The Gay Nerd Who Stole His Heart

Their relationship had been quite dry recently. Whenever Bradley said anything, Ella would dismiss him with one-word answers, and although Bradley was putting effort to work things out, he hated Ella dodging him as if he was an annoyance. And it was building up inside of him for days, so he knew one of these days he was going to explode.

Which he did.

Ella continuously returned home late, and Bradley would wait for her, worried that she would not make it bad. She had been getting repeatedly drunk a few nights in a row, waking with a horrid hangover and heading to work barely functioning. Bradley was obviously worried, but whenever he asked to talk, she'd basically laugh in his face.

"Where? In the garden?" she'd chuckle sarcastically before waving her hand. "I'm tired anyway, goodnight." She head into the bedroom, lock the door behind her, and the next time he would see her is the next morning when she abruptly woke up and sprinted to work.

It had been a week since the whole incident with Sierra, and she still behaved this way. Worst of all, she had yet to put her ring back on. It hurt Bradley since none of the guys in her surroundings would know she has a fiancé, which made him jealous. It was even worse when Bradley was returning from the grocery store, a late-night run for some snacks, and Ella was being dropped off in front of their apartment. When he realized it was her, he glanced inside the car and noticed the driver was a male.

She seemed to inhale sharply when she realized Bradley was standing there, and he waited until she descended the car and drunkenly stepped towards him.

"Who is that?" Bradley immediately asked, glaring at the car as it drove away.

Ella chuckled, "He just dropped me off."

"Who is he, though?" He followed her as she stepped around him, entering the building.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Some random I met at the bar."

"Why didn't you ask me to come pick you up? I could've. I was home."

"I didn't want to speak with you, Bradley," she hissed, narrowing her eyes in his direction before inserting her keys and stepping inside their apartment.

Bradley was fuming, his teeth grinding against one another, and when he closed the door behind him, he shook his head, "You know what? I can't. I can't do it."

"You can't do what?" Ella laughed, glancing over her shoulder before dropping her purse on the couch and heading to the kitchen for some water. Bradley sighed, "This, us." He shook his head, "I can't do it."

Ella returned into view with a glass of water in her hand, and she examined his features before shrugging her shoulders, "Sounds good to me." "Ella "

"No, I'm over it. I can't do this anymore either," she snorted. "Because every time I see your fucking face, I just think about how you were holding that fucking girl, and not me."

Bradley's eyebrows raised, "I apologized for that. You know what happened."

"I feel rejected as if I'm not good enough for you anymore. Do you still think I'm attractive?"

"Babe, of course, I do."

"Do you find me sexy? Are my eyes fucking beautiful because I've never heard that one before. When are you going to ask me to twirl for you?"

"Ella, it was never meant to be flirting."

"What about my lips? Are they as fucking ravishing as hers?" she spat, her teeth gritting.

Bradley shook his head, "Yes, they are, Ella. I love you. You know that."

"Well, I sure as hell don't feel fucking loved," she laughed incredulously. "I feel betrayed, used, like an idiot-"

"Ella, I didn't do anything with her."

"That's what you're telling me. And besides, you kissed her."

"She kissed me."

"I don't give a fuck. It still happened. And you let her kiss you, I mean, my god! You disgust me."

"I don't disgust you-"

"Yes, you do, bro."

"Don't call me bro. You know I hate that."

"Well, you're not my fiancé, that's for sure."

"Ella "

"I feel grossed out whenever you're near me. I just want to melt this layer of skin that was always touching you off of me. So yes, I'm good with that. You can leave if you want to. I don't care. It's not like you were ever in love with me, to begin with "

"Shut up, Ella!" Bradley suddenly exclaimed, slamming his fist against the wall. "God, you're so fucking annoying sometimes, holy shit."

She was taken aback. "What d'you just say to me?"

"I get it. You're drunk. But don't spout so much bullshit. Being drunk isn't an excuse for that either."

"Why don't you just go to hell?" she shrugged her shoulders.

Bradley scoffed, "You're mad for absolutely no reason, and there's no way for me to reason with you. So we're done, I'm gone." "Good."

"Here," Bradley pulled the ring off his finger, "if it was this easy for our relationship to break, then I guess we were never meant to be." "You cheated on me-"

"If I had, I would have no problem saying it to your face. You think I'm scared of you or something?"

Ella snickered, "I swear I'll knock you out."

"How about you come and do it then?" He threw the ring at her feet as he stepped backward, "And how about you learn to love while I'm gone?"

Ella inhaled a sharp breath, and the cup of glass fell from her hand. She stormed towards Bradley, "How fucking dare you say that to me?"

Bradley, as he opened the door, hissed at her, "I've done nothing but love you. Unconditionally, and you know you have my entire heart. This is breaking me, Ella, it really is."

"You did that to yourself? What do you think I've done; I've loved you unconditionally, too, Bradley. I never once even allowed another man to make you feel threatened, have I?"

"I never said you did," he exclaimed. "But you're so adamant about me cheated on you that you're not hearing me! At all! Look," Bradley's look softened, and he attempted to reach for her, "Ella, I'm sorry, okay? I never meant for you to feel that way, I was drunk, and that girl was making me feel bad for her, and I just tried to make her feel better."

"I told her I had a fiancé, and the minute she kissed me, I pulled away. I never meant to hurt you, but taking a break is what's best for us right now. You can't keep coming home drunk, and we can't keep avoiding each other as if we don't exist. I love you too much for that, and I've been craving you so bad."

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"So please, take care of yourself, okay? I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, and I love you. I always will. I'll call you in a couple of days to check up on you, but please call me if you need anything, anything at all."

Ella's face softened as well, and she stood still as Bradley leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. One thing she knew was Bradley was not a bluff. If he walked out of that door, it was not to come back, and that's why she said, "Wait." Bradley was seconds from closing the door when he pushed it open and stared at Ella's shoulders' shake. "I don't want you to leave."

Bradley sighed, his heart clenching in his chest as he returned inside the apartment and closed the door behind him, "I don't want to leave."

She shook her head, "God Bradley, you fucking...." she seemed to be engulfed in her thoughts, and she again shook her head, walking towards the bathroom. "I need a second."

"No," Bradley grabbed her wrist; she did that often when she didn't want people to know she was moments from crying. "Ella, stay here, please."

Her eyes were glossy, and she inhaled a sharp breath before placing her face in her palms. She sobbed quietly, and as Bradley attempted to wrap his arms around her, she stopped him. "It's not because I don't want you. I just don't want to talk against your chest and talk face to face," she said, slowly regaining her cool, although tears still leaked from her eyes.

She folded her arms, "Seeing you throw your ring broke my heart." Her voice coiled, and Bradley felt as if he had jumped into a pool of freezing water. He could feel her heartbreak as if it was happening to him physically. "But it made me realize how much it must've hurt you when I threw mine off."

There was a silence, and Ella lowered her head, exhaling a long breath to calm herself down. "You scare me, B. I feel so....vulnerable to you. Gosh, you don't understand how much I rely on you; you complete me. I can't picture a life without you, and all my ambitions and goals in life revolve around being able to enjoy them with you. And that scares me because I know losing you would mean losing myself, and I don't know if I'd be able to even exist without you."

She shook her head, pausing for a moment before meeting his gaze. "When I tell you I love you, I don't say it because it's just a word couples tell each other. I really mean it from the bottom of my heart, like I love every second I'm with you. Even during this time when we were on bad terms, just having you around the apartment was enough to keep me going."

"Seeing you with that girl...I don't know, it just made me realize that there is a chance that I could lose you, and I had never thought about that before. And it scared me because to be honest, I don't know if I'd ever recuperate if that were to happen. My whole future is based on you and getting married, having kids together, moving to a different city together, honeymoon together. And I just...I don't know I feel like seeing you with that girl made me realize that...anything can happen and-"

Bradley placed his lips on Ella's, aggressively wrapping an arm around her waist with so much passion Ella thought she would start melting. They had not been this close nor this affectionate in a week, and he missed just feeling her skin against his. She began crying against the kiss, her fingers starting to quiver while gripping his chest tighter, and when they pulled apart, Bradley leaned forward and met her eye level, "Look at me."

Ella was crying, and she tried to turn away, and he didn't let her, "I said, look at me, Ell, please." When she did, her eyes were filled with hurt but hunger for his lips again. He was stern, his fingers latching onto her jaw tightly, and he stared deeply into her eyes. "I'm never leaving you."

Ella exhaled a shaky breath, "But you don't know that-"

"I do know that. Here, listen," he grabbed her hand and placed it above his chest; she felt his heart pounding as if he had been running. "When I said I was leaving, in my mind, I was pleading that you would stop me. I can't imagine a life without you either, Ella. I'm not saying it'll be easy. We'll probably want to kill each other at some point. But we're a team, and regardless, I'll always be there for you. The truth is, I'm not sure of where this is going to bring us, and it does scare me, but I'm going to take advantage of every moment I spend with you now. Ella, look at me I fucking love you, okay?"

Ella slowly nodded her head, and he placed another kiss on her lips before wrapping his arms around her shoulders, "So are we good now?"

"Yes," she chuckled against his chest, "we're okay."