Small Town Girl by Gemma Brooks Page B

couldn’t even look at me. He just
sat there, hunched forward, with his hands folded together in front of him.
    “I’ve been thinking a lot,” he said. “I
keep thinking about you and him. What he did to you. What you did with him.”
    “Luke,” I said. “Don’t…”
    “I don’t know how I can get over it,
Brynn,” he said. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes. In seven years of
being with Luke, I’d only ever seen him cry once when his grandma passed away
while we were still in high school.
    “So you’re sure you can’t forgive me?” I
asked.
    “It just changes things,” he said.
    “It doesn’t have to,” I said.
    I shuffled over and took a seat next to
him. I didn’t know if he wanted me to sit by him or not, but I didn’t care.
    The truth was, I didn’t know what to say.
I didn’t have a legitimate reason for sleeping with Hudson other than the fact
that he was who he was and I allowed him to seduce me.
    “I can’t change what I did,” I said. “I
can’t expect you to forget it either. I just don’t know why you care so much.”
    He turned towards me again, and I fully
expected him to finally confess that he had feelings for me and that that was
why it hurt him so bad. He said nothing.
    “What I have with Hudson, that’s
nothing,” I said. “Just a fling.”
    “What you have with Hudson,” he repeated
me verbatim. “What’s that mean?”
    “Huh?” I tried to play dumb, but I knew
I’d backed myself into a corner.
    “I thought you just hooked up with him
once,” he said. “Is it turning into a thing now?”
    “I don’t know what it is,” I said.
    “Did you see him again?” Luke asked. I
could hear his heavy breathing kicking in. He was getting upset again.
    “Last night,” I said. “But nothing
happened.”
    “Brynn,” Luke groaned. He stood up and
stuck his hands in his pockets. “How can you sit here and tell me it meant
nothing when you are still taking to that guy and hanging out with him?”
    He had a point, and I wished more than
anything that I had a good answer for him. Things were complicated, and I knew
that. I didn’t have valid excuses for anything anymore.
    Luke took a few steps towards the door.
    “Wait,” I said. “So you’re leaving? Just
like that?”
    He spun around and put his hands out as
if he couldn’t make it any more obvious.
    “So that’s it?” I asked. “Why’d you even
come here tonight?”
    His shoulders drooped as he looked me
square in the eyes.
    “I don’t know,” he said. I’d never seen
him look so defeated before.
    In that moment, I had two choices: I
could either continue our argument that was clearly going around in circles and
getting us nowhere or I could just let him go. If he wasn’t man enough to fight
for me and finally admit he loved me too, then I knew I needed to move on and
explore other options.
    “Goodbye, Luke,” I said.
    He seemed a little shocked that I didn’t
say anything beyond that, but within seconds he’d left my apartment and slammed
the door. A picture frame containing a picture of us from our high school
homecoming coronation fell off the wall and the glass shattered on the wood
floor in his place.

 
    ***

 
    At exactly 8:05pm, I found myself
standing in front of Hudson’s hotel room door, knocking lightly. I had taken my
sweet time getting ready that night and was wearing my tightest jeans and
lowest cut blouse. I had curled my hair and slicked on red lipstick. I hoped I
didn’t look like too much of a whore, but I wanted him to remember me. As far
as I knew, it was going to be our last night together.
    “Brynn,” he said as he opened the door.
His eyes washed over me, looking me up and down. “Wow. You’re all…dressed up.”
    My face turned several shades of scarlet
as I suddenly felt sheepish. Maybe I overdid it?
    Hudson pulled me by the arm and led me
over to his bed where I promptly sat down.
    “Want something to drink?” he asked.
    “Sure,” I replied.
    “Just