"I'll be right over."
"Oh, no, you don't need to come over. We can just talk on the phone."
"I'm already on my way." Connor clicked off.
"Wait, Connor?"
The line was dead. I looked down at my phone. Weird. I walked over to my bedroom so I could get changed, but there was a knock on the front door. What the hell? I walked over to the door and peered through the peephole. Jackson was standing there.
Shit. I was only wearing one of Rory's t-shirts. Did that matter? Rory had already told him that we were sleeping together. But the t-shirt was kind of see-through.
Jackson knocked on the door again.
Crap. I opened up the door a crack.
Jackson's eyes immediately fell on my legs. "I'm guessing things are going well with Rory?" He smiled at me.
"Mhm. What are you doing here?"
Jackson pushed the door open the rest of the way and walked in. He was holding a fruit tray. "Is Rory still asleep?" he asked, ignoring my question.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Yeah. It's a little early, Jackson. What are you doing here?" I repeated.
"It's Sunday Brunch Day." He held up the fruit tray. "I brought the fruit."
Of course you did. "I feel like you guys are just making stuff up so you can hang out here as much as possible."
"You two do have the nicest place. But we actually do this every second Sunday of the month. And Rory has to host because he's the chef." Jackson sat down on one of the kitchen stools. "He's super annoying in other people's kitchens. He's always complaining about dull knives and crap like that."
"Okay, but brunch is supposed to be closer to lunch time, isn't it? It's 8 a.m., Jackson."
Jackson shrugged. "We usually make it an all day thing. I mean, we used to all just crash at Rory's the night before. But he was a little busy last night, wasn't he?" Jackson winked at me.
I could feel my face turning red. "Well, I'll be right back. I need to change."
"Don't do it on my behalf. You're fine."
I rolled my eyes at him and began to retreat to my bedroom when there was a second knock on the door. "Do you mind getting that, Jackson?"
"Stranger danger," he said and popped off the lid of the fruit tray.
"I'm sure it's just Connor."
"You never know. Besides, if it is Connor, I'd love to see his reaction to your outfit."
Why was he torturing me on purpose? I sighed. It didn't really matter. Connor had already seen me in just one of Rory's t-shirts before. I walked over to the door and opened it.
"Hey...Keira." His eyes landed on my breasts for a second, but then immediately snapped back to my face. "I brought coffee." He held up the tray of coffee and smiled. "Is Rory up yet?"
"No, he's still sleeping."
Connor peered over my shoulder at Jackson. "Hey, Jackson."
"Hey, Connor."
Connor looked back at me. "Sorry, I rushed over," he whispered. "I thought I could beat Jackson here. Are you sure everything is okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. I just..." my voice trailed off when I saw the newspaper tucked under Connor's arm. Shit, is that The Post? I couldn't tell from the angle. I looked back up at Connor. "Thanks for bringing coffee. Can I help you with that?"
"Oh, yeah. I didn't know how you liked it. Cream and sugar okay?"
"Yeah, that's perfect."
"Here." Connor picked a cup out of the tray and handed it to me.
"Thanks." Crap. I had been hoping he'd hand over everything to me.
Connor walked past me, placed the tray of coffee on the counter, and tossed the newspaper down next to it.
It was The Post. I took a deep breath. It's not like any of them read my articles, though. They had never said anything about them. And they definitely didn't sit around the kitchen reading the newspaper out loud. That would be so weird. But they were weird. Oh God. It was probably a brunch reading session.
"Do you still want to talk about what you wanted to talk about?" Connor asked.
"That sounds ominous," Jackson said. He lifted one of the coffees out of the tray. "I'll let you two talk." Jackson winked at me again and walked over to the couch.
"Why does Jackson keep winking at me?"
Connor sat down on one of the stools. "I may have crashed at his place Friday night and confessed to him that I have a crush on you. Maybe." Connor shrugged.
"That's a lot of details for maybe. How did you like Julie?" I wanted him to be happy. He was such a nice guy.
"I actually had a really good time. But I think I probably blew it when I ran after you."
"I'm sure you didn't blow it."
"No, I did. I mean, I seriously just ran after you. I didn't even say anything to her."
"She knows we're friends, Connor. I can explain what happened to her. I can fix it."
"I should have already apologized. I just felt like such an ass."
"You're not an ass. That was the sweetest thing a guy has ever done for me."
Connor looked down at his coffee. "Maybe we should just talk about what you wanted to talk about, Keira. What do you want to know about Rory's ex?" He took a sip of his coffee.
I hated that I always seemed to be hurting him. I sat down on the stool next to his. "What happened between them? And what was she like? Anything you can tell me, really."
Connor looked back up at me. "She was like the exact opposite of you. I really don't even know why Rory liked her. Probably cause she was a freaking ten." I must have made a face, because Connor quickly said, "Not that you aren't, Keira. That's not what I meant at all. You know I think you're an eleven." He looked back down at his coffee cup.
"What do you mean by the complete opposite of me?"
"Super high maintenance. She was just always a bitch. And she didn't like when Rory hung out with his friends instead of her. She really hated Jackson and me. We didn't see him that much when they dated. And when we did get to hang out, he was always texting her. I'd never seen him like that. He was completely whipped. It was so bizarre."
I couldn't imagine Rory being whipped. He was always so in control. Especially in the bedroom. I could feel myself blushing. Maybe that was why. Maybe he resented her for being so bossy. Nothing Connor said so far was a concern at all. I loved Rory's friends. He could hang out with them whenever he wanted. And I would never try to control him. I was a complete pushover. I was barely good at making decisions for myself.
"I think he thought that she was out of his league or something. Like she was the best he could ever do. And he completely lost it when he found out she cheated on him. He crashed at my place for months and then just disappeared. He didn't even tell me he was going to Italy. When he came back, he seemed completely back to his old self. Except for his desire to fuck every girl in the city. It was like he was taking it out on every girl he met."
I winced.
"Sorry, Keira."
"No, it's fine." I ran my thumb along my coffee cup. For some reason that information was unsettling. I thought about how he was always so in control again. Did he like dominating women to somehow get back at his ex? That was really messed up. Was he actually thinking about her when we were having sex?