Never Too Late

Confession

Khrysta looked up from her work in a bit of a daze. Leave it to her to put all these assignments off til the last minute. She checked the clock on her laptop. 18:13 hrs. Definitely enough time. She got up from her desk, taking her phone with her into the next room as she searched her contacts. Hitting the call button, she put the phone on speaker. The recipient picked up after the second ring. 

"Hey, wassup?" the voice said.

"Hi, Mastace. Would you care if I stopped by your place? I need a break, maybe even a study pal. All this homework is killing my brain and I've had about all I can handle on my own." 

"Hold up a sec." After a few moments, Mastace came back. "Sure. Bring whatever you think you need, and we can help you out."

"Alright. Thank you so much. Be there in about an hour." Khrysta hung up, mildly confused. We? I wonder what's going on with him.

It took thirty minutes for Khrysta to arrive at the address he gave her. Upon entering the neighborhood, an unsettling familiarity washed over her. It was a bit dark, so she couldn't quite make out what about the area felt so... intimate to her. She pulled up in front of the specified house and slowly stepped out of her 2003 Taurus. Walking up the sidewalk to the front porch seemed to take an eternity. She glanced about a bit, but eventually made it to the door. With butterflies in her stomach, she finally knocked on the door and took a step back to wait for a response from Mastace. It took a second but when the door was opened, it was not Mastace that answered. Instead, she looked into the icy-blue eyes of Briggan Harou. 

"Oh, I'm sorry." she said. "I must have the wrong address. I was looking for where Mastace lives."

"I know, and you're already here. He's fixing supper at the moment. Care to join us? He said you needed a break."

"You're hanging out at his place, too?"

"No, we share the house. He moved in with me after he decided to move out of living with his dad."

Khrysta winced a bit. "Wow, that's... wow."

"It makes for an interesting discussion at the table. Come on in, don't be shy." Briggan stepped to the side, and Khrysta stepped inside.

"Thanks for letting me come over," she said. Her gaze fell to the floor and she clutched her computer bag strap tightly. Her jaw clenched slightly, but not enough to alter her speech any. 

Briggan gave a muted smile. "It's no problem."

"Yeah..." Khrysta said, "no problem."

"Khrysta..." Briggan reached out to put his hand on her shoulder, but stopped himself once he saw the light in her eyes. "Look, I don't want what happened back then to affect what happens to us now. Not anymore."

"Briggan... I know you're trying to help and I really appreciate it, but let's not dwell on the past. What's done is done. Alright?"

Briggan nodded, his expression now slightly somber. "Very well,"

"I'm sorry, that was a bit harsh."

"I perfectly understand," Briggan's voice went cold. "Especially considering all that happened."

"Briggan..." Khrysta looked Briggan dead in the eyes. Up until now, he looked as if he belonged in a crowd or with people in general. Now, he looked like he had been broken. "I'm sorry..."

"I know. I've just had a lot on my mind. Mostly things I've been thinking about for a long time."

"Would it have anything to do with... her?"

"Unfortunately. Had a panic attack because of it."

"God, that had to have been horrible!"

"It is, but the flashbacks have dropped dramatically both in number and intensity because of him." Briggan pointed toward the kitchen behind him. 

Khrysta took a look around a moment. "This place looks good. Who cleaned it up?"

"Mastace did most of the work. He picked up while I was passed out. It was rather impressive." Briggan chuckled, his tension temporarily lifted. 

"Well, you two better get in here if you want to eat." Mastace called from the dining room entryway. Briggan and Khrysta both looked at each other a second, then promptly made their way to the dinner table and sat. Mastace chuckled, very much amused. "I hope you both brought your appetites, I may have overdone it with the portions."

"That's okay, hun. What we don't eat tonight we'll have for leftovers later." Briggan said.

"Wait, what?" Khrysta's ears perked straight up and her posture went stiff in shock.

Briggan's face turned a deep shade of red when he realized what he'd just said, and Mastace chuckled, playfully adding the comment "Well, so much for being totally discreet."

"Wait, you two are-" 

"Yes, Khrysta." Briggan said, his blush intensifying even further. "Mastace and I are a couple. Have been for four months now."

This left Khrysta utterly speechless.

"Well then, that was one hell of a confession." Mastace said.