Chapter Six
Good news travels fast. Bad news travels even faster.
I woke up Saturday morning to text messages, tweets and a filled inbox. Brian and Shannon met last night to talk. She called him so they could work things out and he apparently he went running.
I should have known better. The crush I had on him was comepletely one-sided. All it took was one call from Shannon Rose and Brian dropped me. Tossed me aside for some lying, cheating piece of trash. I don't even care. If that's the type of guy he is, than they deserve each other.
I sit on my bed, my stomach heaving. The cell phone clutched tightly in my hand vibrated and incoming call. It's Olivia. I'm sure she's calling becasue she heard what happened last night. She probably wants to give some stupid explanation defending her brother. I can't talk to her right now. I can't let her hear how upset I am. I don't want her telling Brian, letting know how much I care and how hurt I am over something so silly. It was just a stupid dance. And we were only supposed to go as friends.
I should've known better. I did know better. But the truth was I spent all night drawing stupid hearts on my notebook while envisioning what romantic things might happen when we went to the dance together.
Walking down towards the bathroom I decide to take a long hot soak. Some tears are in definite order and where better to do them than in the privacy of the bathroom surrounded by berry scented bubbles. Once I get this cry over with, I can end this pity party and move on.
I stay in the bath until my wrinkled skin can stand no more. All cried out, I towel off and spend the rest of the afternoon in bed pretending I don't care and avoiding my phone and laptop.
By the time seven o'clock approaches I feel my heart sinking deep in my chest and know I need to get up and do something in order to keep myself from going crazy picturing Brian dressed up and on his way to pick up Shannon Rose, probably giving her the flower corsage he had ordred for me.
I lace up my sneakers and decide a run might be just the thing I need. A run is something I can put all my frustrations into. I quickly pull my hair into a wild bun and dash down the stairs towards my front door.
"I'm going for a run!" I yell to no one in particular as I speed out the door onto the front porch and run smack into a hard mass. Stumbling back slightly, I look up to find a black suited, red tied Brian standing dumbfounded with a bouquet of red roses in hand.
"Hey," he says with a smile.
I roll my eyes, closing the door behind me with a sharp bang. "Hey," I mutter pushing past him and down the steps. I don't want to hear anything he has to say. "If you're stopping over here to give me some half-assed apology on your way to pick up Shannon, you're wasting your breath."
"What? Where you going?" Brain asks as he follows me down the steps.
"You don't owe me an explanation or an apology or anything. It was just a friend thing. You don't have to feel bad for me. I don't even like Valentine's day. I think the whole dance thing is stupid anyway," I say shoving the buds to my musiv into my ears and breaking into a run.
"Sam, I'm confused. What's going on? Mind telling me why at the time I said I'd pick you up, you're running instead?" He's running next to me, looking like a moron in his suit.
I shake my head, turning up the volume of my Ipod. "You're off the hook." I say as we pass his house. Olivia and Dan are outside dressed in their formal attire all set for their night of fun.
Oliva spots us and comes to my rescue shouting out for her brother to stop. "Brian!" She yells, grabbing his attention. "I need to talk to you."
Shaking his head, he waves his sister off, but Olivia continues to yell at him until he falls out of pace with me, stopping completely. Blowing her a grateful kiss, I round the corner and push my strides harder, pumping my arms so I move faster. My lungs fill rapidly with the cooling night air, allowing my head to clear. This is what I needed. Working in some distance, I keep running, even when the light fades and the street lights glow brightly above me. I run a good three miles, before my stomach growls enough to make me head in the direction of home. Slowing my run, as I come around the corner to my house, my mind begins to wander as pizza toppings take flight.
I don't see him until it's too late. Cursing to myself, I stumble, my run slowing down, stopping where he waits. Sitting on the hood of his car, Brian looks up at me with a saddened expression, the bouquet of roses, laying beside him.
Breathing rapidly, I pull the buds from my ears and glare at him. "Why are you still sitting outside my house?"
Shaking his head, Brain jumps down from his car. "You really think I'm that guy?" he says with bitterness in his voice, completely throwing me. I stare at him, my breathing not slowing. "That guy?" I question.
"Yeah, that guy," Brian says moving large strides towards me. "The guy who gives up something good to repeat his same mistakes."Running a hand through his hair, he sighs heavily. "Olivia told me," he says meeting my eyes.
"Told you what?"
"About the rumors that Shannon and I got back together." He sighes running a hand over his face. "We did meet last night, but it was only to talk."
Glaring at him, I feel the tears begin to weld. I don't know if I believe him that it was only to talk. Couldn't they have just done that on the phone? I refuse to allow him to see me cry. Not wanting to be around him any longer I push past him, my shoulder connecting with his arm. "Do us both a favor, go back to being Shannon's lap dog, you were good at that." The hurt I'm hiding comes out in angry words.
Grabbing on to my arm, Brian spins me around to face him. In his eyes, I see the anger. I know I'm about to get it handed right back at me, but I don't want it. I may deserve it, but not tonight. This day has been torture enough. I pull from his grasp, but his grip tightens, while he shakes his head at me. "You are going to stay here and you are going to listen to what I have to say," he says quietly. My eyes widen. I want to punch him. "Sam, you're all I've thought about since last summer."
I stop my struggles against him. "What?"
His features soften. "You're my sisters best friend. And I know there are rules or something against that. But the feelings I keep fighting against aren't going away."
"What happened when you met with Shannon?" I nervously shy away, turning my back towards him.
"I told her about you," he says. "Her boyfriend had just broken up with her. I don't know what she expected from me, but when I got there, all I could think about was tonight and what it could mean." Moving up behind me, his fingers touch the skin of my shoulder, causing a chill.
"What did you tell her?" I find myself taking a deep breath. "About me, I mean." Closing my eyes, I hold the breath I just took in. Brian's hands wrap around my waist, pulling me to turn around. "I told her that I had fallen for someone else. I wasn't sure if you even felt the same way, but I had spent too much time feeling the impact she had left, and you were the one who pulled me from it."
I swallow down the tight lump that had formed in my throat. Looking up at him, all my anger, all the humiliation and resentment, instantly flees. Without thinking further, I step up on my toes and kiss him. Just a light peck on the lips. Enough to tell him that he isn't alone in his feelings. Brian's hands pull on my waist crushing me to him, his lips parting against mine, slow at first, but then turning hungry, my hands lacing through his hair, pulling him down, deepening the kiss.
It's blissful. Everything I had imagined it to be and more. Because this time, it wasn't in my head, it was real.
Breaking our lips, Brian leans his forehead against mine. "Happy Valentine's Day, Samantha."
Smiling against his lips, I nod my head. "It is now." Tightening his pull against me, Brian's lips crush back down on mine. And this time, I'm not gentle.
The end.
