Tell Me The Same (Brandon Rogers)

21. Hike

I was Diagnosed.
Atypical Depression they called it. I was sold, it made sense in my mind. The waves of feeling bad only coming on every so often and then fading away. Brandon, not so much. I didn't allow him in the room with me but as soon as I got back to him and drove us to get my newly prescribed antidepressants, he was throwing a fit.
"'Atypical Depression'?" He knitted his brow, looking through the papers they had handed me on my way out. "Maybe we should go back, I could talk to them too."
I shook my head, "Brandon look, the doctor is a doctor for a reason. He worked hard for his degree and he knows what he's talking about."
I could hear the huff leave Brandon's mouth, relenting but still eager to get the last word, "Well it's called 'Practicing medicine' for a reason." He grumbled. I just chuckled and shook my head.

We picked it up, it was a set of a few different ones, ones I failed to be able to pronounce funnily enough.
I examined them as I sat in the car, turning over the bottle to read over every word.
"You nervous?" Brandon asked, leaning his head against my shoulder, reading the label as well.
"Well, a little bit?" My voice raised in pitch and cracked toward the end of the sentence. "He said they'd take a few weeks to take effect." I let out a brief sigh and looked to Brandon, my eyes brimming with tears. "What if I get bad again?"

He quickly took my head in his hands, "Oh sweetheart, you'll be fine. It'll be okay, I promise." He kissed my forehead before resting his own against mine. "Even if it gets rough again, I'm here and I'll help you in any way I can."
I sniffle and use my shirt collar to wipe away the fallen tears. "Gah!" I groan, aggravated with myself for crying. "You're right, you're right. It'll be fine."
He kisses my wet cheeks before leaning back in his seat. "Let's get home." He says, taking the medicine and placing it on his lap.

Being... whatever I was, with Brandon, I realized a few things.
He's very physically affectionate, he was prior to this but in a platonic sense. Now he's always wanting to hold my hand, lean against me, hold me in his arms... A few days ago, while high, we tried to butterfly kiss. Needless to say, it just ended in us bonking our heads together an unnecessary amount of times and laughter.
He really was amazing, but I was too scared to make that big "I love you" step, and I'm sure I would be for awhile.
But he made me happy. And he never stopped telling me he loved me.

We arrived back at my place, quickly making our way inside our apartment. I toss my bag on to the kitchen counter and take a seat, Brandon joins me after scooping up Popcorn in his hands. She wiggles and squirms as he tries to calm her.
"So, I just.. take one?" I feel as if I've read the instructions over and over again but the anxiety still stays.
"Yeah, come on. Just do it." He tells me, "One pill today, one tomorrow. Et-cetera et-cetera." He slides a glass of water from earlier this morning my way.

I take the pill, it's small and easy. Washed down with water.
"And there we go." Brandon claps his hands together. "We're done for the day."
A sense of relief washes over me, I could do this. This is simple and easy, I just have to remember.
Brandon places Popcorn on the floor before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. "We got this." He tells me and I smile, squeezing him back tightly.
"We do."

.

We migrated to Brandon's house. I had picked him up earlier and we decided to go on ahead hang out at his place before we went out on our evening hike. Something we started doing a week or so ago.
Brandon sat across from me, he had a notepad and pen in hand and he scribbled down ideas as they popped in to his brain. He was working on a new skit, one he'd ready titled "A Virtual Date with Brandon Rogers".
I sat with his laptop and a notepad as well, I was looking for jobs though, I'd been fired from my Consignment shop job after failing to come in on time for almost month and then some.

As he bounced ideas off me I laughed, "Am I gonna end up killed like that by you and Rachel?" I asked.
Brandon nodded, "Oh yeah, this has all been an elaborate plan to kill and eat you. You have, so much meat on your bones." He chuckled, looking up across the table at me, his eyes softening as they reach mine.
"Any luck lil miss Bony?" He asks.
I shrug, turning the page back and forth, "Not really.. it's a lot of fast food places.. and I don't wanna be picky, but I'm going to be picky."
"Well having a second job isn't too necessary, if anything you can move in with me." He winks and I cannot help but laugh.
"That's far too much to ask of you Brandon." I toss a small ripped off piece of paper at him.

I felt as if my brain was fried by the end of it all, I was definitely tired of job searching and tomorrow I'd be picking up resumés and filling those out. Brandon would be busy as well so it's not like I'd be having any fun whatsoever.
Brandon now drove us, it was about an hour before sun set and we planned on being on top of one of these mountains when that happened.
We grabbed our water bottles and started on our hike up the trail.

I lasted, ten minutes before I was sweating and beginning to hurt.
"You need to rest?" Brandon asked, he was ahead of me, the bandana I had wrapped around his forehead to catch sweat still there, and working.
I scoffed at the idea, "I'm not a punk ass bitch, I don't need to rest." I said, forcing myself to sound better than I was actually feeling.
He smiled, "Well I need to rest." He told me, I knew he didn't but he wanted to let me rest. I sat on a rock and he stood, drinking his water.
I laughed and jokingly called him a wimp, which earned me the middle finger.

We only sat around for a minute before getting back to action, the sun was already getting too close for comfort.
The hike was an unbearable thirty more minutes but we finally reached the top, Brandon quickly grabbed his phone and called me over.
I groaned, "I am absolutely tired of moving!" I told him.
"Suck it up buttercup!" He pulled me in and began taking pictures of us.
In each we were sweaty messes, but they all held different poses. My favorite was of me kissing his cheek and him being over-hyped.

I laughed and shook my head, "Send me those, okay?" I asked and he nodded.
"Of course." He assured me, sliding his phone back in to his pocket.
We stood in silence for a moment, our eyes trained on the city now below us and the sun setting. Coating everything in the beautiful orange and pinks.
I hated the California heat but I absolutely adored this scenery. I leaned against Brandon, the hard trek was worth it.

"Hey," I called for Brandon's attention, a sudden rush of bravery overtaking me.
"Hmm?" He turned his face to me, raised eyebrows.
I had to step on my tiptoes and take his face in my hands to get him close enough, but that's okay.
I pulled him in and kissed him lightly, I wasn't expecting any crazy feelings, it was just a kiss. But I got butterflies in my stomach and my heart fluttered.

Brandon was taken aback and I could feel the shiver trailing down his body, but he quickly composed himself and he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me back.
It made the butterflies worse and after a moment longer I pulled away. The sun was set and there was just a faint glow but I could tell his face was flushed and so was mine.
"Sorry." I spoke so lightly it came out a whisper.
"Don't be." He quickly replied, leaning back in to kiss me and I reciprocated. The hard trek had been worth it to get to this point. So very worth it.

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I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I enjoy writing this happy stuff. Especially this one. I mean, come on! They deserve to be happy!
Also holy cow 400+ reads!! I can't believe it! That's so crazy and I am so grateful. Thank you all so much who keep reading. It means so much.
Wattpad is being very sketchy with this chapter so tell me if something weird happens?