A Cardiac Mistake

Chapter 3

Lunch finished quickly, and Dexter had eaten alone in the living room while I was putting the dishes away. Logan was helping out, cleaning up the mess on the counter, when he said, "I think that's all good. Thanks for helping."

"I'm glad to be of use," I replied with a smile.

Logan excused himself and returned to his room, leaving me alone with Dexter who was still eating. I was about to run to my room too, to avoid Dexter, but I was living in the same house as he did, and I think avoiding him my whole life was going to be hard to do.

There was a heavy atmosphere between us. The only things audible were the dish washer and the TV he was watching.

"You aren't going up?"

I glanced at him, then sighed. "I think we need to talk about this."

Dexter wasn't even looking at me when he replied, "You don't say?"

I was waiting for him to say more, to do something, but when a conversation wasn't obviously popping up, I was about to leave when he tapped on the sofa beside him. "Come here. I won't bite."

Sliding into the sofa, warily, he scooted over for me to have enough space. I could see he wasn't being hostile, but calm, but he had hurt me before, and he could do the same anytime again.

"Why'd you cheat on me."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement, and I fumed at this and replied, "I cheated? Are you sure I was cheating on you? Aren't you the one who did the cheating between us? I'm pretty sure I wasn't the one making out with some b***h in the alley."

"Well, I wasn't the one having s*x with a guy the night we had an argument, for all I know."

I shut my mouth at his reply. Yes, I had s*x with a guy the night we had an argument, but we were done. He clearly had said we were over before I did the deed with another guy out of anger and hate, which was stupid.

"So really, why did you cheat on me?" He repeated. "Or rather, who was it you had s*x with? I can't believe you didn't even give me a month to get over you."

It was my turn to get angry, and I could feel my cheeks burn. "I didn't give you a month? You didn't even give me any time when you went out and kissed her!"

Dexter's hand was suddenly on my lips, his eyes forming into slits. "Shut it, Sam. I don't want anyone knowing where I was last summer. And I didn't kiss anyone. I swear."

"Bullshit."

"Fine." He turned his attention back to the TV and was chewing his food down slowly. "Just tell me your part, and I'll tell you mine. You go first, since I obviously think you're in the wrong."

I glanced at him, patiently waiting for a retort, when I sighed and leaned back on the sofa. "You were always out late at night, and I heard you did it with some girl in the back alley." I paused, looking at him. "Seriously Dexter, the back alley? You could have caught a disease."

He rolled his eyes. "Go on."

"I was so angry, so hurt. And since we were over, I did it with some guy. The end."

"That's what I don't understand," Dexter muttered. He was suddenly staring at me sadly. "How could we have broken up when I don't even remember you breaking up with me, or I?"

I pulled my phone out, wishing I had saved his message.

"You sent me a message the night you had s*x in the alley," I replied softly. "You said you didn't love me anymore, and that we were done. Said you loved someone else and that she was better. I did it afterwards. We broke up when I had s*x. I wasn't cheating."

My ex-boyfriend sighed heavily. "You've got some twisted logic running in there, Sam."

"You broke up with me," I retorted.

He shook his head. Placing his food on the coffee table, he sat sideways until he was facing me. "I didn't send you any message about breaking up. All I remember is you were ignoring me. I found out you had s*x with someone else when I tried to talk to you that night. I came over, I thought no one was at home, apparently I was wrong."

We were facing one another, quietly waiting to see if the other was lying. "So let's get this straight," I pulled out a finger, indicating 'number one'. "You had s*x with a girl in the alley."

"Must you repeat it a million times?" He deadpanned.

I could feel a smile forming on the corners of my lips. I was so over him, really over him, I couldn't even remember why I was so angry at him in the first place. Oh, that's right. He cheated on me.

"Two," I pulled another finger out. "That night, you sent me a message about breaking up."

"Three?"

I nodded my head up and down. "Three, twelve hours later, I had s*x with a guy. After that, we never saw one another again."

Dexter tapped his chin, thinking seriously. I knew he was thinking about stuff because he had done the same in the past. He might be my boyfriend, and we might have had s*x with other people other than the significant other, but that didn't mean I had time to understand him.

"One," He began his own explanation by using the same method I had done: the pinky raise. "I had s*x with a girl, in the alley. I was curious and drunk. And, well, I was stupid." Dexter muttered. "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," I smiled.

He tapped the number 'two'. "Second, I regretted my actions. I was going to apologize. I tried looking for you. I found you in the house, having s*x with another guy. Three, I left Philadelphia and returned home."

We were quiet, really quiet. Maybe two to three months was really enough for us to get over. Or maybe it was because we had admitted to cheating, whatever it was, we were surprisingly... calm with one another.

Dexter leaned on the sofa. "So was it Max that night?"

I stared into his blue eyes. How I had always loved looking at them before, and never really noticed the way they crinkled at the edges of the eyes.

"Un," I muttered almost too quietly.

"Un?" He repeated, dead serious.

I winced back, waiting for him to get angry but he wasn't. He was just quiet and had crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes," I answered meekly, looking down on my hands. Seconds became minutes before I realized he wasn't replying. I mustered the courage to look up at him, and regretted it immediately.

His eyes were fuming. His lips set into a think line. "I knew it," He breathed out loud.

Dexter was touching his temple, rolling his fingers on it repetitively. "So, you're going out with Max now?"

I shook my head, biting my lip. "We're still friends. We somehow managed to stay the same even after that," I replied softly. "It was a spur of the moment, and I hate myself for using him that night to remove my anger."

There was silence again in between us, but this time he looked up at me – and for the first time since our break-up, I got a good look at his eyes more than before.

"We can't let them know, especially Louisa," He muttered, sitting back on the sofa comfortably and turning the channel to a different one. "We're just gonna have to be chill about it. And relax, I've gotten over you. I don't really want someone who's in love with someone else."

I blushed quickly. "I'm not in love with Max."

"Yeah," He replied nonchalantly. "Sure you aren't."

"Dexter..."

"All I care about right now is no one finds out we dated before, got it?" He said without looking at me. "You're a smart girl. Let's just call it quits. It's also obvious you've gotten over me or you wouldn't have told me Max's name."

I looked at him as he watched TV. We were quiet for a moment, until I said, "So that's it?"

"That's it." He finished.

Three months. Three months I was waiting for an answer, and when I finally got it, I couldn't help but be jittery about it. It felt like it was too easy, so easy. "So we're just going to pretend it didn't happen and live on with our lives?"

"Well, do you have any other alternatives?" Dexter asked me, glancing at me. "We could just tell them everything, including us not being virgins."

I punched his chest. "As if we could say that."

"See? Then that's all we need to do right now." Dexter was quiet for a moment, until he glanced back at me again and asked, "Does your mom know about your... condition?"

I realized what he was talking about. My condition, my ailment, something that's similar to my dad. I sucked in a breath, and said, "I don't think mother knows. She's never really cared about me after all."

My ex-boyfriend considers this for a moment. "True enough. We never heard anything about you from Louisa. I guess you're just a load on her shoulders right now, aren't you?" He laughed. "But, seriously, are you okay?"

It was my turn to laugh. "Yes, I'm really okay."

Dexter knew mother and I weren't exactly on friendly terms. He was my boyfriend long enough to know I never opened up about my mother to anyone, except Max.

"I'm just kidding," He added softly. "It's officially nice to meet you, Sam."

"It's officially nice to hear the truth once and for all," I replied with a smile. "I guess we really were just kids, going around and dating people for the fun of it. Although, I really did love you, Dexter."

He turned his head to face me. "I really loved you too, Sam."

Again, we were quiet, as if not knowing what to do. "So I have to keep two secrets from my new family?" I recalled, looking down on my fingers again. "One, we used to date. And two, you aren't a virgin anymore."

Dexter laughed heartily. "It's not like being a virgin is important for guys. I did it a lot of times with other girls when we broke up. Now, hurry up and leave. I don't want you on my side, even if we talked about the past properly."

"What's with the change of pace?"

He smiled at me eerily. It was a fake smile, and I knew it. "I just want to think about these things, you know, grasp the situation. I'll be okay tomorrow, it's just... I feel like a load has been lifted from my chest right now."

I got up from the sofa, giving him an awkward smile. "Then I guess I'll return to my room."

"Yeah," He swatted me away. "You go do that."

"Thank you, Dex," I said before reaching the stairs.

Dexter gave me a lazy smile. "Don't thank me yet. You'll get a shitload of experiences soon."

Climbing the stairs, I reached my room in a matter of minutes. I had jumped on the bed, my back on the soft comforters, when I started remembering the months Dexter and I were dating. How I met him, how we started dating, how we argued and broke up, and now, how we were awkwardly making up.

"Life," My dad liked that word, and I repeated his words in my head. "It's so full of surprises. But you have to keep hold of these experiences and do everything you can to make it as simple as possible."

But when I think about my life right now - moving out of Southampton and into Philadelphia, finding out my ex-boyfriend is my new stepbrother – exactly which of this was simple? And while I pondered on these things for the rest of the afternoon, I was certain my life was anything but simple started today.

[ You okay? ] Max messaged me at five in the afternoon.

I replied quickly, [ Yeah, just confused. We made up. ]

[ I guess that's good, ] He said in the message. [ So everyone there knows? ]

[ No, ] I paused for a moment, thinking. [ We decided to keep it a secret. ]

Five minutes passed before he replied again, with a longer message this time. [ We'll that's okay too, although, I think you're holding onto more secrets now, Sam. ]

I chuckled at his reply. Dexter had asked me the same thing earlier, "Does your mom know about your condition?" And no, my answer to that was she didn't. She didn't know about my life right now. She didn't know about my ex-boyfriends. She surely didn't know about my condition right now.

[ You okay? ] Max asked again for the second time that afternoon.

[ I'm good, ] I replied minutes later. I really was okay, though. I felt okay. Their worries, both Max and Dexter's worry, was heartening. But I also knew where my best friend's worry was coming from.

This condition I had, after all, was the same one that dad had passed away from.