22. Brielle
Chapter twenty-two
Brielle
“ A re you going to keep tapping your teeth like that?”
I looked over at Amani sitting on her bed. “What?”
“You are tapping your teeth with that pen.”
I looked down and realized she was right. I moved my hand away from my mouth. “Yeah, sorry, I was deep in thought.”
She turned toward me with a grin. “Were you thinking about Mr. Magic Fingers?”
I threw my pen at her. “Oh, shut it.”
“Oh, come on, you know I'm kidding. I loved hearing about your sexcapades. I tell you everything, don’t I? It is nice to live through you for once.”
“You do, and we didn’t have sex,” I corrected her.
“You will. You have that man pussy whipped.”
I gave her an astonished look. “I have him what?”
“Oh, come on. Beck says that man hasn’t stopped talking about how amazing you are since he left.”
It had been a week since I last saw Elijah, and I missed him terribly.
We started texting more and flirting a little, but neither of us mentioned what went on between us.
I was too scared to say anything because I didn’t want to find out that he regretted what we did.
I would never believe he didn’t do that purely out of feeling bad for me.
I planned to go see him for his last concert in Tennessee at the end of the week.
Aubrey, Link, Amani, and I all planned to drive down together.
Callie and my mom are flying down a day later since Callie had something to do with her mom, and my mom had to work the day we planned to leave.
The plan was to get some wedding stuff done while in Tennessee.
All the girls were going to a bridal shop to look at dresses while Link hung out with Elijah and the band.
I knew Aubrey and Callie were going to be the most beautiful brides that I had ever seen. The dresses they were planning to try on were absolutely beautiful online.
Along with planning the wedding stuff, I was also trying to figure out my next steps after school.
The gallery I worked at was going to be closed for the summer since my bosses were traveling to Italy and Spain, where they had another gallery.
I wasn't sure if I was going to get a part-time job or just hope some people would want to pay me for photography or paintings.
But once the gallery opened again, I would be working for them on a permanent basis.
“Brie,” Amani’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up, and she was standing in front of me.
“Yeah?”
“I said I am heading to lunch before exams. Are you coming?”
I looked down at my phone to check the time. “Yeah. Then we need to pack. They are going to kick our asses if we aren’t out of here in the next two days.”
She put her arm over my shoulder. “We got this. This week is going to fly by. Then we get to go see our hotties rock the stage.”
I looked up at her, not sure what to say. Elijah was not even close to being mine, even though I thought I wanted him to be.
A few days later.
"Are you guys excited that you are moving out of the dorms for good?" Aubrey asked.
"Yeah. I'm not sure how excited I am about living with Mom and Dad for the summer, though," I joked. I leaned up into the front seat. “Link, you drive like a grandma.”
“I got precious cargo in this car. It was made clear that I must get you and Amani to Tennessee safely, or I will get killed by two very angry men.”
Aubrey turned her head to look at me from the front seat and smirked. I gave her a questioning glare, then looked at Link in the rearview mirror. “What are you talking about?”
Link chuckled. “Elijah and Beck told me that if I didn’t get you guys to Tennessee safely, they would kill me in my sleep.”
I sat back with a stupid grin on my face, and Amani nudged me with her shoulder. “Told ya.”
Aubrey turned to us. “Told ya what?”
I covered Amani’s mouth with my hand. “Don’t you dare.”
She laughed through my hand. “I won’t say a word.” Just as I removed my hand, she blurted, “Elijah and Brielle hooked up.”
“Amani!” I yelled.
Aubrey screamed. “You what? You and Elijah had sex? Why didn’t you tell me? Bean, that’s…Oh my God. What?” She was frantically looking around like a lunatic. Link’s eyes went wide in the mirror.
I glared at Amani. “See what you did? She is like a cat in heat, and now you've got her all excited.” She and I laughed at my over-dramatic sister. I turned back to Aubrey. “One, no, we didn’t have sex. I definitely would have told you if something that big happened. Second—”
Aubrey cut me off. “So something did happen? Brielle, if he—”
I didn’t let her finish, “Second. We had a few moments. It was okay, good even. He was a proper gentleman who made sure I was okay. Can we not do this right now, though? I really don’t want to talk about it in front of Link.”
Lincoln’s look turned to one of guilt. Aubrey punched him playfully, giving him a dead arm. “You knew? You don’t look surprised at all.”
“Fuck, that hurt.” He began rubbing his upper arm.
I looked up at Link in the mirror. “He told you already?”
Link shrugged. “Not everything, I’m sure. But he told me you guys had a good night and that he enjoyed spending time with you. Then the conversation about getting you there safely happened.” He laughed.
I slumped back into the backseat with a grin covering my face. I watched out the window as the trees passed by on the highway.
I really liked spending time with him, too.