Meant to Be

Brendon dug his face into his hands with feelings of frustration and being overwhelmed flooding his mind. Nothing in his life seemed to be going okay, except for those two weeks in Seattle, but not even that could trump everything that was unfolding right now.

“Brendon what’s wrong?” Kara asked placing a grip on his shoulder.

He let out an enormous sigh. “Everything. They’re gonna know who she is and let out everything about our past,” he said looking back at her for some help.

“Calm down. They’re not gonna remember her,” she assured him.

“You remember her,” he said pointing out the obvious to her.

She laughed and shook her head. “I know I do. That’s only because I was still living here whenever you brought her around. Matt, Mason, and Val had already moved out around that time and I highly doubt dad or even mom remembers her.”

He nodded his head understandably. “Yeah you’re probably right. I should stop freakin’ out.”

“Yeah you should and we should head inside before someone comes back out to get us,” she suggested.

Brendon let Kara go ahead of him, giving him time to take a few deep breaths, and entered the house. There were his mom, grandmother, sister, and sister-in-law finishing up the wedding centerpieces, surprised not to find Jason or Olivia. Then he heard his voice and Kara’s coming from the living room. He walked in expecting them to be sitting amongst his brothers, dad, and Josh, but only Kara and Jason were in the room.

“Well he seems like a great guy. I’m happy for you cous,” Jason said hugging his sister. “Oh hey Brendon!” he said looking in Brendon’s direction.

Brendon smiled uncomfortably, a little disappointed not to see Olivia with him, but all the more relieved. Kara got up from the sofa and gave Brendon an encouraging smile as she went back to the kitchen to help. Jason also got up going to hug him.

“It’s good to see ya again,” Jason said patting his back.

“Same here, glad you were able to make it out here. Surprised Olivia isn’t with you. She get stuck at the hospital?” Brendon asked after they broke the hug.

“Oh Olivia? No she’s just in the bathroom,” Jason said pointing to the bathroom door.

Olivia stood in front of the mirror looking at her reflection. She lost the color from her face and noticed how thin she had become. She didn’t look like the Olivia she once remembered. When she felt calm enough, she opened the door and went back to where Jason was. She looked around the living room and found no one.

“Looking for someone?” she heard from behind, immediately knowing whose voice it was.

She didn’t want to turn around and see him or really, she didn’t want him to see her face to face. Olivia just nodded slowly, hoping he caught it.

She heard him laugh a little and felt him walk up behind her. “He went down to the den. How are you?” he asked pulling back pieces of her hair behind her ear.

Her heart started to pound and beat furiously in her chest, it almost hurt. “Um…” she swallowed hard. “…I’m fine,” she lied.

She could see a little portion of him from the corner of her eyes, knowing he probably had a smirk plastered across his face. She began to walk towards the kitchen and soon felt Brendon’s cold hand grab hers. She turned around and saw that he looked just as miserable as she did; suddenly she didn’t feel as embarrassed to face him.

Brendon knew she really wasn’t “fine” as she had stated. He could always tell when she lied about feeling okay. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. “Nothing. I’m fine; everything’s fine.”

He shook his head in disagreement. “That’s not true. I can see it in your eyes that you’re not okay,” he whispered.

She looked up into his eyes and whispered, “Brendon…”

“Olivia!” Brendon and Olivia turned towards the door that led to the den and saw Jason appear from it. “I see you and Brendon have reacquainted. It’s nice to see him again isn’t it?”

Olivia turned to Brendon and nodded. “It’s always a pleasure,” she said forming a half smile.

“So um…I want you to meet my aunt, and cousins. Come on, they’re gonna love you,” Jason said extending his hand for her to grab.

Just before they headed for the kitchen, the men came up from the den, loudly laughing and talking as they opened the door.

“Jason! Is this the girl you were telling us about? Olivia?” Brendon’s dad asked.

“It is. Olivia, this is my Uncle Boyd, cousins, Matt and Mason, and Josh, Kara’s fiancé. Guys this is Olivia my…” but before he could finish his sentence, the women came rushing in, as if hearing new gossip and wanting more of the details.

“Don’t forget to introduce us Jason,” Grace chimed in.

“And that’s my Aunt Grace, cousins Valerie and Kara, Lilly, Matt’s wife, and you already met my grandmother Sophia. Everyone this is Olivia…my fiancée,” he said as a last minute thought.

Everyone but Brendon went up to the couple, hugging them, placing congratulatory pats on the back, expressing their happiness to them.

“Brendon, aren’t you going to congratulate your cousin and Olivia?” Grace asked him.

“I already knew. He told me when I went up to Seattle, but congrats again,” he said trying to sound convincing.

“Yeah, I told Brendon I was going to propose. I wanted to wait until after the wedding, but it kinda just came out,” Jason said.

“You know, Olivia kinda looks like…,” Mason began, but Brendon nudged him in the ribs before he could finish his sentence.

“Ow, what the heck Brendon!” Mason said rubbing his side and giving Brendon a mean glare.

“Oops, sorry,” Brendon said smiling apologetically.

After Jason broke the news that he was getting married, the women took Olivia into the kitchen with them to talk about it more, while Jason stayed in the living room with the men, catching up. Brendon couldn’t be around any of them and he didn’t want to go up with Kayla, so he decided to make his way down to the den. All his nieces and nephews were there, some playing on the floor and the others sitting lazily on the couch watching cartoons.

“Uncle Brendon!” they all said in unison when they realized he was there.

There was nothing like being around kids; they were so care-free, nonchalant about things, fun, and honest. He started to miss the days when all he worried about was which crayon he was going to use to color the T-Rex and all the rest of the dinosaurs. It had been awhile since he had seen his nieces and nephews and it was great spending time with them again; they had all grown up so much.

“Jimmy, Reyna, let’s go, we gotta pick up mom from work,” Mason said from the top of the stairs.

Brendon hugged them both, squeezing them tight, and thinking he needed more than an hour with them next time he saw them. Not long after that Matt called for his three children, and Val came down to pick up her son. Brendon followed her up the stairs, knowing everyone was starting to head home and that he should say good-bye to them.

“Thanks everyone for helping, we’ll see you tomorrow!” Kara said waving everyone good-bye.

Only Kara and Josh stayed behind to check over everything before leaving. Brendon, Jason, and Olivia watched intently as they counted the centerpieces.

“Okay, we counted them twice. Let’s go. I don’t wanna look tired at my wedding,” Josh whined.

“All right. All right, let’s go,” Kara said.

Josh shook everyone’s hand and waited for Kara at the front door. She took her time hugging everyone, thanking them again for making it out for the wedding.

“Thank you for coming,” Kara said to Olivia as she hugged her. Then she turned a little towards her ear and whispered, “It’s good to see you again,” and smiled as she left.

Olivia felt Jason wrap his arm around her, pulling her close to him. “Ready for bed?” he asked her.

She silently nodded her head. Jason told Brendon good night and he and Olivia went upstairs to go to sleep. Brendon sat around the kitchen for a little while longer. He kept debating whether or not this was another chance – another chance to get her back and fix what had happened – but if it was, he didn’t know what to do.

After becoming weary of making up his mind, he opened the door to his temporary bedroom, and saw Kayla fast asleep. Pregnancy had made her tiresome quickly, not that Brendon was complaining, but it didn’t help much in the sex department. It had been two months and nine days since he’d had intercourse and that was with Olivia. How he wished it were him lying in bed with her instead of Jason or that she was the woman sleeping next to him right now. Those growing thoughts prevented him from sleeping and when the minutes turned into hours, he got up and went back downstairs to the kitchen.

He saw the light to the kitchen on, someone had beaten him to his idea of finding something to help fall back to sleep. Brendon quietly walked into the kitchen and saw the refrigerator door open, blocking whoever was rummaging through it. He cleared his throat, letting the person know that someone else was there.

Olivia quickly popped her head over the door and found herself having difficulties breathing. She saw Brendon smile and walk towards her. She slowly closed the refrigerator door and held the milk in one hand.

“Looks like we both had the same idea,” he commented looking at the milk in her hand.

She nodded her head. “Yeah I guess so,” she said putting down the milk and looking for a pan to heat the milk in.

Brendon helped her out and grabbed a pan from one of the bottom doors and a couple of mugs from the cupboard. He placed the mugs on the counter and handed her the pan for the milk. Their eyes connected and it was as if all their troubles were gone and nothing else mattered. Before he could contemplate anything he found himself leaned down to her face, their lips connected.

Brendon placed the pan down on the counter, never breaking the kiss, sliding his hands up to her hips, while she tangled her fingers in his hair. The moment was there and what made it even more exciting was the chance of getting caught.

He moved her over to the kitchen table and carefully lifted her on top of it, standing in between her legs. Her hands sat on his shoulders and she wrapped her legs around his waist. The intensity and passion that was building up could no longer be withheld. Brendon broke the kiss to Olivia’s disapproval and pulled his shirt over his head. Olivia grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him down with her as she reconnected their lips. Brendon hovered over her, his hands on both sides of her on top of the table, as she laid flat on the wooden surface.

A soft moan escaped her lips as Brendon reached under her shirt and squeezed one of her breasts. It was beginning to happen again – that battle between her heart and mind – only this time, her heart had another ally, her body. Her mind was telling her to stop, but her heart and body were saying to keep going. She arched her back as Brendon slowly started to kiss down her neck to her stomach. She leaned her head back, her body tingling every time his soft lips brushed against her skin. Her eyes fluttered open and standing across from them was Jason.

Olivia rose up quickly pushing Brendon off. “Stop, stop!”

Brendon looked at her confusedly. “Why what’s wrong?” he asked puzzled.

She looked back to where she saw Jason, but there was no one. She shook her head. “What are we doing?” she whispered.

Brendon smirked and lifted her head so her eyes met his. “Well I think we were about to…”

“No, not that. I mean, what are we doing? You’re about to become a dad and I a wife. This can’t happen again,” she said getting off the table.

“Liv, there’s no way we won’t see each other again. You’re about to become part of our family and honestly, I don’t know if I can control myself when we’re alone. Just look at what happened right now,” Brendon said.

Olivia crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side. “Well we’re just gonna have to try a little harder next time. Good night,” she said walking away.

“Wait! Don’t you want your hot milk?” he asked.

She turned around and shook her head. “No. That’s okay. I suddenly feel tired again,” she said and walked back upstairs.

Brendon leaned against the counter and whispered, “Good night Liv.”