Page 102 of The Drop

I groan at the thought of how long it's going to take to get these to the laundromat and washed. Grant pushes my iced coffee under my nose and grabs his own.

"We've got this." He knocks his coffee against mine, and I laugh. "Fuel yourself up."

"Yes, Captain."

Grant

We’ve finally washed everything and brought the bags back into the apartment. We salvaged what we could from the torn items, and Brooke has a plan in place.

“Hey, Sav,” she says into the phone, wedging it between her ear and shoulder as she lays the now washed and dried clothes out on the living room floor to see what we’ve got. “I’m sorry it’s early.”

It’s eight o’clock, and we’re both taking turns yawning and encouraging each other.

“I have a problem with some of The Drop, and I need someone who can sew?”

I’m pulling out the collection of sweatpants. Weirdly, whoever cut them only snipped them at the calf, but they’ve still ruined thirty pairs of perfectly good sweatpants.

“Lifesaver, could you get here at noon?” After hanging up with Savannah, she puts the phone down and surveys my work.

“Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but what about his and hers shorts?” She bites her lip while tucking the legs of the sweatpants under to make them look shorter. “I can get Sav to take some of them in.”

“That’s a great idea that could work; half of them are dyed the same colour.”

“Okay, and what about all the scraps?” I nod encouragingly, waiting for her to continue. “Scrunchies and headbands?”

Again, that’s a perfect use of the torn-up Drop.

“Drop it in February for Valentine’s,” I say, an idea forming in my head. “His and hers, and it gives you more time to fix it?”

“Only like a two-week extension, but it could work.” She sighs, dropping to the floor and lying back with her hair fanned out around her.

“Okay, we’ve got a plan.” I clap my hands together as I stand over her.

“I’ve got a plan, and you’ve got hockey.” She sighs, looking up at me.

“I can do both,” I say instantly.

“Grant…” she groans.

“I’m committed to hockey, Brooke.” I crouch down next to her. “But I’m also ready to be committed to you; I promise I can do both.”

She stares up at me for a moment before sighing, sitting up and crossing her legs. “You’ve never been able to do it before, though, right?” She plays with the hem of what I’m fairly sure is my hoodie.

“I can do it with you.” I reach out and take her hands. She's right; I didn’t want to do it before, but that was because of Grace. I had been made to feel like I needed to stretch myself, and even then, it still wasn’t enough.

It's not like that with Brooke; this is different.

“We weren’t on the same page, but we are now. I want this. I want you.” Her eyes widen, staring at me, and then she leans up and wraps her arms around my neck, hugging me. I lose mybalance and try not to crush her as we end up lying on the floor. I smile, pulling her closer, knowing sometimes she just needs physical touch to feel safe.

“Maybe we can start with a nap?” she mumbles into my neck, and I nod, not wanting to push her too far too quickly.

“Okay, I’ll head back over when you wake up,” I say, pulling away. She smiles up at me and shakes her head before standing up and pulling me toward her bedroom.

“Are we napping together?” I ask as we walk into her room. She crawls onto the bed, and I follow, wrapping my arms around her.

“I sleep better with you here, and I need a good sleep,” she murmurs into the pillow, and I smile into her neck.

“Yeah, me too.”

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