BRIELLE
It’s been a whole month.
A whole month since our official separation.
Dylan was still avoiding me, and just like I’d promised him, I had stopped calling… I had stopped sending texts… I had even stopped showing up at his apartment.
I was being the old, resilient Lucia.
But that didn’t mean I was having the time of my life, you know? As a matter of fact, I sometimes got dangerously close to doing the very things I had promised I wouldn’t do…
But that was completely normal, right?
It hadn’t been easy, to be very honest.
There had been times when it felt like my whole life was going down a downward spiral.
There had been times when going off the deep end didn’t seem like such a bad idea; especially when my mind was convinced that it would rid my heart of all the pain… of all the guilt.
But I had held on strong.
I got better each day… so much so that it didn’t hurt as much anymore, and it was funny; because despite all of these talks of moving on, I knew deep within my heart that if Dylan were to give me a second chance, I would run to him with open arms, because through it all, I still had a sliver of hope.
Because I was still in love with him.
A knock on the front door had me snapping out of my thoughts.
“WHO IS IT, LUCIA?” Silvie hollered from her room. She was in there preparing for her night shift at Rousseau’s. “DUNNO! GOING TO CHECK!” I hollered right back getting up to go answer the door.
I didn’t know I was in for such a pleasant surprise.
“Matt, Jordan… oh my God, it’s all of you-” My words were cut off as my five brothers barged into the room and swept me up into the air, soft chuckles escaping their lips at my tiny squeals to be put down.
“What are you all doing here?” I asked sometime after they had finally listened to my request. This was truly a pleasant surprise. I never expected to see all five of them at once, especially in a time like this when I needed them most.
Too bad our dad couldn’t make it.
“We were in town for a conference,” Cedric explained. “And since Nick’s the only one who actually knows where you live, we kind of bullied him into caving in.” Ryan finished for him, drawing a scowl out of Nick.
“You forget that I am second eldest, and therefore cannot be bullied into doing anything.” Nick said. “Oh, you can when I say so, little brother…” Matt told him with a smirk. “Don’t forget that I’m the oldest.”
I smiled at the back and forth playful banter,
Funny how a few minutes ago, the apartment had been as silent as a graveyard and I’d been lost in thought. It felt just like old times. It was nice to see that despite growing up and finding somewhat different paths, we were still close-knit enough to still have each other’s backs.
“All five Renaud brothers, standing in my living room… if this isn’t a sign of the apocalypse, I don’t know what else would be.” Silvie retorted smartly as she stepped out of her room, her eyes alight with joy. The boys flocked over to her. “Silvie!”
“Hello, boys.” She grinned at them as they crowded her… each one, except Nick fighting for her attention.
I shook my head at their antics. Some of them were married men and fathers for crying out loud.
“You guys should have called to inform us that you were coming.” My best friend grumbled. “I would have called in sick.”
“What’s stopping you from doing that now?” Nick asked, his gaze hot and heavy as he took in her sexy outfit. Silvie wasn’t helping either with the way she couldn’t help but bite her bottom lip.
God, those two should just get together already.
“Argh… my eyes, my eyes! Get a room, jeez!” Cedric exclaimed playfully, everyone bursting into laughter at its suddenness.
“I would love to cancel, but I can’t. Tonight’s going to be a busy night, and we’re quite short-staffed too.” Silvie explained to everyone when the laughter had died down. She made her way to the door blushing profusely. The poor woman couldn’t even look Nick in the eye.
How cute.
“I’m coming with you.” Nick said, causing Silvie to freeze in her tracks as her eyes widened incredulously. “That would not be necessary, I’ll just take Lucia’s ca-”
“I’ll take you, don’t argue.” Nick kind of ordered, the chattering ceasing abruptly as all of us decided to observe the exchange.
Silvie turned to face him, a murderous look on her face. “You can’t tell me what to do, you’re not the boss of me, Nick.” She raged hotly.
“You seemed to enjoy me bossing you around just fine last night.” Nick pointed out calmly, drawing a mixture of gasps, chuckles, and expletives from everyone.
Last night!
Silvie had been home all night… or so she claimed.
As curious as I was, I definitely didn’t want to know.
Silvie’s face turned so red, I was afraid she was going to burst or something. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly like she was a fish outside water, but no words came out. Spinning abruptly, she opened the door and dashed out of the apartment with Nick right on her heels… but not before turning to shoot everyone a satisfied grin.
“Epic, man… just epic.” Jordan wheezed as all of them laughed with him. The door shut and I turned to look at all of them, the most disgusted look I could muster on my face. “Was that really necessary?” I asked. They all turned serious… or at least they tried to. “Did I say epic? Oh, I meant totally unnecessary.” Jordan amended.
“Really uncalled for.” Cedric butted in.
“Such nerve!” Ryan muttered.
I knew what they were doing.
Rolling my eyes, I headed for my room. “You all are so silly, I definitely should have been the eldest.” I threw over my shoulder, smiling slightly as they all burst into laughter.
God, I really missed them!
*****
It was around 10 pm.
We were all huddled in the living room watching a movie. I had gotten over my mock anger rather quickly… perhaps, it had something to do with the fact that Cedric and Matt had made us all dinner.
They had always been the certified chefs of the family, even though back then, they used to grumble about it all the time. Now, they didn’t seemed to mind.
They seemed to enjoy it even.
I guess those were just perquisites of married life.
Cedric and Matt were married; Cedric with two kids, Matt with one. Jordan also had a child, but he and his girlfriend, Rema seemed to be very comfortable with whatever arrangement they had going; and Ryan was single. He claimed to be married to his side hustle; he was a freelance photographer when he wasn’t working for dad’s company, but I doubted that was the reason for his singlehood.
“We should head out soon, guys.” Matt reminded all of them. “Don’t forget about the conference.”
“Ugh, for a while I had forgotten about it.” Ryan complained bitterly. I opened my mouth to tease him about it, but whatever I was going to say was cut off by the sound of a knock at the door.
“Uh, are you expecting someone?” Jordan asked. I shook my head, wondering who it could possibly be. As I stood up, a thought jumped into my head that suddenly had me stilling in nervousness.
What if it was Dylan?
My brothers were very protective, and I knew it was highly possible that Nick had told them about Dylan since they had met one or two times. I wondered if they knew about the breakup too.
It was highly likely, but I doubted Silvie would tell Nick about it, especially when it was all my fault in the first place. But if they knew, what did they think about me now? They had a cheater for a sister… such an interesting development.
“I could answer it?” I heard Cedric suggest. That was all the push I needed to jump out of my thoughts. “Uh, no! Don’t worry, I’ve got it.”
I headed over to the door, looking through the peephole briefly.
OH, HELL NO!
I opened the door with such force that a part of me was afraid I’d tear my arm off. I stepped out and shut the door behind me. “What do you want?”
There stood Ryan Rodriguez, dressed in casual slacks and a sweatshirt. He really had some nerve showing up here at my apartment. “Hello, Lucia. I know and understand that you don't want to see me, but we really need to talk.” He told me.
“I have nothing to say to you. Look, you need to leave now-”
“Who is it, Lucia?” I heard one of my brothers call out. I was not in the right frame of mind to figure out which one that was. “Uh… it’s nobody.” I called out over my shoulder, shooting Ryan an alarmed look. “Why are you still here?” I asked him in a whisper.
“I really need to talk to you, Lucia.” He whispered back. “It’s very urgent.”
The door opened abruptly, my brother Matt standing behind it, a quizzical look on his face. “What is it, Lucia?” Matt asked, he must have seen Ryan in that moment, for the curious look left his face and was replaced instead with something I could not place. “Oh,” He said. “You must be Dylan.” I opened my mouth to clarify his mistake, but he was already screaming his lungs out for the others. “Yo, you guys need to see this.”
I groaned in frustration. “No, Matt… you don’t understand-”
“Ah, you must be Dylan.” Cedric cut in, all two right behind him as well, really intimidating looks on their faces.
God, this was the last place I wanted to be.
“Guys, guys… no. This isn’t Dylan, this is someone else, and he was just leaving.” My gaze said everything it needed to for Ryan to get the message, and he was smart enough to see where I was going with this. “Uh… y-yeah, Lucia. I must be going, i just remembered that i had that thing-”
“No need to go so fast.” Jordan cut him off, clapping his arm around Ryan’s shoulders. The poor man seemed ready to bolt any minute.
I understood his fear.
My brothers were tall, just like he was… but they were also much more buff, and seeing all of them at once, especially when you didn’t know them tended to put most people in an uncomfortable situation. They were really harmless though.
Well… most of the time.
“You should come in. Any friend of Lucia’s is a friend of ours.” Jordan finished, pulling Ryan into my living room.
“So… how did you and Lucia become friends?” I heard my brother Ryan ask as they got Ryan seated, everyone else getting seated as well.
Oh crap, both my brother and Ryan had the same name…
I had no idea why this was only registering now, or why I was even thinking about it when what I had to do was get them to stop asking so many questions.
“Guys, guys, guys… okay, that’s enough.” I ordered. “Leave Ryan alone. He’s a business partner,” I shot him a glance. “And he’s definitely not my friend.” Ryan had the decency to look down.
Good.
“Speaking of business,” My attention shifted back to the boys. “Shouldn’t you guys be heading back?” I asked. “I thought you had a conference to attend tomorrow.” Matt stood up. It was very clear that he had gotten my subtle message to leave. “I think she’s throwing us out, guys. We should leave.” The rest of them stood up too, and series of kisses and hugs inundated me. I did my best to accept all of them.
With a promise to call dad sometime when I was less busy, all four of my brothers filed out of the apartment.
I turned to Ryan almost immediately, a scowl on my face. “Start talking.” I ordered.
He shifted slightly in his seat, his confidence restoring now that we were the only two in the apartment. “I did not come alone, Lucia,” He said. I did not see how that had anything to do with me or why he was here. His phone rang in that moment, and he shot me an apologetic glance. “I need to take it.” He said, answering the call straight away.
“Hello? Yeah, you can come right in.” He told whomever was on the line, my eyes widening at the statement.
Who was coming right in?!
Oh my God, was this some sinister plan to finish whatever he started? “WHO WAS THAT, RYAN? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO ME?” I screamed in his face, standing up to go lock the door. No one was coming in until I knew what was going on.
The door opened just as I got to it, and before me stood none other than,
Dylan Thomas.