Scream and be Free (Zac Hanson)

Chapter Twenty Six

Kate's nice and Luke is a stalker...moving forward.

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"I just can't believe Ike is leaving Nikki." Natalie shook her head. The family was still trying to fathom how this had come to be, Isaac and Nikki were the ideal couple. It was difficult to digest the news, although both of their families were in agreement that it was better to do this now, not drag it out. Brielle was happy that everybody had found something other than her marriage to talk about. "At least he's leaving before anything too drastic happened, but Jenna is a great girl."

"Jenna seems to think he needs his head checked, she would do anything at this point to make him reconsider." Brielle replied.

"How is she? She seemed kind of odd when I saw her the other day. I mean it is probably a lot to take in, I feel bad for her." Natalie had always liked Jenna, she hated seeing her in such a state.

"She's coping, I suppose." Brielle answered with a slight smile.

"It probably isn't helping that Luke is parading that redhead around. Poor Jenna." Natalie frowned. "I don't know the whole story on this Emily girl, but she seems..." Natalie paused.

"Fake, pretentious, bitchy, god awful." Brielle went on to finish, chuckling a bit. Natalie slightly chuckled. "If you don't like her, nobody will be offended. Even Luke knows what a horrid person she is. If he gets his heart ripped out, then I promise nobody will rub it in more than his brother."

"Luke is so sweet, he's such a kind soul; I don't get why he would want somebody who seems so cold." Natalie commented. "He and Jenna seemed so perfect for one another, but I suppose not everybody can stay together. If we did that we'd never grow."

"Sometimes you just need your heart broke a few times," Brielle mused, "then you find the right person and things just seem to click."

Natalie nodded and smiled. "Like you and Zac." she easily noted. "I love Kate, but she and Zac were never right for each other. Maybe at the time they were, but if they were together now things would just be horrible."

"Who knows, maybe things would have been fine." Brielle added that little detail, unsure if it was how she felt or just to look good.

"Come on," a grin spread across Natalie's face. "You must be happier than anybody that Kate divorced him."

"If you mean happy as in it gave me a chance to have my husband, my family, and a life I love the yes." Brielle couldn't help but smile a little. As much as Kate aggravated her, it was all thanks to Kate that Brielle had the life she currently led.

"If you hadn't met Zac, what do you think you'd be doing now?" Natalie posed the question.

Brielle thought for a minute or two, she had never had to think about this and honestly, she had no real idea. Giving Natalie a line about how she'd probably still be in Maine, acting as a stand-in girlfriend for Caleb Braun; it all suddenly started to sink in just how good she really did have it. Brielle had always known she was lucky to have Zac whether it was fate, luck, or coincidence she had never questioned her reasons for meeting him that night. Someone, or something had wanted that to happen. She had went out with friends and left with the man she would eventually marry, it was a bit scary to think about and exciting at the same time.

"Maybe you would have just ended up marrying Caleb." Natalie teased.

The mere idea of Brielle marrying Caleb was funny, he wasn't the type of guy somebody like her settled down with, mostly because he wasn't the type of guy to settle down.

"Jenna would have loved that." Brielle rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose.

Natalie leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table top, her hands encasing her glass of lemonade. "Why does Jenna hate him?"