Episode 19
The rain falls relentlessly.
"It's the weekend! It's not supposed to be raining!" Mariana pouts as she shuffles aimlessly around her room, almost dizzying Callie -who's still laying under her covers- with her zig-zag movements. "I have stuff to do!"
Callie's eyes squeeze shut again, and she tries to imagine a quiet, Mariana-less room, and the soft clinking of raindrops on the window, and the faint tick of the clock in the hallway, and sweet sleep, only these things and nothing else. But it isn't her room, it's Mariana's, and the world, as she has come to find it, is not perfect, and definitely not fair. So she slowly sits up, allowing a small, knowing smile. "It's water, Mariana, not acid. You can still go out."
"But my hair-"
"You're perfect, Mariana," she cuts in, slowly slinking out from under her covers, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, "rain or no rain, your hair stays nice. So you can shut up, yeah?"
Mariana's eyes go wide and she purses her lips in a smile. "Wow, I'm really feeling the love! What's gotten into you? Is rain your thing?"
Callie rolls her eyes as she pads past her towards the door. "No," she stops, "well, yeah, I just...I don't know. I'm just trying to figure things out. You know, if I belong in this family..."
"Of course you do!" Mariana is flabbergasted at the thought that she doesn't see herself fitting in here, and Callie sees this in her face, how she really does mean it, and she wishes she hadn't even brought it up. This only adds to the confusion. It just feels so nice to have something like a sister for once. "If anything, you keep this crazy family a little sane."
"That'd be a nice thought," she muses as pulls the door open, "if that were true."
Mariana calls after her down the hallway. "Now you're the one that needs to shut up!"
Callie's at the kitchen doorway when she hears his voice at the island, so she stops. Stef is refilling her cup of coffee and Lena is on her elbows on the counter, and his voice is soft but wavering as he says, "I want to help him."
She rolls so her back is to the wall, and though she can still hear every word of their conversation, she feels less intrusive like this. Stef is not getting her hopes up yet, clearly, because she says, "That sounded like a but."
"I want to help him," he repeats, his voice a little more solid, "but I can't if he doesn't want to help himself."
Stef is heard sipping her joe, probably trying to buy some time to think of the best way to convince him. "Okay," she says, and she sounds supportive of his decision, but she adds, "okay, but that's assuming he doesn't want to get better, and all assumptions aside, do you want to help him or not?"
Up until now, Callie's been pretty content not concerning herself in their affairs, but she feels the sudden responsibility to push Brandon towards his father. He may have done some pretty messed up things, but at least he's there. At least he's still got a dad, and a mom, and she bets making an appearance now will remind him, being the intellectual he is, that he's the luckier than a lot of kids at his school. He deserves a dad.
So she walks in, and all three sets of eyes fly to her, and she has to say, just as a common courtesy, "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything." but she's not sorry at all. Stef smiles behind the rim of her mug and Lena greets her with breakfast inquiries.
But Brandon, without taking his eyes off Callie, says to his mom, "Yeah. Yeah, I'll help him."
Callie has to turn and open the fridge just to hide her blush.
When Callie leaves the kitchen she's aware of the footsteps behind her, but only stops to face the owner when she's in front of the staircase. She's prepared to say something, but he speaks first, catching her wrist so that she doesn't walk away. Not that she would, he's just a little confused after what she said the night before, and doesn't know how much more time she needs. "I've been an ass. You're always right."
"I never called you an ass."
"I know," he clarifies, his eyes circling her face, catching the color in her cheeks at their proximity and almost reveling in it, though he doesn't indulge himself too much as he still doesn't know what her choice will be in the end. When Jude is concerned, however, it never ends well for him. "I meant, you always know what to say and do. I should just listen to you more."
Her tongue darts out across her bottom lip, clearly trying to replenish some moisture sucked out by either the weather or her current situation. "Yeah," she breathes, nodding her head shortly a couple of times, "that'd be nice."
He allows himself a smile, surprised to see her flustered. "Well, at least you're not modest."
This conversation could definitely spoil the integrity of her "experiment" of sorts, but just as she's about to tell him that they shouldn't be having this conversation here or now, there's a loud knocking on the door, and he releases her wrist to answer it.
As soon as the door is open, the sound of pounding rain fills the foyer, along with the chill of it, and Callie folds her arms over her chest. Talya is standing on their porch, a few wet strands of hair tucked behind her ears, her sweater dotted with the remnants of rain.
"What are you doing here?" Brandon demands, and if it weren't raining, the door would definitely be shut in her face right now, but she braved the bad weather just to come here and he has to give her that much. "I thought I made it pretty clear-"
"Please, please let me explain myself," she begs, and the roll of his eyes tells her that he'd really rather not hear her out but he will. It's just like him to, and the thought of it makes her teary-eyed; the thought of everything she threw away makes her sick. "I couldn't lose you, you know I couldn't, but I had nothing to make you stay. And there was just so much going on-"
"So you thought that you'd add to my stress."
"No! No, I never wanted that, Brandon," she breaks, trying to stop her bottom lip from quivering, "I was stupid, though, I know that, and I know what I did was wrong, but I felt threatened," she looks over his shoulder just to see if she's around, and it just so happens that she's standing right by the staircase, watching the whole thing, "by her, by Callie, and with good reason!"
Brandon doesn't even flinch, he's not moved by her performance. With a certain coldness, he asks, "Then why are you here?"
"Brandon," Callie speaks, having made her way behind him now, and though she's not inviting Talya inside, offering her a warm blanket, she feels a little for the girl. Perhaps approaching the two is not the best idea, and will only anger her further, but the redhead is clearly broken and she can't watch Brandon tear her up further. "We should go help your moms with breakfast."
He looks down at her, confused as to why she wants to cut Talya slack, but goes with it, anyway. However, he has nothing left to say to her, and Callie finds herself having to dismiss her. "Drive safe, Talya, with the rain-"
"Yeah," she slices in, her voice thick with resentment, "thanks a lot."
The second the door is shut, Brandon can't contain his curiosity. "Talya's done a hell of a lot of stuff to you and you still find compassion for her. I'll never understand you."
Callie glances towards the kitchen, finds the two moms still chatting over coffee and a magazine, completely oblivious, and looks back up at Brandon. "I can't take credit for that, actually, I was feeling a little smug, you know," she stalls a little, unsure if she'll be able to admit this now, and how he'll react if she does, "because I kind of won, I guess?"
He nods briefly. "Yeah, I guess she did kind of start a war."
She bites her lip as he takes one last look at her before starting up the stairs. Her heart is pounding in her ears but the words tumble out of her mouth before she can even think about stopping them. "I meant you. I got you."
He stops halfway up and twists around in a flash. "What are you saying?"
"I don't know." she admits quietly, but she's not taking back what she's said, she really just doesn't know. He starts up the stairs again without a word and she jogs up after him, catching his arm near the top two steps. "It doesn't have to mean something right now."
He looks down at her, and she's shorter than ever on the step below him, and she looks so frightened just waiting for him to say something so he says gently, "I wish it could. But I'm not going to push you, not anymore."
She smiles, and while her eyes are flashing with thank yous, they're full of pain, so he leans forward and just barely kisses her where her forehead and hairline meets. Her eyes close on contact, but when she opens them again, there's another pair on the two. Mariana's standing just above them, looking thoroughly confused. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." they both say at the same time, making nothing look an awful lot like something, but they're saved by the doorbell yet again, though neither make a move, still gouging Mariana's reaction. Jesus appears besides her in the next moment, catching all of their faces, and prompts, "Are we having one big staring contest or is someone going to get the door?"
"Uh," Mariana utters, and Jesus shoots them all a strange look before going to answer it, though Stef's got him beat, chirping as she spots him, "There you are! About time you got outta bed. Momma's got breakfast on the table."
But she swings the door open and when Jesus catches that raven hair he has to stop and push right up next to Stef, who asks the girl, "Can I help you?"
But she completely ignores Stef, her eyes drawn to Jesus. "Yeah, I came to talk to Jesus, hey."
"Hey?"
Stef looks between the two. "I don't believe I've been introduced to her before, Jesus,"
Jesus' eyes narrow on her. "Yeah, neither have I."
"Tiffany." The girl offers Stef with a sad smile before addressing Jesus again. "After hearing the news, I feel like a total bitch, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for everything, and I'm so sorry for your loss."
Stef raises an eyebrow, exchanging baffled looks with the trio that has made their way behind her now. Jesus' eyebrows are torn between confusion and anger. "My loss?"
She appears genuinely confused, too, as she says, "Wait, you haven't...you haven't seen the news?" When she sees their expressions, she knows she's screwed up. "Shit, I thought you guys would've seen it...I'm sorry, I've got to go." She darts off their porch in record time, taking off on her skateboard down the sidewalk, rain and all.
"Turn the news on." Jesus demands, his voice unnaturally quiet, his heart beating a little harder. Stef closes the door and retrieves Lena while Brandon walks over to flick on the television, turning it to their local news station. The room grows eerily quiet as they listen to some story on contaminated meat, almost huddling in the center of the room, impending despair poisoning their hearts. The woman news anchor announces the next top story of the morning, and a picture of a girl pops up in the corner of the screen. Lexi.
He thinks Stef says something along the lines of "Oh no" or "Oh God" but Lena's hand just flies to her mouth, and Callie stumbles back into Brandon, and she lets him pull her closer because nobody is paying attention, nobody except Jesus, because suddenly everything is so clear, he's so keenly aware of everything, and everything is in slow-motion. Everything that will scar him, that is, because he can see the news anchor's mouth moving but all he can hear is "Lexi" and "found dead" and the last thing he sees before he checks out is Mariana dashing out of the room to throw up.
Then he throws up.
A/N: So the author's note is down here because I've noticed quite a few of you guys don't read it before the story, because in your reviews you'll ask stuff or say stuff that I've already answered or said (though I'm quite flattered by it, since it can only mean you're so eager to read the story, so thank you.) But I would prefer you read it! Also, I don't have a little synopsis for next weeks because I want it to be a surprise! I'm hoping Episode 20 will be an intense episode for you guys! Thank you to everyone that reviewed again in my absence, I'm sorry I skipped another week. I really did mean to update but I pulled open my notepad and just stared at it for a good hour. Finally I got the urge to write this! No more absences after this, though, I promise, so feel free to bug me as much as you want about it! Don't worry about me, I'm all good now. Thanks to everyone for their condolences! I hope this chapter didn't upset anyone too bad, I don't think anyone is that infatuated with Lexi, but her death will definitely be hard for the twins, and that's why my heart hurts! My apologies if I've ruined anyone's day. (I hope I haven't!) Let me know what you all think & have a fergilicious day! :)