That Little Twist

Chapter Two: Sun v Air

Chapter Two: Sun v Air.

I fall asleep against Brett, with his face in my hair and his words in my ears.

He must have walked out for a few minutes after I fell asleep though, because I wake up to see him walking back into my room, his cell phone in his hands. He smiles gently at me when he sees that I am awake and he strides over to where I rest, bending down to kiss me on the lips before he crawls into bed with me. He entraps me in his arms again and rests his chin on my head.

We are both silent for a few minutes before:

"I just got off the phone with Anna Lynn." I stiffen and Brett must feel it because he tightens his hold on me. "She feels awful about what happened. She wants to make it up to us-"

"To us?" I cut in, effectively pulling myself away from my boyfriend. I sit up and he follows suit. "I don't remember her doing anything to wrong you because, in case you forgot, you had as much a hand in what happened as she did!" I snap, my voice wavering and my eyes watering as I wipe at them. "So please explain to me why she has to make things up to us instead of just me."

Brett looks at me, his mouth opening and closing, helping him resemble a fish.

Finally, he seems to get a hold of himself and shakes his head.

"Giselle, that's not the point. The point is that she's sorry. I'm sorry. God, we're both sorry and she thinks the three of us should go out to dinner to talk about what happened-"

I barely refrain from throwing my guts up.

"I'm not going to that dinner," I tell Brett, my voice firm and scratchy. He frowns.

"Elle-"

"No, Brett. Because I've been to dinner with you two before and it's always you two having a discussion that I either don't understand or don't care to understand and I shouldn't have to deal with that. Not anymore. And God knows I don't want to discuss anything that happened between you two."

"Giselle, what are you-"

"Brett. I'm sorry, but you need to make a choice. Me or her," I finally spit out.

Brett's green eyes widen and he pales a bit as he stares at me in shock.

I force myself to keep eye contact with him instead of looking away from the growing disappointment in his eyes.

"Giselle…I thought you were different," he manages to say, his voice thick with hidden emotion.

I swallow.

"Different from who? What?"

"From my ex-girlfriends. Who always gave me an ultimatum. I thought you were different from them."

My eyes flash, angrily.                         

"I am different. I completely ignored the fact that she's in love with you and-"

"For Gods sake, Giselle! Anna is not in love with me!" He roars, catching me by surprise. I grit my teeth and feel my anger rise another degree.

"Oh, please! Have you seen the way that girl looks at you? Heard the way she talks about you? She treats you like you're the moon and the stars!" Brett stares at me, slack jawed.

"I…I…" he stutters for a moment. "You know I'm her best friend," Brett tries. I shake my head.

"But she obviously wishes you were more than that. I know it, your last girlfriend knew it, the girlfriend before her knew it, and every other girlfriend you've had knew it. But you see, the difference between me and them is that I realized the reality of the situation: I understood that if I gave you an ultimatum, I would lose."