Painting and Phone Calls

I flipped the channel on the television, turning the page of the magazine I was trying to read. Just as I was giving up on ways to entertain myself, the door knocked. I got up stretching walking over to the door.

“Hey,” Sidney smiled as I opened the door.

“Hey yourself,” I said opening the door wider for him.

“I thought you might want to have breakfast,” he offered holding up two coffees and a small brown bag and placing them on the counter.

“And to what do I owe this lovely visit,” I said peeking into the bag and pulling out two muffins and scones.

He shrugged. “I just wanted to see you.” he picked up his coffee and took a drink.

“You mean before you left for your road trip,” I calmly stated taking a bite out of the muffin. He choked on his coffee, lowering his eyes to the floor. I couldn’t even pretend to be upset. He was too adorable for that. I only smiled and laughed. “It’s ok.”

He gave me a confused look. “You're not mad?”

I shrugged. “I can never be mad at you.”

“But, I didn’t tell you, at all,” he mumbled.

“I know.”

“Then why aren’t you mad?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I was bothered at first, but not so much now. I know you didn’t do it intentionally. I would’ve just liked to know a little earlier,” I explained.

He nodded slowly. “I know. I guess I figured Max would tell Peyton and she would tell you, so I wouldn’t have to. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

I walked over to him and looked into his eyes. “I know it’s hard and I forgive you this time. But next time, just please tell me,” I smiled.

“I will. I promise.” He led me to the living room to sit down on the couch and brought over our muffins.

“What time do you have to leave here?”

“Practice is at 1 and we’re getting on a plane after that,” he said.

I nodded. “So we have a good couple of hours before you leave me.”

He smiled. “Pretty much.” He took a bite from his muffin and stared down at what was left. “So have you spoken to your father?”

I gulped my coffee and looked up at him. “No.”

“Are you going to?”

I sighed before answering. “Yeah, I am. I’ve been trying to avoid it but I know I have to. I’ll probably call him while you're away so we can work everything out for him to come.”

“Are you nervous?”

“As weird as it sounds, I am,” I admitted. “I know I shouldn’t be because he’s my father and everything, but we haven’t had a relationship for so long that I don’t know how to act around him or what to say to him. I don’t even know if I’ll offer him to stay here or just let him go to a hotel. I don’t want anything worse to happen.”

“It wont,” he assured rubbing my arm. “It’ll all be fine, Brooke. I think it’s good that he’s visiting. And if you need anything, you can tell me. I can find him a nice hotel to stay at and pay for it or his ticket if you want.”

“No, it’s fine. You shouldn’t waste your money on that. You're right it’ll be fine. I’m just freaking out is all. Thank you, for offering though.”

He took my hand and smiled at me. “Brooke, you’ll be fine. And things might even turn out better than you expected. Just try to do this for yourself. Don’t force yourself to be nice just because you feel bad. Think about yourself and do what you want, like you told me. I listened to you and look how great that turned out,” he let out a small laugh. “If you do the same, things might turn out better than you expected.”

I leaned in and wrapped my arms around him, squeezing him tightly. It took him a while before he slowly placed a hand on my back and hugged me. “Thank you Sidney. For listening to me and being here. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“I’ll always be here for you Brooke,” he mumbled.
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I crossed my arms as I waited for Peyton to answer the door. I had been standing outside her apartment for five minutes waiting for her to open and let me in. I was already preparing a long speech on the ways of opening the door when someone knocks and adding profanities when she finally opened the door.

“Hey,” she greeted as if nothing were wrong.

I blinked at her, completely forgetting my speech and deciding to just walk in. “You know, when someone knocks on your door, the courteous thing to do is to open it.”

“Sorry, but I was watching tv. I figured you could wait until commercial,” she said.

“Just for that comment I’m going to do a horrible job painting your apartment. I didn’t even want to be here.”

“But you’re alone now that Sidney’s gone,” she pointed out.

“So? You're alone too. Max is gone,” I told her.

“It’s not the same thing. Max isn’t as big of a deal as Sidney. He has more free time to call me. Besides if I didn’t get you out of your house, what would you be doing, watching tv sitting by the phone all day?”

“No.”

“Whatever, at least I care about you. You know you would much rather be here with me,” she argued.

I shook my head taking off my jacket and throwing it on the couch. The whole apartment was already covered with tarps and the buckets of paint were on the floor with brushes. I pulled my hair up in a ponytail and pulled up my jeans.

“Ok, so I thought we’d paint the wall where the couch is and keep moving to the right,” she motioned to the walls.

I nodded. “Sounds reasonable.”

“And if you do a good job, I’ll get pizza,” she added grinning.

“Right, because I’m a dog that needs a reward,” I muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing. We should probably get started.” I kneeled down opening the first two cans and opening the brushes and attaching the rollers. I handed one to Peyton who got up and poured some paint and dipping her brush in it.

“So were you mad at Sidney for not telling you about the whole road trip thing?”

I shrugged. “Not really. I do wish he would’ve told me, but it’s ok. I know he didn’t know how to tell me. I can’t blame him for being considerate.”

“I didn’t mean to tell you and ruin the whole thing. I’m sure he would have told you. I really am sorry,” she said rolling the brush up and down the wall.

I rolled mine on the opposite end of the wall blowing my bangs away from my face. “It’s ok. You didn’t mean to.”

After about twenty more minutes we finished one wall and stepped back to look at the color. “Wow, that’s nice.”

I nodded. “It is.”

She sighed. “Only three more walls to go.” We both looked at each other and laughed.
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“That was a good game,” Peyton said drinking her soda.

“It was. Tim Thomas was really good. I’m glad they just got a few pucks past him.” I took another bite of my pizza leaning against the couch on the floor. I crossed my legs and turned back to the television checking the highlights and some of the Bruins interviews.

“You know that Tyler kid is not so bad looking. He seems like a classy guy,” Peyton nodded towards the television.

I laughed. “Vero thinks he’s good looking too.”

After a few minutes of silence Peyton said something. “I heard Tyler asked you out.”

I looked at her smirking face growing uncomfortable. “How did you-”

“Max told me,” she said as a matter of fact.

I gave her a confused look. “How could he possibly-”

“Sidney told him.”

“And how did-”

“He heard your little conversation with Tyler, or his conversation with you. He’s not as sweet and innocent as you like to think,” she joked. “Sidney told Max that he had a feeling when he went to talk to the girls. He tried to stay close and signed a few things for the girls quickly and took pictures and the rest of the time he stood there listening in, pretending to make conversation.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “And he heard everything Tyler said.”

She smiled nodding. “Yup. He heard him calling Sidney kind, complimenting your name, asking if you lived around here, and being all nervous about being too forward and asking if he could see you again. Max told me that Sid seemed pretty jealous about other guys talking to you. In a cute way of course.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think Sidney’s the jealous type.”

“Well he was then. You know, Tyler seems to have really liked you.”

“Yeah, sure,” I waved a hand.

She sighed sitting up straighter. “Can I point something out to you without you arguing or getting mad?” I gave her a look before slowly nodding. “Have you noticed how many guys have liked you, asked you out, or had a thing for you? And they’ve all just met you?”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is that this should prove to you that you're pretty, smart, and amazing. You need to stop selling yourself short. Doesn’t all these guys liking you prove that you are great and you just cant see it? Look how many people like you and you don’t even know it.”

“I still don’t see what you're getting at.”

“Forget I said anything. I just want you to be able to see how great you are Brooke. And to stop wondering every night how Sidney could ever like you, like I know you do, and realize that he’s incredibly lucky to have you.”

I pursed my lips thinking over what she had just said. I took in a deep breath looking back as they were finishing up their interview with Milan Lucic and moving to Tyler Seguin. “He does seem like a classy guy,” I decided.

“If only he weren’t so young,” Peyton sighed.

“Yeah, because that’s the problem and not the fact that you have a boyfriend.”

She shrugged. “Minor details.”

I rolled my eyes at her turning around to look at the freshly painted walls. “Aside from the fact that we sat in this room with all the paint fumes which probably wasn’t such a good idea, it looks good.”

“Yeah. It feels homier now. Kind of like your place. You know, I asked for your help because I was hoping to make it look like yours.”

“Why?”

“You always made it feel comfortable and it was always clean. You could always smell your perfume, not because you wore too much but because you always walked back and forth and it would smell like you everywhere. You made me feel peaceful. Like I was at home and lived there forever.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “You made me feel happy, like I never wanted to leave. It’s just how you make people feel. You make Sidney feel like that too. Max and I can see it. He’s always serious and focusing on hockey but with you, he’s more relaxed and looks lucky to have you in his life.”
I felt a small smile tugging on my lips. “You guys think so?”

She nodded once more. “Yeah. Max says he’s never seen him happier. I told him I’ve never seen you happier too. Your whole life, you’ve been pleasing people and not doing anything for yourself. Now, you're with him and you're enjoying yourself and being a little selfish.”

I let out a small laugh standing up and pulling down my jeans. I picked up the empty box of pizza and bought it over to the trash. “Can you hand me the plates?”

“Why?”

“So I can wash them,” I said.

“No, you're not helping cleaning up. You’ve done enough. I’ve taken enough advantage of you today. Go home. Rest. Stare at your phone waiting for Sidney to call,” she smirked.

I gave her a look. “Like you don’t stare at your phone waiting for Max to call.”

“I don’t. he gives me a time when he’ll call. If he calls too late he starts talking way too much. And you know my brain doesn’t function after a certain time.”

I laughed shaking my head at her. “Are you sure you don’t want my help?”

“Yes, I’m positive. Go home,” she said pushing me towards the door.

“Fine,” I mumbled.

She grabbed my arm and turned me around. “Thanks, again. It was nice spending time. Just the two of us. Maybe we can do it again. What with our famous hockey player boyfriends gone and everything.”

I grinned at her. “Anytime.”
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I sat down in my bed pulling the sheets up to my chest. I stared at the phone down in my hands and picked it up. I took in a deep breath, feeling a knot forming in my stomach. It had been a few days since I had received the message from him. I meant to call, I just didn’t know what to say. I knew I couldn’t keep avoiding it. I closed my eyes putting all my energy into the phone magically dialing itself and leaving a message. I opened one eye to find the phone still in front of me.

I sighed reluctantly picking up the phone and slowly pressing the buttons. I had to do this. For my own sanity. I needed this. No amount of lying could hide it. I slowly pressed the last number and put the phone to my ear. It rang.

I hoped the machine would pick up, knowing with my luck it wouldn’t. besides, he would be in bed by now, watching sports highlights. He’d have a sandwich and a glass of water by his bed, which he would eat during commercial. It rang again.

I kept telling myself, that no matter what happened, him coming, it going horribly, I’d have people to turn to. I’d have Peyton to comfort me and try to cheer me up. I’d have the guys from the team whom I was growing closer to. Most of all, I’d have Sidney who would make sure nothing goes wrong. Who would want to make me happy. He’d make sure I was fine. It would all be all right. I took in a deep breath feeling more secure and less nervous. The phone rang for the last time.

“Hello,” a deep, scratchy voice answered. I took in a sharp breath making sure he didn’t hear me.

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing.

“Hello,” he said again, growing impatient.

I breathed in, reminding myself I had people. Friends. I could do this.

“Hello,” he said for the last time.

“Hi,” I replied in a low voice.

“Brooke?” he asked, losing the solemn tone.

“Yes,” I answered. “It’s me.” I could do this I repeated to myself. It wasn’t so terrifying anymore.

This wouldn’t be as daunting as I had imagined. The call that I had been dreading for years wasn’t making me panicked anymore. I could do it. I took in another deep breath before speaking again.