The Unexpected

Chapter 36: Exposed

I woke up counting down the hours until I'd see Lando. Practice this morning was going per usual, I worked on some harder dives, so I can make sure I'm able to get a good score at the Monaco meet. But before I leave, I'm finally talking to Eric about us, it's not fair for me to lead him on any longer.

So I stopped him right before he left the pool, "Eric, can we talk?" "Ya, can we do this later though, I'm in a rush to get home?" "Oh, um sure" "If you want we can talk at my place?" Now talking at his place probably isn't the best idea, but I'd rather tell him the news in private, I wouldn't wanna risk the public catching our conversation. "When should I come over" "How about now, I got two hours to spare" "Ok, sounds good"

We left the parking lot, and drove to his place. His house simple but cute, even though it lacked creativity and color. Parking my car in his driveway, I realized this is my first time here. He walked in front of me unlocking the door. When we walked in, his Brother's dog, Lola, came running and was jumping up all over me. "What's Lola doing here?" "Grant is off on some family trip, so I'm watching her. That's why I was rushing to get home, I needed to let her outback" He slid open his backyard door, letting her run free.

Hey left his keys on the kitchen countertop and gestured for me to have a seat "Make yourself at home, do you want anything I'm about to make some coffee if you want." "No thanks, I'm trying to give up on my caffeine addiction" I sat down on a bar stool facing him in the kitchen, as he was pouring some water into the coffee pot.

"So what did you want to talk about?" "I'm not exactly sure how to say this, but it's unfair to you if I keep this up, so I'm just gonna say it and hope you don't get mad." "Alright so spit it out then, what is it" "I'm in love with Lando" "I know" "What do you mean you know?" "I mean, I'm not surprised" "Why?" "Because I saw the way you'd look at him, it's how you once looked at me. Bri I'm happy you gave us a chance again, but it just wasn't enough. I get it, your heart wasn't committed to me whether you noticed it or not. I mean the heart wants what it wants, and sadly our vibe wasn't it" "So you're not mad?" "No, I'm at peace with it. I mean don't get me wrong I would love to be with you but I'm not mad at you for loving someone else" "I'm sorry Eric really, I wouldn't have bothered starting something if I even knew at the time how much I actually liked Lando"

"Honestly I'm happy you did, we might not be dating, but we can still be friends. Let me rephrase that, I want to be friends again, like we once were. I missed our hangouts, our holiday trips, we're basically family Bri, I hope we can keep it this way." "Me too, we'll always be friends from now on I promise, plus I don't think our families would give us an other option anyways now that are mom's are number one besties again"

I left his house with a sigh of relief, I felt light hearted, grateful for the way things ended. I was rushing back to my house though because I was running late since I left Eric's house later than expected.

I was in the process of  putting away a few of my necessities in my carryon bag when I heard the doorbell ring, it was. I ran over to answer still in a rush to open the door and saw Heidi. "Hey heard you needed a ride to the airport" "Heidi I'm happy to see you, how'd you know?" "Your brother texted me, asking to take you" "They already landed?" "Ya a few hours ago" "that sly little fox didn't tell me" "Are you ready to go?" "Ya let me just grab my bag" I threw my stuff in her car's trunk and we were off.

"Mind if I connect my phone to your car?" "Not at all, I trust your music taste is as good as Lando's djing" "If anything I'd say my music taste is better" We listened to my 2000's playlist, and ended up getting stuck in traffic, so we started to talk, bored from the lack of movement happening on the highway

"Heidi I gotta ask, no lies this time" "You know I'd never lie" "What's really going on with you and Daniel?" Her face changed, she looked at me nervously "I really don't think I should be the one to say, ...but we're dating" That's amazing, why didn't you guys say so sooner?" "I don't know me and Daniel kept it a secret, we wanted to make sure it was serious until we told people about it" "So how long has this been actually going on?" "Since Singapore" "That ho, that was months ago! He's getting bombarded with questions when I get there, I can't believe he kept this from me!" "We just didn't want people to judge, or get stirred into drama, you get it?" "I'm just shocked this has been going on for so long. And if it was going on since then he had no right to judge me for dating Lando!"

Up until I went to check in at the airport, I was asking her questions about their relationship, I'm happy for them honestly, she's amazing for my brother. As soon as I got on the plane though, my mind was elsewhere. The shocking information I had received slipped  my mind, I was all set on Lando now. He'll be waiting for me at the airport, I'll be in his arms in a matter of hours, a very long 23 to be exact.