UNBREAKABLE ↠ BRANDON ARREAGA

EIGHT - THE ONE WHO PERFORMED WITH BRANDON

word count: [2967]

I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was that my room was white, which meant that this was not my room. I sat up quickly, my vision became blurry from sitting up too fast. Once my vision cleared up, I looked around at the unfamiliar room.

"What?" I asked myself. I tried to stand up, but my feet got tangled in the blankets. I yelped as I fell on the ground. "Great," I mumbled.

"Awake now, baby girl?" I looked up, horrified, to see Brandon leaning against the doorway. "It's a bit early. You're a morning bird, aren't you? Figures."

Instead of just standing up, I just continued to seat there. "Always has been. Why waste any extra time in bed when you could be out, living life?"

Brandon walked over to me. "Living life? Now, entertain me, what do you do to live life?"

I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. Now, too embarrassed to stand up or even look at him. "You know, going to get coffee," I started, earning a nod from him—which seemed to mean 'of course.' "Sometimes I'd go to the library. I would stop by the alley sometimes to look at the art. Walk around the park."

I heard him sigh. He sat down next to me. "Is that all?"

"That's about it," I said. "Just wandering around until I find something I'm passionate about. Must be nice to do something you love, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he said softly, "truly a dream come true." For some reason, his reply lacked some emotion that I would've expected with that answer. From the way he said it, it doesn't sound truly like a dream come true. "I've always wanted to make a career out of singing and be famous for it for as long as I can remember. When Simon's team contacted me, it truly felt too good to be real. Singing on stage.." He paused, looking at something in the distance. Then, he did something—something that was quite rare for a person like him—he smiled a truly genuine smile. "Singing on stage is one of the best things in this entire world. It makes up for everything."

I smiled at him. Whenever he talked about singing, his whole face lights up. It's a beautiful sight to see. "I wish I loved something that much. My friend, Hazel, has a true passion for traveling and helping people. She just loves seeing a new world once in a while, and occasionally, she loves to travel to help those less fortunate than us," I explained to him. I don't even know why I'm telling him about this, but he seemed to be actually paying attention to what I'm saying. "I want that," I admitted to him, my voice growing soft. "I want to know that I'm on this world for something."

His hand crept closer to mine, but our hands didn't touch. "We have the whole day, right? We can go about living life, and explore things for you."

"We don't have to," I shook my head, feeling even more embarrassed that I let him in on one of my insecurities, with us just being new friends and all.