What You Don't Know, Can't Hurt You

“What happened?” I asked, nervously looking at Brayden. We were sitting on my couch after he returned from Zoe’s house and he looked furious.

“She slept with Reemer,” he spat out.

“Well, okay. I’m sorry,” I looked at him, genuinely sad for him. I knew he was still in love with her and learning that she had slept with one of his best friends and teammates had to be hard.

“Bray, you cheated on her. She was hurting and you even admitted that you knew she was in love with him. I know it hurts but are you surprised?”

“No. That’s what sucks the most. I’m not surprised at all,” he said with tears in his eyes. “I just feel defeated. And I want to be honest with you so it’s best to tell you know, up front – I kissed her. Like, we made out. It probably would have went further if she hadn’t blurted out that piece of info…”

I took a deep breath and looked down at my hands. “Okay. Thank you for being honest. Like, I know you love her. That’s why I’m nervous about this. I don’t want to jump into it, Brayden. You need to get over her before we can be anything.”

He nodded. “I know. I realized that when I saw her today. I’m still in love with her. Completely. I’m sorry, Jor.”

“It’s okay,” I said, giving him a tight smile. “I knew this was coming. We need some time apart. You need to figure yourself out and I really need to figure out my shit. We need to decide what we want.”

At that, Brayden stood up. “Yeah. I know. I should go, okay? I need to do damage control with the team. I’ll text you?”

“Eventually I’m sure you will,” I said, smiling. “Not too soon though. Brayden, take my advice. Take some time off. It’s the off season, you just broke up with basically two people. Just take a breather.”

“I think that’s the best choice,” he replied with a small smile. “The last few months have been exhausting.”

I saw him out the door and as soon as it shut behind him I sank to the floor. The tears started flowing as I heard a knock on the door. “Jory, open up please!” I heard Chelsea call out. I stood up and pulled open the door. She instantly pulled me into a hug as I broke down. “I saw him leave and he looked like he had been beaten so I figured it didn’t go well.”

She moved me over to the couch and comforted me as I cried for some ridiculous length of time. When I was finally coming around she looked at me and asked, “What the hell happened, Jory?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I fell hard for him Chels. He hurt me but I really like him and seeing him hurt sucks so much. That sounds ridiculous. I really wanna make him feel better but he isn’t a good guy. He’s clearly not a good guy, right?”

“I can’t answer that,” she replied, shaking her head. “Maybe he’s a completely shitty person. Maybe if you get together he’ll cheat on you and fuck you over. But Jory, maybe he’s not. Maybe he’s a good guy who royally fucked up. Maybe if he had broken up with Zoe and then met you that would have been it and you would have been together forever. You aren’t going to know that answer to that now. You gotta just deal with what did happen and figure it out from here.”

“I know,” I said, nodding. “I’m giving him his space for now though. I’m going to wait and see if he contacts me. He’s madly in love with her and he needs to deal with that. I’m not coming second. If he decides he wants to be with me then I’m it – said and done.”

“Good,” Chelsea said, smiling. “You’re changing, Jory. You’ve settled down with him and it makes me so happy to hear you say you won’t come second. You deserve that.”

“Awe! Stop it Chelsea. I’m growing up, okay? About time I dealt with my relationship shit anyway. For the record, I’m done with the slut stuff. That’s exhausting.”

“Well I can’t say the same there,” she replied with a wink. “But right now, I can agree with the exhausted part. I’m gonna head home, okay? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I said, smiling. “I know it’ll all work out.”

Months passed. Brayden occasionally texted or called but I would just ignore it and he never dropped by. I figured after a while I would start getting over him but the longer I went without seeing him, the more I wanted to. However, I was determined that I would not be the one to contact him. Eventually, I got the text I had been waiting for.

“I think we really need to talk. I’m ready now.”

I took a deep breath and thought for only a few seconds. “Come on over,” I typed back. A few minutes later there was a knock on my door. I pulled it open and all he said was, “It isn’t creepy. I was hoping you’d say that so I was waiting outside…”

“Oh my God,” I said laughing. “You’re ridiculous.” He came in and pulled me into a hug.

“So, we’re gonna take this slow. That’s why I decided. I’m over Zoe. I don’t think I ever really loved her – that’s what I learned in the last few months. I think I loved us together but I knew she wasn’t it. You? I want to see what we can be,” he said, starting to grin. “I want to be exclusive with you and only you. I want you to meet my friends and my family and I’m ready.”

“Are you sure? We should probably date quietly for a bit just to make sure this is going to work before I start meeting everyone, Bray. Things are different this time around. If we’re exclusively dating, I’m going to be expecting more from you.”

“I know!” he said, full on smiling by that point. “That’s what I figured out! It wasn’t the relationship part I hated with Zoe! That’s the part I actually liked and the reason I stuck around. What I hated was her relationship with Reemer! Like, I’m not that bad. You can have friends and you can have guy friends – that doesn’t bother me. It was just so OBVIOUS that they were going to end up together. THAT’S what I hated with her. It’s not like that with you. You’re mine. Completely. And I’m ready for that.”

“Wow,” I said, starting to smile. Suddenly, I narrowed my eyes and looked up at him. “And you figured this out all by yourself…?”

“HA! Are you kidding? Even I know how dumb I can be, Jory. Luke finally moved here and I moved in with him and his girlfriend. We've been talking about it. They helped me figure out every stupid thing I’ve done for the last little while. They helped me understand it all! I want to be with you, Jory. I want us to seriously give this a shot.”

“Okay,” I said, looking up at him and smiling. “Let’s do it! But get one thing straight. If I feel like you’re being shady at all, we’re done. I’m not going to put up with cheating and now I know the signs with you. If you get a billion phone calls and keep telling me they’re from G I’m going to know something’s up…”

“I know. You have my word. But, I understand that means nothing right now. I’m going to earn your trust back. Starting now. We’re going out for dinner. Go get dressed.”

Before I knew it, I was dressed and we were on our way out. “You didn’t even make any moves,” I said, trying to sound casual.

“I told you – I’m taking it slow. I want to earn you.”

“Hm. Interesting,” I said slowly. “So, where are we going?”

“Luke’s!”

“WHAT?! Brayden! No! Take me home. I don’t want to. I’m not even dressed nice! I can’t meet your brother looking like this!”

“You don’t need to impress anyone, Jory. You’re dating me, not him. Plus, it’s only barbeque. Nothing fancy,” he said, laughing.

“Oh my God. I hate you. This is going to be so embarrassing.” I was still rambling as we pulled up in front of an incredible house. “Holy. Shit. Brayden! Why are you doing this to me! This house is as big as my entire apartment building! And why are there so many cars? Brayden, who’s here?”

For the first time I noticed Brayden hesitate. “Uh, well, Jory… Luke needed help moving and I mean, it’s summer and we were both down here getting settled in the house so my parents thought it’d be cool to take a vacation down here…”

I turned and gave him a death stare.

“I’m sorry! I knew if I told you then you’d never come and they leave in two days and I really want them to meet you!”

“Please tell me your sisters aren’t here.”

“Uh…”

“I’M MEETING YOUR WHOLE ENTIRE FAMILY RIGHT NOW EVEN THOUGH WE HAVEN’T TALKED IN MONTHS AND WE LITERALLY JUST DECIDED WE’RE DATING INSTEAD OF JUST BEING FUCK BUDDIES?!”

“Well, yes. When you put it like that it doesn’t sound very good…”

“Brayden, what do they know?”

“Luke and his girlfriend know everything. The rest of them only think that Zoe and I broke up, THEN I met you and we’ve been casually seeing each other for the past few months.”

I took a deep breath and leaned back in my seat. “Okay. Well, there’s no going back now I guess. I swear to God if you leave me to the wolves…”

“I’ll be next to you the entire time,” he smiled at me and took my hand. “Besides, they’re not that bad. I promise. It’ll be fine.”

“Oh my God. Okay. Let’s go I guess,” I said, climbing out of the truck.