The Brightness Duet: Complete Series Boxset

by Bri Stone

  Thom: I’m here. Walking up now.

  No response. She might have still been asleep. I thought maybe I should have done a wakeup call or something. I reached her door and knocked a few times. I heard some footsteps. Three minutes later the door swung open.

  “Morning, sunshine.” I laughed.

  She didn’t exactly look like she just rolled out of bed, but...

  I liked how her hair looked like she just tossed it up in a bun because it wasn’t cooperating. Her gray tee shirt fit her lithe frame. Her denim shorts weren’t extremely short, but they showed off her legs in a very distracting manner. I realized I was staring again, but she already knew I loved looking at her.

  “Hey. Sorry. I um, was up late.” She had a red tote bag on her shoulder. She gripped it as she shut the door behind her.

  “No worries.”

  I brushed against her shoulders as we walked out to my car. I opened her door, stepped aside for her to get in, and then headed over to my side. I watched her yawn and cover her mouth. Her eyes must have watered because she wiped them. I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “It isn’t funny.” Her voice was still heavy with sleep.

  “How about coffee first?”

  She looked at me like I just changed her life. I smiled and stopped at Starbucks.

  “Ew, chai tea? Really?” I screwed up my face and looked at her once she ordered.

  She shrugged. “It’s good and it is also my favorite.”

  “Noted.” I smiled.

  She was reaching for her wallet as we pulled up to the second window but was too late. I paid and drove off.

  “Which beach are we going to?” She asked when I left the city block.

  “Alcatraz.” I joked with a straight face.

  I felt her eyes on me, but I was focused on the road. I’m uh, not a very good driver. The only reason I got my license early at fifteen was because of my mom working a lot.

  “What?” She squeaked.

  “I’m kidding, we’re not going to Alcatraz. Just relax. Maybe uh, take a nap. You’re grumpy when you’re tired.” I laughed.

  She shook her head but drank her latte.

  PARKING WAS ALWAYS a bitch at Baker Beach. That’s why I wanted to go early. I found a good spot and we headed down the rocks.

  “Careful.” I place my hand at the small of her back and led her down.

  The sand kicked over our feet. We both stopped at the edge and found a raised rock.

  “It’s pretty.”

  Perrier looked out at the water. The sun had just come up, so there was this glow coming over the water. It came into the sand a few feet from us.

  “Just pretty?” I arched my brow.

  She smiled and used my shoulder to help her stay up right as she took off her sandals. Her toes were painted this light peach color. I followed the sinuous lines of her calf and curved hamstrings, up until her face where she saw me staring at her.

  “Can’t apologize.” I smirked.

  She bit her lip nervously and put her sandals in her bag. I did the same with my shoes and handed them to her.

  “Classic male.” She sighed.

  I chuckled. “Come on. Let’s walk.”

  I kept my hands in my pockets most of the time to keep from holding her hand. More people started coming in, but we had a start on the path, so we were far down the stretch.

  “The beaches in Houston aren’t this clean.” Perrier glanced up at me.

  “There are beaches down there?” I fake a confused face.

  She laughs lightly. “Yes. We are on the bay, you know. I lived by Galveston.”

  “Not anymore?”

  “Well I left for school and came back on holidays. Now I’m here. My sister and I would go to Surfside sometimes. It was a nasty beach, but we still went.”

  “So, you have a sister?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Clementine; we call her Clem. My dad and I.”

  She didn’t mention her mother and I wasn’t sure why, so I didn’t want to press and ask.

  “You all are close?” I asked.

  “Yeah. My sister is in the Air Force, so I don’t see her often. My dad is a nautical engineer, always out at sea somewhere. That’s why we lived by the water, my dad has a fishing boat we take out sometimes.” Her voice was sad.

  I wanted to hold her, but I knew I shouldn’t. I just laid my arm over her shoulder, and she didn’t tense up when I did.

  “It sounds like you miss them.”

  She sighed. “Yeah. I mean, they’re my family. I love them. We stay in touch still. What about your family?” She looked up at me.

  I smiled when she put her arm around my waist.

  “I never knew my dad. Um, my mom died from lung cancer in May.”

  Perrier stopped walking.

  “This May?”

  I turned to face her, dropped my hand from her shoulder.

  “Yeah... um,” I swallowed, “yes”. I looked in her eyes that were wide with concern, the grays almost swallowed the whites of her eyes.

  The way she was looking at me like she cared; I mean really cared. It made me...it didn’t feel like when the doctors looked at me with somber expressions. The grief counselors or all the people you must deal with when someone dies.

  She wasn’t looking at me. Perrier was looking in me, seeing me. I didn’t know why she kept trying to ignore it.

  “Thom, I’m so sorry. That...that was only four months ago.” Her eyes searched me like she was looking for cracks.

  She came closer and touched my forearm gently. I smiled a bit at her and she furrowed her brow.

  “Yeah, but I knew she was sick for seven years. Last year it got bad, so I knew it was coming. The doctors thought she had about a year left, and they were right. Almost to the day.” I explained.

  It wasn’t a shock, or even a surprise. It was just hard, and it still is.

  “Oh. If you want to talk about it, or anything. I know we just met but you can talk to me. I know what you’re going through.” She added in a lower voice, and I believed her. But I didn’t ask how.

  She smiled, and it made me smile.

  “Thanks. That means a lot.”

  “I mean it. Um...so family isn’t a good topic.” She cleared her throat and started walking.

  “Maybe not.” I laughed a bit.

  Our focus shifted back to our walk as we drifted closer to the water.

  The breeze would blow, and I’d inhale her scent every so often. Her body next to mine, her smile, her laugh...she was pretty much torturing me.

  “When I ask you out on a date, why do you always say no?” I smiled wryly.

  She looked up at me, but then looked away just as fast. Her cheeks flushed, and her dimple went in deeper.

  “I...I’m not sure I’m ready to date.”

  “‘It’s not you it’s me?’ Really?” I chuckled.

  “No,” she smiled. “Sort of, I guess. It really isn’t you. I do like being around you.” She looked up at me.

  I stopped a little way down and we sat on the sand. She hugged her knees to her chest and looked out over the water. The sun shined down on her, making her glow. Her hair blew back with the breeze.

  “I like being around you too.” I said.

  She turned to me. Her hand curled around my wrist and I stared back at her. Gazing in her eyes. She took a deep breath and licked her lips. I tore my eyes back to hers before I got any ideas.

  “Can it just be that right now? I know it’s a bit pretentious of me to ask you to basically wait—I guess that isn’t what I’m really saying. But for now, we like being around each other. Not just studying. Um, I’m not making much sense.” She let me go and laughed nervously.

  “No, I get it. But it won’t stay like just that for me. I’m probably still going to ask you out every day, just to see how creative I can get.”

  She laughed and shook her head, miming disappointment. When her eyes met mine again we were both serious. I smiled and brought her back to the present
moment.

  “So, we keep hanging out, and if you get tired of asking or waiting for me, I understand.”

  “I’ll never get tired. But, I won’t turn into a stalker or anything.”

  “I’ll call you out on it if you do.”

  Chapter Five: Perrier

  ONE YEAR IN MEDICAL school is equal to three years anywhere else, I was sure of it.

  I had already fallen into a comfortable rhythm of a four AM bedtime, and getting up at seven to make it to lecture with just ten minutes to spare. My studying was geared towards memorization, as that was what most of the science courses were.

  I was just holding out until gross anatomy. It’s a budding pathologists’ dream. For now, I was only in block two of ground school. It was boring, most especially lecture. The only thing that wasn’t school related was Thom.

  I sighed deeply, lounging in my bed. Every time I thought of him I cracked a ridiculous smile. When we went to the beach that first weekend I tried my hardest to focus and not develop feelings for him.

  But the sun was too bright, and he was too perfect.

  Since that day he had asked me out every day. He wasn’t running short of ways to do it either. The funny thing was, we did study together every day. We would grab dinner somewhere close by, and then head back to the library. Completely educational.

  Then he would convince me to go out for dessert or something, or to grab a drink and swear it wasn’t a date. It would be mostly innocent, occasionally he would hold my hand, but I noticed it was only when we were crossing the street.

  I spent a year running from him.

  Thom was a perfect gentleman, funny, and a real goof to be honest. He was the perfect package; smart, kind, a good study partner. More than that...I was falling for him.

  Every time he asked me out it was harder to say no. I was forgetting why I was resisting.

  Because I wanted to focus on school, I think. Yes, that was it. He packed me up and took me on a vacation from rationality since the day I met him.

  “You’re a dumb bitch.”

  I gaped at my sister’s outburst. I Skyped with her at least once a week. Since it was Sunday she had a bit of extra time, so she called me.

  “What? Why?” I shouted.

  I rolled over, propping her on my pillow. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head.

  Clem looked regal with her hair in a bun, her brown military-issue t-shirt on and her dog tags. Who knew being a psychologist for the Air Force made you look just like a soldier. People thought we were twins until she joined up. We have the same hair color, the same round face and same build. Except she started doing military workouts, so she blows me out of the water, even on a camera I could see the separation of her shoulders.

  “This guy really likes you, and you keep curving him. It’s been a year, he’ll move on.”

  I froze in one breath. How had I not thought of that? I didn’t think I could handle watching him pursue someone else. We would be in very close quarters for the next three years, there would be no avoiding it. I hadn’t even told Clem until now, it made it real.

  “I know. I just...want to focus on school right now.”

  She glared at me, her gray eyes in narrow slits. “I am so sick of hearing you say that. We both know it is total bullshit.”

  Clem never beat around the bush about anything. I feel bad for her patients, honestly. She was practically yelling at me. Since she was my sister, I was used to it.

  “It isn’t. Medical school doesn’t leave much room for dating and complication.”

  “Who said it would be complicated? Do you have any idea how many people meet their husbands in med school? You’re going to be around these same people for the next three years. Who else would date you?” Her arms rose and then smacked against her legs, echoing in the room she was in.

  I exhaled deeply, thinking of what she was saying. “I know, but it isn’t what I came here for. Maybe after...”

  “Perrie, you don’t have enough pull to keep someone waiting that long. Sorry.”

  I would be offended, but her smile told me she was half joking. I shook my head as I giggled softly. “I know. There just isn’t time and I don’t want to...get distracted.” It was mostly true.

  I also just found it hard to believe he was interested in me. Every female in the program was throwing themselves at him. Asking for a study date or even right to a real date. But he turned them down. Why? I had been telling him no, he had no obligation to me and still, he told them no. The possibility of how much he likes me is still lost to me.

  “Stop lying to both yourself, and me. You’re scared. Either of letting someone in, caring about someone, or falling in love. I don’t know which. Bottom line is you are afraid of something. Since mom, you’ve been frozen.” She widened her eyes and leaned in close until I dropped her gaze and groaned.

  Damn her and psychoanalyzing me. She was much easier to talk to before she became a psychologist. Even then, she always got the truth out of me. When mom died I had trouble processing it, I thought it was normal. Had I really been stuck since then? My emotional capacity wasn’t allowed to go beyond dad and Clem. That’s why it never worked with my ex, Trevor.

  I shuddered at the memory of how I handled that.

  “I...I never felt like this. With the other guys it was very normal. But if I just think about Thom I feel so out of control. It would only get worse if I let myself fall deeper for him. I like him, a lot. I guess I am afraid of what would happen if...if I fell in love with him or something.”

  Clem smiled, and cocked her head to the side as she looked at me. I knew that look—she wished she was here with me and felt for me. Her sympathetic look is what I call it. I wished she were here too, but I knew I didn’t have to be alone. She was right.

  “Does he know that you like him at all?” She asked.

  As I was about to answer, my mouth froze open in thought. “I don’t think he does. I mean, I never said I did. I said I liked being around him but that was like a year ago.”

  “And you reject him every chance you get so he definitely doesn’t.” She shook her head in mock disappointment.

  “What should I do? Wait until he asks me again?”

  She shook her head. “No. Tell him you like him, and then you ask him out.”

  “Me? What?” I squealed.

  “Yes, you. It’ll be fine.”

  I hid my face in my pillow as she laughed. The thought of initiating anything terrified me. Clem only laughed at my affliction.

  “What does he look like anyway? You haven’t given me a very good description.”

  I held the pillow and looked at her from the side of my eye. “I don’t know. Beautiful.” I sighed.

  “Does he have Facebook?” She asked.

  “Hmm. Maybe. I haven’t looked.” I had a Facebook simply for following the grapevine when everyone else set theirs up. The only time I went on there was to comment and like all my ‘happy birthday’ posts.

  “What do you use to swoon over him when you aren’t with him?” She laughed.

  “Memory!” I laughed back.

  “Okay, well let’s look on Facebook. What is his last name?”

  I saw her grab her phone, and I thought back, realizing I had no idea. “I don’t know.”

  “Wow, okay. Just ask him. You have his number, don’t you?”

  I nodded. “I can’t ask him that.”

  “Okay, ask for a picture instead then.”

  I glared at her. She had me there. It occurred to me that I had never texted him first. I was being a real asshole, wasn’t I? I shook the thought and texted him.

  Perrier: What’s your last name?

  “I sent it.”

  “Now we wait.” She leaned back with a smug smile, and my phone beeped earlier than we both thought. “He replied so fast.” She cackled.

  Thom: Are you asking for our marriage certificate?

  I stared at my screen, a goofy smile crept on my face.

  “W
hat is that look for? What did he say?” Clem looked forward and smiled me down.

  “Um he said, ‘are you asking for our marriage certificate.’”

  Clem mocked swooning with her hands over her chest as she fell back in her chair. “Say yes.” She demanded when she came back to.

  “No.”

  “Don’t you know anything about flirting? Wimp.”

  I took a steadying breath. Maybe she was right.

  Perrier: You got me.

  I told Clem my response and she approved. In seconds my phone tinged a response.

  Thom: it’s Edwards.

  I smiled to myself. Of course, he has a name that rolls right off the tongue.

  “Thom Edwards.” I told her.

  She searched in her phone. I wondered how I even made it without creepy stalking him, because I did awfully miss his face when I wasn’t staring at it. Though it wasn’t just his finely crafted jaw or steely gray eyes that got me, it was the immediate comfort I felt when he was around. A strong sense of friendship that managed to overshadow everything, and that was rare.

  “This him?”

  She held her phone up to the camera, I waited until it adjusted.

  “Yeah.”

  His profile picture was with those two guys from the first day, suburbs and his kid. I didn’t know they were friends, I had seen them around each other in school, but I assumed they were just studying or something. It looked like they were outside the bar by campus, Thom and I went there a few times. Fireside. The sofa seating and fireplace made it somewhat romantic, but I always ignored it. Tried to, anyway.

  “He’s fucking gorgeous. You really are a bitch, I’m not fond of you right now.”

  My sister is ridiculous.

  “Yeah, he’s...perfect.” I murmured with a sigh. She giggled at me.

  “I’m going to properly search his page and get back to you. In the meantime, you’re having dinner with him this weekend. A real dinner. You’ll tell him that you like him tomorrow. I’m serious Perrie, life is too short for this shit. Let people in, we weren’t built to be alone.”

  “I know.” I nodded.

  “Okay, good. I’ll talk to you later. I love you.

  “Love you too.”

  The screen went black.