By the time I awoke next morning, Brandon and Ben were getting ready to leave; at first I was confused why they were in such a rush to go so early in the morning, but then I remembered that they worked today too, and they started their shifts at eight, while I had an extra hour before I had to be at work. Since I was awake, though, I sat up, knowing that it wasn't worth trying to catch any more winks of sleep before getting ready for work.
"Look who's finally up," Ben grinned.
"It's only seven, and we went to bed after two," I yawned. "Why you guys heading out so early? Work starts at eight!"
"Yeah, but we have to grab breakfast first," Brandon said.
"Well, we could always eat here, I'm sure we can get something ready quickly," I replied, getting up and folding my blanket.
Brandon waved his hand. "Thanks, but that's alright. No one else is up at the moment and we wouldn't want to wake anyone." It seemed a logical argument, but I still felt bad for allowing them to leave without breakfast. However, I went along with them.
"Okay, then. I'll see you guys at work in a bit," I told them, following them to the front door
"Later," Ben said, closing the door behind him and Brandon. I watched their cars pull out of my driveway and head back down the road the way they had come last night, then went back to clean up the sitting room. The boxes of pizza were still sitting on the carpet, and a couple of empty beer containers were here and there. Tossing everything in the recycle bin, I started getting a quick breakfast ready for myself.
A little over an hour later, I was walking into the Y; there were still forty minutes until my shift was due to start, but with no one else awake yet at home, I was only going to get bored. Walking into the office, I immediately noticed Brandon and Quinn talking while seated near the therapy pool, at the far end of the pool deck. Curious, I headed in their direction, my curiosity only increasing as Quinn spotted me and gave a very overenthusiastic wave.
"Hey, guys," I said slowly once I had reached them, scanning their faces intently. Brandon looked like he was trying to remain cool, but Quinn appeared to be holding something back; he had a huge grin on his face he was fidgeting a fair bit. "What's going on?"
"Why are we going to the bar tonight to practice talking to women when you've already got a girlfriend?" he burst out. I could only gaze in confusion. But as I opened my mouth to question his strange query, a thought struck me, and I wheeled upon Brandon.
"What is this?" I hissed, and he genuinely looked abashed. "Is this more about last night? I thought we had dropped that subject!"
"To be fair, I didn't say she was your girlfriend," Brandon defended himself in a rather frail voice which I had never heard from him before. But I was in no mood to hear excuses.
"Cut the crap," I snapped. "Didn't I tell you we weren't dating? What have you told Quinn?" Quinn merely looked in confusion at me, and Brandon, after a few moments of red-faced silence, spoke at last.
"All I told him was that we found a picture of you and her in your room yesterday, and that everyone thought on first glance that she must be your girlfriend," Brandon muttered. I could see he was telling the truth, and in light of what he had just said, I could also understand how Quinn might have inadvertently arrived at the same conclusion as everyone had last night. A couple of terrifying thoughts struck me, however, as I realized all this.
"Wait," I said abruptly. "How many people have you told about this? And do you have any picture of the photo?"
Brandon appeared confused. "A picture of the picture? Like, you mean, did I take a pic with my phone?" I nodded impatiently and he went on. "No, why would I do that?"
