#bu03

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?!” 

“So you’re... apartment hunting.” Braelynn caught the careful way that Sabrina finished the statement, and recognized it was probably because the girl had barely stopped herself from saying homeless. Well, she had probably deserved that. It was true enough. 

“But I don’t need any help, honest. You can tell Adrian you did your due-diligence though, don’t worry.” For a moment of tense silence it seemed as if maybe Sabrina would argue with her, or probe and ask her more questions, but the moment passed.

She only said, “You know if you do need anything then I’d be more than willing to help, don’t you?” Braelynn nodded, her shoulders relaxing as she acknowledged and accepted Sabrina’s response.

“Thanks, but I’ve got it covered,” Braelynn reassured. 

“All right. But I’ll keep my ear out in case I hear of anything you might be interested in. Deal?”