Hate To See Your Heart Break

Pickles at Ease

"Jonas! A little help please?" Brandy yelled at  him. Through his earphones, Jonas heard a faint voice that sounded more like "pickles at ease".

I want pickles now, he thought, then laughed to himself. Just then, Brandy nudged his leaning position by the counter he was on and finally took off his earphones.

"Help me, please? I need the bond papers on the top shelf." She agressively told him. And finally, with that magic power of the famous "death stare", Jonas was finally able to release himself from the lazy position and took the papers Brandy was carrying.

"I'll do it, mother," he teasingly told her. Both of them mocked each other for five minutes, until Jonas turned serious as well and told Brandy that someone went in the computer shop yesterday afternoon.

"What did he want?" Brandy asked.

"He said his name was Julio Ramirez, but I dunno. It's weird." Jonas felt a weird lump in his throat. "He said..... He wanted to adopt you."

Adopt? Brandy did not like the sound of that word. Ever since she was a little kid, she believed that she found her one true home when she found Jonas on the streets. Both of them were homeless, or parent-less, but Jonas was always with Kieth, a guy he lived with that runs a famous internet cafe downtown. When she was six years old, they accepted Brandy to the family and since then she never wanted to leave.

"Are you okay?" Jonas shook her shoulder. "You're looking pale. You need water?"

"No thank you," Brandy swallowed. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. I just don't want to leave you guys. You're my family."

Jonas knew exactly what she was talking about. He didn't want her to leave either, but so many people come and go to check on Brandy and try to adopt her. In the end it's always refusal because there is no way in hell Brandy would want to leave. If he'd heard her right, once in Brandy's life she was abused before Jonas found her. Since then, she's traumatized to get another offering to a new home. He was also thankful that when they found her in the streets, she agreed to go with them. They still don't know why.

"It's okay, I don't want you to leave us either." Jonas hugged his foster sister. "Oh shit! It's 9 o'clock! I gotta go; bye Brands!" And then he ran off uptown to serenade another girl.

She's sad now. But she doesn't know why. Brandy is a tomboy, okay, but there are these days when she felt like her inner girliness is rubbing off on her.... becaues of Jonas. No, she wipes away the thought, and continues with her regular life as a skater chick who runs the computer shop during the day and runs off uptown at night with her friends. But don't think she's "goth" or something. She's just a regular teen trying to live simply. She's only 15, but she was so independent. The perks of not having any parents.

As for Jonas, he was the talented and flirty kid who had 3 girls in two months! He never takes anything seriously, but there are still some left in that platter. He knows how to play the piano, and he's also a skater boy who runs off anywhere in the city. He's also 15, but Kieth doesn't care too much about his safety because he knew he could live on his own.

"Well," Brandy sighed. "There goes his shift." And then she flipped the 'open' sign of the shop.

"Morning, baby girl!" A familiar voice said.

"Morning Kieth!" Brandy replied as she walked behind the counter. Kieth was the guardian of Jonas when they found Brandy in the streets. He was a man in his late twenty's but he was a kid at heart and very kind to everyone.

All of a sudden the bell on top of the door rang when it was opened. He was also the same age as Kieth, so it was assumed that he was his best friend. He had a fixed hairstyle and walked in a lazy fashion. With his appearance, people would never believe that he was a computer genius and a leader of most kids in the computer shop who play MMORPG. They call him "Maestro". Just because.

"Hey, Justin!" Kieth said. Both of them did a high-five and then some sort of secret handshake that Brandy and Jonas copied sooner or later.

"Any gamers yet?" Justin asked. When he saw that there were none, he said, "Okay then. I'll just wait behind the counter with Brandy." And then he kicked his feet and rested it on top of the counter.

Kieth stitched his eyebrows. "Where's Jonas?" He asked.

Brandy nonchalantly replied, "He's uptown---"

"Serenading another girl? Oh my God." Kieth finished her sentence. "He gets dish duty tonight. Oh, hey do you guys want McDonald's or something?"

Brandy and Justin nodded. "Okay then, I'll call the delivery service and then we can just hang out in here." Kieth concluded.

This was such an ordinary day in the internet cafe, and the thought behind Brandy's back is still disturbing her thoughts and continued to distract her in whatever she does everyday.

Will I fall for Jonas? She thought.

Well, she just had to find out.

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a/n: yey i have finally decided to write another story! but will it be a short story? or a novella? i don't know. they're pretty short so i'll just have to "find out" haha :))

So this story was based on 2 things: a local movie, and a personal experience of someone else. and it was inspired by paramore's "hate to see your heart break" because that is my favorite song at the moment, so might as well write a story about what it reminds me of!

Please comment, vote, and fan! :)