Nick
"Tell me something."
I looked up from my plate. I know that doesn't sound like a big feat, but I had a huge steak surrounded by a rainbow of steamed vegetables that the cook had seasoned with a light spritz of butter. It tasted like sex. Okay, it didn't really, but it tasted amazing. I met Lauren's gaze and swallowed the huge chunk of broccoli I had just shoved in.
"Yeah?"
"Why is it so important to keep Heather from knowing the truth?"
The question could have signaled major trouble if it wasn't for her calm voice. She wasn't accusing me of being a jerk. She was just...curious. I pressed my fork into the tender meat and watched a little red juice drip out.
"We've been dating for three years," I said slowly. "And Brian's known her since she was like, born."
Lauren nodded. "Mmm."
The 'Mmm' made me feel like I hadn't said enough. I stabbed a pea and took a bite while I thought about it.
"It's really none of my business," Lauren continued. "We're both in agreement that this is just a casual thing. I'm not the commitment type."
Our eyes met again; we smiled.
Lauren's lack of desire for a commitment was just one of the reasons that I was seriously in over my head with the girl. It didn't take a genius to realize that Heather wanted more than what I was giving her. She wanted the ring, the wedding, and the two-point-five kids. The scary part was that it had almost sounded possible six months ago.
But Lauren had reminded me why I liked no strings attached. Since we had hooked up, I hadn't had one nightmare about blue Tiffany boxes. Gone were the cold terror night sweats.
All I had to do was keep lying. It was a good thing I was so damn good at it.
As I devoured my succulent steak, I realized that I wanted to keep talking. Lauren and I had the sex part down pat. The conversation part was slowly developing.
"Now tell me something," I said suddenly. Lauren wiped her mouth and propped her elbows up on the table. Her hands came up to provide a rest for her chin. "Shoot."
"What do you like to do for fun besides have mind-boggling sex with me?"
Lauren laughed. "Who says that's fun?"
"HEY!"
Her foot came out to nudge my leg. "Kidding! No, seriously I like to be outdoors. My dad has this huge boat and we go out on the water and we do a little fishing. I love working out. I like to use old 35 mm cameras and spend hours in a dark room waiting to see what I've created."
The more she talked, the more animated she became. She had me at 'dark room.'
"I've never been in a dark room," I said. (Okay, that was a lie.) "I'd love to see some of your work."
"If you're willing to be my subject, I think I can make it happen."
"Are you implying I actually have to do more work?" I asked. Lauren scooted back in her chair, tossing her crumpled linen napkin next to her plate.
"What did you think you were going to do here? Have me on my back for two straight weeks?"
"Not always your back," I replied. "On all fours...on top..."
Laur pressed her hands into her hips, shaking her head. "It can't always be about sex, Nick..."
I just grinned. Sex was the easy part. There was a small part of me that worried about getting to know more about this freshly blonde vixen. Something told me that if I got to know more than just her bra size that I was going to do something crazy like turn into Brian. Lauren and I would end up wearing matching clothes and I'd be calling her Wifey and--
No, I couldn't do that. Brian's life was boring.
I was happy staying in my two-woman world. For as long as I could drag it out.
Heather
“Brian, something is obviously the matter, I’m not deaf, I could hear that.” I shifted uncomfortably in my computer chair. I’d never heard Leighanne and Brian fight before. I mean typical, light hearted bickering, sure, but not like that.
He let out a shaky sigh. “It’s not a big deal. I just… I don’t know. I need… a break.”
“A break?”
“Yeah. I can’t do anything to please her. I don’t know what to do.”
He sounded so defeated and confused, I just wanted to squeeze him like a little teddy bear. “I’m sorry, Bri,” I whispered.
He laughed, “It ain’t your fault, kiddo,” he said gently.
Brian had called me kiddo since I was three. He was ten. I remember the first time he’d ever called me it. I’d been playing on the playground at the school where he and Chris went to elementary, on one of those spinning merry-go-rounds. My mom was sitting at the end of the big silver slide, reading a romance novel, and I was sitting on the merry-go-round, spinning it slowly so I wouldn’t get dizzy. I didn’t like dizzy. We were waiting for the boys to get out of class so we could go for a walk together to get ice creams. My mom baby sat Brian sometimes when Brian’s mom and dad were busy because Brian liked to play with Chris.
When school let out, though, Brian and Chris were slow coming out, and a bunch of other kids came onto the playground while I was still playing quietly on the merry-go-round. My mom stood up and walked a little bit away, looking for Chris. Suddenly, unattended, this big, fat, mean kid in Brian and Chris’ grade came over to the merry-go-round, and told me to get off of it. He yelled at me, and I said that I was there first and he should go away. Well instead of going away, he grabbed onto the handles of the merry- go-round and started spinning it so fast that everything around me blurred and I couldn’t see anything except colorful lines.
I screamed and screamed for the fat bully to let me down, but he just spun it faster and faster and faster and laughed loud like he was Dracula or something. I could feel the Hostess cupcake I’d had at snack a couple hours before threatening to escape my mouth.
Suddenly, like a roar of a lion, I heard his voice. “Stop it!” and there was a thump and some shouts from other people and a bunch of commotion, and suddenly the merry-go-round stopped going-round and I tumbled off it and onto the mulch that lined the bed of the playground, my stomach whirling like crazy. As my eyeballs stopped spinning, I focused on Brian, all little tiny bit of him, trying to pummel the crap out of the fat bully.
And winning.
When my mom had pulled him away from the fat bully and scolded them both – and the bully had run off crying - we walked back to the car and my mom put me in my car seat. “That was awesome,” Chris was saying under his breath while my mom was outside the car still, “You so crushed Dean.”
Brian leaned forward though, rested a hand on my shoulder, and asked, “Are you okay, kiddo?”
Sometimes I wish that we were still that little and Brian was still pushing bullies off of merry-go-rounds for me every day.
Brian
Leighanne came home a couple hours later and I was sitting at the kitchen table, my hands folded on the table top, a bottle of beer on beside me. I’d hung up with Heather only moments before, our plans set. My mind was made up. All that was left to do was pack.
And tell Leighanne.
She at me with sheepish hesitation as she stepped through the door. She seemed almost crest fallen when she saw the look of determination on my face – set jaw and all, like she’d expected me to forget the blow up we’d had. Baylee bounded into the room, “I totally beat Uncle Nick’s high score, dad!” he shouted, “When we were at McDonalds and I was playing, I got a score of –“
“Go to your room, Bay,” I said.
Baylee looked up at me, and sighed. “You never wanna talk about cool stuff anymore, all you want to do is yell at Mom.” He rolled his eyes and slammed the Playstation on the table before leaving the room.
I sighed and picked up the game, noticing a multi-million point score flashing on the screen before I turned it off and placed it on the table again. I stood up. Leighanne was hovering in the door way. She stared at me, her jaw also setting, the determination rising in her, too. We stared at each other.
“Leighanne,” I said, my voice heavy and sad, “I need a break.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Brian,” she whispered.
I raised my hand to shh her. “I’m going to my mom’s in Kentucky,” I said quietly, “She could use some help with Dad anyway, he’s not been feeling too great. I just need time to unwind, away from…everything.”
“You’ll be gone all summer on the stupid tour,” she protested.
“And by autumn, we’ll see where we stand, okay?”
Leighanne’s tears leaked from her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. “Brian, this is so frustrating. I know I’ve been a bitch to you, and I don’t really know why, but you’ve been a jerk right back, and I don’t – I don’t want this to happen to us. What’s happening to us?”
“I think we’re just… changing…” I said slowly. I sighed heavily and I stepped up beside her and pulled her into my chest. “I just need a break, okay? It doesn’t mean I don’t love you.”
Leighanne nodded.
“I’ll always love you,” I added, for good measure. Then – and here’s where I made my mistake, I said – “and it’ll give me a chance to help try to smooth things between Nick and Heather.”
“Between Nick and Heather?” Leighanne looked up at me. “What?”
“Nick cheated on Heather with that Lauren girl he’s got working for him,” I said slowly, “And Heather – well, she needs a break too. We talked, and we’re gonna go home.”
“Heather is going?” Leighanne asked, her voice suddenly cold.
“Well Kentucky is home to more than one family, contrary to popular belief,” I said, my voice catching some edge as well.
Leighanne’s tears turned bitter. She shoved me into the counter and stormed out of the room. A moment later, there was thumping on the stairs, and the bedroom door slammed closed.
I sighed.
I definitely needed this.
