11: Love Birds?

"We need to talk," I announced as I walked into my apartment at the end of the day. Brooks was sitting on the couch watching the news and he glanced over his shoulder at me with a worried look.

"You didn't quit did you?"

"No I did." A big smile appeared on his face and he jumped up from the couch and went to pull me into a hug but I stopped him.

"No, this has been eating away at me all day, and I almost forgot but I didn't. So we need to talk." I walked around him and sat down on the couch, he slowly approached and sat down next to me. "What the hell is wrong with you Brooks?"

"What?"

"At the reunion, Jodi told me you had a rough afternoon and hit the bottle pretty hard. Then driving home yesterday you seemed uptight. What's wrong?"

I could feel him tense up as our once brushing shoulders now felt feet apart. "It's nothing."

"No it's not Brooks Laich. I can see straight through you, what's wrong?"

"If you can see straight through me you would know what is wrong, but you can't, so therefore, nothing is wrong."

"You're lying, I know you are. Just tell me. We've been best friends for years, since when can you not tell me what's wrong?"

"What if it was-" He stopped himself and took a deep breath. "I'm just stressed out, okay?"

"Because of hockey?"

"Yeah, and I'm sorry if it's effecting you, I don't mean to do that."

"I just worry about you sometimes."

"I know, I'm sorry. Once I get you in DC though, things will be okay. So how did it go anyways? Quitting?"

"He was upset, offered me everything he could to get me to stay. If I knew that's all it took to get a raise I would have threatened to quit a few years ago. But the girls are already planning a going away dinner for me."

"So you told them you were moving?"

"Yeah, well he asked if I got a new job and when I said no he started asking more questions so I just told him I was moving to DC. That I needed a change in scenery."

As I was cooking dinner that night, I put my bluetooth in and called Mike. Was he going to be excited to hear I was really making the move? Or was our weekend together a total fluke? I could feel myself grow with nerves as I chopped up some peppers. "Hey beautiful," he smiled into the phone.

"Hey Mike, how are you?"

"Doing much better now. Are you cooking?" He asked with a chuckle.

"I am, how could you tell."

"I can smell it."

"Whatever you dork. So look, I wanted to tell you something. I quit my job today."

"Does that mean what I hope it means?"

"That I'm moving to DC?"

The phone went silent and I panicked. Then I heard something fall and break. "Mike?"

"Sorry, I got so excited I jumped up and just broke a glass table. Oh I can't wait! When do you get here?"

"We fly out on the 9th."

"Who will you be living with?"

"Brooks. Who else?"

"Oh, just wondering. How did this happen? I mean just the other night you said you weren't, now you are."

"Brooks means a lot to me, and I know you know that. It's time, and he knows that as much as I do."

"Well I can't wait! I won't be back in DC till the beginning of September, but when I get back, I'm taking you out for a night on the town."

"That sounds perfect to me. I miss you."

"I miss you too babe, but I have to go, I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay, bye." We ended the conversation and I ripped the bluetooth out of my ear to finish making dinner.





Excitement ran through my body as I drove over the 520 bridge toward Kirkland, back to our old stomping grounds. Brooks had called Kent and Barb, his old billets, earlier in the week, and now Saturday night, after taking a break from packing, we were heading to their house for dinner.

Kent and Barb had pretty much become a second set of parents to me. If I wasn’t at home after school, I was at their house cooking with Barb, waiting for Brooks to come home from practice. That was how my junior and senior year of high school was spent.

I tried to meet up with Barb as much as possible after Brooks left, but this would be the first time I would see her after some five or six months.

I pulled into the all too familiar neighborhood and a smile broke out over my face as well as Brooks’. “Ready?” He asked once we were parked in the driveway. I nodded my head and jumped out, popping the trunk to pull out my wine case.

The door flung open before we made it up the steps, and I was attacked by Barb. “Oh my two love birds,” she smiled warmly into my shoulder. I glanced up at Brooks confused but he only laughed. She pulled away from me quickly and wrapped her arms around Brooks. “Come, come,” she smiled motioning us to follow her inside. I stepped next to Brooks and looked up at him, “love birds?” He only laughed just a little bit more.

We greeted Kent, who was in his chair, like he always was so many years ago. “It’s so good to see you two finally together,” he smiled at us.

“We’re naahh-“

“Took me forever to convince her we were meant to be,” Brooks interrupted me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I glanced up at him confused. He just smiled and kissed my forehead.

We sat through dinner, and I managed to hog the bottle of wine I brought. All of these fictional relationships were confusing me, and it was wrong to mislead Barb and Kent like this. Everytime I felt the urge to speak up and tell them, Brooks would step on my foot.

“So Niko is moving to DC with me. She leaves this weekend,” Brooks announced after I helped Barb bring the cake into the dining room.

“Oh darling, that’s wonderful news. You know, we’ve been waiting for this day to happen. We knew you two would end up together. We can just tell by the way you look at each other.”

I felt myself blush and shrink in my seat. This was so embarrassing for me. I didn’t see Brooks that way, and I’m sure as hell that he didn’t see me like that either. Well I’m sure there were times in our nine year friendship where we asked ourselves ‘what if’, but not anymore. He’s a ladies man, and well I’m . . . I don’t know what I am anymore, but I’m sure Mike can help me with that.

Our visit with Kent and Barb finished up a few hours after the last bite of dessert was taken. Barb made me promise her that I would send a wedding invite. She of course will receive one, but I don’t know who the groom will be. That’s years down the road anyways.

Brooks took the car keys from me, and I climbed into the passenger seat no problem. “What the fuck was that about?” I asked once we were out of view from their house.

“What?”

“You told them we were dating?”

“You have no idea what they put me through when it comes to you. So I told a little fib, we’re both leaving. We’ll see them maybe once a year from now on. Barb concocted this whole story in her head about how we finally confessed our feelings to one another, what was I to do? Break her heart?”

"We're not together though! She's expected a wedding invitation in the mail sometime in the near future!"

"Why is it that everyone around us, everyone, wants us together . . . except for you?"