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At various points during the drive, Brennon teased Katy about her supposed knowledge of the city. There were moments where if a stoplight was coming up five or six blocks up the street, Brennon would ask Katy what street crossed. She tried to pretend to know, but obviously came up short time and time again. The two simply enjoyed one another’s company. Brennon filled Katy in on the specifics of various areas they passed through. Without telling her, he turned down a darker street and followed it back to a dilapidated, dangerous-looking area. He chuckled at Katy’s reaction – a reaction which said loud and clear she was a true suburban girl at heart.
“Where are we, Brennon?” Katy asked.
Again, Brennon chuckled. “Oh, I thought you would know.” He smirked. “What’s wrong?”
“This doesn’t look like a good place to be,” Katy said, peering out of the window at rough looking people going in and out of the backs of dilapidated or abandoned houses. “Seriously Brennon, where are we right now?”
Brennon laughed as he reached over and grabbed Katy’s wrist. “Oh, calm down, Katy. This is the South End. I’m surprised you haven’t seen it on the news.”
Katy looked over at Brennon. She tried to have angry eyes, even though she was far from angry. Sure, this surely wasn’t the kind of area she would be in all by herself, especially at night. However, something about being with Brennon made her feel safe. She looked over at him, frowned, and squinted.
“It’s going to be okay,” Brennon said. “We’ll be out of it in a minute, so don’t worry.”
“Hmm, hmm,” Katy said.
Brennon continued through the dilapidated neighborhood for a few blocks more then turned onto a busy street. Katy finally calmed down. “Why did you do that?”
A chuckle slipped out of Brennon’s mouth. “I’m sorry… I thought you knew that area. Okay, so now I’m going to show you Fox Forrest? I bet you actually do know that area. Huh?”
Katy turned away, rolling her eyes. As a matter of fact, Fox Forest was indeed an area she knew. The neighborhood was known for having some of the most affluent households in the metro...all in the city. A few minutes passed then Brennon turned down a wooded, winding road that let into the area. Quaint mini-mansions hugged either side of the road.
“This neighborhood is beautiful, isn’t it?” Katy commented.
Brennon looked over passed Katy and at a house they’d been passing that looked to have every bit of six bedroom. “Yeah...well, this is what money can buy.”
Brennon took his time with the winding streets, slowing down with the bends. He and Katy talked on and on about the architecture – the character, the landscaping. Even at night, the neighborhood shined in ways the other areas of the city could only dream of.
When Brennon pulled back out onto a main road, he drove a mile before coming to a stoplight where he could either turn right and head back out to the strip mall where Katy had parked her car, or turn left and head toward his place. He looked over at Katy as the light turned green. She was obviously a bit confused as to why he hadn’t pulled across the intersection yet.
“What?” Katy asked, smiling. “What are you up to? I can see how you are. Always thinking up something.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Brennon asked.
Katy shrugged. “No… I didn’t say that.”
“I was thinking,” Brennon said, trying to figure out how to approach this topic as carefully as possible with class, “if you’re ready to go home, that’s fine. But would you be open to coming to my place and maybe having a glass of wine or something?”
Katy pretended to be thinking about the proposition. Even though she knew there was no way in hell she would say no. “Well, I suppose that would be okay. You don’t live in an area like that one we drove through back before Fox Forest, do you?”
Brennon chuckled. “Actually, it’s worse. Ten times worse.”
Katy’s neck jerked as she abruptly turned and looked at Brennon. He couldn’t keep his lips from curling into a smile, so she knew he was lying. “Okay, that’s fine,” she said.
Brennon laughed then quickly got into the turn lane and headed west. Again, Katy peered out of the window at the neighborhoods the wide boulevard passed through. When Brennon turned down a side street, she noticed that he too lived in a neighborhood with the historic Victorian homes. To say the least, she was calmed to know that he didn’t live in anything like the dark, dilapidated neighborhood they had driven through.
Brennon pulled into the parking lot at the side of his brick apartment building then into his parking spot. “This is my mansion,” he said.
Katy giggled. “It’s nice. Looks like you have a lot of bedrooms. Plenty of parking.”
Brennon paused for a moment to look at Katy. “I guess you think you’re funny, huh?”
Katy giggled again then waited on Brennon to help her out of the car. A few minutes later, they were walking into his one-bedroom apartment. Once inside, Brennon closed the door then suggest Katy she could have a seat on the couch. Katy did just that while Brennon went to get the wine and a couple of glasses.
“Oh, wow,” Katy said. “I love this apartment. These older apartments are so cool...those thick walls that block out everything. I don’t even hear traffic or anything.”
“Nah, you really don’t hear that kind of thing in here much,” Brennon said as he came back into the room with a bottle of red wine and a couple of glasses. “I found this place a few years ago. I was living in one of those apartment complexes on the outskirts, but those are getting rougher by the day, so I had to get back into the city.” He plopped down next to Katy. “I like it...for now. I thought I would’ve bought a house by now. But, like you, I’m waiting until I get married.”
Brennon and Katy continued on chatting as he poured the wine. “A toast?” Brennon asked.
