Okay, first of all I wanna remind you that English is not my first language, I am not American (I mean neither a citizen nor a resident of the USA, I will not discuss geography with white people) so I don't know how expensive things are over there; I don't know the price of simple things like a pen or a can of soda, much less clothes, for which I apologize in advance and ask you to credit everything to the power of the script. Well, you can start reading now, thanks if you actually stopped to read this note, you can claim your chocolate chip cookie in the reviews.
Chase didn't consider himself paranoid, but he had felt a gaze on him for a while now. It wasn't exactly something that bothered or worried him, just something that kept him on his toes.
He turned from time to time, sometimes 'absently', sometimes being obvious, but he never managed to find that look that he felt on the back of his neck as if it burned him.
"'Sup Chase?" Leo asked as he walked into him, sitting next to her at the cafeteria.
"Call me crazy, but I think someone's been watching me for a while now."
"Yeah, you're crazy. Wanna trade your muffin?" Leo said, not paying much attention to him.
"Leo, I'm serious."
"Me too." Chase glared at him, Leo sighed. "Fine. What now? You discover a new hidden ability that tells you when someone's watching you?"
"No. That's why it's so weird, I cannot stop feeling like someone's watching me, so there has to be someone doing it."
"Doing what?" Bree sat next to them at the table, just to Chase's left.
"Chase thinks there's someone watching him."
"I don't just think so, I'm sure of it." He defended.
"Nah, pretty sure you're imagining it." the brunette shrugged.
"I know I'm not. It truly feels like there's someone watching me."
"C'mon Chase, who in their senses would waste their time watching you?" Bree disguised by making fun of him, and she popped a french fry into her mouth.
She used to 'waste' her time watching him, but he didn't need to know that.
Chase just rolled his eyes, feeling more hurt than offended. His siblings used to make fun of him and ok, over time he got used to putting up with it without paying much attention to it, but now it wasn't the jokes that upset him, it was who they came from.
Adam made fun of him, but how could he take seriously someone who didn't even know how to tie his shoes properly?
Bree made fun of him... And he could only feel rejection. It's not like he expected her to ever feel the same for him, but his heart couldn't handle that much tease either.
"Just forget it. I'm sure it's nothing." Instinctively, Bree told him that, giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder, but realizing this, she felt cold settle in her stomach and disguised the way her smile faded from her face by biting into her burger.
That interaction meant nothing, but after that dream, it felt dirty.
After that dream, even looking him in the eye felt dirty.
"Where's Adam?" Leo asked with curiosity, changing the subject.
After that, the guys looked around for their brother and he appeared with another structure made of hair, they focused their attention on it, Bree forgetting about her dream, and Chase ignoring the feeling of being watched.
It chased him until it was time to leave school, though.
Bree looked at the worksheet in front of her, still in blank, and she groaned frustrated.
She never hated mathematics, but right now she doesn't have the head to do them. She had too many thoughts running through her head, the kiss with Spike looping, flashes from her earlier dream coming back to her, images of Chase's biceps flexing, his Adam's apple moving, doubts about how she had fallen into this mess.
She was trying to convince herself this was pure lust— she was a hormonal teenager, and the guy she had the first make-out session with that turned her on was Spike (who she had to admit was hot), who somehow happens to be Chase, who happens to be her brother.
It was just an unfortunate chain of events. She only lusted after the boy because he had certain attractiveness and making out with him had turned her on, that didn't mean she felt anything for him, not for Spike, not for Chase.
Then… what the fuck was that dream last night? What the fuck was the ending part of it?
"It doesn't mean anything, it doesn't mean anything…" she said, trying to convince herself.
"What doesn't mean anything?" Chase asked, walking into the kitchen and heading to the fridge.
She looked up to see him, wincing slightly in shock. Thank Goodness she hadn't said anything more compromising out loud.
He walked over where she was at the table doing her homework, sipping from the bottle of water he got from the fridge. She quickly looked back at her paper before losing herself in the way Chase's Adam's apple moved as he drank water. It was something so pathetic, she hated herself for being delighted with it.
"The grade I'll get on this worksheet" she managed to lie. "The teacher told us it was mainly a review, I don't think it will affect my final grade."
"Still you have to do it." He shrugged. "You want some help with it? 'Cause if you want I could give you a hand" he asked in a tone of disinterest that sounded very fake to her. It almost seemed like he was trying to make the move on her.
'No, I can do it on my own, don't worry'' she wanted to say just so she could stay away from him for a little longer in order to solve her mental mess. Or to make it sound more believable: 'What for? So that I end up owing you a favor or so that you can once again brag about being the "smartest man in the world"?'
But to her own disappointment, she didn't say any of this. Instead she said:
"Sure" but she didn't meet his eyes.
Still she watched him walk over to where she was sitting, a smile on his face, visibly pleased that she had accepted his help. She convinced herself that this wasn't him making a move, just him being an arrogant nerd as usual.
He just wants to brag, he just wants to brag.
"Ok, so what do we got here? Quadratic equations? What a piece of cake."
Yep, he just wants to brag. Nothing new here.
She rolled her eyes.
"Then shut up and help me do them."
And with that, he started explaining her stuff she already knew, and teaching her to solve the equations realizing how easy it was for the girl.
"See? I told you it was easy, you didn't get any of the problems wrong." He watched her with a bright smile and she realized how close he was to her face. She didn't back down, though.
"I never say I didn't know how to solve 'em" she said in her own arrogant tone, crossing her arms above her chest.
He frowned, looking confused.
"Then why did you look like you couldn't?" he raised an eyebrow in her direction.
"I… Got lots of things in my head, it wasn't easy to concentrate" she looked away.
He moved closer, leaned in to meet her face.
"Are you ok?" he met her gaze, worried. "Is everything in order?"
She didn't meet his eyes, she focused on finding out how much space was left between them, it wasn't much. The chairs were millimeters apart, their thighs bumping, their arms brushing, her face so close that if she turned she would end up inches from him. How did she not notice before? Was she so distracted?
'It isn't that close, though' she thought. 'If I lean still I couldn't-'
"Yeah, just… Y'know, girl problems" she tried to downplay it, he didn't buy it.
"Girl problems or… boy problems?" he asked, backing away, sounding upset and somewhat bothered.
He getting bothered, bothered her for some reason. So she glared at him and responded almost offended.
" Girl problems" she crossed her arms again. "Boys aren't on my agenda right now."
"Not a single one?" he asked in a weird tone.
She struggled to maintain eye contact.
"None." Now, she really hoped that didn't sound like a hint of some kind, because if it did, she was digging her own grave.
"Good for you" Chase said and to her surprise, he seemed honest.
After that, both were silent and the atmosphere became more and more uncomfortable as the seconds passed.
Chase watched her sitting there with her gaze lost somewhere around the dining room table. He hated the way he found her pretty just by doing nothing.
He wanted to say something. He searched for a thousand ways to break the awkward silence that had engulfed them from one moment to the next, but none seemed appropriate, mainly because most of what he wanted to say would sound like obvious flirtation. It's not like he planned to tell her that she was the most beautiful being he'd ever seen, but to somehow casually tell her that she looked pretty in that outfit, or that he liked the way her hair looked today, but he knew that would sound out of place. They didn't normally give each other compliments, they weren't that kind of siblings. They were more the type to tease each other.
He still couldn't understand how one thing led to another, and now he has a crush on her.
He knew that these feelings he had for the girl were wrong and he had to stop them before they grew into a bigger problem, but he couldn't. Alone he tried and convinced himself that this was just a simple crush that would get over him, but then he saw her there in front of him, with her brown hair and eyes, with that smile and face of an angel, and he couldn't do more than loving her, letting himself be overcome by his emotions.
Right now, for example, the boy was dying for her to know that he found her pretty. He was dying for this moment between them to be longer.
He was dying because his feelings for her were consuming him from the inside, leaving him with nothing but guilt.
She snapped him out of his thoughts when she sighed in frustration. Chase got back to earth and noted that she was now frowning, something not very common for her. So he couldn't help but ask:
"Are you sure you don't wanna talk about it?"
She shook her head.
"No, Chase. But thanks for worrying."
"Ok" he nodded, a crazy plan coming to his head, "in that case, get up, let's get out of here." The brunet stood up.
"What?" Bree looked at him in confusion.
"Well, you're not the only one who needs a distraction from their thoughts, so let's get out. Let's go to the mall."
She bit her lip in temptation and without thinking it too much, she stood up accepting the boy's offer to get a distraction from her turbulent thoughts.
Though, her thoughts (both's) included the very person she was going to hang out with.
She stopped to think about this then (already too far from home). What's this… sort of a date? Did he just make his move?
She looked down to see the way they were walking brushing their hands.
"Wait… I know how to get there faster" she smirked, dragging him near the bushes, still used to hiding to not get exposed.
She was digging her own grave.
Despite what Bree may have thought (and feared) at first, her hanging out with Chase was going pretty well, in the sense that she stopped thinking the boy was flirting with her, but she had to admit that he had his moments.
For example, a few stores behind; Bree knew they weren't exactly there to shop, just to wander around and fool around a bit, but she still managed to convince him to go with her to a clothing store and wait for her while she tried on some clothes. For obvious reasons, she didn't want to come out of the dressing room wearing them and ask him if he thought she looked good, but when she found a dress that she really liked, she couldn't help but go out and show it to him. And he checked her from head to toe, almost mesmerized.
'What do you think?' No.
'How do I look?' No.
'Do I look pretty?' Hell, no.
"Do you think Davenport will kill me if I wear this?" The dress was blue and strapless, tight and a little too short for a father's like, but it was so gorgeous and shiny, full of glitter and rhinestones, and she really wanted it.
The boy came back to earth.
"Well…" he started, incapable of looking away from the dress, "Seems more like you will kill Davenport of a heart attack to me… Tasha will love it, though."
"Strict parents?" a lady worker from the store asked them, approaching them. She seemed nice even though she had just gotten into their conversation. They assumed it was her job, to make sure they sold.
"Something like that", Bree said.
"Well, I'll give you some advice, wear that dress with black tights and a blazer, and your father will have no problem letting you party dressed like that. The blazer can be a little out of tune at first, but you can get rid of it by leaving the house" the woman winked at her with complicity.
"There'll be no problem with the blazer, she looks good in everything she wears." Chase admitted almost without thinking, and Bree tried not to blush at that.
"Well, aren't you a lovely boy?" The woman said in a tone of charm. "You must feel very lucky to have such a charming boyfriend, dontchu?" this time she said in Bree's direction.
Both guys blushed, looking at each other in embarrassment.
"Well, I'm very lucky to have such a charming brother." Bree smiled awkwardly.
"We're siblings, actually" Chase joined her.
The woman looked at them, embarrassed by her mistake.
"Oh, my! I am so sorry for the misunderstanding." She apologized sincerely. "I heard him calling your parents by their names and saw you two being cute together, I thought you guys were dating" she explained, pointing out where their mistake was. They had a bad habit of calling Mr. Davenport and Tasha by their names when in public and that had already caused them problems before, just not as embarrassing as now.
"It's fine, it's our fault for not calling them 'mom and dad' sometimes." Chase wiped the sweat from his hands on his pants.
'And for you for being flirty' she wanted to add but that would just make things worse.
"Well…" The woman began, trying to lighten the mood again, "Are you taking the dress, sweetie? 'Cuz it looks gorgeous on you."
Bree smiled at her again, this time for real.
"Yeah, I'm buying it."
"In that case, I'll wait for you at the register." And he left both youngsters in the dressing room section.
Bree returned to the dressing room to change back into her normal clothes, and as she did so she checked the price tag, smiling.
She grabbed the rest of the clothes and left the cubicle heading to the register to pay for her new dress, but halfway there she saw a skirt that caught her eye. It was light brown with slightly plush fabric and a row of buttons down the front. She thought it would match her pastel pink and yellow striped blouse.
She walked over to check the price on this one, earning herself a disappointment to see that, if she wanted it, she had to give up the dress.
"What's the matter?" Chase asked as soon as he saw her pouting.
"Well, I want the dress but this skirt is cute too… It matches the blouse I'm wearing, but then again I wasn't planning to go out today so I didn't bring too much money with me."
"Let me see." Chase checked the tag and said in a calm tone, "it isn't expensive, I can buy it for you."
She felt her heart skip a beat at that, she pretended not to know why.
"Thanks, Chase, but I wouldn't want to make you waste your money." She shrugged, "I'll survive without the skirt."
She tried to brush it off, but he then said, slightly biting his lip before letting it out.
"Let's make a deal— You try on the skirt, and if you really like the way you look in it, I'll buy it for you. If you don't like it as much as the dress, then you can leave it."
But that was a trap, because it was for sure that Bree would like the way it would look on her. This was just Chase's plan to make another move, or better (worse?) yet, to see her in that skirt.
She hated the way she liked both options and thought, how bad could it be to try on that skirt? She could try it on and pretend she didn't like it, then leave it hanging with the others.
But she tried it on, and she liked the way it looked on her. She was right, that shade of brown matched perfectly with the colors of her blouse, it made her not want to take it off. She turned around to see herself fully in the mirror. She loved the way the skirt accentuated her waist and made the pink and yellow pop. That skirt suited her better than her boring denim jeans.
"Ready Bree? Let me see how you look" Chase called from outside and she prayed that the lady from earlier wasn't there, because this was for sure getting compromising.
She took one last look in the mirror and bit her lip as she walked out. Chase was there waiting for her, and when he saw her come out, he couldn't help but blush. Bree was surprised, even in the dress he hadn't reacted like that. And the dress was tight and short, while the skirt was circular and reached a little above the knees.
It was sexy vs cute, and cute won.
"You look pretty on it… I mean, it looks pretty on you." he stuttered.
It was… Cute. It made her wonder the way Chase saw her.
"Cut it off before that lady gets any ideas" she joked trying to keep the mood as it was.
"Sure", he nodded. "So, I'm buying it, I guess."
"But I haven't said anything yet."
"But… You look good on it."
"So? It means you like it, it doesn't mean I like it."
"Don't you?" he frowned.
She bit her lip.
"Not that much." she shook her head, pretending.
Chase narrowed his eyes, and walked backwards away from her, so as not to break eye contact.
"I'm not buying that… but I'm buying the skirt" he said grinning and running to the counter to pay. Bree realized that he also had her dress with him, and still wearing the skirt, she chased him to the register, leaving behind her jeans in the dressing room.
"Chase, don't!"
Too late.
How had she been late? She was the fastest woman in the world, for God's sake!
"You were right, young man" the lady said looking in her direction as she put the money in the cash register, "she does look good in everything she wears. Sweetie, that skirt really suits you." She gave her a smile and handed the boy the change.
She smiled at her, slightly embarrassed.
"Thank you." And then looked at her brother as if she was about to kill him. (And maybe she was.)
"I'm guessing you're taking the skirt on, right?"
"She is" Chase answered and oh, boy, if she was going to kill him.
The lady gave them the dress in a bag, in which they also put Bree's jeans, and they left the store. Bree trying to hit Chase, and Chase dodging Bree's punches.
"I. Told. You. You. Didn't. Have. To. Pay!" she scold him, yelling at every hit she managed to give him.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" he said rather laughing. "Stop it already!"
"No!"
"C'mon Bree! What are you so mad for?" he grabbed her wrists before she tried to hit him again. "The skirt looks good on you." You look so beautiful, just let me have bought it for you.
She glared at him
"That's not the problem, the problem is you bought it when I told you not to." The problem is if you do things like this for me you make everything confusing and I'm supposed to feel nothing for you.
"So? You didn't have the money to buy the dress and the skirt, so I did it for you. Why's that such a big deal? Any other girl would like someone to do that for her." Any other girl would like a boy to do that for her, so why don't you let me do that for you?
"Well, I'm not 'any other girl'" I'm your sister, "and I don't need anyone to do that for me, I got my own money." Please don't make things hard for me, Chase, I'm trying not to fall deeper in this mess.
"Fine! Then don't see it as I bought it for you, see it as I bought it for you, as a gift…" and now he was making his move. "So you can forget your 'girl problems'."
Let me show you that I love you, at least a little bit.
She sighed.
Stop trying, I don't want you to try, I don't want to feel anything.
"Fine. I'll take the skirt as a gift." she gave in.
He smiled.
"Great." Then he realized the way he was holding her (and that they were being watched) so he released her before he had any ideas, and before she had any ideas. "How about we get some ice cream? We could sit by the fountain and rest, my feet are already sore from walking back and forth."
"Sure. But that's on me, ok?" And before he could say anything, she was off at bionic speed. By the time he reacted, she was already in front of him with two cups of ice cream, one of them his favorite flavor.
"You did pay for that, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Even with her bionic speed, there was no way she would have rushed the guy from the ice cream parlor.
"I left money" she shrugged and he took it as an acceptable answer.
"Ok then. Let's sit."
And they walked towards the mall fountain, sitting down. While there Chase wanted to make some small talk, but as soon as they sat down, Bree's phone rang and she excused herself to answer it. Thanks to his bionic hearing, Chase was able to hear part of the conversation. It was Bree's 'friend', Caitlin. He didn't know why her sister kept hanging out with her, though. Caitlin was a bad friend to tell the truth; she was rude, unfriendly and could take advantage of Bree or even make fun of her. She only looked for her when she needed her. Bree herself had said before that she needed better friends.
He thought that perhaps it was because her sister could be a bit…intense when it came to making friends. But he couldn't blame her, she had grown up in a basement surrounded by men, not a single girl around besides her.
"Cai… Caitlin, calm down, breath… That's right, breathe in…, breathe out… breath in…" She gave Chase one more sign to excuse her and got up from the fountain, backing away a bit so she could talk on the phone. He rolled his eyes as he spooned his ice cream, internally cursing Caitlin and her boyfriend, and their never-ending story of breakups.
He felt like he was being ignored on their date, but he brushed the thought away as soon as it came to mind. No, this wasn't a date, he wished it was, but he had to accept that it wasn't. It was just two guys hanging out. No, worse (better?) yet, two siblings hanging out.
This was nothing.
"Caitlin, I told you he would put that card out, you need to be smarter than him... Wait, no! Don't cry, Caitlin."
Chase could hear her desperation in her voice, her discontent as well, and the whining of the girl on the other end of the phone, so tired of that he just stopped listening and continued eating his ice cream before it melted.
He didn't stop looking at her, though. And you couldn't blame him, she looked beautiful with that cute striped blouse and that light brown skirt. It matched her hair and her eyes.
She gave Neapolitan ice cream vibes. He chuckled at that thought, not as if he was mocking her, but rather because he found it cute. She looked sweet.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one who thought that. A few feet away, sitting at a table in what appeared to be a chicken wings place, were three boys clearly older than them, looking in Bree's direction, glancing at each other and muttering. At first Chase wouldn't have paid much attention to them, and he certainly didn't, but as he scooped his ice cream and complained about Caitlin, his bionic ear caught something that he would later wonder if he regretted hearing it or not.
One of those guys had said 'Did you see those legs?' and another had replied with 'Forget 'bout those legs, I wish that skirt was shorter so I can get a better look at that ass.' Chase looked directly at them, and he didn't have to be a genius (though he was) to figure out who those jerks were talking about.
Chase shot his sister a look, completely oblivious to what those idiots were saying about her, and was about to make up an excuse for them to leave and get her out of the sight of those bastards, but as soon as he got up to approach her he heard something that made his blood boil and from then on he only saw red. Literally.
"Yo, you shall totally go and invite her to tonight's party, she looks like those who get drunk really fast." and followed by several knowing and mocking laughs.
Chase quickly pictured his drunken sister in the hands of one of those three idiots, and he couldn't stand it. He squeezed the ice cream cup in his hands and before he could try to stop it, he went into commando mode.
Obviously, he was no longer aware of what happened next, everything was left to Spike.
By her side, Bree wasn't aware of what those boys were saying about her, but she had heard the creak of the disposable cup, drawing her attention and getting her to turn her gaze back to her brother, who was clearly mad. His clenched jaw and white knuckles gave him away.
She was just about to ask him what was wrong when he stood up with a low growl, striding toward a table of older boys.
"Yo, asswipe!"
She heard Spike's deep voice and widened her eyes in shock. She had only been distracted for a few seconds, what happened?
"Caitlin I'll call you later, ok? Gotta go" she hung up and saw Chase-... No, Spike walking towards one of the boys with clear intentions to hurt him.
"But… And now what happened?" she complained to herself.
Now, she always found interesting the way Chase went from being him to being Spike. It was something explosive.
She supposed that from Chase's point of view the change was more noticeable, like a warning appearing in his vision announcing he would go into Commando mode or maybe an intermittent shift alarm, she didn't know. She only knew that from the outside, the change was completely radical. One moment you were there seeing Chase being the normal nerdy version of himself, and the next you had an aggressive beast in front of you, ready to break every bone in the body of whoever dared to face him.
She didn't want to admit it, but she found it hot .
" What the fuck did you say about my sister, you fuck-eyed?!" Bree watched as Spike held onto the table at one of the guys. It reminded her of that time in the cafeteria with Trent.
"Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?! What are you talking about?" The boy played dumb, but Spike wasn't buying that. Chase had bionic hearing, and if he claimed to have heard him talk about Bree, then he was right.
"Don't play dumb with me, buttface! Keep doing it and I swear I'll rip your head off and use it as a football ball." Spike's grip tightened and Bree swore she heard the poor guy's vertebrae crack. The other guys at the table were stunned, all the customers looked at them terrified, some took out their phones to start recording. "What happened? Pretty boy suddenly forgot how to talk? If a few seconds ago your filthy mouth wouldn't shut up! Go ahead! Repeat what you said about her! I DARE YOU!" but the boy did nothing but groan in pain. Spike would end up breaking bones if he kept this up, so Bree tried to intervene.
"That's enough! Let him go, you're going to end up hurting him for real." If he hadn't already done so at this point.
"No way. Imma rip the bastard's guts out and hang 'em on my wall as a trophy." Bree knew he meant it. "Maybe that'll teach him to respect the ladies."
Spike sounded mad as fuck, Bree still wondering what the boy could have said to make him this mad.
"Please, stop! " Bree started panicking.
Spike didn't pay much attention to her.
She didn't know what else to say to Spike to release the guy. What if he didn't let him go? What if he ended up killing him?
"Spike, I'm serious... You're scaring me, let him go." She felt like crying, watching all those cell phones recording them, all those people whispering.
Bree put a hand on his arm, right on his bicep as if trying to give him a message to stop applying force. Spike shifted his attention from the guy to Bree's hand, watching it for a little before listening to the girl.
She looked really terrified. He didn't want to scare her.
" Let him go." She got close to him, like, really close. She leaned in to face him, now their noses were almost touching.
" Fine" he growled in a deeper voice, looking her straight in the eye.
But he didn't let go of the boy right away, he picked him up, and still holding him with both arms behind his back, placed it in front of his sister. Bree wondered why no one had called security to intervene so far, but she supposed they were all just as terrified of messing with Spike.
The boy was still groaning in pain, Bree could see the unshed tears in his eyes and could only hope that her brother hadn't really broken any bones.
"But first—" Spike said with a smirk, " Apologize to her." And that wasn't a suggestion, everyone in the place could see that.
To be honest, Bree had no idea what this guy had said about her, and she didn't know if she felt in need of an apology because of it or not, but she didn't want to contradict Spike. Not because she was afraid he would do something bad to her, but because she was afraid Spike would do something worse to him, to this random boy.
"I-I apologize" the boy cried. "I shouldn't have s-said those things I said about you, a-and I am sorry for that… I beg you to forgive me."
And she knew what that 'I beg you' really meant.
"Ok" she said, trying to sound convincing enough to Spike. Because she didn't even care in the slightest about this guy. "But don't you ever talk about a girl like that again, got it?"
The guy nodded and Spike let go in a move that was more of a shove. But his fury still hadn't died down, his fury never did. So looking directly at the rest of the teens at the table, he growled:
"This goes out to the rest of you, jizz buckets, dare you mess with Dollface again, and I swear I'll show no mercy."
They all nodded, none of them ballsy enough to try and contradict Spike. And she didn't blame them.
"Okay, Spike, now let's get out of here." Bree took him by the arm and with embarrassed glances at the rest of the customers, she dragged the boy away, wishing the ground to open up and swallow them.
Well away from there, Bree released him and started cursing under her breath at the whole damn situation they had gotten themselves into. It wouldn't be long before those videos of Spike assaulting that kid hit the internet, much less people starting to realize it was one of the bionic kids.
They were screwed.
"Damn it, Spike! You have no idea what you've gotten us into." Bree started walking around in circles, almost pulling her hair out. "You have been recorded! Soon people are gonna see those videos of you hurting that guy and they'll know your bionic, they'll recognise you because of Chase. We will be on everyone's lips again! People will start to get on their toes with the bionic guys!"
"Stop right there, cupcake, Spike wasn't the one who started all this, that bastard in the cap asked for it by talking about you like that!"
Bree tried not to blush at that pet name, trying not to remember how strongly it was related to her dream the other night.
Instead, she gave the boy an angry look and crossed her arms. She wanted to take out on him all the frustration that what had happened between them had generated in her.
"Well, look who's talking" she snorted, "Aren't you almost the same as those guys, for calling me all those pet names instead of my real name?" She took a step toward him, looking at him defiantly.
"They are just pet names, cupcake." he also advanced on her.
"Just pet names? Because if I remember correctly, you, mister, have kissed me without my consent! Making you just like those guys from before." She pointed at him, almost sticking her index finger into his chest. She tried not to focus on how hard this was.
She wasn't even sure if Spike remembered things from his previous appearances, but she was giving it a shot.
Spike chuckled.
"Didn't hear you complainin' that time."
She went red, both for embarrassment and anger.
Ok, he remembered.
"Oh, I'm so killing you!" and again, she raised her first with intentions of hitting him, and he stopped it, easily grabbing her by the wrist.
She was slightly worried (and internally excited, but she wouldn't admit it) that something like last time would happen, but before anything happened, the boy blinked and suddenly he was Chase again.
"I… Bree, what happened?!" Chase let her go looking hugely confused and concerned at the way they were both when he returned. "Spike showed up again, didn't he?" The brunet sighed in frustration and ran his fingers through his hair, almost with the intention of ripping it out.
Bree groaned internally. It's not like she wanted to know what was about to happen with Spike, but she did want to get even with the guy.
"Yeah, he did." Bree had to admit.
That didn't calm Chase at all.
"What did he do this time? Did he try to hurt you again?!" Chase freaked out.
"No, Chase, relax" the girl placed her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to calm him down.
"Then why was… why were we-?"
"It's not what you think! I was the one who tried to hit him, but it was because he always gets on my nerves, you know how he is."
"Does he keep mocking you? What did he say?" Now he didn't sound worried, he sounded mad.
Bree freeze. She wasn't expecting this reaction.
"He called me pet names…" that wasn't a lie. "He kept calling me things like 'dollface' and 'cupcake' and it's annoying." She released his shoulders and looked away. "I told him it was annoying and he just laughed at it," again, that wasn't so much of a lie, "and I got mad and tried to hit him, but he grabbed my fist and then you came back."
She shrugged and smiled at him, trying to stop him from worrying about the matter anymore, and especially so that he didn't ask any more questions. She didn't want to lie about this anymore, because the more she lied, the more she hid. And she didn't want to think that there was more to hide about what happened with Spike. Had they kissed? Yes. Was it wrong? Yes. Did she still enjoy it? Yes, but that didn't matter because she was determined that it would never happen again. Yes, she had made out with Spike, and yes, she had enjoyed it like hell… and she may have had a wet dream with Spike, but so what? That didn't mean that she had feelings for the boy, at least not the carnal-romantic kind feelings, those that were forbidden for a sister to feel for her brother.
The thing with Spike was messing with her head, but it was because what happened was too chaotic and hot, not because she had feelings for him.
And besides, she knew that the one who had feelings for her was him, so there was that.
Spike made out with her, confessed that Chase liked her, and she had a wet dream with him. Shit happens.
"I'm so sorry about Spike" Chase apologized and she came back to Earth. "I don't know what's wrong with him that he only calls people by nicknames, it's so annoying and I know it's not the first time…." He sounded down.
"Well, I've always said there's something wrong with his wiring." She gave him a smile, trying to put her mental mess behind her and trying to cheer him up a bit. "Like I said, don't worry about that, he's just a jerk."
She shrugged again.
Chase just stayed still for a moment en then he said—
"What else did he do? I- I think I remember why he showed up, I need to know what he did to that guy." He stated in a serious tone.
She only stared at him in silence for a few minutes before answering him. This time with the absolute truth. After all, she knew the videos wouldn't be long before they hit the web, she preferred that he find out from her than from the videos, besides that it would prepare him for when he saw them.
Bree told Chase her version of what happened, because she didn't know what those guys were saying about her exactly, and also she didn't see the exact moment when he went Commando mode, she was distracted on the call then suddenly she saw Spike stand up and go to those guys to attack them.
"What do you think Davenport is going to say when those videos go viral?" Chase asked, downcast again.
"I wouldn't worry so much about what Davenport is going to say, but about what other people are going to say." Bree crossed her arms and looked at her brother sadly. "I hate to say it, Chase... But you got us in trouble."