complicated ; clifford

chapter eight

"I picked up the paper, and... and... it wasn't his handwriting." I shook my head and put my head in my hands.

Brandon's mom had invited me to go out for coffee with her, although none of us were really in the mood for coffee. I decided I should go with her, though, because of the way I had run out of the hospital earlier. She needed the support, anyways.

"Anna," she paused as I lifted my head. "What did the paper say?"

I wasn't planning on telling her this. Actually, I was planning on not telling her this. But since she asked, "It said... it said that he loves me. But like I said, even though the note said it was from Brandon, it wasn't."

"Oh."

Oh.

I decided to break the awkward silence that had come between us.

"So, are you staying here with Brandon?" I asked. I was silently praying she would say yes, or else I would have to explain to her my mom's situation.

"I assumed you were. I have some... business to attend to back in Portland," she said quietly. "You're not staying, are you?"

Shit.

"I- I," I stumbled over my words, trying to find the right ones to say. "Mrs. Dawson, my- my mom's pregnant. I have to head back home," I said quickly.

She knew all about my situation with my depression, home life, and economic situation. While Brandon and I were dating, Mrs. Dawson helped me a lot with my messed up life. I never told Brandon, of course.

"Honey, take this," she said, handing me her credit card. Her credit card. "I have a couple more, and you can give it back when me meet up again."

Remember when I said that Brandon's parents were rich business people? I wasn't lying.

"I can't take this. I'm sorry," I said, pushing her credit card away.

"Please. Buy yourself a plane ticket and food, if you need it. You deserve it. And I can never thank you enough for taking so much care of Brandon. It's the least I can do."

I got up, gave her a big hug, and took the card. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

I sat back down just as a whirlwind of questions popped up in my mind.

"Does this mean you're staying with Brandon? Is he getting moved to a hospital in Portland? Is Jackie staying with him?"

"I'll see what we can do," she said calmly. "Now you go get your plane tickets, and hit the road." She gave me an encouraging smile as we exchanged farewells and I headed back to the hotel.
~
"Aren't you supposed to be on a school trip or something?"

I jumped and looked up to see the red- headed freak that I really didn't want to see at the moment. Or ever.

"Fuck, Michael," was all I could get out before he sat down next to me.

I was just sitting on the plane, in first class, since Brandon's mom wouldn't let me not get first class. I wasn't expecting Michael to be here, and I was really hoping that this wasn't his seat.

As if he was reading my mind, "I paid the dude who was seated next to you to sit here. A hundred bucks have never been spent so well." He said that as if he were proud of it.

"I'm surprised you didn't fuck him."

"Nope. I'm a straight man. So I fucked the lady at the counter so we could switch seats."