Brayden: Okay :)
I set my phone on my nightstand and go back to the movie, a massive smile on my face.
Chapter Eighteen
Unaccepted Apologies
When I see Ro on Monday on the way to my first class, I quickly drag her to the nearest bathroom. She’s laughing and following me willingly.
“You want to explain why you just manhandled me back there?” she asks while I check for anybody hiding in the stalls. They’re empty.
“Brayden and I had sex and are dating now,” I blurt out.
“What?” she asks, shocked.
I nod, biting my lip, worried about how she’ll react. I’m prepared for her yelling at me about having sex. Instead, she starts jumping up and down. “No way, no way, no way!” It’s a much girlier response than I expected from her. She seems super excited.
“Yes way,” I respond dryly.
“Wait,” she stops suddenly. “Are you guys like ‘friends dating’ or ‘dating dating?’”
“We’re like ‘relationship dating.’ He’s my boyfriend and I’m his girlfriend,” I inform her happily.
“Oh, Annie, good for you!” she says, moving to hug me tightly. I laugh and hug her back.
The alarm on my phone goes off, reminding us that we need to get to class and she pulls back. “Okay, I want to know everything. Tell me tonight at work,” she demands before running off.
I shake my head and move on to my class too. Unfortunately, my first Monday morning class is with both Sam and the leader of the girls I used to be “friends” with back in high school. Paige McDonald is pretty much what every girl wants to be, other than her ugly personality. With long, blonde hair, bright green eyes, a tiny body, and a slight edge that makes all guys go crazy, she practically ran the school. I always wondered why she was my friend. Now I realize that I was probably just there to make her and the other girls feel better about themselves.
I take my spot near the back and off to the side, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Even now it hurts to look at them. What makes it even worse is the sympathetic look Sam always throws my way, like “You poor thing, sorry I publicly humiliated you.” It’s ridiculous. He did what he did and it’s done. Why does he need to feel sorry for me on top of it? If he felt so bad about it, he shouldn’t have done it in the first place.
I shake my head as I feel myself getting angrier and pull out my notebook. Professor Jenkins teaches the most boring math class ever—I’m not kidding. He drones on and on completely monotone. Like being taught math by a robot. It kind of reminds me of the teacher from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I always have to write down everything he says and read it again later with a different voice in order to get anything out of it.
Class starts and I’m steadily writing, trying to get everything he says, when a paper hits my chest and falls to my lap. Frowning, I pick it up and read it.
Hi.
—Sam
I give the paper a look like “are you fucking kidding me?” and crunch it up in a ball, throwing it on the ground beside me. What is this, junior high? Passing notes, seriously?
Looking back up, I realize I just missed a good fifteen seconds of whatever Professor Jenkins was saying and it frustrates me. Learning his lessons is hard enough without missing a piece. About half a page of notes later, leaving an open space to ask him what he said later, I get hit with a piece of paper again.
Rolling my eyes, I just flick it away and let it fall to the ground. This happens about three more times before the end of class. I only looked at the first one, ignoring the rest and letting them fall into the building pile of paper at my feet. When the class is over, I quickly pack my things away, grabbing the scraps of paper and bringing them to the trash on my way to Professor Jenkins’s desk.
“How can I help you, Anna?” he asks me, resting his hands on his head and relaxing in his chair.
I smile apologetically and grab my notebook. “Do you happen to remember what you were saying right in between these two statements?” I ask, pointing to the empty space.
He starts laughing at me and quickly fills in the blank. “Thank you so much, I really appreciate it,” I tell him, feeling like a bit of an ass kisser.
“Any time,” he says as I walk out the door. “At least you’re paying attention.”
Sam Erickson is leaning against the wall by the door as I exit the room. I ignore him until he starts walking beside me.
“Can I help you?” I ask, turning my head to the side.
“Yeah, I don’t know if you realize this, but it was me passing you those notes,” he says politely.
I nod. “I know,” I tell him flatly.
He seems a little surprised. “Oh, well . . . Why didn’t you write me back?”
I raise my eyebrows at him as we turn the corner into another hallway. “Why would I? I honestly don’t want to talk to you.”
“Because of the stuff that happened last year?” he asks, making me roll my eyes. He’s a genius, this one. I keep walking in silence.
“Well, that’s the thing. I wanted to say I’m sorry for that. I’m sure you know better than most how Paige ca—” I hold my hand up, cutting him off.
“Okay, first of all, don’t feel sorry for me. Second, don’t even begin putting all of this on her. She’s a bitch, but you’re a person, Sam. You can take responsibility for your own actions. I don’t really give a damn what she did to convince you. All I know is that it takes a really cold-hearted and small-minded person to do what you guys did to me last year. And I don’t have any time in my life for people like that, no matter what their excuses. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a class to get to.” I turn and disappear through the doorway of my next class with determination.
Sliding into my seat, I feel like a whole new person. I’ve wanted to say that to somebody since it happened and now I finally did. I finally stood up for myself. This whole saying how I feel thing is kind of giving me a power trip. First my family, now Sam? Who next, Paige?
I shudder at the thought. There’s some kind of hold that Paige still has over me. As much as I hate it, I can’t get past it. It’s like I stood in her shadow for so long that I’m still trying to get used to the world without it. I know I’m pathetic for feeling this way, but I can’t help it. And until I can, I’m going to avoid her as much as possible.
Shaking thoughts of Paige away, I carefully slip my phone out of my pocket. Mrs. Wallis is really strict about cell phones. Some professors don’t mind as long as they’re silent, but Mrs. Wallis will take the phone and look through it if she catches you, as if we were in middle school.
Me: You’ll never guess what just happened.
Brayden: What?
Me: I stood up to Sam.
Brayden: Are you serious?
Me: Lol yeah, I’m serious!
Brayden: No way! What happened?
Me: I’ll tell you later . . . can you come to Starbucks tonight?
Brayden: Sure, I’ll stop in after work.
Me: K, see you then.
Brayden: Bye . . . Baby :)
I slide my phone back into my pocket with a huge grin on my face—not only for what just happened, but also because I’ll get to see Brayden later. After spending Friday afternoon together, I didn’t get to see him for the rest of the weekend. It’s one of the longer periods of time that I’ve gone without him. But at least this time we talked every day.
***
Before I know it, I’m finished with my classes and clocking in at work. Today, Ro and I get to work with Jake and Liz. So far, I haven’t gotten many shifts with Jake. I think he usually takes the school hours. As soon as Aurora gets there, about three minutes after me, she demands that I tell her everything.
I start with falling asleep in his bed and end with me leaving the next day. She’s practically hyperventilating on the counter.
“I can’t believe it! I mean, who would have thought that Brayden could be so sexy? I mean, yeah, he’s hot, but how could you eve
n breathe after he told you he wanted you to be the one he calls after a bad day?”
I grin. “I knew he could be so sexy. There’s like this really sweet side to him that you haven’t gotten to see yet. I mean, he’s always polite and nice, but there’s this romantic part of him that’s been leaving me feeling like jelly,” I say, grinning. “And clearly his confession did something to me; we’re dating, after all,” I giggle, blushing a bit.
“Annie’s got a boyfriend! Annie’s got a boyfriend!” Ro starts taunting, making me hit her with the towel I’m holding.
“What? Annie’s got a boyfriend? Who is he?” Liz asks us, walking up after cleaning the bathrooms. We all take turns for that awful part of the job.
“Brayden!” Ro exclaims, and they both start jumping up and down together, making me blush even harder. It’s a happy one, though.
“Shut up!” she says once they’re stable again; it’s an exclamation, not an admonition. “That’s so awesome, An, and he’s so handsome too!” I laugh, not only at my new nickname, but also at the handsome part.
“Oh, and I forgot to tell you something” I say, grinning. Ro looks at me with wide eyes. “Spill,” she orders.
“Today, Sam Erickson tried talking to me and actually said he’s sorry. I basically told him not to feel sorry for me and I think I told him he had a cold heart,” I tell her proudly, thinking back on the conversation.
“Holy fuck!” Ro nearly screams, making Jon stick his head out and give her a dirty look. “I’m so proud of you!” she screams, hugging me.
“Thanks. It was the best thing in the world . . . Well, almost,” I giggle.
“Who’s Sam Erickson?” Jake asks, walking up beside us to clock in. He’s always about fifteen minutes late and, if it weren’t for his excellent customer reviews, I’m sure he’d be fired by now.
“Some guy who did something mean to me last year,” I say simply, hating to go into detail.
“Aw, good for you!” Liz tells me, smiling her infectious smile.
A couple of hours pass and I can see the sky getting darker, even though it’s only about five o’clock. That’s what happens during the winter in Minnesota. I’ve lived here my whole life, but it’s still surprising. I’ve been saving my break for when Brayden comes in, anxiously watching the door for him to appear.
When he finally does, looking amazing in his dark blue jeans and black button-up jacket with his beanie on top. I realized a couple of weeks ago that when it’s cold out, he wears a beanie, and any time else, he wears his green and yellow A’s cap. I quickly go into the staff room to grab my jacket and pull him back outside. We walk around the side of the building to where some benches are set up. Nobody uses them in the cold weather, but they’ll do fine for us.
Brayden laughs and pulls me to a stop, wrapping his arms against me until I’m up against his body. “Slow down, you didn’t even say hello,” he says, rubbing his cold nose against mine.
I smile and wrap my arms around his back. “Hi,” I say before meeting halfway to kiss.
Amazingly, his lips are always warm against mine. It makes me wonder if my cold kisses feel nearly as good for him as his warm ones do for me. I pull back and take a deep breath through my nose, before smiling even wider and saying “You smell like a garage.”
It reminds me of all the times I’ve gone to see Dad at work, or when he comes in from working on one of our cars, covered with black smears.
He bends his head a bit to sniff himself and says, “That’s because I just got off work. You don’t mind, do you?”
I shake my head. “Of course not. I actually like it.”
We finish walking over to the tables hand in hand and he makes me sit with my legs partially on his, our backs against the table. “So, tell me about what happened,” he says urgently.
I go through it all with him, including the sympathetic looks and notes I got. Once I finish, Brayden shakes his head. “I can’t believe he actually apologized.”
“I know. I mean, I guess I appreciate it, but it wasn’t really appropriate after what he did. If he’d done something like tripped me or said something behind my back, maybe. But he humiliated me and made it personal. You can’t just say you’re sorry for something like that and expect somebody to forgive you.”
“Yeah,” he says with a frown as he rubs my cold hands with his. Seriously, how does he stay warm when it’s forty degrees out?
“So, anyway, how was your day?”
“It was fine; kinda long though. Especially after you told me you talked to Sam.”
I smile a little. “Sorry if I worried you.”
“Nah, I wasn’t worried . . . more concerned about how you’d be feeling,” he admits.
I control my urge to make an “aw” sound. “I’m fine. Really, I am. It felt really good, actually.”
“Good,” he says, smiling back. It’s almost funny how often we smile at each other. “So, what are your plans for the rest of the evening?” he asks.
“Unfortunately, I have some homework I need to finish and I still need to eat dinner. Luckily, I’m off in an hour. Normally I work until nine or ten.”
“You wanna get something to eat with me?” Brayden asks with a compelling smile.
I bite my lip. “I don’t know . . . I do, but I’ve been falling behind on my homework lately,” I explain.
“What if we grabbed a pizza and worked on our homework together?” he offers.
“You have homework?” I ask, confused.
He grins, “Didn’t I ever mention that I’m doing online classes?”
“No, you definitely didn’t,” I tell him, interested. “How do you manage school when you’re working all the time?” I ask.
“Well, it’s kind of like you, only opposite. I usually work during the day and do school at night. Only, if I miss a day or something, I don’t miss out on anything. I can just play the lesson over the weekend and catch up on what I missed,” he explains.
“Lucky,” I grumble, thinking about how if I miss even one class I’m behind for a week.
“So, you want to?” he asks again.
I smile. “Yes, absolutely. I would love to be your study buddy.”
“Study buddies with feelings,” he laughs, teasing gently. I laugh too.
***
Maybe doing homework with Brayden was a bad idea. He’s a very distracted boy. For the past thirty minutes, he’s been bouncing his legs and tapping his pencil nonstop, to the point where I’m ready to punch his family jewels. “Would you knock it off, please? Do you have ADHD or something?” I ask, shaking my head in a mixture of amusement and irritation.
“Yeah!” he says, sounding proud that I guessed it.
“Wait, really?”
“Yep.” He’s still bouncing that leg.
“Oh, sorry,” I say, feeling bad.
He grins and gives me a quick kiss on the lips, “I’m not offended. It’s a title I wear proudly. I mean, it’s not often that somebody can be hyper and not work but still get special treatment,” he brags.
I roll my eyes. “Slacker,” I tease. “Lena’s got ADD. It’s kinda sad. She loves art but, unless she takes her pills, she can’t concentrate long enough to do anything.” Lena had a really hard time in grade school, since Mom didn’t know what the problem was. Since Lena’s the oldest, Mom had no way of knowing if every child had such a difficult time with homework, or if it was just Lena. Eventually, she got tested and has been on Adderall ever since.
“ADD would suck,” he says sympathetically, making me smile. Only Brayden would look at a condition similar to his and be sympathetic toward it.
“Yes, it would,” I agree, thinking that even when I have Brayden mostly figured out, he surprises me yet again.
Chapter Nineteen
Isn’t She Lovely
This morning, Brayden called me and asked if I’d go grocery shopping with him. Adrienne had plans all day and didn’t have time to shop, so she asked Brayden. Turns out that the only thing Brayde
n knows how to buy is junk food, so I agreed to join him.
Now, I have to be like the mother of a toddler. “Bray, you can’t expect everybody in your family to want a two-pound bag of fruit loops in their cupboard. You can get a normal-size box that you can actually eat within a reasonable amount of time,” I explain to him slowly.
“But it’s such a big bag!” he exclaims excitedly, still holding the cereal out in front of him with wide eyes.
Note to self: never bring Brayden to a Sam’s Club ever again. Everything here comes in bulk sizes and it’s cheaper, so I brought us here. As it turns out, he’s never been to any place like this and is acting like a kid in a candy store.
“I know it’s a big bag, and when you decide that you’re going to eat fruit loops and only fruit loops for the rest of your life, we can get it. Until then, we’re getting a normal amount,” I tell him, pulling the bag out of his hands and putting it back on the shelf.
The cart is already full of stuff he’d convinced me to let him have, including a thirty-six pack of Mountain Dew, enough mozzarella sticks to feed an army, and the largest package of hamburger meat I’ve ever seen in my life. Around my house, we aren’t allowed to spend money so frivolously on things we really don’t need, but Brayden assured me that his parents wouldn’t mind.
“How are you ever going to eat all of this anyway?” I ask him in awe, shaking my head at the overflowing mound in the cart.
He shrugs. “If I don’t eat it at home, I’ll take it back to my apartment with me.”
I freeze. “What apartment?”
He tilts his head at me. “You don’t know about my apartment?”
“How would I know something you never told me?” I ask, giving him an annoyed look.
He grins, shrugging his arm around my shoulders and urging me to move again. “You didn’t think I was a twenty-one-year-old guy with a steady job still living at home, did you?”
I lift the shoulder that’s against the area below his armpit and grin. “I never really thought about it. Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit odd.”
He laughs a little. “I live in my own apartment, but a week or so before I met you, half of it ended up burning down from shoddy wiring. Since then, they’ve been fixing up everything electrical around the whole building. It’ll still take another couple of weeks to finish and get things back to how they’re supposed to look, but once it’s done, I’ll be moving back out,” he explains.
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