Chapter 20

Brandon

“ D o you remember that time when we were thirteen and your mom accidentally locked us in the store?”

My fingers tightened in Andrew’s grasp. We were lying in bed staring at the ceiling, sleep eluding the both of us. He’d seemed upset after everyone left earlier, but I didn’t know how to bring it up to him.

“I do. We thought we were so smart hiding behind that back shelf. She thought we’d already left and gone home...”

The memory came flooding back. We were two dumb kids who thought it’d be funny to hide from my mom while she was closing the store. Panic struck when the lights went out and the door locked. Andrew had left our hiding spot first to find the store empty. It was winter and mom and dad turned the heat off at night, so things cooled down quickly. I hated it when they did that because when they dragged me in to help on my break from school, it was always so cold until the heat kicked in.

“She’s going to come back, right?”

Andrew was frantic as he paced in front of the door. The streets were empty because it was late, and a lone car cast a glow of headlights on the pavement as it drove past. There was no way that they could see us in the store.

“I don’t know. Maybe when she gets home and realizes we’re not there?”

Andrew came back to where I was huddled next to the register. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I was shaking in fear. This had been such a stupid idea. What if she didn’t realize we weren’t there and didn’t come back? Would we freeze to death overnight?

It took Mom a total of fifteen minutes before she realized we weren’t home when she got there. We’d been locked in the store for forty-five minutes before she returned to get us. There’d been no yelling, as the two of us had been so scared that we’d sufficiently learned our lesson.

“What made you think about that?” I asked.

Andrew’s shoulders lifted in a shrug. “I don’t know. Just a random thought. We used to get into so much trouble together... like today.”

Was this how he wanted to bring up what happened in the bathroom? It was impossible to act like everything was normal after that. Everyone kept staring at us, and I was insistent on an issue with the sink. There was no way there was an issue with the amount of time we’d spent in there. Not one we could handle by ourselves, anyway .

Chase had even pulled me aside. When he tried to ask me if things had changed with Andrew, I blew him off. I hate doing it, but after last week, I started to worry that this risk was too great between Andrew and me. I trusted my ex, and he’d given me a freaking STI. Andrew was different, I knew that, but it still had me all screwed up.

“We... probably shouldn’t have done that.”

Andrew laughed and pulled me into his chest. My cheek rested where I could hear his heart thudding loudly. His fingers ran through my hair, causing my eyes to droop and feel sleepy for the first time all evening.

“Probably not. We’re going to have to tell them sooner rather than later.”

My body instantly stiffened, and so did Andrew’s, in response. He rushed to fix what he said. “I want them to know that you’re mine. I’m not ashamed of you. I’ve always wanted you.”

Little flutters of happiness settled over me. And I knew it was hard for him to not say anything.

“Soon. I promise.” I didn’t know when that would be, but I’d work on being comfortable enough to say something.

M om opened the door to the shop, and I stepped inside, reflecting on what Andrew had said last night. A smile spread across my face at the memory. When I didn’t move, Mom tapped me on the shoulder and I stepped aside so she could enter the store.

“What’s got you smiling like that this morning?”

I shook my head. “You remember one time you locked me and Andrew in here?”

She laughed as she went over to the dial and turned the heat up. Even after all these years, she kept that up, though now she didn’t turn off the heat completely. “How could I forget that? You two scared the crap out of me.”

While she prepared the store to open, I quickly assisted by moving sheets and opening the safe and till. By the time I came back to the front, Dad was there with a tray of steaming coffee. He handed one to me as I handed the money over to Mom. We had opening the store down to a science at this point.

“Brandon here was just reminding me of the time he and Andrew nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Dad raised his eyebrows, taking a sip of his drink while he threw the cardboard tray into a recycling bin. “I remember that. How come we’re talking about that now?”

My face flushed. “Andrew brought it up. Said he’d just been thinking about it.” I wasn’t about to tell my parents why he’d been thinking about how many times the two of us had caused trouble .

Mom went and flipped the sign on the door to open while Dad went to the back to do administrative work. I walked around the store, straightening shelves and flipping books to face forward to fill in empty spaces until we got more inventory.

“How has Andrew been doing?”

I looked at Mom as her question caught me off guard. Andrew was in here often enough, so she should know.

“He’s... fine.” I swallowed, suddenly feeling nervous. My palms started to sweat and a feeling of insects crawling over my skin made me itch. It was getting ridiculous how anyone asking me about him was making me feel that way. It shouldn’t.

Mom gave me a smile, coming over and pulling me into a hug. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Just like that, my nerves intensified. Maybe we were being more obvious. I’d need to back off of Andrew in public some more. But maybe that was the problem? We were always affectionate, and I was being standoffish.

When Mom let me go, my smile felt forced. I wanted to tell her everything, about how I’d given him the chance. My parents would be ecstatic.

“There’s—there’s nothing to tell.” My throat tried to close off around the lie. The look Mom gave me, she knew it wasn’t the truth. Moms always had a way of knowing.

She patted my cheek and went back to the register as I continued to straighten up around the store .

The day wasn’t that exciting. A few customers came in here and there, but not enough to consider it busy. By the time one of our part-time workers came in for the evening shift, I was ready to go for the day.

Mom waved as I practically ran out of the front door. I wanted to get home. Not that there were any big plans for the evening.

When I got there, I changed and threw myself on my bed and pulled out my phone. There were no messages throughout the day and my heart sank a little. I pulled up my messages with Andrew and fired off a quick note.

Me: I miss you.

It was stupid. I’d seen him this morning before I’d gone to work, but it was odd to not hear from him at all throughout the day.

The longer I sat there and stared at my phone with no messages back, the worse I felt. After ten minutes, I got up and went to the kitchen. The bottle of tequila taunted me, sitting on top of the fridge. I never drank alone—it was definitely an Andrew and me thing—but it didn’t stop me from pulling it down and taking it back to the room with me.

Why the hell was I being so emotional about not getting a text back?

I looked at my phone again to see there still wasn’t a response.

I unscrewed the cap and took a swig directly from the bottle. The liquor burned as it worked down my throat, and I grimaced. Feeling a little self destructive, I picked my phone back up and fired off another text.

Me: Do you miss me?

Nothing.

I got absolutely nothing.

Another swig from the bottle.

I lay back in bed, staring at the ceiling. Last night I’d been in this exact position, only with my best friend by my side.

Had I fucked up by saying I still wasn’t ready to say something?