Best of Me

Chapter 14

Isabella POV
  We are saying goodnight and heading back to our buses and Justin hugs me and asks if I'm okay. I tell him I'm fine that it's time to let things go and get past. I told him I text Chases old number that I had but haven't heard anything yet. I'm not sure if he still has it but it was worth a try and if he's touring he may not have had time to check yet. If not then I will deal with it when I see him. Brady would not be happy with me over all this and honestly I'm tired of it myself. I'm 29 years old and 5 years is to long to have cut people that care about me and that I care about out of my life. Justin hugs me and said " I knew you would come around about it but you had to heal Bells and that isn't on any set timetable. I'm glad you are reaching out. Now I think someone is waiting on you" and he nods his head to the bus and BG is standing there leaned against the bus with his arms crossed and hat turned backwards. I bite my lip and turn back to Justin and tell him I will talk to him later. He tells me that BG is a good guy. I shake my head and grin as I am walking away.
As I walk up BG pushes off the bus and holds out his hand for mine. I take it and he leads me on the bus and as we start up he pulls me down into his lap in the recliner and asks do you want to talk or do you want movies and junk food? I look at him and said," I think I am ready to talk but first I want to show you something". I grab my laptop and I pull up the movie I made of all of us growing up through the years, me Brady, Chase, Junior and Kelley. He watches in silence and when it finished he said," I know all of those people except the one guy who I am assuming is your brother that was killed."
"Yeah that's Brady he was 2 years older than me and my whole world. I thought he could do nothing wrong and was invincible. Of course him being a Navy SEAL played into that fact. He was killed on a mission 7 years ago and I cut off the one person that was my other best friend because it hurt to see him. I blamed Chase for Brady's death that if he hadn't told Brady that it was okay to join up after school that he would still be here. Brady would only join if Chase promised to look out for me, so he did. Then I told Chase goodbye that he needed to live his dream of music. I cut all contact when he left but he has kept in touch with my mom and dad and Junior and Kelley. They keep me up to date in the fact that they tell me he calls them or comes by but I haven't seen him face to face in 5 years. I did break down and see him in concert with Kenny in 2015. He's good BG. I guess tonight when I heard you start singing One Hell of an Amen, it brought it all back. I cried for my brother I cried for my friend who might as well been my brother that I pushed away because it hurt to see him. I cried for the person I was before it all happened and then I watched the movies and pictures again and I laughed and smiled for the first time watching them. We were all crazy and young and thought nothing would ever come between us or nothing bad would ever touch us. We faced my mom's cancer, Dales death, Chases dad death and Brady's death and I realized tonight that it was time to let go. That I have 3 people who love me and have been through the worst things possible together so why should I keep them away when we should be celebrating the best things right now. I text Chases old number earlier and I know it's a long shot but we will see. If I don't hear back then maybe we will meet up sometime this year and I can apologize face to face."
Brantley pulls me close and said," Darlin that is a lot to deal with by yourself and you are right you all need to be celebrating your happy times as well as be there for the sad ones. Friends like that are hard to find in this world. I'm sorry my song hurt you but it's not meant to hurt but to pay honor to those like Brady who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that I can play music. "
I look at him and smile," I know that BG and I love that song and up until tonight it has never made me cry just proud. Tonight was a long time coming kinda like Justin told me grieving takes time and there is no set limit mine just took longer than others. I don't feel the anger or sadness when I watch that I feel blessed that I had such great times to remember. Now if I can get Chase to forgive me then it will all be okay again."
BG looks at me and says," I gotta ask was this with you and Chase anything more than friends , is that why it was so hard for you?"
I laugh," oh no! He is like my brother we could never be romantic at all. I never saw him that way still don't. He's just always been my best friend until 5 years ago and I told him to follow his dreams. He so isn't my type"
BG smirks and says," okay I will bite on that one what is your type?"
I bite my lip and he said"Darlin don't do that cause it makes me want to do things I don't need to" I turn my head questioning at him.
He said," when you bite your lip it's sexy and it makes me want to taste it too. And you are emotional right now and it wouldn't be a good idea for me to do that."
I turn around in his lap so I am straddling him and I lean in close and whisper in his ear," I think my type is turning out to be a tatted up bearded grown man that makes me lose my train of thought."
Brantley growls and his eyes darken and he leans next to my ear and said," that's good to know but it's late and we both need sleep before this gets out of hand." He picks me up and walks me back to my bunk and sets me on my feet. He leans over and kissed my forehead and said,"goodnight Darlin "
I look up at him and hug him and I smile and say,"goodnight B"