My Brother's Best Friend

by Becky Andrews

  I decided to sit by his door in case he showed up, but he didn’t. I even called him a couple times from his neighbor’s phone since mine was apparently still not working and Mitch said he was calling the phone company. He didn’t answer and I didn’t want to leave a message.

  What if he doesn’t want me anymore? Surely he’s upset. I haven’t spoken to him since Wednesday. And to make things worse, I’ve ignored all of his messages. God please don’t let it be too late.

  * * *

  I went to work Monday. I tried once more from Larissa’s phone to call him before going to work but again he didn’t respond. I was feeling pretty awful by the time I made it to work. I was sure he wanted nothing more to do with me. I was certain he was moving to get away from me and he never wanted to see me again. I almost started crying and contemplated actually leaving him a voicemail and explaining everything and apologizing for being a complete fool.

  But I set my things down and immediately my eyes were drawn to a small box placed on my desk. It had a red bow and immediately my heart swelled. Maybe he didn’t hate me. Maybe I did have a chance.

  I hesitantly opened the box and found a customized red iPhone engraved with the silver letters, CJ in the upper right corner next to the phone’s speaker. I couldn’t believe it. He had done it. He had somehow managed to get me a red iPhone. The back casing was still silver, but the front cover was a ruby red.

  I took the phone and turned it on. The welcome screen flashed and tears filled my eyes as I read the message: I love you, forever and always.

  Before I could even explore the phone, it began to ring. The name registered as Prince Charming and I smiled with tears threatening to spill over.

  I answered it. “Hello?”

  “Hi, beautiful,” he said hesitantly. “I’m so sorry for everything.”

  “You don’t have to explain anything. I’m the one who should apologize. I overreacted because…because I love you.”

  There was a brief pause and I almost asked if he was still there when I finally heard him speak. “I love you too, Christy. I have for a very long time.”

  “I was too blind to see it. My heart was hardened, and I chose not to see anything that would soften it.”

  “I’m sorry for everything I did in high school. I was a complete ass. You were perfect. You are perfect.”

  I chuckled a little and wiped the tears falling down my cheeks. “I’m hardly perfect. I almost completely ruined everything.”

  “For good reason. You don’t have to apologize for getting upset. I’m rather angry myself.”

  “I’m sorry you had to deal with that along with my reaction. I love you.” I smiled. I couldn’t stop saying it.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing those words coming from your lips. I love you, CJ.”

  “I tried to find you yesterday,” I hedged. “You never came home.”

  “I did. I saw you before you saw me and it took everything I had not to rush to you, take you in my arms and kiss you soundly.”

  “Why did you wait?”

  “I had a few more things to do. I also wasn’t sure you weren’t just there to tell me to get lost for good.”

  “Your neighbor said you were moving. Is that true?”

  “Yes and no. I was getting rid of things I no longer needed and making some extra room in the apartment.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s easier to tell you in person. Besides, I want to hold you in my arms, to know that you are real.”

  “You should have thought about that earlier.” I smiled, knowing I felt the same way. I itched for his touch, for him to whisper in my ear that he loved me.

  “I did and I came prepared,” he said.

  “You’re being cryptic again.” I looked up, seeing someone walking up to the doors from the corner of my eyes and gasped when I realized it was Devin. I stood, the phone still to my ear when he walked inside the building.

  “Surprise.” He smiled and in a daze I smiled back. He put his phone in his pocket. “You can hang up now.” The phone remained in my hand until he took it and placed it on the desk. He held onto my hand and kissed it. “I meant what I said. I love you, CJ.”

  “I know.” I blushed.

  “Don’t you have something to say?”

  “Hmm, I don’t think I do. Oh, okay. Was it three words?”

  He nodded, trying not to chuckle.

  “Yes, I remember. Thank you, Devin.”

  He rolled his eyes.

  “Not it?”

  “No.”

  “Hmm, let me try again...I love you, Devin. I love yo—” I couldn’t finish as his lips came down on mine and began to kiss me. My arms wrapped around his neck, holding him closer to me. I had missed his touch. I had missed him.

  He kissed my neck and then just held me close to him. I did the same, resting my head on his shoulder, smelling his intoxicating cologne. “I’ve missed you terribly,” I said honestly. “I thought you were going to leave me. You don’t know how many times I called you.”

  “I do know and I’ve missed you too. It’s been torture to give you your space. I was terrified you were going to realize I wasn’t good enough for you.”

  I kissed his neck. “Don’t leave me, okay?”

  “Never.”

  “If you’ve made room in your apartment, do you think I can move in?” I pulled back to look him in the eye. “I’m tired of putting Larissa out by staying with her and I don’t want to go back to the house. Maybe I should get my own place to start. I don’t want to put you out.”

  Devin held his finger to my lips, stopping my nervous chatter. “Why do you think I cleared out space? I don’t want to drive all the way to Larissa’s hotel to pick you up, it’s much more convenient to have you living with me.”

  “Do you think we’re going too fast?” I asked. “Dr. Stone would say so.”

  “Or he would say, go for it. And if you think this is fast—”

  “I don’t. I’m just wondering what others will think.”

  “Don’t worry about anyone else. What matters is how we both feel. I love you, Christy. I don’t want to let you go now. You’re stuck with me.”

  “Good, because you’re stuck with me too. I love you. We have spent way too much time apart. It’s time we rectify the situation.”

  “I completely agree,” he said, leaning down to capture my lips. We were lost again in our own world of happiness.

  “Ahem!” Reluctantly we broke apart to find Mitchell and Megan standing before us. “I’m sorry, were we interrupting?” I turned around, but Devin held onto my waist. “I’m guessing you made up?”

  I nodded then grabbed my phone off the desk. “Look what I got!” I held it up for Mitch and Megan to see.

  “Is this customized?” Megan asked incredulously, grabbing for the phone.

  “Yep.” I smiled, turning slightly to look up at Devin. “Made just for me.”

  He smiled back at me and kissed my cheek.

  I giggled and touched his face, “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” he said softly.

  “You apologized with a bribe?” Mitchell asked.

  “No. It was just a gift,” I said defensively. “I forgave him Saturday night, well Sunday morning, I suppose.” Mitchell nodded as he handed back my phone. “You don’t have to like it, Mitch. I know you’re upset about us, but you’re going to at least accept that it happened. We’re together,” I said, smiling up at Devin.

  “I’m just looking after you like a big brother should. You’re my little sister and he’s my best friend.”

  “You’re not losing either of us, man,” Devin said. “You know I’ll take care of her.”

  “Yes, I guess I do owe you for saving her.”

  “You don’t owe me anything. We both would have lost something important to us that day.” Devin’s arm unconsciously held me tighter and I knew they were talking about my attempted suicide and for the first time I wasn’t uncomfortable. Ever
yone knew the truth, there were no secrets. I was a different person now. I was confident in myself and happy to just be me.

  “Exactly how much did that phone cost you, if you don’t mind me asking?” Megan asked.

  “Um,” Devin hesitated. “It cost enough.” He looked down at me. “This phone was a favor of a favor. Terry knew somebody who knew somebody who knew who to get in touch with. We drew up a contract and had the phone made.”

  “So it cost you an arm and a leg.”

  He smiled and tapped my nose. “Maybe just an arm.”

  “You had to draw up a contract?” Mitchell asked.

  “Yeah, about that, we might have to tell our story for their website. They are thinking of opening it to the public. It won’t be as snazzy or customized as yours, but they are thinking of producing plastic colored versions. Android phones are taking a lot of the market and they are trying to find new ways to keep their market share. But if they don’t go public, we have to keep it low key, no public statements or interviews or tipping off the public in any way that we have a customized phone.” I nodded my head slowly, a bit confused and overwhelmed. “I’ll explain it better later.”

  About that time someone else walked into the building and Devin and I separated. He took my hand in his and nodded to the man.

  “Morning, Reggie.” Megan smiled. He was from MBR apparently.

  He stopped briefly. “Congratulations on your marriage. I heard about it from Nancy.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled.

  “Are you going to be at the Grant briefing?”

  “Yeah, I’m on my way now,” she said. This man, Reggie—I had never known him by face—nodded and walked off. Megan turned to us. “I better go. We have an important meeting in a few.” She kissed Mitchell and then hugged me. “I knew it would work out. I’m happy for you,” she whispered in my ear.

  I smiled as she walked away. “I better go, too,” Mitch said. “Don’t stay too long, Malone,” he said, pointing at Devin.

  Devin chuckled, “Of course.”

  I watched as they walked away, leaving me and Devin alone again.

  “I can’t believe this is real,” I whispered.

  “Believe it, beautiful. I’m never leaving you again. Maybe you should take Terry up on his offer.”

  I laughed. “Sure. Then maybe we can get attached at the hip.”

  “No, that wouldn’t work. How would I love you?”

  I blushed and looked down at our clasped hands.

  “I have another present for you,” Devin said, lifting up my chin to look into my eyes.

  “You need to stop showering me with gifts. People are really going to think I love you for the gifts.”

  He chuckled. “Come on, admit it, you like the gifts.”

  I smiled shyly. “Yeah, I guess I do, but it doesn’t mean you should waste your money. You should save it.”

  “Would it help to say I won them at a work raffle?”

  “Did you really?” I believed him completely.

  “Well, you did say you wanted to take part in the next raffle I won,” he said, pulling out a long rectangular box. “Even if it was a—”

  “— honeymoon trip to Hawaii.” I finished his sentence as I opened the box, revealing a ticket to Hawaii. I looked up at him. “Are you serious?”

  “I know you said we might be moving fast, but hear me out.”

  “You didn’t really win this at work, did you?”

  He smiled sheepishly. “No. We don’t actually have raffles at work.”

  “So the Vegas trip for Mitch and Megan?”

  “I bought it for them for two reasons. First I knew Mitchell would propose and secondly, I wanted to spend some time with you alone.”

  “You planned the whole thing?” I asked incredulously. “So you let me win the marriage bet? I bet you even planted the idea into Mitch’s head that I needed you to stay at the house for safety.” He shrugged his shoulders. “You did! I can’t believe you. You’re a natural miscreant.”

  “I did it out of love. I needed you to see what you were missing.”

  “Your plan worked well.” I smiled up at him then remembered the tickets and his implication. “Do you really mean what I think you mean?”

  “I know some may see it as moving too fast, but I look at it as long overdue. If we’re moving in together, I would like it to be as man and wife. I want you for myself. I want to know you’re mine and I’m yours. I love you, Chris. Nothing is going to change that so I figure why wait when we know it’s right?”

  I looked down at the ticket in the box and placed it on the desk. Devin looked morose and I almost laughed at his expression. “I love you, Devin—”

  “But. There’s always a but.”

  I smiled this time. “I was going to say, when do we leave?”

  He didn’t respond, only kissed me, and I didn’t mind. I kissed him back with all the love I felt. He was mine. I was his.

  I was laughing and crying all at the same time.

  “Happy tears?”

  I nodded as he kissed them away.

  He pulled away. “I have flights booked for tomorrow. I figured you could talk to your boss, get the time off and we could go home, pack your things and bring them over to my place and get ready to leave tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow? That quick?”

  “I can’t wait. I want to love you as Mrs. Malone tomorrow night.”

  “Well, in that case,” I kissed his cheek and walked to my desk and dialed a number. “Cathy, are you free for a quick appointment? With me. Yes. Okay, I’ll be right there.” I hung up and dialed another number and waited for it to be picked up.

  “This is Shelly.”

  “Hi, Shelly, could you cover the phones for a few minutes?”

  “Sure. You know I love it when I can cover for you. I’ll be right out.”

  I hung up and turned to Devin. “So how long are we staying in Hawaii?”

  “How much time off can you get?”

  I shook my head and smiled at him. “And if I said a year?”

  “I would say it’s not long enough.”

  “How about three weeks?”

  “Could you really take that much time off?”

  “I can try. What about you? Who are they going to get for the show?”

  “We’ve finished recording all the shows up to the finale. The cast is going to tour the country for a month and then we resume for the following season. If Rob or Terry need something, they can get someone else for that time. But they shouldn’t need anything unless Terry decides to scrap a whole scene and rerecord again,” he said, smiling down at me.

  It was what started this whole thing. A scrapped scene and a new musical number had caused us to come together, caused me to see what was really going on between us.

  “I love you,” I said, leaning into him.

  He hugged me and kissed the top of my head. “I definitely will never tire of hearing those words uttered from your mouth.”

  I laughed and pulled away slightly. “Well, I need to go face the boss lady. Are you coming?”

  “Don’t you think it would be better if I don’t come?”

  I looked him over and noticed his smirk. “No, it would definitely be better for you to join me. How could she say no to a honeymoon with you?”

  “She won’t be the one going.”

  “A minor detail.”

  Shelly walked out and came up to the desk. “How long are you going to be?”

  “Not more than ten minutes,” I told her and pulled Devin along with me.

  I knocked on my boss’s door and opened it when she called out to come in. She only looked slightly surprised when Devin followed me. “You wanted to talk to me?”

  “Yes. I’m going to just tell you straight out. I know you don’t care for hedging around the subject.” She nodded and inclined her head to the chairs in front of her desk. “Well, I’m going to elope and I need some time off.”

  “Is this your fiancé?”
She looked him over and a momentary prick of jealousy jabbed me. Devin squeezed my hand he hadn’t stopped holding. “Well done, Christy.”

  “So is it possible to have time off?”

  She looked toward her computer monitor. “Let me just see what I can do.” She began clicking and scrolling and made a few noncommittal noises then suddenly looked up brightly. “When would you like to leave?”

  “That’s the thing, he bought the tickets for tomorrow. It was a surprise, to say the least.”

  She narrowed her eyes slightly. “And if I say you can’t leave for another two weeks?”

  “Regretfully I would have to resign.”

  Devin squeezed my hand and I squeezed back, assuring him.

  Cathy paused briefly, before resuming her bright smile. “Well then, in that case, I will see you May ninth. Have a good time and I sincerely hope that you realize what I’m doing for you. Though it wasn’t hard, considering you’ve only had two sick days this whole fiscal year. So just to give you a heads up, you’re using two weeks’ vacation and the rest of your sick days.”

  I stood up and shook her hand, smiling. “Thank you, Cathy. I will bring you back a little bit of Hawaii.”

  She smiled. “I look forward to it.”

  Devin took her hand. “Thank you. I’m Devin, by the way.”

  “Nice to meet you, Devin, and take care of the future Mrs. Devin.” She smiled. “We need her organizational skills. Just promise me next time you let me know in advance about any surprise trips! Ok?”

  He nodded.

  “I just want to thank you again for this,” I said before we left. “If anyone should fill in for my absence, I think Shelly is the most talented. She can handle the calls and the visitors.”

  “I’ll take that into consideration. And if you two would like the time to pack, feel free to take the rest of the day off. Just let Shelly know she’ll be covering for you at least today. I’ll give the news to Judy.”

  I nodded and walked out with Devin. As soon as we were out of Cathy’s office, I turned to him. “May ninth? That’s like three weeks and a little extra!”

  Devin chuckled, “Just what we wanted, right?”

  “You think you can handle vacation for three weeks?”

  “Well, considering I was going to be on vacation anyway, you are the one I’m worried about. You’re the one who hasn’t had a real vacation in several years.”