DALEN ask Brittany about KELVIN and her relationship

 Dalen hadn’t planned to ask her that day.

He’d gone over to Brittany’s place just to return her AirPods and maybe hang out like they used to—watch old movies, eat junk food, pretend everything was still simple between them. But the moment she opened the door, wearing that oversized hoodie and acting like nothing in the world was weighing on her, Dalen felt it. That knot in his chest. That itch in the back of his mind.

Kelvin.

The name had been floating around like a ghost lately—whispers at school, suspicious glances, even a comment from Jayla that sounded way too pointed:

“I mean, Brittany and Kelvin been real close, huh?”

At first, Dalen brushed it off. Brittany was his best friend. She was real with him. Always had been.

But things had been off since spring break. Brittany had been distracted. Dry with her replies. Always texting someone with a little smile she didn’t bother to explain. And Kelvin? Suddenly everywhere Brittany was. Too many coincidences. Too much silence.

And now, standing in her living room while she scrolled through her phone like he wasn’t even there, Dalen couldn’t take it anymore.

“Britt,” he said.

She didn’t look up. “Yeah?”

“I gotta ask you something. And I want a real answer.”

Now she looked up, cautious. “Okay…”

“What’s going on with you and Kelvin?”

Silence.

The kind that made clocks tick louder and hearts pound harder.

Brittany’s eyes blinked once. Twice. Then her fingers slowly set the phone down on the couch cushion beside her.

“Why are you asking me that?”

“Because I need to know,” Dalen said. “People been talking. I’ve been seeing stuff. And if something happened between y’all, I want to hear it from you. Not from anyone else.”

Brittany leaned back, arms crossed like a shield. “Are you asking as my friend… or something else?”

“Brittany,” he said, his voice quieter now, but more serious. “Just tell me the truth.”

She closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, something had changed in her face. The smile she usually used to dodge things was gone. Replaced by a flicker of guilt.

“We kissed.”

The words hit Dalen like a brick to the chest.

He blinked. “What?”

“Once. After that party at Tyson’s. I was mad at you… you remember, you bailed last minute, and I was there alone. Kelvin offered me a ride home, and we were just… talking. Venting. One thing led to another, and…”

She trailed off.

Dalen’s face was unreadable, but his jaw was clenched.

“So that’s it? Y’all kissed? That’s all?”

She hesitated. “That’s how it started.”

He laughed once. Cold and hollow. “Oh. So there’s more.”

Brittany sat up straighter, voice low. “It wasn’t a full-on relationship. But… we kept talking. Hanging out. It got emotional, Dalen. I didn’t mean for it to. I didn’t go looking for it. It just happened.”

“You didn’t go looking?” he snapped. “But you found it, didn’t you?”

Her eyes flashed. “Don’t do that. You weren’t exactly around. You’ve been distant for months, Dalen. Always too busy, too distracted, too everything. I felt like I didn’t even matter anymore.”

“And so your solution was Kelvin?”

Brittany stood, voice rising. “I’m not saying it was right! I’m saying it happened. I got caught up in something I didn’t expect, and yeah, I should’ve told you. But you didn’t exactly make space for me to talk to you about anything real.”

Dalen shook his head, backing away a few steps like he needed space just to breathe.

“I thought we were solid,” he said. “Even if we weren’t together, I thought we knew each other better than this.”

“I thought so too,” Brittany whispered.

A long silence settled between them again. Only this time, it was filled with something more final.

Pain.

Disappointment.

The slow, quiet crack of a bond that might never fully mend.

Dalen reached for his keys.

“I came here thinking maybe we could fix whatever’s been weird between us. I didn’t know I’d be walking into this.”

Brittany didn’t try to stop him.

“Dalen,” she said just before he reached the door, “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never wanted to.”

He looked over his shoulder, eyes tired, voice flat.

“Yeah. But you did anyway.”

And then he walked out.

---

That night, Brittany sat on the edge of her bed staring at her phone. No messages. No calls.

No Dalen.

And for the first time since that night with Kelvin, she felt the weight of what she’d done settle heavy on her chest.

Sometimes, the truth doesn’t set you free.

Sometimes… it just breaks what’s left