BRIELLE
I couldn’t stay at home.
Not after all that had happened, so I was on my way to Rousseau’s to see Silvie.
Dylan had left a while ago… I had told him I needed more time to process all of this.
You know, a part of me felt angry. Angry that he thought he could just waltz back into my life at his own pace and that I’d be ready to receive him with arms wide open.
Like, what the fuck?
When it got to the time for me to hear you out, you expect me to do so, no questions asked, no emotions shown, but when it’s your turn to hear me out, you push me away?
He really had something coming if he thought I was going to let him off the hook so easily.
But then again, it wasn’t his fault.
I mean, how was he supposed to know that I actually hadn’t cheated? All the evidence had pointed to me doing it… hell, I’d believed I had cheated myself. I honestly couldn’t blame him to an extent for pushing me away, but who knows? Perhaps he might have helped me figure it all out had he given me the chance to talk to him about it.
I knew I was going to forgive him… that we were going to be back together eventually, but I first needed to get rid of the bitterness and pain that was still lurking in my heart.
I pulled up into the driveway of Rousseau’s bar, and got out… still in my nightshirt, and sweatpants, but too far gone in thought to care.
I made my way inside, wincing at the loud music and the sound of excited chattering that greeted my poor ears. My eyes sought out Silvie, a part of me hating that I was seeking her out while she was working. My gaze landed on a blonde woman carrying a serving tray, definitely a waitress, staring real hard at me.
What was her problem?
My eyes tore away from hers to my outfit, and I realised that maybe that was why she was staring at me like I had lost my head. I guess it wasn’t always she saw someone dress up like they were homeless and show up at a bar.
I turned away from her and headed in the opposite direction, still on the lookout for Silvie, but the woman caught up with me pretty fast. “Brielle Renaud,” She called out loudly over the music, a condescending smirk on her overly made up face. “Uh, do I know you?” I asked in puzzlement.
“No.” She said, her eyes sweeping over my outfit in disdain. “No, you don’t. But I must say, misery looks so good on you.”
Wait, what?
“Excuse me?” My mind racked even as I said the words, trying to find out whether I knew the rude stranger, and if I had done something to her to deserve such verbal assaults.
“You heard me-” Whatever she was going to say was cut off by Silvie’s loud mention of my name as she sashayed over to us. “What are you doing here? And where are the boys?” She asked, her eyes sweeping over the bar to see if I came with my brothers. “Oh, they left.” I answered. “They were being quite the handful, plus… they have that conference tomorrow so…” I trailed of slowly, Silvie’s gaze straying to the woman beside me. “Lisa! I see you’ve met Lucia.” She told her.
Lisa’s eyes widened in shock. “Lucia is the Brielle Renaud?” She asked in what was obviously fake surprise. “Why haven’t you told me this, Silvie?”
Silvie chuckled, brushing the questions off with a sweep of her hand. “Lucia, this is my work buddy Lisa Decker.” She introduced, my eyebrows going up at the woman’s name.
Lisa Decker.
Of course it made sense. She looked a tiny bit like her.
“Okay, I’ve got a table to tend to. It was really nice meeting you, Brielle.” Lisa threw at me, the condescending smirk not leaving her face even as she walked away from us. “Wow, what did you do to her?” Silvie asked absentmindedly as we both watched her leave. “She’s usually not like this.”
I took a deep breath and turned to face my best friend. “Silvie, I’ve got so much to tell you, but I have one question before I dive into all of that.” I said to her. “Do you happen to know Lisa’s sister’s name by any chance?”
Silvie was quiet for a moment as she mulled over my question. “Uh… I can’t really remember,” She told me. “But I think it’s either Magdalene or at least something very close to that.”
“Oh my God.”
I was right.
I dragged Silvie by the arm out of the bar… it was too loud to have a conversation in there anyway. The poor girl opened her mouth to protest, but something about the serious look on my face and the tight way I held on to her arm had her shutting up about it.
“Your friend Lisa is Madeline's sister.” I bombarded her with the news. Silvie was incredulous. “That’s not possible Lu-”
“Trust me on this, Silvie.” I cut her off, my hands rubbing my arms to reduce the bite of the cool night air. I told her about how Lisa approached me when I stepped into the bar, told her about everything she said to me.
“Oh my God, you’re totally right!” My best friend cried out after a little contemplation. “You know, the day we went to the club… I had initially refused her tickets because I knew you, and knew you’d not be open to going to the club, but she had been really adamant about me taking you.” She slapped her hand against her forehead. “And Nick told me Lisa was the one who had told him where I was that night. God, I can’t believe this. It all feels like the whole thing was a setup.” She mumbled, causing a dry chuckle to emanate from my chest. “You haven’t even heard the whole story.” I quipped. “But let’s talk in my car, it’s too cold outside.”
Silvie followed me to my car where I proceeded to tell her about what had transpired at the apartment earlier.
“No way!” She cried out after what seemed like an hour of me talking and talking. “Honestly,” She shifted in the passenger seat to face me. “I don’t know how you’re still sober right now, Lucia. This really is a whole lot to take in.”
I shrugged helplessly, throwing her a wry grin in the process. “Sincerely speaking, you have no idea just how much I’ve been thinking about drowning myself in the booze.” I told her. “But that’s kind of what got me in this mess in the first place you know?”
Silvie shook her head. “No, no, no. This Madeline woman is the one responsible for this. You know what?” I watched her open the door and step out. “Syl, where are you going?” I asked confusedly.
She was pensive for a moment, but then a little smirk shot up on her face. “Come with me.” She said.
“There’s something I need to take care of.”
*****
We just couldn’t stop giggling as we made our way back to my car and I started the ride back home. “You’re so crazy, Syl.” I admitted with a chuckle. “I still can’t believe you punched her in the face!”
“Well, no one messes with my best friend and gets away with it!” She declared proudly. “Plus, a few days off doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.”
I groaned. “It was a suspension, Silvie… not a couple of days off.” I corrected.
“Potato, potahto.” She threw at me dismissively.
“You know, I still can’t believe that she went through the hustle of getting to know me just to get to you, you know?” Silvie admitted after a moment of silence. “Like, it’s so confusing. Why would you want to come between a happy couple just because your sister wants to play girlfriend with a man she can’t have? What’s next, is she gonna storm the White House should her sister decide that she wants to be fucking president of the United States?”
Well, I had no answers to that.
I shot her a quick glance even as I squeezed her hand in solidarity. I could tell that Silvie was really bummed out about the whole ordeal… I mean, it wasn’t every day you heard that someone was just using you. Shit like that usually happened in the movies, not so much in real life.
“So….” Silvie trailed off with a wiggle of her shoulders, her hands reaching down to slip her heels off so she could get really comfortable in her seat. “So…” I dragged out as well, a curious smile on my face when I realised she wasn’t going to continue whatever it was she wanted to say.
“Have you thought about how you’re going to handle Dylan?” She finally asked. I slowly reflected over her question. I genuinely speaking, didn’t know what to do about Dylan.
Was I going back?
Was I moving on?
The answer to all of that was still quite unclear. I mean, if you asked me what the real odds were… I’d pretty much say something like there was a seventy percent chance of me going back, and a thirty percent chance of me moving on;
And though seventy percent seemed impressively huge, I couldn’t deny the fact that thirty percent was pretty chunky too.
The funny part was that this thirty percent wasn’t even about Dylan. It was all about that stalker-of-a-woman he had managed to drag into his life with just a one-time hookup. It was pretty obvious that she was going to stop at nothing to get me out of Dylan’s life for good, and I didn’t know how long I could stick around trying to fight her off.
One thing I did know was that my love for Dylan ran true… and that for as long as I still had the desire to keep fighting, there was nothing a thousand Anyas could do to keep me away from him.
And just like that, I had my answer.
“I’m going to get my man back,” I told an excited Silvie. “But I need to drop you off first.”
I pulled up at our apartment building a couple of minutes later, a dazzling smile on my face. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get out of my car.” I shooed.
She did as I asked, but not before turning to shoot me a quizzical look. “Uhm, please tell me you’re not going to meet Dylan looking like that?” She threw at me with a grimace, her words instantly making me look down at my outfit.
She was right.
I looked horrendous.
What was I thinking?
“Of course I was going to change first.” I lied. She didn’t buy it. “Yeah right.” I watched her step out of the car and turn to look at me. “Well, what are you waiting for?” She threw my words back at me. “Come on, we have a lot to do.”
DYLAN
I know she told me to leave,
And to be honest, I did.
But I just had to come back.
I just couldn’t stay away; not for a second time, and though I couldn’t blame anyone else but myself for this whole mess, I was definitely determined this time to make us work… to get her to forgive me, even if it meant I had to camp outside her apartment all night just waiting for her to come home.
It wasn’t every day you met a woman who was simply perfect in every way, and I don’t know what lucky star shone down on me like that to bring her into my life, but I sure was grateful for the chance.
And I definitely wasn’t going to let it go to waste.
“Hey, Dylan!” A voice called out snapping me out of my musings. I looked down the hallway only to see a very surprised Silvie, and an even more surprised Brielle, it was obvious they had just stepped out of the elevator. I waited patiently as they made their way over to me.
“Hi, Silvie. Bree,” I greeted, looking everywhere else but at the woman I was in love with.
Why was I suddenly nervous?
I took a deep breath, willing the nervousness away as my gaze slowly sought hers out. “Look… I know you told me to leave and give you some time to process all of this-”
Brielle’s lips against mine cut off the rest of my words; a very very pleasant, and completely unexpected surprise if you ask me… but one I absolutely welcomed nevertheless.
“Ohkayyy, I guess I’ll leave you two to it…” I heard Silvie call out awkwardly, but I was too lost in the taste of Brielle’s lips against mine to care. We kissed for what felt like an eternity, before we had to pull apart for air.
“Hi,” Brielle murmured softly against my lips. I grinned. “Hi.” Pulling a few wisps of hair away from her face, I whispered, “What does this kiss mean, Bree?”
She chuckled softly, her hands gently stroking my stubble, “It means… I’m giving us a second chance.”