Page 59 of Fall of Us
“Shit, man. That’s fucking brutal. And you let him get away with that?”
A sigh escaped my lips as I looked back at Joe. “What the hell was I supposed to do? I couldn’t lose my best friend over a kiss.”
Joe held up his hands in surrender. “Point taken, but that was still a fucked-up thing to do.”
He wasn’t wrong. And maybe we’d gone wrong three years ago with that kiss and never talking about it. We jumped into this relationship without ever talking about it. It was something that had hung over our heads for years, only proving that we were both shitty at communication.
“So this last guy dumped him... and I don’t know. I think I just got tired of waiting around for him and watching him with other people. We were both scared that it wouldn’t work. Himmore than me. It started off keeping things quiet so we could enjoy just being together for a while, but I hated hiding it from the beginning.”
“And you told him that?”
“Yes, but aren’t relationships about compromise? I wanted him to be comfortable. As much as he was afraid of losing me, I was afraid of losing him.”
Joe was silent for a long moment. “It seems like you were the only one compromising.”
The words slammed home. At no point had Brandon met me halfway. We’d done everything he’d wanted.
My eyes stung all over again as they welled with tears.
“Shit, dude. You going to be okay?”
Joe was standing and walking over to me.
“I don’t know. How did we get here? I love him. I always have. Maybe we never should have started anything.”
Joe crouched in front of me, resting his hands on my knees.
“That’s fucking bullshit. You two are perfect. You just need to work on actually talking to each other about your expectations.”
Never in my wildest dreams did I think Joe would be the person to come to for relationship advice. Mr. Anti-relationship himself. The one guy who was content to fuck around with anyone and everyone.
I did my best to rein in my tears, the tightness in my chest easing only slightly. Maybe Brandon and I weren’t doomed, but I needed the space to gather my thoughts. Rushing back home now wouldn’t solve anything. As if reading my mind, Joe wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
“Look, Teresa doesn’t normally let me have guests over, but I think in this situation she’ll make an exception.”
I snorted a small laugh. “Your sister sounds like your mom.”
Joe rolled his eyes and then shoved me. “Fuck off, man. Do you need a place to crash for a few days or not?”
I had nothing with me, but it didn’t matter. I could solve the problem by texting one of my friends and asking them to bring me things. My fingers fumbled for my phone, almost dropping it as my hands were still shaking from the emotional mess I’d been in since leaving Brandon’s apartment.
Me: I’m going to crash with Joe for a few days. Can you bring me some things?
Nathan: We’ll figure it out.
As I got up and stretched, all I kept thinking about was if Brandon was okay. He’d hurt me, and here I was, concerned abouthim. How fucked up was that?
Chapter 36
Brandon
Nathan knocked on the frame of my door. I sat up and blinked at the plate of food he had in his hands. My glasses were on the nightstand, so someone had taken them last night and placed them there. Once they were on my face, I could see that the plate had a steaming pile of scrambled eggs.
“Chase went home a little earlier, worried about the damn cat. So, I figured I’d hang out and see if I could get you to eat anything.”
He entered the room and set the plate on the nightstand. While my stomach growled, the idea of eating something didn’t seem all that appealing.
“You guys didn’t need to stay all night.”
