I don't mean to drag it on, but I can't seem to let you go

I don't wanna make you face this world alone

I wanna let you go (alone)

Chapter Five

Tension filled the room as Marie and Bradin continued to stare at each other. The family looked from one teen to the other, unsure of what to do.

"Um…" Marie shifted in her seat uncomfortably, "I should probably get going." She placed her napkin on the table and stood slowly.

"Thank you for dinner, Ava. It was really good."

Everybody sat silently as Marie left; choosing to use the backdoor instead of passing by Bradin to use the front.

It wasn't until the door shut behind her that the silence was broken.

"Why did you have to come home so soon?" Nikki glared at her brother. Bradin stared at the backdoor, watching Marie's retreating form.

"Bradin?" His aunt's concerned tone brought him back to the room. "Are you alright, Bradin?" Ava asked.

"I'm fine," he muttered, hurrying into his room (which had been Johnny's before he and Ava got married). The door slammed shut behind him, causing those still seated to jump.

Bradin fell back on his bed. He had a lot to think about. Emma had broken up with him, Marie refused to speak to him. What other girls were out there that he could piss off?

He groaned in frustration and covered his face with his hands.

Everything was so messed up right then. Bradin needed to figure them out. But where did he start? Which girl did he talk to first?

Emma had basically let him off the hook by breaking up with him. Did he go and tell Marie that? Did he go and tell her that nothing stood in their way anymore and that they could go back to they way they once were? Something told him that Marie would not accept him back, even with Emma out of the picture.

"Why are girls so damned complicated?" He asked the ceiling. Needless to say, he didn't get an answer.

The moonlight glinted off the swells like millions of tiny diamonds. Sand scrunched between Marie's toes as she walked, barefoot, down the beach. Gazing up at the full moon over head, Marie sighed. Bradin's face floated in her mind's eye, and she didn't want it there.

For too long Marie had lived in the past, wanting her and Bradin to be just they way they had been. No more. Now was the time to move on, to get over the fact that there was never going to be something between them again. Even if Emma hadn't been in the picture, Marie wasn't so certain she would have been able to be with Bradin again. They weren't the same people anymore, they'd changed so much that maybe a relationship wouldn't have worked between them.

Without thinking much about where she was going, Marie's feet guided her back to her apartment. She climbed the stairs, the gray, unsanded stairs rough beneath her feet. She went to unlock her door, but found it already opened.

Marie's eyes narrowed suspiciously. She had definitely locked the door when she'd left. Slowly, she pushed the door open just enough so that she could slide inside. The light was on in the kitchen, casting dim light across the living room floor. Add that light with the moonlight that was coming in through the picture window, the living room was easy to make out. Nothing seemed out of place. Everything was neat and tidy, just like Marie had left it.

The sound of the toilet flushing broke through the quiet. Marie stiffened. What was she supposed to do? And since when the hell did thieves use the bathroom in the houses they robbed?

A figure emerged from the hall, their face bathed in shadow.

"I was wonderin' when you'd get home."

Flipping through the latest Surfer magazine, Bradin tried to keep his mind focused on anything but his girl troubles. It was no use though. Giving up on the magazine, Bradin tossed it on his nightstand and lay back on his bed, his hands behind his head. The moon offered the only light in the room, casting creeping shadows against the walls.

Noise from the living room floated under his door. Bradin could clearly hear the laugh track on whatever TV show Derrick and Nikki were watching. Outside on the patio, the adults were quietly talking. Their hushed voices too low for Bradin to make out whatever it was that they were saying.

With a sigh he flipped onto his side and stared at the red numbers on his clock. It wasn't even nine-thirty and here he was, already tucked in his bed. It was summer for heaven's sake, Bradin should have been out at a party or a bonfire or somethin'. But no, he was locked away in his room commiserating about girls. What the hell had happened to him?

It was all Marie's fault. Before she'd come back he had been getting along pretty well. Now his life was thrown into a tailspin. His girlfriend broke up with him, his sister was pissed at him and the rest of his family was getting there. Why did they all have to like Marie so much? Why did they have to take her side of things?

Bradin remembered that when he and Emma first started going out his family had cautioned him against it. They didn't think that he was ready to get back into a relationship after falling so hard for Marie. Well he had shown them. He and Emma had gotten together and gotten serious, fast. Now it all had come back to bite him in the ass.

Closing his eyes, Bradin thought back to when he had first met Emma.

Christmas break had come to an end and Bradin once more found himself walking the familiar halls of Playa Linda High. Not much had happened over break. He'd gotten in some surfing, then Ava had taken him, Nikki, and Derrick back to Kansas for a week. That had been interesting.

Seeing all his old friends and going to his old hangouts, it was all pretty meaningless to Bradin anymore. He'd changed from the person that he had been in Kansas and his friends just couldn't understand that. Not to mention, he hadn't talked to Marie since leaving Playa Linda the day after New Years.

She called him every night, but then she just…stopped. Bradin thought that everything was good between them. Their calls had been going great, they were laughing and talking for hours. Then she just didn't call anymore. It had only been a few days since their last call, but still, Bradin knew something was up.

He wandered the halls, going from class to class in a fog. Everything was meaningless right then. He could have cared less about school and everything that went along with it.

Heading towards his locker, Bradin accidentally knocked into somebody. A armload of books dropped to the marble floor with a thud.

"Damn it." A girl muttered, leaning down to pick up the books that had dropped.

"Sorry 'bout that." Bradin apologized, bending down as well.

"You should be, you totally knocked into me." The girl said, snatching away the books Bradin handed her. He barely looked at her, not really wanting to see her. He was afraid that if he did look at her that he would see what he saw when he looked at any other girl, Marie.

"Dude, what is your problem," the girl said harshly, "you slam into me and then you don't even have the decency to look at me, instead just staring blankly over my shoulder. Are you like blind or somethin'?"

"No I can see perfectly…fine." Bradin looked her straight in the eye. And she wasn't at all like Marie.

That had been the end of it for Bradin. He had become smitten with Emma's carefree, in-your-face attitude, and the wildness that ruled her. She was just what the doctor had ordered, and Bradin made certain that he took his daily prescribed dose.

She'd been reluctant at first to become involved with a "surf idiot" as she liked to call those on the surfing team. But Bradin had worn her down and before long they were going out every night.

As he thought about Emma, Bradin felt himself slowly falling asleep. The glowing numbers on his clock turned to ten, and he was out like a light.

Marie squealed when she heard that familiar voice. Jumping over the couch, she ran and hugged her best friend.

"Oh my god," she cried, "why didn't you tell me you were coming. And how the hell did you pick that lock?"

"I wanted to surprise you," her friend replied, "and besides that lock was so easy anybody could have picked it." Holding her friend close, Marie buried her face in their shoulder.

"Thank God you're here," she said, tears springing to her eyes, "I really need a friend right now." An arm wrapped around her, holding her tightly and offering her as much comfort as Marie could have asked for.

I bet you all were worried that Marie was going to get hurt. Lol. I just love making you all feel like something bad is going to happen and then quickly turning it around to make it something good. Hehe. Please review and tell me what you thought. Thanks.

Jmacsgurl15: Email me whenever you want. I love getting emails. And don't worry, you won't bother me.

jessesfan0409: You never cease to make me smile with your amazing compliments. Thank you so much.

rachel, the different person, Caitlin, and kandykane33: Thank you all so much for taking the time to read and review this story. It really means a lot to me.