Our weekly dates continued. Our touchy flirting continued. Our unspoken undercurrent continued. Our friendship grew stronger still. In eight months, Brianna had become the most important person in my life. She knew me as well as Tye, if not better.
For Christmas, I put more time and thought into her gift, than my husband's. Her gift to me, a silver heart necklace that I'd once mentioned to her, made my eyes water. I'd shown it to Tye three times in two months, yet he didn't even recognize it when he saw it around my neck. He bought me several nice, thoughtful gifts, but Brianna's meant more. It was a treasure.
In January, Patrick had to travel for a week-long work trip. Brianna hated being alone during his trips and usually stayed at her parents' house. But her mom had caught the flu, eliminating that possibility. She'd have to stay home. Patrick had suggested having a friend stay overnight with her. Of course, I was the one she invited. I could only come on Friday and Saturday night. Patrick would return on Sunday. Tye agreed, but asked that I take the kids, who played well with Brianna's kids.
We were both giddy with excitement all week, looking forward to so much alone time. On Friday night, we let the kids stay up late playing while we did our nails and chatted. When the kids went to bed at around 11:00, we settled on the couch to watch a movie.
"I want some wine," Brianna said as the opening scene of Black Swan began.
Captivated by the twirling ballerina feet and the dramatic entrance of some guy in dressed in black, I mumbled a reply. "Oh, yeah, me too."
She came back with a bottle and two glasses. The movie was very compelling and we didn't talk much as it moved along. It was not so much a ballet movie, as I'd expected. It was dark and psychological. We just sipped and watched, sitting next to each other on the larger couch.
The scene came where the main character is receiving oral sex from another girl. Brianna and I sat frozen on the couch.
When it ended, I was desperate to break the hold that the movie had on us and return things to the fun girly time we'd been having before. I looked at the bottle of wine, realized we'd drank most of it and realized that I was definitely feeling it.
"Hey Brianna."
"Yeah?"
"How often does Patrick go down on you?"
She smiled at me and sat up, letting me know that I'd picked the perfect distraction.
"He tries to a lot, but I usually stop him. He picks the wrong time, like, every time. How about Tye?"
"Hardly ever. He's only done it like twice... ever."
"Are you serious?!"
"I don't even think about it," I shrugged.
"Did you enjoy it?"