"Why would anyone need 250 pocketknives?" Mira asked as she sat in the dark with Taylor watching the Home Shopping Network.
"Why would anyone watch this?" He asked. "Mira, what’s going on? Are you okay?"
"I’m fine," she looked at him.
"I mean, what’s up with you and Preston?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing really. We went out the other night and it was no big deal."
"I think he really likes you."
Mira nodded slowly with her attention focused on the television.
"And I’m assuming you don’t reciprocate those feelings?" Taylor asked.
"I don’t know. It’s just," she breathed. "He’s not Brian," rested her head on the back of the couch and looked at him. "It’s weird."
"Nobody’s Brian, Mira. But," he hesitated. "Do you really want another Brian?"
She took a deep breath and looked into Taylor’s eyes as he waited for her answer. "I don’t know what I want," she said softly.
Thursday night Mira and Taylor had retired themselves to Mira’s living room for another leisurely night of watching TV. Allison was at work and neither of them had any homework.
"What is Detroit?" Taylor answered in response to a Jeopardy question. Mira popped a few more Skittles in her mouth.
"Very nice," she approved.
"Who is James Joyce?" Both of them answered another question at the same time. Taylor took the bag of skittles and dug a few out picking the orange ones and dropping them back into the bag. There was a knock on the door and Mira removed herself from the couch and walked over to the door.
Her heart rate doubled at the sight of Brian, melted snow adorned the tips of his short blonde hair. He stood in her doorway wrapped in a black peacoat and a pair of navy sweatpants.
"Brian," Mira managed to breathe out. Taylor whipped his head around and looked over the back of the couch.
"Hi," Brian said weakly.
"What are you doing here?" Mira asked stepping back a little.
"I," he sighed and closed his eyes. "I wanted to talk to you."
"Okay," she moved aside letting him walk into her kitchen.
"Just to let you know," he began, "I think I’ve gotten a total of 5 hours of sleep in the past week. All I do is think about you, Mira. This is crazy. What are we doing?" He sat down at her kitchen table and held his head in his hands.
"What do you mean?" She asked wanting so badly to sit on his lap, run her fingers through his hair and tell him it’d be okay.
"Maybe it’s because of my lack of sleep," he said looking up at her. "But I don’t even remember why we broke up."
"Um, you slept with someone else," Taylor spoke up from his position on the couch. "Remember?"
Mira closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip.
"What?" Brian exclaimed looking at her. Taylor raised his eyebrows and looked at Mira. She felt all eyes on her and sighed heavily. "What’s he talking about Mira?" Brian asked standing up from his chair.
"I...I," she stuttered not being able to meet Brian’s eyes.
"You still think I cheated on you? Damnit, Mira. I don’t get you. You had no reason to believe I cheated on you. We got in one stupid fight because I had to work late last weekend."
"Brian-"
"And you thought I was sleeping with someone else," he interrupted. "You still think that, don’t you?"
Taylor’s eyes darted back and forth between the two feeling very uncomfortable.
"Don't’ you?" Brian pressed on. Tears began streaming down Mira’s face as she kept her head down. She stared at the hard wood floor as it became blurrier and blurrier. "Well I guess that says it. You know, I lost sleep over you. It killed me to think that you didn’t trust me and didn’t believe how much I loved you," he said angrily as he came closer to her. "I guess you just don’t want this to work," he told her walking towards her door.
Mira sniffed and ran her hand over the top of her head. "Guess you weren’t worth the lost sleep after all," Brian said quietly as he opened the door. "And I should’ve guessed he’d be here," he said nodding toward Taylor before leaving and loudly pulling the door shut behind him.
Mira rubbed her eyes and angrily ran her fingers through her messy hair. "Oh my God," she moaned. "That was so totally pointless."
"He didn’t sleep with someone else?" Taylor asked tentatively.
She sniffed and looked over at Taylor. "I don’t know," she whispered. "Fuck him," she covered her face with her hands. "Damnit he pisses me off."
Taylor got up off the couch and came over to her. He scooped her up in a hug and she held him around his waist as she buried her face in his shirt. "God," she breathed. "I’m so sick of this."
