The Bricks: it's all coming together now

Big shot

It was slow at Little Shakeys.

No big surprise. Breann was scrubbing the floors, putting in extra elbow grease which was unusual. "Scrub any harder an you'll dig yerself a tunnel to China." An elderly regular Dan, smiled showing a hefty set of false dentures.

She laughed to please Dan even though it wasn't funny to her. Strands of hair begin to fall on her face as her bun unraveled.

I need to stop, I need to calm down. She was still shaken up from a few nights ago, seeing Roger and all. But God, she couldn't stop thinking about him. She thought seeing him would do the opposite and bring closure.

The way he looked at her, like she came back from the dead. "Breann?" She now realized Frank had been calling her, "can you take this order?"

"Yeah sure." She did so without hesitation. Frank worried, he watched her with delicate eyes as she served Dan his burger. She never ceased to give that hearty I'm happy to serve you! Smile even though she couldn't care less if he choked on his fries.

"You okay?" He asked, following her into the kitchen. "Yeah of course why do you say that?" Her response was instant, almost as if she planned it.

"Its just...the other night...did I say somethin wrong or do somethin...I-"

"No no, Frank, its not you. I'm just....I don't know what's wrong with me lately. But don't worry it has nothing to do with you." She tried to sound as sincere as possible.

This seemed to boost him a little, "Well, do you wanna go out again? There's this firework show Saturday."

She had plagued this on too far, she didn't want to go out but didn't want to break the poor kids heart.

"Yeah sure." She forced a smile. Her shift was finally over. Thank god. Immediately she grabbed her stuff and headed home.

It was chilly, but a clear night. The sky was so dark it had a hint of blue. Breann begin to approach her familiar worn out apartment building.

Something was different though, a nice car parked in front. No one in this town owned a car that nice. She begin to walk slower, afraid of this stranger.

As if the person in the car read her mind, they stepped out. The face made breann's heart leap with joy, as she was always happy to see her dear friend Rick.

"Hello old hag," he joked "fancy meeting you here."

"I live here you big idiot." She gave him a hug.

"I wanted to see you one last time before we left." He supposed she was wondering why he was here, but truthfully she wasn't. She was just glad to see him.

"You wanna come inside?"

"Absolutely." He said without hesitation, and even begin to walk up the steps.

She opened the yellow, paint chipped door. It was a cozy little home, not exactly the apartment she and roger had but something.

"Tea?" She asked from in the kitchen and Rick nodded. "Nice place." He said gazing around from the couch.

She smiled, even though he didn't see her.

He seemed uneasy and wiped his palms on his knees. "Uh can I talk to you about something?"

"Rick, of course you can." She stopped making tea immediately. "Well, I don't want you to freak out....its...about Roger."

She took a deep breath and crossed her arms. "He uh, asked me to set up a date for the two of you. He said nothing big or fancy, just the two of you. He really wants to talk to you and-"

"No, no absolutely not." She started up the tea again. "Breann he doesn't want to ask for you back he just wants to tal-"

"No Rick!" She said loudly, and the room grew quiet. He put his hand out like she was a dog and he was telling her to stay. "If you don't want to, I'll tell him."

She felt bad for yelling, Rick always had a way of doing that. You could never yell at him or get mad at him without feeling guilty after.

She placed her hands spread apart on the counter and looked at the tea kettle for a long time. "I can't I just..can't. I thought I could but.." she didn't have to finish, Rick understood.

He glanced at his watch as if he were going to be late for something. "Well, I should get going. Have a big day t'morrow." he hugged and kissed her on the cheek.

As he was leaving he stopped in the doorway. "You know..he's still the same roger. Just a little lost, but still the same." he tapped his fingers on the doorway for a little while, looked down and left.

She looked out the window, and saw as his car get smaller and smaller in the distance. She cleaned up, not that her apartment was dirty, she just cleaned when she had a lot of things on her mind.

She saw something under ricks cup, a paper.. It said If you change your mind, meet at The Ruby Garden tomorrow, 12:00 pm.
- Rick

She looked at the paper for a long time and closed her eyes. She thought of the words Rick said he's still the same old roger..just a little lost. She even had a dream about the wall the night she and frank were together.

The screaming,

Time to go! Time to go!
Are you feeling okay?
Time to go!
Is there anybody out there?

Chills ran down her spine and she clenched her teeth. What if she did meet with him? What harm would it do? After all, he just wanted to talk.

She contemplated this for a while, Why is this so hard? She thought Why is love so complicated? Love.

Ha.

Did she still love Roger? Deep down she knew she did, she also knew she had to move on. It was either choose him or move on and she already made her choice.

At least she thought she did.

I remember when we went to the beach the first day we met. She held her hand to her chest. It was so serene that day, the sun beat upon her skin coating her shiny hair. Roger looked liked a god with his gleaming muscles and perfect tan.

I miss him so much. She had a knot in her stomach, how could you miss someone you hardly knew anymore? But i do know him, i love him still. What about all the hurt he's caused you? I can forgive him, we all make mistakes.

She had to see him, otherwise she would go crazy. Maggie, her once energetic puppy, but now a full grown beast wagged her tail at Breann like she knew what she was thinking.

"Mags, looks like i gotta find something to wear."