"Hope you weren't in too much trouble," Bradin laughed, walking up beside my stool.

"I was supposed to be home by 7 for a dinner with some of my mom's associates from work." I rolled my eyes and shifted my books so that Bradin could sit down. "I walked in to hear my parents freaking out on the phone with the business associates sitting by looking frazzled. When my parents found out that I was completely fine, they had nervy spazzes. But it's all good. My parents are overjoyed to learn I'm not sulking or bitching at the whole town; so much so that I got off without too much damage."

"An hour late, though, ouch," Bradin winced, "It's good they're not too mad."

"You say that now, but my parents, being the right psychotic over protective people they are, want to meet you," I laughed. "So are you free for lunch? I swear it'll just be a half hour."

"Sure, I've never been to your house before," Bradin shrugged.

"Honestly, they are so excited to see that I'm finally adapting to the move," I said. "They are so over protective, though, they want to know who any of my friends are. And non-friends." I added quickly with a grin.

"It's good that they care so much," Bradin nodded.

"They care to the point of suffocation," I said dryly. "I can't wait until I'm 18 and I have enough money to be on my own." Bradin didn't answer. "What about your parents? I remember Mrs. Westerly from Kansas and after a few weeks here, I would've thought I would've seen her around town, starting up a community event of some sort. At the very least, I would've thought that I would see her on the beach or the café, I mean, those are major hot spots."

"I suppose I never told you why we moved here," Bradin muttered.

"Come to think of it, you haven't," I said, thinking back.

"The reason you haven't seen my parents around Playa Linda is because they aren't here…Nikki, Derek, and I moved here to live with my Aunt Ava and her friends because my parents died a month ago." Bradin told me in a low voice.

"What?" was the only thing I could get out.

"Flash flood, they went to help, they never came back." Bradin elaborated a little.

"Oh my God! They always helped out when the town was in trouble…they had saved the lives of many people whom I knew… But that can't, it's not…they always did the saving…" I gasped and shook my head. "Mr. Westerly was one of the people who helped us pack."

I fell silent and Bradin didn't say anything either. It was taking a while for me to digest this information. Mr. and Mrs. Westerly must have passed away really soon after my family moved. I felt immensely pained about this news. Bradin's parents were a very warm couple and they had made it their business to get to know every person living in our town at least to the point of friendly acquaintances. We hadn't known each other incredibly well, of course, but they always had encouraging words to me whenever we passed.

I finally looked up at Bradin again and realized that the expression on his face was one of extreme grief. His eyes were a touch red and they looked slightly wet. I instinctively put a comforting arm around him, unsure whether it would be weird to hug him, and he reacted to my touch by moving in closer so that we were embracing. I was a bit surprised when this occurred, especially when I felt him give small, nearly unnoticeable sobs. I wrapped my other arm around him and my heart went out to Bradin.

It was a few minutes later when Bradin had pulled himself together enough to pull back. He rubbed his face and apologized in a slightly shaky voice, "I'm sorry, this is just the first time I've talked about this with someone other than my family."

"You don't have to apologize," I said softly, taking his hand. "They were amazing people. I wish I could say something to comfort you, but there's probably nothing I can say."

"Just you being here is enough," he smiled. "You know, most people would've reacted with immediate discomfort and a string of empty while well-meaning words. I forget that you knew them yourself. Thanks for not being weird about this."

"We're non-friends, remember?" I answered with a smile. Bradin leaned forward and hugged me again.

Looking back at this a little later, I realized how comfortable that conversation was. The fact that we had hugged wasn't important, I wasn't nervous or uncomfortable… all it was, was a mutual exchange of understanding and consolation between two people mourning the deaths of people we had both known.


A/N: School's back so I'm going to have to work a little less on this, but I'm really enjoying writing this so I'll continue it and update as often as I can. Holy crap, I just watched some Jesse video clips and he's so HOT! Summerland season 2 returns this Monday Feb 28 on the WB, don't forget! Previews for the show shows Bradin getting slapped because he confesses his love to Erica and they KISS! He just had to revert to being a jack ass again...I mean, him and Callie just started going steady! Okay, done rambling now... R R!