Casual Sabotage

Chapter Nineteen

It was now my final morning over Brian's place; Caleb was going to be returning that afternoon and I had to go and collect him from the airport. When I woke, however, there was nothing but an empty bed to my side. Confused, I sat up and rubbed at my eyes to rid me of the sleep.

"Brian?" I called out, hearing nothing in response.

The morning sun was shining through the slight gap in the drapes and the sheets still resembled the shape of the man who had slept beside me. I could practically smell Brian's cologne emitting from the cold sheets beside me.

I stood from the bed and pulled my shirt from the previous night over my head, before heading out of the bedroom and down the hall. The kitchen door was closed, but the nearer I got, the louder the music from his stereo played. Touch Too Much by ACDC was the track currently selected from his playlist, and as I swung open the kitchen door, I was greeted by Brian in his underwear dancing around and playing air guitar along to the song.

"It was one of those nights, when you turned out the lights and everything comes into view. She was taking her time; I was losing my mind." Brian sang along. "There was nothing that she wouldn't do. It wasn't the first, it wasn't the last, she knew we was making love. I was so satisfied deep down inside, like a hand in a velvet glove."

He was none-the-wiser to my presence as he hopped up onto the counter, playing his little heart out on his imaginary guitar. His fingers held the shapes of the chords as the other pretended to strum at the invisible strings. "Seems like a touch, a touch too much. Too much for my body, too much for my brain. This kind of woman's gonna drive me insane. She's got a touch, a touch too much."

I have to say, Brian really can play air guitar because the next thing I knew, he was sliding down onto his knees and knocking his mail off of the counter to the floor in the process. I cleared my throat, watching as he froze momentarily, before slowly turning around and letting his eyes meet with mine. Reaching for the stereo remote ashamedly, Brian paused the track but couldn't bring himself to say a word. He climbed down from the kitchen counter and ran a hand through his hair.

"Having fun there?" I smirked, knowing that I could so use this against him in the future.

"How long have you been stood there?" He asked embarrassedly.

"Long enough." I chuckled. "Nice moves you got there."

I took a step closer. "Is this how you spend your free time when no one else is around?"

"Ain't nothing on one of my concerts, Sal." Brian broke into a smile, owning his performance.

"I can see." I laughed lightly at him. "Care to show me some of those moves?"

"Allow me." Brian grinned devilishly, hitting the shuffle button and tossing the remote across the room.

The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails was the next song to play as Brian returned to his place on his kitchen counter, holding out a hand to me before pulling me up alongside him. He started bopping his head to follow the drumline of the song before taking hold of his air guitar. I followed suit and soon we were getting into the music without a care in the world.

"Just how deep do you believe? Will you bite the hand that feeds? Will you chew until it bleeds? Can you get up off yours knees? Are you brave enough to see? Do you wanna change it?" We sang loudly whenever the chorus hit. It probably wasn't as much fun for his neighbours than it was for us in that moment, but we didn't care.

We danced and rocked out to a number of classic songs, losing track of time as We Built This City, Don't Stop Believin', Livin' on a Prayer and many more songs played. I was soon brought out of the fun when I realised the time.

"Shit!" I shouted, sprinting back to the bedroom to throw on my clothes.

After pausing the music, Brian chased after me and looked at me perplexingly. He was questioning me silently for my sudden panic. "I'm supposed to be picking Caleb up from the airport in an hour!"

"Oh..." He nodded his head slowly. "So...that means our time together is up, huh?"

I slowed my actions and turned to look at Brian sorrowfully. Dropping my jeans to the floor, I made my way over to him and looped my arms around his waist. Studying his face, I could see that the happiness he had showed only moments ago had turned to a distinguished sadness. I pulled his body to meet mine, but he didn't react to my touch.

"Brian," I spoke softly, gaining his attention. He raised his sorry-filled brown eyes to mine. "I'm sorry that I have to leave."

"It's okay." He shrugged off, breaking our embrace rather abruptly. "I always knew that this day was going to come...but it still didn't prepare me for letting you go running back to him."

Brian sat down on the end of the bed and shook his head. "Every time it feels like it gets harder to watch you walk out of my sight."

"We can still talk to each other, Brian." I tried to comfort him. "I know that's not quite the same thing, but...at least it's something, right?"

"Somehow that's more painful than not talking at all, Sal." Brian sighed heavily. "It's almost like I'm so close to having you but there's an invisible wall between us."

"What are you suggesting we do?" I asked gently, watching Brian look at me.

"I don't think I can handle just being able to talk to you, Sal. Not when I want to touch you in all the right places and give you everything that I am capable of." He explained regretfully.

"I see what you're saying, Brian." I acknowledged, leaning down to press a kiss to his cheek. "I'll leave you be, but you know where I am if you decide to talk to me again."

He didn't respond. "Goodbye, look after yourself."

I threw on the rest of my clothes and gathered my belongings, before heading out of his apartment and closing the front door behind me, drowning in the silence that followed after me. I took a moment to contemplate our conversation, dismissing the thought that I would never see or hear from Brian again. I retrieved my car keys from my back pocket and headed down to the parking lot, knowing that I was on a tight schedule to get to the airport in time.