CASUAL AFFAIR; brendon urie

Chapter Twenty-Five

Brendon had wolfed down not only the slice of pizza I'd selflessly donated to him, but the rest of mine after I'd taken a couple of polite bites and found I really didn't want it anymore.

That was after, of course, both Jessa and I had jumped and screamed in fright at each other. Jessa's first scream was high-pitched, before she finally got over the shock, and cleared her throat. "I mean, ahh." She made her second noise deeper and manlier.

And she'd stuck her head around me saying 'who's this?' just as Tommy bounded up the stairs behind her, out of breath, hair matted to his forehead with sweat. "She tried to push me down the stairs!" he gasped at me, jabbing his finger into her back. Jessa turned around and smacked his hand away. "Shut up. We have company. Besides, you owe me twenty bucks, bitch."

"I do not!" Tommy retorted. "And who?"

"Brendon." Brendon said, and lifted his hand in greeting. "Hi."

"Oh, the singer from Dallon's band." Jessa nodded, and waved back, eagerly, like a little kid watching her mom and dad drive down the driveway. Many a times had I seen a young Jessa do that, and when they were out of shot, she'd turn to me with a wicked grin and crack her knuckles. It always meant trouble when Jessa cracked her knuckles. "And you do freaking so."

"You voided that deal when you tried to kill me." Tommy snapped, pushing his hair back off his head, before nodding over at Brendon. "Hey, singer from Flo's brothers band. Nice to meet you."

"I didn't try to kill you. Stop being such a drama queen." Jessa rolled her eyes. "I beat you to the top, fair and square. Therefore, the terms of our agreement state you now owe me, Jessa Nicholls, twenty dollars."

Tommy's jaw fell open, before his eyes flicked to me. "She tried to push me down the stairs!" he repeated.

"Did not." But by the look on her face, she did too.

Tommy jutted his jaw out, muttering curses to himself, as he pushed past her, shoving into her shoulder roughly. "Hey!" Jessa snapped, showing his shoulder. Hard. "Pay the fuck up, Tommy." She smacked the back of his head.

Tommy spun on his heels, he snorted, and he smacked the back of Jessa's head right back. "In your dreams, princess."

At the word 'princess' I felt a traitorous flush bloom across my cheeks, and I fought to hide it as I glanced over at Brendon. And he grinned back, one eyebrow arching then falling. Oh, damn him.

Jessa clapped her hands either side his face, grinning her bordering-on-Batman-the-Joker smile, blowing a massive raspberry. Tommy pinched her arm, wrinkling his nose up and stuck his tongue out. Jessa grabbed his tongue. He grabbed her nose. And so began the most childish play fight I've ever seen two adults engage in. As entertaining as it was to watch, and had we not had the company, I probably would have let them fight it out, drain themselves of energy. But because of the company, I felt an obligation to somewhat step in. So throwing my arms around Jessa's neck as she made a hissy noise and raised her hands in claws, I dragged her back into me. "Hey, hey, hey." I said as she feebly struggled. "Hug it out."

By luck, there must have been enough authority, or coaxing in my tone, because Jessa sighed, slumped, and gave me a hug. Tommy laughed triumphantly, sticking his hands up in an 'L' symbol. That was before Jessa's leg shot out, casual as you like, and caught him in the knee.

"Flo-" Tommy began to protest, but I held my palm out to silence him. "Tommy, you kind of deserved that." He pouted, but didn't say another word, and stuck his hands in his pockets moodily. "If it makes you feel any better," I said, and smacked the back of Jessa's head. "You're both animals."