was telling me sink in. Seth really loved me? Really cared about me?
     
    "But he slept with that girl," I whispered.
     
    "He didn't."
     
    "But"
     
    "Lexi, I'm telling you that he didn't."
     
    "Doesn't matter anyway," I began, "He pretty much ignored me after I slept with him."
     
    "Lexi. Let me tell you what happened that morning."
     
    And he did.
     
    Apparently, Rich had gotten home from work somewhat awake still and super hungry. Because he hadn't been around much lately, he went into Seth's room to see if he wanted to go to breakfast, when he stumbled across my underwear.
     
    "How'd you know it was mine?" I asked, somewhat skeeved out that my brother could identify my underwear.
     
    "I didn't," he began. "Seth tried to make up some lame excuse and I totally saw right through it. I guess you could say that I forced it out of him. He never could lie to me all that well."
     
    Rich continued on, telling me how he'd gone on to yell at Seth for the next two hours, telling Seth that I was his sister and that was breaking every 'Bro Code.' He hadn't told Seth about Sarah, so this only made my brother feel worse about screaming at Seth,