Tell Me The Same (Brandon Rogers)

15. Downhill

*Brandon*

Brandon woke bright and early the following morning to the ringing of his alarm, he turned over and checked his phone. He scrolled through the comments of his last photo, and wasn't amazed when he saw the comments were once again, all about her. They ranged from "Are they dating?" to "They have to be dating." to even a "I thought he was gay." That last one had always cracked him up, he was bisexual but didn't think it was even important to flat out expose to people.

He quickly hopped out of bed to change in to his workout gear and get going. Bug was supposed to meet him there at six and she was usually even early. He slid a cigarette in to his mouth, neglecting to light it until he got out in to the chilly morning spring air.

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  Brandon arrived to the gym and Bug wasn't around already, he shook it off, thinking she was just late but when the 15 minute mark passed he texted her a few times. He then laughed, 'I bet she just stayed up too late working on the painting.' He thought and began working out on the machines.
The hour passed fast though and his phone never alerted him to a new text from Bug. This left a little worry in him but he continued on with his day, it was a busy one. A portion dedicated to filming and another to casting a few actors for a commercial project he was hired on.

As his day flew by Bug lingered in the back of his mind, had he done something to upset her? was she just too busy? Surely she wasn't too busy to even just reply to a simple text. He sat on his couch, cigarette in one hand and phone in the other. He kept scrolling through the few texts he had already sent. He didn't want to keep spamming her.  He finally put his phone to the side and focused on the tv before him, winding down after a long day.

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When Brandon arrived to the gym once more alone the morning after, the worry took over and he decided he needed answers.
He drove to her apartment, taking note of her car in the parking lot, and practically ran up the stairs to her door.
He knocked a few times, no answer. He followed with a phone call which went straight to voicemail. He let out a sigh, knocking rapidly.
"Bug? It's me, Brandon! Are you in there?" He called out, hopefully loud enough for her to hear.

When that failed he attempted to twist the knob but of course she had to be a responsible adult and lock her doors. The door next to him opened and out came Ms. Pataki, a smile strecthed across her fair skinned face.
"Oh, Brandon. How are you doing?" She asked, wrapping up a magazine to take to the patio. "I didn't expect to see you this morning, Bug worked the gas station last night."
"Did she?" Brandon asked, taking a step toward her.
She pondered on it, she didn't actually recall Bug leaving. "Well she was supposed to." She finally spoke.

Brandon rubbed his face, "I haven't heard from her in over twenty-four hours and she isn't opening the door."
Ms. Pataki saw the worry in his brown eyes and excused herself to retrieve an extra set of Bug's keys they had made long ago. "She had these made in case something happened to her, like falling in the shower." She explained as she unlocked the door for him.

Brandon brushed passed her and in to the room, Popcorn's bark echoed through and she ran up and jumped up on to his leg. He scooped her up and examined the surroundings, there were a few piles of poop and pee on the floor and he was careful to step over them.
He made it through in to Bug's room and saw a form laying there, a blanket wrapped around them. He placed the dog down and carefully made his way over. 

"Bug." He spoke gently, almost too scared he'd find her to be dead. His hand placed softly on her side as he stepped over to face her front, kneeling down to be on her level. At his touch her eyes opened, they had dark circles around them as if she hadn't slept.
"Hey sleepyhead." He lightly shook her, "What's going on? You had me worried sick." He let out a mixture of a laugh and a sigh of relief. But she didn't reply, instead she pulled the covers around her even tighter. "Seriously, what's going on?" He questioned once more.

"Leave me alone." Her voice quiet, as if a whisper with barely any effort.
Brandon stared at her, "How long have you been in bed? You need to get up." He told her, shaking his hand on her some. She didn't respond.
"You're scaring me again." He said with nervous laughter.
"Leave me alone." She told him, louder this time and covered her head in the covers.
He had ripped his hand away from her body and now he sat and stared at her in disbelief. This was the girl he had spent the day with, laughing and singing and painting flowers.

Popcorn came and whimpered by Brandon's side, he realized that the poor dog probably hadn't been fed within the last day. So he let Bug be and walked back in to the kitchen where Ms. Pataki stood, boiling some water for tea.
"How is she?" She doesn't look back at him.
"She isn't getting up and she looks like she hasn't slept." Brandon answers, pouring dog food out for the small puppy, who greedily began gobbling it all up.

Ms. Pataki let out a small sigh, "Remember how I told you she sometimes gets really sad.. and won't get out of bed?" She placed a tea bag in a mug and followed it with the boiling water. Brandon watched her intently, and fearing what she might say next. "This is one of those spells. It could last weeks. I'll have to inform her managers."

Brandon felt mildly sick, he thought that episode awhile back was just that. A quick episode. Something that meant nothing. He didn't want to jump the gun this time, so he'd give it a few days. A week even, and if she's back to normal then everything's fine and dandy. But if not... he didn't want to think of the "if not".
Mrs. Pataki finished making the cup of tea and passed it on to Brandon. "Take this to her. She won't drink it, but it's worth a shot."

He took the cup and placed it on her nightstand. "I brought you some tea. Mrs. pataki made it but..." He didn't know what to say so he closed his mouth. Bug didn't move underneath the covers other than to breath. "If you need anything, tell me." He finally spoke then left her room, leaving the bedroom door wide open. Mrs. Pataki bid her goodbyes and left, assuring Brandon that everything would be okay.
He was now left alone, not sure what to do, so he began cleaning up the mess that Popcorn made.

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Okay I forgot what day it was so sorry for the late upload. Here have some drama, the story didn't have any. Gotta make it spicy haha. I hope you liked, and if you did feel free to vote!
Also! Omg!! Over 200 reads?? That's so amazing?! Thank you all so much! I can't wait to get more chapters out.