One Wild Night

"Sorry I didn\'t come back to the Perrys\' house as I said I would," she said apologetically as she went to join Evelyn and Desmond in the living room.

"For a moment, I thought Bryan left you behind, or maybe you chose not to spend the night here anymore," Evelyn said, and Sonia shook her head.

"I would have given you a call if that were the case. I can\'t just come and go as I please in your house," Sonia said without her characteristic excitement, and the couple exchanged a look.

"Did you both fight again? I thought Bryan went over to reconcile with you?" Desmond asked, wondering why they both seemed upset.

"We will be fine. He\'s just upset," Sonia assured them with a forced smile as she picked a finger of banana from the bowl of fruits Evelyn and Desmond were eating.

The couple exchanged a look, "If you don\'t mind me asking, were you able to resolve the issue with him?" Desmond asked as he watched Sonia peel the banana and take a bite from it.

Sonia chewed slowly as she turned to them, and after swallowing, she went on to explain all that had transpired in her apartment with Derek, as well as the whole conflict thing and how Jeff had been behind it.

By the time she was done, both Evelyn and Desmond sighed, "Bryan meant to help," Evelyn said weakly.

"And I appreciate that," Sonia said with a nod as she ate what was left of the banana.

"But?" Desmond asked, knowing that Sonia had something else to say.

"Bryan doesn\'t trust me. And the way he handled the entire situation scares me. I don\'t want to believe that if Jeff had not called, Bryan would have handled things this way," Sonia said, and Desmond nodded.

"You are right to feel that way, but you should also not forget that he came to find you to resolve things even before he found out Jeff was behind it," Desmond reminded her.

"I\'m not forgetting that," Sonia said with a sigh as her thoughts drifted to her earlier conversation with Bryan.

She had asked him to show her the message he had received from Derek, and after reading it, she sighed.

Derek had no doubt gone too far, especially with the last line about missing the feel of her cunt around his cock, but there was nothing in the text that wasn\'t true. But all that was in the past. And the difference was that she was in love with Bryan and was committed to him. She had no plans of getting bored or breaking up.

His jealousy was understandable, but his reaction wasn\'t. She couldn\'t get over the fact that he had confronted her that way about it when he could easily have raised it as a discussion.

"I\'m sorry..."

"What are you sorry about, Bryan?" Sonia interrupted as she returned his phone to him.

"For setting this up and for reacting the way I did," Bryan said, and Sonia shook her head.

"I think we might be going too fast," Sonia had told Bryan after they were both seated in her apartment.

"What do you mean by that?" Bryan had asked with a frown, not wanting to believe she was implying what he thought she meant.

"You heard me. I think maybe it\'s time we started to take things slowly if we want this relationship to work," Sonia said, and Bryan raised a brow.

"By slowly, what do you mean?" Bryan asked as he watched her.

"Maybe we shouldn\'t move in together..."

"For Christ\'s sake, Sonia! I made one mistake. One mistake. And I\'ve apologized for it. I\'m sorry. You can\'t just make such a decision on the spur of the moment like this," Bryan said as he rose from his seat and went to her, but Sonia shook her head.

"I\'m not mad at you... No, maybe I\'m mad. I\'m not mad that you tried to create conflict. I\'m mad at the way you handled this situation. But I\'m not making this decision because I\'m mad. I\'m making this decision because I love you, and I want us to work..."

"This doesn\'t make sense, Sonia," Bryan cut in.

"I think we barely know and understand each other well enough to move in together. I think it\'s best we go slowly. I can visit, or you do the visiting, and then we go out on dates and get to learn more about each other," Sonia said, and Bryan shook his head.

"I don\'t agree with you. I don\'t think this is best for our relationship. I\'ve been able to spend this much time with you because I\'ve not been working. What do you think will happen when I resume work, and I have to travel around a lot? We planned that we would live together and travel together to the movie sites, remember?" Bryan asked, but Sonia shrugged.

"I don\'t want us to do that anymore. If what we have is important to you, I\'m sure you will find a way," Sonia said, and Bryan looked at her incredulously.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You are being selfish right now; do you know that? Why do you always call the shots in our relationship this way without discussing it with me?"

"Always?" Sonia asked, standing up to face him. This was the second time he was using that word, and it was pissing her off.

"Yes. This is not the first time you are making a decision that involves us on your own without seeking my opinion or caring about my feelings," Bryan said angrily.

"Did you seek my opinion before talking to Jeff about creating a conflict in our relationship?" Sonia asked, equally angry.

"That was different! You said you wanted drama. You hinted that our relationship was boring and there was no fun thing for you to write about. Jeff may have gone about it the wrong way, but I did that to help you with your story! That is different from breaking up with me in the middle of a reality shoot because you want to go meet Lucy!" Bryan yelled at her.

"You have no right to bring that up in this discussion. You understood why I did that. I did that for you!" Sonia snapped at him, hating that he was dragging Lucy into their argument again.

"Did I ask you to? Did you ask me if that was what I wanted? Is this what being in a relationship means to you?" Bryan asked, completely angry now.

"I can\'t believe that we are back to this subject. I can\'t wrap my head around the fact that I\'m dating someone so childish and immature who can not let go of the past..."

"Childish and immature?" Bryan asked in a suddenly calm voice.

"Yes! You heard that right. If you don\'t want to be addressed as childish and immature, then you shouldn\'t act so childish and immature. I see no reason you keep bringing up Lucy or the fact that I ended things with you that way. I think this is more reason we need a break from each other. I maintain my stand that moving in together is a bad idea at this stage of our relationship," Sonia said, and Bryan gave her a nod.

"Have it your way then. Are you going back home with me now, or do you intend to stay back here now?" Bryan asked, and Sonia\'s brows pulled together when she realized she had hurt his feelings.

"Bryan..."

"Meet me in the car in five minutes if you\'re coming with me. If you don\'t show up, I\'ll assume you\'re not coming," Bryan said, and without waiting for her to say another word, he walked out of the apartment.

Sonia sighed as she looked at the door. She shouldn\'t have called him childish and immature. That had been uncalled for, regardless of her anger. She had hurt his ego.

She had no plans of changing her stance concerning moving in with him, but maybe she needed to let him calm down before talking to him about it again. She had to make him see reasons with her and understand why they needed to take things slowly.

Once Sonia joined him outside and got into the car, he started the car and drove off.

"Bryan, I shouldn\'t have called you childish and immature. I\'m sorry," Sonia said, but Bryan didn\'t spare her a glance as he drove.

"Babe, I\'m sorry," Sonia said, but Bryan remained quiet through the hour-long drive, and once he parked the car in front of their family house, he got out of the car without saying a word to her, and went inside the house.

Sonia sighed as she forced a smile and looked at Desmond, who was watching her with concern, "I\'m fine. You don\'t have to look at me with such worried eyes," Sonia assured him before facing Evelyn.

"So, how was your visit? I hope you enjoyed yourself with Janet?" Sonia asked as she picked a slice of apple and plopped it into her mouth, wanting them to discuss something else other than herself.

"About that," Evelyn said as she sat up and looked at Sonia with interest.

"Did you know Janet has a twin sister?" Evelyn asked curiously, and Sonia bobbed her head.

"Janet told you about her? You must be pretty close. Lucy said she never likes to talk about her," Sonia said as she chewed, and Evelyn sighed.

"Janet and Andrew plan to return to Ludus tomorrow. I think we should return as well, but Desmond says he\'s tired of getting on the plane again," Evelyn said, and Sonia frowned.

"Why are they going back to Ludus, and why do you want to go there too? Did something happen to Lucy?" Sonia asked with a frown.

"Not Lucy. Harry. Janet\'s twin sister is Harry\'s mom...."

"What?" Sonia asked in surprise, almost choking on the apple she had just swallowed.

"Sara is Harry\'s mom?" She asked with surprised eyes, and Evelyn gave her a nod as she went on to tell her everything Janet had told them as well as what she had heard directly from Lucy.

"Candace? Does that mean Candace is the missing daughter Jade was trying to help Sara find? Does Jade know about this yet? Is she aware that Harry is Sara\'s son?" Sonia asked, wondering what was going on and why Lucy hadn\'t bothered to tell her about it when they had spoken the previous night.

"Jade was trying to help Sara find her missing daughter?" Evelyn asked curiously, and when Sonia gave her a nod, Evelyn exchanged a look with Desmond.

"We should call Jade, so she doesn\'t tell Sara about...."

"I\'m sure she knows everything already since Candace is probably with Harry and his dad by now," Evelyn said, and Sonia frowned.

So she was the last to hear about everything? Both Lucy and Jade had kept everything from her while she had been trying to help the both of them, Sonia thought with a sigh feeling disappointed at Lucy for keeping secrets from her when she never kept anything from her.

Sonia\'s thoughts drifted to Matt, and she wondered if he was aware of this and what he would think when he found out that Candace was Harry\'s twin sister.

"I wonder if Jade travelled with Candace," Evelyn said with a worried frown as she looked at her husband.

"Can\'t we go? Please. Harry is our boy too, and Jamal is our baby. This will be tough on them all, including Janet. I think we should be there for them," Evelyn pleaded, and Desmond sighed.

"Fine. I will arrange for us to leave tomorrow," Desmond said as he rose from his seat, and Evelyn smiled at him as he leaned forward to kiss her forehead.

"Thank you, Des. I love you."

"I love you more," Desmond said as he headed for the stairs, but paused when Bryan suddenly headed down the stairs looking like he was going out.

"Where are you going boy?" Desmond asked, since it was past 8 PM already.

"Out. Don\'t wait up for me," Bryan called to whoever cared to listen as he headed for the door and Sonia rose to follow him.

"Bryan!" She called as she hurried after him but Bryan said nothing as he got into his car and drove off before she could get to him.

Sonia sighed as she watched him leave. She wished they could go with Evelyn and Desmond to Ludus, but she needed to conclude her business with her editor, meet with the movie producer and travel out to visit her mother\'s graveside as she had planned.

She wished Bryan didn\'t choose to act up right now.