This is not who I am. I don’t cheat on my partners. I move my feet as fast as I can to get out of here
“Caroline! Wait!” Dean shouts towards me as I am walking out the room.
I whip around again and stomp toward him.
“Wait? Wait?” I yell back at him. “What am I waiting for Dean? For my boyfriend’s dad to convince me to be with him? Do you hear how messed up that sounds?”
My words seem to work as Dean cringes slightly. God, I still don’t understand how he can be Brian’s dad. My thoughts seem to make their way to my mouth before I can even stop them. “How are you even Brian?
??s dad? How old are you anyway?” I am still yelling even though I am not sure why. He just frustrates me so much.
Dean is still breathing hard, but he is just staring back at me. After a few moments of us just staring at each other, he realizes I wasn’t being rhetorical and I want a real answer.
“Thirty-five”
I process what he said. Thirty-five. No. That can’t be right. “But Brian is twenty-one.”
He continues to stare back at me without saying anything, and I realize he isn’t changing his answer. That means he was only 14 when he had Brian. He was probably only 13 when he had sex with Brian’s mom. For some reason, when Brian told me his parents had him when they were in highschool, I was imagining them being more like 17 or 18 and having him right before college. I thought Dean just didn’t want the responsibility of a child and wanted to live his college days normally.
Fourteen? No wonder he didn’t get to spend that much time with him growing up. He couldn’t have even had a job let alone a place for Brian to come stay with him.
I am still staring at him with my mouth hanging open but no words coming out.
He finally breaks the silence knowing what I am thinking. “I was a little shit.”
I let out a startled laugh. Some of the tension leaves the room, but then he continues and the ease I was just feeling dissipates. “My dad had more money than he knew what to do with. He would bring girls around the house alot. I was exposed to more things than an average middle-schooler.” He tries to make the last part sound like a joke, but I don’t laugh.
He can tell I am looking at him horrified thinking he was taken advantage of as a child, and so he quickly adds “Oh no. It wasn’t like that.” He shakes his head. “Let’s just say I had my first kiss at a very young age. Brian’s mom was one of my best friends, and I thought I was in love, so we took things too far.”
I am not sure why he is opening up to me so much but I don’t want him to stop, so I just give him a small smile urging him to continue.
“My dad was pissed when he found out. I was only 14, so it’s not like I had much say in what happened. My dad helped financially obviously, but he did not want a baby around the house, so me and Jenny decided it would be better if I only saw him on holidays and special occasions. When I turned 18, I took him for some weekends and vacations but as you know we never got too close since I missed a lot of him growing up.”
He runs his hands over his face and lets out a frustrated breath. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. No matter what, I will always love Brian and I want him to be happy. I shouldn't have crossed that line.”
The last part doesn’t sound very convincing so I raise an eyebrow at him in question. He continues. “You know what? I take that back. I’m not sorry. Why are you with him?”
My eyes widen in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“He’s being a little shit. Like father like son I guess. You wouldn’t have been at that bar if he wasn’t.” His voice raises a little at the end like he is angry that his son would have allowed me to go by myself on my birthday to some dive bar while he was off with some other girl. Best friends or not.
I am at a loss for words again. “I-...We-...We worked it out.” I breathe out.
He finally removes his stare from me and shakes his head at the ground. “Okay.”
It’s all he says, and then he quickly walks out of the kitchen and goes to his room shutting the door loudly behind him.
I stare at the closed door for a few minutes not knowing what to think or do. Finally, I take a breath and head to my own room to get ready for bed.
Chapter 6
I get out of the shower and slip on some pajama shorts and a tank. Brian texted me asking if it was alright if he went to a couple of bars with Jason and their friend Luke. I was somewhat relieved because there was no way I could have continued what Brian started on the couch tonight, but at the same time it hurt a little that he didn’t want to continue it. Maybe some time out without me will do good. We have been seeing a lot of each other since we’ve moved in together. Maybe a night out with the guys will help us reconnect once he’s back.
I lay on my bed, but I feel even more confused than before. I need to talk to Ally. I haven’t exactly been avoiding her, but we haven’t talked that much lately either. She thinks I just don’t want to discuss Brian ditching me on my birthday, but that is just because I haven’t told her about Dean yet. I am going to go crazy if I don’t talk to someone about it, so I turn over to grab my phone to call her and schedule a time to hang out. I just need some girl time with a few glasses of wine so we can discuss how dumb boys are and how they make us crazy.
I grab my phone off the nightstand as I sit up on my bed. I am about to call her when I see a notification that Jason posted to his story. Curious about what the guys are up to, I click on the video. I hear Jason yelling from behind the phone and can tell he is drunk. The video is of some girl doing a shot off of Luke’s lap. I roll my eyes. Typical Jason and Luke. I look back at the video, but then my eyes notice someone in the background. Maddison.
My mood instantly drops. It’s not like we haven’t all hung out together, and Maddison is friends with Jason and Luke too. It just bothers me that Brian acted like this was a night out with the guys. He never mentioned she would be there.