Chelsea is shy. She's quiet, unknown, and definitely not popular. But then, Colby shows up. He IS immediate popular. But he also takes an interest in her. But what he doesn't know about Chelsea is her depression, her anxiety, and her sense of guilt...
"I need to go home. I've missed s much school, and I miss my brother."
He nodded. "Ok. We'll go. I'll find an apartment nearby."
I closed my eyes as I thought. "Or... I do have an extra room in my house. You can stay with all of us. If you want to." I added it hastily.
"I can't do that, Chelsea. I mean, I want to, but-"
I cut him off. "You can. I want you to. We can spend more time together. And I have my band room, with my guitar, and drums. It's a sound proof room out next to the garage!" I said excitedly. "And we can practice there! It'll be fun!"
He smiled slightly. "That is a tempting offer..."
"And, I'm there. Oh!"
He raised one eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Can we enroll you in school?! Then you can go to high school again! You're only 23! They won't notice."
Braden chuckled. "Sweetheart. Do you really think they'll let me back into high school?"
I nodded. "We can fudge your papers. You can be... Braden Barry. With a 'y'!" And I'll make sure you are in as many of my classes as possible!"
He nodded. "Fine. Let's go home. To mine to pack. It'll be easy with the little amount of stuff I have."
I squealed. "Yay! See, I'm very persuasive."
He rolled his eyes, but got up, and we drove to his place.
***At Braden's apartment***
We finished packing, and put it all into his car.
***On the way to Chelsea's place***
I handed my phone to Braden. "Call Jake for me please."
He turns on my phone. "What's the password?"
"11181994."
"That's my birthday." He laughed.
I nodded. "Yup. November 11th, 1994."
"And I'm your background."
I nodded again.
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He put the phone on speaker as it rang, and Jake answered on the 4th ring.
"Hello?"
"Hiya Jakey. Guess what?"
"What?"
"Guess!"
"Uh, I don't know..."
"I'm bringing Braden! And he's staying with us! And I'm gonna enroll him in school with me!"
I heard Jake sigh. "You realize that that isn't a good idea with Colby, right?"
"He can chill the fuck out. I swear, he's acting like I killed his family or something. He's overreacting. It's my life. I'm an adult. I'm grown up, I can make my own choices."
"Look, I gotta go. See you soon. Right?"
"20 minutes or so."
"Bye."
I hung up, and dropped the phone on my lap, and sighed.
Braden laced his fingers through one of my hands. "You'll be okay, love. I'm here for you, and I'll always be."
I smiled slightly, and to some it may have looked like a grimace. I knew I should say something romantic back, but I just looked around at my familiar surroundings as I drove.
