After Andy (#6 in the 'Outcast' Series)

Chapter 66

Chapter 66:

"Why're there partially dried clothes in the bathroom?" Brian asked, making me glance at him as I put my shoes on, glad I had more than one pair.

"Oh, yeah that," I said, Brian grabbing a shirt from his bag and putting it on before trying to choose what jacket he wanted. "I couldn't sleep last night so I went for a walk down to the pool and Matt was there; he ended up pushing me in."

"Well, what a dick."

I smiled in amusement as Brian messed his hair up a bit, phone in hand again like every other day.

"So I was talking to Matt about a couple things last night," I began, Brian glancing at me. "What really happened with you and Michelle?"

Brian stopped what he was doing, looking to me, his phone temporarily forgotten about.

"What version did Matt tell you?" he asked, clearly knowing that there was more than one way the story got told.

"His version."

Brian gave a nod.

"If I tell you this, then you have to tell me what I wanna know; this' how it's gonna work from now on, ok?" he said. "I tell you something, you tell me something and we're both truthful. Fair?"

I gave a nod, Brian nodding back, accepting it.

"Alright then," he began. "So I'm gonna go ahead and assume you know the basic story. What really happened was that they all went out to get stuff; can't remember what. I didn't particularly feel like going anywhere, so I stayed back at Val's house and I was just watching whatever as on the T.V. at the time. So about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes later, I hear the door and I'm like, ok they're back already, thought they'd be out longer. But I was wrong, and it was Michelle.

"So I was like, oh hey sorry thought it was the others and she sorta frowned and I had to explain that they'd all gone out for like an hour or something. She was like, ok cool and she joined me in the living room. So now, the thing you have to know is that we'd been talking a lot online for a few months before that but this was sorta the first time we'd been in the same room for quite a while. She'd told me about a week beforehand that she actually really liked me; she didn't know that we were gonna be coming down to LA for Jimmy's birthday."

He paused, moving and sitting down on the edge of his bed, thinking about how he was going to tell the remainder of the story.

"So I called her a couple days before we went down there and I said that we were comin' down there in a couple days for Jimmy's birthday and that I really wanted to see her," he continued, placing his phone down on the bed next to where he was sitting. "I told her that I really liked her too and that I wann'ed to give it a shot and make this work. I said that we'd talk when I got down there and she was ok with that. At this point, no-one else knew about this; I hadn't told anyone and I was pretty sure she hadn't either.

"Anyway, so we get down to LA and Michelle and I sorta kept a bit of distance for the first day or so because it was Jimmy's birthday and we didn't wanna bring our stuff into it. But the next day she went out in the morning because she had something to do and then the others went out to get some shit and then we come back to where I was in the story.

"So Michelle came home and joined me in the living room and neither of us said anything for a couple minutes. Then outta nowhere, she put her hand on mine and man, that just set the whole thing off; set everything into motion."

He looked down, a bit of a smile on his face.

"Honestly, I don't think I've been that happy in a long time," he said. "I dunno it just...made me feel like I was maybe worth it again, y'know? After the failed relationship with Amy I was sort of a bit...unsure in the dating area but when Michelle put her hand on mine like that I just...it made me happy."