Everyone Believes We Hate Each other...
Rock Bottom by Hailee Steinfield
Bree- 22
Jay-21
A phone buzzing woke Jay up from his nap. He groaned, rolled over, and picked up the buzzing device. He squinted, he wasn't wearing his contacts or glasses, so he was mainly going by color. The device was light blue, so he guessed it was Bree's. "Lion?" He asked groggily, checking if it was Bree's by the AI she had created for the device.
"Yes Jay?"
"Nothing," Jay replied in a grunt and put the device down as it stopped buzzing. "Who was calling?"
"Bree's concert manager," Lion replied swiftly, "his message is something about a new duet with you involved and the new lyrics she wrote for Paige."
"Amazing," Jay droned sarcastically and rolled over before he shut his eyes with the intent of going back to sleep. He had just fallen asleep when Bree's phone went off. Again. "Bree," he groaned and poked the sleeping lump that was his girlfriend. "Breeeeeeee," he whined and poked her a few more times, hoping she'd wake up on her own. Sometimes she was a light sleeper, and other times she slept like a boulder. And that seemed to be one of those days, Bree didn't even twitch. Jay sat up and pulled the blankets away from her, "Bree, wake up." He grumbled and still didn't get a response besides a small whine of complaint and a mumble of how it was cold.
Bree was out, after doing more physical therapy work for her fixed spine she was dead tired and had been asleep since she had passed out on the bed after the session. She wasn't even supposed to be in his room, it just happened that his room was closer to the main floor than hers was.
Jay then noticed that she was wearing a tank-top and not t-shirt, so with a small smirk, he put his naturally cold hands against the warm and bare skin of her shoulders.
"AAH!" Bree yelped and floundered before she fell off the bed with a thump and popped up kneeling moment later before she stood up and shivered a little, "your hands are freezing!" She complained as she perched on the edge of the bed, and hugged herself, now cold, "I did not need to wake up to that!"
Jay shrugged and flopped back onto his back back onto the bed. "Your phone," he pointed at the offending device.
Bree stared at him, "seriously? You couldn't have answered it yourself and let me sleep?" She huffed indignantly, "such a nice guy I have for a boyfriend," she drawled sarcasically but she did flop down next to him and snuggle against his warm chest.
Jay picked up the phone, dropped it next to Bree, and closed his eyes. "I would have, but it's your concert manager and they don't know I'm your boyfriend and not some random guy." He then paused, "and I am a nice guy, I just don't like being woken up." He grunted and pulled the blankets closer using his feet, miffed about Bree stealing his body heat.
Bree responded by kicking him as she rolled over onto her back, propped herself up using her left arm, and answered the phone. "Hello?" She asked, "Breanna Grayas here."
"Hello Breanna, I've been trying to reach you for the past hour!" Her concert manager Ethan said briskly. "Where have you been?"
Bree's amber gaze strayed over to Jay and her eyes narrowed, but Jay didn't bothering to open his eyes as he shrugged innocently. "Sorry Ethan, I was asleep and someone," she kicked Jay again, "didn't wake me up until now."
"StarClan woman!" Jay rubbed his side grumpily, "why are you always violent when you wake up?!"
"Because you never wake me up nicely!" Bree covered the mic on her phone and shot back at Jay before her lips twitched as she noticed the funny clump of hairs that was sticking up on Jay's head, but she managed to keep a straight face, "and now I'm a icecube!"
Jay sat up, squinted at her, and grumbled, "I do wake you up nicely sometimes."
"Yeah, every once in a blue moon… mmph!" Bree retorted and was cut off as Jay leaned forward and kissed her.
"Yes yes, I know you were asleep, your fancy little AI told me that, I'm wondering where you are." Ethan deadpanned, "Bree?" When he didn't get a response he sighed, "he seems to be the only one paying attention."
Bree quickly pulled back from Jay to answer Ethan, and so she uncovered her mic, "sorry! I'm still here I promise! I'm at my boyfriend's house and he's being an annoying butt." She stuck her tongue out at him
"Where is his house? I need to talk to you right now and see the lyrics for 'Rock Bottom.'"
"Um… I don't want to give out his address, one it's rude, and two how do I know tht you won't bother him?" Bree could hear Jay talking to her as well and refocused on him.
Jay rolled his eyes, "and good evening to yourself Firefly," he deadpanned, "you wanted to be greeted nicely and now you don't? Ugh, women are frustrating." He flopped back down on the mattress, causing Bree to nearly topple off it.
"Well-" Ethan started to say, but Bree cut him off as she almost toppled off the bed.
"Jay!" Bree snapped, "can you not knock me to the floor!"
"Sorry," Jay apologized, "I didn't mean to almost knock you down."
Bree's eyes softened, "it's okay-"
"BREANNA!" Ethan roared and Bree tensed up like a board, "where can I meet you to talk about the duet?!"
"My apartment in twenty minutes." Bree replied swiftly, "and do I need to hunt down The PerfectGrumpyTone?" She asked with a slight smile at Jay who smirked smugly, clearly proud of how he was the only one guy she did the duets with.
"Alright, only if you know where he is," Ethan replied quickly, "I don't want to waste time while your off sleeping with your boyfriend."
Bree's face went bright red an insinuation, "That's not what I was doing! He was helping me with therapy earlier and I passed out after!"
"Sure… Just be at your apartment in the scheduled time." He then hung up. Bree dropped the device into her lap with a groan.
Jay looked at her, "did he make a weird comment again?"
Bree nodded and covered her face with her hands, she did not like the image Ethan put in her head, it made her brain hurt and now she wanted to get far away from Jay, maybe that would fix her brain… Whyyyyyyy Ethan! Whyyy! I don't need that up there! She inwardly bemoaned the brokenness of her poor brain.
"Er," Lion spoke up, "what did he mean by that?"
"Nothing!" Bree flailed her arms and shot out of the room like she was on fire, "he didn't mean anything!"
Jay rolled his eyes and reluctantly got up, "Bree! You're missing you t-shirt and jacket!" He yelled to her down the stairs.
"You're not helping unbreak my brain!" Bree yelled back.
"What in StarClan is she talking about?" Jay asked Lion in confusion.
"I don't know myself quite frankly, sorry Jay." Lion told the man.
"Really Grumpy?" Bree groaned as she and Jay emerged onto the semi brightly lit stage on the day of the concert, "you are so difficult!" She snapped at him, struggling not to break character and grin, but she managed to keep a straight face.
"I'm the difficult one?" Jay gawked, even he was having problems keeping a straight face at this one. Whoever came up with the idea of having them fight before starting a song was insane, they could hardly keep a straight face for longer than a few moments when they were actually arguing, so how could they do it while pretending?! "You're the one who can't decide anything!"
"Me?!" Bree blanched, letting her mouth fall open in surprise, "You're constantly being a grouch and complaining about everything!"
"Oh yeah?! Well for a youtube name of CheerfulCuriousity you complain a lot!" Jay shot back, still struggling to keep a straight face.
Bree took a step back and widened her eyes, trying really hard to not burst out laughing, "excuse me?!"
"You heard me," Jay grunted.
Bree got up in his face, one of her eyebrows twitched in her fight to not laugh in the process, "then this," she gestured between them, "is over! Ugh!" She then pushed him toward backstage where he stumbled and disappeared behind the curtains with a 'crash.'
Bree continued to keep a straight face as the music started and she angrily tapped her foot against the ground with her arms crossed over her chest. "What are we fighting for?" She sang with slight tone of anger in her voice, "seems like we do it just for fun. In this, this stupid war, we play hard with our plastic guns," she looked down at the stage where a plastic gun skidded to a halt in front of her. She rolled her eyes, "Breathe deep, bottle it up… so deep until it's all we got. Don't speak, just use your touch, don't speak before we say too much.." She swiftly kicked the gun behind her and the movements caused the curtains to rustle. "You hate me now and I feel the same way!" She sang, "You love me now and I feel the same way! Scream and we shout, and make up the same day!"
"Same day!"
"Oh, we're on the right side of rock bottom!" Bree sang as she 'paced along the stage,' "Oh, we're on the right side of rock bottom, and I hope that we keep falling… We're on the good side of bad karma, 'cause we keep on coming back for more! We're on the right side of rock bottom! Back to you, I just keep crawling, you're the best kind of bad something! 'Cause we keep on coming back for more!"
Jay emerged from the behind the stage curtains, a little ruffled, his voice also held traces of anger, "you get under my skin more than anyone's ever been… But when we lay in bed you hold me hard 'til I forget,"
He offered Bree his hand and she simply rolled her eyes and pushed him away from her and joined him in the song, "that you hate me now and I feel the same way! You love me now and I feel the same way! We scream and we shout, and make up the same day!"
"Same day!"
"Oh," Jay threw his hands into the air like he was giving up, "we're on the right side of rock bottom!" they sang together, "And I hope that we keep falling! We're on the good side of bad karma, 'cause we keep on coming back for more! We're on the right side of rock bottom! Back to you, I just keep crawling, you're the best kind of bad something, 'cause we keep on coming back for more! Keep on coming back for more!"
"'cause we keep on coming back for more..." Bree echoed. She then confused noise, "ohyeah," and tilted her head slightly to one side as if confused, "What are we fighting for?"
Jay gave an emphasized shrug, "Seems like we do it just for fun…"
"In this, this stupid war…" Bree sounded highly confused now, but a smile was creeping up on her face
Jay cracked a smirked as well and they both picked up the plastic guns at their feet as Bree joined back in in the song, "We play hard with our plastic guns…"
They both looked at the guns, shrugged, and tossed them back behind them into the curtains, "Oh! we're on the right side of rock bottom!" They sang together, and Jay offered his hand again, this time Bree took it, both of them were smiling now. "And I hope that we keep falling! We're on the good side of bad karma, 'cause we keep on coming back for more! We're on the right side of rock bottom! Back to you, I just keep crawling! You're the best kind of bad something!" They both sang standing so that they were facing each other, "'Cause we keep on coming back for more! Keep on coming back for more… 'Cause we keep on coming back for more...Keep on coming back for more!" Bree punched her and Jay's combined hands into the air, "'Cause we keep on coming back for more…" They trailed off as the music softened and stopped.
Character Emails (all are gmail accounts)
Caylee and any other side character – youngcrazyteenageauthor
Cynthia – athleticsapphiresinger
Leon – athleticgoldenboy
Bree – cheerfulcuriosity
Jay – perfectgrumpytone
Holly – emeraldintelligencequeen
Fini – gingerandwhiteteenager
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