The Men Next Door

Ch 27 - Campbell

Brooks had told me very little about his family, apart from the fact that he and Brenna were much closer to each other than they were to their parents. When I asked why that was, he gave me a cryptic answer about not wanting to mar my perception of his mom and dad before I had the chance to meet them. Something about how they had changed since he was a kid, and Elijah couldn't separate the version in his head from the version that existed now, and he didn't want to create that same dichotomy for me if he could help it.

Dichotomy. Really, he said that. It was such a Brooks word.

I wanted to pry every last secret out of him after Brenna left, but I certainly wasn't in any place to be making demands about vulnerability. And Brooks was vulnerable, when it came to me. When it came to us. He talked freely about how he was feeling in the moment, what he wanted in our future, and what he was willing to compromise on as we moved forward.

If I wanted to know what was going on in all the other parts of his head—the ones he'd carefully hidden away because he wasn't sure I was there to stay—then I had to do something to give him that confidence. I knew it, he knew it—hell, even the bird who tweeted obnoxiously on my balcony railing every morning knew it. I'd talked myself in so many circles that I started telling the little creature my woes while I drank my coffee, hoping it would fly off and land on whichever man's balcony I was supposed to choose.

It always flew straight out into the city.

By the third time that happened, I began to see the symbolism in it. I wasn't choosing a man, I was choosing a path toward my future. A flight out into the great unknown. And sure, I needed a partner who would stick with me when life felt beautiful and limitless and eye-opening, just like a bird's-eye view of the sky...But I also needed someone who would keep me grounded when the storm clouds came rolling in.

Because life sure as hell isn't always sunny.

And neither was the day when I finally made my decision.

~~~

I could do this.

I had to do this.

But my shaky voice would definitely give me away if I called and asked him to come over.

What if he tried to put off the inevitable?

Would I stop him?

Should I stop him?

No, I thought, a sense of certainty washing over me. I was confident in the choice I had made. I just needed to share the news, and delivering it in person was the best way I knew how.

With slow, quiet steps, I headed to my neighbor's apartment and took a deep breath to steady myself. My hand hovered in front of the door like it was fighting against the end of a polarized magnet, and before my skin ever made contact with the wood, my phone started buzzing in my pocket.

I dug it out of the fabric of my jeans, which were feeling less and less like clothing and more and more like a boa constrictor wrapping around my legs, then nervously chewed on my lip when I saw Luca's name on the screen.

The whole thing was giving me flashbacks to the day he called and asked me on that jet skiing date. Back then, I took it as a sign to not give up on our relationship, but what kind of sign was it supposed to be now?

"Hello?" I answered carefully.

"Hey, Bella!" he said cheerfully.

"What's up?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

"Are you done with work? Want to do something tonight? I know I was lazy with the planning this week, but I figured we could just stay in and do something chill. Maybe order some food, watch a movie, prank call Walker until he cries...whatever you want."