just wanted to clean away the bad mojo.” Alyssa waved the duster in my direction. “I guess you had just knocked your keys on the floor and they weren’t taken.”
I could have sworn my keys had been in my purse, but given that Alyssa had found them I knew I must have been wrong. I tossed my bag on the couch and smiled. “Well, I guess I have no excuse not to drive my turd of a car now. I’m sort of relieved, driving Chase’s car was stressful.”
“Hell, I’ll drive it then. I’d have no stress driving that at all.” Alyssa joked as the bang on the door startled us both. “That’s probably the maintenance guy. They said he was coming up to fix the deadbolt. It isn’t latching all the way.”
I swung open the door and felt the goose bumps instantly cover my body. That stressful, shocked feeling from before had returned as I stared at Brandon, my ex-boyfriend from a few years ago. We hadn’t spoken since the break-up and I had wished it had stayed that way. “Brandon? Why are you here?”
“Nice to see you too, Summer” Brandon smiled as he stood in the hallway. “I…I was just in town and thought maybe I’d stop by to see you.” Brandon stared over my shoulder at Alyssa and then back at me. “Can we talk?”
“Um, I guess. Come in.” I stepped backward as I invited Brandon in to the apartment. I didn’t have anything I wanted to talk about with him, especially with how things ended with us my senior year.”
Brandon stayed in the hallway as he stared at me and then back at Alyssa. “Maybe we can go someplace private to talk? Do you mind? Maybe just downstairs?”
“Alright, just for a minute.” I looked at back at Alyssa. “I’ll only be a few minutes.” I opened my eyes wide as I looked at Alyssa, sending her the unspoken message that she should come find me if I’m any longer.
Brandon and I walked down into the grassy area near the parking lot and stood in the shade of one of the surrounding trees. Brandon was never a person to just pay someone a visit, out of the blue, and for no reason. “Listen, Summer, I want to apologize for how things ended between us. It was terrible and…I really never had a chance to say goodbye.”
“Brandon, there was nothing to say. You chose to hack into the school our senior year. I never asked you to try and change my grades and I certainly didn’t encourage you to change yours. I don’t want anything or anyone like that in my life.” I could feel the anger welling up inside of me like I had that spring before graduation.
“I know, I know. It was my fault. I thought I was helping you. I thought I was helping us, so we could graduate and have a future.” Brandon shook his head as he played with a stick on the ground with his foot. “I’ve barely worked since then. It’s been two years and still no one will hire me. Other than a few freelance jobs here and there…my parents are still upset I didn’t graduate…My life is fucked Summer. Fucked.” Brandon bent down and picked up the stick he had been kicking. “Looks like you’ve been doing well for yourself.” Brandon pointed to the red Mercedes parked at the far end of the lot.
“No. That’s not mine. I’m just borrowing that.” I wondered how he knew I had been driving that car. I wondered whether he had been sitting in the parking lot, watching me.
“Oh yeah…I know all about it. Looks like you landed yourself a sugar daddy.” Brandon chuckled. “A step up from lame old me huh?” Brandon tossed the stick across the grass and wiped his hands together.
“My private life is none of your business Brandon. Is that why you’re here? Have you been following me?” I turned back to the apartment in an effort to end the conversation. “I don’t need this.”
“Summer, you may want to wait for a moment.”
I hesitated and spun around looking at Brandon. I knew whatever he was about to say wouldn’t be something I wanted to hear.
“I started this little company…and I