iii.
Friday night – another party, another
chance to get noticed, another…well, actually, it was probably another
night for Brianna to try to glitz and glitter herself into someone's radar…
And decide, halfway thought the
night, that she didn't have a chance in this town.
Not with the acting thing.
Not with the dating scene…
None of it.
Eyeing her reflection in the mirror,
she raised a brow, then raked a perfectly violet manicured hand through
her ever-unruly hair, which she had attempted to straighten. So far,
it looked like a little less like an afro, but more like a frizzball.
"This is just absolutely great…now
that I look like the before picture in an Infusium 23 ad…"
With a sigh, she started across the
tiny hallway separating her bathroom from her bedroom, and…
Roses. On the bed.
"What…the…hell…?"
The fire escape was open from earlier
today, as she'd been outside thinking a little, drawing little sketches
of different things, scenes she could remember seeing in Arizona, sunsets…things
that reminded her of home.
Home, where she actually didn't
have to be dramatically fake. Where she could throw on a pair of
jeans and a ratty t-shirt and pull her hair into a ponytail and not have
to worry about lipstick smudging or eyelash curlers pinching…
Or stalkers, which brought her into the here and now.
Brianna – you'll never know.
What the hell did that mean? She'd never know? This was starting to get a little too close for comfort, saying things were being left in her apartment now.
"At least the flowers are pretty."
With a shrug, she closed the window, then just stood there a few moments,
trying to hear if whoever was in the house was still there.
And there was…nothing.
-*-
She'd got the flowers.
Yes, Brianna had seemed a little
– afraid by the display, and he couldn't really blame her. But it
wasn't time to really put himself in her life…
Not now.
She wasn't the brightest girl, really.
A little on the naïve, genuine side, at least when she was on the
phone…
With her parents, he supposed, because
she kept saying that she was fine here, that she wasn't in any imminent
danger, and people in LA were a little frightening, but she was managing…
Other than that, though, she spent
a lot of time by herself. Quiet…
She didn't think she belonged, and
at times, he believed her.
She didn't understand the ways of
the world, didn't seem to pick up on the fact that she could get hurt.
She'd find that out soon enough, though.