The bar is quieter than normal. There is a storm brewing outside, and snow swirls under the glow of the streetlights. I don’t mind winter and snow, but the darkness at five o’clock, that I could do without.
I hoped that Monique would arrive before Brandy. I haven’t talked to her in days. But when the door opens, Brandy hurries in.
She stomps the snow from her boots and brushes the flakes from her coat.
“Whew,” she says as she walked toward the table. “It’s really coming down. You already got your drink?”
I look at the beer in front of me. Had she expected me to wait for her?
I watch her and then realize I haven’t stood to greet her.
Hopping off of my stool, I move to her, taking her coat as she begins to shrug out of it.
“Thank you,” she says, and I take her coat and hang it over the back of her chair. I keep my eyes on the door, waiting for Monique to walk through on the arm of her boss, but she doesn’t.
Brandy sits down, rubbing her arms with her hands. “Did you order already?”
“Not yet,” I say as I take my seat next to her.
“I’m thinking a salad this week. I can’t keep doing fried food,” she laughs.
Brandy rests her hand atop mine, and I look at it as if I’m trying to figure out what she’s doing. Then I lift my eyes to meet hers.
“You’re distracted,” she says. “Is everything okay?”
“I have a lot on my mind, I guess,” I say, moving my hand out from under hers and picking up a menu. I don’t even see anything on the menu, it’s all a blur, but it’s occupying my mind until the server comes to the table.
I check my phone, but there is no message or missed call from Monique, so I sit silently while Brandy talks about her day.
“I’m going to run to the restroom,” Brandy says, hopping off of her stool. She’s been talking since she walked in the door, but I haven’t heard a word she said. “If the server comes back, get me a water, please.”
I nod as she hurries away. That’s when I notice the paper on the ground next to her chair.
I move from my seat to pick it up, assuming she’s dropped her napkin. It’s not a napkin.
Opening the folded paper, I look down at it.
Monique,
I know you’re the one sending Will the secret admirer notes. It’s time you move on. We’re back together now.
Brandy
I swallow hard as I read the note over and over again. When the server comes by and asks if we need anything, I ask for the check for my beer.
My stomach clenches looking at the note again. So, Brandy was just going to give this to Monique? As if this is acceptable?
I pinch the bridge of my nose because there is a throbbing behind my eyes now.
“Monique and her boss still aren’t here?” Brandy’s voice has me lifting my head. “Seriously, how much longer are we supposed to wait for them? This is very inconsiderate,” she says as the server drops off the bill for our drinks.
Brandy’s eyes narrow on the check. “Are we leaving?”
I take in the sight of her standing in front of me. I’m confused to how oblivious I’ve been to her mean spirit. I mean, I knew she didn’t like Monique because we were friends, but this . . .
My relationship with Monique is the only thing I’ve had my entire life. It’s the thing I cherish more than anything else. That relationship has always been something that has caused a rift between Brandy and me. I should have talked to Monique when I went to her place and saw her with her boss. I should have told her what I was feeling, and we could have sorted it out. I won’t make that mistake again.
“I’m ready to go,” I say as I stand from my seat.
A smile forms on Brandy’s lips. “We haven’t eaten dinner yet. What are we going to do?”
I pull my wallet from my pocket and set the money on the table. Then I take the note that I found on the floor and hand it to Brandy.
She looks down at it as if she’s never seen it before. But when she opens it, her face loses color.
“Will . . .“
“It’s time for me to go.”
“I can explain this,” she says.
“You don’t have to. You have no idea how much clarity this gives me.”
“Monique wrote you those secret admirer notes,” she blurts as I pull on my coat. “Well, not all of them. I wrote one. But we belong together. She has no right to you.”
That has me stopping to look at her, my arm only halfway into my coat.
“No right to me?”
Brandy takes a step toward me, but my expression must stop her from advancing any further.
“Will, what I mean is—”
“I don’t need to hear any more. Seriously, I should be thanking you,” I say, shrugging my coat on fully and zipping it up. “I know she wrote the notes. It was to get your attention. It worked. You remembered we lived in the same house.”
“Oh, Will—”
“I did the same for her.”
“You wrote her secret admirer notes?”
Now I laugh. “I did. Well, I sent her secret admirer gifts.”
Brandy crosses her arms. “Why would you do that if you were trying to get us back together?”
“To get her boss to notice her. This has all been a stupid game. Now she has him, and I realize something.”
Her lips are trembling. “What?”
“I thought I wanted you. I was sure of it. I knew that if you’d just give me one more chance, it would work this time. But now I know it never will.”
“Why? We can make this work,” she pleads, and I now find that humorous. She’s the one that broke it off. Now she wants me? Just because she thinks that Monique wants me?
I shake my head. “No, we can’t make it work. Monique is always going to be in my life. That’s a staple, and you can’t make her go away. And we’re not back together,” I say.
Brandy’s lips purse. “But we’re working on it. And I just don’t think it’s appropriate for you to have her around when you’re in a relationship.”
I shake my head. “She’s my dearest friend, and she was helping me out. And I was helping her out. Only now I realize I made a huge mistake. I put her in the path for someone else to love her, when all along it should have been me.”
The color is back in Brandy’s cheeks. “You love her?”
I nod. “I do. I’ve never faced it, but I do. I’ve loved her since the seventh grade. But if I couldn’t have her, the next best thing was to be her best friend.”
Brandy’s eyes soften, her shoulders drop, and she sits back down on her stool. “You should go to her and tell her all of that.”
I can’t help but stand there and stare at her. Had she really said that?
“I’m serious, Will. There isn’t anyone in this world that has been around the two of you that doesn’t know there’s a connection between you and Monique. And I know it better than anyone,” she says.
“Really?”
She nods. “She’s good for you—to you. Go. Go tell her all of this and maybe she won’t chase her boss. She makes you happy. You should be happy.”
I move to her and take her hand, easing her from her stool, and wrap her in a tight hug. “Thank you.”
“Go, before I come to my senses,” she says, her voice wet from tears that are welling in her eyes.
I kiss her on the cheek and nearly race out of the bar. I don’t know why Monique didn’t show up tonight, and sure, she’s probably with her boss, but I can’t wait to tell her how I feel. I’ve waited too long.