Page 65 of Fall of Us
His smile vanished a little, setting his glass back down. “What is this?”
Before I could answer, Shawn was at the table setting down plates of food between us. Nathan and Chase were at another table, and so were Joe and Aiden.
The words were hard to form, but I did my best as they tried to stick. “I suck at apologizing. And part of me still thinks this isn’t enough. Andrew, I did something terrible to you. I should have always loved you out loud. Instead, I wanted you all to myself. It was selfish.”
When I reached across the table, my heart thudded even harder when the man in question grabbed my hands. “You are the love of my life, Andrew. And I wanted everyone that was important to us here to see that.”
He looked around the room as my parents came out of the back. His breath caught as they sat at another table. His mom came out next, followed by his father soon after.
“What’s my dad doing here?”
I held up my hand to get him to quiet down. I hoped he would figure it all out, but the longer he looked around the room as more of our family and friends filed in, it sank in.
The icing on the cake was when his coworker, Rebecca, made her way to a table. Tracking her down had been more difficult than I thought it would be.
Once everyone was sitting, I stood, picking up a glass from the table. If I’d been nervous before, it didn’t prepare me for the wave of anxiety that hit me now. All of those eyes on me nearly sent merunning right out the front door, but I kept my feet glued because this was about Andrew. He was the most important and more important than my nerves.
“Thank you, everyone.” I took a sip of water before setting the glass back on the table. “Having you all here is important. I’ve made some mistakes, and I knew that simply saying I’m sorry wouldn’t ever be enough. Not with someone as special as Andrew.”
Andrew shifted in his seat and looked around. His eyes widened when he looked back at me. “You didn’t need to do this.”
A chuckle escaped me. “I did, because I did you wrong. Andrew has always been there for me. He waited patiently while I messed around and didn’t judge me when I went through some of the most humiliating moments of my life.”
Andrew’s face was pink, but he didn’t stop me this time.
“See, I’ve always been in love with my best friend. Not just the type of love you feel for your friends and family, but the type of love that’s deeper. The type of love that sinks its teeth in and doesn’t let go. I was terrified because if anyone has met me, they know I don’t have the best track record with relationships. Little did I know, it was the universe trying to tell me I was wasting my time. The one who was meant for me was right in front of me the entire time.”
When I looked around the room again, Mom had a napkin she was wiping her eyes with. I hadn’t intended to make anyone emotional, but I meant every word.
“I’m in love with Andrew Hernandez and have been for as long as I can remember. We’ve been dating for weeks, and, like an idiot, I thought that was something I needed to keep hidden. He’s more than that. He’s absolutely everything.”
It was my turn to break off as my throat clogged with emotion. Andrew wasn’t sitting anymore, either. He stood in front of me. Tears must have slipped free because he suddenly wiped the wet trails from my cheeks.
“Brandon?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m so fucking in love with you, too.”
I didn’t wait for anything else. My arms wrapped around his shoulders and I pulled Andrew in for a kiss. The room filled with whoops and applause.
Chapter 39
Andrew
There was a heaviness that was missing for the first time in months when I walked in the front door of the apartment I now shared with Brandon. I hadn’t seen the inside since I stormed out a week and a half ago, and not much had changed. My boxes still sat in the corner and takeout boxes still littered the table. There was an odor in the air, and I wrinkled my nose.
“You didn’t clean?”
Brandon stared at the living room and the mess that was still there. “I couldn’t bring myself to spend much time in here. I’ve spent most of my time in bed, if I’m being honest.”
I let out a sigh before going to the sink and pulling out a trash bag from underneath. We got to work cleaning the space. Between the two of us, it didn’t take too long. Brandon pulled out a stick of incense and lit it, letting the soothing smell take over the room.
“Is that better?”
I laughed, grabbing his hand and pulling him closer. When our lips met in a soft kiss, he pulled away, grinning. “That makes it even better.”
“Oh, that makes everything better. God, Imissed you.”
