Flawless

I couldn't believe what just happened. It wasn't so long ago that I was Rayne, "the only queer" at school who had no interest in romance or even sex. And now, boys were coming at me left, right and centre and I couldn't handle all this attention.

After leaving Theo behind at the library, I stormed into my apartment and planted myself on my bed facefirst. I let out a loud groan and then rotated myself so I could stare up at the ceiling.

I thought Brendan and I had the perfect love. I swore it was. But now since I had left, I didn't know what I thought about that matter...

After all my self-wallowing, I finally noticed a note perched up on my bedside table with my name printed on it in Jesse's messy handwriting. I quickly opened it and after making out what it said, I read it out loud:

'Rayne, just wanted to let you know I finished work early and ducked home for a quick bite to eat. Messages on answering machine for you. You should check them out. Be home late. Jesse.'

I was as technology savvy as a blind snail so I got up out of bed and stared at the big black box that my brother referred to as "the answering machine" and tapped my finger on the side of my face. I saw a glowing red 4 but didn't know what to do.

After examining the box, I hit myself on the head when I saw all I had to do was press the Play button.

1: 'Hi boys, it's your mother here! Just calling in to let you know that I love you and I miss you so much already. Oh, and Rayne, Brendan stopped by and had dinner with us the other night. He's such a lovely young man. Bye!'

I almost shivered at the name of that 'lovely young man' that I had betrayed moments ago.

2: 'Rayne, it's Brendan. I thought I'd leave a message here since you keep ignoring my phone calls on your cell. I'm sorry for what I said. I miss you and I love you so much. Please call me back. I love you.'

Brendan.

3: 'It's me again. Please, Rayne, I'm so sorry. I never should have said what I did. Please forgive me. I love you so much.'

Brendan.

4: 'Hi boys, Mum again. Jesse, I hope you're taking care of your little brother. Rayne, I hope you're taking care of Jesse. Be good.'

I figured out how to go back and I listened to Brendan's messages once more. His voice sent chills up and down my spine and I closed my eyes and imagined him standing next to me. I could almost smell his masculine sweet scent next to me.

I couldn't dare face him, or even text him, after what I had done.

But I missed him so much. I couldn't help it. I dramatically charged over to my phone, hit Brendan's speed dial number and eagerly waited for him to answer, my heart pounding like crazy. It stopped when I went straight to his voicemail. His phone must be off. I decided not to leave a message in case I sounded sad, pathetic and lonely so I hung up my phone, sighed and fell back onto my bed.

I had dozed off and woke up startled when I heard Jesse loudly come into the apartment and moments later, he was standing at the foot of my bed and he had whacked me on my leg.

'Wake up, lazy,' he shouted.

I groaned and attempted to kick him but he caught my ankle and gently placed it back down on my bed.

'I'm going to take a shower. I ordered pizza so listen out for the door, will you?'

I begrudgingly got out of bed and sat in the lounge room, aimlessly flicking through music channels until I found a somewhat decent song.

I heard a loud knock on the door and got up, hoping Jesse had ordered vegetarian pizza for me. I opened the door and greeted the pizza delivery man who had a bright smile on his face.

'G'day! Here's your pizza!'

I couldn't help but smile at his beautiful optimism so I handed him his money plus tip and thanked him. I took the hot boxes off him and placed them on the kitchen counter.

I finally decided to get more comfortable so I kicked my jeans off and slipped into a pair of cotton boxers when I heard a loud knock on the door once again. The pizza man probably thought I gave him the wrong amount of money when I just wanted to tip him for being polite.

After quickly rushing into a hooded sweater, I swung open the door again.

'Don't worry about the change, that's just a tip for you.'

'Rayne?'

I looked up and my heart nearly fell out of its safety bone cage. I grabbed onto the doorknob just to hold me up in case I fainted.

'Brendan?'

He walked forward and took me into his arms in one swift movement. If I couldn't feel him, see him and smell him, I would've thought I was dreaming. But I was wide awake. And I was in his arms once again.

'Brendan?' I repeated.

He pulled away so he could look down at my face; he reached up and delicately rubbed the side of my face with the back of his finger.

'I love you so much,' he whispered, 'and I'm so sorry for saying that to you.'

'Brendan!' I pulled away and lightly punched him in the arm. He looked at me cautiously for a moment before I opened my mouth to speak again. 'You know I hate surprises! I nearly pissed my pants!'

A smile spread across his face and I soon felt myself mirroring his expression and I jumped in his arms. He held me up off the floor and squeezed me so tight that I thought a few ribs were just broken.

'I've missed you so much, Rayne! You don't know how long I've been waiting for this!' He placed me down on the ground and smiled at me once more.

'Brendan! I hate you so much!' I punched him in the arm once more and winked at him. He chuckled and put his best sad puppydog on his face.

'Forgive me?'

'This is so unreal! I can't believe you did this! I can hardly contain myself here. I'm about to pee myself again. This is unreal. I have to be dreaming. This can't be r-'

'Shutup and kiss me,' he cut me off.

I happily obliged and wrapped my arms around his neck while our mouths hungrily manouevred around each others, longing for this sensation since the last time we kissed.

'That pizza smells - Brendan!'

We looked over and saw Jesse staring at us with a more shocked expression than I had, I assumed.

'Surprise,' Brendan said with a chuckle.

Jesse had gone to sleep and Brendan and I were cuddled up on the sofa together, staring at a blank screen on the television.

'I couldn't handle not talking to you, Rayne,' he began to explain, 'I knew I had to come see you. You're a bit stubborn, if you haven't noticed.'

'Yes, yes, I've noticed.'

'I asked your parents for your address details and after a painful flight, here I am. I knew I was taking a chance in case you never wanted to speak to me again...'

'Don't ever think that, Brendan. We might have had a bit of a fight but I will always love you, no matter what.'

Brendan softly kissed me on my forehead and tightened his grip around me.

'You know what else I missed about you?'

'What? My superior cooking skills?'

'Besides that...' he said with a chuckle.

He got up off the sofa and deftly put his hands underneath me so he could pick me up into his arms.

'I'm going to make love with the love of my life,' he simply said with a smile.