Page 4 of As the World Falls

“Great. I finished making the virtual flyers for your book club last night.”

My eyes widened in happiness over my coffee cup as I took another drink before replying to him. “Wow, that’s so great. Thank you so much for helping me out with that. I would have had no idea where to begin regarding graphic design.”

This weekend, we were holding sign-ups for a new book club I was starting. It was a historical romance book club, where we read regal romances. I planned to have tea parties with all kinds of cute tea sandwiches, desserts, and, you guessed it, tea.

I was super excited about it because I loved historical romance and getting lost in the worlds of different time periods. Also, the men are primarily British and speak very properly. Call me a basic, but accents are so hot.

But I struggle with social media, so besides a few Instagram posts, I wasn’t getting anywhere with getting the word out. So, I enlisted Lance’s nerdy computer skills to make virtual flyers advertising the book club sign-ups that I would send to everyone who’s subscribed to the library’s newsletter. I was excited because I had yet to see what he’d come up with.

“Anything for you, Lia. You know that.” His smile is soft and suggestive, although I’m not sure he means it to be. It wasn’t exactly a secret that Lance had been harboring feelings for me for a while now. We’ve been best friends since my first year of high school, and we’ve always had no issue keeping it platonic and seeing other people, but there have been shifts in our relationship recently that make this tension between us hard to deny.

We’re getting older, and over the last couple of years, we both eventually stopped dating other people and have mostly keptto ourselves and… each other. We get all the benefits of dating without actually dating.

We eat dinner together almost every night. He makes my coffee every morning. I help him do his laundry because, for something so simple, he sucks at it. We both like to read and can spend hours talking about books. He helps me with handyman-like tasks in my apartment that I know how to do but am always too lazy to do. Did I mention that his apartment is right across from mine? So yeah… we practically live together.

So, I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t taken the plunge already. He was handsome with his chestnut brown hair and even warmer dark eyes. He was also muscular and broad, like picking up all these books over the years has really paid off.

And he wanted me.

It is evident in how his eyes always lingered on me or his hands stayed on me a second longer than you’d consider appropriate with anyone else. He’s always there for me whenever I need him. There’s also the way he looks at me with hope every night, like it might finally be the night I ask him to stay a little longer.

So, what was I waiting for? I didn’t know anymore. I just knew that I was waiting for something. Like a sign that I had to hold out for something more or for someone to give me a thumbs up to go for this thing with him. Was there more to hold out for? Or was this falling in love? I wasn’t sure. That was the issue.

He also hasn’t made any moves, and I wondered if he was also hesitant. It made me wonder if we were gravitating to each other simply because no one else existed in the little world we created together. He was all I had these days, and I was scared that I was making it into something it wasn’t for that very reason.

I smile at him once more before returning to the front desk and hiding behind the mountain of books I should be puttingaway, but instead, I am ducking behind and shoving a York mint chocolate patty into my mouth from the candy bowl I keep on my desk.

The library doorbell dings and I pop my head up to greet whoever it is so I don’t look like some sugar goblin behind my desk, but the words don’t come out of my mouth when I see that it’s my brother, Tobias. Instead, a strange bubbling noise comes from my throat, and he stands in front of me, looking strangely at me.

“What the hell kind of noise was that?”

As I try to find my words, my mouth blubbers like a fish out of water. “I…I haven’t seen you in four years.” He was bigger than the last time I saw him, which should be a good sign. Muscles and meat on his bones weren’t any signs that he was struggling again, but it was so shocking to see that it still brought on a wave of concern.

“I know,” he grimaces. “I’m sorry.” He sounds genuine, and I try to believe it because despite not seeing him for four years, I still got phone calls from him every couple of months checking in on me. Still, it never erased the anxiety that I felt over what he was doing with his life and why he disappeared so suddenly. That and the last six months have been radio silence from him, and I was terrified of why.

Tears well in my eyes, and I race from behind my desk and jump into his arms as he catches me. I held him tight, and for a second, everything felt right in the world. It doesn’t last long, though, and I let go, shoving him hard in the shoulder.

“Where the hell have you been?” I snap.

He chuckles as he rubs his shoulder. “You’ve gotten stronger, baby sister.”

“Don’t baby sister me, Tobias. Where have you been all these years? What have you been doing?”

“I’ve been in the city,” he says, and a pang smacks me straight in the chest.

“You’ve been that close all this time?” I try not to cry. I lived in Boston, which was only a few hours of a train ride from New York City, where he’s been the whole time that I thought he was dead in a ditch somewhere across the country.

“Don’t be mad. I had to stay away. I needed to get myself together and couldn’t rely on you to do that. If I kept you around, I would never feel alone, and I wouldn’t have worked as hard as I have. I couldn’t have someone to fall back on.”

I blink up at him, confusion and admiration warring inside me. “So, you’re sober now?”

“Going on four years,” he says proudly. Now that I was taking the time to observe him, he was quite handsome and spiffy-looking. He wore a white button-down shirt with black slacks, a jacket, and a fancy belt and shoes. I’d never seen him wear such attire so casually, and the suit looked expensive and tailored to fit him perfectly.

His hair was neatly cut, and his face was bright and clear. He even smelled spicy, like he was wearing a nice cologne rather than smelling like the salty sweat he was constantly expelling every time he was high around me in the past.

“Wow,” I breathe, shocked at this new version of him. “What have you been doing?”

“That’s what I came by to tell you. The next time I saw you, I wanted to be someone you were proud to call your brother. I wanted to be successful, and I am now.”

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