Where We Begin

Chapter 43 - I Think She Likes Keeping Us Apart

Dec 8th, 2002 - Busta

"Thanks for the ride. It's getting a little too dark to skateboard all the way home," I said as I buckled my seatbelt.

Brandy smiled as she put the keys into the ignition of her baby blue VW Beetle and began driving. "No problem. I kind of like helping with all this sneaking around, it's exciting." She paused, and a frown formed. "Gosh, I need a boyfriend..."

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to laugh or what, because I don't hang out with Brandy (or Kiki, or Amber) one on one usually. Honestly, being friends with girls in general was new territory for me. 

"You'll, uh.. you'll probably find a dude soon," I struggled as we pulled up to a red light. "You're a cheerleader, that's cool. Guys are pretty into that. I didn't think I was, but I definitely am. And you... you're always really happy and whatever."

She glared at me.

"Or not," I gulped.

"Sorry, I just don't think my soulmate is going to fall into my lap," she explained as we started moving again.

"Maybe Santa will bring you a soulmate." I gave her my biggest, cheesiest grin. 

Brandy sighed. "Sure. Whatever you say."

"I really don't think you have anything to worry about," I said. "Hey, I'm not great with the girl talk, but how about this? The other day I heard Dan Keegan and Teddy Cohen in the locker room talking about how hot you looked at the top of the pyramid," I offered.

The twinkle came back to her eye. "Really?" I mean, they are both kinda douchey, so they can keep dreaming, but still..." She smiled. "Taylor's right, you always have something sweet and like, really genuine to say."

I felt myself blush. "She says that? Good to know. Most of the time I feel like I'm just talking out of my ass. Verbal diarrhea, my brother likes to call it. I'm surprised I haven't said something stupid enough for Taylor to realize she's way out of my league."

"You need to work on your confidence," Brandy said as we turned onto my street. "Taylor is totally all about you, she doesn't even care what her mom thinks or anything, and they have always been like super close."

I processed that for a second. "What her mom thinks about what?"

"Um, about... like, why she's grounded..." Brandy's face went pale. "I am starting to think I said something stupid."

"She's grounded because we spent the night together."

"Yeah. Exactly. That's all I meant!" She parked the car in front of my house, turned and gave me an overly enthusiastic smile. "Awesome, that was fun! See you tomorrow!"

I nodded warily, grabbed my skateboard out of her backseat and waved goodbye. 

When I got inside, I heard my mom call out from the living room. "Is that Simon or Patrick?"

"Neither, it's Busta." I found her on the couch, with the coffee table covered in papers and mail. I saw the word "bill" a couple times. I saw some red print. She started shuffling it all back into folders, out of sight. "What's all that?" I inquired, knowing she probably wouldn't tell me.

She sighed, picking up a big mug of tea and taking a sip. "Divorce stuff, lawyer stuff. Television shows led me to believe this was supposed to be over with just one signature. You father sure knows how to make things as difficult as possible." 

I didn't expect him to come up two seconds after walking in the door. It wasn't something I wanted to talk about. I sat down in the armchair across from her anyways. "Yeah, difficult is a good word for it."