Too Close

Chapter Thirty Four

Gianna stood in the bathroom of her hotel room, wiping off her makeup to get ready for bed. Their flight to the next city was early the next morning and she knew for sure she didn't want to be the reason why there was a delay or worse, get left behind.

She propped her phone up on her moisturizer jar, waiting for her best friend to pick up her call. They both lived super busy lives now, but Gianna hoped she was free at the moment because she was the only person she wanted to talk to that would understand the severity of her situation.

Brooke did answer, her camera showing her floral print headscarf as she lay against her pillow.

"Hey B! Are you sleeping?" Gianna asked as she grabbed her skincare pouch.

"No girl," Brooke leaned over to turn on her bedside lamp. "What's up? How was your first day of touring?"

Gianna sighed dramatically as she pushed her hair back with her soft headband. "We can't start there yet. You'll never guess who I saw last night at a party."

"Keke Palmer?" Brooke answered with her favorite entertainer and Gianna side eyed her. "What? It's a party in LA. You can meet anyone."

"Okay, true, but no. I already know this guy. Well, I used to." She used a brush to smear the jelly face mask on her skin.

"Who was it?" She grabbed her big and full wine glass and put it to her lips.

"It was Miles."

"Miles?!" Brooke now sat up in her bed and paused her tv. "What happened? Did you talk to him?"

"I wasn't planning on talking to him, at least not right then, but we bumped into each other. I spoke to him first. I was afraid that it would be awkward and it wasn't bad, but it's still like 'oh my God, I can't believe I'm seeing you after all of this time, after our intense breakup and you being my boyfriend but also my teacher at the same time,' you know?"

"No, I don't know." She laughed. "What did Miles say?"

Brooke listened attentively as Gianna gave her a brief recap of their conversation before her puppy pranced in and caught her attention. "He was so happy to see me and a part of me was happy to see him too, but my other half was skeptical."

"As she should be." Brooke nodded while taking a sip of white wine.

"Since we're sort of coworkers now, I told him that we should leave everything in the past and be friends."

"Strictly?" She asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"Yes?"

"Girl...do you really mean that?"

"That's the same thing that Miles asked me." Gianna slimmed her eyes, looking off to the side as she thought about it. She didn't understand why that was so hard to grasp.

"I bet he did, Gigi. That man sent you a whole ass care package to come and see him two years after you broke up. Obviously, he still loves you and doesn't want to be your friend. I would be surprised if he even agreed to that."

"Right, and I didn't go! That's why I felt like I had to set a boundary upfront so it wouldn't be uncomfortable because I wasn't sure how he felt about me. I'm not even sure how I feel about him." She grabbed her phone and made her way over to the mini bar, taking a note from Brooke.

Brooke was solid about her theory, just off the fact that Miles sent Gianna those tickets. Gianna was glad that she didn't know the contents of the letter he wrote, already knowing that she would use that as her biggest piece of evidence.

"Girl, please, your lying skills have really deteriorated over the years." Brooke sipped on her drink some more. "What happened today that I needed to have the backstory for?"