When (he)arts Prevail

28

When Kaylee left her parents house later that afternoon, she felt disappointed. She really thought that today was going to be different, to feel different. But some things never changed and their parents, especially her mother, were so focused on themselves and what they envisioned for her, that they forgot to ask what Kaylee really wanted. How she was truly feeling. Right now, at this moment, and not just in the future. The future could be nothing as they damn well knew.

Kaylee called Brian. There was no one else in the world she wanted to talk to right now but him.

"Come on, let me take you to dinner," he said after Kaylee offered a brief resume of what had happened. "We'll go to that Mexican place you like so much."

"You don't have to do that, I just needed to vent."

"But I'm buying."

Kayle paused for a moment, thinking. "Well, in that case..."

Despite insisting to meet him at the restaurant, Kaylee did not win the argument and Brian stopped at her place to pick her up. As she got in his car, his cologne immediately filled the air and she restrained from humming pleasantly at it. It got her every single time, no matter how used to it she was. It smelled too good. He smelled too good. She leaned over for a kiss on his cheek and he gave her a kiss, too, in return.

"You didn't bring any jacket," Brian noted, looking her up.

"It's summer and it's hot."

He started the car and lifted his left hand to the wheel. "It might not be later."

"I'll be fine," Kaylee promised and his raised eyebrow earned him a smack on the arm. "Just drive, Grandma."

Brian had made a reservation fearing the restaurant might be full on a Saturday night and the waiter led them to their table outside in the terrace, with an open view to the ocean. The sun was just setting and the sight was beautiful. Romantic, even, if this wasn't just a normal dinner between two best friends.

Brian and Kaylee sat down and two menus were handed over.

"Can you bring two margaritas while we choose?" Kaylee asked the waiter and he nodded with a smile, walking away to take care of her request.

Brian chuckled in the seat in front of Kaylee.

"What? You did want one, right?"

"Sure," he smiled.

With their food brought over and margaritas coming one after another, Kaylee and Brian got lost in conversation. The sun slowly disappeared in the horizon, lights were switched on in the restaurant terrace as the night crept in, more people filled the space, and Kaylee was feeling good and relaxed. She lost track of the topics she and Brian spoke of. It was always like this with him.

Eventually, her lunch with her parents was mentioned and Brian didn't let it go as Kaylee hoped he would.

"Maybe I shouldn't have told them," she said with a sad sigh.

"Kaylee, it's part of you. You're not a teenager anymore. They have to accept that you control your own life."

She skimmed her finger over the edge of her margarita cup, finding the movement soothing. "You think I'm making a mistake?"

Brian leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Absolutely not."

Kaylee looked up at him, finding him already with his eyes on her. "I mean, I'm basically throwing everything away to chase a dream," she explained. "I'm not getting any younger and it's such a huge risk."

"You're never too old to follow your dreams. And what have you got to lose, really?"

"I don't know."

"I'm proud of you for finally taking this path... And if I am honest, I kinda missed this Kaylee. You've been so washed out these last years and I feel like you're coming back. I'm loving seeing you this happy, and excited..." Brian leaned back against his chair again but his gaze never left hers and it held an intensity Kaylee could not grasp. "With that glow..." he finished, before snapping himself out of his thoughts and downing the rest of the margarita in his cup.

Kaylee let out a breathless chuckle, lowering her gaze as she felt herself flush in embarrassment. She masked it by sipping at her margarita as well. Was it her third or forth? She didn't know any longer.

She didn't know what to reply to Brian's words exactly, so she opted for the safest escape. "I don't think my parents agree very much."

"It's your life. Not theirs."

"I know. I just wanted to be able to share this with them, you know? To feel like they are happy for me. That they are proud of me."

"I'm sure they are—"

"I am not that sure, Brian. I never was what they wanted. That was Nate. Not me."

And that was the hard truth. The very bottom of it all.

"You're being too harsh on yourself."

"You know what my mom said today when I got there?"

Brian didn't reply, simply waiting for Kaylee to continue.

"That I look happier."

"But you do—"

"You know why she said it?"

This time his shoulders sagged and his head turned slightly to the side. "What?" he asked with the same gentleness his eyes bore as he looked at her.

"That my enthusiasm was driven by some new guy that had come into my life." She let out a curt, dry chuckle at her own words. "How poorly does she have to know me to assume that?"

"So there is no new boy," Brian said, smirking.

"Brian! Seriously!" She wanted to be mad at him for joking about a serious matter, yet she couldn't, not when he had that mischievous look in his eyes and definitely not when she was under the effect of that many margaritas.

"You know I'm kidding." His smirked dissolved into a soft smile and he placed his arms back on the table in front of him, leaning forward. "Who are you doing this for?" he queried in earnest.Kaylee was confused for a moment. "This what?"

"Your art."

"Myself, I guess."

"Exactly. You're doing it for you. Because you want to. Because you love it. You don't need other people approving it. You don't need your parents to pat you in the back and say Good job, sweetie. You don't need them to care, because you're not doing it for them, right? I know you want their approval. You parents', maybe your friends'. But you don't need it. You just don't, Kaylee. So fuck them!"

Kaylee stared at Brian, completely lost for words. She didn't know how much time she stayed like that, it was probably just a few seconds, yet his words somehow stopped the world around her. Until she acknowledged their meaning.

He was right.

And above all — it was so fucking hot.

"Shit, Brian."

His smirk was back in full and Kaylee cursed the margaritas again, for in that moment, she could kiss him.