Girl V.S. Boy

Chapter 30

Chapter 30 (Girl V.S. Boy)

I walked into the living room, to find Brandon sitting on his couch. He smiled as I approached. "Sit next to me," he said, patting the seat beside him.

I obliged, taking the seat next to him on the couch. I frowned. "What is this?"

"You and I are going to talk about Reed. And your feelings for him."

I swallowed hard at the words. I did like Reed. I just felt weird admitting it to Brandon. It made me feel guilty for some reason. "Why do you want to know so badly? It has nothing to do with you, you know?" I said, narrowing my eyes at Brandon, trying desperately to drag an answer out of him.

Brandon sighed. "Well, we are sort of like best friends, in a way. I just want you to be open with me."

"I don't need to tell you anything. Janice doesn't even know some of this stuff between me and Reed," I said, lying. Janice knew everything.

"Don't you think you owe it to me?"

"Why would I owe it to you? You've done nothing."

"I helped you when Reed broke your heart."

I paused, not knowing what to say. That was true. Brandon did take me in and cared for me when that whole incident happened. "Well, if you must know, I really do like Reed. No question about it."

"Do you really like him, Ella?" Brandon asked, looking at me curiously.

I nodded. "Yeah, a lot. He's different from other guys. He cares about me a lot."

"I care about you," Brandon replied.

I raised an eyebrow slightly. Was Brandon trying to tell me something? I mentally shook my head. My mind wandered a lot. "Reed understands me. He understands what I want and what I want to accomplish. He treats me like a lady but respects my views."

"What do you want?" Brandon asked.

"I... Want lots of things. I just really want someone to care and love me for once," I admitted, looking down into my lap.

"You love Reed?" he asked, sounding shocked. "So soon."

I shrugged. "Maybe, I don't know. Maybe it's one of those things in those cheesy love stories where you just meet the person and you fall for them right away."

"That only happens in the stories. This is real life, Ella. It's either a 'yes, I love him' or 'no, I don't'. Either way, you care about him, right?" he asked, as if testing me.

"Yeah, I care a lot about him," I stated. "I can see us building upon our relationship. Maybe this could be serious for me. It could be serious for you and Rachel, too. This is senior year, Brandon. I don't know about you but I think we should start now, trying to find someone to spend the rest of our lives with."

"I don't need to start now. I have all of the time in the world," Brandon said, casually leaning back against the sofa.

"What school are you going to?" I asked.

Brandon sighed. "I don't know. School stresses me out. I try not to think about it."

"Well, you should start thinking now. Do you want to be close to Rachel?" I asked, wondering if they would even last until graduation.

"Maybe? I don't know. I want to be close to people I love."

"Do you love Rachel?"

"No, not yet, at least."

I grinned. "She's sweet. She's innocent."

"She kind of reminds me of you. You both drive me mental sometimes. Her with her perkiness, you with your activism, proud shit," Brandon said, rolling his eyes. I was taken aback by the sudden aggressiveness in his tone. It reminded me of when we first met.