Brallie Oneshot

Oneshot

Five months. That's how long it's been. Five months since he's held her. Kissed her. Touched her in any way that wasn't platonic. Five months of pure torture. Five months of convincing himself this was best for everyone involved, including and especially himself. She was better off without him, anyway. He was better off without her. The constant back and forth wasn't healthy for either of them. So he did what he had to do and told her he couldn't be with her. And that may have been the greatest regret of his life.

He only had two more weeks until he had to leave for Idyllwild, and things were finally starting to fall into place for Brandon. He finally got rid of Lou-who was he kidding, she was always just a distraction-and decided that his future wouldn't be dictated by who he was seeing, but by the passion he had for his music.

Tomorrow was his orientation and Brandon was so excited, he could barely sleep. Just when his eyelids were falling to a close, he heard a strangled cough come from the other room, followed by several sneezes and a not-so-subtle groan. Deciding to shake it off, Brandon closed his eyes again, but the coughing persisted until he couldn't take it anymore and threw the blanket off of him, climbing out of the bed to see what was going on and how he could help in some way.

The coughing was coming from Callie and Mariana's room, and seeing that Mariana was staying with her grandparents for the night, Brandon automatically assumed it was Callie. He hesitated for a moment, wondering internally if he should even bother checking up on her. Things between them had been extra weird lately and he wasn't sure he should be stirring the pot, but she sounded awful and he couldn't just not help.

He gave in, sighing quietly, and knocked once on her door before letting it creak open slightly. "Hey. You ok? Need me to get you anything?"

Her gaze immediately lifted to his, and she shuffled around until she was sitting up, presumably giving up on trying to sleep. "I'm fine," she quickly retorted, looking away from Brandon and out of the window. As if her body was mad at her for the lie she just told, she had another coughing fit, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Come on, Callie. Pretty sure the whole neighborhood's awake right now."

"Some cough syrup would be great. Preferably the night kind, if we have any." She avoided having to look at Brandon altogether and he couldn't deny the pang in his chest that that gave him, though he told himself that it was better this way, that looking at her always made it incredibly hard for him to keep up his uninterested front he'd put up for so long.

"Got it." He walked out of her room and headed down the stairs, raiding their medicine cabinet until he found the medicine she had described. He grabbed it and headed toward their living room to grab the box of tissues that resided on their coffee table as well, assuming she'd be needing those sometime soon.

Brandon paused for a moment, allowing himself a deep breath, and headed back upstairs, shutting the door behind him as he walked into Callie's room. She was in the exact same state as he'd left her, and the pang in his chest returned momentarily, followed by a dull, heaviness he was all too used to every time he'd seen her in pain.

But he did what he always did and ignored it, handing her the cough syrup and box of tissues. "Anything else you need?" He asked quickly, his gaze fixated on the painting of Paris hung just above her bed rather than her, although he could see her drinking some of the cough syrup in his peripheral.

"I'm okay. Thanks, Brandon." He allowed himself a glance at her this time, and, to his surprise, she was glancing back at him, a small, faint smile present on her face.

"Sure. Goodnight." He turned to walk away, only hearing a quiet "night" in return before heading back to his room and falling asleep for the night.

He woke the next morning to the sound of his alarm clock ringing against his ear, a very loud, persistent, annoying sound he had set when he figured how effective it would be. He let out a disgruntled groan and set it off, rubbing his eyes open with a yawn.

Brandon was just about to head to the bathroom for a shower when he heard the coughing coming from her room again. He waited a minute to see if anyone would answer, but after checking the driveway and seeing no other car beside his parked in it, he knew everyone was gone. With another defeated sigh, he walked downstairs and grabbed her the daytime cough medicine as well as a bag of cough drops that were hidden in the back.

He was about to walk into her room when he remembered he wasn't wearing a shirt and decided that that was an awkward encounter he was not willing to have, so he popped back into his room and put on a shirt before walking back into her room to hand her the medicine.

But as soon as he walked in there, he knew something was wrong. She was shaking, beads of sweat forming on her forehead, and her face was far too pale for her skin color. His worry took over and he abandoned his act for the time being as he ran over to her bed, sitting right beside her with a furrowed brow. His hand leaned over her and touched her forehead and he ignored the stubborn, annoyed look she gave him.

"You're burning up," he muttered out, his eyes scanning over her sweat-covered body. "I'll get you a cold cloth. Although a cold shower might be better."

Callie's head shook slightly, though it looked like it took every ounce of energy she had for that one single movement. His forehead creased and he bit the inside his cheek, contemplating his options for a moment after she spoke up. "Can't. Move." Her voice was weak, which is something Callie never really let Brandon see. "My head is pounding," she breathed out, and Brandon instantly knew this wasn't just a cold. Something else was wrong.

"I'm taking you to the hospital," he huffed out, quickly getting to his feet. "Get dressed if you can. I'll be right back, I'm going to change."

"Wait," he heard Callie croak out, her voice somehow even weaker than before. "It's Saturday. Don't you have someplace to be?"

Brandon hesitated for a moment, thinking about his orientation at Idyllwild, and shook his head slightly, his gaze refusing to meet hers. "No. I don't have anywhere to be."