Page 43 of Fall of Us
Of course, I should ask my parents, they paid for part of my place.
My mom’s smile grew as she approached and pulled me into a hug. “Of course that’s fine. If there was anyone I’d be okay with, it’s him.”
A weight lifted as Mom released me and went back to work.
My brain whirled with all the possibilities now that Andrew and I would be living together. He’d come home to me every night. We could sleep in the same bed with no more nights apart. All. The. Sex.
Heat spread over my face and neck as I thought of the sex. God, it had been amazing. I’d been so stupid holding back. Why had I wasted so many years giving myself to so many other people when they hadn’t valued me?
Things were starting to really look up.
Chapter 27
Andrew
“Is everything okay with you and Brandon?”
My neck prickled at the question. Nathan sat across from me, patiently waiting, hands wrapped around his coffee cup.
“It’s fine.”
The way my friend raised his eyebrows meant he wasn’t buying what I was selling.
“So, you’re still going to let us all believe the leaky sink story?”
I sagged in my seat. The story had been flimsy, and I hated continuing the lie. There wasn’t a reason to. The longer we didn’t tell people what was going on, the worse I felt about the situation.
“It’s the story I have to give for now.” I picked up my drink, turning away from my friend to take a sip. The look of disappointment on his face was almost enough to make me crack and tell him everything.
“Whatever. Listen, you know you can always talk to me, right?”
Nathan was one of the best people I knew. He’d partied hard when we first started college, but had opened up fairly quickly about the boy he’d left behind. There weretimes that our friends questioned his admitting to being bisexual because, while he showed an interest in guys, he never went after them. Eventually, I started to believe the guy at the beach wasn’t a real person until we actually got to meet him.
Chase was the light of Nathan’s life. The two completed each other, just like I felt Brandon completed me.
I sighed, setting my cup back down and looking at my friend. “Trust me, if I had something to say, I would tell you.”
The sick feeling from the lie settled in deeper. How mad was everyone going to be when they found out? Maybe we weren’t fooling anyone.
We finished our coffee and got up to leave the café. As soon as we were outside, I slowed my pace, wanting to give Nathan a crumb about what was going on.
“We’re moving in together.”
Nathan stopped walking, turning to stare at me.
“That’s only just now happening?”
I laughed and rubbed at my neck, looking up at the sky. Dark clouds rolled in, and it looked as if it was going to rain, which was typical for this time of the year.
“Yes. I don’t know. Something about it not always being a good idea to live with your friends. Besides, you know how jealous his exes have been about me.”
Nathan said nothing, just quirked an eyebrow.
There was no way our friends didn’t know.
Once Nathan and I were side by side again, we continued our walk. After a few minutes, he finally spoke up. “It’s true that sometimes it’s not best to mix friendship with certain things. Money, politics, living arrangements... but I think you two are different.”
I shrugged as we kept going down the sidewalk. The longer we remained on the topic, the more uncomfortable I got. It was on the tip of my tongue to spill my guts. That Brandon and I had become so much more than friends and had probably been long before we made things official.
