Note: I do not own Friday Night Lights or Gravity by Sara Bareilles
Chapter Eight
Something always brings me back to you,
It never takes too long,
No matter what I say or do,
I still feel you here 'till the moment I'm gone
Don and I sat across from each other on his large, full bed. After somewhat of a fight between us, we casually talked about what we could do to make things better. "Can I be honest with you?" he asked after we had been talking for a couple minutes.
"Yeah," I said, looking at him to speak, "Of course you can."
Don sighed and you could see the wheels turning in his head. "I really don't want to lose what we have," he said, reaching for my hand and taking it in his softly. I looked down at our hands and waited for him to finish. "This is something I've never felt for anyone else before." I wondered what was going on in his head; whether he was saying to himself 'just get it over with, tell her the truth' or if he was saying 'you sound like an idiot Don, what are you doing?' I mentally hoped for the best and prepared for the worst. I hoped to high heaven that he was telling the truth, and that he actually meant it.
"We just need to get things out in the open," I said, looking up at him when he went quiet. "It's important to communicate. Really important."
Don nodded and watched as he rubbed his thumb against my hand gently while he held it. "Yeah, I know."
"Good." I went silent as I watched him think. He stared blankly at my hand as he started to play with it gently. His blue-grey eyes only blinking once or twice as his lips pursed together, seeming like he was deep in thought, the wheels turning around and around in his handsome head. I tilted my head to the side as I watched him concentrate and smiled faintly. Once he realized I was staring he snapped out of his trance and looked at me, a grin forming on his face.
"What?" he asked; a little quieter then how we were speaking before.
"Nothing," I said, mimicking the volume in his voice with a low chortle.
"Tell me," he insisted.
Our voices stayed quiet even though there was no reason to be. "It was nothing," I smiled. "You just look... cute… when you're concentrating."
"Oh," he grinned, looking back at my hand as he continued to play with it.
"You know… you didn't have to stay home tonight for me." I felt a little bad for making him stay out from a night of fun with his football buddies.
"I know I didn't."
I stayed quiet, feeling a little awkwardness between us. I searched for something to say, but before I could he spoke again.
"I wanted to," he stated.
I looked up at him with a small smile spreading across my lips, forming into a grin as he grinned back at me. "You did?"
"Yes."
"…But why?" I asked with a small laugh escaping me.
"Because I like spending time with you, those study sessions aren't just for pretending to do homework."
I laughed softly and our eyes stayed on each others, only breaking the gaze for a second when I glanced down at our hands. "Yeah I figured that out real quick when we decided to make out instead."
He snapped his fingers with his free hand, the grin still on his face. "Damn it, I thought I'd been tricking you the whole time."
I smiled at him for a second before answering. "So you didn't need help in Algebra?"
Don scoffed. "No. I'm fine in that class." He leaned closer to me, almost closing the gap between us and whispered. "I just needed a reason to be with you out of school, to see what you were really like."
"To see what I was really like, huh?" I asked with a grin, leaning a little closer also.
"Yep," he said, looking into my eyes then down at my lips. "And I just happened to like what I saw."
I laughed before looking down at his lips and licking mine to prepare for what would happen next. "Oh, really?" I asked quietly before fully closing the gap between us and putting my lips to his, holding it for a second before pulling back to grin at each other.
"I would rather be here with you then out drinking and trying to forget all my problems, you're all I need to help me forget my problems." He rested his elbows on his knees again, and I sat up a little straighter.
"It worries me when you do that. Something could happen, or you could eventually get really sick from the drinking you're doing all the time."
"Aside from the chance of me cheating, right?" he asked with a smirk.
"Well, yeah. Drinking is bad for you."
"I know," he nodded, looking down like he wanted the conversation to be over.
"Seriously, Donnie. I don't want that to happen to you, I don't want you to get hurt."
"What do you care?" he asked quietly, a little more defensive then he probably meant.
"…I care about you," I said softly.
He looked up at me as I looked down at my hands, twiddling my thumbs and waiting for him to say something. When he didn't say anything I looked back up and noticed his eyes were no longer on me.
"What, you don't believe me?"
Don shrugged. "I don't know."
"I've been spending most of my time with you, and I've been trying to understand you and comfort you when you need it, and now you don't know if I care about you?"
His eyes still remained on the bed in front of him and he sighed.
"I do care about you."
"Okay," he said quietly.
I sat up straighter and moved my eyes away from him, looking at anything but him. Soon I felt him looking at me and didn't bother to check.
"Aubrey?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"Can I just be alone right now?"
I looked at him, and sure enough, he was looking at me, reading straight through my expressions. He spoke quietly, knowing I might get upset. "Sure," I said, getting up from the bed and walking toward the door. "Just, call me later if you wanna see me… or… whatever." I thought we were supposed to be communicating, talking and letting everything out into the open, and I thought he knew I cared about him, that's why we were together right? I wasn't sure what this meant but I just thought I would let time handle it, I didn't think I could convince him to tell me what he was thinking without getting him upset. He would tell me when he was ready.
"I will," I heard him say before walking down the stairs and out the door.
xxxx
Sunday rolled around and still no word from Don. Whatever. I didn't know when he would call, or if he would even show up, but I didn't want it to seem that I cared, even though I did. I missed him a lot, we had only been 'together' for about a month or so, but I felt attached to him nonetheless. We had gone a couple days without each other before but then I had closure. I didn't know when he would show up this time, and that bothered the hell out of me. I was still a little angry but I would get over it, I'd wait for him to come to me.
Everything was set up for the barbeque. Tables were set up outside with plates and utensils for everyone to use, and a separate table was placed near the barbeque with every type of condiment you could think of putting on a hotdog or burger. Chips were inside on the table, and beer was placed next to them for my dad's buddies and whoever else wanted a drink, including my brother and me.
"Aubrey," my dad yelled for me as I got ready in my room. I was getting dressed into dark jeans and a plain v-neck t-shirt that was the lightest shade of red and a tiny bit see-through. My hair was down in waves as it usually was, and I had on a simple silver necklace and brown leather belt to bring it all together.
"Yeah?" I yelled back as I put on some eyeliner, standing in front of the full length mirror that hung next to my dresser.
My dad walked into my bedroom a second later, just peeking through the door to look at me. "I need you to set up some chairs outside."
After finishing my eyeliner I pulled back from the mirror and looked at him. "Okay, I'll be right there."
"Hurry, everyone's gonna be here soon."
"Alright, alright. Keep your pants on," I said as I set down the eyeliner into my makeup bag and turned to walk toward the door. He opened it for me so I could walk past him and smiled.
"Thank you, sweetness," he said, his voice a little high-pitched. He followed me out into the living room and walked past me into the kitchen.
I laughed. "You're welcome, daddy." I saw Beau sitting on the couch, doing nothing. "Come help me set up chairs, wiener."
"No," he said loudly while he wrinkled his eyebrows at me.
"Fine. You don't get any food."
"Liar," he said, getting up from the couch and following me out to the backyard. He leaned against the doorway leading to the patio and watched as I started unfolding chairs.
"Dick," I muttered to myself.
…
Friends started showing up and my dad started to barbeque. Trevor was there, so Beau was entertained, all of my dad's friends showed up, so he was entertained, but no Don. I didn't invite Ann because she was getting on my nerves, suddenly she started partying a lot and tried to hook up with guys when she could, probably in the pursuit of trying to hook up with Don again. I didn't like it. Plus she would never invite me to any, I didn't know why but to be honest, it might have to do with the fact that I'm a little more attractive. Not to sound conceited or anything.
"Aubrey, can you go see what's taking Beau so long in the kitchen?" My dad asked me while everyone was outside eating. He had asked Beau to go shuck some more ears of corn ten minutes before and he reluctantly agreed.
"Sure," I said, before walking from next to him at the barbeque through the backdoor of the house and into the kitchen. "Dad wants to know what's taking you so long," I said as I stopped next to him. He was standing in front of the counter with a couple ears of corn in front of him.
"He wanted like, ten more, it takes a while when you're doing it yourself."
"Do you want some help?"
"Yeah, that would be nice."
I grabbed an ear of corn and started to take the green covering off of it, along with the long white strands that draped all over it.
"Where's your boyfriend?" Beau asked.
I shrugged, still looking down at what I was doing as I spoke. "I don't know."
"Shouldn't you know?"
"Yeah."
"Then why don't you?"
"I haven't talked to him since Friday night," I said, my voice giving off a hint of irritation.
Beau laughed softly. "Sorry for asking."
"It's not funny."
"I just think its funny cause you're pissed, and I know he's gonna get an ear-full when or if you get a hold on him."
"Whatever dude."
I saw Beau grin from the corner of my eye and thought to change the subject.
"So how's college? Slacking off like usual, or are you actually trying?" I asked with a small chuckle.
Beau let out a low laugh as he looked down at what he was doing. "I made it through the first semester, didn't I?"
I grinned. "Yeah, I was really surprised when dad said you had. How's your 'band'?"
"It's good," he said with a soft sigh.
I gave a small smile. "That didn't sound very convincing."
"We're having a rough time finding another guitar player." Beau started rinsing the corn and I smiled.
"Ah… shouldn't have quit football, huh?"
Beau laughed softly. "Why do I even bother talking to you about this?"
"Because I'm your sister, and I'm deeply concerned about you."
Beau scoffed. "That's a joke."
"I could lend you a couple bucks until you get back on your feet."
"I don't need it."
"I'm just trying to help. I assume money's tight since your band isn't doing so well. Maybe you should get an actual job." I leaned against the counter with my arms folded, my smile turning into a grin.
"You don't have to be a bitch about it, Aubrey," he said, his tone a little more serious than before. He started stacking the corn on a plate and I chuckled.
"Sorry for being honest." I loved messing with him, especially if I knew it was getting to him.
"Being honest is different than being a dick."
"You're calling me a dick? Really?"
"Yeah, really."
"You don't actually think that you're going to make a living off of it, do you?"
Beau shook his head. "You don't understand." He finished rinsing the corn and turned to look at me. "My band is gonna make it, and I know it will. I don't need you or dad to believe in me for it to happen, but it would be nice if you did."
I listened and turned my eyes away from him as he spoke, a small smirk still on my face.
"You still think it's fuckin' funny? Get off your high horse, Aubrey. Just because you're daddy's little girl doesn't mean you can act like a spoiled brat."
I listened to him speak and my expression slowly turned blank as I stared at a spot on the kitchen floor. "At least I won't disappoint him."
He sighed and picked up the plate from the counter. "You already did when mom died." Beau's gaze was now on the backdoor as he started outside.
My head snapped to look at him walk away and a sinking feeling now dominated me while I repeated the sentence in my head. "Asshole," I muttered to myself as I started for the front door. My head was swimming with memories now that he brought it up and I didn't feel like going back out to socialize with everyone.
As I passed the hallway I chucked my phone down the hall and into my room. Don wasn't going to call and I wasn't sure I had the self discipline to refrain from calling him so I'd leave it here. I wanted to be alone.
I ran my hand through my hair as I walked out the door and shut it behind me, focusing on where I was walking before looking up and stopping in the middle of the pathway suddenly.
"Hi," Don said as he stopped walking also and looked over my appearance.
"Hi."
"Are you okay?" he asked as my face shown the glum expression it revealed before.
"Not really, no." I started to walk past him but his hand caught mine gently.
"What's wrong?" He pulled me toward him lightly and lifted my chin to look at him. Tears were forming in my eyes while I looked into his. "Aubrey?"
I cleared my throat before speaking. "Just my brother," I said with a sad smile, "He's being a dick."
"What happened?"
I shook my head and looked away to clear the tears from my eyes. "Why are you here?" I asked as I looked up at him again.
"I was invited, wasn't I?"
I nodded. "Yeah, but I haven't talked to you since Friday night. I thought you weren't coming."
"I was gonna come anyway," he said with a small smile, "I still don't wanna lose you." Don reached up to move a strand of hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear.
"Then what happened?" I asked while we kept our eyes on each other.
Don sighed. "It's just hard for me to… believe people, when they say they care about me I guess. I have some trust issues. And abandonment issues, just cause of how fucked up my life is." He looked away as he talked then looked back into my eyes and spoke quietly, "I'm sorry."
I nodded slowly as he spoke. "It's okay, baby. I understand," I smiled.
"Baby?" he asked, a little surprised. He pulled me close for a tight hug and grinned. "I like the sound of that."
I hugged back and pulled my head back to look at him before putting my lips to his. I lingered for an instant before pulling back slightly to look at him. "So, you believe me when I say that I care about you right?"
Don nodded with a grin. "I do."
"Good," I said, pecking him on the lips again. "Wanna get out of here?"
"Like where?"
"Anywhere. I'm feeling spontaneous."
"I have just the place," he smiled, his handsome smile making mine turn into a grin as he pulled away from me and took my hand. I felt our fingers interlink together and I watched him as he looked toward his truck, the faded red baseball cap shading his eyes from the afternoon sun. I forgot all about what my brother had said as fast as the grin again appearing on his face.
Sorry this took so long, hope you enjoy and I'd love some feedback :)
