Page 12 of Always Been You

“Let me know if you want any help looking.” I know how hard that was for my brother to not stick his nose and opinion into the issue and just offer his help.

“I will, but I think we are fine for now. Thank you. What are your plans for the rest of the day?” I ask, wanting to move the subject along, knowing that Matt isn’t one hundred percent supportive of this move.

“Nothing much today might hit the batting cages with the guys.”

“Sounds fun. Oh, I talked to Gi today. She said that she will be on the first flight home after her finals. She wants to have lunch with us when she gets back. I offered to get her at the airport when she lands.”

“I’m down for lunch, for sure. Let me know about her flight home. I’ll try to go with you to pick her up.”

“Will do. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”

“Love you too, bye.”

Putting my phone away, I grab my transit pass from my purse and tap it to get onto the SkyTrain. It’s only a coupleof stops to Drew’s place, so I scroll on Instagram for a bit before hopping off and making the walk to his place. I use my fob for his building to enter the lobby and make my way up to the floor of his apartment.

Getting to his door, I twist the doorhandle and it’s unlocked, so I walk in.

“Hey babe, I’m here. You ready to go?” I call out.

“Liv?” Drew calls, and he sounds surprised that I’m here. “Yeah, just give me a minute.” I hear some noise coming from his bedroom and assume he is just finishing getting dressed. I go into the kitchen and grab a bottle of water, downing half of it in two sips.

He slips out of his bedroom and closes the door behind him. Drew’s short blonde hair is slightly dischevelled and his glacier-blue eyes take me in as he makes his way to me, stopping to kiss me on the cheek before leaning against the kitchen counter. He shoves his hands in the pockets of his jeans that hang off his narrow hips. He looks a little uncomfortable. I take him in. He’s dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans and a plain green t-shirt that looks wrinkled, like he just picked it up off the floor. His hair is a mess and he won’t hold eye contact with me.

“Hey Liv, I forgot you were coming over today. What’s up?” he asks.

“Umm… we have two appointments to look at apartments today. Are you still good to go do that?” I’m worried that he might bail on this, seeing as he wasn’t at my birthday party last night.

“Oh, yeah, totally.” He reaches into his fridge and grabs a bottle of water. He turns to me and says, “Let’s head out.”

Grabbing his keys, he ushers me out of the apartment. When we get into the hallway, he locks the door and thenreaches for my hand. His hand is clammy and warm, which is not normal for him.

I look up at him, “You, okay? Your hand is all warm and clammy. If you’re sick, we can reschedule, and I can make you soup or something.”

“Nope, all good,” he rushes out. “Let’s go to these appointments.”

“You sure? You’re acting weird.” His behaviour has something niggling inside my mind, but I push it to the side, figuring that his mind is probably focused on the issues with his family.

“Yeah, sorry. I just have a lot going on. Trying to wrap my head around it all.”

Climbing into the elevator, Drew selects the parking level where he keeps his car. “So, how is everything with your family?” I finally ask as the car begins to move.

“We are still figuring some stuff out, but it should all be good soon.” Sensing that he doesn’t want to talk about it, I change the subject to our upcoming appointments.

“That’s good, so the first place we have an appointment is the one over on Pacific, close to my place, and then we have another over on Homer.”

“Sounds good.” His voice sounds disinterested. I’m not sure that we should do this today, but he was the one that had brought up moving in together and he was so excited.

Getting off the elevator, we make our way to his car. He gets in and turns on his playlist before pulling out of the parking garage and heading in the direction of our first appointment.

Drew is silent as we make our way through the streets of downtown. The silence is ripe with tension and I’m not sure why. I feel like no matter what I say, he’s going to bedisinterested, and it hurts. After a few minutes of silence, I look at him and say, “I missed you last night.”

He looks over at me for a second, then returns his eyes to the road and readjusts his hands on the steering wheel. He seems extremely fidgety. A few seconds pass in silence before he answers, “Yeah, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it. This stuff with my family has taken a lot of my time. Once we get that all figured out, why don’t we take a weekend away? Just the two of us.” He smiles at me.

“That sounds great,” we haven’t done a trip away before, so it will be nice to have some time for just us. “Is there anything I can do to help with this family situation? Can you tell me what is going on? I would like to help you.”

“Sorry, Liv, the family wants to keep it quiet for now. As soon as I can tell you, I will.”

“Okay, well I’m here for you if you need it” I reach over and place my hand on his thigh, giving it a small squeeze.

---