Nightmares ➳ Connor McDonough/ Before You Exit Fanfic { edited }

Four

Gwen's POV

"Hi," Braiden greeted from his current spot behind the counter.

Braiden is my best friend, but you know what they say, one will always start falling for the other.

We had a little fling last summer, but that's all it was. A fling. Although, every so often we still make out and stuff like that, but we've officially removed the boyfriend and girlfriend labels. I guess you could say we're friends with benefits, but not those types of benefits, if you know what I mean.

"Do you think you can go over to the S section and see if everything is in place? There was a kid down there and I feel like he messed stuff up," he requested and I walked through the many aisles of CDs searching for the letter S.

When I finally found it, I scanned through all the albums and saw that everything was in its rightful place, so I walked back to where Braiden was.

"Nothing's out of place," I informed him and he nodded. He didn't really care, but the job demanded it.

"So, did you sleep well last night?" he asked as he examined his fingernails.

"I never sleep well and you know that."

He replied with a sad smile and I didn't bother to return it, considering he wasn't even looking at me.

"So, I heard that you've made a new friend," he said, this time looking at me and seeming very interested in the topic he had just chosen.

"Friend?"

"Blonde hair, blue eyes, some people say he's an ass," he said, clearing up my confusion, and Connor immediately popped into my head. 

"Who told you about him?"

"I know everything," he said with a smirk on his face, and it just gave me the creeps.

It's true though. If something happened to me, or any of his friends, he's usually the first one to know about it. Braiden says he has connections and I'm really not sure what he means by that, but I just go with it.

"Or is he more than a friend?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, and I cringed at the thought. That was the last thing that I wanted to happen.

I shook my head and he chuckled.

"It's nice to know you haven't replaced me yet," he joked and I smacked his shoulder. 

My three-month relationship with Braiden seemed like a blur to me. I don't even remember how we started dating in the first place. Hell, I don't even know why we broke up. It's not like I wanted to continue dating him. He's sweet and funny, but I just don't think he's the one for me.

I suddenly heard a soft chime of bells and my head immediately turned to look at the door.

I expected it to be a customer, or maybe even one of my sisters, but I was dead wrong.

"Connor!? What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, trying to recover from the shock.

He forced a smile and held up the tray of Starbucks in his hand.

"I just came to bring you guys some coffee," he replied and I rolled my eyes.

"And why would you do that?"

"Shut up, it's not like I wanted to. So are you gonna accept the coffee or not?" he snapped and I grabbed both of the cups from him and handed one to Braiden.

I noticed that I had a grande Caramel Frappuccino in my hands, which is what I usually get when I go to Starbucks. Maybe it was just a lucky guess, but it still intrigued me on how Connor knew which one to get. And what made me wonder even more was why he decided to be a decent person and spend his own money on us.