1
James
Andrew urgently called my name,causing me to look up. I felt as though I was in an elevator plummeting at a high rate of speed, as I saw Brandon’s legs give out and fall into Andrew’s arms. I hurried toward them as Brandon was coming around. Taking hold of Brandon’s upper arms, Andrew and I guided Brandon to sit on a nearby patio lounger.
“Brandon, relax, pup,” I said as my eyes scanned his face. I sat beside him and paid attention to his mannerisms.
Blotches of crimson decorated his cheeks though the rest of his face was pale. One of Brandon’s knees bounced nervously as he clutched the side of his jeans. His eyes were focused on the patio’s cement, and his nostrils flared.
“I’ll get him some more water,” Andrew announced and then stepped away from us.
Thankfully there weren’t any onlookers that we could see. I was sure they were there, but our backs were to most of them.
“Relax, pup,” I repeated.
I stretched my arm across his back and curled my hand around his upper arm. When I squeezed his arm, I noticed that he flinched and looked like he could barely handle me touching him. Clearly, he was upset about something, and I had grown increasingly concerned. His chest rose and fell quickly, and I became worried about his heart’s tendency to accelerate.
“Pup, please try to take a deep breath,” I encouraged.
Andrew returned with a bottle of water, and he unscrewed the cap before he held it out to me. I took it from him and offered it to Brandon. He took the bottle, held it in both hands, and sipped.
Over the course of my time with Brandon, I had seen a variety of panic attacks ranging in severity, though nothing like this. I’d seen nightmares that pushed him to cut himself and deteriorated his self-esteem, but I’d never seen him wince at my touch. If anything, he usually found solace and comfort in my hands.
“What happened, Andrew?” I asked quietly as to not draw attention from the other guests.
“We were talking about the yard, and then I think he overheard Dr. Perry say that you guys got your psychology degrees together. Then, boom! He crumbled like a leaf,” Andrew recalled.
Everything sounded harmless, but it was obvious something had triggered him. Given the state that Brandon was in, I felt it was in his best interest that we head home. I was worried about my otherwise frisky pup.
“Do you feel like you can walk, Brandon?” I asked after giving him a few more minutes to sip on the water.
Though he hadn’t moved his head, I could see the corners of his eyes narrow a hair. My mind continued to race as I tried to figure out what could’ve been the trigger. Brandon took a deep breath, screwed the cap on the bottle of water, and then nodded. As he stood, I wrapped my hand around his bicep in case he got wobbly and lightheaded, he wouldn’t hit the ground. Andrew walked out to the car with us, and after Brandon sat in the passenger seat, I turned to face him.
“Thank you for catching him.” I gently shut the door and walked toward the back of the car with Andrew beside me. Using my fob, I turned the car on so the air conditioning started up, and Brandon didn’t have to sit in an uncomfortably warm and humid car.
“I hope he’s okay,” Andrew said.
“He will be. I’ll talk to him and see what happened. Please give our best to Elise. You guys have a wonderful home.”
“Thank you for coming. Hopefully the traffic going back to Malibu won’t be too bad,” Andrew called out to me as I opened the driver’s side door of my black Mercedes.
I raised my eyebrow at him and huffed out a laugh.
“It’s L.A. traffic; it’s always terrible,” I reminded him.
I got in the car and adjusted the vent some so that it was aimed toward Brandon. His hands were still wrapped around the bottle, and his left knee bounced nervously. I reached over and put my hand on his knee and the bouncing stopped immediately.
“Relax, pup,” I soothed. “It’ll be alright. Whatever upset you, we will talk.”
Brandon’s head was downward, and he made no movement or motion to give me any indication that he had heard me at all. Much of the car ride home was silent other than me trying to get him to engage.
When I pulled into the garage and shut the car off, Brandon opened the door, and we walked inside together. Brandon sat on the couch, and I sat beside him with my arm across the cushion behind his back.
“When you’re ready to talk, Brandon, I’m here to listen.” He nodded, which was at least something at this point. “I’d like to know what upset you, so that I can be on the lookout for it in the future and perhaps prevent it from happening.”
After sitting with him for close to an hour in silence, I decided that he might need a little space.
“I’m going to take a shower and change. Then we can make dinner together, okay?” Brandon nodded as I stood. Before I left him alone, I leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “I’ll be right back, pup.”
