Default Title - Write Your Own

twelve

"Brian?" I asked, sitting up in my seat and he 'hm'ed to show he was listening but didn't take his eyes off the road. "Um... Were you talking about me to Val on the phone?"

He went to say something but ended up stuttering and shutting up. I saw his hands grip the steering wheel a little tighter and his usually pale complexion turn slightly pink. "Yeah, just about me driving you here." He said after a minute of silence in the smallest voice, still not turning to look at me.

"Oh okay. It's just I heard you say some things..." I began but I was interrupted.

"How much did you hear?" he said quickly.

"Well just the end of your conversation, only because you were talking a little louder and everywhere else was silent..." I trailed off.

"Okay well it was just about getting you here, nothing to worry about." He laughed nervously and gave me a little smile. I went to reply but before I could, the car came to a sudden stop. "We're here." He announced and quickly got out the car. I followed his actions apart from he ran round and shut the door behind me before we went up the drive and knocked on the front door.

Matt answered the door and shouted behind him when he saw us, "Val, Ana's here."

"Hey," Brian and I said simultaneously by accident.

"So you wanna come in for a drink Brian? Jimmy's still here." Matt offered.

"Sure," He replied as Matt held open the door and both of us came in. Matt's house was quite similar to Brian, Zacky and Jimmy's. It was just about luxurious, windows on most of the walls with a maroon and light grey themed place from what I could see.

"Ana!" Val shouted from the top of the stairs as she came charging down. She latched onto me in a hug which I returned.

"Hey where's mine?" I heard a voice call from across the hall. I looked and saw Jimmy standing there with his arms folded.

"Jimmy you've been gone like 2 hours..." I laughed.

"And?" He retorted. I sighed and hugged him tightly before he, Brian and Matt went into the main room, leaving Val and I alone.

"Where's Michelle?" I wondered, not seeing or hearing her anywhere.

"Oh she said she had to go, not sure why but I wasn't gonna question it." She shrugged. "Anyway you ready?"

I nodded. We shouted a quick bye to the guys then I was back in the passenger seat of a car but this time with Val driving. As we pulled off, she started excitedly ranting about all the things we were going to buy and how I shouldn't worry as she'll 'buy it all for me and not to even think about trying to pay her back in the future' which was sweet of her honestly.

And this was good and all but my mind was still racing with questions. Why were they talking about me? It was clear Brian was lying. But why had he gotten to defensive when I brought it up? The questions were driving me mad, like they were scratching at the inside of my skull, aching to be answered.

We had been driving for around 15 minutes when it went silent and I took my chance.

"Val?" I spoke up.

"Yeah hun?" She answered, giving me a quick grin.

"Uh, I was just wondering, what were you and Brian talking about on the phone earlier..." My voice had quietened down completely by the end of the sentence. And just like Brian had, she went to say something then held back, leaving the silence just hanging for a while.

"I was just talking to him about him dropping you off." She said quickly in a cheerful tone.

"Yeah, that's what he told me." I sighed and slumped back into my seat. There was another pause of silence before Val spoke up again.

"I'm sorry look, I'll tell you, just do not speak a word of it to anyone. Especially Brian." She hummed excitedly and I nodded in agreement. "So, he asked whether or not you act different around him and I said well I'm not to sure really, why'd you ask? And he said it's because he doesn't know if you actually like him. I then jokingly teased about him you know, like – liking you, to which he got all defensive and that's when I got a hint and started asking questions. And he admitted that he thinks he does still like you in that way and blamed it on 'feeling from before'. He then said he wasn't going to do anything about it because then it'd be awkward and he just wants to ignore it and hope for the best basically." Valary had been talking incredibly fast and it'd been hard to take all the information in but I got the basis of it.

"So... you're telling me Brian had 'feelings' for me from when we dated years ago?" I asked, sitting up in my seat with my jaw hanging open.

"No! It's not from when you dated. He just really likes you and is too afraid to open up to anyone about it. Don't worry, I'll tell Matt and he can get Brian talking." Val explained. Then, my mind suddenly flashed back to the events earlier...

"Well that's just great! He just so happened to see me naked today!" I yelled.

"He what?!" Val yelled louder and looked at me with astonishment in her eyes. She stayed like that for a brief moment before glancing back to the road to see she'd drifted to the wrong side slightly with on the oncoming cars and just about managed to sharply swerve away from them. Once that was over, I spoke again.

"I took a shower, shouted for him as there was no towel so I was gonna ask for him to get me one but he just walked in while I was there and there were these few awkward seconds where we just stared and then after when I went out the bathroom in my towel, he stopped me in the hall to apologise, despite again, me only being in a towel..." I ranted frantically, eventually trailing off.

Val just laughed and shook her head. "This shopping trip is gonna be way more fun than I expected..."