I do NOT own the rights to Summerland but I DO own the rights to Teresa Coleman, her story, her family, her friends and anything else that you are unfamiliar with.

Thanks to KandyKane33 and ChrissyD for reviewing! Y'all are awesome!

ChrissyD: Eek! I don't wanna kill you!!! Here's the next chapter!! Breath, breath... ;-)

KandyKane33: Lol! Don't worry, don't worry... lol! He'll change... I'm pretty sure anyway... hee, hee, hee...

Now, enough chit chat, on with the story!!

Chapter VI

Feeling Better?

Teresa was fiddling with her hair after she sat down, when suddenly he screamed "Don't ask me that!" causing her to jump. "How can you ask me that?" he continued, "You don't even know me! And yet, you ask me if I'm okay!" He was screaming at her now making her shrink back in fear. "How... can... you... ask... me that..." he paused for a split second between each word his voice falling with every second until it was a whisper.

Teresa was shocked, what did she say? He had turned to face her when he had been screaming. She had seen anger clearly visible in his beautiful blue eyes, then, as sadness crept into his tone of voice it also filled his eyes, they sparkled with unshed tears and he dropped his head so that she couldn't see his face anymore. "I- I.. I'm sorry! I didn't know... I mean, I uh..." she stammered not knowing what to say since she really didn't know why he'd jumped on her for asking if he was okay.

Why did you have to take your frustration out on her? She didn't do anything! "Are you okay" is a natural question when people act like you were! Why, why, why!? Oh god, you are so stupid! Bradin's conscience hurt his brain with every word, he shook his head making a tear fall from his eye. "No, I'm sorry..." he said not looking up, "I'm so sorry, you didn't do anything... It's just me... I mean," he sighed, "I'm just really, really frustrated." He said, his voice barely above a whisper, "I'm really sorry..."

Teresa felt better knowing she hadn't said anything that terrible after all. "Oh... it's okay. I, I guess I was just..." she trailed off.

"I'm sorry, please don't take it personally... I guess... I don't know..." he sighed, "I'm just really stressed... I probably wouldn't have snapped at you that bad either, except I didn't sleep at all last night!" He laughed lightly.

"Ha, ha, neither did I." She smiled at him, he still hadn't lifted his head, but she could tell he was smiling too, "So, where do you live?"

"Just down that way, about a half mile, you?" he said, still not looking up but pointing a finger to his right.

"Right there," Teresa pointed to her house.

Bradin looked up for the smallest second then looked back down, "Oh." Suddenly he realized where he'd seen her, the girl and boy on the beach! The one that died, the women had come out of that house. Bradin felt tears forming in his eyes as he remembered them all crying which made him think of when his parents died which made him upset again, he groaned in agony from the constant reminders of his parents.

"Are you-" Teresa started but stopped short remembering that that was what had caused him to get so mad.

"Okay?" he finished.

"Yeah..." Teresa looked at his still hanging head, she noticed he was shaking.

"I'm okay," he said very quietly.

Teresa instinctively put her hand on his shoulder when she noticed him shaking, "Are you sure?"

Bradin tensed at the feeling of her hand on his shoulder, he wanted desperately to shake it off but something stopped him.

The only other thing that was making him so frustrated scared and upset was something he never told anyone about, something he hoped no one would ever find out. He didn't like to get too close to people because of it either, he didn't want to get to close to them emotionally because that would probably mean they'd get close physically, and he couldn't do that.

He didn't like for anyone to touch him and he hated when people gave him a hug or when his aunt gave him a kiss on the cheek, he would always cringe inside when she did... He could only stand to have physical contact people if it was shaking hands or a quick hug, or something like that, just nothing really close.
He did have a good reason though; he just wasn't about to tell anyone.

"Are you sure?" Teresa softly asked again.

Bradin took a deep breath, he knew he was shaking and that she had noticed, but he couldn't stop, he was very cold. But he wasn't shaking only because of that, he was scared, upset, and angry all at once, and because he was afraid to talk to this girl in case she got too close to him. "I- I... No, I'm not sure..." he finally whispered tears falling from his eyes.

"It's okay, if you tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help you..." Teresa was sure she'd just said the wrong thing but she quickly proved that I lie.

"I- I... well, maybe, but I- I don't really know you and I should get home before my aunt goes ballistic." Bradin didn't raise his head in the least when he spoke; he really didn't want her to see his tears.

"Bradin," she spoke to him like she knew him, "it's okay, I mean, I understand that you don't know me and all... So maybe later, but well, would you come to my birthday party that my mom's "surprising" me with?" Teresa hoped to God that he would say yes.

"I, well, I can ask my aunt, but she's probably gonna kill me for being gone for so long..." Bradin hoped to God that his aunt would say yes.

"Okay, that's cool! Um... you want me to walk with you?" Teresa still had her hand on his shoulder, which was beginning to shake less as he seemed to calm down.

Bradin couldn't believe how nice this near perfect stranger was being to him. He gained control of his emotions and the only shaking left was from him being so cold. He wiped away the few tears still left on his cheeks and looked up a slight bit, "Um... yeah, sure," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Okay," she said dropping her hand from his shoulder and smiling, "Whenever you're ready, but no rush, okay?"

He laughed, "Sure, in a few minutes, okay?"

"Sure thing!" Teresa smiled at him, "So um... when did you come down here today anyway?"

"About 3:30 this morning..." he laughed, "I told you I didn't get any sleep!"

She laughed back, "Me either! I came outside this morning at about 3:45 this morning... Um, Bradin?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to admit that I saw you down here at around 3:30, I knew when you came down..."

To her surprise he laughed happily, "Ah, stalking me were you?"

"Ha! Not a chance, I was on my balcony..." Teresa returned his laugh.

"Well, no crime in that!" Bradin seemed to be feeling better with each passing second, for this, he was happy.

"Hmm... so do you have any siblings?" Teresa didn't mean to but, she had just reminded herself of her own dead brother, she fought back the tears that came to her eyes. She had to stay strong; she wasn't backing out of her promise to Matt to not be said.

Instantly Bradin thought of having seen, what he assumed was her brother, die, tears rushed to his eyes but he held them back, forcing himself to smile as he answered, "Yeah, a sister, Nikki, and a brother, Derrick." He hoped he wasn't reminding her of her brother.

"How old are they?"

"Nikki's 13 and Derrick's 9." Bradin looked up, "I guess I'm ready to go now..."

"Okay, let's go than!" Teresa stood up and brushed the sand off of her clothes.

Bradin stood up and did the same, looking at her, he smiled; she was simply beautiful. She smiled back at him causing his heart to beat faster.

Teresa watched as Bradin stood up and brushed the sand off of his clothes, then smiled at her, she returned it as her heart beat rapidly. She studied his eyes as he looked at her; they were gorgeous! Simply gorgeous! She looked him over, his whole body looked strong and it was clear that he spent a lot of time in the sun. His face was perfect to her, his blue-green eyes smiled at her and his sandy blonde hair fell into his face just so. She smiled at him, "So, uh..." she looked away from him feeling herself blush as he stared at her, "Should we go?"

"Yeah," Bradin shook his head and they walked off. What are you doing? You can't like her! You can't even look at her; you might get caught up! And you cannot get carried away and like someone, they can't be trusted. You can't get close to this girl. Do you hear? You cannot get close to this girl! Do you hear yourself? Bradin, Bradin! Bradin's mind screamed at him, he tried to listen to it, but the feeling he was getting just being around Teresa made him not want to hear it. He knew his mind was right, people couldn't be trusted, you got close to someone and then they hurt you, bad. He had experienced that all to personally, though getting close to a girl wouldn't be the same, he just couldn't trust anyone. It had been to bad, he would never forget it, never. An uncalled for tear slipped from his eye falling to his shoulder, he looked away from the girl at his side and quickened his pace.

There it is, hope you liked it and now for your favorite part!! REVIEWING!!! ;-)

Anna Christie AKA SecondStarToTheRight15