Whatever discussion the bosses had been having came to a halt when we walked in. Cadence jumped out of the chair she’d been sitting at around a long boardroom-like meeting table and exclaimed, “HI! How are you guys?”
“Never better!” Brandon replied as Cadence hugged him and then stared at him for a second, like she was trying to figure out whether or not he was being sarcastic, before she turned to me.
Aaron had been standing at the far end of the table, but he came around to clasp Brandon’s hand. “You feel different?”
“Nah, I’ve always been like this.” Brandon looked down at himself as if to say he’d always been so awesome. Aaron shook his head at him and briefly rested his hand on my shoulder as a greeting. That was good enough for me. Hugging him still seemed awkward to me.
I noticed my sister rolling her eyes at Brandon as she gestured at us to take seats at the table. I thought i
The next face to come into view was a man who appeared to be in his thirties with short, dark hair. He looked utterly exhausted, and when everyone began to say hello, I found out this was Andrew, the Philly Area Leader.A woman joined us via the screen shortly thereafter, and I learned that her name was Morgan. She had long, brown wavy hair and was cute but feisty looking. Her area was in Montana.“Oh, my gosh!” Morgan gushed, leaning closer to the screen. “You look so much like your dad!”I turned to see Brandon fumbling for words and scooted my leg over so that my knee bumped his leg, trying to offer support. “That’s what I hear,” he managed, with a smile.“I mean, seriously, just like him!” Apparently, Morgan didn’t take hints very well, so Aaron cut in and started the meeting, for which I was sure Brandon was thankful.“As you know, we have a very serious situation on our hands i
“They didn’t all escape,” Andrew interjected. I could tell by his tone he was tired of being blamed for all of this mess, even if he deserved it. “We did manage to get one of them, at least. I think we may have hit another, but of course we have no way of knowing if he survived.”“Why is that?” That was Aurora. I wondered if everyone felt compelled to speak at least once during these meetings. I turned and looked at Brandon, and he glanced at me for a moment with a reassuring look as we turned back to Andrew.“We took out one of them as they were entering a black Chevy Tahoe that pulled up to the back door. I watched him turn to ash. Another was hit in the leg, but his friends got him inside the SUV, and they pulled away. My bikes gave chase, but the SUV managed to lose them in the city traffic.”“At one o’clock in the morning?” Morgan seemed very annoyed at Andrew in general. Her tone was b
“Andrew, I know this has been stressful, but we appreciate your efforts,” Aaron assured the other Guardian. Aaron certainly has a way of letting someone know they’ve made a mistake or two without telling them they are a total screw up. I admire that about him. It seemed to me that Andrew should’ve gotten Giovani and Gibbon last night, and everyone knew it, including him.Andrew looked happy to still have a job. “I really appreciate that. We’ll do everything we can to support you while you’re here.” I supposed that was his way of handing off the torch.“We know you will,” Aaron said as Andrew faded away.The room was quiet for a moment before Aurora broke it with the statement, “Well, they sure did botch that whole thing from start to finish.” I assumed that meant the only people in on this conversation now were the people I could see, but I wondered if Christian was still listening since he
Brandon walked me back over to Cadence’s apartment in silence. I wanted to go over everything we’d heard with him, but my mind was preoccupied with something else, and I could see he didn’t really want to talk either. We walked in and sat down on the sofa fairly far apart from each other, and I glanced at the time. The plane wouldn’t be leaving for another twenty minutes. I contemplated calling Lucy but decided against it. I needed to be off the grid entirely for this to work, and that meant none of my friends could know where I was.“Well, that Andrew sure is a screw up,” Brandon finally said.“Yeah,” I agreed. “And Morgan is… not shy.”He chuckled. “That’s a nice way of putting it. You think your sister has any food?”I realized I hadn’t eaten anything either, but I wasn’t hungry. “Help yourself,” I replied nodding at the kitchen. He didn’t
I hadn’t brought much stuff, so it wouldn’t take me long to pack. I pulled out my phone and requested an Uber, wondering if it would even be able to get in through that gate. I thought about dropping the pin outside of the gate, but then, it would take so long to walk out there. I decided to see what would happen. Then, I went about packing.Brandon came into the room just as I was throwing in the last of my stuff. “What are you doing?” he asked. “We don’t have to leave right now, and we certainly don’t have to be in such a hurry.”“You may not have to, but I do.” I realized there was no way I could get out of there without telling him something. He was staring at me like I was nuts as I zipped up my bag.“What are you talking about?” he asked, his hands on his hips. “I’m your ride.”“No, you’re not.” I took a deep breath. “I’m not going
The SUV was sitting in front of Brandon’s building, just as Aaron had promised, and the keys were waiting for us at the front desk. I took them and went out to the vehicle while Brandon ran to the elevator to go get his stuff. I decided me sitting in the Enclave might make him move faster than if I tagged along.I turned the car on to heat it up a little bit. It was a little chilly outside, and the thought of what we were doing was making me nervous. I sent Lucy a quick text to let her know I couldn’t talk right now but that I’d get back to her as soon as I could, and I drank more water than I probably should’ve waiting for Brandon to arrive. The idea of going to the bathroom on a plane or train was not appealing to me, so I made a mental note not to take the rest of the bottle of Ozarka with me on the trip.Brandon burst out of the apartment building like a blur, and I probably wouldn’t have even seen him if he hadn’t had to slow do
Brandon and I sat in awkward silence for longer than I expected. A few times, I tried to start a conversation about school or movies, but he didn’t have much to say. I was hoping that my insistence on bringing him with me didn’t ruin the friendship we’d just started. It wasn’t until I noticed the jacket of a man making his way down the aisle to go to the restroom (something I refused to think about as I was sure I’d instantly have to go myself) and commented, “Man, the Chiefs sure aren’t off to a very good start this year.”“Excuse me?” Brandon asked, as if I’d just called his mother a name. “Just because they haven’t quite gotten their defense together yet doesn’t mean they can’t turn things around.”Finally finding a topic he was passionate about, I tried to think of every comment I’d ever heard my dad say about any football team and make it sound like I had any idea
My eyes flew open in a sudden realization of where I was, what I was doing, and whose shoulder I was asleep on. I hoped I hadn’t startled him, but as I checked the corner of my mouth for drool, I realized that Brandon was smiling at me, and my hand automatically went to my hair in an attempt to straighten it as he stared.“Hey there, sunshine,” he smiled. “How was your nap?”I leaned away from him, stretching as I did so in hopes that I wouldn’t look as embarrassed as I felt. I briefly remembered having thought of the fact that my head was on his shoulder as I’d slipped into oblivion, but I was more conscious of that fact now for certain. “Fine. I guess. What time is it?” I tried to keep my voice down as it looked like a few other people around us had also opted not to find sleeping cars.Brandon glanced at his watch before saying, “It’s about 3:30.”“In the morning?” I as