night changes ; brady noon

chapter 28

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The days following were all a haze in Maya's mind, since the only thing that had been on her mind was the biggest house party of the year. Caleb Atwood was know for hosting the best parties, the kind that people still talked about at school weeks after. Truth be told, Maya had never been invited to one, she'd only ever heard her peers talking about it.

She never expected to receive a text from Brady that afternoon, inviting her to the party. Rubbing her eyes, thinking she was seeing things that weren't actually there, Maya had to double check that she had read the boys text correctly. Once she had confirmed that she was, in fact, invited to the house party, she went into turbo mode cleaning the house so that she'd have time to get ready for the night.

Allie, who had just finished her finals essay, walked past her sisters room on the way downstairs, stopping in the doorway to look at her sister in utter confusion. Never in her life had she seen her little sister so concentrated on cleaning the house.

"Lightning McQueen is that you?" Maya turned towards the sound of her sisters voice, smiling at her before getting back to work, "Why are in such a rush? Are you going out?"

Is she a mind reader?!

"As a matter of fact I am. I've been invited to one of Caleb Atwood's house parties." The brunette girl couldn't hide the excitement in her voice, it was practically radiating off of her at this point. Maya knew that Allie had been to her good share of house parties when she was in high school; thrilling stories told the day after about jumping into pools fully clothed, getting absolutely sloshed while playing beer pong and heated arguments between couples.

Allie walked up to her sisters wardrobe with a smile, looking through her clothes. "Do you need help with what to wear? I can do your hair and make up. God I've waited fro the moment forever, Maya!" The younger girl laughed at Allie's enthusiasm.

"Thank you, I could use some help. I have no idea what to wear. Any ideas?" Maya finished dusting her bookshelf, going over to stand beside her sister as they looked in to abyss of clothes. Allie seemed to be on a mission, taking out an assortment of dresses and laying them all out onto the bed, then looking at them, shaking her head, and putting them back.

After what seemed like and eternity of clothes coming in and out of the wardrobe, the older brunette girl pulled out a midnight purple coloured mini dress, handing it to her sister with a nod towards the bathroom. Maya reluctantly walked into the bathroom to try it on. She had to admit that it was quite a pretty dress, the dark shade of purple contrasting against her light skin.

She rarely wore dresses, but the moment she put on the dress, she knew that it was the one. The brunette girl felt like a different person with the dress; confidence radiating off of her as she walked into her room to show Allie. The girl let out a squeal as she twirled her little sister around. "Let me have my proud older sister moment, that dress is perfect." She smiled as she pushed Maya towards her vanity, sitting her down to do her hair and make up.

A car horn outside let Maya know that Brady was waiting for her. Biding goodbye to Allie, and with one final look in the mirror, the brunette girl made her way out to the car. It was already dark out, the lamp posts outside already illuminating the pavement. Brady was leaning against the car door, his head as he looked at his phone screen. When the brown haired boy hear a door close, he lifted his head to look at Maya.

He cursed a quiet 'fuck' under his breath as he took in the girl in front of him. During the time that the two had been friends, Brady had never once seen Maya in a dress, let alone one as form fitting as the one she was wearing. There was no hiding the blush that crept across his face, painting the tips of his ears and his cheeks a bright shade of pink.

"Hi." Were the only words the boy was able to say, his vocabulary lost somewhere in his brain, but pushed far away by the view he had in front of him. Maya smiled at the boy, suddenly feeling extremely bashful with her outfit choice.

Oh gosh, do I look bad?

Looking down at her outfit, she spoke up, "Is there something wrong? Is it too much?" The boy quickly walked up to her, shaking his head in the process. His hands reached up to cup her face, his eyes trained on hers.

"Maya, stop. You look... beautiful." Maya couldn't contain the blush the crept across her cheeks, making her suddenly feel very hot. Sure, Brady had complimented her before, but she wasn't expecting him to be so assertive.

The brown haired boy led Maya to the car, and in no time at all they were pulling up to the Atwood residence. Caleb was from one of the wealthiest families in New Jersey, and their house was proof of it. Three stories tall with more windows than any other house on their road, a pool and jacuzzi out back and ten acres worth of land stretching out further than the eye could see.

Maya found herself in awe at the house, making Brady laugh as he pushed her towards the door. The music inside was so loud that the pair could feel the ground vibrate as they approached the entrance. Before either one of them could knock or ring the doorbell, the door swung open, Caled standing in the doorway was a red solo cup in his hand.

"Bradyyyyy, hey! Good to see you man, come on in." The two boys patted each other on the back as they walked in before the blonde boy spotted Maya behind Brady. "Ah I see you brought your lady with you." Called smiled as he let the two walk further into the house.

"Oh we're not-" The brunette spoke up, but was quickly shut down by Caleb, "Just best friends, yada yada. Everyone says that but in reality it's not true. Help yourselves to whatever you want, I'm gonna go get drunk." The blonde boy threw up a peace sign before retreating into the kitchen, leaving Brady and Maya in the hallway.

The air around them felt dense after Caleb's words, both of them trying to ignore the heavy beating of their hearts.

The brunette girl cleared her throat, turning to look at Brady, "I'm gonna go get- um -a drink." With a small smile, the girl made her way into the living room, Brady watching her leave. Distressed, the boy ran a hand through his hair, sighing at the girls suddenly distant energy.

To distract himself from overanalysing the girls behaviour and overthinking every interaction they had ever had, Brady went to look for his brother. It didn't take long for him to Connor, who was leaning against a beam in the living room, red solo cup in his hand as he bobbed his head along to the music.

Brady was quick to swipe the cup out of his twins hand, taking a swig of the alcohol. He steered as the liquid burnt his throat, but he didn't really care. Connor looked at his brother with a mixture of worry and disbelief as he took the cup out of the boys hand.

"Dude are you okay? You never drink at house parties." Brady rolled his eyes at his twin brother, not caring about the booze or the party. "Firstly, I didn't know you were drinking straight up tequila, I thought you'd be smart enough to mix it with something. And secondly, I'm fine, absolutely fine." Brady's eyes were distant as he spoke, and Connor kept looking around to try and spot what he was looking at.

Connor knew his brother well enough to know that he was lying through his teeth, and he was most definitely, not fine. "You're not fooling me, Brady, you've been different for a few months now. What's going on?"

"I'm in love with Maya and it's driving me fucking insane. Just when I think that she might like me back I suddenly second guess myself and then it seems like she distancing herself from me!" Brady's breathing was heavy and ragged as he tried to recover.

The brown haired boy stared in shock at his twins confession. He knew what was going on but he didn't want to jump to conclusions, but he'd just been given the confirmation he needed.

"If I were you bro, I wouldn't waste my time sulking about her "not liking you" and actually shoot my shot."

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authors note
hello my lovelies! how are you all?
i know i say this a lot but i'm so so so sorry for my inactivity on here, these past weeks have been super hectic and i haven't had time to sit down and write
but i'm finally free and have time to give y'all the story you deserve!
don't forget to vote! 💞