5
1115 Words
They spend the day lounging around the house. She loans Cade the only thing she has that would fit him, a pair of basketball shorts.
Sitting around the little fire place in the living room, she cant help but wonder. How did she not see this before? How did it never happen?
They were only together for six weeks before Brooke found out, but surely if he was having three or four or five accidents a week, she would have found out.
She chalks it up to, Cade has been pushing his limits. He used to go the bathroom religiously, every hour, on the dot. He obviously feels safe around her, but she can still see the devastation in his eyes every single time. It's torture.
Brooke reevaluates after that.
Cade is comfortable around her. Cade never had an accident around her for six weeks. Cade can't always tell when it's coming.
The next few days, Brooke changes her mind set. Cade stays distant for a few days. She isn't worried in particular, but she knows he needs space.
Cade invites her over after work on Wednesday. She hasn't seen or heard much from him since the incident on Sunday.
It's pushing 8 by the time she arrives.
Cade is sitting in his recliner in the house. It's quiet.
"Hey." He says, pushing the foot rest down. He walks over and hugs her. She falls weak for a moment, but straights back up when she notices he is doing the same, like he really needed it.
She squeezes him and gets a long kiss on the lips. Cade sighs when she draws away.
"Can we talk?" He says, looking at the floor.
Brooke feels her heart start racing.
"Yeah..." She says sitting down on the couch
Cade snuggles in next to her, laying his head on her legs.
He takes a deep breath.
"The last few nights..." he says, then stops.
"I have been...you know..."
Brooke looks at him not knowing.
"That night we slept together. That was the first time, in my whole life I didn't..." He trails off again.
There is another pause.
"The last few nights...it's happened over and over..." He says, furrowing his brow.
"You don't think?"
Cade looks at her with the saddest pair of puppy dog eyes she has ever seen, all red and swollen, like he had cried all day or hasn't slept since Sunday, she can't tell.
"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?"
"Please."
Brooke leans down and kisses him.
"I wish you would have told me that so I could have brought pajama's." She says, more trying to lighten the conversation than anything.
Cade grind.
"You look good in my shirts."
They both laugh.
That night is a little different than the last. Cade tosses her an old grey T-shirt. She pulls it on. It's baggier than the one from a few nights ago. Something that must have been at least two sizes too big on Cade.
They crawl into Cade's bed.
He positions himself into her side, arm around her neck. He falls under in an instant. It's not exactly surprising with how exhausted the poor guy looked today.
It takes Brooke a little longer. She looks around his room. She has only been in here twice before. Once on Sunday and once before that. Cade probably didn't want her to discover the mattress protector or anything else he may have.
It's pretty brightly lit. The hallway light is on the door is wide open. Brooke honestly doesn't know how he sleeps like that. However it does give her enough light to see some of the decor.
It's a little different than her room. No pictures of friends from highschool, or academic metals. Just a few generic black and white pictures of classic cars. It makes her sad for a moment.
She thinks of all the things Cade probably couldn't do in school. He never played sports, probably because he was worried of having an accident. Couldn't go on camp-outs because he was worried about wetting the bed. Probably couldn't even go on field trips because he couldn't hold it the whole bus ride.
Cade wasn't exactly what you'd call popular in school. He would dress well, Levi jeans and a a plain Hollister T shirt, like most of the other kids wore. He was very clean and brushed his hair every day. He had always been relatively attractive, just...no one could talk to him. He would shy away. He eventually became an outcast. He was the victim of many cruel pranks and nick names in highschool.
She had almost forgotten about him completely five years later. She had walked into the local Farm and Fleet store to get a bag soil for her flower pot. She had lifted up the bag only to have it bust all over the floor. Before she could even begin to be embarrassed about it, she felt a firm, warm hand on her back.
"Sorry." She huffed out before she could even turn around.
When she did, she was greeted by those big brown eyes, hidden under that same Braves hat.
"It's okay." A soft voice said.
"Just leave it, I will find my friend who works here. He will clean it up."
Brooke was still awestruck by the sweet man, trying to figure out where she had seen him before.
"Did you go to Harlingston?" She blurted out, not thinking.
His shy smile turns down as he gazes at the ground.
"Yeah." Is all he says.
"I would have thought I..." Brooke says, then it dawns on her. The timid little kid who always sat in the back of class, never went on outings, basically the kid who was always there but no one really knew.
"...Caden Belmount?" She tries not to be too straightforward, it doesn't work.
He turns his side a little bit, trying to face away from her.
"Cade." He says gently.
"Brooke." She says smiling.
"I don't think we ever officially met."
The young man tried to read her for a second. She didn't seem like she was trying to be rude. She genuinely didn't seem to remember anything about him.
For some odd reason, even before they knew eachother, Brooke could read Cade like a book.
"Do you...maybe wanna go get some coffee or something sometime?" She says without even thinking. She has never been the type to ask a guy out and she never has, but there was something about this guy, screaming that he needed a friend.
He looks at her wondering.
"Do...do you know who I am?" He asks in a bigger voice.
"I would like to."
- Writer
