You Distract Me

My Girlfriend's Drunk

Shayne

"You don't know what you're walking yourself into!"

"I need you to get out of my way."

"I'm not losing anyone else today." Laura didn't bother to hide her tears as she stood between me and the entrance to the diner.

"That makes the two of us. Which is why I need you guys to stay here."

"You're being irrational. You don't even have a plan."

"I'll locate Sasha and figure it out from there." My doubt was audible.

"It's a bullshit plan and you know it. I know Olivia's important to you, but you're important to me too. I won't just let you do this. I mean, what happens when you meet Sasha? You guys go way back, you can't just ask her nicely. Clearly she has ill feelings towards you, enough to hurt the family and Olivia."

She was right, I wasn't sure how to react knowing Sasha might have been behind this. She was like a sister to me, there must have been a mistake.

"Look, I don't know what I'm doing, I'll admit it. But all I know is that I've lost people and I've almost lost Olivia a frightful number of times. I'm not letting this time be the final. The good Lord knows I've had enough of the people I care about taken away from me. I'm not about to add anyone else to that list!"

It took Laura's arms circling around me to make me aware of my vision going blurry. My body went loose and all I could do was bury my face into her shoulder, my tears unstoppable.

She gently rubbed my back. "Hey, I get it, I really do. But taking the blame, putting so much weight on your shoulders will only send you flying off the edge. And in the end, you'll be gone, our friends won't be avenged and Olivia will have no one to love her the way you do."

I pulled away. "I'm not in-"

"Yeah you are," she said, patting my cheek with a knowing grin. "We're not going to judge you for being in love."

"Although, we might judge you for the waterworks," Drew said, standing behind me.

I turned to him, ready to go down on my knees and apologize.

"It's already forgotten. Seriously, I think that swing was really what I needed. Got tired of you getting all the hot ones, might as well have covered up the hostility with something else."

I chuckled, wondering how our relationship had even gotten to this point. "Nevertheless, I'm sorry. Truly, I am, for everything."

"I know," he smiled before pulling me in for a hug. I'd almost forgotten how warm his bear hugs were.

Withdrawing from the hug, I turned to everyone else, their eyes trained on me. "I haven't been the best leader lately. And truthfully, I have no valuable excuses for that. But if you'll trust me, from now on, I pledge myself to each and every one of your well-beings. No two ways about it."

Penelope, one of my I.T technicians-well, my only one now-spoke up. "With all due respect, we always thought you didn't feel much, which made it easier to blame you. We just thought your girlfriend was some sort of trophy. We never realized your feelings towards her were legit. Plus, the waterworks make you seem a lot more human."

Everyone else agreed with smirks while I frowned, pleasantly light hearted. "So much for being the scary boss, huh?"

"Are you kidding me? You're definitely still the scary boss. I don't know about everyone else but I'm scared shitless that you'll crucify us for what we just witnessed." For emphasis, Penelope took a step backwards.