the story takes part 3 years after the events in Pretty things
DISCLAIMER! i DO NOT OWN PRETTY THINGS OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN IT
"Charlie!" Brie's eyes lit up as she saw him, and bounded towards him with a silly grin on her face. Charlie caught her full force and stumbled back, laughing, "Oh Brie, it's good to see you again." He murmered into her hair, his hert soaring with the joy of seeing his best friend again after one long year.
Last April, at this time of the year, Brie had received a letter from the producers of The singing of the muse, offering her a place in their next movie Gideon may be, set in Africa. Brie was considered somewhat famous in the city of London, she'd appeared in multitudes of ads and had even starred in the local soap opera neon city occasionally. The director must have spotted her, and so, now it seemed her big break had come.
Brie considered the deal, she phoned them up and agreed, then rang again and cancled, then agreed again. And so it went on for quite a while. Brie was worried about her grades, her friends and prospect of not having Charlie and her family there with her, she was still scared of being alone, she still needed someone to depend on. But in the end, Charlie, her mum & dad, Daisy, and even Walker had insisted that she go, and with their encouragment she finally agreed (to the annoyed director's relief).
And after a year in Africa, Brie has finally come home, looking frecklier than before (not tanned, to her irritance) and, if possible, even more beautiful.
Charlie let go of Brie, leaned back, and surveyed her. "What?" Brie asked self consciously, her hands flying up to her face. "Do I have a pimple or something?"
"No! No." Charlie laughed, same old Brie, He thought and smiled. "It's just, i don't know...you look kinda different somehow" And looking at Brie, she did look different, more older, taller, and somehow, sexier. "Have you been pigging out?" Charlie joked as he realized she had filled out of her old, stick thin, brittle looking self and developed curves."No!" Brie said, looking mortified "You think so too? Oh lord, my mum's going to kill me." Brie's mum had an obsession with her daughter's weight, and kept insisting that if she ate anymore, she'd be so fat she'd scare off all her suitors. "Hey, I didn' mean that!" Charlie said, raising an eyebrow "Anyways, I glad you grew out of your anorexia looking state. You look great Brie, serious, I mean if Adam Brody took one look at you now he'd probably fall head over heels in love with you instantly."
"Thanks Charlie." Brie wrinkled her nose"Even though my mom would never think that."
"Who cares about her" Charlie snorted "You know Brie, now that you're 19 and rich, you could afford a place of your own, move out of your mom's presence. Or maybe you could share a flat with me"
Brie furrowed her thin eyebrow, then suddenly grinned "You know what? I think I might actually do that" She declared bravely.
"What?" Charlie said, startled. This wasn't like the Brie he knew, the old Brie whould have never made such a bold and risky decision like that, especialy when it concerned her mother. The trip to africa must'ave changed her more than I thought.
"Yeah, I could stay over at your place, until I find a flat of my own to move in to. I mean, I am kinda rich now, and I don't care what mom thinks about this, I'm an adult and I can do whatever I want." Brie announced, beaming. "Er, you certaint Brie?" Charlie asked, alarmed by this sudden change in her attitude.
"Yes. Ofcourse I'm sure" Brie said, determination bright in her eyes "I've thought about a lot of stuff while shooting the movie, & I think I've changed a little inside, I think, I may not be the same old shy, self conscious Brie anymore. And I want a new start in life."
"Oh Brie, okay, so do you want to move in like, now?" "Um, I guess so, I don't feel quite erm, brave enough to face my mother, I guess. I've got all my stuff with me, so I can just settle in and then call her."
"'kay" Smiling, Charlie turned around and picked up some of her luggage, carrying them to his car.
Brie hauled up her own bags and followed him, suddenly glad to have Charlie by her side again. At first, when she'd first arrived in Africa, she was so terribly homesick, for her family, for London, but mostly for Charlie. He had been her best friend, they'd grow up together, and even though she knew perfectly well that he was gay, that didn't stop her from falling in love with him. Atleast I'm over it now. Brie thought, relieved, as she looked at Charlie's back, his brown hair, bleached at the ends, his tanned arms. She felt the slightest twinge of something, but pushed it away, afraid of what it could be. Besides Brie, you've got a boyfriend now. Remember? she scolded herself.
"So here it is. Not exactly a castle, but good enough for me." Charlie grinned as he set her trunks down beside his bedroom door.
Brie flopped down on the slightly musty, rumpled bedspead and fell backwards into it, suddenly exhausted. And suddenly Charlie's arms were wounding themselves around her waist, holding her close and stroking her hair. "I've missed you." He whispered, his breath warm against her ear. Brie's hands tangled in his hair "I've missed you more" she mumbled into his shirt. And for a while neither of them could speak, overcome with feelings of warmth. Until Brie pulled back, feeling guilty and awfully aware of the fact that she had a boyfriend, that she was a girl and Charlie was a guy and they were lying together intimatly on his bed. "I should go ring my mom." She said. "And I'll go make us some coffee" Charlie got up and padded out of the room, and Brie was alone to make the dreaded call to her mother.
"Hi, mom it's me, Brie. No I'm not at the airport, I'm, um, at Charlie's house. Mom! No! We're not doing anything stupid!You know he's gay and he's my best friend. It's because, because I..." Brie took a deep breathe, and caught sight of Charlie at the door, winking at her. "...I want to move in to his flat." As expected, Brie's mother yelled and threatened her in every possible way, and said that if she was to move out she'd betternot plan on going home again, ever. "Mom! I, I just want to start my own life! I'm nearly an adult now! You can't always expect me to live under the same roof as you and never have a life of my own! No! Again mother, we are not doing anything dangerous or stupid or - WE ARE NOT HAVING SEX!! I just want to..you know, start being independent."
Brie's mom fell silent, then attruptly hang up.
Brie put the phone back shakily, and breathed out slowly.
"How'd it go?" Charlie asked, handing her a mug of hot steaming coffee. Brie told him what she had said, "Well I guess you can stay, I mean she never said you couldn't Asides form the threats" "Even if she did forbid me to stay, I'm staying anyways, she can't boss me around forever." Brie said fiercly.
Charlie laughed "Okay, let's go somewhere to celebrate your independence!."
After partying and catching up with her old friends again, Brie and Charlie fially arrived back at midnight, exhausted and bleary.
"Phoof, Im stuffed, I can't believed I partied on top of the jet lag" Brie groaned as she fell, face down on to Charlie's bed, Charlie took off his shirt and crawled in beside her, too tired to do anything more. And they curled up against each other, just like old times, and listened to the wind howling outside, the occasional mewl of a stary cat, and each other's familiar breathing as they slowly fell asleep.
"Brie!" Daisy yelled, waving her arms, as Brie drew near she gathered her in a bone crushing hug, and Brie hugged her back feebily.
"You're back" Walker grinned and waved at her. "Yeah, we've kind of noticed that, o' master of stating the obvious" Daisry snorted, but smiled at Walker, In a I-cant-belive-this-big-idiot-but-i-love-him-anyways way. "Good to see you guys still totally in love with each other" She said, as Charlie ambled up. "Yeah but Ive nearly had enough with him, His eating habits are just appauling" Daisy said, waking Walker on the arm "And this woman here can boss the socks off a snake" Walker said, rubbing his arm and smiling at Daisy. "As if! I hardly boss you around you sneaky -" Walker cut her of with a kiss, wrapping his arms around her lovingly. Inwardingly, Brie sighed, I hope that, someday, i will find a guy who will love me like this. She thought dreamily. "Okay guys, enough with the soppiness already, didn't we have something planned to celebrate the return of Brie?" Charlie said. They distangled themselves from each other reluctantly, and followed Brie and Charlie, The four of them heading somehwere together, just like the old times.
Over the next few days, they showed Brie around London again, so much has happened in a year, there were new buildings, new streets, and even a fairground set up not far from Charlie's house. They all went on the monster ride, screaming and clutching on to the person next to them, and ate and fed each other cotton candy, and went into the forune telling booth, although Walker claimed not to belive in those things, but after the fortune teller told him that he would grow up to be a billionair, he was slightly more placid about them. They went on the ferris wheel, and, since it was guy fawkes day, watched fireworks explode all around them. Laughing and shouting. Brie completely forgot about her mother.
Until, that is, they saw her in the supermarket, talking to an assistant. Brie's first instinct wa to bolt, but it was too late, she had already spotted them. Her face hardened and she excussed herself from the shop assistant, and walked over to Brie. Her strides, stiff and controlled. Brie's insides dropped with dread.
"I want a word with you, Brie" She said sharply, and meekly Brie followed her out of the shop to the shade af a tree. Daisy and Walker, looked away uncomfortably and busied themselves getting groceries, Charlie looked after Brie and her mom, worried for her.
"Young lady, you have a lot of explaining to do." Brie's mother said, with what she thought as a friendly voice. "I -" Brie started,. But her mom cut her off. "You were supposed to come home straight from the airport, we were so worried about you! I dion't know what's come over you, Brie".
" Mom, I...I told you, I want a new start to life, I want to be independet, I'm old enough mom, you can't mollicoddle me forever."
"If you want to be independent, the why are you staying with, with that boy".
"That's just until I find a house of my own" Brie protested. "You can stay in your own house until you find a place of your own" Her mom siad, the niceness gone from her voice."I...I just..." ...Couldn't bear the thought of you critisizing me again... "Please mom, You know I'm safe with Charlie, I mean you were even persuading him to start doing me".
"I don' care who you're staying with, I want you in my house!" She hissed, and Brie suddenly ralized her mother wanted her to stay because the paparazzi will be hanging around her house, and she wanted her own face in fame too. Brie suddenly felt disgusted and very, very mad
"You don't want me in the house anyways, you just want me for the attraction and the spotlight!" She yelled, frustrated, all this time she'd thought her mom actually cared about her and wanted her to stay "I don't want to live under the same roof as you! I hate it! I hate it how you're always dissing me and everything about me! I, I'm just so sick of it!" tears sprangeg to Brie's eyes, she rarely got this angry, and she'd never ever yelled like this before. Brie suddenly felt exhausted.
"Go away then. I don't want to see you in my house again" Her mother said coldly, and Brie turned around and stumbled away, her vision blured with tears. She got about ten steps away then tripped on a tree stump. Suddenly Charlie was there, his strong arms catching her, pulling her to him. Brie couldn't take it anymore, she let her tears flow freely, gasping ragged sobs that shook her body, her legs felt weak and powerless and as if Charlie sensed it, his hold on her tightened. Brie felt so lost and betraild somehow, her heart ached, it was like she'd never had a real mother after all. "Oh Charlie," She cried, her hands clinging onto his jacket. "She doesn't want me after all, She's never wanted me, she just wanted the attention and the spotlight!".
"Shh, it's okay Brie, who cares about that old bag?" Charlie murmured, rubbing her back and kissing her hair, his heart aching to see her so broken, it was just like the time he'd yelled at her 3 years ago, and he'd upset her so much she detached herself from him.
"Oh Brie! What did she do to you?" Daisy and Walker walked over and Brie seeemed to pull herself together. Rubbing her eyes. 'No biggie, im fine' She said. But Charlie knew she wasn't fine, it was like a natural instinct. "Hey, you guys, i think we're just gonna head home now, Brie's a little tired" He said. Steering Brie in the direction of her new home.