Riding shotgun with the sheriff at the wheel was not as bad as she thought, it was actually better than she expected. Sure, he was Bryan, but he was fun to talk to, easing her stress as easily as he spoke. It was soothing but strangely, she didn't want to bask in it, she didn't let herself feel anything. Even though she tried to maintain a stoic expression, he pulled her out of it effortlessly, without breaking a sweat and with that damn smirk on his lips.
"So, sorry about your car breaking down that way. At least you found a good Samaritan in the form of Bryan. He's been known to help a great deal of people in various scrapes. He's a good man." The sheriff praised Bryan and she felt a surge of jealousy from nowhere. Bryan wasn't hers yet here she was being overly protective of him.
"Oh? A great deal of people? However, did he achieve such a feat?" Beverly asked, genuinely interested in what the sheriff was saying since it was about Bryan. Anything about him seemed a thousand times more intriguing than it actually was, to her at least.
"He's like the neighborhood watch or something. He's housed a few people whose cars broke down at the dead of the night. He's that chivalrous. Without him, this town would have gotten a bad name. He's helped me in so many ways by keeping watch on the neighborhood and I can't thank him enough for his help."
As the sheriff gushed on and on about Bryan, Beverly felt like hitting her head on a stone but it didn't seem hard enough. She felt stupid, beyond stupid even. What if everything she shared with him was just another one of his chivalrous duties?
"Okay, we're here. This is your house isn't it?" The sheriff pointed to a building just beyond where he parked the car. She nodded slowly and made as though to get out before he stopped her, saying, "I'll call you."
Three words that sent chills up her spine. The hand he placed on her elbows made her wish to bolt out of the car but she quelled her emotions and gave him a small smile after thanking him for his help. She walked out of the car and walked as unhurriedly as she could to her apartment, ignoring the sound of the engine of his car until it was gone.
She heaved a sigh of relief after that, knowing that she could deal with whatever she met in her house after that. She was drained but she knew that it wasn't physical tiredness. She also knew that she never gave the sheriff her number but he told her he was going to call. Everything conflicted one way or another but she resolved not to overthink any of it.
She missed her best friend and ex-roommate, Cameron. She knew that she could have stellar advice if asked for help from her but that was when she didn't have her hands filled with taking care of her baby and marriage. Beverly was happy for her friend, extremely happy in fact. But still, she missed her, more than just a lot.
"This is depressing." She said to the empty apartment as soon as she entered, everything the same way as she left it the day before. She didn't expect anything to change but being with Bryan overtook her senses and made her feel out of place in the place she called home. It was pretty pathetic but she knew that gradually, she was going to grow out of it. She resolved to break her promise to him about visiting weekly for dinner, she didn't want to feel like a charity case. She also wondered if that was how he helped the ladies he met, if she was just a random face in the midst of his philanthropic gestures. The mere thought of it hurt more than she could say, way more than she wanted it to.
She went straight to the kitchen, not a spec of dust to be found in the gleaming surfaces. Yet, she took a rag, a mop, soap, and whatever else she needed to clean. Then she went to work, cleaning the already sparkling surfaces like her life depended on it. She didn't know why she did it, she just knew that her hands had to be busy, her hands needed to do something lest she'd run mad. She took the day off and she regretted it more than anything. She wanted to let go of her frustration one way or another, drown herself in work if possible. Cleaning the kitchen was just a way of trying to forget him and what he made her feel, how he made her feel. It was haphazard at best, the colliding emotions wrecking her being. She wanted to scream, throw something. But she wasn't the type of person to give in to tantrums like most people did. She held a rein over her emotions and never let them control her.
But Bryan, Bryan took control of her emotions and gave none of his own. It was the ultimate betrayal, feeling everything for someone who felt nothing. She couldn't blame him, she just couldn't. She was like a cause to him, something to make him feel good about himself. As her thoughts collided in a frenzy, she kept cleaning like her life depended on it. She was crying by then, the tears she'd refused to shed for anyone in years. Yet for him, for him she let loose.
She stopped cleaning like a maniac, dropped the rag she held and folded herself into a ball, and cried uncontrollably. It was a dam broken, and tears poured forth.
Bryan stared at the retreating car with a mixture of emotions he couldn't name and he even contemplated going to the car and taking Beverly to her house by himself. For some reason, he felt uneasy for no reason. The fact that she couldn't look into his eyes made him wonder what was wrong but he felt that she was shy, as most people were. She didn't k ow what to say to him because of that and he didn't want to force his growing feelings on her. It was all too soon, way too soon to feel this much. He couldn't explain what he felt without babbling, and he wanted to let himself come to terms with it. He wasn't the least bit perturbed, he suspected that exploring those feeling would be nothing short of disastrous and ruin whatever friendship she might have had with him. He was willing to lose it all, not when he just regained it.
Few minutes after she left with the sheriff, a black Camry pulled into the driveway, blasting its horn in a welcome gesture. There was only one person he knew who was that way, she never seemed to care if he was sleeping or not in the mood, she blasted the horns anyway.
"Look who it is, the proverbial pain in the keister," Bryan said as a way of greeting his eccentric sister as soon as she stepped out of the car. She was 5'6 but acted like she was the tall one.
"I've told you, use words normal humans can understand. Your sayings are always complicated even when you are making a joke. Tsk." She blew past him and walked straight into the house, announcing her presence. That was how she was, he'd come to terms with it long before she knew what she was doing.
"Good day to you too." He spoke to the empty air, few seconds after she passed. Arielle Roland, the proverbial black sheep of the family yet he loved her with every fiber of his being. Being with her was refreshing, she didn't care what anybody thought, she didn't even bother to stress about gossips and whatnots.
"So, where's she?" She asked as soon as she walked through the house, stepping out, arms akimbo. The sight of her reminded him of Beverly but he tried to shake himself out of it.
"The girl who slept here yesterday, duh." She rolled her eyes as she walked back into the house, not waiting for his response. He didn't know what to tell her or even if there was anything he could tell her. She'd always been a perceptive one and it irked him to no end sometimes.
"At least wait to hear my response!" He screamed at her retreating figure but she paid him no heed. She was her own person and no matter what, she didn't compromise on her values for anyone.
"So, who's she? Spill the deets." Arielle said, urging him on. She abbreviated most words and no matter how many times he tried to tell her that it was an unconventional way of speaking, it all fell on deaf ears.
"How many times do I have to tell you that 'deets' is not a word?" Bryan face-palmed himself but as usual, she ignored him and the gesture he made.
"How exactly did she do it?" Arielle asked, genuine curiosity in her voice.
"How did she do what?" Bryan asked, not sure where she was going with it.
"Sleep with you, duh." She spoke as plain as possible and Bryan was tempted to jump into his car and stay there just to sulk.
"First off, she didn't sleep with me. Secondly, I should wash your mouth with enough soap to purify a sewer. If only." Bryan said exasperatedly, wondering what kind of sister he had. He loved her to death, there were no arguments there. He just wished that she'd bridle her tongue once in a while. It was an important skill to learn.
"Who has the dirty mind now? I meant that she slept in this house but your conscience decided to go overboard. Classic." Arielle guffawed, pointing at the expression on her brother's face. She'd loved him ever since she was a child and frustrated him every step of the way. It was her way of showing love, of showing how much she loved him. It was truly a pretty annoying way of showing love but he didn't complain and even if he did, that wouldn't have stopped her in the slightest.
Bryan taught her a lot, having discussions with her about things she couldn't ask anyone. It was a truly refreshing feeling, being the sole person to garner all of his attention. He paid more attention to her than the books he wrote and that was priceless to her.
"Okay, okay. I misinterpreted. Sorry about that. Anyways, she did sleep in this house because she was stranded on the highway and there was a downpour. I couldn't leave her in the rain now, could I?" Bryan folded his arms, giving his little sister a stern expression that he didn't really mean. He loved her to death, even the way she always managed to enter his skin effortlessly.
"Hmmm, that's a pretty convincing argument. So, why was she naked?" Arielle fired another question and Bryan had to wonder if she wasn't just specially made to torment him.
"She was wet!" He said as a way of explanation but it just seemed as though Arielle capitalized on his exasperation to make him more exasperated.
"Wet you say? So, you took advantage of the opportunity?" She smiled coyly and he was tempted to throw in back in her car and drive her to wherever she came from.
"Okay, I'm gonna kill you." He ran his fingers through his hair as she gave a resounding wave of laughter before she said, "It's just so easy to tease you, being such a prude and all. Wait, are guys prudish too?" She asked him after the moment of laughter and he replied, "I don't know and frankly, I don't want to. Do you want to hear the story or not?" He dangled the bait in front of her, knowing how much she loved his stories.
"Okay, okay. I'll settle down." She calmed down considerably after then as Bryan smiled and ruffled her hair.
She was a real pain, but at least she was his pain. And he wasn't going to trade that for the world.