Who Knew Then? (What We Know Now?)

I heard Eric and Jared leave, Eric insisting that Jared was accompanying him to pick up the boys from Ward’s. Jared didn’t seem too pleased with the idea, but ended up going anyway. Tanya and I went downstairs then, and got my things all arranged and put back into my bag – not that it took much time or effort, and then offered to drive me to Sutter’s. He was staying with his brother Brett, and I nodded, glad for her support. She left a note for Eric saying we were going to go get some groceries for supper, and then we got into her car and made our way across the city to their apartment.

“Hey Kassy, what’s up?” Brett asked, enveloping me in a hug as he answered the door.

“Not a whole lot, I’m hitching a ride back to Charlotte with your brother,” I answered, and Brett pulled away, shock written all over his face.

“What? Why?”

“Just want to get back,” I shrugged and he didn’t look like he believed me, but let it slide anyway. I saw Brody standing with his two gym bags and he gave me a lopsided grin.

“Ready for a three hour road trip?” he asked, and I managed a small smile.

“I guess so, as long as you don’t listen to that Skrillex stuff for three hours,” I teased, and he groaned.

“Come on! I love Skrillex!” he complained, and Brett rolled his eyes.

“I’m kidding! Jesus Brett, calm down,” Brody huffed at his older brother, walking to the door and giving Brett a half-assed hug.

“All right, jeesh. You guys have a safe trip; drive careful, and call me when you get there all right?” he gave Brody a pointed look.

“Yes mom, I will,”

“Kassy don’t let him forget – last time I was freaking out for hours because he hadn’t called and I couldn’t call his cell,” Brett told me, and I had to smile at the two of them.

“It died okay! Give me a break, it was one time!” Brody complained loudly, walking past us to stand in the hall by Tanya and I.

“See you soon Kassy,” Brett whispered as he gave me a quick goodbye hug. I didn’t have the heart to say anything, so instead just nodded. He shut the door then, and Tanya hugged me hard.

“Call me when you get there, keep me updated, all right?” she asked, and when we pulled away there were tears in her eyes.

“Of course Tan, I’ll talk to you soon,” I managed a smile for her, and she swiped at the tears before giving Brody a half-hug and ruffling his hair.

“You get her there safe and sound, you hear? Anything happens to her and you’ll have the whole Staal clan on your ass,” she warned him, and he flung an arm around my shoulders.

“Of course! I’ll defend her with my life!” he insisted, one hand on his chest over-dramatically, making both of us smile. He was a cool kid, that’s for sure.

“All right, see you later,” Tanya gave us a sad smile and waved as we got into Brody’s SUV. She pulled out ahead of us, headed to the grocery store, while we turned to leave the city behind.

“So, why are you leaving early? I mean, without Jared?” he asked, and I took a long few moments to answer. I didn’t want him to know the whole story – not that it was of any offense to him, but I wasn’t ready for everybody to know what was going on yet. Even if Brody suspected something, which I’m sure he did because of what he said at Tanya and Eric’s I hoped he would just let it go.

“I’m just not feeling well, and I don’t want Jared, Eric or the boys to catch it,” I fibbed. “So he won’t be back for a few days and by then I should be feeling better.”

Brody just nodded knowingly, and plugged his auxiliary cord into his iPod so we could listen to some music. He made some simple conversation, but stayed away from the topic of Jared, thankfully.

I must’ve dozed off, because the next thing I knew Brody was softly shaking my shoulder, having already hauled my bag up to my apartment for me.

“Thanks so much Brody,” I gave him a hug outside of my door, which he returned.

“Anytime Kassy, I mean it. You’re like one of the guys – in a non-offending way,” I had to chuckle at him as he ran a hand through his hair. “I mean, you’re part of the family, you know? And regardless of where you go, keep in touch, all right? Not all of us guys on the team are going to be happy with you gone.”

“Aww, Brody! Who knew you were such a big softie?” I teased, and he just shrugged.

“Whatever – just don’t tell anybody,” he grinned, and we hugged once more before he went to walk down the stairs.

“And if you need a ride anywhere, anywhere, text me or call me all right? It’ll be like it never happened, and no one will have to know,” he offered, making my eyes water up again. What I would do without that kid somedays, I’ll never know.

“Thanks Brody,” I nodded, and with that he opened the door to the stairs and started back down. I let myself into the apartment, and after buying my ticket home for the tomorrow morning began sorting out my stuff. The furniture stuff I didn’t care about – most of it we’d either bought together, or had been given to us by Marc and Lindsay or Tanya and Eric. But I got the rest of my clothes, and everything else I could find that was mine, which took me until eleven o’clock. It was all by the front door, labeled, and ready to be shipped back to Sudbury. Some of the picture frames we had were a mix of both of ours, but I didn’t even care about them. There were just two that I’d taken down to take with me, one that was a picture of me with my dad and Henry and Linda from grad, the other was one of Jared and I. It had always been my favorite picture of us; I’d been on his back, getting piggybacked one day out at the lake, and Lindsay had snapped the picture of us both laughing; the sand under Jared’s feet and the lake in the background.

Of course the tears started flowing as I looked through all of our pictures, but soon shoved the two frames away in a box of clothes and taped it shut, hoping to close up the memories before I fell asleep.