Random Encounter by Allyson Lindt
Twenty-One
Phillip
I’d hesitated to accept Brandon’s invitation. My no was right on the tip of my tongue, and then yes came out instead.
The night was great—movies with friends, just like it used to be—which left me torn. I was about to give this all up, which was the right decision, so why was it easier to accept just one more evening out with Dustin and Adrienne than it was to consider when my final day with the company would be?
I should pick myself up and go. I’d spent as much time with people as without over the last week or so. At Dustin’s, with Adrienne, even at my place, which I preferred empty and quiet.
So why was I still here, wrapped up with Adrienne and Dustin even though the movie was over, while Danny and Brandon sat in their own content cocoon, and Reese reclined like a queen on her throne?
I was too entrenched in this. Adrienne was coming up to speed quickly at work, and it was time for me to consider moving up the date I was leaving. Judith was just waiting for my final notice, to make things official. Monday might be that time. Hell, maybe even tomorrow.
Brandon sighed with contentment. “Man, Phillip, I can’t believe you’re thinking about leaving all of this behind.”
“What?” Dustin jerked his head up.
Fuck. Maybe I’d pick that leaving date tonight.
“Oh.” Brandon grimaced. “I thought with her here, you would’ve… Oh.”
Told someone besides him and Judith? “Nope.”
“Her who?” Adrienne’s question was uncertain. “Her me?”
“Leaving what all behind?” Dustin asked.
Brandon clamped his mouth shut.
About a minute too late.
“Adrienne is my replacement.” I might as well tell them at this point. “I’m leaving the company.”
Dustin stared at me, and the seconds ticked away. “Just like that?” he said. “No, wait, not just like that, because Brandon knows. Because that’s why you hired Addie. You started this weeks ago. You’ve been planning this.”
“Yes.” Half of me rebelled with the straight answer. Telling me to take it back. To reconsider. But Dustin was right—I made up my mind long before this. A moment of awkwardness wouldn’t change that this was the right decision.
“But…” Dustin shook his head. “Aces… The game… It’s all going to be amazing. It is amazing. How could you walk away from that? From… everything?”
The real answer hovered at the edge of my thoughts and felt vaguely like fear. If I reached for it, I’d dive into what I felt last weekend. But I didn’t want to admit it to myself. To them. This way I choose when you’re gone. The accusation in Dustin’s glare burned through me, and I hated that as much as the way everyone else was staring at anything but me.
Especially Adrienne, gaze on her hands as she fidgeted with her shirt.
I extracted myself from the comfortable pile of us, and bit back my revulsion at the shocking cold of want that rushed through me when I stood. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Fuck you,” Dustin said.
Yeah. Not ever again. I turned and walked out of the house.
