Brady pulled his jeep off the road. He flipped off his radio and even pulled out his keys. "Ok, I've never told anyone this before, and it's a long story, so can you please just let me say it all at once? I've never explained it all, and it's going to be hard"
"Ok, I'm listening," Chloe answered, preparing herself for whatever it was he was going to tell her.
"When I first came to Salem I was all distant, and I was mad at eveything, do you remember that?" Brady sighed, he didn't want an answer, but rather a good way to start the story. Chloe was so amazing through the whole thing. She inturupted only with a nod here and there, or a sudden reach out to her friend.
"I had a lot of reasons to be so mad, but Marlena and everthing here was such a small part of them. Most of them had to do with what happened at college. The first 3 people I met were Lindsay-you talked to her on the phone, Blair, and a guy named Patrick. Blair and I hung out a lot. We went out for a while too, she actually reminds me a lot of you." He paused in this point of his story to look at Chloe. Her eyes were glued to him, and she was taking in every sigle word he said with an amazing deal of understanding, and compassion. She nodded, singnaling for him to continue. "Blair and Lindsay were best friends, can't figure out exactly why though, they were so different...Stupid me had to fall for Lindsay, and God did I fall hard. Blair and I became best friends imediatley after we stopped seeing each other. We talked about absolutely everything that went on. If I would have stayed with her-none of this other stuff would have ever happened," Brady finished the last part quietly as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Go on," Chloe whispered, gentely touching his arm.
"Patrick and Lindsay were together when I first met them, but as soon as Lindsay and I met we felt drawn to eachother for some reason. We spent every waking moment together until halfway through my second year there. I was so in love with her, it was completely blinding to both of us, and we couldn't see what was really happening. We had a future mapped out together exactly as we wanted it to happen. After we finished school, we were getting married imediately, and going to live in a big city-she liked the idea of LA for a while. We wanted to have the experience of living in a city like that, but we were only planning to live like that for a couple years. She wanted to move someplace small to have our 2 kids-she wanted to adopt one of them too.
"Why adopt?"
Brady had almost forgotten that Chloe was in the car, he looked over at her suprised. "She had a sister that was adopted-I guess she just liked the idea. She wanted lots of animals too-horses, dogs, cats, birds, rats, you name it, she wanted it." Brady laughed remembering. "She wanted a snake too, except she didn't want to have to feed it live animals. I remember her dragging me to every pet store in town looking for a vegetarian snake. I was totally for everything she wanted too, I didn't care about anything, except that we would be together-and be happy. It was so horrible the day it all crashed down. I remember exactly the way it happened. Everything started completely normal, we were going out for dinner, cause it was Saturday and that's just usually what we did on Saturdays. We sat down, just like you would think people would do, and she looked at me and said so simply 'I think we should get married now.' I don't know what changed with her, or if anything had changed at all. She said she was tired of waiting, and she wanted to do everything now. I knew I wanted to marry her, 'cause I loved her, but my mind imediatly told me to say no. I did it as gently as I could, so I wouldn't hurt her. I don't know exactly what went through her head, but her eyes sure did tell a hell of a story. It was an amazing look that she gave me. Basically every emotion you can think of all flashing at the same time. Everything finally subsided, and her eyes went bak to normal, but I could tell she wanted something. She wanted revenge."
"Why? What did you do that was so horrible that she wanted revenge on you?"
"I just hurt her, I guess when I said 'no', she figured that I didn't love her as much as I said I did. She never meant to do something so big to get back at me, I have to believe that, but it turned out huge. After we were done eating, she told me she wanted to go to Blair's apartment, which was weird because Blair was out of town visiting some family." Brady quickly glanced at Chloe. "Are you getting all this?"
Chloe didn't even break her stare to nod at him.
"Good. OK, I had a roommate named Johnathan. We went to boarding school together, and we knew eachother for a while." Brady picked up his cell phone and started playing with it-tossing it around anything to keep from looking directly at Chloe. "Johnathan and Blair had gotten close so I wasn't that suprised when his car was there. What did surprise me though was that she told me to go back, and that he would take her home. Of course I had to come back to check on her, it was getting late." Brady stopped his story and looked at Chloe. "You know how this story ends don't you?"
"You walked in, didn't you?"
Brady hid all his emotions so well. He had done it so many times that now, it was as simple as turning off a light, or closing a door. "Yup, I walked in. Ya'know Chloe, she was pracitally my finace, and all she wanted was revenge. Here I was thinking I was in love, and that Johnathan was a friend of mine."
"So, you left after that?"
"No, I stuck around, but it was just to hard. I wasn't even expecting to leave the day I did, I just packed up and left. I didn't even say goodbye to anyone. I've been thinking about it, and I know I was naive and I know I was stupid-but what I realize now, is that being so naive, it was pure bliss."
"Brady, I'm so sorry." Chloe rested her head on his shoulder, and felt all the pain that he had put in his past a long time ago.
"Well, that's the end...come on Chloe, don't feel so bad."
"I'm sorry I just never realized that THAT was your story. I mean, that was huge!"
"Yeah, it was a biggie wasn't it?"
Chloe grinned, "Anything else you forgot to tell me?"
"Well actually, you know how earlier when I said that thing you were wearing wasn't doing anything for me? Ok, that was such a lie," Brady said grinning.
Chloe leaned into him and kissed him softly. "I already knew that Black."
"Ok, I'm listening," Chloe answered, preparing herself for whatever it was he was going to tell her.
"When I first came to Salem I was all distant, and I was mad at eveything, do you remember that?" Brady sighed, he didn't want an answer, but rather a good way to start the story. Chloe was so amazing through the whole thing. She inturupted only with a nod here and there, or a sudden reach out to her friend.
"I had a lot of reasons to be so mad, but Marlena and everthing here was such a small part of them. Most of them had to do with what happened at college. The first 3 people I met were Lindsay-you talked to her on the phone, Blair, and a guy named Patrick. Blair and I hung out a lot. We went out for a while too, she actually reminds me a lot of you." He paused in this point of his story to look at Chloe. Her eyes were glued to him, and she was taking in every sigle word he said with an amazing deal of understanding, and compassion. She nodded, singnaling for him to continue. "Blair and Lindsay were best friends, can't figure out exactly why though, they were so different...Stupid me had to fall for Lindsay, and God did I fall hard. Blair and I became best friends imediatley after we stopped seeing each other. We talked about absolutely everything that went on. If I would have stayed with her-none of this other stuff would have ever happened," Brady finished the last part quietly as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Go on," Chloe whispered, gentely touching his arm.
"Patrick and Lindsay were together when I first met them, but as soon as Lindsay and I met we felt drawn to eachother for some reason. We spent every waking moment together until halfway through my second year there. I was so in love with her, it was completely blinding to both of us, and we couldn't see what was really happening. We had a future mapped out together exactly as we wanted it to happen. After we finished school, we were getting married imediately, and going to live in a big city-she liked the idea of LA for a while. We wanted to have the experience of living in a city like that, but we were only planning to live like that for a couple years. She wanted to move someplace small to have our 2 kids-she wanted to adopt one of them too.
"Why adopt?"
Brady had almost forgotten that Chloe was in the car, he looked over at her suprised. "She had a sister that was adopted-I guess she just liked the idea. She wanted lots of animals too-horses, dogs, cats, birds, rats, you name it, she wanted it." Brady laughed remembering. "She wanted a snake too, except she didn't want to have to feed it live animals. I remember her dragging me to every pet store in town looking for a vegetarian snake. I was totally for everything she wanted too, I didn't care about anything, except that we would be together-and be happy. It was so horrible the day it all crashed down. I remember exactly the way it happened. Everything started completely normal, we were going out for dinner, cause it was Saturday and that's just usually what we did on Saturdays. We sat down, just like you would think people would do, and she looked at me and said so simply 'I think we should get married now.' I don't know what changed with her, or if anything had changed at all. She said she was tired of waiting, and she wanted to do everything now. I knew I wanted to marry her, 'cause I loved her, but my mind imediatly told me to say no. I did it as gently as I could, so I wouldn't hurt her. I don't know exactly what went through her head, but her eyes sure did tell a hell of a story. It was an amazing look that she gave me. Basically every emotion you can think of all flashing at the same time. Everything finally subsided, and her eyes went bak to normal, but I could tell she wanted something. She wanted revenge."
"Why? What did you do that was so horrible that she wanted revenge on you?"
"I just hurt her, I guess when I said 'no', she figured that I didn't love her as much as I said I did. She never meant to do something so big to get back at me, I have to believe that, but it turned out huge. After we were done eating, she told me she wanted to go to Blair's apartment, which was weird because Blair was out of town visiting some family." Brady quickly glanced at Chloe. "Are you getting all this?"
Chloe didn't even break her stare to nod at him.
"Good. OK, I had a roommate named Johnathan. We went to boarding school together, and we knew eachother for a while." Brady picked up his cell phone and started playing with it-tossing it around anything to keep from looking directly at Chloe. "Johnathan and Blair had gotten close so I wasn't that suprised when his car was there. What did surprise me though was that she told me to go back, and that he would take her home. Of course I had to come back to check on her, it was getting late." Brady stopped his story and looked at Chloe. "You know how this story ends don't you?"
"You walked in, didn't you?"
Brady hid all his emotions so well. He had done it so many times that now, it was as simple as turning off a light, or closing a door. "Yup, I walked in. Ya'know Chloe, she was pracitally my finace, and all she wanted was revenge. Here I was thinking I was in love, and that Johnathan was a friend of mine."
"So, you left after that?"
"No, I stuck around, but it was just to hard. I wasn't even expecting to leave the day I did, I just packed up and left. I didn't even say goodbye to anyone. I've been thinking about it, and I know I was naive and I know I was stupid-but what I realize now, is that being so naive, it was pure bliss."
"Brady, I'm so sorry." Chloe rested her head on his shoulder, and felt all the pain that he had put in his past a long time ago.
"Well, that's the end...come on Chloe, don't feel so bad."
"I'm sorry I just never realized that THAT was your story. I mean, that was huge!"
"Yeah, it was a biggie wasn't it?"
Chloe grinned, "Anything else you forgot to tell me?"
"Well actually, you know how earlier when I said that thing you were wearing wasn't doing anything for me? Ok, that was such a lie," Brady said grinning.
Chloe leaned into him and kissed him softly. "I already knew that Black."