Chapter 19 Brandon
brANDON
Streamers and confetti fly everywhere as we celebrate Angie finishing school.
Hannah, her manager, found a way to sneak my number from her phone and let me know what they were planning to do for her and when.
I was fearful I wouldn’t make it since we’re in our last week before the game launches, which means we’re practically there from morning to night, but I was able to sneak out early and bring Carter along.
A handful of months have passed since I walked into this bar and came face to face with the girl who I thought represented pain and everything that I hated, but she didn’t.
She wasn’t who or what I thought I hated.
It turned out she represented everything I needed: music, love, laughter, and even gluten-free food.
It didn’t take this celebration to realize that I more than like Angela Taylor. And I know that her feelings for me are real. But we have much larger obstacles that still need to be tackled before we speak those three words out into existence.
“You’ve got a weird look on your face,” Carter says when he brings our drinks back to our table.
“Is it the same one that’s been plastered to your face?”
He takes a gulp of his beer and acts like he’s contemplating the look. “If it’s a happy look, then yes.”
“How are you and Mr. Athlete?” I ask, purposefully not saying his name in case anyone is eavesdropping.
“Really good. He’s in the thick of practicing and workouts, lucky me, but I feel like I don't see him enough as it is.”
“You two live in the same building, it can’t be that hard.”
Carter gives me a pointed look. “Trust me, when I say it’s hard. When you go from living your life alone to finding your person who makes you hate being alone—it’s hard.”
“Have you two talked about moving in together?”
“It’s way too soon,” he balks at that and then says, “It’s only been a month.”
“So?”
“So…people don’t just move in a month after dating. That’s insane.” Carter’s voice gets high-pitched as if he’s trying to convince himself that it’s a bad idea.
“Are you trying to convince yourself of that?”
He looks at me like I stepped on his foot. “No.”
“Besides, who says you need to wait an allotted time before taking that next step?”
“Um…every relationship article ever published.”
I snort into my glass. “Sorry, I’m not up to date on those.”
“You should be,” he says pointedly. “Why am I being targeted to move in with my significant other when you two are practically attached at the hip when you’re together?”
“Look, if Angie and I didn’t have our family history between us and she didn’t live with her parents, you can guarantee that I’d have her at my place all the time,” I rear back, shocked by how possessive and right that feels. But that’s what I am when it comes to Angie—possessive.
The Cheshire cat smile that takes over Carter’s face confirms that I said that out loud. “Have you two talked about a what-if?”
I finish my drink and set it aside. “Yeah,” I say, looking at Carter. “As much as I tried to avoid thinking about the scenario where our brothers were alive, would we be together?”
“And would you two be?” He asks.
“I think one way or another, we would have gravitated toward each other. Our families—mainly our parents—were friends, we vacationed together. Sure, those vacations slowed down as we older kids went to college, but our families were still very close up to the end. I don’t love thinking about the alternative, but Angie even made me think about it. ”
“Smart girl.”
I smile and look into the TapHouse, where she’s being adorned with love from some of her older customers. “That she is.”
An hour later, after Carter left to see Miles, and I’m two drinks in, Angie comes over to me with flushed cheeks and a contagious smile. She drops herself on my lap and I hook an arm around her waist while she wraps her arms around my neck.
“How does it feel being done with college?” I ask and place kisses on her neck.
“Freeing,” she sings. “Now I need to figure out what to do with my life.”
“Pish posh,” I wave off.
“I am happy you’re here,” she tells me, and the smile that takes over her face with me being here was worth skipping out on work an hour earlier.
“I’m anywhere you’re at.”
“I’m beginning to learn that that’s a good thing.”
I nod with a serious expression on my face.
“I’m also thinking I want to put my degree to use,” she announces.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she confirms with a nod. “It might take me a while to get everything off the ground, but with yours, Miles, and Hannah’s help, I see a piano bar in my future.”
“I’m happy for you, Angel.”
“Thanks, Ollie Pop,” she says with a smile, and I shake my head.
“No.”
“What? It’s cute.”
I bury my face in her neck. “I’m not cute.”
“You are, by far, the cutest in this bar.”
I groan and release my hold on her because I hear people calling her name. “Go mingle.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Angie stands up and moves between my legs. My hands fall to her thighs and I play with the hem of the mini skirts she loves wearing so much. “Give me an hour?”
“I’ll be here.”
She leans forward and kisses me on the lips hard before taking her warmth with her. I watch with a smile as more congratulations are thrown at her from her co-workers and customers who are regulars.
Angie may have been convinced that she had no one.
But that’s a lie. She has this place, the customers, and her co-workers.
And while they may not be blood-related, they still love her like she’s their own.
I see it in the way she chats with the table of retirees who represent grandfathers, with the way Hannah, Joe, Kevin, and Caleb treat her like she’s a sister to them–she has so many people who love her.
So why was she convinced that she had no one?