by Lizzie James
Gravity Happens
Lizzie James
Contents
Acknowledgments
Untitled
1. Lauren
2. Thomas
3. Lauren
4. Thomas
5. Lauren
6. Thomas
7. Lauren
8. Thomas
9. Lauren
10. Thomas
11. Lauren
12. Thomas
13. Lauren
14. Luke
15. Thomas
16. Lauren
17. Thomas
18. Lauren
19. Thomas
20. Lauren
21. Thomas
22. Lauren
23. Thomas
Epilogue
Also by Lizzie James
Copyright © 2020 Lizzie James
This book is a work of fiction, names of characters, some places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, places or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted or stored in a database in any form, without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book shall not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent.
Published by Lizzie James 2020
Edited by Eleanor Lloyd-Jones at Schmidt Author Services
Formatted by Scarlet Le Clair
Cover Design by Eleanor Lloyd Jones at Shower of Schmidt designs
All Rights Reserved
Acknowledgments
A big thank you to my beta team. Your support means the world to me. Wendy, Jayne, Laura, Lorren, Tracey, Paula and Emma. You girlies rock!
To my editor and cover designer, Eleanor. Thank you for making such beautiful covers and for being so fabulous to work with.
Thank you Carmel and Scarlet. Your support has kept me going.
To my family. Thank you for your love and patience.
Lastly, thank you Callum for being my gravity.
Find your gravity
1
Lauren
Looking out the window, watching the snowflakes fall, I smiled as the white stuff covered the sidewalks. I loved this time of year! There were only a few days left to go until Christmas Eve would be here and I was giddy.
“Are we going or what?” Luke called from the next room.
I rolled my eyes at him and grabbed my scarf, tying it in a neat knot beneath my chin, and grabbed my coat. I slipped it on, fastening the buttons as I walked into the living area. I worked at a coffee shop, and it was my dream to one day attend an art school. I had applied to one in Paris but I hadn’t heard back yet. I didn’t expect to if I was honest.
“Keep your knickers on,” I teased him. “Has Grinch already left?” I asked, referring to my roommate, Thomas.
He laughed at my charming nickname for him. “You know how he is. He hates Christmas. He’ll never change.” He rolled his eyes mockingly as he led me to the front door.
Thomas worked at a bar with Luke called Dominic’s. He and I had known each other since we were infants, and it had always been him and I against the world. My parents had died when I was sixteen years old, and that had been when I moved in with Thomas and his mother. She took me in and loved me like I was one of her own, and I knew how lucky I was. Without her, I probably would have gone into the system.
Luke held the door open for me and waited while I locked up. “Do you know what you’re going to get for Scrooge?” He chuckled as he exited the building, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“I’ve almost finished Thomas’s.” I grinned up at him cockily. “He’s the easiest person on my list to buy for. I know that man better than I know my own name.”
Luke raised his eyebrow at me with a knowing expression on his face.
“Shut up!” I dug my finger in his ribs, already knowing what he was hinting at. “Nothing is going on between us.”
“Right,” he mocked. He looked down at me before he reached down and took my hand in his. “How many times do I have to say it?”
I shook my head at him. “He doesn’t see me like that.”
I saw him like that, though.
I felt like I had been in love with Thomas since our teenage years, and I’d hoped something would happen, thinking that maybe, if I waited long enough, he would see me in a new light and want more.
It had never happened, though. No matter how long I’d waited or how many girls I’d seen him with… I had come to the conclusion that he would never see me as anything other than his stupid, book nerd best friend.
“It’ll never happen, Luke.” I shook my head at him. “So, just let it go, okay?” I looked up at him, wanting to get my point across.
“Fine.” He slung his arm back around my shoulder as we began walking down the street. “What time are you working till later?” he asked.
“I have a late one. I start at six pm and finish at nine, so it gives me a chance to get some shopping done first.” I laughed at him before I reached up and rubbed my hand on the top of his head.
Flakes fell from his hair, and I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you later.” I gave him a small wave and turned and walked away from him. “Tell Thomas to keep me some food.”
Like I said, I knew that man better than I knew myself. He’d probably order Chinese food for himself and whatever female he’d chosen to hang out with tonight. Sometimes I believed Thomas lived in his own little bubble. He could be blunt and harsh a lot of the time and often didn’t have a filter between his brain and mouth, but he had a good heart. Sometimes, though, I wished he could see me for what I was—look at me and really see me: just a lovesick girl in love with the perfect guy. Instead, I had a friend who had a revolving door to his bedroom with a different girl accessing it each week.
I rolled my eyes at myself. Today wasn’t the day for pity parties: today was a day for Christmas shopping in the city I loved. There was no point in wishing for things that were never going to happen.
After spending an afternoon flashing my credit card way too often, I walked into my workplace, weighed down with a few too many shopping bags. I was relieved to see that the coffee shop was quiet. Knowing my luck, though, it would get busier after seven pm.
“Hi, boss. Can I keep these in here?” I asked, tucking the bags behind the door.
Andrew was my manager and the owner, and I knew how much he loved this place. I had expected it to struggle with the bigger coffee chains opening stores nearby, but it was still doing well due to its loyal clientele. It was cozy, with comfy sofas littered throughout and excellent table service with the tastiest treats on offer.
“Of course you can,” he said, waving me off before looking back down at the paperwork in front of him.
I left him to it and hung my coat and scarf up in the storeroom. Grabbing an apron, I tied it around my waist and got to work, positioning myself behind the counter.
An hour into my shift, I grabbed my phone from the back pocket of my jeans to check my messages. Thomas usually messaged me when I had an evening shift to brag about what he was cooking—or ordering from our local takeaway—but as I looked down at my phone, I was disappointed when I saw that the only notification that I had was an email from Amazon telling me about a new book release from one of my favourite authors, Stacy McWilliams.
I went to open it but stopped, surprised when I saw Thomas come through the door.
“There she is!” He grinned at me and pulled the blonde woman hanging on to his arm with him. He walked over to me, a cheeky grin on his face. He had snowflakes in his hair and rosy cheeks from the winter chill.
I tensed as he cam
e closer, hating the butterflies that took flight in my stomach as I watched him. We were in our twenties, and you’d think I’d be over my stupid crush for him by now, but whenever he was near me, I got all girly and wanted him to hold me in the way he undoubtedly would be holding Barbie later tonight.
“What can I get for you?” I asked, shaking off my feelings. “We have some chocolate donuts?” I couldn’t help but tease him with the idea of chocolaty treats.
“No,” he quickly denied. “Me and uh…” He turned to Barbie and I could tell that he was struggling for her name.
“Cindy!” she snapped.
“Cindy!” He looked back at me, widening his eyes jokingly at himself before continuing. “Me and Cindy are going to grab some Chinese food on the way home. Do you want anything?”
He was getting predictable.
I looked at Cindy by his side. This was the first time I had met her, and I doubted I’d be seeing her again. Thomas wasn’t exactly known for his skills in long term relationships.
She cocked her eyebrow at me before she looked at Thomas.
“Are we going or what?” she asked. She slipped her arm through his, giving me a sweet smile and gently pulled, taking a step back to the door.
“I’m not very hungry,” I said, shaking my head. “Can you just keep me some of whatever you don’t eat?”
“Sure.” He leaned over the counter, giving me a swift kiss on the cheek and pulling back. He turned away and followed Cindy to the door.
“Ooh!” I called after him. “Can you get me some—”
He cut me off by waving his hand at me as he held the door open for Cindy to walk through.
“Some prawn crackers!” he finished for me. “Yeah, yeah. I know.” He gave me a wink and walked through the door. “I know the drill.”
I frowned as I watched him go, trying my best to ignore the way Cindy wrapped her arm around Thomas’s waist. She looked over his shoulder at me, smirking as she slipped her hand into the arse pocket of his jeans.
“Ugh.” I turned away and moved around the counter, cleaning a few tables of their cutlery while we were quiet, needing something to focus on. It was either that or stew behind the counter and allow the green-eyed monster to win.
The end of the night finally came, and I waved at Andrew as I walked down the street with my many shopping bags, leaving him to lock up.
Walking home, I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering. For so long, I had waited and waited, hoping that one day, Thomas would finally wake up and see me for me—stop seeing me as the best friend he told all of his secrets to and start seeing me as the woman who was in love with him.
I rolled my eyes at myself, grabbing my key from my coat pocket and sliding it into the lock. I froze as I pushed the door open, wishing like hell Thomas and I lived in separate apartments.
“Don’t let me interrupt,” I said before turning and closing the door.
Thomas was sitting on the sofa with a flushed Cindy sat astride him. No rewards to figure out what direction their making out was going.
“Uh…” Thomas gently lifted her and moved her aside. He got up and moved towards me, leading me to the kitchen. “I kept you some chow mein and there’s some crispy duck if you want any.”
I grinned when I saw a bag of prawn crackers sitting on the worktop.
“You are a rock star! I’m going to go and put these bags in my room.” I turned away from him but his voice stopped me when I got to the doorway.
“Don’t make any plans for tomorrow,” he said.
“Why?” I turned to look at him. It was odd for him to say that.
“Luke is having a party and he’s asked for us to go.”
“Us?” I asked. I looked through the doorway to where Cindy was sitting on the sofa staring down at her phone. “As in me, you and her?” I asked, looking back at him.
“Uh, no.” He shook his head. “Just figured you and I could go over and see how it goes.”
How it goes? What the hell did he mean by that?
“Don’t you normally take a date to these parties?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I figured you and I could go together. Is that a problem?” He walked closer to me until he was standing in front of me. “Just figured it could give us some time to hang out. Just me and you.”
“Why?” I asked. “I mean, we see each other enough. We do live together.”
“I know.” He rolled his eyes at himself. “Just seems like we haven’t had a chance to hang out recently. That’s all.” He stared down at me for a moment, looking away before he brought his gaze back to mine. “Unless you were going to take someone?”
Yeah, right.
I sometimes thought it would be better to have someone. Maybe then I wouldn’t be hung up on a guy that was never going to see me as anything other than a best friend.
“That sounds great.” I turned away from him and went to my room, dropping my bags off and then going back and warming up some of the leftover Chinese food. I ignored them sitting on the sofa, not needing to see them cosied up together.
I knew that Thomas was never going to see me like that. I didn’t need a visual reminder to end the day with.
2
Thomas
I glared out the window watching the snow fall.
I fucking hate this white stuff!
“Stop being a downer and have a beer with me,” Luke said from behind me. He passed me a cold bottle and nodded his head to Cindy over in the corner with her friends. “I, uh, I didn’t see that coming.”
“Didn’t see what coming?” I asked. I took a swig of my beer.
“That!” He nodded his head to Cindy again.
“Dude!” I mock punched him in the arm. “She didn’t come with me. She’s here with her friends. I came with Lauren.”
“You remembered her name,” he joked before chuckling.
“What are you on about?” I took another swig. I didn’t like how defensive I felt when he said that. “We live together, Luke. I see her every day.” I gazed past him, unable to stop the grin that came to my face when I saw her sitting in the corner with a book.
She was the only person I knew that brought a book to a party.
“I’m going to say something,” Luke said, “that should be pretty fucking obvious by now.” He moved his body in front of me, blocking my view of Lauren. “How do you feel about her?” he asked.
I frowned at him, repulsed at the question.
“Cindy?” I wrinkled my nose and took a swig. “It’s not serious. She’s just—”
He leaned his head back and let out a groan. “Are you stupid?” he asked. “I was talking about Lauren.”
“Lauren?” I asked. “What about Lauren?”
“Look at her.” He turned his body and stood next to me. “Do you ever notice how she never has a date?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Pull your head out of your arse, man, and wake up and see what’s right in front of you.” He clapped me on the shoulder, leaving me to absorb the mind bomb he’d just thrown at me.
I stared at Lauren, trying to think if I had missed something.
I went to look away but she glanced up, catching me staring. I grinned at her and walked over, chuckling when I saw what she was sitting beneath.
“I think Luke has fallen and hit his head.”
“What?” She placed her bookmark between the pages and stared up at me. “What do you mean?” she asked, looking over at Luke chatting to some of the boys.
“He just hinted at me that maybe there was something between...” I waved my finger between us, hoping she would catch on to what I meant.
“What?” she shrieked. Her cheeks stained red with embarrassment. “He has to have a head concussion!” she joked. She looked up at me before her eyes slowly moved past me to where Cindy was standing with her friends.
“So, there’s nothing I should know about?” I asked. I kept my eye on her, not wanting to miss out on any tell-tale sign that meant Luke could be right and t
hat she was hiding anything from me.
“Of course not.” She rolled her eyes and reached over and tapped her hand on my knee. “I’m actually going to take off.”
“Book that good, huh?” I teased.
“Yeah.” She leaned forward to get up, but before she could move, I put my hand on her arm, stopping her movements.
“Look up.” I pointed to the ceiling above us, chuckling when she saw the mistletoe hanging above us. Before she could say anything, I leaned down and pressed my lips to her cheek. I grinned when she darted her eyes down. I ruffled the top of her head and walked over to the boys hanging around the sofa watching a local football game on the television.
I stared at Luke, surprised that he was glaring over my shoulder, but following his gaze, I froze when I saw what had his attention. Lauren was moving past Cindy and her girlfriends near the door. She had her head down to the floor and I fucking hated it. The girls weren’t exactly making it easy for her and I wasn’t happy with the way that Cindy was looking down her nose at Lauren.
I took a step forward, wanting to interfere and ask them what the fuck they were playing at but stopped when Luke put his hand on my shoulder.
“Leave it, man.” He shook his head at me. “Lauren can look after herself.”
I clenched my jaw, confused as hell at the irrational feeling of possessiveness that travelled up my spine. I had fuck all to feel possessive about and it wasn’t something that I wanted anyone else to catch on to. I watched Lauren go through the door and then turned back to Luke.