Brandon grabbed the pizza he’d ordered and hurried out of the trainee apartment building, back to his own, but he kept an eye out for Cassidy the entire time he was walking, hoping he didn’t run into her again—literally or figuratively—since that had been one of the most painful experiences of his whole life. He couldn’t believe how far downhill their relationship had gone in just a matter of days.
Back in his apartment, he dropped the pizza box on the coffee table and went to the kitchen to grab a soda and a napkin. While he felt a little like a loser eating pizza in his apartment by himself again, he didn’t want to go to any of his friends’ places because he didn’t know if Cass would be there. And since most of them were her friends first, it seemed a little bit wrong to make her be the one who couldn’t hang out anymore.
He had a seat on the couch and picked up the remote, contemplating whether or not he could handle a whole large pizza by himself and figuring he could, when the door opened, and he figured he wouldn’t get a chance to find out. “Hey,” Elliott said, taking off his jacket and launching it into the same chair he always tossed it in. “Pizza again, huh? I think this might be a rerun.” Brandon didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. Elliott glanced around the room. “Where’s the gang?”
“Uh, not here. You wanna slice?” Brandon opened the box, knowing his dad would never say no to a fresh pizza pie.
“Sure, sure. Just let me go wash my hands.” Brandon raised an eyebrow, and Elliott laughed before he sat down next to his son and grabbed a piece, taking a huge bite before he asked, his mouth half-full, “Why aren’t they here?”
Brandon’s mouth was full, too, so he finished chewing before he said, “I figured it’s not fair to have our mutual friends over here when Cass won’t want to come. I don’t want to make anyone have to choose between us.” He shook his head slowly. “I sort of wish I’d never taken your advice.”
“My advice?” Elliott repeated before finishing the slice. “What do you mean? We’ve been over this, son. I never told you to break up with her.”
“I know, but you said to give her some space. So I’m trying to do that”
“Right, I got that, but my advice wasn’t to lock yourself in here by yourself. I meant, just let her know you’re here if she wants to talk, but otherwise, stop hassling her to tell you what she’s upset about, act like everything’s cool. You know, a little bit of space. Not a freakin’ hallway’s worth of space.”
“No, I know. I guess I knew that, anyway. But when I went to talk to her about it, to tell her she could have some time or whatever, we ended up having an argument. And then, when I went to make it up to her, she really seemed like she didn’t want to have anything to do with me.” Brandon shook his head, frustrated at the thought of what had happened next. “So that’s when I ended up breaking up with her.
Elliott was staring at him like he had two heads. “And now you’re trying to blame me?”
Brandon shook his head. “No, I’ve just got to figure out what to do next.”
“That’s a whole hell of a lotta space, man. Not sure what you can do except wait her out.”
He nodded again. That was all he could do.
Elliott’s head wagged back and forth like a teacher’s finger when the class was too loud. “I don’t know how to respond to the fact that you thought I meant break up with her, Brandon. I guess I need to be careful what I say to you from now on if you took give her some space to mean break it off.”
“No, I didn’t. But... one thing sort of led to another. I guess... I was sort of trying to call her bluff or something.” Brandon shook his head for a moment before adding, “She must be happier this way. I just saw her leaving the basement over there, and she didn’t want to talk or anything. She hardly even paid any attention to me at all.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, man. I thought the two of you would’ve patched things up by now.”
“I did, too. I guess even the most solid relationships can crumble under enough pressure.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Elliott reached out and squeezed his shoulder, and Brandon didn’t blame him for not knowing what to say.
“You won’t... get in the middle of this, will you?” Brandon asked.
“Who me? When do I ever get in the middle of anything?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It’s not like you died just to get Aaron and Cadence together or anything.”
Elliott scoffed. “Please. I’ve learned my lesson on that one. Not worth it. Seriously, though, I doubt I’ll have to do anything. The two of you might need a little more time, but you’ll get back together. I’d be willing to make a hefty wager on it.” He pulled himself up off of the couch but stopped to give Brandon a reassuring smile.
“I sure hope so because I miss her—a lot, Dad.”
“I’m sure you do. It’ll be okay.”
Brandon nodded and managed a small smile as his dad walked out of the room. Part of him appreciated the fact that the situation had led to a couple of heart-to-hearts with his dad, though it wasn’t enough to fix the ache inside of him. He hoped Elliott’s wisdom came through this time because it hadn’t even been that long since he and Cassidy had broken up yet, and he already had a hole in his heart bigger than an entire large pepperoni pizza.
