Page 4 of Rescued By My Best Friend's Brother

My phone buzzes in my back pocket, drawing me from these regrets. I unlock it to find a text from Bradley.

Where did you go?

I sigh. I left without really telling him. How could I? I would just be met with begging and then, yelling. I don’t think I have the courage to confront him, to tell him in person that I no longer want to be in a relationship with him. My love for him ran too deep, seeping into my blood. How do I remove that? He has a way of getting into my mind, making me stay time after time. If I would have confronted him before I left I would have probably stayed, even if it meant death. So, I did the next best thing that was in my power. I left him a note. I told him I couldn’t live like this anymore and I was leaving, for good. This is the best route, I know it is. I assume he hasn’t found the note, or he is pretending like he hasn’t seen it. This would be so he can manipulate me into coming back. He thinks if I am second guessing my decision, and he hasn’t seen the note, then I will come back. But not this time. I will be strong this time. I will not fall into his manipulative ways.

I start to type up a message to respond, to tell him I left a note telling him we are done and that I am moving on, but I decide to ignore it. I am not going to play into his games. Maybe I do need to say the words out loud to him, just for my peace of mind that my intentions are clear. I erase the message and exit out of the thread. I just need a day or two to figure out what I should say to him. But does it matter? Will he accept the words? He never did before when I tried to escape.

The door opens, startling me. I drop the glass in my hand. It falls to the ground, shattering to pieces. I stare at the shards around my bare feet. For a minute, I see blood on the ground. Blood that really isn’t there. Blood that drips in my memory from countless times that I found myself on the other end of Bradley’s aggression.

“Hey, Lena, I’m—” Josie says. Her voice sounds as if she’s standing on the other end of a hallway. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” She sets her purse on the table near the door and hurries to the kitchen. “Elena?”

I snap out of my daze and gasp. “Oh…um…I’m so sorry. I’ll replace this. I’m sorry.” I bend down and pick up the base of the glass that remains intact. I pick up the shards, putting them into the base.

“Don’t touch that, Elena. You’re going to cut yourself. Let me get the broom.” She disappears down the hallway and comes back a moment later with a broom and dust pan. She pats my shoulder, stopping me from my cleaning. “I’ll get it,” she states.

I shake my head, grabbing the broom and dust pan from her. “I’ll get it. Why don’t you get changed? We don’t want to be late picking up Lily.”

“Okie doke. I’ll go get changed. Be careful not to cut yourself.” She glances down at my feet to point out what I should be careful with. I give her a curt nod and start sweeping everything up, trying not to move my feet. The glass shards can be difficult to see, especially against the white tile.

Once I think I’ve gotten most of the glass, I hop to the side and sweep where I had been standing to ensure I have cleaned up everything. I dump the shards into the trashcan and set the broom aside. Josie hasn’t come back out yet, so I go to my room and grab my socks and sneakers. As I am coming back out, Josie exits her room.

“Hey, roomie.” She flashes me a large smile. This is the smile that got us out of a lot of trouble back in the day. Whether it was the principal of our high school or the bouncer at a club, her smile warmed even the coldest demeanor. “Ready to go?” she asks.

I nod. “Yeah.”

Josie leads the way to the front door. She grabs her purse, and we head out to her car, a newer Hyundai Kona. I get into the passenger seat and scan the inside. It has leather seats, a small screen for media and GPS, and buttons for just about anything to ensure comfortability.

“This is nice,” I say.

Josie pushes the button to start the car. Who needs keys in the future? Not Josie. But me, I still need a key to turn the ignition.

“It’s an electric car. Trying to reduce my carbon foot print. I want Lily to have a future.”

I chuckle, thinking she is joking, but the lack of a smile tells me she isn’t. She really is serious about this whole aunt thing. “That’s sweet. Lily is lucky to have you.”

She slaps a hand on my knee as we back out of the driveway, passing my old, rusty Neon. “Hey! You have me too,” she reassures.

Her statement makes me uncomfortable. I’m not sure why. Maybe it is because I feel like I don’t deserve it. Instead of acknowledging it and thanking her, I change the subject instead.

“I still have Trinity,” I say, pointing to my old Neon. Josie and I had named her back in high school when I got the car. We have survived many obstacles, even a few breakdowns.

“I see that! How is it that little old thing even still running! It’s amazing.”

I bob my head up and down. “I got her fixed a year ago. She has a newer transmission. Still not brand new, but it keeps her running. We made a lot of memories in her back in the day.”

We meet each other’s gaze, remembering all the crazy things we had done, and burst out in laughter. For a moment, it feels like we are back in high school, the days when we would just give each other a glance and know what the other one was thinking. There are so many memories we had shared.

She pauses, sucking in a deep breath. “I missed this. I really am happy to see you again, although I know you wish it were under better circumstances.”

“Yeah. I shouldn’t have let our friendship become so…” I search for the word that best describes what happened, but nothing seems to fit. “...distant.”

She shrugs it off. “It happens. I know with college, we both got really busy. And then I was job searching, you were working and moving around.”

“Yeah, but I could have made more of an effort to see you. We used to go on girl trips all the time. I miss those.” I think about the time we went to Nashville and went to almost every bar. We had ended up singing karaoke, which I would have never done sober. That had been right before I’d met Bradley and near the end of my college career.

“Oh yes! Those were the days! Remember when we floated down the river and that group of guys invited us to party with them. That was fun.”

I grimace, remembering how hung over I was after that. “I think I’m still dehydrated from that.”

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