Loyalty

Chapter 6: Sandy.

            "Wow, you really thought of everything, didn't you?" I asked, admiring how prepared he was.

            "Well, isn't it better to be ready, just in case?" he asked. I agreed, even though I thought he was going a bit overboard.

            -----

            At one point during the storm, the power went out. I thought I'd be bored out of my mind. But Brian and I spent a lot of time just talking. We sat on my couch together, eating ice cream, and we talked for HOURS. It was actually refreshing to have that much time to just vent to each other. I enjoyed talking with him. I felt like I could finally enjoy our friendship because I didn't have Katie's jealousy looming over me. It was a liberating feeling.

            When Brian asked me what happened with Katie, I was hesitant to give him all the details. I didn't want him to feel guilty about how we broke up. It wasn't his fault. But it was sort of the elephant in the room. So when he asked me about it, I knew I needed to address it.

            "So, tell me. What happened with you and Katie?" he asked.

            "We were just constantly arguing about the same thing. She didn't trust me," I said.

            "Look, I don't want to sound full of myself. But was this about me?" He asked. I looked down at the ground and didn't answer him right away. So without saying it, I gave him the answer. Brian wasn't stupid. We had broken up right after I got off the phone with him. He probably put part of it together. And maybe he could sense that Katie disliked him.

            "She didn't like me inviting you to stay. We got in this huge fight, like all our other fights about you. She just couldn't handle our friendship," I confessed.

            "All your fights about me? How many did you have?" he asked.

            "Honestly, I lost track. So, way too many. But this was the final straw. She gave me an ultimatum. It was either her or you. I chose you. And I told her to get the fuck out of my house, and never come back," I told him.

            "Jess, I'm so sorry. I didn't know I was causing these major issues in your relationship. I never wanted you to have to choose." he said, with this guilty look in his eyes. This is why I didn't want to tell him.

            "Brian, don't be sorry. You have nothing to apologize for because you did nothing wrong," I reassured him.

            "But still, maybe there's something I could've done to help," he said.

            "It was never you. It was just Katie's own insecurities. She was so paranoid about me leaving her that she felt threatened by you. But you have never crossed the line with me. You and I know that nothing like that has ever happened between the two of us," I told him.

            -----

            After giving some more details about my breakup, Brian started talking about his own dating history. He was telling me about his ex-fiancé and how that relationship fell apart. Brian had mentioned that he used to be engaged, but he never really went into too much detail. He never explained why that relationship didn't work out. I could tell that the topic was a sore subject for Brian, which is completely understandable. I never wanted to pry, but I just wanted him to feel comfortable confiding in me if he needed someone to talk to.

            "So, she went on this vacation with her friends. There was this dude on a scooter, who was apparently a cop. Anyway, they hit it off. She swore nothing ever happened between them while we were together. But after she met him, things changed. One night I confessed to her that I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. From the stress of the upcoming wedding and the thought of her cheating on me, it was all becoming too much. Instead of comforting me, she went off on me, accusing me of trying to sabotage the wedding. That night, she went out with her friends. Then she called me at like 2 in the morning, asking me to get her bagels. She was trying to act like nothing happened. For some reason the bagel thing made me snap. That night, I left," Brian explained, giving me more details then he ever has.