Farewell Apathy

by Jenn Hype

  “I don’t answer to you, Keegan. Now, I don’t want to come across as an asshole, but you need to understand right now that you can’t keep me out of Brailey’s life. It’s not your decision.” Wyatt’s in Keegan’s face and the look he’s giving her could light a fire, but she’s not backing down. Instead she takes a step towards him, eliminating the little distance between them, and pokes him in the chest hard with her finger.

  “You listen to me, dickhead, you will not bully me. I don’t know why you’ve got such a hard-on for Brailey since you just met, but you don’t know her well enough to get all alpha male, protector caveman on her. Unless there’s something you aren’t telling me, which I assume is probably the case. So the way I see it, you can fess up and tell me everything, or you can get the hell out and stay away from my friend.”

  My phone dings, and Wyatt backs away from Keegan and walks over to the counter. When he picks it up and reads whatever is on it I clench my fists and vow to punch him in the neck for continuing to touch my phone after I warned him. Once I’m functioning at full capacity, that is.

  “How much do you know about Mark?” Wyatt asks Keegan, running his hand through his hair and tossing my phone back down roughly. She shrugs and crosses her arm, looking a little too happy to have the upper hand. “Fine. I’ll find out for myself,” he mutters under his breath, taking his phone out of his pocket and typing some kind of message.

  I can’t believe that asshole is trying to snoop on my freaking phone right now. If I wasn’t already so weak and dehydrated and much closer to death than I should be, then I would be kicking his ass right now. Screw it. If I’m going to die today, I’m going to do it knowing I got in a solid junk punch to Wyatt.

  “Brailey!” Keegan yells before running over to me. I missed the mark a little. Wyatt was much further away than I anticipated, and after about three steps my body just collapses like a marionette. Keegan tries to lift me, but I’m dead weight, so Wyatt steps up to help her. I can’t kick him in the nuts, but I can give him a death glare. Wyatt takes the hint, even though the jerk is trying really hard not to smirk at me. Garrett leans down instead and takes my other arm, and together with Keegan they hoist me up and walk me over to the couch.

  “Sorry I’m late to the party,” I deadpan. “Anyone wanna tell me what’s going on?”

  Keegan starts to speak up, but Wyatt cuts her off.

  “You got really wasted at the club and I brought you home. Keegan and Garrett stopped by to check on you, that’s all.” Something about his response feels forced, like he’s rehearsed it, and Keegan confirms my suspicion.

  “Tell her the truth, Wyatt,” Keegan warns.

  “Enough!” He barks at her and she actually flinches a little. “Just rest, Brailey,” Wyatt says softly, taking my hand in his and kneeling before me. My brain sends fierce signals to my hand, telling it to pull away, but it’s like I’m paralyzed, and instead of trying to get away from Wyatt, my eyes close and I’m dead to the world again.

  ~

  When I wake up again it’s dark outside and my apartment is quiet. My eyes open easily this time and I see a glass of water and a bottle of pain medicine sitting on my bedside table, right next to my phone which apparently has been getting blown up while I had my mini-coma.

  One text from Keegan telling me to take the medicine, get rest and that she’ll be by after her shift. Five texts from Mark, each more frantic than the last. Freaking hell. The absolute last thing I want to be doing right now is trying to explain to Mark why I haven’t been returning his messages, because I have no intention of telling him about whatever the hell happened last night. The other night? What the hell day even is this?

  My memory is blurry at best with missing spans of time scattered throughout it. I’m so damn sick of trying to remember stuff. It’s bad enough when I can’t remember things prior to the accident, but to lose bouts of time presently? That just annoys the crap out of me.

  Keegan is a nurse in the hospital’s rehab facility, and depending on the needs of the patient, sometimes she works late. Today must be one of those days. I take three pills and down the entire glass of water. My muscles still ache and there’s a lingering thumping in the back of my head, but I don’t feel at all like I did the last time I woke up.

  What I really want is a long bath and a few gallons of water, but when another text from Mark comes through, I figure I may as well just get this over with.

  “Finally! What the hell, Brailey? I’ve been asking you to call me for days. Are you okay? What’s going on?” It didn’t even ring one full ring before he answered, so his yelling through the phone catches me off-guard, bring back that stabbing feeling in my temples.

  “I’m fine, calm down. Things are just really crazy. I’m still trying to get settled and get things ready for when I start work. I didn’t mean to ignore you or stress you out.” He lets out a relieved sigh and I feel a stab of guilt for worrying him. “You don’t have to worry about me, Mark. I’m fine, and if I weren’t, I would tell you.”

  “Okay, but you really would tell me if you need anything at all, right?”

  “I promise. So what’s up? Is everything okay? You sounded pretty upset in your texts.” He pauses for so long before responding that I pull my phone away to check that we’re still connected.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine, just wanted to hear your voice.” That’s an unusually personal admission for Mark, and it kind of throws me for a loop. For weeks he made sure to not say anything that resembled anything other than friendship, but you don’t just want to hear someone’s voice that you don’t have feelings for. I don’t know how to respond to that, and a tiny spark of anger chips away at the guilt I usually feel when it comes to Mark. Instead of saying something I’ll end up regretting, I decide to just change the subject.

  “So I’ve got a new pain in the ass neighbor,” I say with a scoff. Mark doesn’t say anything again and his long pauses are making me feel insecure. “Anyway, if you’re busy I can call you later. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

  “No! No. I’m sorry, I’m not busy. I was just distracted, but I’m paying attention, I promise. So tell me about this new neighbor.” It’s so very unlike Mark to be distracted. He is the best listener EVER, which I suppose is a really good thing considering he gets paid to listen to people. Why is he acting so weird?

  My palm flies up to smack myself in the forehead when I realize that in my haste to find something to talk about, I’ve just brought up Wyatt - a topic I’ve been specifically avoiding talking to Mark about. Now I don’t know what the hell to say without it sounding like I’m trying to make him jealous or hurt him, and he’s already being so sensitive and strange, so try to play it off like I hate Wyatt. Which isn’t too hard since I’m actually pretty pissed at him still.

  “Well all I know about him so far is that he’s kind of an asshole. I mean, I guess he’s nice at times. I don’t know, I don’t really know him. I just haven’t met many people here yet. Keegan is great, though. We went out the other night and-”

  “What do you mean he’s an asshole? Has he said or done anything to you?”

  “No, no, nothing like that. Actually, he’s been looking out for me, which I’m sure you would be grateful for, but it’s starting to annoy the piss out of me. I don’t know...there’s just something about him. Like he’s moody or something and I can’t tell if he likes me or hates me.”

  “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you, no one can hate you, it’s not possible.”

  “Not everyone can see the best in people like you do, Mark. I guess it will just take time with Wyatt. I’m just not good with people yet. It’s hard to be able to read other people’s emotions when you’re trying to figure out your own.”

  “You’ll get the hang of it, Brailey, give it time. Have you made any other friends?”

  “Actually…” A knock at the door cuts me off, and if I don’t answer soon, Keegan will just start banging relentlessly. She’s so impatient. “Hey, sorry Mar
k but someone’s at the door. Can I call you tomorrow?”

  “Yeah sure, just be careful Brailey.” The seriousness in his voice warms my heart, reminding me again how lucky I am to have him in my life, looking after me.

  “I’m being careful. Promise.” Keegan knocks on the door again so I hang up without waiting to hear Mark’s goodbye.

  “I’m expecting company, so whatever reason you’re here for, make it quick,” I say, more annoyed than surprised when I open the door to find Wyatt standing there instead of Keegan.

  “Yeah, I know you’re expecting company. That’s why I’m here.” Wyatt laughs at my confused face before pushing his way past me. “Keegan can’t make it, so I’m here in her place.”

  “How would you know that? Is she okay?”

  “Yeah, I just came from her apartment. She had a really difficult shift and was exhausted so I offered to come over and check on you so she could rest.” That jealous bitch inside of me raises her claws, slicing my gut violently. He was at Keegan’s. Why would he be at Keegan’s? They aren’t close, and last I heard, they were at each other’s throats in my living room.

  Plus, Keegan obviously knows I’m attracted to him, considering how many hours she’s spent talking to me about him in the weeks since he’s moved in. Of course, I couldn’t fault her for going after him since I’ve also spent every day since meeting him trying to deny that I feel anything towards him other than annoyance.

  “Well, as you can see, I’m fine. So you can go back over there and tell Keegan you did your job and you guys can continue whatever it was you were doing.” Whoa, that came out sounding a hell of a lot more bitter and resentful than I meant it to.

  “Now Peaches, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.” I contemplate denying it, but he reaches up and lightly caresses my cheek, my words getting stuck in my throat. “I ran into Keegan on my way up here to check on you, she was just getting home. She looked exhausted so I told her not to worry and get some rest. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was just spending time with her.”

  All the muscles in my body uncoil, an absurd amount of relief washing over me. It shouldn’t matter this much. How he chooses to spend his time, and whoever he spends it with, is none of my business. We are nothing to each other. Why do I care so damn much?

  “You want to tell me why you call me peaches?” I ask, trying to change the subject to something safer, less complicated.

  “Nope, not really,” he says with that cocky grin of his. He’s so damn charming when he wants to be that it makes it hard to keep denying how much he really affects me.

  “Alright, well, thanks for coming by, I appreciate it. I’ll see you around,” I say quickly, hoping he’ll take the hint and realize he’s being dismissed. He doesn’t. Instead he leans against my kitchen counter and crosses his legs at the ankle.

  “Have you eaten?”

  “Uhhh...yes,” I lie, just wanting him to leave so I can be alone.

  “You suck at lying,” he says with a smirk while his eyes take a long, slow look over me. Dressed in only light blue silk pajama bottoms and a matching tank, it’s not until his eyes stop at my chest that I remember I’m not wearing a bra.

  “Ugh, I know. I’m just not in the mood for company right now,” I lie again.

  “You were in the mood for company when it was Keegan coming over. So what you’re saying is, you’re just not in the mood for my company.” He’s still wearing his damn smirk as he calls me out on my lie...again...but there’s a little bit of uncertainty in his eyes now.

  I hate how well he can read me. And I hate how much I want to kiss his cocky mouth right now.

  But damn, I love how he looks in the tight jeans he’s wearing.

  I feel my body start to hum and react in ways I’m not able to hide in what I’m wearing, so I look away from him and try to distract myself. He’s not having it though, because he walks over to me and grips my chin with his fingers and turns my face so that our noses are so close they’re almost touching. The way he’s looking at me, for a second I really think he’s going to kiss me.

  Ha! Good one, Brailey.

  I’m such an idiot. Of course he doesn’t kiss me. Instead he pulls his hand away and nudges my chin in a casual way that makes me cringe. He may as well have called me “sport” when he did it, and I’m getting so freaking sick of him treating me like a child when all I want is for him to see me as a desirable woman.

  I close my eyes and hold back a growl when he steps back and moves around me towards the sitting room. When I hear my TV come on, I turn to see Wyatt with one arm draped over the back of the couch and the remote in the other hand. He’s flipping through channels casually, as if hanging out in my apartment is something he’s done a hundred times. The whole scene is baffling and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. It would seem he’s not leaving any time soon, though, so I plop down on the opposite end of the couch and watch quietly as he flips through channels so quickly that I can’t even tell what shows he’s skipping over.

  “Slow down your trigger finger, bud. How can you tell if you’re not skipping something good?” Wyatt shrugs and then holds the remote out to me and I hesitate, looking at the remote like it might bite me if I reach out to take it from him.

  “Here, you find something. I don’t care what we watch, I just wanted something to do while I waited for you to realize I wasn’t leaving.” How can he be so bluntly honest one minute, and then guard so many secrets the next? He can take his honesty and shove it, because I don’t need a babysitter.

  “You know what? No. You can watch what you want. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen, the bathroom is through that door, and most importantly, please don’t hesitate to let yourself out. I’m going to bed and unless you’re truly an asshole, you’ll leave me alone and let me rest.” With that I storm into my bedroom and slam the door behind me, quickly locking the door.

  I know it’s cowardly to just hide from him, but I can’t very well force him to leave. That doesn’t mean I have to be forced into spending time with him, so if he just wants to mooch off my cable and food, then he can have at it, but I’m not sticking around to suffer through it any more.

  ~

  “Hello?”

  “Ehhem, is this Brailey?”

  “‘Sup,” I say, a little breathless as I move around our little house with my phone clutched between my shoulder and my ear. I lose my grip and it falls to the floor, and I drop all my grocery bags when I bend to pick it up. “Dammit!” I yell right when I put it back to my ear. “Oops, sorry. Dropped my phone. Didn’t mean to shout in your ear. Who is this again?”

  “Um, this is Bryce. You gave me your number today at Mayford. I, uh, we talked and-”

  I could be nice here and put him out of his misery, but what’s the fun in that?

  “At Mayford? Are you sure you have the right number?”

  He doesn’t respond for a second, and I hear shuffling on his end of the line. My ice cream is melting on my floor, and I’m trying too hard not to giggle to care enough to bend down and pick it up.

  “Uhh, the paper here has the name Brailey and this number on it, so yeah...pretty sure I have the right number.” He still doesn’t sound pretty sure, so I keep probing.

  “Hmmm, maybe someone gave you my number? The person you talked to - what did she look like?”

  He clears his throat nervously, and I picture him pacing the room he’s in. “Um, she had on yellow scrubs. Light blonde hair, pulled up into a messy bun. She had a killer ass and a nice rack,” he pauses and though he can’t see me, my face flushes. “Her face was okay, I guess. If you’re into that kind of thing.”

  “What the hell! That’s a really asshole thing to say! You’re lucky you aren’t saying that to my ‘okay’ looking face, because I’d kick you in the nuts!”

  When I stop yelling, I can hear him laughing on the other end. “Oh man, you’re too easy.”

  “Trust me, I’m not easy, but I’m definitel
y worth the effort,” I tease, and I hear him choke on his laughter. I wait patiently until his coughing fit subsides, just staring at my ice cream that’s still melting on the floor. I really should clean it up, but I’m kind of frozen in place, mesmerized by the sound of his laugh. It’s freaking magical, as stupid as that sounds.

  A knock on the door pulls me from my trance, and I ask him to hold on while I get the door, only to find out that he’s hung up.

  That’s weird.

  I look out the peephole, but it’s dark out and my porch light is out. Dammit, I told Shaun to fix that last week.

  I figure if the person standing outside is some kind of crazy killer, then he’ll find his way in whether or not I open the door for him, so I may as well just get this over with.

  I yank the door back and throw my arms straight up into the air, yelling, “Chop away!”

  Bryce stares at me like I’m out of my damn mind. “Oh, hey, didn’t know it was you,” I say, stepping back from the door to let him in. He walks in behind me, taking his time as he appraises my living quarters.

  I busy myself with putting away the rest of the groceries, then make my way over to the melted ice cream once all the bags are empty. Bryce still hasn’t spoken, and it’s starting to get a little weird.

  “Did you just come over to watch me do chores, or did you need something?” I ask him without looking up from where I’m on my knees, scrubbing Rocky Road out of my carpet.

  “You said you wanted to talk to me about Mayra,” he says nervously, scrubbing the back of his neck with his hand. I look up and quirk an eyebrow at him, which makes him fidget more.

  “You couldn’t have talked to me over the phone?” I ask as I make my way back to the sink, rinsing out the rag I used to clean up my mess. He shrugs, looking everywhere except at my face. “Want something to drink?” He shakes his head, and this tongue-tied, nervous person is a complete contrast to who I met earlier.

  I pop the lid on two bottles of beer, handing him one and making my way over to my crappy couch. “So how do you know Mayra?” He hesitates, so I use my finger to tip his bottle up closer to his mouth. “Drink your beer, maybe it will loosen your lips a little.”