Chapter 17

Andrew

“ A re you okay?”

I’d never once seen Brandon so nervous. His fingers twitched at his sides before he swiped at his face again. Why was he crying? I understood it was an emotional moment, but he had nothing to cry over.

“Andrew?”

The way he said my name made my heart pound, but not in a good way. Something was wrong. My eyes widened when he let the next few tears fall freely instead of wiping them away. Shit, something was really, really wrong here.

I grabbed the bottle of wine from the counter and put it back in the fridge. Instead, I fished out the bottle of tequila that was stored in the cupboard. It was more our style, anyway, and something told me that whatever was upsetting him called for the liquor.

Brandon’s smile was strained as he sat on one of the kitchen stools when I brought over the bottle. It sat between us, a sentinel to all the good and bad things that had happened in our lives. He wouldn’t meet my eyes, instead staring at the two envelopes and more of those tears spilled down his face.

“I had to call my ex today...”

I waited for Brandon to continue, but he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed his envelope from the counter and ripped it open. He unfolded the pages and frowned as he looked them over. He wiped his face again and it was at that moment that I realized that something had happened with his results.

“Is it bad?” I didn’t know what else to say.

The laugh that burst free from Brandon startled me, but then he was wiping his face again. He didn’t stop laughing before he set the papers on the counter, and he turned toward me. “It depends on what your definition of bad is. I’m embarrassed. This has never happened before.”

Standing from the chair, I pulled Brandon into a hug. His arms wrapped around me, and he buried his face against my chest. His breath against my bare skin sent goosebumps across the surface. But sex seemed to be off the table for now.

“What do we need to do?”

Brandon pulled away and gave me a watery smile. “We need to go into the clinic and get some antibiotics. It’s not the end of the world and they said I can still have sex, but I’d need to use condoms for at least a week after treatment. That goes for both of us.”

It all made so much more sense why he’d been so upset. I still had the wine glasses out, so I poured some tequila into each goblet and handed one to him. “So, we wait a week. We’ve waited this long already.”

Brandon tossed back the liquor and grimaced at the burn before setting his glass back on the counter. “Why the hell do you put up with me? I feel like if I told anyone else that I had Chlamydia, they’d be running for the hills.”

I laughed, taking my own shot before pulling him in for a quick kiss. “You’ve already said it. It’s not that big of a deal. If antibiotics and a week of no sex... or a week with condoms is all we have to worry about, then there’s nothing to get upset about.”

B randon sniffled in his sleep before curling into a tighter ball. I propped myself onto my elbow and watched him. He’d been so upset last night, but once I’d gotten him to calm down, we had a pleasant evening watching a movie together. I’d even pulled the bottle of wine back out and we still enjoyed it.

When his nose pinched in like he was about to sneeze, Brandon’s eyes opened. He blinked a few times before reaching for his glasses from the nightstand. He sighed as he reached up and ran his fingers through my hair. “I’m sorry I ruined your plans for last night. ”

I leaned in and kissed the tip of his nose. “You didn’t ruin anything.”

Brandon rolled his eyes and then climbed out of bed. He had on a pair of pink boxer briefs and a t-shirt. I’d tried to talk him out of the shirt, but old habits died hard. I wanted nothing more than to feel his skin against mine and to bask in his warmth.

He disappeared into the bathroom, and I flopped onto my back to stare at the ceiling. I’d meant what I’d told Brandon last night. He didn’t need to be embarrassed. Sometimes it didn’t matter how careful you were. Things just happened. It didn’t mean he was a bad person. If anyone made him feel that way, they were wrong. What had his ex said when he called him? Did he try to blame Brandon?

When the toilet flushed, I sat up and watched as he came back into the room. Brandon had removed his glasses, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His hair stuck up in odd directions, looking so damn adorable. I wanted to pull him back into bed and snuggle with him all day, but we had agreed that we needed to get to the clinic sooner rather than later.

“What time did you want to go?” He yawned as he stretched his arms above his head. His shirt rose, revealing that tantalizing strip of skin right above his underwear. I inwardly groaned. A week was going to feel like a year .

I shrugged and crawled out of bed. My bladder was going to explode if I didn’t relieve myself and I was hungry. “Maybe we can go out for breakfast?”

I didn’t really have the money to go out to eat, but I wanted to make Brandon feel better. He deserved all the nice things, especially after having such an emotional day.

Brandon leaned against the door frame for the bathroom as I took care of business. “I could do breakfast. Let me call my parents first to make sure they don’t need extra help today at the store, though.”

As I washed my hands, I tried to not think about how I didn’t work every day. I was lucky if I was working three days a week at this point. Before long, I wouldn’t be able to afford my rent anymore. That was something I would have to worry about later because I wanted to spend my morning taking away Brandon’s concerns.

“That sounds like a plan.” I grinned, giving him another quick kiss before going into my room to find something to wear. I pulled out a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and a University of Washington hoodie. My face morphed into a scowl at the sweater, half tempted to grab something else because, while I was thankful to have a degree and that I’d been able to further my education, it wasn’t currently doing me a lot of good. There were so many people in the same boat as me. Why was college the necessary next step after high school? I didn’t even need a degree for my current job, but once I completed my on-the-job training program and got board certified, my pay would go up to above what most starting jobs in my field earned. That was the real joke.

It didn’t change the fact that the good ol’ UW would get my money for the next how many years until I paid back all of my student loans. Money concerns aside, I watched as Brandon sifted through my drawers and pulled out a pair of sweats. He was so much leaner than me, but he always liked to wear my clothes. He had to pull the draw strings extra tight and tie them so they didn’t fall off of his hips. Even my t-shirt was too big for him. It hung halfway down his thighs. But seeing him in my things had always felt right; like he’d always belonged to me, even when he hadn’t.

He pulled his hoodie over his head, and we made our way out into the cool Seattle morning. The leaves on the trees were almost completely orange at this point, most of them having fallen off. Pretty soon they’d be bare, and I’d miss seeing living plants until spring.

Our breaths puffed little clouds of steam into the air as we walked down the sidewalk. Brandon was back to being tense, and I wanted to wrap my arm around him and pull him into my side, but something stopped me. A little voice in the back of my head said it was a little too public. We’d always been affectionate in public and never cared before, but now that we were together, I had to hold back. All I wanted to do was touch him, but my thoughts spiraled, and doubt filled my mind .

Halfway down the road, Brandon pulled out his phone and called his parents. They never had a problem with letting him have time off when it came to me. Maybe they were rooting for us to be more? I’d never ask his mom or dad. I was close with them, but that seemed like a breach of Brandon’s trust. Not that my talking to Rebecca hadn’t been that.

Brandon led me down another road, and we walked up to a window that had me laughing. The entry to the store was small, but there was a line of people down the street. The place was popular and was only open twice a day, once for breakfast and then later at night for those out drinking.

“Biscuit Bitch?”

Brandon grinned before rolling his shoulders. “It’s good. And I could use some comfort food.”

The line moved quickly thanks to the quirky location’s simple menu. I had to fight back a laugh as Brandon ordered us, “Two Straight-up Bitches, please.”

We stepped to the side and waited for our orders. Once we had our paper boats filled with flaky biscuits smothered in sausage gravy, we stepped back out into the cool morning, digging in while we walked. I moaned around a forkful of food as the flavors exploded over my tastebuds. The place was a true Seattle treasure, and we’d found it on one of our drunken college escapades through the city .

We found a park bench to sit on to finish our breakfast. People walked around us and kids occasionally laughed, running ahead of their parents. It was all so cute and simple. I craved mornings like this with Brandon, and wanted to spend every morning with him.

Once we finished eating, Brandon took my paper boat from me and carried it to a nearby trashcan. He came and sat next to me again and laced his fingers through mine. I gave his hand a squeeze as he leaned his head against my shoulder. Cars drove by... life passed us by, and I could’ve been stuck in that simplistic little bubble forever had Brandon’s phone not gone off. He frowned and pulled it from his pocket.

“Shit. Sorry. Apparently, calling my ex makes him think it’s an open invitation for him to talk to me again. He’s the one who broke things off with me.” He rolled his eyes before shoving his phone back into his hoodie pocket, but our perfect, happy little bubble had been popped.

“What did he want?”

Brandon let out a heavy sigh before he stood and stretched. My hand felt oddly empty and cold once he’d let go. “To tell me he’d gotten his stupid antibiotics. I guess we should go do the same.”

I nodded as I stood and we started walking to the clinic again.