My Dream Man | Book 1 | Sal Vulcano

Chapter Twenty-Four

Brian was sitting in front of me between my legs. I was seated on the couch, slowly playing with his hair and braiding it. Brian was going through the pictures he took of our adventurous day and choosing which ones he wanted printed. I also joined in, agreeing and disagreeing, also adding if I wanted a copy or not. There was a lot but it was going by very quickly.

But then there it was, the picture Brian was savoring. The one he wanted to keep to look back on to. It was the picture of us kissing on the Ferris Wheel. Brian was just looking at it, not moving. I took a quick glance at it before looking back at what I was doing to Brian's hair.

"Why did you do that?" I asked, watching my fingers weave the salt and pepper hair.

Brian chuckled. "I've always wanted to do that. The first time I saw you. Oh man, I don't know why but I'm so jealous of Sal. He's getting a woman who is so pretty and so out of there. You love life and it's amazing. You aren't mean yet you seem to have a personality that everyone doesn't like because they want to have that same trait. You are naturally beautiful and you aren't too skinny, like people want you to be. You may have a small gut-" I slapped the side of his head, "-OW! You didn't let me finish!" I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, you aren't a 'perfect skinny bitch' if I say so myself. Sal is so lucky, and I knew me and you wouldn't have a chance because you and Sal love each other so much. I know I must move on, but I just needed to know what your lips felt like. And don't worry, I didn't feel anything when we kissed, so don't think I will be chasing you down when your with Sal. To be honest, you and Sal are so perfect for each other."

I raised my eyebrows in awe. My lips turned up, thinking about what happened this morning on our walk. That kiss made my day one hundred times better, yet he still is giving looks when his friends talk about us being together. That made my mind race with questions. Knowing Brian was one of Sal's go-to buddies, I asked him a few questions.

"What do you know about what Sal said about me?" I asked, still braiding Brian's hair.

Brian let out an airy chuckle while he shut his camera off and set it on the table in front of him. "Where do I start? My god, it's always 'oh Addison is so pretty', 'Why is Addison so perfect', 'when will she finally realize how much I love her', Addison this, Addison that, Addison, Addison, Addison. It doesn't stop!"

I chuckled which made Brian chuckle along with me. As I started another braid, Brian let out some air.

"You know what though?" Brian asked. I hummed in response. "Whenever he talks about you, his world seems to light up brighter than I ever seen. I understand that we make him happy, his favorite things make him happy, his-our fans make him happy, but you, you make him a different kind of happy. It's like, man this is hard to explain, it's like you know what makes him happy at all times, y'know? Like, for example, when you came in the one week for work and asked if we could hang out today and I said yeah, you talked to Sal for a brief moment. Obviously you two weren't at a good spot, but you did make his day better. Otherwise he would've regretted not speaking to you for the rest of the day."

"But that same day, he left me out in the cold waiting for him!" I argued.

"That....that was our fault. One of the crew members decided to keep us for a meeting right after. Of course the camera crew didn't need to be there, and James wasn't there either, so to you that should click in your mind. But, don't blame Sal for that night, it was our fault. You could ask anyone else that was there with him, that he was antsy. Sal literally wanted out of there. But once he got out there and left, he saw you weren't at the car waiting. He sat in the parking lot, locked himself in his car and started crying for a solid half hour. So, you should figure out how you think he felt when he learned you were sick."

I went quiet. I finished up Brian's last braid and let him sit with me on his couch. Brian's hands brushed over his head while his cat, Benjamin, cage and sat in his lap. His other cat, Chessy, came up and sat in my lap. I quietly patted her head as Brian had Benjamin with him. Brian picked up his phone and looked at himself through his camera.

"Wow, you did good on this." Brian complimented.

I chuckled. "Hey, it was something I thought you would enjoy."

Brian gave me smile as he set his phone back down. I gave him a small smile back as I let my mind wonder to different topics. It then clicked in my mind what I was really here for. I sucked in some air and looked at Brian.

"What about the-"

"The story that I'm supposed to finish?" Brian cut me off.

I connected my eyes with his. "Yeah..." I answered slowly.

"James told me he left off when we first met you, If I'm not mistaken." Brian asked.

"Correct." I responded.

"Well, I see why you chose me last." Brian laughed. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Let's see, for one of the punishments, we broke into Sal's house, the same day we met you. Now, I can't remember if you were home that same day or remember seeing your car in the driveway, but me and the guys did know you lived across the road. So when we were done with our business, of course we met you. Well, after we filmed Sal's punishment about us breaking into his house, we told after that we met you! Oh man did his face fall flat. We were made to swear we would never fuck with you, not even for the show because he would never forgive us if we used you in any way. But, since Sal knew we knew what you looked like, he always complimented you. He always got excited when you texted him, we always mentions your name. Now, it's been how many years, five, six since you moved into that house? And now Sal is finally making a move to try to go out with you. He will try his hardest. And we support him all the way. Why? Because we've been friends for so many years, that we know almost everything about each other. And if there's something new, we always try to find a way to figure it out. And let me say, you make Sal happy, and I can tell Sal makes you happy. They way you guys look at each other, it's crazy. Of course Joe knows more about love than anyone else in our group because he's married. So he knows the connection, he knows when people are in love with each other. He points it out more often than any of us do! But that doesn't mean James and I don't notice it either, because we do. Now, with what happened at Joe's house, I don't understand. We can't figure that one out. Sal snapped and instantly regrets doing what he did. Now he's having a tough time trying to figure out how to say sorry."

"I'm supposed to have lunch with him tomorrow." I said.

Brian nodded. "Good."

Then it got quiet. I don't know if it was a good quiet or an uncomfortable quiet. All I know is, it got quiet. I didn't enjoy it. But I wanted to confront Brian, but I wished Joe and James were there too.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's around nine thirty, why?" Brian asked back.

I didn't answer. I picked up my phone and called the first person that popped in my mind.

"Hello...?"