After All, I'm Your Secret Admirer~!!

Ch49 - Let's Talk

Leaf is taking their final bite of vanilla ice cream when the sound of keys in the door fills the air.

Oh boy. It was time.

The teen shrinks in on themself at the table as Brandon announces, "Ma! I'm home!"

"We're in the kitchen, mijo!" Carmen calls back. He's been sitting there on his phone for a hot minute now, dressed in his coat. Leaf's been wondering why, but has been way too shy to ask.

"We?" Brandon asks as he enters the kitchen, only for his inquisitive face to turn into a shocked one. "Paige!?"

"H-hi..." Leaf waves, not even pretending to not be scared. Now not only did Brandon have home field advantage, but he could also tell his mom about them. And if they had no idea how Quinn would react, then guessing how Carmen would was like shooting at a distant target. Blindfolded. At night. And also if you don't shoot soon enough bears will come and maul you to death. And—

"What are you doing here?" Brandon asks, pulling Leaf out of his bear mauling scenario. They look up to see the other looking like he's genuinely curious, which was surprising. Shouldn't he be mad or something?

"Maybe he had a change of heart?" Paige suggests.

"I'd hope so," Leaf thinks, "But I'd doubt it."

"Oh, Paige had a nasty fall at school today. So I came and got him home early," Carmen explains, jumping up. "He said you two were gonna talk later, so I figured he might as well stay so you two could do it face to face." He smiles hopefully. "Sadly, I won't be here for it, but that's alright. You two are big kids, you can—"

"What?" Brandon cuts off. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, to the store. I forgot something I need for tonight's dinner is all." Carmen claps his hands together with a nod. "Yep! It'll probably take me about 30 minutes, give or take."

"Ma," Brandon deadpans. "This is not subtle."

"Then I better take my exit, huh?" Carmen laughs airily. "Play nice, you two. I'll be back!" And with that, he leaves the two teenagers alone. Soon the sound of his car starting and taking off can be heard, and that's the second everything comes crashing down.

Brandon takes a deep breath before sitting down at the table and crossing his hands, looking dead at Leaf. "Well. It looks like we've got 30 minutes to talk. So let's talk."

Leaf pushes their empty bowl over before mimicking Brandon's posture and nodding tensely. "Let's," he says, purposefully pushing his voice up to try to throw the other off their scent.

"Is this the right idea?" Paige mumbles, worried. "If he finds out, won't he just get more mad at us?"

"Maybe," Leaf agrees. "But I should be the one dealing with this. Not you. So let me deal with it for right now and burn that bridge when we get to it."

"Don't you mean cross?"

Leaf looks down for a second. "Hopefully."

The two teens have a stare off for a moment, neither seeming to really want to actually start the talk. That is, until Brandon loses his stiff posture and sighs. "Look man, I'm... I'm sorry. What I said at lunch today was wack. I know I didn't call or anything, and I should've. And I'm sorry about that."

"I-it's okay," Leaf lies. It was most definitely not okay, but anything to get over this huge bump in the road. "I'm sorry I—Leaf was such a... a-a jerk. They shouldn't have done what they did, and they're really, really sorry."

Brandon's blinks. "That so?" He sounds wary. "Leaf is sorry, huh?"

"They are," Leaf nods.

Brandon's eyes lid. "Then let them say it themself."

"I'm s—" Leaf cuts themself off ans blanches. "I-I mean—I..."

Brandon chuckles lowly. "I thought so. Did you know your Paige impression isn't very good? You're about here," he says, putting a flat hand in the air, "When you need to be aboouuut here." He pushes his hand up just about two or three inches. "It's a subtle difference, but it's there anyways."

Leaf just stares, completely taken aback. "I-I thought it was pretty good..." he mumbles to himself.

"Well it wasn't." Brandon's expression is serious. "Didn't I tell you I never wanted to see you again? What did you truly and honestly think would happen by pretending to be Paige right now?"

"It wasn't on purpose!" Leaf defends. "I just—I was here! And I figured I should deal with this since it was my fault!"

"How noble," Brandon says, rolling his eyes. "But I don't want to talk to you. Bring Paige back so we can actually talk."

"Brandon..." Leaf frowns sadly, closing in on himself. He scratches at his forearm. "I... Paige has to want to come back out."

"Well?" Brandon asks, looking through Leaf. "C'mon Paige. We should get this over with."

"I..." Paige warbles. "I don't..." Leaf can feel Paige's apprehension, probably scared he won't say the right thing if he comes out.

Leaf sighs. This was never going to work like this. So, it was time to make a decision.

"I got this," Leaf thinks. "Just roll with me."

"O-okay."

"Brandon—" Leaf starts, only for Brandon to cut him off.

"Paige," he demands. "I want to talk to Paige."

"Will you listen to me at least?" Leaf asks desperately.

Brandon pulls his lip into a thin line for a moment, but doesn't say anything. Leaf takes that as a go ahead.

"Look, I... I fucked up. I know I did. And if I can't fix it, I can at least try to make sure I don't ruin Paige's life any more than I already have."

"What?" Paige blinks. "Leaf, you didn't—"

"Just roll with me," Leaf repeats.

Paige hums, but it's filled with worry.

"So," Leaf continues, "I have a proposition for you. What if..." They sigh deeply. "What if I agreed to never be here while you were around Paige?"

"What!?" Paige gasps. "Leaf, we can't promise that!"

"If this is the only way Brandon will ever talk to us again, then we're gonna have to," Leaf replies gravely.

It was okay though. They'd make their peace with it eventually.

Finally Brandon talks. "...Do you promise?"

"Leaf!" Paige despairs.

But still, Leaf nods.

"Then prove it." Brandon crosses his arms. "Let Paige come out right now."

Leaf leans back in their chair and lids their eyes, sad. "Okay."

"Leaf?" There's so much worry in Paige's voice.

"It's okay," Leaf replies. "Just... pretend like I'm not here for now, okay?"

"But—"

Leaf takes a deep breath before looking at Brandon one last time. "Goodbye, Brandon."