Quentin was looking at the closed door with "31A" on it."What was that?", he wondered.
He rang the doorbell, Olivia opened the door and after looking at him for two seconds, she closed the door without saying a word.
Quentin was about to ring the doorbell again when the door opened. This time it was Elizabeth.
"Hi Quentin…", she said awkwardly while looking at the bouquet of flowers he was gripping nervously.
"Can I speak to Brianna?", Quentin asked, and he was relieved that his voice is not shaky anymore.
Liz looked at Quentin, feeling sorry for him. "No."
Quentin was shocked with Elizabeth"s rejection. Is it possible that Bri really-really does not want to talk to him? But he can"t give up. "Liz, please. I just want to talk to her. Can you ask her to come out?"
Elizabeth sighed. "I can"t."
"Then let me go in."
Elizabeth stepped on the side. "You can come in, but you can"t talk to her..." She watched Quentin walk in her apartment and she finished her sentence: "…because she left."
Quentin froze.
"Left? When?", he asked in disbelief.
"About one hour ago."
Quentin moved to rush out, hoping to catch up with Brianna, and he paused at Liz"s words: "By now she probably pa.s.sed security checks. Even if you go to the airport, you can"t talk to her."
Quentin lowered his head and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath while trying to compose himself.
He knows that Elizabeth is right. It takes less than twenty minutes to reach the airport from their current location and considering that Brianna was in Seattle only for a weekend, she is traveling light which means that she will swiftly pa.s.s through check-in and security.
Quentin had an urge to rub his chin, how he usually does when he is troubled, but all the strength seeped out of his limbs. His fiery G.o.ddess left. He is too late.
He was not sure what to say, so he didn"t want to show up early in the morning, even though he knew that Olivia will be there from 9 AM. And now… he is too late.
Since Brianna left last night, he has a gaping hole in his chest which is painfully suffocating. And now… it"s worse.
Even if Brianna is here, he does not know what he would say. Would he say that he is sorry? Sorry, for what exactly? For being stupid? For playing around instead of waiting for his fiery G.o.ddess to show up into his life? For having those stupid magazines in his apartment? He threw them all out. After Brianna left, he spent hours sweeping through his apartment and throwing in the trash every little thing that can point out to his troubling past. And when all that was in the dumpster behind his building, Quentin went through his email and cell phone contacts and deleted each and every girl he slept with, or he kept that information for the future, or he didn"t know who they are. He removed everything. And he wishes that he was wise enough to do that twenty-four hours ago.
"Q, are you alright?", Max asked.
Only then Quentin looked around and saw Mia and Hunter stuck to each other on a single-seater sofa chair. They are holding each other and looking at Quentin. Olivia is on a chair opposite from them, also looking at him. Quentin realized that he probably looks like a mess when all three of them are staring at him like that.
He looked at Liz who is right next to him, and saw that Max is also there. Based on the sight of Max"s hand resting around Liz"s shoulders and Liz not swatting it away, Quentin can see that Max made progress.
Quentin snorted while wondering, what bad luck is this? Hunter who never showed interest in girls is holding one in his lap and she is holding him back. Max managed to get together with a girl who was drifting between refusing his advances and thinking that he is gay… and he (Quentin) was unable to get the girl who obviously likes him.
"Hey…", Max called and repeated: "Are you OK?"
"No.", Quentin responded. His head is buzzing and he feels nauseated and this whole thing seems like a very bad dream. How can he be OK?
"Do you want to talk about it?", Liz asked while gesturing toward the living room.
Quentin sighed. "No."
Quentin pushed the bouquet of flowers in Liz"s hands and turned to leave. "Sorry for disturbing you.", he mumbled before walking away.
Liz looked up at Max and saw that he looks troubled.
"Do you want to go after him?"
Max shook his head. "I have a feeling that he would rather be by himself."
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Max and Liz returned to the sofa, and Olivia went to put the flowers in a vase.
Before Quentin came, they were talking about lunch plans excitedly but now the mood is off.
"Do you know what happened?", Liz asked Mia.
Mia thought about it before answering: "Bri told me that it didn"t work out and she came back early."
Liz sighed. "Based on Quentin"s appearance, this is more than just "didn"t work out"."
"He likes Bri. It seems that he came to make amends, but he came too late.", Max said while pulling Liz backward to lean on him. He was happy that she didn"t resist.
"No need for us to worry.", Mia said. "They are both grownups. Let"s go back to lunch-talk!"
Liz looked at Mia"s lit-up expression and stifled a laugh. Mia was always a glutton.
Olivia said that she will head out soon, and she does not want to be the third (or fifth) wheel.
Mia and Liz were picking restaurants based on online reviews while Max and Hunter were giving their inputs.
They picked one small seafood restaurant on the beach and Max and Hunter went across the hall to Max"s apartment to get ready.
…
In Max"s apartment…
Max is humming a tune happily while picking what to wear. He is excited to have first lunch with Liz as his girlfriend! At the same time, he is amazed by the fact that Hunter and Mia are joining them as a couple.
"Are you done?", Hunter asked when he entered Max"s room.
"Almost… Can you believe that the two of us are going on a double-date?", Max voiced his thoughts.
"Yeah.", Hunter grinned. "I see that we will have many of those."
Max"s smile fell. What does Hunter mean by "many of those"?
Ah! Only now Max realized that with Mia staying with Liz, Liz would want to have her meals with Mia because she feels responsible for her! And even if it"s not every-every one, it will be most of them.
Max was not happy about this. Not happy at all. "Grrr… Think, Max. Think!", Max encouraged himself.
The only way to avoid Liz sticking to Mia is to separate them, make Mia independent. Hunter said how he will get his place but that can take days or more.
"Where will you stay until you get your own place?", Max asked Hunter.
Hunter paused. He obviously didn"t think about it. "I will stick to Mia wherever she is. We still didn"t talk about getting our…"
Max didn"t hear the rest. It"s exactly what he feared. His brother plans to get inside Liz"s apartment with Mia! Max felt like crying. How will he get alone-time with Liz if Hunter and Mia are there?
"You can bring Mia here.", Max grumbled.
Max knows that he has no legitimate reason for Liz to sleep at his place. Even for him, scheming every night to get her into his apartment is too much. So, he might as well get Hunter and Mia out of there. Max smirked while thinking that he can use an excuse of Hunter and Mia being too loud, and he ends up in Liz"s apartment to sleep. Now that is a legit reason to sleep in Liz"s bed!
Hunter"s face lit up. "Really?"
"Yeah. With two conditions. One is that you stay in your room. If I find you using my bedroom or my stuff, you are out of here. Second, I want you to actively look for your place."
Hunter grinned. "Deal!"
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