Ripped and Stitched

14: Minor Damage

The news of Alison and Brady's car crash spread like wildfire. It was not very often that in a town like this that a Porsche as nice as Brady's got totaled like that.

The thing was most people did not get the facts right. Since Alison was the only one who gave a statement because Brady still refused to speak, it got twisted that it was Alison driving. Most people who knew the two of them refused to believe that Brady would crash his beloved Porsche so the rumor that spread was that the two of them were trying to run away again and Alison totaled the car.

Alison and Brady didn't care. Gossip was the least of their concern, especially when they both spent most nights wide awake and days trying to shut their thoughts off.

Julia did not believe it, well at first she didn't. If Julia was being honest with herself she knew deep down it could not be true. Alison and Brady would never run away. However, how could Brady just crash the Porsche? The car that Brady loved more than anything else. Something wasn't adding up.

However Julia also did not have time to think about it. She had dance class, then lunch with her mom and her mom's friend who went to a prestigious ballet school in New York. Then another ballet camp, dinner with Hailey, and she would have to find time to work on her college applications too.

Max had been aimlessly clicking through channels on the television when his father strolled in. Alison's lack of interest in him along with her refusal to even see him had made Max quite miserable, not that he would admit that to anyone.

"Did you move at all today?" his father asked, staring at his son who was laying down on the couch with a bag of chips on his chest.

Max shrugged, but moved over a bit so his father could sit on the couch as well.

"Where's Isa?" Max's father asked.

"In her room," Max muttered. "Probably playing with one of the expensive toys you bought her."

Mr. Hall looked over at his son. "What's up with the attitude?"

Max rolled his eyes. "Nothing."

"Well sit up, I have to tell you something."

Max grumbled complaints as he got up and faced his dad on the couch. "What?" he asked through his teeth.

"My friend at the police department told me that Brady and Alison crashed Brady's Porsche."

Max stared at his father for a second. There was no way. Brady would never. Not his Porsche. Max still remembered how excited Brady was when he drove over to his place when Hayden had given Brady the keys. Brady loved that car.

"Are they okay?" he asked after a while.

Mr. Hart nodded. "They were cleared from the hospital," he explained. "Max I'm telling you this because Alison and Brady are going through much worse than you think. Moping around because your ex-girlfriend pushed you away isn't doing them or yourself any good."

Max clenched his jaw. "You don't get it," he grumbled.

"Then explain to me why your feelings for Alison matter more than what she and Brady are coping with?"

"Because your only reason for caring about them now is because you never liked them in the first place!" Max exclaimed. "You're just looking for a reason to make me stay away from Ali and Brady."

"Well, judging by the fact that you haven't once reached out to Brady, I can tell this isn't about him or her," Max's father said. "You want to be mad at me, fine. You want to think I'm a monster, fine. But this is bigger than you and me and you know that."