Late Nights.

Ch.15 ~ Wait.

As I lived out my days I began to grow more and more content with my existence. As a side effect of this, I started to do things I hadn't done in quite a long time. In just the last few hours I had been downstairs, into my bathroom, into my fathers old study and in Brandon's room. I surprised myself by scouring out my ancient sketch book and pack of pencils and creating new drawings. I hadn't drawn for well over a year. I had done things recently that I hadn't done since I stepped foot in this house. I had been happy. I don't think I had ever been truly happy in this house. Now I was.
Although Brandon had helped me see the positive side of things, I was not going to put my newfound happiness down to a boy. I was happy because of my relief. I had nothing to stress about anymore. That in itself took a huge weight off of my shoulders.
By the time I heard the door slam shut I was engrossed in my third or fourth simple drawing. I hadn't really noticed the time until Brandon walked in, smile ablaze.
"Hey." I muttered out as I focussed solely on the last minor details of my sketch.
"Hey Violet, what you got there?" He asked curiously as he sat his keys and shoulder bag down on his desk. I polished off my last detail and threw a cheerful smile towards him.
"I found my sketching book, thought I'd put it to good use." He sat down beside me on his bed and peeked over my shoulder at the small victory.
"Well you're certainly talented. That looks exactly like you." I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion.
"What ever, I was just scribbling some random chick." He chuckled and kissed my bare shoulder.
"Sure thing gorgeous, but I still think that's you. See?" He rose the picture beside my face and pointed to the mirror across the other side of the room. I had to admit, I did see the likeness in the picture but it wasn't intentional.
"Weird, it kind of does. Maybe they'll all turn out like that." I joked. He turned his focus to the sketch pad to continue looking at all of my other pieces of art. I roughly scooped up my supplies and packed them gently into their case.
"It's so creepy, they all look like you." I glanced over as he quickly flicked through the book. Every face I had drawn held an eerily similar look. That look was mine. Somehow I had drawn all of the faces to look like mine, non intentionally. How strange.
"Why'd I do that?" I sat confused amidst the pencils that littered the bed. Brandon chuckled lightly.
"Don't fret Vi, they're only drawings." He stood up, handing me my sketch pad, and kissed my forehead. "I was thinking of studying in the kitchen, you know have some food and junk. Want to join?" I smiled.
"Yeah, I mean I probably won't eat anything or study but I can help you out with stuff if you'd like." He smiled and grabbed a few of his books out of his book bag.
"Awesome, let's go amigo!" He sang as he spun out the door.
"Amiga, dummy. I'm not a dude!" I joked as we headed downstairs.
We studied a lot less than planned and mostly sat and talked about nothing and everything. We were so lost in our conversation we barely noticed when Brandon's mother walked in. "Brandon, who's this?" He froze as his mother walked toward him. He obviously didn't know how to respond and sat silently in shock of the situation.
"Hi, you must be Brandon's mom, I'm Violet. I live down the road." I smiled warmly as I shook her hand.
"It's nice to meet you Violet, Brandon's told me a little bit about you, isn't that right Brad?" She questioned him. Brandon blushed a bright shade of red.
"Mom!" He groaned as any embarrassed teen would. I laughed lightly at the situation.
"I'd love to stay and chat but I have work to do and what not! Have a lovely evening you two." She smiled and began to make her way out of the room.
"See you Mrs. Callends, it was lovely meeting you!" I called after her. Once she was out of earshot Brandon let out a relieved sigh and groaned.
"I cannot believe she saw you." I rolled my eyes.
"I'm not invisible dumb ass, I'm just dead." He rolled his eyes in return.
"Yeah yeah, I just don't want you to meet my dad so let's go up to my room." I smiled and chuckled lightly.
"Okay, okay. Maybe tomorrow you can meet my mom, huh?" He snorted.
"Yeah sure, let's meet your dead mother." I stopped in my tracks.
"Why not? I mean she's in the same situation as me so you'd see her fine and all. You could meet my dad too." He rubbed his neck awkwardly.
"Really? I mean, do they even know about me?" An image of the night I was crying on my mothers shoulder flashed in front of my eyes.
"My mom does. I'm not too sure about my dad, I haven't talked to him in a while." He sighed heavily.
"I mean, if you want me to then yeah, I'll do it. I'd do anything for you." I smiled at his cute gesture.
"Okay, how does tomorrow sound?" His eyes popped slightly but he seemed to regain his composure.
"If that's what you want."
"I just don't want you to feel pressured. We'll wait." He shook his head.
"No no, tomorrow's fine. Seriously, I'm just a little nervous at the though of it is all." I smiled in awe.
"Aw, there's nothing to worry about. They'll love you. If not then I'll make them." He chuckled.
"I know you will." He pulled me into his warm embrace and we stood like that for a few moments.
"We should stay like this." He chuckled into my hair and kissed the top of my head.
"I know we should." I smiled into his chest.
"Too bad we can't." He groaned playfully.
"Why not?" He whined.
"Because I hear your bed calling my name and I just want to sleep." I flew out of his grip without another word exchanged. I clumsily clomped up the staircase as he climbed after me, the two of us giggling like idiots on happy gas. I promptly made it to Brandon's room and threw myself onto the bed. In return I got multiple squeaks and groans from the bed and floorboards beneath.
"Damn it, I need to work out more." He huffed as he closed his door and plonked down beside me. We both lay staring intently at the ceiling. I had done this so many times I could describe it like the back of my hand, every single inch.
"You see that stain in the corner over there?" I asked as I pointed to an oddly shaped brown patch on the ceiling just above my door. "I did that one day after making myself a cup of tea. I had drunk it all and got bored in my room so I threw the tea bag repeatedly at the ceiling. My mom came in not long later and told me off for doing something so stupid." He chuckled softly to himself as we both lay contently by each others side.
"How long is this going to last?" He asked lost in thought. "I mean, how long am I going to be able to come home and tell you about my day? How long am I going to be able to spend every minute of every day with you? How long are we going to be okay? How long until we get sick of each other?" I rolled onto my side and rested my head on top of his shoulder.
"You can come home and tell me about your day any day you like. You can spend every minute of every day with me when you have the time to do so. And I don't know about you but I will never get sick of you." He smiled as he looked down at me.
"Thank you." I smiled back.
"For what?" He smiled wider.
"For being the Violet that I fell in love with." My smile grew with every word he spoke.
"You're welcome." He leant his head down and locked his soft lips onto mine. They sent warm shivers through my icy flesh and reassurance through my every bone. He let me know that we would be okay, without words.
"Imagine if I hadn't move here." I rested my head next to his.
"I don't know where I'd be if you hadn't turned up."
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I sat once again on Brandon's unmade bed, too lazy to make it for him. I didn't bother to leave the sheets because they smelt like him and I didn't want to let go of that. I either slept lazily as the day went by or gazed outside of the window. Right now I lay wrapped in my cocoon of bed sheets that smelt of Brandon and watched the bedside clock. I waited for it to hit 3. When it did I smiled gently to myself. I then waited for the clock to hit 3:10. By then Brandon should be close to arriving home and I could take him to meet my parents.
Sure enough, right on 3:10, Brandon was unlocking the front door. He quickly made his way to his room and opened his door to drop his things off. His eyes then shot to my lifeless body wrapped in bedsheets and scoffed. "Did you seriously stay in bed all day?" I smiled lazily and nodded my head. "I should've skipped and spent the day with you in that bed. God I am tired." I chuckled and sat up.
"You ready?" He swallowed nothing and shook his head.
"Not really. I mean I am meeting my dead girlfriends dead parents in a few minutes." I rolled my eyes.
"What's with you and obsessing over the dead thing?" I said nonchalantly. He let out a loud laugh.
"Oh I don't know, though it was serious." We both smiled at each other.
"Maybe we should get this over with."
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I easily found my parents in one of the basements many rooms just by following the small cries of an annoying baby. As I walked into the room their heads shot up at me. Both of their lips grew into soft smiles. "Violet! I haven't seen you since the boy troubles, everything alright?" I shushed her and ushered a nervous Brandon into the room. My dads eyes grew slightly darker as his lips dropped their friendly smile.
"Mom, dad. This is Brandon. He lives here now with his parents." They remained in their places, not once making an effort to continue on the conversation. I sighed. "Brandon, this is my mom, my dad, and my little brother." He peaked over the crib side by standing on his tip toes, only just able to see the sleeping baby.
"It's nice to meet you." Brandon greeted. My mother smiled warmly from where she sat beside the babies crib.
"Likewise. Would you like to come over here and meet the baby?" My mother gestured for Brandon to go over and see the baby, he looked at me as if for reassurance. I nodded with a soft smile and he slowly made his way towards my mother and the crib. He was so awkward and worried to say or do something wrong. It was sweet of him to be so overly cautious.
I stepped over towards my dad. "You didn't have to be so cold." He shot his hard eyes down to me.
"Well sorry for being skeptical but the last boy you introduced me to turned out to be a mass murderer who raped your mother." I sighed.
"Fair enough. But look at him," we both looked towards Brandon who was now gently rocking my baby brother in his arms while smiling down on him. "You can tell by just looking at him how innocent he is. He won't hurt me dad." He looked down at me as I looked up at him. A soft smile sat on his lips and I'm sure a small tear welled in his eye.
"You're right. Not if he knows what's good for him." We both chuckled softly. "I've missed you Vi, you need to say hi every now and then. Don't go isolating yourself from us. We are your family remember." I smiled as I looked towards Brandon and my mother who seemed to be getting along quite well. Brandon's uneasiness seemed to have melted away as he held my baby brother in his arms.
"I know dad. Sometimes I just get wrapped up in things. But I know that you're always here." And at that moment Brandon's eyes met mine and the widest smile I had ever seen sat on his lips. 'Thank you' he mouthed to me. I just smiled in return. Maybe it was good that we didn't wait for this.
Maybe sometimes waiting isn't as good as we think.
But maybe it is.
"Wait."