Mine (Brad Simpson) {IN EDITING}

Chapter 5

"There you guys are!" Amy exclaims as she turns to close the door.

"Amazing." Brad finishes, whispering in my ear. The hairs on my neck stick up and I giggle quietly before looking into his eyes. He winks at me and Amy turns around, catching our little moment.

"What are you two on about?" She jokes, laughing and sitting on the other side of Brad. He slides closer to me and gives Amy a disgusted look, but she doesn't seem to notice.

"So Brad, tell me about yourself." She asks, gazing into his eyes. Oh no. No, no, no, Amy. I know that look. That's Amy's I'm-so-interested-in-you-and-I'm-not-afraid-of-hiding-it-I-want-you-bad look and it's worse then ever before. I can also tell that Brad is nowhere near even having a proper conversation with her, but it wouldn't take much to figure that out.

"There's not much to tell." He mutters shyly, looking at his feet.

We sit in awkward silence for about 5 minutes before Amy whips out an iPhone from her pocket.

"Where did you get that?" I gape. I had never seen that before in my life.

"Well, I threatened-" Amy starts, but then she remembers that Brad is still in the room and she stops.

"It's okay, he knows." I say quickly, wanting her to continue her story.

"Oh." She says, looking from me to Brad suspiciously. "Well my mum strangled me for not doing the dishes because I was packing, and I threatened to tell dad, because he doesn't like strangling, he's really weird about it. So she said she would give me anything and I said an iPhone as a joke but she did it anyway."

"Lucky you still have two parents to get that stuff from. I can't get away with anything in my house, my dads always watching. I had to go into the bathroom and pack so he wouldn't see otherwise he would've killed me." I say, fully seriously and Amy laughs to try and lighten the mood but Brad just looks frightened.

"I have to go to the loo." Amy announces, jumping up and running out my door and into her bathroom.

"She could have just gone in here." I say, shaking my head.

"I'm glad she didn't, I don't really like her." Brad says, confident again. "I know she's your best friend, but she's a bit... overwhelming."

"Yeah, she sometimes forgets other people's feelings, but she's been through alot. She's never really been loved properly, like my mother used to love me, but Amy never had anyone." I sigh.

"That's really sad." Brad says and I nod my head. "Honestly, you've been through more. Amy has never experienced being loved, but you had the person that loved you taken away."

"Yeah, I guess." I agree, looking into his eyes.

"So neither of you have been in a relationship before?" He asks, staring into my eyes.

"Amy has been in plenty, they never really meant anything though." I say, avoiding his question about me. I don't want to talk about my shitty relationships with a potential new one. Wait, what am I saying? I've only met Brad once, lets start with friends first.

"What about you?" Brad asks the question I feared.

"I..." should I tell the truth? Yes, he seems trustworthy. "I used to fool around with guys that treated me like shit. I would meet them at parties when I was drinking and let them take me home, sometimes not even home. I've always been known as the slutty girl who didn't have a mum. Of course, none of them knew the truth. But yeah, the guys I was with were never good ones, some even abused me afterwards, telling me to fuck off or get out of their apartment. It was really bad for me and it lowered my self esteem massively, but it took my mind off everything." I spill.

I don't notice the tears rushing down my face until Brad wipes them away.

"You certainly don't deserve to be treated that way. You deserve to be treated as royalty, and I won't let anyone else hurt you like that again. I'm going to take care of you from now on, alright?" Brad says meaningfully, and I nod, sobbing into his shoulder.

"I just want to leave my old life behind, and everything in it. No reminders. Except for Amy, I can never leave her." I say.

My tears dampen Brad's white t-shirt, as his warm arms wrap around me. Knowing that his words about looking after me are true, they comfort me. Knowing he is here for me, comforts me. I need a friend, maybe more, right now. My life is like a 10,000 piece puzzle, messy and hard to piece back together.

"I'm here for you now, Alli, I'll never leave you." Brad promises and I nod a thankyou into his chest.

I pull away from his hug, wiping the tears from my face.

"Amy's taken a while." I say, looking towards the door.

"Yeah. She must've had some bad food or something." He jokes and I laugh slightly.

"Thankyou for this." I say, studying his perfect face.

"It's my pleasure." Brad says, like a perfect gentleman.

I smile up at him and he smiles back. I lean in slightly and he does the same. Our lips are almost touching, almost, when there is a rough knock at my bedroom door.

Brad squeezes is eyes shut, sighs, and hangs is head.

"Come in!" I say, still watching Brad as I pull away.

"Dinner's ready, so come downstairs. Amy is already down, you two didn't hear me call the first time." Rachel says, smiling at us. I know she can tell what's going on and she winks at me subtly before leaving the room.

"Well, we'd better go." I say, standing up.

"We'll continue this later." Brad winks, putting his arm around my shoulder and I swat him playfully.

As we reach the top of the stairs I realize Brad's arm is still around my shoulder and I quickly pull away, not wanting the others to see.

"Hello, you two." John says, smirking. "What have you been up to?" He says and I can see the red creeping up poor Brad's face, making his father smirk even more. How dare he embarrass his clearly shy son in front of everyone? What kind of father is he?

"Just talking." I say, taking a seat inbetween Brad and Amy, knowing Brad will be thankful.

"Oh, I see." John says sarcastically, turning his attention to his full plate of food.

I find Brad's hand under the tablecloth and squeeze it gently in an attempt to comfort him. Out of the corner of my eye I see a small smile appear on his face. I also see Amy's jealous gaze, and I know this is going to be a very long dinner.

"Let's eat!" Rachel announces, and the food frenzy begins.