𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 | 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟎𝟐

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐𝟑

BREE

“Geez, stop grinning,” Rose says to Jack who’s grinning at his phone- probably staring at his girlfriend's text.

Jack looks at Rose with the same grin, “jealous?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

Rose flips Jack off but he doesn’t care, he keeps his grin and goes back to texting his girlfriend. I let out a small chuckle.

We are at our apartment right now. Jack dropped by with a pouty face because Nora was still on her shift so he’s been waiting for her to get off.

“Are you meeting Nora tonight?” I ask Jack.

I know he is meeting Nora tonight but I still want to ask him. Talking about Nora makes Jack so much more happy. Anyone would agree that we have never seen Jack this happy even though he’s the brightest person in our group.

“Yup. I’m taking her out for dinner then we’re spending the night at my apartment,” he says, smiling, “I want to buy her a gift, a jewelry. Can you help me?”

“Of course!” I say, almost jumping, Rose smiles, “what kind of jewelry she likes?”

“She usually wears bracelets.”

“Why don’t you get her a charm bracelet? You could get it made and put your and her initials on it,”

“Oh my God, that would be so cute!" Rose says, “she will love that,”

“Really?” Jack asks.

“Yes!” Rose and I say at the same time.

“Okay then, I will go get it made tomorrow,”

Rose and I let out an exciting squeal which makes Jack laugh.

“Oh, I have to get ready,” Rose says, getting off her seat.

“Are you two going somewhere?” Jack asks.

“Bree’s not. I have a date,” Rose says and goes into her room.

Jack looks at me, “date? I thought she stopped dating,”

“John has been asking her for a while now,”

“John?” Jack frowns, “the guy she dated in high school,”

“They didn’t date. They went on one date,” I clarify.

“Right…” he trails off, “does she like him?”

I shrug, “I don’t know. She said he’s cute and caring,”

“Is she seriously over Ryan?” Jack whispers.

I give him a small smile, “what good would it do if she isn’t?”

“True..”

I wanted Ryan and Rose to date when I first found out Rose had a crush on him because out of all the people I had met, Rose was the perfect partner for him. But Ryan never showed any interest in dating her and the hurt look on Rose’s face whenever she saw his dates made me sad so I stopped mentioning her crush and pretended to believe her when she said she was over Ryan.

No matter how much Ryan shows that he does not need a partner, I don’t believe him. His whole life, Ryan was forced to grow up. He had to grow up quickly so he could take care of us.

After dad changed, mom did everything to bring him back to the person he was and Ryan took care of us. He would put us in the furthest room so we wouldn’t hear dad yelling and even tell us to put on headphones to cancel out the noises. He would take us on long walks to keep us away from dad’s wrath.