Escapade | Daniel Seavey AU

04

Brennan was oddly quiet. The entire drive back to my place, she had stayed quiet unlike her usual talkative attitude. I didn't pry though. The lack of sleep caused me to be quiet as well, letting the music fill the atmosphere of the car. She parked a few houses away from mine, to avoid my mom catching me in a lie.

"Are you free later tonight?" She asked, when I was about to leave, locking the door to prevent me from doing so.

"I have a friend coming over," I told her.

"How about around eleven?" She asked again, not giving in.

"Not sure."

"I'll be texting you then." With that, she unlocked the doors and I stepped out, wordlessly, she reversed out of my neighborhood, leaving me in nothing but confusion once again. Despite not having me that many girls in my life, aside from the girls I meet in school—no girl has ever been this involved in my life much like Brennan, and I still have no idea how to feel about it.

Recalling my lie, I jogged slowly towards my house and found my mom holding plates for breakfast in her hand, a relieved smile on her face. "Gosh, Daniel, you need to tell me where you're going now."

"It was only a jog, mom," I assured her, sitting across from her. We ate breakfast with a few questions from her asking about school and other things, and if I've sent in a few of my applications for college. I assured her of all things, but refrained myself from mentioning Brennan because I'm unaware of how my mom would react if she found out. "Is it okay if Corbyn comes by?" I ask her while grabbing both of our empty plates.

"Sure, what time?"

"Around noon?" She nodded, carrying her cup of tea to the living room where she turned the TV on. I washed the few dishes that were placed inside the sink, before heading upstairs to my bathroom and taking a shower. Even then, the thought of Brennan being quiet during the drive back from the sunrise had come back to my mind. Since I barely talk to her, I had noticed that she's quite talkative. She'd comment about what music was playing, and even showing a bit of road rage.

I guess when someone cut in front of her during morning rush, and she only beeped at the person, I knew something was up. A string of profanities hadn't left her mouth, and she only shrugged it off.

Despite knowing her for barely a day, she doesn't seem to be the type to let things go.

Pushing her out of my mind, I finally changed into some clothes and rubbed a towel over my head. I decided to kill time by doing the history assignment Mrs. Rivers had given us yesterday since I hadn't finished working on it and was left with basic facts that were available in the textbooks. I was able to complete it with time to spare, and decided to play video games as I waited for Corbyn.

Even though I was able to hit a personal record of a combo while playing, my mind still drifted off to Brennan. How is it that I've only just known the girl and talked to her, but she's invading my mind. Her personality is so... memorable? Astounding? I'm using words that most of my peers don't use now, but I can't rack my brain to find the right word to describe.

She's different.

How she acts just makes me want to know a lot more about her. In school, she's already outgoing, but how she acts in school seems so... scripted, as if she intends on acting a certain to mask the way she truly is.

"Corbyn's here," my mom knocked on my door, peeking her head through and pulling out of my train of thoughts. Corbyn stood behind her, smiling at my mom before he entered my room and closed the door behind him. I tossed him a controller, and we sat beside one another, continuing the game in multiplayer mode.

"Dude," I spoke up, our eyes glued on the screen, "do you know that Brennan girl?"

"Brennan Tanner? Yeah, she's in my pre-cal class," he informed, "she's... quite the character."

You can say that again. "Do you know anything about her?"

"Not much, why?"

"Just asking." With those two simple words, the blonde knew something was up and paused the game. He turned to face me, raising one of his brows.

"What's up, Seavey?"

"Nothing," I answered a bit too quickly, only causing him to raise hiw brow a bit higher. "Fine, fine—just, don't tell my mom." He mimicked the gesture of zipping his lips shut. "I was with her last night." And Corbyn, being slightly more dramatic than most, choked on air and began coughing vigorously, but I didn't bother caring because I knew he'd react that way. He's what they call a bit 'extra'.

"What?" he wheezed.

"Relax, dude, she and I got locked in the library because of Rivers' assignment, and she happened to have helped me out of there as well," I explained, "but it didn't end there—she brought me to this diner outside of town."

"Why?"

"We were hungry," I shrugged, grabbing the controller and unpausing the game. Corbyn paused it again, causing me to roll my eyes.

"That's not all, there's more," he pestered.

"Why do you care?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"Because Daniel, she's bad news," he warned, "she's the complete opposite of what you are and not in a good way."

"She seems nice," I muttered.

"Seems nice," he scoffed, "dude, this is the same girl that scored herself detention almost every single in freshman year, got suspended three times during sophomore year, and was this—" he held up his finger and thumb, the two almost touching "—to getting suspended last year—do you really want to associate yourself with someone like her?"

I stared at him, a crease visible between my brows as his words processed through my head. Maybe he's right. She'll only get in the way of letting me have a successful future and I cannot risk all the hardwork and late night studying I've done the past four years for some... some girl. "You're right, I know—I'm sorry I asked."

"It's alright," he muttered, unpausing the game. "By the way, you're losing."

I scoffed, the conversation immediately forgotten, "Oh you're on."