Enlighten Me (StemxStudxStud)

14

Taylor's Point of View~

I was so embarrassed when Brillari got home and told me what I had done. I almost didn't even hear her mention how well her diss had went. "I'm really excited about your song. I'm glad it went well," I said sheepishly. "And I'm sorry about the sleepwalking thing. That happens sometimes. I am really, really sorry, Brillari."

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it," she said, looking down at me with a slight smirk. Her breath smelled faintly like beer. My cheeks flushed and I looked away.

"I'm probably going to sleep the rest of the day. If you hear my phone ring, wake me up cause it's prolly my label director," she told me. She walked from the front door and started heading for her bedroom.

"Wait, how did I get in your bedroom too?" I asked. Had I tried to....

"I carried you," the rapper told me, sending a playful wink my way. "You still want me to stay?" I asked incredulously. "Yeah, why not? Anything you learn about the case, you'll be here." Yeah, yeah. Of course it was about the case. I calmed myself down and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Imma step out for some fresh air," I stuck my thumb towards the front door. "Better to do it out back if you don't want nobody to see you." My phone started ringing and I saw it was Detective Gambino. "Ight, I gotta call to take anyways." I jogged through her house and went out back to the small, cute backyard.

"Hello?"

"Just checkin up on how the case is going. You hadn't been badgering me."

"Oh it's going well," I chuckled. "I'm just kind of exhausted."

"Oh well, catch up on your sleep. Remember, take your time. We'll take all the evidence we can get."

Gambino hung up and I leaned against the townhouse. "Fuck."

"If you want the money, you can do whatever he wants." I got up from against the house and saw Brill by the back door, casually watching me. "I don't want to do that. It's like they already assume you're guilty. I want to find out the truth. I also want to help you."

Brillari slowly stepped towards me. I watched her, the day quiet. "You know what you could do for me?"

I gulped.

She breathed down my neck and softly bit it. I didn't know what to do with my hands or my body, so I stood there limply. "We could have sex?" I suggested.

She lifted me up and pushed me up on the wall like a middle school bully. "I don't think you would understand the type of sex that makes me wet, Miss Theodore."

"I think you wouldn't understand-

She dropped me and her lips crushed into mine. I fell down to my knees and we both bust out laughing. She helped me up and I avoided her eyes. "You shouldn't have let go so quickly," I blushed.

"You'll be alright." Brillari looked around cautiously, then grabbed my hand. "Let's head back inside."

"Has Roze contacted you yet?"

Brillari shook her head, "No, and I'm worried. I know she wouldn't want me to look for her but I can't just focus on my rapping career though, Roze is like family."

"Yall kissed," I said, running my hand over her wall. "It's just a thing we've always done. It's nothing like that," she sighed. "Yall both know that?" Brillari laughed, "Roze is the one who told me. It's just something we like to do." Brill sent a wink my way then went into her bedroom. I didn't know whether to follow or sit down somewhere, so I awkwardly stood in the doorway.

She was taking off her shirt and her bra, and I began to walk away. "I was just changing shirts because I was getting hot, but I wanted to show you something I thought about while I was away today." I averted my eyes while she dressed.

Once she was clothed, I entered. She revealed a photo album. "Although my parents aren't the best, they still took pictures of me and Adorah. This is the first picture in the album. They always ignored me when I asked about everything in my childhood before I was six, but they never relented so eventually I stopped pushing it. I am a pretty persistent person but I guess it never seemed significant to me before," Brillari explained.

I took a photo of young Brillari and used a scanning app on my phone to send the photo over to my computer. "This might help the database scanner go through quicker," I explained. "Tomorrow maybe we could go to see my parents?" she said with a nervous smile.

"Hey I'm all for it," I agreed. "I know it was probably hard going yesterday with all you had learned and all that was going on." I sat down with my computer and started typing. Brillari sat down next to me and leaned back on the bed frame.

I paused.

"You should call your sister more. I mean, it's not my business if you guys talk a lot, but both of you guys need a lot of support right now." I looked over at Brill who seemed to be actually considering my words. "It's hard in there and I've never been in there before. Your life might seem tough right now but you have a whole lot more choices and freedoms than she does. She's practically burdened for her whole life until we prove her innocent. Be her support. Switch the roles for a change. I can tell she's a really good big sister, blood or not."

Brillari looked down at her lap, her eyes sad. "I'm scared one day I'm going to call and I'll find out she's hurt or worse."

"Then make the most out of every moment you have with her. I know what it's like to have relatives emotionally abandon you and for them to pass away. Appreciate everything you have in life, Brill. The annoyances, the anger, and the good."

"Thanks," she said with a small smile. "When did you start calling me Brill?" she asked randomly. I focused back on my computer, "I don't know. I'm just...I don't know."

"It's fine, people call me Brill, Brillari, Ari Brill, et cetera."

"Wait. Stop." Brill rose an eyebrow and I blushed. "Sorry, I found something though." I brought my laptop closer to her.

Brill leaned closer to my computer and her eyes widened. "This is you, Brill. This is who you are."