A Flower for You

Chapter One

Today, Braiden was returning home.

Today.

Six years, one month, two weeks, three days later.

"Mother!" I screamed down the steps, pulling on my grey jeans. "You better have called me off today!"

"I already did!" she yelled back, and I could hear her and my dad laughing together. What? The boy I had known since the day I was brought home from the hospital was coming home. In two hours! Dammit, I was excited!

I pulled a blue shirt on over my head, pulled my wavy locks into a ponytail, and ran down the steps. I decide to just put on makeup in the car once I arrived, since the drive to the airport was an hour and fifteen minutes. I grabbed a granola bar and a bottle of water, finally making my way out to my car. My parents and Jon and Lisa were driving out together, and I was driving on my own. Braiden would be driving back with me, that way we could catch up.

I had nine trips planned, all which failed. So, the two of us had been living off of phone calls, texting, and very rare video chatting.

You see, at age eleven, my best friend since birth auditioned for a role in the movies of our favorite book series. There were four books, though, and the producers aimed to finish all of them by the sixth year of filming. Okay, it seems like a long time, but honestly, they had to fly all over.

Braiden was now one of the most popular movie stars, the one that everyone knew of, whether they were old or young. He had gotten four more movie offers, but he decided that before he furthered his career, he would return to Mentor and finish senior year out with me. He had been tutored while on set, so he was actually quite intelligent.

I had seen the first three movies at the premiere. The fourth was due to come out in December, and the fifth was coming out next October. Of course, there were only four books, but Braiden had informed me that part one and two of book four were to be separate movies. It seemed like every book series was trying to do that, now a day.

Each premiere was nearly ruined by fans obsessing over Braiden, and each time I heard someone say they were going to marry him, I actually flinched. I did not want to picture anyone marrying my best friend. Okay, I was selfish, but, he was eventually coming back here. What if he did marry one of those damn bimbos? I would not be fine with that. Whatsoever. He was mine. Not romantically or anything, but no one was allowed to take him away from me. I had to sit through six years of hell already, could anyone possibly be cruel enough to make me sit through more?

I soon realized that I was thinking about holding him back. No, I didn’t want that. Besides, I had other friends here. He didn’t. But it wasn’t like it was going to be hard for him to make friends. All the guys would love him because he wasn’t too incredibly nerdy, he was athletic, and, oh, he had a decent amount of money in his bank account. No big deal to these kids here or anything. The girls would love him, too. They all fawned over him enough. I wonder if they realized that soon, he would be attending their school. They probably had no idea he was even from Mentor. No one realized that, probably. It didn’t say it on his website, and his online profile simply stated he was ‘coming home.’

He never chatted with me on my online profile, and I knew it was because I had once told him I was afraid if someone had discovered I was best friends with him, they would treat me differently, treat me like their best friend just to get to Braiden. He told me he would never put me through any pain, and he held his promise so far. He was never going to be the reason I was hurt. No one would hurt me because of him; he wouldn't hurt me at all.

I guess I was still living in a fantasy world, really. I had completely believed every word of that promise, without even realizing how hurt I was when he was gone. But, really. That was not his fault. It was mine, if anyone's. We were in a theatre camp, and then there was an audition for our favorite books being held in Cleveland, the casting crew was coming here. I had begged him to try out, and he finally did.