Casual Affair

Eleven

The next morning was anything but fun.

Other than being sleep deprived and hungover, I had yet to have a conversation with Bradley regarding what had happened and give him an explanation while my blood was my own, not Jack Daniels'.

Our only meeting of the day lasted for a good three hours but despite its importance, I had a hard time staying awake with Mickey constantly having to kick me under the table in order for me to keep my eyes open.

As hard as I has tried, eye contact with Bradley was unavoidable and with each glance, I could tell that he had a million questions that I would have to answer eventually.

When the meeting had finally ended, we returned to our hotel and all changed from our uniforms into our personal clothes. Half of the team had never been to DC before and went sightseeing while the other half split off for lunch at the food trucks at the National Mall. I, however, chose to stay at the hotel and nurse my handover by ordering some lunch through doordash and watching the Transformers marathon that was on tv.

When my food arrived and I sat at the desk so I could eat, a knock on the door put a damper on my plans.

"Hold on," I groaned as I sauntered towards the door and looked through the peephole before opening the door.

"Ry, hey," Bradley breathed out, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jeans. "Do you have a minute to talk?"

"I have a feeling that what you want to talk about will take longer than a minute," I admitted as I stepped aside for him to enter my hotel room.

"I was thinking we could go for a drive," he replied as he held up a set of keys for what I assumed was a rental car.

"Can I bring my lunch?" I asked with a hint of a smile playing on my lips. "Because I need that super greasy burger over there to cure my current ailment."

"Know what? I'll meet you in the lobby in an hour. You eat, miss dramatic."

I nodded and Bradley stepped back, going back to his room as I locked my door and went back to the desk. I quickly scarfed down my burger and fries before brushing out my hair and giving myself a once over in the mirror.

For the first time in weeks, I finally felt like I was able to look at my own reflection without feeling angry or disappointed in myself for the lying I had been doing to a team that needed to be able to trust me.

Once I was ready, I met Bradley in the lobby and stayed quiet as I prepared myself for all of the questions I knew that he was bound to ask me. The valet brought the car around and once we were inside, I reached for the radio but Bradley playfully smacked my hand away before turning up the song that was playing—Ho Hey by The Lumineers, a song we always listened to when we were dating.

"So what's all of this about?" I questioned.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth, Ry? Why did you just break my heart and let me think you wanted Coyote instead of me?"

I sat back with a sigh, my brows pulling together as I put the words together to give Bradley the most honest answer that I could.

"Two reasons," I muttered. "The first is that I wanted to be back in the air and was wrongly grounded. I had to show everybody that I wasn't involved with you."

"And the second reason?"

"Part of me wanted to break your heart the same way that you had broken mine," I admitted. "And I know that sounds shitty and it is shitty but you hurt me more than I have ever cared to admit. I thought you were going to propose that night and instead you ripped my heart out and I've never forgiven myself for assuming and I've never forgiven you for hurting me on what should've been one of the best nights of my life."