“I guess…come in.”
“Thanks,” she said, bypassing him and walking into the living room.
“This is weird,” Gates said once he joined her.
“Yeah. A bit.”
“I mean…have you ever seen the downstairs to my place?”
Bryna shrugged. “I honestly don’t think so.”
“Yeah. We mostly occupied the bedroom.”
“Yeah.”
An awkward silence fell between them. It had never been there before, but the time apart and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the dissolution of their friendship had forced the wedge between them. There was so much that needed to be said, and it all hung between them.
“Anyway,” she whispered.
“I never thought I’d hear from you again,” he said, breaking the barrier.
“I know. I never intended to call.”
His eyes narrowed. “Then, why did you?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Well, you asked to come over here.” He walked to the couch and plopped down.
His posture showed that he was uncomfortable with what was going on, and she didn’t know how to make this easier. This wasn’t her forte.
She barreled forward, not wanting to lose her nerve. “So…remember that time you told me you loved me, and I didn’t believe you?”
Gates glared at her. “The night you told me to fuck off at my own premiere the day before Valentine’s Day? Then, I didn’t hear from you ever again? How exactly do you think I could forget that?”
She took a steadying breath and sat down across from him on the coffee table. “Apparently, I make a habit of it.”
“A habit of what?” he asked curiously.
“Not believing people when they tell me they love me, not realizing they love me, and royally fucking up everything in the aftermath.”
Gates looked taken aback at that. “Ah, I see. So, who was the victim this time?” He sounded bitter.
“Hugh Westercamp,” she answered honestly. She couldn’t lie to Gates. What good would hiding the truth do now?
Hugh was out of her life by her own choice, and any damage she could do to his character had already been done to his heart.
“The hotel executive?” he asked in disbelief.
“That’s the one.”
Gates whistled under his breath. “Damn. You’ve upped your game.”
“I did,” she agreed. “But I’ve decided to give it up.”
“What? Hugh?”
“No. The game,” she told him.
He laughed until he realized she wasn’t joking. “Bri, come on. You’ve got to be kidding, right? Games are in your blood. You live and breathe scheming. You always have.”
“You’re right,” she acquiesced easily. “But when I play games, I hurt people.” She looked him directly in the eyes now. “I hurt you, and I’m sorry about that.”
Gates didn’t say anything for a minute. He stared at her, speechless. She knew she wasn’t good at apologies. Until Eric, she hadn’t even really apologized to anyone. It wasn’t who she was, but she had wronged Gates by letting this gap between them continue, and she needed to make amends.
“Did you just apologize?”
“I should have a long time ago. I know I told you we were broken up, but the line was fuzzy. I could have handled it better.”
His jaw dropped. “What the fuck happened to you?”
She laughed at his shock. “I guess…I saw the light.”
“I guess is right.”
“I’m still me. I can’t change the head bitch, but I wanted to apologize even if you don’t want to talk to me or be friends again. I had to let you know that I still want that even though I know I don’t deserve it.”
“I don’t want that,” he said immediately.
She tried not to flinch at his harsh words. Of course he didn’t want that. “All right. Well, I said what I came to say.” She stood and hurriedly started toward the door.
“Hey,” he said, catching her arm before she could run off. “I said I don’t, but what I meant was that I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t want us to be friends again.”
“Great clarification,” she said sarcastically.
“Look, I dreamed of the day this would happen, and you never came to me. I couldn’t go to you. I tried to move on. But I guess I’ve realized I should have gone to you a long time ago. I loved you, Bri. I knew you hated hearing it. I knew you didn’t feel the same way. Yet I pushed, and that wasn’t fair either. We’ve both done some pretty shitty things to each other, but we’ve been friends for a long time.”
“We have,” she agreed.
She was shocked that he had said those things. She never would have guessed that he felt this way about what had happened.
“It’s been hard without you.”
“No one to keep your ego in check?” she joked.
“You’re ridiculous,” he said.
But he was laughing. Suddenly, all the tension that had been between them seemed to leave his shoulders. She didn’t think they would be perfect, but she was willing to try.
“Are we cool?” she asked.
“It’s a start.”
“I can live with that.” It was more than she had expected.
“Come on, you.” He directed her out through the back door and to his pool.
Her mind immediately went back to a different pool where she and Eric used to hang out with margaritas and burgers she couldn’t always eat. It made her sigh as she lounged back on a chair.
Speaking of Eric…
“Now that we’re kind of on the same page,” she said, narrowing her eyes, “you put me in quite the bind last year.”
“How? I wasn’t even around!”
“Do you remember when we went to LV State for my campus visit?”
He shrugged. “Sure. You got trashed.”
“That night, you told me that Eric Wilkins was gay!” she spat. “And you told him that I was a slut and to stay away from me!”
Gates looked at her and then busted out laughing. “Holy shit! I forgot all about that.”
“I can’t believe you did that!”
“Hey! I never said he was gay! You inferred that. And, at the time, I didn’t want anyone else near you.”
“Yeah, well, thanks for the heads-up. Jesus. I spent the last year thinking he was gay, and now…he’s not.”
She looked away from Gates, but she was sure he had read her expression. They had known each other for too long that even a little distance couldn’t change that.
“So, you like him.”
“No,” she said fiercely. She didn’t know what she felt for Eric. She still couldn’t get the image of him with Audrey out of her mind even if she knew it was irrational since she had been with someone else the whole time. But she missed him, and that sucked. “It’s complicated.”
“Everything always is with you.”
BRYNA RETURNED TO LAS VEGAS on cloud nine. She’d road-tripped with Stacia up I-15 a week early, and both girls were happy to return to cheer practice. It worked Bryna’s lax summer muscles and kept her mind occupied. By the time classes were starting again, she was ready to face school once more, but this time, it would be with a bright new outlook.
After talking with Celia, Bryna had been feeling a strange calm about her family life that she couldn’t remember existing since middle school. Baby Zoe had made an impact. Not that everything was peachy keen. She still hated Pace and had been avoiding him like the plague while at home. But now that things were back to normal between Bryan and Stacia, Bryna knew she would be seeing a lot more of him. And as much as she despised the way he treated Bryna, she knew he was as much a product of their parents’ marriage as she was.
And now she had Gates back. Things were still a little weird between them. She had expected as much, but at least they were talking. It was better than the alternative.
She walked into her film history class with a bounce in her step that she had never had before and a genuine smile that she couldn’t wipe off her face. She recognized a few familiar faces from her intro class last semester. She ignored their stares. She had gotten them last semester, too, because of who her father was. It had isolated her in the class, but she hadn’t cared then, and she certainly wouldn’t care now.