I was only a month away from giving birth, my stomach had swelled and I had to waddle around still. Brennan though was still the sweetest thing ever. He even bought me an ice cream cone from Mark's Place on our lunch break. He was able to leave campus for lunch, but yet he never did, unless he was running up to the gas station to get me and him something to snack on for later. He refused to take my money, always insisting that 'nothing is too good for you.' It was a breezy Saturday afternoon, both of my parents had meetings to go to, which left me at the house by myself. I heard the bell ring and I got to my feet, rushing to answer it. I grasped the knob as someone began to knock and I threw open the door. A smile graced my face.
Angela and Brennan were standing on my front porch, both of them holding textbooks in their arms. "Hey guys!" I shouted as I wrapped an arm around each of them. Brennan leaned down and pecked my cheek. His head stayed lower, close to my face as he gazed into my eyes. Angela cleared her throat and we both turned our heads to look at her as she walked inside by us.
"We thought you might want to study with us. I'm getting really behind in history and pre-algebra," she said. I smiled and stepped back from Brennan, letting him walk inside and I closed it behind him.
"Sure, we can just work in the living room." I gestured towards the living room and Angela turned on her heel, already heading there. I looked back at Brennan, not liking his silence. I walked over to him and touched his forearms.
"What's wrong?" I asked him in a low whisper. He looked into my eyes, his blue eyes dark. I knew something was up. His eyes got like that when he was upset. He shrugged his shoulders, trying to put it off. "Don't lie to me, Brennan. I know you better than that." His gaze fell to the floor and he turned, setting his books down on the table, and he grabbed my hands. He got as close as he could to me, and leaned down, resting his forehead against mine.
I saw tears build up in his eyes. "I just found out that my cousin is going into the hospital...she tried to kill herself," he said in a hushed voice. His eyes squeezed shut and the tears started to fall down his face. My jaw dropped and I brought his head to my shoulder. His arms wrapped around me as he began to shake. I rubbed his back, trying to comfort him. It broke my heart to see him so upset. "Her sister commited suicide last year...and she's had such a hard time coping with her death." I rested my hand on the back of his neck, and he eventually leaned up, his face red and blotchy with tears. He wiped the tears away with the back of his hand.
"Are you okay?" I asked as I rested my hands on his shoulders. He shook his head and dropped his face into his hand.
"Miranda is such a good kid and she's too young...so was Cora," he said shakiliy. I nodded my head.
"It's okay, Brennan. Things will get better. Miranda just needs some time to think things through clearly." He nodded his head sadly and I stood on my tiptoes, and kissed him. I sat myself back down on my feet, and Brennan rested his hands on my waist.
"I'm going to go see her later...will you come with me?" I nodded my head, a smile on my face.
"Sure, sweetie." He wiped his eyes again and picked up his books.
"We should get back to Angela." I gave him a sweet smile as he took my hand, walking with me into the den. Angela was leaning over her math textbook, jotting down example problems in her notebook. She glanced up at us and then went back to her book. I gingerly sat down on the couch while Brennan started flipping through his physics book. I laid my head against the couch, watching them begin to work.
"Hey, Lindsay, do you think you could help me with these one step equations?" Angela asked me. I pushed myself up to my feet and waddled over to her. I got down on my knees next to her and looked at the problems. She was working on the division and multiplication part of the equations. I took the pencil from her and wrote down another example. We went over them for about ten minutes before she started getting the hang of it. She started working on it on her own and I looked over at Brennan. He was packing up his things and I furrowed my brow at him.
