The Hourglass

Forty-Five

"He what?" Chelsea looks at me incredulously. 

"You heard me," I say, blushing. I had played the scene over and over in my head last night until I finally drifted off to sleep. Adam had told me he loved me last night. I was nearly in shock about it. But it was a good shock. One that stunned me, yet filled me with butterflies. 

"Okay, back up," Chelsea says, holding up a hand. We're at her apartment, sitting at the kitchen table and drinking coffee. 

"You need to tell me everything. Don't leave out a single detail," she warns. 

"Like the whole night or just the I love you part..." I trail off, cringing at the memory of what had happened prior. 

"Judging by the look on your face, I'm going to have to say the whole night," she decides in finality. 

I sigh and cover my face, not wanting to tell her. I peek at her between my fingers. "Adam might have punched Brandon last night," I mumble. 

"What!?" she shrieks. 

"Twice," I add. 

"How did that even happen?" She's just as dumbfounded as I had been. 

"I went to a bar with Adam last night to see a show," I begin. Chelsea raises an eyebrow at that but decides to let it slide so I can continue with the story. "I thought I had seen Brandon at the bar at one point, but I figured it was just my mind playing tricks on me." I hadn't seen him in years. What were the odds that the first time I ventured out for a night, I'd run into him?

"Well," I continue. "After a couple of drinks, Adam asked me to go for a walk," I hesitate, feeling embarrassed. "We may have ended up making out in the alleyway next to the bar..." I admit not looking her in the eye. "And then, out of nowhere, Brandon happened upon us. I think he must have followed us out of the bar or something. He started going on about stupid stuff. Basically, calling me a slut," I roll my eyes and wave a dismissive hand. "So Adam punched him." 

"What the literal fu-" she cuts herself off at the look on my face. "Fudge," she corrects herself. "Okay, we'll come back to that later. That's one punch. You said he punched him twice. What else happened?" She eyes me suspiciously. 

I'm slightly irritated as I recall Brandon's words. "He just kept running his mouth," I say, not giving her details. "Adam got mad and hit him again, and then we left." 

Chelsea just stares at me blankly for a few seconds before she finally says, "Wow." 

"That's all I get?" I ask. "Wow?" I had thought she'd either be upset, happy, angry...I don't know anything. I didn't expect her to be speechless. 

"I'm sorry. For once, I've got nothing," she admits. "That's crazy. I don't even understand. Brandon dumped you. How could he possibly still be jealous after all this time?" 

I blush. 

"You're not telling me something," she eyes me. 

"It's not that; I just didn't give you details..." I trail off. "It's embarrassing." 

"Spill," she commands, taking another sip of coffee. 

I fidget with my mug. "He was drunk, of course, or he probably would have never said anything." I don't know why I feel the need to tell her that, but I do. "Adam and I were kissing...intensely," I say slowly. 

If Chelsea didn't stop raising her eyebrows at me so high she was going to give herself wrinkles. "Brandon was upset because I never let him kiss me like that," I admit. "I also wore that black dress you got me that I've always refused to wear. And he had watched me having drinks with Adam in the bar. He came unglued about it," I feel so ashamed as I tell her this.