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Suzi excitedly grabbed her purse and flitted out the door Caesar held open for her.
"Ooh, I have to tell you something later! Don't let me forget!" She called after him as she locked the door behind her. Caesar nodded, holding the passenger car door open for her. She settled in, connecting her phone to play her music as Caesar drove off to pick up Joseph. Quickly distracted by a different conversation, by the time they were at Joseph's, Suzi hadn't brought up her plan to reveal her feelings to Joseph. Hoping to get Caesar's support and encouragement. Hoping that, by some small miracle, reality wouldn't get in the way.
Caesar pulled the car up to a stop on the street in front of Joseph's house. Normally he's already outside, tossing a ball around or trying to crack his head open climbing the tree in the front yard.
"I'll go get him." Caesar practically jumped out of the car and hurried to the door.
Joseph swung open the door, looking surprised Caesar was at his doorstep. They spat words at each other, flailing arms and friendly fire.
All these years she'd known Caesar, he'd taken the role of an older brother she never had. Protective, caring, supportive. Yet within the few months of knowing Joseph, things had changed. Subtly. Small shifts in behavior or actions. Nothing against her, of course not. Not ever. She couldn't imagine Caesar ever treating her terribly. At least not on purpose.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't mend her bleeding heart as she watched them hopelessly fall for each other.
She watched them swat at each other and wrestle in the doorway. Joseph 'losing' and getting caught in a headlock, pulled in tight against Caesar's chest. A smarmy little smile on his face giving away that was his plan all along. Caesar released him and shooed him off to grab whatever it was he forgot.
It wasn't fair. She'd met him first. She fell for him first. She had the right, didn't she?
Of course love didn't work that way.
As much as she wanted to lay claim to Joseph, she couldn't deny their connection. The undisputable bond. Star-crossed fate.
Caesar meandered over to her window, lips pulled into a tight smile clearly trying to hide more than he wanted to show. She rolled down the window and he leaned in on an arm.
"What did you want to talk about?"
Suzi smiled politely, hoping the pain wouldn't show through any cracks.
"Never mind. It doesn't matter."
Joseph bolted back toward them, tackling Caesar and crashing them both to the ground with a loud thump and a groan and a cackle of laughter. Suzi rolled up her window and tried not to think about it.
She didn't stand a chance.