Dead souls - corey scherer

18

ʎzɐɹɔ

———

- brandi -

corey slipped his hand out of mine and i couldn't help but offer him a confused look. "you must be brandi," the girl says with a smile as she opens the door for me to come in. i walk in and drag corey behind me. when sam saw corey i could almost sense the panic in his eyes.

"hey corey." sam rushes over. my eyes peer over to the group of girls and guys sprawled along his couch. "if you wanna stay-"

"no, no i was just dropping this off." corey put the letter on the counter and turned to leave. "text me when you want me to pick you up brandi." i walked over to corey and followed behind him as he walked out the door. i closed it behind me and grabbed his hand before he could walk away.

"corey, what's... what's up?" corey shook his head in response and pointed to the door.

"that's my ex.." he sighed and looked to the ground. from his reaction i could only imagine things didn't end well. "we uh... had a difficult ending."

"i'm sorry... do you not get invited to things she's invited to?"

"i asked not to be. it's just kinda hard for me." i wrapped my arms around him and felt his body relax. "brandi..." he spoke so softly as he pulled away to look at me. "i.." he paused and stared me in the eyes.

"you don't have to say anything." we stood there for a moment before corey told me to go back inside. "are you sure you don't wanna join us?"

"yeah... it's still weird for me."

"i understand. love ya." i say with a smile. corey's face went straight in a sign of shock but a smile soon spread along his face. i went inside of sam's apartment and joined everyone on the couch.

"everyone, this is brandi. she's a friend we met on an overnight video on elton's channel." i looked around the room and caught eyes with colby. he was staring at the ground with a blank expression. everyone else was in a good mood and listening to sam. "this is kat, my girlfriend," sam smiles as he shows off his gorgeous girlfriend. she waved to me and i couldn't help but feel self conscious. "mike," he pointed to a guy with a lot of tattoos. "kevin, devyn, reggie, jake, and tara." i recall sam saying i should meet jake.

"hey." i wave to everyone and grinned. every time i wasn't focused on the game, i was looking at devyn. i didn't hate or anything, no she's very sweet.... but i can't help but think about what happened to them. they're both so sweet. it's not my business though, so i shouldn't worry.

i reach into the hat and pull out a piece of paper. in my head i read the question and looked over all the people. it was difficult for me to play this "who's most likely to" game, but it was still fun.

-corey-

"wassup aaron?" i greet him as i walk back into the house. he sighed and looked up from his phone.

"when is brandi leaving?" aaron inquired as he set down his phone. "only asking because... well i don't know. it's not that i don't like her..."

"no i get it, you're not use to the inviorment which is completely understandable." why did i talk like that? i sounded like a college professor. i chuckled to myself and sit at the kitchen island. "uh we still have some shit to figure out but it should be somewhat soon."

"okay." he sighed and came into the kitchen to grab a snack. "i just miss us, ya know?"

"yeah i get it. i miss hanging out with you too bro. everything's just all happening at once." i laughed and looked down to the counter. "but once everything calms down we can get back into what we were doing before."

"okay." he threw away the packaging of his snack and sat beside me at the island. "so... what brandi said at the queen mary... was it true?" i was mildly confused why he would ask me that, but i guess it's a valid question.

"yeah." i exhaled with a grin of pity. "her life's been pretty insane. but who's life isn't?"

"true. did you watch eltons video? he uploaded it earlier today. it was the first one of his series and... well it's strange." i furrowed my brows and tilted my head. "he did some weird editing and it makes brandi look sus."

"how?" i ask.

"well... hold on." he pulled out his phone and opened youtube. he showed the part where brandi went over and stood beside colby right after we got to the queen mary. aaron was right, her face looked different.

"what the fuck?" i side eye aaron and widen my eyes.

"i know." he chuckled with disbelief. "anyway, it's probably nothing but it looks creepy as hell. you should ask her about it when you pick her up later."

"maybe. it might come off wrong so..."

-brandi-

sam i and stood by his fridge while colby went to the bathroom. most of their friends had left except for kat, tara, and jake. "so colby told me what happened at the queen mary." i really didn't feel like talking about it.

"yeah." i reply and look over to kat and the others on the couch. "crazy."

"elton uploaded the first video of the series. we might watch it later if you still wanna hang around. we might all just have a sleepover." he laughed and eyes his girlfriend as she struggled to pick a video to watch on the tv. "but if you wanna go home to corey i get that too."

"you talk like i'm married to him." i chuckled and checked my phone for the time. "we aren't even dating."

"really? i thought you were." he pursed his lips and eyed colby once he came back into the room.

"what are you two whispering about?" colby questions with a smile.

"queen mary." sam answers and winks at me. colby whispered a soft 'oh' and side eyed me. "anyway, you wanna stay and watch it with us? you don't have to." i thought for a moment and looked over to colby.

"are you staying?" it was clear that i was still
most comfortable with colby even though sam was probably my favorite person here. i love colby too, don't get me wrong, but sam just has that sparkle about him.

"yeah, i think so." colby shrugged.

"i don't know... i didn't really bring any comfort clothes..." i felt a little uncomfortable even though i knew i'd be safe. of course i wanted to stay but... something inside of me was telling me to go home.

"i could give you a hoodie or something." sam suggests and points his thumb to his room.

"or i could since i live like right down the hall and you have a girlfriend." colby mocked sam. i bit the inside of my lip and turned back to glance at kat.

"are you sure that's okay?" my lip began to bleed and i cursed under my breath lightly.

"yeah of course." i nodded to colby and watched him grab his keys and wave as he left. "i'll be back in like five minutes."

"thanks for the offer sam, but i agree with colby. it could come off as weird." he nodded in agreement and opened his fridge to grab a drink. "can i have one?" he nods and hands as me can. "you're really sweet, you know that?" he smiled and opened his drink.

"so are you brandi."