I don’t know why asking Brandon for help had never crossed my mind. I guess I had been just as angry at him as I was at Brea and I had temporarily erased all thought of him out of my head.
“Oh, well there is that!” I joked.
We both laughed and decided to head into the kitchen for something to drink. I took a seat at the bar and Brea popped the cap on two bottled cokes setting one in front of me and taking a drink from the one in her hands before she let out a high pitched “OH MY GAWD!” and grabbed my hand.
“I am such a fucking bitch Jemma! I completely forgot Julian was proposing!”
How the hell did she know?
“You knew?”
“Um, I might have noticed the larger than normal bulge in his pants at one point and cornered him. I see you said yes, you cow! You could have called to tell me you know, it would have sure made the last 24 hours go over a little bit better.”
I smiled guiltily. “Besides the fact that I thought you were pissed at me for....”
“For calling me a whore?”
I cringed and shrugged my shoulders. “For that, but you called me one too so we are even. As I was saying, Julian and I might have been a little too preoccupied to call anyone.”
“You didn’t? What happened to waiting Jem?”
“Fuck it, I got tired of waiting, I have never wanted anything so bad in my life. Though, after over two handfuls of orgasms I might be willing to let Julian suffer every once in a while if it awards me a repeat performance.”
“TWO HANDFULS? Wow babe, you really are a slut!”
I threw a potholder at Brea then we both curled over with laughter. After calling in Pho delivery, the two of us ended up spending the evening in front of the TV watching Meet Joe Black. If anyone could heal a breakup, it was Brad Pitt in a tuxedo.
The next day it was business as usual. Julian and Brea, who was a lot perkier than the day before, went back to class. Julian had called the night before and I filled him in on the reunion between Brea and I. He wasn’t surprised that we made up but he was surprised about the pregnancy. I was a little unsure about whether or not Brea would want me to tell him about it but I figured Jonathan would end up filling him in eventually. Julian had still not heard a word from Jonathan by then, I was sure he would turn up.
I did not have to work until the afternoon which I knew was when Brandon had his first class so I thought it would be a good time to call him about my father. I dialed the number terrified of having to talk to him about Brea, he didn’t know that I knew about any of it so I figured if I kept my mouth shut we should be able to avoid a very uncomfortable subject.
“Jem” he answered sleepily.
“Hey Brandon, can we talk?”
“I...I’m not sure I want to talk about that right now Jem. It’s just too early.”
So he did know? When did Brea even have a chance to tell him?
“Brandon, I am not sure what you are talking about but I am calling to talk to you about my dad. I went to see him Saturday.” I said pretending to be completely clueless to avoid the drama.
“Oh, yeah...Um, how did it go?”
“Did Brea not tell you?”
“Yeah, she did. Sorry Jem, I just thought it would be nice if you told me instead of having to get everything through her.”
He snapped at me, so in defense I too I snapped back.
“Is that all you are going to apologize for?” I regretted the question before the last word left my mouth.
The line got quiet as if Brandon had completely stopped breathing on the other end.
“I won’t say that I am sorry Jem. She is having my baby, I won’t be sorry for my child. It may not be a child that I had planned but it’s mine. Maybe Brea and I should never have let things go as far as we did but damn it Jemma...Damn it!”
I had not intended to talk about any of this. All I had wanted to do was make a quick phone call to see if Brandon knew anyone who could help me. I was starting to think Brea was right about Jerry Springer because my life was turning into soap opera hell.
“I wanted it to be you, that was supposed to be our baby but you fucked everything up, EVERYTHING! So don’t you dare give me hell about this. I moved on, live with it!”
I would have given anything to hang up the phone right then and there but I could not put the damn thing down. The phone was glued to my hands and ears by invisible super glue.
“Gawd damn mother fucking shit! I cannot do this right now Jemma Lee. I am saying shit I don’t want to be saying and if I don’t hang up this phone you can bet your ass this will be our last phone call.”
He only called me Jemma Lee when he was angry with me.
“Brandon, please don’t yell at me. I should not have mentioned anything.”