Unravelled

I was still shaking by the time I got back to my hotel room. I threw down my purse, sat down on the edge of the bed and put my head in my hands. I refused to let the tears fall. I was done with crying over Stefan. I kept going over and over what I had said and finally broke down and picked up the phone.

“Hello?” I heard Alana answer. The second I heard her voice I felt myself breakdown.

“He came to the office,” I muttered through sobs.

“Oh. Wow. What a fucking idiot!” she exclaimed. “What makes him think he has the right? What did
he say?”

“He was livid! Started yelling at me because of the pictures of me with Jonny from last night. I didn’t think this one through Alana. He knows I’m living in Chicago now. How do I know he isn’t going to just show up? He has money. He can figure out where I’m living. I’m so stupid. I wanted a clean slate. That’s all.”

“Honey, he’ll get over being mad. You guys had an agreement. He probably just didn’t expect you to be able to move on so fast. He won’t be stupid enough to come down here. He has a stable life there that’s pretty hard to take a break from, you know?”

“I know that. I mean, I guess. He’s always been so spontaneous though. Always just pops back into my fucking life at the most inconvenient time! It’s like he KNOWS when I’m happy again!”

“Yeah, he does have a talent for that,” she muttered. “Have you told Jonny anything about it?”

“Not a fucking chance. At the end of this month we’re officially divorced. The marriage was a huge mistake anyway. Jonny and I only just started seeing each other. He definitely doesn’t need to know about this.”

“You know there’s things you should tell him if this keeps going, Brynn. You can’t hide from it all forever. There’s stuff he needs to know.”

I started crying even harder. “The stuff he needs to know is the stuff I don’t want him to know,” I finally got out. “I’m not proud of any of that, Alana. I know running away doesn’t make it all disappear but none of that is me anymore. He doesn’t have to know. He’s gonna run and he’s going to be running away from someone that I used to be, not me!”

“I know, hun. You’ve been doing a lot better and you know I’m proud of you for that but you know how unpredictable Stefan is! It’s better to be safe than sorry, you know? And I think if you explain everything out to Jonny he’ll understand. I really believe that.”

“I’ll think about it,” I muttered. “I need to get to sleep. My flight is early tomorrow.”

“Alright. Call if you need me. I’ll see you tomorrow. And seriously, Brynn. Just think about it.”

I hung up the phone and threw it to the ground. After getting ready and climbing into bed I heard it go off. I picked it up to find a text from Jonny. “Hey! : ) How’s your day goin?”

“Better now that I’m talkin to you. : ) Will I see you tomorrow?”

“What time do you get back?”

“I get in around 10.”

“I’ll pick you up at the airport? Practice ends at 9. Gotta game tomorrow. Comin?”

“Sounds great! And sure I’ll come! Alana too?”

“Of course. See you tomorrow! Night!”

“Can’t wait! : )”

I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about Jonny. I decided that once I got back the next day, I was going to fill him in on the mess that was my life. At the end of it all, he had a right to know and if he was going to run, it was better that it happened before either of us got too invested.

I woke up late the next day and rushed to the airport. For the whole flight I was trying to think up a way to explain to Jonny everything that I wanted to say. I knew he’d have the respect to listen to everything, even if he got pissed off. He wouldn’t just shut down without me explaining myself. I knew deep down that he would try to be understanding so I couldn’t figure out why I was fighting with my decision to tell him. The only thing holding me back was myself.

The minute I saw him in the airport I knew I wasn’t going to tell him anything. His whole face lit up as I walked towards him and I didn’t even try to fight the smile that overtook my face. I decided that having someone who was so happy to see me after only 24 hours of being apart was more important than any stupid mistakes I had made in my life. When he leaned down to kiss me I got butterflies in my stomach. It was the first time that I had gotten the nervous, beginning of a crush feelings since Stefan and I wasn’t going to fuck this one up.

“Well, hello,” I said, smiling up at him.

“Nice to see you too,” he smiled back. “Let’s go,” he said, grabbing my hand.

We walked into his apartment and I once again immediately made my way to the huge window.

“You’re never going to get sick of that view, are you?” Jonny said, coming up behind me.

“Nope,” I replied, turning around and wrapping my arms around his neck. “But this view isn’t too bad either.”

He rolled his eyes as he smirked down at me. “God. We’re gonna be one of those couples.”

“The gross, cheesy kind?”

“Yup. The kind I always said I’d never be,” he replied, narrowing his eyes. “But, hey. What the hell. You’re pretty cute yourself.”

I leaned up and gave him a quick kiss then broke away and went to lie down on the couch. “Do you realize we’ve only known each other for like, less than a week.”

“I know. It’s crazy, eh?” he said, lifting up my feet, sitting down and placing them back on his lap.

“Feels like I’ve known you forever.”

“It doesn’t scare you? We’re moving really fast.”

“Not really. If you wanna slow it down though that’s fine! It’s just, where I’m gone so much I want to spend as much time as I can getting to know you. This is the first time we’ve had a consecutive week home this whole season. And, it’s the last time for a while. My job makes the whole dating thing really difficult.”

“I understand that. We don’t need to slow down. It’s just, my whole life I’ve gone all in all at once and it’s never worked out for me very well. I really think I could like you. I’m scared that you’re going to get scared if I come on too strong, you know?”

“Brynn, I initiated all of this,” he said, laughing a little. “If anyone’s coming on too strong it’s me. I’m having fun though. I say we enjoy it while we can, get to know each other and see where it goes.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” I said, starting to smirk. “So, can we start by you getting over here and making up for the fact that I didn’t get to see you last night…?”

“No sex on game days,” he said quickly, shutting his eyes. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the look of pain on his face.

“Okay, well. Can we not make out like teenagers for a bit and then cuddle and nap?”

“Fine,” he said, rolling his eyes and fighting a smile. He grabbed my hand and dragged me towards his room. Four hours later I heard Jonny’s alarm going off. “Ughhhhh. I hate waking up,” I muttered.
“You can stay in bed! I’m gonna go shower. I don’t have to leave for the UC for another hour anyway. Take your time.”

I rolled over and stayed in the in-between stage of sleep. As soon as I heard the shower shut off I knew I was going to have to make my way back to my place to get ready for the game. By the time Jonny came out of the bathroom I was dressed and throwing my remaining clothes back into my bag.

“Heading out?” he asked.

“Yeah I should go get Alana on the move if we’re going to make it on time,” I said with a tight smile.

“Thanks for picking me up today.”

“I leave for three days after the game tonight,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, I know,” I sighed. “But focus on tonight. Play like a superstar.”

“I got you both passes to come down to the locker room after the game with the rest of the girlfriends and family. I should at least get to say good-bye,” he said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes and fought a smile. “Well, I guess I could do that…” I said as I leaned up to kiss him. “I’ll see you later then. Good luck tonight!”

“See you later,” he replied, grinning bigger than ever.

As I made my way down the elevator I texted Alana. “On the way home. We’re going to the game tonight! Start getting ready.”

As soon as I stepped out of the cab in front of my building I felt off. I instantly knew there was someone looking at me and I glanced around nervously.

It was mere seconds before I was hearing the so familiar, “MAMA!” and feeling little arms wrap around my legs. I looked down in sheer panic only to glance up and see Stefan standing in front of me.

“So,” he said with a smirk. “What have you told him about us?”