Brad's doorbell rang, and he trudged downstairs to answer it. He opened the door and a small brown-haired girl pushed her way into the apartment.
"Carrie, get out," Brad said.
"No!" Caroline replied. She moved away from the door and further into Brad's apartment.
"Why are you here?" asked Brad.
Carrie looked at him disbelievingly. "To get you to stop hating me, I thought that was obvious."
"You won't succeed," Brad responded, "so you might as well just give up and leave now."
"No, just listen. I'm not dating Tristan," she said. Brad rolled his eyes at her. "Seriously!"
"Sure," Brad scoffed.
"I'm helping him," she stated.
Brad was still fed up with the fact that Carrie was here. "With what?"
"He doesn't really want me to tell," the girl responded reluctantly.
"And that totally makes me want to believe you," Brad said.
"You're so sassy," Caroline muttered under her breath.
"What?" Brad asked.
"I said you're so sassy," she replied. "You always have to be right, huh?"
Brad opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again. He cleared his throat and said in a forced calmness, "I am not sassy."
"Mhmm."
"Wh- Bu-" Brad spluttered. "I shouldn't be the uncomfortable one here, I'm mad at you."
Carrie's phone started ringing and she grabbed it out of the back pocket of her jeans, glancing at the caller ID. Brad sneaked a look, noticing the name "Tristan."
"Hey Tris," Caroline greeted as she answered her mobile. Brad couldn't hear what Tristan said in reply, but Carrie looked straight at Brad as she replied, "I'm at Brad's."
Tris must have said something along the lines of "Why?" because Caroline said, "Because he thinks we're dating."
Brad raised his eyebrows. They must really not be dating, otherwise Carrie wouldn't have said that. Brad has to admit that Tristan was a better actor than Brad had pegged him to be.
"Can you please just come over and explain the situation to him?" Carrie asked, and added a disgruntled sigh after Tris's response.
"Please? It'll be worth it," Caroline said. "I promise."
Brad was confused, as he could only hear one side of the conversation and didn't know what Carrie was talking about.
"Over the phone then?" Carrie asked Tristan.
She passed the phone to Brad. He was suddenly so nervous and he didn't exactly get why.
"Hey," Tristan's voice came from over the phone.
"What's this big deal, Tris? Did you kill someone or something?" Brad asked with a nervous laugh, trying unsuccessfully to lighten the mood.
"No, I-" Tristan cut himself off, "I-I can't...can't do this...not right now-" and he hung up.
"I guess today's not the day," Brad said as he handed the phone back to Caroline.
Caroline gave him a smile as she took her phone, heading out the door. "Bye, Brad."
He gave a short wave, and as soon as the door closed behind her, he flopped on the couch.
Brad didn't understand why Tristan was acting so weird. What is his secret? Do any of the other guys know? Does he not trust him? Why would Tris trust Carrie, the girl he just met, and not Brad?
Brad decided that he was going to talk to Tristan tomorrow.
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Brad went to Connor first. He knew he was putting off the actual talking to Tris, but he had to ask the guys if they knew.
Connor picked up after only a few rings.
"Hey Brad, what's up?" Connor said.
"Hey, do you know what's going on with Tris?" Brad asked. Might as well cut to the chase, he thought.
"Uh, what exactly do you mean?" Connor responded with a question of his own.
"Like with Caroline," Brad clarified.
Connor paused. "His girlfriend? I'm not exactly following what you're saying."
"That's all I needed to know, thanks," Brad replied.
"Bu-"
Brad hung up, probably leaving a very confused Connor on the other end of the line.
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Brad told James to meet him at the Starbucks near his house. James came and gave Brad a wave as he entered the coffee shop.
"I haven't really had a one-on-one with you in a while," James said. "We used to talk all the time."
"Yeah, well, I needed to find out something," Brad responded.
"Okay, shoot," James said.
"Do you know what's up with Tris?"
James's eyebrows furrowed. "I dunno. He's been a little off, but he hasn't told me and I haven't asked."
"I was...actually going to go talk to him today," Brad replied.
"Oh cool, so if you find out something, you'll let me know?" James questioned.
"Uh, yeah, okay," Brad confirmed.
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Alright, deep breath, Brad thought.
He knocked on Tristan's door.
"It's open," Tris called from inside.
Brad walked in and said, "Hey, it's me."
Tristan jumped up from his space on the couch, turning towards Brad and running a hand through his hair. "Hi." Tristan's eyes were looking everywhere but at Brad's.
"I wanted to find out what's going on," Brad stated, "...you know, if you're comfortable with that, 'cause it seemed like something was bothering you and the only person you've told was Carrie, and I wanted to help you, if I could...so yeah."
Tristan's eyebrows raised as Brad's run-on sentence was continuing.
"You know what I'm talking about - the phone call, and I want you to know you can trust me," Brad confirmed.
"It's not about trust," Tristan replied. "I know I can trust you, it's just...new. Carrie knows what she's talking about and she helped."
"Can you please, please tell me what it is," Brad said. "My anticipation is building."
Tris shuffled his feet. "I'm bi."
