AN: Someone suggested a male perspective. While I can't promise an entire story, I started thinking big the other day and decided that when The Line (the series) actually does get published (like, for reals published), that it would be cool to publish all the short stories related to the series. This little drabble in an answer to Bittersweet Seventeen and further character development for Tony. It's a little out of the storyline, but whatever.


I do own the characters. Borrow em' if you want.

Walking Away

Blue-eyed boy and this brown-eyed girl
Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing
You can sew it up but you still see the tear
Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing
Baby's got blue skies up ahead
And in this I'm a rain cloud
Ours is a stormy kind of love.

- Sweetest Thing, U2

I raked a frustrated hand through my hair and sat in my car, looking ahead at the dark road in front of me, then brought my hands down and tightened my callused grip on the worn steering wheel. Walking away from Bronwyn Flueger was something I had been doing for years, so what had made it so damned difficult this evening?

Deciding that I was concentrating on a subject that was decidedly uncomfortable, I immediately turned up the volume in the car (a mix CD from Flueger herself) and took off driving away from one of the weirdest scenes in my life to date. I needed something to distract me from whatever bizarro thoughts I had just had about my section mate. I mean, c'mon, I had only picked up that necklace or whatever for her because it just seemed like something she'd like. Friends do that for each other. Guy friends, girl friends.

Boyfriends? Girlfriends? You sound like you're trying awfully hard to convince yourself.

And you are?

That special feeling every young man gets in the Spring – ha! Whatever, just think of me as the stereotypical little Devil on your shoulder.

Why not an angel?

That would be the girl you just left. There really isn't anything angelic about Tony Clarke.

Bronwyn? An angel?

Well, you can use whatever descriptive adjective you'd like, but she's definitely going to fall much more in that category than you, my friend.

Ok, I can admit to that. Although with those crazy red curls of hers tonight…
…and just like that, an almost indecent image of Bronwyn in some sort of naughty devil outfit, complete with red fishnet stockings, popped into my head. Damnit.

That's nothing…you should see what I have going on.

I shook my head to clear the image (no matter how spectacular it was), but the voice in my head seemed to have other ideas.

Yeah, Lil' Devil Tony here and you can't get rid of me that easily. I think we should go over the evening and look for the exact moment that your feelings for Bronwyn changed.

The song in the car was not doing its very specific job of distracting me, so I succumbed to the voice's idea. It seemed like a topic that deserved a little introspection anyway – how could my feelings change in a moment? Wasn't this the girl I had made cry on the first day of 6th grade band? Wasn't she my biggest threat when it came to drumming? Wasn't she someone else's girlfriend?

Are you sure it was a moment?

Come to think of it…

Instantly, I was whisked back my entrance to the Flueger home earlier in the evening. I saw Bronwyn before she even knew I was there. It wasn't difficult – it was like all of the energy in the room was attracted to her, although I almost hadn't recognized her. Bronwyn never dresses up and fortunately, at the moment I entered the house, Drew was nowhere to be seen or else I'm pretty sure he would've had words at my blatant staring at his girlfriend. My darling section mate had taken that moment to lift those wild curls off of her pale, but cutely freckled shoulders, and I almost fell over a chair. It was those same shoulders that would be marked with a carrier tan in a matter of months. The same shoulders that led to the graceful neck that I had had a momentary, but memorable interaction with when I put the necklace on her.

Hmm…let's pause there. That was an interesting request from someone who's happily dating someone.

She was probably just being nice – you know, like friends are.

Uh, are you forgetting the fact that she practically placed your hands on her neck?

Maybe she just really wanted to see the necklace on.

And how exactly would she have seen that? Did you see a mirror anywhere?

I paused. There most definitely hadn't been a mirror. We'd been outside her garage. It had just been her and me…

Pfft. Hate to interrupt your special moment of realization, but what are you going to do with this information?

What information?

Hey brainiac, you like Bronwyn.

Ummm, nothing.

So, you are not denying the fact that you have feelings for her?

I, uh…

Faced with the undeniable facts, I couldn't hide...and I should know. It had been a REALLY long time since I had felt particularly attracted to anyone.

Well, that makes perfect sense. You like her. You aren't going to do anything. So, remind me again why the hell aren't you going to do anything?

There are number of reasons for that: a) she already has a boyfriend who she's very much in love with it, in case you hadn't noticed…

Well, at least it clears up why you don't like Drew…

I hadn't been able to explain it, but recently I really hadn't wanted to hear anything involving Drew…even if he made my friend happy. I really didn't want to know about "the most romantic date ever" or "the cutest thing Drew said." I certainly didn't want to see Bronwyn's blue grey eyes get all big and luminous when she talked about him or listen to the tone in her voice when she picked up with him on her cell phone.

Coming from the guy who will never be that kind of boyfriend…

Don't remind me, anyway, there's always: b) everything is going to change soon…

The whole Captain thing?

You guessed it.

Is it really going to change things that much?

I don't want to think about it.

It's going to happen soon, so—

I told you, I don't want to think about it.

The problem was, I had already thought about it and I hated every outcome. The threat of who would be Captain could, and probably would, effectively end our friendship. Or, at the minimum, drastically change whatever it was that Bronwyn and I currently had. I could only hope that Spence would be completely fair and impartial when he decided which one of us granted the prestigious position of Brookwood Drum Line Captain.

You know, maybe if you talked to her about this impending situation, that it wouldn't be this big deal like you think it is.

No, sorry, not going to happen.

At that moment I pulled up to my house, but sat in the driveway for a long time. There had been a moment outside, before Meredith had come outside and stopped something…? I really didn't know what I was going to do. I mean, I guess I had been about to lean in, because it had felt like the most natural thing in the world to do. The funny thing is, I don't think I was the only one leaning, which, I guess answers my original question…

AN: First real shot at a male protagonist. Reviews please.

P.S. New Crossing the Line soon – I promise!