One Step Forward, No Steps Back

Chapter 13

I stare at the screen for about ten minutes before I finally send a reply.
"It's late. Can we talk about this in the morning?" I send.
"Sure."
As promised, I meet up with Andrew in the morning at a coffee shop. Gotta love that Seattle has a million of them so it didn't have to be Starbucks. We order a cup of coffee for each of us and sit down at an empty table.
"Andrew," I began.
"Oh shit."
"What?"
"I know that tone. I've heard it many times."
"Can I finish?"
"I already know what's coming but yeah."
"Okay. First, I find it hard to believe that you truly love me."
"I do. I would've told you if you hadn't broken up with me."
"Andrew, we were never official. It doesn't make sense for you to love me."
"What do you mean? We were together for like three months."
"No. We dated for three months. You never asked me to be your girlfriend."
"I never felt like I had to. I already thought of you as my girlfriend."
"Well, that's news to me."
"Now you know."
"Anyway... let's say you do love me. I'm sorry but I don't feel the same way about you."
"There's someone else, isn't there?"
"Yes. I'm dating Cody now."
"Of course you are. It's always the same. I fall for a girl and she falls for the guy that she cheated with."
"I didn't cheat."
"Yeah, right. You just so happened to break up with me and get with him immediately after. That's convenient."
"That is what happened but fine. Don't believe me."
He sighs.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't be enough for you."
"It wasn't that. We just weren't meant to be together."
"Okay. I'll let you go if that's what you want."
"I do. I hope it won't be weird when we get back to work."
"Don't worry. It won't be. I can be a professional."
"Okay. Well, I'm going to go. I wish you well."
He waves as if to say yeah yeah. I grab my coffee and walk out of the coffee shop. On the way home, I pull out my phone to text Cody.
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Emma."
"I need to talk to you. Are you home?"
"Not for long. I'm about to head out with Steve."
"Oh. Okay."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"I'd rather not say it over text. That's why I asked if we could talk. It can wait."
"Okay. I don't think we'll be long. You can wait at the house if you want."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. If it's important, I want to talk about it as soon as possible."
"Okay. I'll be at the house."
"Alright. See you later."
"See you."
Half an hour later, I hear footsteps getting closer to the bedroom. I can only assume that Cody and Steve were back home. My suspicion is confirmed when the door opens and Cody walks in. I look at him with my best attempt at a smile.
"Hey," I say.
"Hey."
"Come sit by me."
"Okay. It's weird to hear that in my own room," he jokes.
I don't have the heart to smile at that so I don't even try. I sigh.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"I will be after I say what I need to say."
"What?"
"Last night, Andrew texted me saying that he didn't want to break up because he loved me. I met with him this morning to talk about it."
"Oh. I think I can figure out the rest."
I reach forward and put my hand on top of his.
"I told him that I didn't feel the same way and left. That relationship is over."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that's a relief. I thought you were going to break up with me so you could stay with him."
"No, of course not. I literally did the opposite so I could be with you."
"I know but I didn't know. You know?"
"Yeah, totally. Anyway, the point is that I'm not interested in him anymore. I meant what I said about wanting to date you."
He smiles.
"So did I."
I smile back and give him a quick kiss. It already feels natural. I pull the covers back and lie down.
"Sure. Just make yourself at home. It's not like I just made the bed or anything."
"I'll help you make it afterwards. I just want to chill here with you for a bit."
"Alright. Scoot over."
"Damn. I was just starting to get comfortable."
"Do you want me to join you or not?"
"Yes," I say.
I scoot over to the right and he gets in beside me. I rest my head on his chest.
"Am I your pillow now?"
"Yes. You are. Now shh."
He chuckles lightly. I lie there in silence, listening to his heartbeat. I get so comfortable in this position that I feel myself dozing off. I end up having a nightmare and wake up immediately. I must've moved in my sleep because I had been sleeping on my back.
"Cody?"
"I'm here."
"Good."
"Bad dream?"
"Yeah."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Yeah. It was about my mom. I saw the crash happen all over again."
"Oh," he says comfortingly and wraps his arms around me.
"Yeah. I don't know why. I haven't thought about that day in a long time. Did I ever tell you how it happened?"
"Not too much. You just said that someone ran a red and t-boned her car. It's okay if you don't want to share the details."
"No. I do. I trust you probably more than anyone right now."
"Thank you."
"Of course. So, let me kind of set the scene. It was the week before I moved here and we were going out for dinner. It was a simple dinner to be honest. The best part had to be the cheesecake. Everything was fine until we were heading home. My aunt had joined us and I had decided to ride with her. We were following my mom's car. Not in a creepy way, but you know."
"Yeah."
"Anyway, my mom had gotten the green light, so she went obviously. That's when the other car came from the side. It didn't help that he was speeding. I was a mess but my aunt was fine. Well, not fine, but she managed to keep calm as she talked to everyone."
"I'm so sorry."
"It's okay. I've accepted that it wasn't my mom's fault or any of ours."
"And what happened to your aunt?"
"Nothing. She stayed in Phoenix. For all I know, she's still there. I mean, I stayed with her for a bit before I moved, but it wasn't going to work out."
"Why not?"
"One, I reminded her too much of her late sister and two, she isn't very fond of kids."
"Did you she tell you that?"
"Oh yeah. All the time. We both realized that we needed to make a change. So, she reached out to my dad. The rest is history."
"In a way, I'm glad that you moved here."
"Yeah. Me too."