By Chance

Chapter Twenty Two : By Chance

Summer's POV

I jump at the sound of the door loudly opening and closing, only being able to calm down and continue making supper once I realize it's just Brady, who's upset about work. Again.

"Not any better today?"

He shakes his head and brushes past me, barely acknowledging I'm there. He's had such a hard time since work began a month ago. With June now nearing its end, I was hoping it would become easier for him, but it clearly hasn't.

Nearly everyday he comes home, exhausted from holding in his frustration for eight hours. He despises his boss James, or 'boss man', as Brady likes to call him, and his coworkers either annoy him to no end or ignore him and don't even try to start a conversation.

The only person he's connected with is the guy Trevin he met the very first orientation day, but they work in total different departments and only see each other over lunch. It's painful to see, really. I've never witnessed someone hate their job as much as Brady does.

On top of that, he misses Kaine and Gracie more and more everyday. He calls and FaceTime's them all of the time, but it's not enough for him. I've had to talk him off of the edge of getting blackout drunk at a bar many times, but he's listened each time and has done really well. I'm proud of him.

June 15th was Avery's birthday, the second one Brady has been forced to spend without her. She would have been twenty-one. That day was extremely tough for him and it hurt me to see him not even want to get out of bed all day. It was one of the lowest points I've seen him in and I really hope I never have to see it again.

On the positive side, his nights have been better as well, but there have been a couple where he woke up off of minimal hours of sleep and was a zombie at work. The nightmares have stayed away for the most part, but he's had a couple that left him really riled up. He claims that having me there in bed with him has helped, and although I'm not sure if he's telling the truth, it makes me happy to hear that. He has more good nights than bad.

Fortunately, he has gone to the doctor and was given pills to help with sleep, his now medically-diagnosed ADHD, and antidepressants. Those have definitely helped a lot in many ways, granting me more time with the real, actual Brady. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: he is the most amazing person I've ever met.

We've only continued to grow closer and closer to each other with each day that passes. We are both so open to sharing and answering each other's questions that I feel like my mind has been overtaken by information on Brady. In no way, shape, or form am I complaining.

I don't want to say we've been 'flirting' with each other, but we've kind of been flirting with each other. Not in a super touchy, obvious way, but more subtle and cute ways. There aren't any exact instances of moments, but sometimes the way we speak is different and the energy surrounding us is just not like it used to be. It's much, much better.

We also took away the pillow barrier because it took away so much room on the bed and I find us both much closer to each other than we were when we fell asleep. Again, I'm not complaining at all.

As for me, I should have listened to Brady last month. I am so bored all of the time. The first few days home alone were filled with fear that Lance would take advantage of Brady's absence, but when nothing continued to happen, I just grew downright, straight up bored. I might die of boredom.

I left for two weeks and drove back to New Orleans to spend some much needed time with my mom and Aria, but I was probed with questions about Brady a million times a day. When I got home, guess what I felt? Bored.

It's not like I can leave the house either. I thought it would be such an amazing thing to not be able to leave, but without Brady with me when I go out, I'm terrified. A human can only go swimming and watch Netflix for so long before they're left with nothing to do. On the bright side, Brady's house is squeaky clean and there's never a thing in the laundry for more than twelve hours.