Nyx Eris

Chapter 11: Australia

Waiting for her boyfriend to tell her his secret had become excruciating.

The longer Shane had waited to tell her, the more Dylan had been tempted to do it himself.

They had been halfway into the third month of the tour when the call had come in.

A dazed Dylan had returned to see Brenda straddling Shane's lap.

Dylan had begun to question of himself if he had hallucinated Shane's confession, perhaps brought on from Dylan's upset at Brenda announcing her love for her fellow thespian.

"That was Kelly," Dylan had said.

"Kelly's his ex," Brenda had told Shane, as if the whole group hadn't already known.

"Are you regularly in contact with your ex?" Shane had asked.

"Are you regularly in contact with yours?" Dylan had hinted.

"Which ex is he talking about?" Brenda had asked.

"Which ex are you talking about?" Shane had turned the question on Dylan.

"Bren, can I talk to you?" Dylan had asked.

"Shane and I don't have any secrets between us," said Brenda. "You might want to try it sometime. It's refreshing to know everything about someone."

Oh, you know everything about him, do you? Dylan had almost bit out, interwoven with heaps of sarcasm.

He had stopped himself.

As much of an ass as he could be, he wasn't the kind of ass who forced someone out of the closet before he was ready.

"Please, Bren," Dylan had said.

Something in his eyes must have softened Brenda to the point that she had agreed to join him for a stroll on the beach, to talk in private.

"I miss surfing," Brenda had said.

"You don't surf anymore?" Dylan had asked.

"I went by myself once," she had said, "after you had left, but it just...wasn't the same."

"Ocean's calling, Bren," he had said. "Are you gonna pick up the call?"

"I've probably forgotten how to surf."

"Nonsense. Come on, we're going in."

"I thought you had something you needed to tell me."

"It can wait until after we surf."

It couldn't, but any chance he had been given to spend with Brenda was one he had been consistently keen to take.

"I shouldn't surf with my ex," she had said.

"If you don't surf with your ex, then you might never surf again and is that what you want, Bren?" he had asked. "Because as I recall, you were getting pretty good there and it would be a shame to waste potential talent like that."

Brenda hadn't forgotten.

She had been rusty, needed to brush up on her technique, but she had not forgotten.

Properly soaked and refreshed, they had emerged from the ocean.

Dylan had captured Brenda's face in his hands, weighing the pros and cons of making a move on another man's girlfriend.

It wouldn't have been the first time he had done so, but for some reason, he hadn't been able to coax himself into making a move on Brenda.

Perhaps he had feared her rejection.