Brad, James, and Connor were on the couch at Tristan’s apartment, waiting for him to come back from the store.
Tristan walked through the door with a cheery smile on his face, much to the confusion of the three boys.
“Well, if buying groceries makes you that happy, you should do it all the time,” James joked.
Tris just smiled. “I’m going on a second date!” he exclaimed.
“What, did she call you or something?” Connor asked. “While you were in the grocery store?”
“No,” Tris said, “I had texted her last night to see if she wanted to go out again, but she hadn’t replied, and I was disappointed, but she texted me back while I was out.”
“Let me guess,” Brad responded, “she didn’t have her phone on her last night, but she’d love to go out with you!”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what she said,” Tristan replied.
Brad scoffed quietly. Typical, he thought.
“I really want to meet her, Tris,” James said. “Or at least know her name.”
“She actually said she’s going to meet me here before our date, so you’re in luck,” Tris responded. “She knows who you are already, but she’s really cool about it, it’s great!”
“Wait – you mean – she’s a fan?” Connor asked.
Tristan nodded.
“Its’ cool that she’s not one of those freak-out types,” Brad said. He had to hand it to this girl, she seemed pretty cool. She made Tristan happy, and that was good, it’s just that Brad was insanely jealous.
When the doorbell rang the next day, Tristan shot up to answer it.
“Hi Tristan,” a girl’s voice greeted. Her voice sounded familiar ot Brad, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“Hey Caroline,” Tris replied.
Brad’s head whipped around. Caroline? As in Carrie?
Sure enough, Tristan was leading Carrie into the room.
“So, as you know,” Tristan said, “This is James-” he pointed to James “-this is Connor-” Tris pointed to Connor “-and this is Brad.”
Brad shot a dark look to the brunette.
“Hey, I’m a big fan,” Carrie said.
“Nice to meet you,” Brad said with a fake smile on his face. “I’m going to go to the loo, I’ll be right back.”
Brad walked away, tuning out the murmur of conversation. He walked into the bathroom and leaned back against the door.
Carrie? Really? He thought.
Brad had thought that – for once – he had an actual friend that he could talk to. Someone that wouldn’t judge him, wouldn’t use him, and most certainly wouldn’t double-cross him. I’m back to loneliness, he thought.
Carrie would call Brad. He wouldn’t answer. She’d text him things like “It’s not what it looks like,” and Brad wouldn’t reply, thinking It’s obvious what it is. However, Carrie was right. It wasn’t what it looked like.
[A/N It's so short I'm so sorry]
