Page 50 of Fall of Us
Mom grinned widely, tapping my cheek. “I know you, Brandon. No one else would make you that upset.”
Andrew sat with his back against my front door as I climbed the last step of my apartment building. He was looking down, unaware of my presence. He was fidgeting with the cuff of his pant leg and the longer I stood there and watched him, the worse I felt for running off on him earlier without giving him thechance to explain. Maybe Rebecca had drawn her own conclusions, and he had said nothing.
When those deep, chocolate eyes finally looked up and met my gaze, the air fizzled around me. He was so sad and I’d made him that way. My heart ached as I took one and then two steps closer.
Andrew climbed to his feet, kicking at the floor as he looked anywhere but at me. Emotions overflowed as I got closer. All I wanted to do was reach out and wrap my arms around him, tell him everything was okay, that I wasn’t all that mad. But I had been mad at the time.
It didn’t change the fact that I’d felt betrayed.
“Brandon...” His voice cracked as he spoke, but he didn’t look up. Andrew’s fingers fidgeted with the sleeves of his jacket.
Any fight I might have had in me left the second I heard him. My shoulders relaxed and my muscles loosened.
The second I stood in front of him, I grabbed his hands. His fingers wrapped around mine, but he still wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“Andrew. Did you tell her about us?”
He sighed, pinching his eyes closed. “I did. Only because I needed someone to talk to. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”
My hands tightened around his, giving them a squeeze to encourage him to keep talking.
“We talked about not telling anyone, and it’s getting impossible to keep it in. You mean so much to me. You always have—”
I couldn’t let him continue. This wasn’t the time or the place for some declaration of love. I knew he loved me, but this was different. This wasn’t the same as the friendship we’d faced since we were babies.
Instead, my mouth sealed over his as I pulled him close. He let out a choked sob as his arms looped around my neck. We stood there in the hall outside my—our—apartment and kissed. This was the time to make up for missed communication. We should have talked about this better. It was one thing to tell our friends, but his coworker was someone that wasn’t connected to us and I needed to be understanding of that. It wasn’t fair not to give him an outlet.
Especially after I’d gone about telling my mom... though not exactly.
Chapter 31
Andrew
The apartment was quiet when we got inside. Brandon dropped his keys on the table by the door before kicking off his shoes and pulling off his jacket.
“My lease renewal isn’t until February, so I can’t add you to the lease until then, but I talked to the manager and he said it was fine that you stayed until then.”
I nodded as Brandon talked. It was like the storm from earlier today hadn’t occurred.
“It’s a little weird that you have to ask permission for me to stay, considering how often I’m here,” I said as I followed him to the living room after removing my jacket and shoes.
Brandon dropped back onto the couch, his glasses sliding down his nose. He stared up at me and gave me a smile. “Maybe, but I couldn’t imagine it would have been any different with any of my exes?”
There was a sharp pang in my chest. It was a reality. We’d both wasted so much time on other people. It didn’t make it any easier to talk about it.
Todayhad been beyond mentally draining. All I wanted to do was relax now. My body was like a bag of lead as I dropped onto the couch next to Brandon. My head fell to his lap, and he threaded his fingers through my hair.
The motion should have relaxed me, but it made me feel more on edge. How was he able to turn off his annoyance so easily? Brandon caused a scene in my place of work, which made me leave early in order to make sure he was okay. Then he hadn’t been home when I’d gotten there. I wasn’t sure where he’d gone, but I was willing to wait him out because it was something we needed to talk about.
“Are you okay?” he asked, fingers stilling for a moment.
I lay there and thought about my answer. The last thing I wanted to do was upset him further, but it would only hurt us if we continued not to talk about our feelings.
“Not entirely.”
Brandon’s fingers started moving again, though they now shook, betraying how nervous he was.
“I can’t keep doing this. I’ve wanted this with you for so long. Now I have you and I can’t say anything or share my happiness with anyone. It’s slowly killing me.”
