#bradrian

Braelynn woke up refreshed, determined to make things less uncomfortable between her and Adrian. For the past month, their relationship had been strained -- even in his absence -- and she wasn’t a fan of it. Him finding out about the eviction had taken its inevitable course; she’d always known that there was no way that Adrian could understand something like that. How he would perceive it as an outright failure. It was why she’d never planned to tell him and also why getting black-out drunk was so bad. 

But the cat was out of the bag on that, and she had to figure out how to move on from there. She decided to start by cleaning his place from top to bottom as a sort of apology for being such a mess. 

Braelynn walked back up the stairs, her brain going as she went. Had Adrian hired some kind of emergency maid service to come in over the night? Or had he done it all himself? She felt equal parts charmed and guilty about that, if it was the case.

She stopped behind the treadmill and asked, “Did you even get any sleep last night?” And Adrian’s shrugged response, the slightly deprecating look on his face, told her all that she needed to know.

Braelynn sighed. “Adrian... You didn’t have to do that. I promise I know how to clean up as well as I can mess up.”

Adrian took a deep breath. 

His place was an absolute wreck; he honestly couldn’t believe that such a tiny person could make such a large mess in the span of only a few days... He couldn’t map out in his mind how it even happened. But he reigned in his temper because the last thing that he needed was another frustrating confrontation with Braelynn Spencer. 

He’d had some time and space to think things through, and he recognized that he hadn’t handled things properly with her after her birthday disaster. All he had actually managed to do was confuse things. So today he promised himself that he would do better and starting out with a lecture on cleanliness wouldn’t exactly be a great idea.

He didn’t let the caught expression on her face press any of his buttons, and he tried to keep his face neutral as she slowly walked towards him after realizing that he was there. He didn’t even glare at her when she said, “Has it been two weeks already?!” 

“Wait a minute…” Braelynn blinked dumbly as she repeated Adrian’s words over again inside her head. “Key… Code… Moving?” Adrian quirked an expectant eyebrow at her as he waited for her to connect the dots.

She pulled in a slow breath, the silence stretching uncomfortably between them as she realized what he was saying. He wasn’t even offering… Wasn’t asking… He simply expected her to move according to his plan like she was a piece on a chessboard. 

It was so arrogant and presumptuous that she couldn’t believe it.

She had expected him to beg off with excuses as to why he had kissed her. She pulled together her armor for that; she hadn’t expected this.

The look on his face when he stepped away from her... 

He moved like he was in a daze, like abruptly waking from an unexpected dream. A bad one, maybe.