Times running out (a Bret Von Dehl love story)

Chapter 16

Phoenix's POV:

It was getting late.

All the guys had gone home accept for Bret, and Skye had already fallen asleep.

Bret hadnt told anybody about what he saw, thankfully.

The two of us were on the couch, and we were all tangled, he was all half asleep and adorable, but he needed to be awake enough for the drive home.

"Baby, not that I'm complaining about your being here and all, but it's getting late, and I'm tired! Are you gonna go home or stay here?" I asked him.

He placed his hands under my chin lightly.

"Listen here, doll. I don't plan on leaving your side until you feel like the beautiful girl you are. I know you have literally lived in this house for 3 days and it's crazily unrealistic... but I want you to move in with me." he said quietly.

I smiled at how cute his idea was.

"Bret, I'd love to, but what will the girls do with my room?"

He thought for a moment.

"Well... I know you guys are tight on cash for equipment for the tour, so they could always rent out the room for a little extra money."

I chuckled a bit.

"That's actually not a bad idea, but we'll need to talk to the girls tomorrow morning. Right now I just really need sleep." I grinned.

"Okay darling, goodnight."

The both of us fell asleep peacefully on the couch, and I had nothing but good dreams.

The next morning I woke up slowly, the sun's bright light hit me hard.

And of course, there was Bret.

His hair was all messy and he was sleeping with a light smile on his face, absolutely perfect.

I wondered if he'd ever looked at me when I was sleeping and thought about what I looked like.

I felt so lucky that I had him, for the first time I had someone who loved me enough to care for my physical and mental well being apart from my band mates.

I remembered the days when I used to sigh at the mere sight of Bret on the Internet and wish I could meet him, even if that was only a year ago.

As far as I knew, Bret had been fast asleep this whole time, but out of the blues when I least expected it, he jumped up at me and grabbed me, holding me tight.

I yelped in shock but then chuckled lightly.

"Meanie." I teased.

"Awwwww you know you love me." he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Mmmmph. I can't stay mad when you do the eyebrow thing."

He laughed and kissed my forehead.

Just then, Kat walked in.

"Good morning." she mumbled sleepily.

"Morning!" Bret and I chorused. (we had rehearsed)

"So what's up with you guys?" she asked.

Bret turned to me.

That must be my signal to tell Kat about Bret's idea.

I explained the plan, being careful with my words to make sure it didn't sound like I wasn't grateful for the lovely place Kat had provided for me to stay.

"Well that isn't actually a bad idea. We could definitely use the extra cash." Kat said thoughtfully. "DAKOTA, WEDNESDAY, SKYE!" she yelled.

They all filed in, groaning over their rude awakening.

The idea was explained for the third time that day.

Wednesday shrugged.

"If she can find a cheap way to move her stuff, I don't see why not!"

Skye pouted and hugged me.

"I'm gonna miss you."

I smiled lightly and chuckled.

"I'll be living four blocks away!"

Daka sighed.

"Well, a girl's gotta live, right?"

And so it was decided that I'd pack right away and get my butt over to Bret's house, since it was basically ready for the move.

Packing boxes itself took about three hours, including the time it took for Dakota to get over to the house with the pickup truck she had just acquired.

Loading the truck didn't take too long, I just tossed my stuff into the open-back whatchamacallit that trucks have.

I hopped into the truck with Dakota, and everyone else walked to Bret's so they could help out.

As we paraded into the house with a bunch of boxes, JC, Alex and Ray gave us confused looks.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked.

"Moving boxes." said Kat bluntly, but jokingly.

Ray gave Skye a distressed and weirded out look, to which she responded:

"I would have thought Bret would have told you. Phoenix is moving in with you guys."

"Seriously?" said Ray. He paused for a moment and yelled, "BREEEEEEET!"

"CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW! HELPING WITH BOXES!" Bret yelled back.

After unloading one box, Wednesday went to hang out with JC. They were really close, it was so cute!

After the boxes were all out of the truck and in Bret's room, (there were only about 7 or 8 boxes so it didn't take long) Bret explained the whole situation.

Honestly nobody was bothered by it, the only rules I had to abide by were,
1. Don't eat other people's cereal, because that isn't cool.
2. Never complain about the music that's playing. It's a pre-determined playlist.
3. Don't fuck so loud it wakes everybody else up.
4. If its your night to cook but you decide we should go out to eat, you're paying.

Those were rules I could live with.

I unpacked my stuff, and then went to the corner store and bought myself cereal so I didn't steal anybody else's. I made sure to write 'Phoenix's damn cereal, paws off' on the box in sharpie.

They had a better cable package on their tv than I had so I plopped down on the couch and started watching teletoon retro, because the old batman cartoons were on.

Just then my phone rang, I picked up and I heard Kat's voice on the other end, hollow and emotionless.

"Turn channel 44 news. Now."

I sighed.

"Damn, pushy, but okay."

I flipped channel 44 on.

There was a lady standing with a mic, she spoke in the typical boring news voice, but made me gasp with what she said next.

"At the moment, police are investigating the death of Naomi Stillwell. Whether it was a murder or a suicide is still unclear. Alth-"

I switched off the TV and hung up on Kat.

Naomi Stillwell was dead.