Loyalty

Chapter 13: Ride.

"Look, I just wanted to apologize for how I spoke to you last week. I was out of line, and I shouldn't have brought up your mother. I'm sorry," she said, trying to sound sincere. I didn't really believe her, but I wanted to be civil for Brian's sake.

"Let's just forget it, okay? Clean slate?" I offered her. She nodded in agreement.

Brian put one arm around each of us, pulling us in for a hug. "Look at my two girls getting along."

I wouldn't go that far. I did my best to hide my discomfort, but Brian wasn't exactly making it any easier.

We all sat down around the table and started by making small talk. As a whole, the dinner was... awkward. None of us knew how to act around each other. I felt like I couldn't have that same comradery with Brian while Lexi was around. But it seemed like there was never silence because Lexi wouldn't stop talking about herself. She had this high pitched, valley girl voice. I'm not sure if I ever got a word in. Not that I was dying to talk to her anyway.

Eventually, I started cleaning up, taking everyone's plates. Brian offered to help. He followed me into the kitchen, where the two of us could be alone for a few minutes.

"Hey, can I talk to you?" Brian asked, pulling me aside.

"Sure, Brian. What's on your mind?" I asked him.

Brian didn't seem like himself the whole night. I sensed some tension between him and Lexi, but I didn't know if it was just because it was awkward for all of us to be around each other. But I appreciated that Brian was coming to me to talk, it kind of felt like old times.

"Lexi wants to move in with me," he revealed.

"Wow," I said, genuinely surprised.

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to tell him, no. Don't do it. This girl isn't right for you. But how could I tell him how I really felt? I feared he would just push me away again.

"What do you think?" he said, asking for my advice.

"Well, it doesn't really matter what I think. She's your girlfriend. What do you think? Do you think you two are ready for that?" I asked him, while truly knowing the answer.

"I don't think it's the right time. We've only been dating for a few months. She says that it would help us spend more time together since I'm so busy with touring. But I just don't feel like we're ready for that yet," he explained.

"Well if you don't think it's the right, then don't do it," I told him. No matter how I felt about Lexi, Brian had to do what he felt was right.

"But how do I tell her that without crushing her?" he asked.

"Does she know about..." I started to ask before Brian finished the thought. Even if we weren't as close as we once were, we still had that connection, where we sometimes knew what the other person was thinking.

"Mallory? No. I haven't told her much about my history."

"So just tell her that you've been hurt in the past, and you want to take things slow. If you're not ready, you have to tell her that."

"I know, you're right. Thanks, Jess," he said, smiling at me.

After our little talk, Brian and Lexi thanked me for dinner, and finally left. Sal stayed behind for a little bit. He claimed it was so that he could "help out" but I think we both wanted to gossip about Lexi.

"So she's.... ummm....," I started to tell Sal, struggling for the words to say.

"Isn't she the worst?" Sal said, taking the words right out of my mouth.