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I sauntered over to him, stabbing him in the chest with my finger. “You told me to build a fire. I did what you said. I built a relationship with her. I added the twigs and the leaves and the alcohol!” I shouted. “And then she went on a date with another man.”
He frowned at me. “What kind of leaves did you add?”
I stared at him like he was an idiot, my face contorting in confusion over what he was asking. “What does it matter what kind of leaves? It was fall and I shoved them all in the fire. It was fucking roaring with the heat building between us!”
“Well, maybe she didn’t care for your leaves,” he muttered. “Or maybe it got too smokey.”
“Too smokey? You never told me to watch out for smoke. You said build a fire. You said add kindling. I added everything you said!”
“Alright, would you just calm down?” he asked, holding out his hands like I was a fucking kid. “Maybe you didn’t do it right. Maybe she thought you were gay.”
“Gay? That’s what you’re going with?”
“Hey, it’s not my fault you couldn’t seal the deal.”
“He’s right,” Brock chimed in from behind me. “You had her in bed every night and didn’t make a move.”
“Whoa,” Scottie laughed. “You mean in all this time you never slept with her?”
I whipped around, ready to kill the fucker. “You said to take it slow.”
“There’s a difference between slow and glacial. How long were you planning on waiting?”
“An eternity,” Brock mused, “now that she stormed out.”
“Because of you and your big mouth. I was just about to make my move,” I snapped.
“Oh, come on!” he laughed. “You weren’t doing anything. I was trying to be your friend. There was no way you were ever going to ask her out, especially not after she gave you the signal.”
“I could have,” I shot back.
“Like hell,” Brock glared at me. “You knew she would eventually move on. That’s what started this whole thing. And if you really were okay with the way things were, I wouldn’t have said a fucking word, but it was killing you every fucking day.”
I knew he was right, but that didn’t make what happened any easier. She walked out that door, and I wasn’t sure she would ever forgive me. “Look, I need to talk to her. Just do me a favor and don’t try to give me advice in the future.” Then I turned to Scottie. “And that goes for you too.”
I headed for the door, already putting a plan together on how to explain this whole thing to Laura. I was pretty damn sure nothing I said would ever fix what had just happened.
“It’s not what it sounded like,”I said to myself, wondering if that was a good opening line.
“Yeah, that’s shit.”
“I’ve been in love with you for weeks, but I couldn’t tell you. That’s why I was going to kick you out.”
I nodded to myself. “Yeah, that’s a great way to make her want to knee me in the balls. Just tell her the truth.”
“Laura, it wasn’t working out anymore for you to stay with me. It was time to move on.”
I sighed, hating that one just as much as the others. It was sort of the truth, but I left out all of the important details. By the time I pulled into Andrew’s driveway, I was no closer to figuring out what I wanted to say than when I left the house. All I knew was that I couldn’t lose her.
I got out and slammed the door. The house was dark, but she was here. Her car was in the drive. I marched up to her door—Andrew’s door—and pounded on it for several seconds. I paced the porch, waiting for her to answer, but it never came. Turning back, I slammed my fist against the wood again.
“Laura! I know you’re in there!”
Still, nothing happened. I repeated the process for another five minutes until finally, someone next door opened their front door and shouted at me.
“She’s not home!” The man was maybe in his fifties, balding with a pot belly. The cigar in his hand was matched only by the beer in his other hand.
“Her car is right there!” I shouted.