I looked down in defeat. Ten minutes of silence later and Brandon had not made a single sound. It was so quiet you could hear people talking. Three. House. Down. I looked over at Brandon. He was fiddling with his thumbs. "He looks like a sad puppy," I thought, "a very sad one at that." He suddenly took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry," he said slowly. He glanced over at me, "I didn't think you would notice."
"Hard not to," I muttered, "I thought you liked me, you know as a friend, at least." Friend was a good word. You could add to that like best friend, beefy friend, boyfriend…
"I know, I know…" he sighed, "and I'm sorry for ignoring you."
The crazy part about this was that I had a gut feeling that something was really wrong. If there was anything I had learned in my sixteen years of horrible life, it was to always trust your gut. My mom used to tell me that my gut was actually made with a dash of heavenly powder that came from my guardian angel so it would act up if something were wrong.
"Why then? Why ignore me?" I asked, trying to keep the sadness out of my voice. I tried over these weeks to think positively. To think that this was just a coincidence or that he was on his period, as Mariana had suggested. I took a moment to myself to think. Could guys actually have periods? But where would the blood go? I guess it could come out of their- focus on the boy, Callie! I mentally slapped myself and instead focused on Brandon's answer.
"It's complicated," he said carefully, "Talya… well… you have to understand that she's wasn't always like this."
I scoffed, "Like what? A complete bitch?" He let out a laugh.
"Yea, like that," he said smiling slightly. "She's complicated, I guess."
"Everything' God damn complicated with you, huh pretty boy?" he rolled his eyes and I continued, "You still didn't answer my question. Why?"
He groaned loudly and fell on his back with his hands over his eyes. He moved his cup to the other side of him and put his hands behind his head looking at the stars.
"It's a complicated answer to a complicated question."
"Oh my God. You can't be serious," I said groaning as well. I fell on my back like Brandon did. I tried not to notice that our legs were bumping into each other's like on the bus. I smiled at the thought. I turned my head to look at him.
"As much as I love Talya, Brandon, why are you sticking up for her? You know what she did to me. Hell, you even saw it." And it was true. At the party she followed me into the bathroom and starting threating me about staying away from Brandon. She said she would tell the whole school about Liam and that was when I had enough. So I ran out of the bathroom, but she followed me. She started shouting that I had too much "shit going on" and that "no one wants trash"
Good thing Brandon saw right? Wrong! He saw us running out and her screaming at me and pulled her aside. Then he never really talked to me again.
"Because," he said tiredly, "because I have to or else I'll forget why I started this anyway."
I let out a breath. "Now that's complicated." He let out a laugh, "Is… is it because of what she told you about me at the party? About Liam and I?" I asked meekly. I felt my hands start to sweat and I wiped them on my jeans.
"Callie," he said seriously. Just the way he said it gave me chills, "I told you, I know everything I need to know about you."
And instead of feeling scared like I did the first time I heard him say it, I felt my heart soar like an eagle. Screw butterflies! Butterflies are used for girly girls. But eagles are for men! Manly girls I mean.
But in the end, all I could say was, "Oh." I mentally face-palmed. "Smooth, Callie, smooth," I thought to myself.
"So, it's not Liam?" I asked trying to get clarity.
"No," he said grabbing my hand, "it's not. Callie I need you to know I care for you. You need to remember that, ok?" he spoke so seriously all I could do was nod my head.
And then he was gone. He just stood up and walked back into the house. I couldn't decide what I felt more, happy and what he just said or sad that he just left.
I walked back into the house and saw that everyone had gone up to their' rooms to get ready to sleep. I took my cup and put it in the sink and started to wash it. I wiped my hands and went upstairs. In my room, I could hear Mariana and Lexi talking. I walked in silently and flopped on my bed.
"Long day, Callie?" Mariana asked cutely. I looked up at her and slammed my head back into my pillow. "Ok, don't tell me. All you should know is this," she walked over to me and leaned over to my ear, "Use a condom."
It took me a moment to understand what she said, but by the time I was going to slap her she ran over to her bed and was laughing so hard she started crying. Lexi was shaking her head and trying her best to laugh.
"We didn't do anything!" I shrieked at them. "We didn't! Ugh… give me a break!"
Ok, so this was a shorter chapter then yesterdays but that's because I didn't have math homework to do :( By the way, this book is going to have some The Fault in Our Stars references (disclaimer: I don't own anything! Like ANYTHING) but it's only because I just finished the book. John Green should've written in the Bible that's all I'm saying. Thank you for reviewing and reading! I know it might annoy some people, but I like to thank people for reviewing. I'm not trying to get more of them, I'm just trying to tell ya'll that I really, from the bottom of my heart, appreciate it! Thank you so much!
