Page 48 of Fall of Us
Oh... fuck.
Brandon looked up at me, his eyes wide.
“You said something?”
My throat closed off again as Rebecca turned to look at me. She smiled and threw an arm over my shoulders. “Andrew! I was just telling your boyfriend here how great it was to meet him finally.”
Brandon’s eyes widened even further, his cheeks going pink and splotchy. He shook his head because I couldn’t acknowledge his question.
Before I could say anything and before I had time to save the situation, Brandon turned and ran from the store.
Rebecca’s arm dropped from around me as she stared after him. “Did I say something wrong?”
I sighed and turned to her. My chest ached, on the verge of exploding. My eyes stung because I’d just had a really emotional time between the unexpected meeting with Sophie and now this. “We...” I took another deep breath as I fought back tears. “We weren’t saying anything yet.”
“Oh. Oh my god. Andrew. I’m so sorry.”
What the hell was I supposed to do? There were still two hours left to my shift, and Brandon had just bolted from the store before I could explain.
“Fuck,” I muttered to myself as my fingers threaded through my hair once more. It probably looked like a giant mess at this point, the stress of the day showing.
“Hernandez.”
I turned to face my name being called from the pharmacy window. Todd stood there, a look of understanding on his face. If it weren’t for what had just transpired in the manager’s office, I would have assumed he’d be pissed about what was going on.
“Yeah?”
“Go get him.”
I removed my smock and handed it to Rebecca. She gave me another sympathetic smile and apologized again. She had nothing to be sorry for. This whole not telling anyone thing was a bunch of bullshit.
Instead of hanging out for more begging for forgiveness, I left to find my boyfriend.
Chapter 30
Brandon
Maybe going to the bookstore was being a coward, but I knew my apartment was the first place that Andrew would look for me. Mom’s surprise was evident when I entered through the front door, and she immediately followed me as I darted to the back room. I didn’t want to worry her, but she didn’t miss the tears that streaked down my face.
How could he?
We’d agreed not to tell anyone and this dumb coworker of his knew. She knew and just sat there, gushing like it wasn’t that big of a deal that he’d broken a promise.
I ducked behind a stack of boxes, but my mother found me, anyway. She pulled me close as I wrapped my arms around my legs and cried. Was I being over dramatic about this? Probably. It was getting harder and harder not to tell anyone what was going on.
What the hell were we going to tell people when he moved in next week?
“Brandon, sweetheart,what happened?”
Mom’s voice was soothing as she rubbed at my back. She smelled of lemon and lavender and everything calming. I’d gotten my love of scents from her.
At first, I couldn’t speak; I just sobbed into my knees. My whole body rocked with the sobs that fought their way free from my chest.
The room filled with my cries and the soft sound of my mother soothing me. I hadn’t been this upset about anything in a while. None of my breakups had ever made me this sad. This wasn’t even a breakup, only the worst betrayal of my life.
“I can’t—I can’t talk about it,” I hiccupped, finally able to form some sort of sentence.
Mom took off my glasses, folded them neatly, and set them on a nearby box. She ran gentle fingers through my hair as she pulled me to lie in her lap.
