Perfect Storm

Chapter 4

Ross did not kiss me back, instead, he put his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed away. As if my ego wasn't bruised and battered enough.

"You don't want to do this Bree." He said gently.

"Why not?" I asked, pouting.

"Because you're drunk and you're thinking about someone else."

"Then help me forget about him." I pleaded.

"Bree...don't. The last time we did this, it nearly wrecked our friendship. I care about you too much to lose you."

"So basically you're saying you're not attracted to me." I pouted.

"That's not it at all. You're beautiful, you really have no idea just how beautiful you are, but we just don't feel that way about each other. We never have because we've always been best friends, and I love that about our relationship."

"You think I'm beautiful?" I asked with quite a bit of skepticism, glad to change the subject because I didn't want to think about being rejected.

"Have you looked in the mirror?" He grinned.

"I'm nothing compared to her." God, what was it about Laken that made me sound like such a whiner?

"No. You're so much more. You don't need all the makeup and fancy lighting and photo editing to be beautiful. It's within you. Besides, I've seen her without makeup, and she's really not all that pretty"

"You're lying." I punched his shoulder.

"Swear to God I'm not." He made an X across his heart with a finger. "But I really should go."

"Would you please stay a bit longer Ross. I just really don't want to be alone." I begged.

"Of course I'll stay. Let's see what movies are on." He picked up the remote and turned on the TV. He scrolled through the channels then stopped. "It's Mean Girls, one of your favorites, but maybe we shouldn't watch. I'd hate to give you any ideas." He chuckled.

"Leave it. I can pretend I'm pushing Laken in front of a bus like Cady did to Regina." I giggled.

"One, Cady did not push Regina, and two, wow you really woke up and chose violence."

"But she makes it so easy." I protested.

"What exactly happened between you and Laken?" He asked.

I filled Ross in on Laken confronting me in the ladies room. The entire conversation came rushing back to me. "I may have accidentally blurted out to Laken something about my boobs being fake because the real ones tried to kill me. Oh God, what if she puts two and two together and realizes I had breast cancer. Worse, what if she tells Ryan?"

"She would never tell Ryan. She knows if she does, he will come running back to you."

"You're probably right. She won't say anything." I sighed.

"I still think you're wrong to keep this to yourself."

"You know why I haven't told him Ross. Do we seriously have to rehash this every time Ryan's name comes up?" I snapped.

"No, but just think about the people you could help Bree. Women your age don't even think about having breast cancer. I bet there's a lot of women out there who don't even know about the genetic link or the breast cancer gene. You could do so much to raise awareness."

"I'm a nobody Ross." I scoffed, not even willing to consider the idea.

"That's not true. You have tens of thousands of followers on social media."He argued.