The Reality of Our Lives

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After Brandon finally manages to calm Jaden down, the two of them walk inside the house. Jaden is still irritated that Brandon refuses to tell him anything about Sam, but he decides not to press the issue any further.

He walks straight to the refrigerator, grabs a bottle of liquor, and places it on the counter.

"You want some?" Jaden asks.

Brandon shakes his head. "Nah, I'm good."

Jaden pours two shots anyway and slides one toward him.

"You don't want to tell me who dude is, so the least you can do is take a shot with me."

Brandon stares at the cup before reluctantly picking it up. "Fine. Just one."

They raise their cups and take the shots. Brandon immediately scrunches his face as the liquor burns his throat.

"I don't see how y'all drink this stuff. It tastes awful."

Jaden laughs and pours himself another. "After a couple of shots, it ain't about the taste anymore. It's about the feeling."

He quickly downs the second shot, then pours another.

Brandon watches him and shakes his head. "Dude, you're crazy."

"Not as crazy as you look right now," Jaden replies.

He grabs a clean white towel from the kitchen and hands it to Brandon for his busted lip. Then he pulls a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and tosses it to him.

"Put that on your eye before it swells completely shut."

Brandon presses the frozen bag against his bruised eye. Before he can respond, they hear a key turning in the front door. Both of them look up as Princess walks into the house.

The moment Brandon realizes it is her, he quickly looks away.

"What's up?" Jaden says as she enters.

"Hey," Princess answers quietly.

Instead of sitting on the couch beside Brandon, she walks over and sits at the kitchen table next to Jaden. She tries to ignore Brandon, but the tension between them is impossible to miss.

Princess eventually glances toward him and notices his swollen eye and busted lip, which he is unsuccessfully trying to cover with the towel.

"Okay, I know it's not really my business, but who beat you up?"

Brandon finally looks at her. "Hey. Um...it's a long story."

Jaden stays quiet, allowing Brandon to explain as much—or as little—as he wants.

Princess looks him up and down. "I guess karma works really fast."

She gets up from the table and walks to her bedroom without another word.

Jaden moves closer to Brandon on the couch. "Y'all still beefing, I see."

"I'm not beefing with her," Brandon says, shaking his head. "But I can tell she hates me."

Before Jaden can respond, Brandon's phone begins ringing. His mother's name flashes across the screen.

"It's my mama," Brandon says. "She's probably wondering why I'm not home yet."

"Just answer it," Jaden tells him. "Say you're at Peyton's house. If she asks what happened, tell her you got into a little scuffle while playing basketball."

Brandon answers and repeats the story exactly as Jaden told him. Shakira immediately becomes upset that he did not call her sooner. Less than twenty minutes later, she arrives to pick him up, fussing the entire time as she rushes him out of the house.