The Girly Watch Remade

Chapter 19: What could have been/Live with your mistakes/Absurdity

The air grows heavy with tension as Brian reaches for the door handle, his eyes locking onto the familiar chocolate brown irises, partly obscured by tinted sunglasses. "Lena?" The name falls from his lips, tinged with surprise and uncertainty.

A slightly nervous wave greets him in response. "Hi!" Lena offers, her usual exuberance tempered by a melancholic lit. "Probably didn't expect me here." She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, a tremulous smile playing at her lips. "I sent a text, but you might not have seen it."

Brian's brow furrows and he looked back to his phone which rested on the couch "ive been busy but... hi."

Lena moves to sit opposite Brian on the couch, palming a cup of water as his eyes remain fixed on the coffee table, trying not to stare. She sighs, a hand covering her face as she peeks between parted fingers. "I know we haven't talked, but...I've been trying to figure out what to say."

Brian's hands rest firmly on his knees as Lena's gaze drops to the cup cradled in her lap. "I know you have questions about the party, and I'm going to answer them. As best I can."

He opens his mouth, the bruise on his chest pulsing as if still fresh. "What happened?"

Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, Lena begins. "We all drank and got drunk on some wine or something Angela had. We ate, then got into a conversation about Thanksgiving." Her shoulders tense as Brian's expression remains neutral. "I was showing you to the bathroom, and you found a picture I took of Amelie. She walked in, and I wanted to hide it. I lunged for it, and Amelie did too, accidentally hurting you in the process. You spilled wine and ran out."

Her gaze falls to the table as Brian inhales sharply. "That's it?"

Anger rises within Lena as his eyes bore into her. "What do you mean?"

Brian crosses his arms, leaning back. "For a week, I've been sitting here assuming the worst. Getting frustrated and worrying about you and everyone because I thought maybe I did something wrong or hurt someone and got hurt back." He shakes his head. "And turns out I just got drunk and got hurt in a misunderstanding."

Their eyes lock. "Don't you have any questions?"

A sigh. "Not really? If it's just an embarrassing photo of my friend, I can understand her not wanting me to see it."

Something bubbles up in Lena as she shoots to her feet. "That's it? That's all it took? I just had to tell you what happened!"

Brian flinches. "I can tell you aren't lying, so what's the point? People get drunk and do stupid stuff all the time."

"That's not it!" Lena snaps. "You got hurt, and nobody said anything to you, and now you're just going to say 'my bad'?"

He looks up at her, confused. "Lena, it's no big deal."

"It is! Do you know how long I've been trying to come up with a way to fix this?"

"It's been less than a week."

Lena pauses, breath hitching as Brian's sincerity hits her. "Lena, if there's something you need to tell me, I'm here for you. If something else happened and you feel like you can't tell me, I guarantee you can."

Her fists clench white as she drops back onto the couch, a hand grasping her face. "Do you remember when we went running?" Brian nodded. "I was so angry because I was at the play. Angela dragged me along and I saw you dancing with Amelie."

Brian stiffened for a moment, yet seemed to understand. "You asked me in the park about chance encounters."

Brian's eyes started to widen as he opened his mouth briefly before stopping himself. Lena continued, "Me and Amelie used to be a thing. It wasn't for long, but me and her broke up and we haven't seen each other for a long time. I kept a photo of her because...it meant something to me."