Breaking and Entering (Reece Bibby)

Chapter 12

 "I want you to come with me," Reece blurted out as I lifted my phone to my ear.

I stared at him with wide eyes before finally forcing myself to speak, "Hello?"

"Mrs. Richards? I have some news about your book."

My heart flipped even though I knew this call was coming. "And?"

"You have an offer! Come to my office tomorrow at around three and we can talk through some of the details. This could be it!"

I thanked her and said goodbye, still trying to process all of this information at once.

"Who was that?" Reece looked at me, trying to find an answer in my face.

"My agent," I replied meekly.

His eyes went wide. "What did she say?"

"I have an offer."

"That's great, right?" He was trying to brighten the mood, but at the moment I didn't care about my book.

"You're really leaving?" I watched his face, but even through my tears, I could tell that the answer was yes.

"Ava, I'm so sorry." He pulled me into a hug. Soon he started crying himself until we were one large mess of tangled arms and tear streaked cheeks. "Please come with me."

"How would I even do that Reece? It's not like there's room in your apartment for all four of us. Besides, even if there was, I'm pretty sure Blake and George would get sick of having me around." I was still crying, my thoughts flying this way and that.

"Then you could get an apartment of your own." Reece grabbed my hands, stepping closer to me.

"I can't afford an apartment in London. I'm barely scraping up rent money for the apartment I have now from my waitressing job." I looked down at our hands, not wanting to look him in the eyes and watch his heartbreak. Mine was already broken enough for both of us.

"Then I'll pay for it," Reece quickly replied.

"I can't ask you to do that, Reece." I pulled my hands out of his. "You shouldn't have to do that."

"But I want to do it. I don't want to lose you. I'd do anything to not lose you." His voice cracked as he spoke.

"I don't want to lose you either, Reece. But I don't think we have a choice." I took a deep breath and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"But what about your book? Won't you get more money from that?" I watched his eyes dart back and forth, scanning my face.

"Reece..." I looked down at my hands, feeling my hope leave my body. "I just, I don't know. It's a lot, Reece."

"Ava, please." He cupped his hands around my face, wiping the tears around my eyes away. "I don't want to lose you."

I started crying much harder than I had been before. My whole body started to shake and I could feel a headache form. I tried to open my mouth to say something but nothing came out. Reece moved his hands from around my face and wrapped them around my body, pulling me tightly against his chest.

"I don't want this to be the end of us," he whispered into my ear, squeezing me even tighter than before.

I pulled away, finally starting to calm down. "I need time to think, Reece. Moving to London would be a lot. There's so much I would have to figure out. I don't even know how much money I will make from the book. There are so many things that could go wrong."

He took a deep breath. "So it's not a no?"

I sighed. "It's not a yes. I don't want you building up all this hope and then having it get crushed. It isn't fair to either of us."

Reece grabbed my hands and intertwined them. "Hope is the only thing keeping me from completely breaking down right now."

I looked up at him and he looked as if he had aged ten years just from this conversation. His eyes were slightly puffy and his lips were pulled tight into a straight line.

"Can we at least enjoy this night together?" He asked me, pointing to the set up of blankets and movie projector.

"Okay," I said, letting him pull me towards the sea of blankets and pillows. I sat down while Reece started the movie. As it started, Reece laid down beside me and pulled me close to his chest. For a moment, it all seemed normal. I felt like I could lie beside him forever, curled up into his chest with his arms around me.

"If only I could," I mumbled.

"What did you say?" Reece turned so that he was looking at me. He reached his hand up and stroked my hair softly.

"Um, nothing important," I said as I quickly pushed my face back against his chest, burying my face so he couldn't see the tears forming in my eyes again.

"Everything you say is important." He tried to move my head so I was looking at him but I just shoved my face down further.

"Ava." Reece ran his hands through my hair. "Look at me."
I shook my head, my face still tucked into the crook of his neck.

"Ava. Come on." I felt him kiss the top of my head.

I didn't move. I didn't want him to see me crying again.

"Ava?" Reece sat up, lifting me up with him. I glanced at him quickly before I covered my head with my hands. "Ava, are you crying?"

I stood up and walked away from the blankets. I ran around Reece's house and into his driveway.

"Ava! Stop!" Reece grabbed my arm, stopping me before I ran out onto the street. I turned around and his eyes widen at the look in my eyes. "Talk to me."

"I can't do this, Reece. I can't pretend like everything's okay when it's not. You're leaving! And as much as I would love to just spend the next two days pretending you're not I can't do that." I looked down at my feet, letting my tears fall onto the pavement.

"Ava, wait. You can't just push me away now. There are other options. We could have a long distance relationship. Those work out sometimes."

"Reece, come on. You're grasping at straws here. When do long distance relationships ever work out?"

He looked at me, not saying anything.

"Do I need to answer for you? Because the answer is never. It never works, Reece." I stepped away from him and towards his car.

"Where are you going, Ava?" he called after me.

"Bring me home, Reece," I replied, my voice hard.

"Don't do this." Reece walked towards me. "We can work it out."

"There's nothing to work out Reece." I looked at him before looking back at the ground. "It's over."