The Usual: A Jonathan Brandis Fanfiction

Nine

  "Happy birthday!"
  Jon opened his eyes groggily to see me straddled across his lap with a big tray full of his favorite breakfast foods.
  "Babe," he smiled as I crawled off him onto the floor. "You didn't have to do all this!"
  "Yes I did," I smiled at him. "I love you," I kissed his forehead and walked over to the drawers to pull out a t-shirt and workout shorts.
  "What are you changing into that for?" he inquired as he walked over to me, grabbing my waist as I changed out of my sleeping shorts.
  "I have to clean up for your birthday party, babe," I kissed him as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
  "Do we really have to have one?" he asked as we stood there, me being wrapped in his arms as he whined.
  "Yes," I turned around and kissed him. "Now let me put my clothes on," I giggled.
  Jon and the group mutually agreed to keep this party relatively small and not quite as crazy as we're used to, simply because clean up after wild parties was a lot of unnecessary hard work.
  Ben and Brit were still on bad terms. Being honest, I think they didn't even sleep  in the same bed last night. Brit was being overdramatic and ruining Jon's birthday weekend and I wasn't happy about it.
  We spent the day setting up the food, which was catering from a local restaurant, setting up a stage for the band playing at the party, cleaning and setting out drinks. By 7:00, the first few guests started to arrive.
  Ben was sipping a beer as he sat by the pool, enjoying the band covering an Oasis song. I walked over to him and sat across from him.
  "Let's talk," I sipped my cocktail.
  Ben laughed, unfolded his legs and sat forward. "What's up?"
  "What's up with you and Brit?"
  "Are you gonna just run back and tell her everything I tell you?" he looked skeptical to talk to me.
  "No. I'm just as mad at her for being this way. It's Jon's birthday and she's ruining it."
  Ben sighed and sat back. "You know, all I've ever wanted to do is fight for my country. I don't want to sit around and work an 8-5 job. I love her. I don't see why I can't do this without her crying about it."
  I nodded in understanding. I knew Ben had only the best intentions, but Brit had a hard time understanding that. Ben and I chit chatted for a while before Jon walked over and told me Brit wanted to see me.
  I found Brit in the upstairs bathroom attached to her room. "Brit?" I saw her packing her bags and crying. "Brit, what's wrong?"
  She had tears and mascara all over her face, her heels were in the floor beside the toilet and her tight party dress was a mess. She looked at me and opened the cabinet underneath the sink. It took me a minute to process what she was showing me, but then it registered. She was showing me three pregnancy tests, all saying positive.
  "Brit," I whispered, shocked.
  "I don't know what to do," she cried. I hugged her and told her it would be okay, but deep down I questioned it. She was so young, so unstable.
  "It's Ben's?"
  "I don't know," she cried. "We've been together for a month, do you think it could be someone else's?"
  "I don't know," I shrugged, shocked that she even questioned it.
  "That's why I've been so rude. I wanted to tell you what I've been nervous about, but I didn't wanna ruin Jon's weekend."
  "Well, you kinda did already by acting that way."
  "Can you take me home?" she cried to me, leaning against the wall holding her head in her hand.
  I bit my lip and held back tears. "Yeah," I stood up from my kneel. Reaching for my lanyard, I told her to meet me at the car in five minutes.
  I scoured the party looking for Jon to tell
him where I was going. I found him taking a shot by the bar with Ryan as they talked to a girl sitting by the stool.
  "Hey babe," I approached him.
  "Hey sweetheart!" he wrapped his arm around me.
  "Who's this?" the girl in the slutty pink dress asked, sipping whatever was in her cup.
  "This is Absidee," Ryan introduced me.
  "My girlfriend," Jon smiled shyly.
  The girl nodded and excused herself. Jon made a "wow," face and turned his full attention back to me.
  "She was hitting on you," I smiled at him. He blushed and shrugged.
  "What's up?" he asked, kissing my forehead.
  "Slight mishap, I need to take Brit home."
  "Are you good to drive?" he asked, concerned.
  "Yeah, I haven't had a chance to drink yet. I just need to get out of these heels," I complained. The sparkly six inch heels may have accented the skin tight black dress nicely, but my feet were burning.
  Jon laughed and patted my back. "Okay babe. I'm going to ride with you."
  "You really don't have to. Enjoy your party. It'll be an hour at most."
  Jon's reassuring smile faded and I could have almost swore I saw a tear fall from his eye. "Please don't go without me," he sounded choked up.
  I quickly looked over at Ryan, who seemed to be pushing me to say okay and drop it.
  "Alright, alright," I smiled as if that wasn't weird. He was just drunk. "Meet me in the car in a few. I'm going to change shoes."
  Jon kissed my forehead and walked towards the garage as I walked towards the steps. I threw on some checkered vans and ran down the steps, not caring how ridiculous I looked. Brit was in the passenger seat with her bag in the trunk, while Jon waited outside the car to open my door.
  "You guys ready?" I asked. They both nodded and I started the car. I looked over at Brit, who looked like she could break down at any second. Jon was drunk at this point, and I felt so awkward. The ride took about 45 minutes, and when I dropped Brit off, we hugged and I told her everything was going to be okay. She said to call her when Jon and I went home the next day so we could talk.
  Jon moved up to the front seat and started fumbling with the radio.
  "Babe can you turn that down? My mind isn't in the right place," I asked over the loud rock music.
  Jon's hand turned the radio completely off and then onto my thigh.
  "Jon, not right now. Let's just get back to Ryan's," I complained as he tried to play around. Jon was acting weird, almost retarded, and I just wasn't in the mood for a drunk teenage boy.
  Jon laid his head against the window and closed his eyes, seemingly sad. I didn't care. I was too mad.
  We finally got back to Ryan's party, where I threw my Vans off and began drinking heavier than usual. Jon was doing his own thing, probably drinking and dancing to music, while I sat on the wicker furniture on the downstairs patio.
  "I really appreciate you being there for me," I heard the familiar voice mumble. I looked up and saw Ben towering over me , holding a beer and clearly drunk.
  "Anytime," I smiled. Depressed wasn't enough to describe how low I felt. It was a new low. Alcohol probably made it worse, but fuck it.
  "What's wrong?" he sat beside me, closer than comfortable.
  "Nothing," I scooted over, getting uncomfortable flashbacks from Andrew.
  "What's wrong?"
  "Nothing," his pushiness was about to send me into a fit of anxiety. "Where's J-"
  Before I could finish my question, Ben was kissing me. When I processed what was happening, I pushed him off and stood up, disgusted and disturbed.
  "Ah fuck," he muttered. I looked over and saw Jon standing there, stunned.
  "Babe, you know I didn't kiss him. He kissed me," I said quickly in a panic. Jon stormed off and I cried.
  "Do you have to be such a shmuck?" I screamed, punching him in the eye. Then, I stormed off, only to find Jon in the car speeding away. "Jon!" I screamed. He was too drunk to drive. I feared for his life. "Rachael!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, running around like a maniac.
  "What baby?" she asked, running up to me.
  "We have to find Jon! He's drunk driving!" I cried to her. Rachael's eyes grew wide as ever as she ran to get her keys and bolted for the garage with me.
  "Where could he be?" she asked as we turned down every road we could think of.
  "I don't know!" I cried, throwing my head against the back seat. "God, I hate myself."
  "What happened?" Rachael demanded as I cried.
  "Ben kissed me!"
  Rachael looked over in disbelief, looking angry.
  "That's not the worst part. The worst part is Brit is pregnant."
  "What?!" Rachael screamed, slamming the brakes.
  "I know," I cried.
  Rachael and I searched everywhere for Jon. We drove through every road, every neighborhood, we even drove by his house, but to no avail.
  "What if he wrecked and died?" I cried out.
  "We'll find him," Rachael consoled me.
  To make me feel better, Rachael drove around some more and told Ryan to cancel the party when we got there. Most of the people had gone home anyways since it was so late, and Ryan told us that Jon called him from Ryan's house.
  "I'll go get him here, but you guys have to work your own shit out. When we get back, I'm smoking a fat one and going to bed."
  "Jon might kill you for that," Rachael eyed him down.
  "It's my fucking house," Ryan threw a jean jacket on and grabbed his L&Ms.
  "Bring these for him," I handed Ryan a pack of Marlboro reds.
  "I'll call you guys when so get there and when I leave," Ryan told us.
  "Where's Ben?" I asked Ryan before he left.
  "He went to Brit's, she called him and said they need to talk," he informed me.
  "I need to talk to her," I sighed. Rachael hugged me and comforted me through my anxiety as I cried. Ryan left to find Jon and Rachael got me a beer.
  About 20 minutes later, the phone rang. Rachael finally picked up, and she looked somewhat relieved. "Jon told Ryan that he left because he was pissed at Ben. You're in the clear."
  I sighed and relaxed, puffing my Marlboro. I could see Rachael's slight relief, however, that was short lived. "I wonder what Ben is telling Brit," she pondered.
  "Fuck it. He knows better than to say we kissed."
  Rachael shrugged and laid beside me. We laid there, snuggling like the two drunk girls we were, waiting.
  "Girls! Come down. Brit and Ben are here," Ryan hollered up the stairs. Rachael and I slowly got up to go down to meet them, and my anxiety slowly started to overcome me. Jon ran and hugged me, making me feel better, but before he could get a word in, I heard Brit's shrill voice piercing everyone's ears.
  "HOW THE FUCK COULD YOU DO THIS?"
  I threw Jon off of me and looked her in the eye. Her makeup was off at this point and her hair was a mess. She looked so depressed that she didn't even look sober. Her stare was menacing, but she looked heartbroken. I guess she saw the confusion in my eyes, so she came at me again.
  "HOW COULD YOU KISS HIM?"
  "HE KISSED ME!" I screamed back, choking back tears. How could she think I would do that to her?
  "Oh I'm so sure! You were so anxious to get home to my boyfriend to make out with him!"
  I looked at Ben in anger and confusion, and then at Brit with just anger. "Your boyfriend kissed me," I told her, confused.
  She rolled her eyes and began to say something before Rachael interjected.
  "Do you really think that Abi would do something like that?"
  "This isn't your battle to fight and honestly, if I were you, I'd stay out of it. No one except Abi wanted you to hang out with us anyways, but we let you. Because of your sloppy slutty personality, you got Ryan, who was supposed to be my boyfriend. So fuck off and let Abi explain why she just had to steal my boyfriend."
  "Excuse me? First of all, you're the easiest girl in Los Angeles. I'm sure a prostitute is a way better position for you than an actress. And Jon and Abi both wanted me to start hanging out with them, I'm pretty sure if Ryan wanted you, he would've dated you way before I was in the picture," Rachael argued back, surprisingly calm. Ryan stood back and nodded in agreement.
  Brit scoffed. "Me? Easy? Get real. You're the one who showed up to Ryan's party in a skin tight party dress, making out with him five minutes into meeting him!"
  "It wasn't five minutes! It was way into the party. I don't even know why we're arguing about this! Your baby daddy kissed Abi!"
  "Baby daddy?" all the guys questioned in unison.
  I stopped and stared at all of them while Brit looked at me in disbelief. "You told her?"
  "Told her what?" Ben demanded. "Is there something I need to know?"
  Brit looked uneasy, but told him the news of his soon-to-be fathership. Ben sighed and reluctantly looked at all of us. "Let's talk in private," he sighed, taking her hand. I rolled my eyes and looked at Jon, who looked pissed off.
  "If I could take him, I would," Jon mumbled. His blonde hair, which had been gelled out of his face, was now flopped in front of his eyes. His stress habit was to run his fingers through his hair, which he had been doing throughout the night. There were more bruises on his knees now, from his other stress habit I assumed. He looked at me and smiled, pulling me into a tight hug.
  "Why don't we all smoke a fatty when they leave?" Ryan suggested, scratching the back of his head.
  "No," Jon answered immediately.
  "Come on, Jonno, you're 18. Stop being such a little bitch," Ryan complained. Jon sighed and ran a hand through his hair, nervously.
  "Jon, seriously. Let us just chill out," Rachael complained. I sighed and looked at Jon, whose birthday at this point was ruined.
  Jon sighed and sat on the arm chair in the fourier. "Whatever, it's not my house."
  Brit and Ben stormed in the room before anyone could say anything, and Jon stood back up, ready to defend me.
  "When my child is born, I don't want any of you bitches around it. Especially you, Abi and Rachael. I don't want my baby to risk getting on drugs like Abi or catching chlamydia from the easiest bitch in town. Fuck you guys," she screamed. Ben didn't follow her, instead he stuck around.
  "I'm so sorry," he apologized, throwing his arms up. "I didn't tell Brit you kissed me. I told her I'd been drinking, not as if it's an excuse, but I just don't know. I'm a fuck up," he sounded defeated.
  Jon sighed, looking hurt. He grabbed my hand and smiled a fake, small smile. "So, what's gonna happen?"
  Ben sighed. "I have to leave her," he had tears in his eyes. He looked sobered up from the situation, but depressed. "I told her I can't do this."
  "What about your kid?" Ryan demanded, his thick, Italian brows furrowed.
  "I'll do what I can, I want to raise it as much as her, I just can't be with her. I hope you guys don't resent me," he was crying at this point.
  "Fuck Brit," Rachael was pissed. She was shaking. I could see the anger in her blue eyes. "Just fuck her. I hate her. I've done nothing but help her. Be her friend. Fuck her."
  I was sobbing into Jon's chest. He was choking back tears, I could tell. Ben apologized to Jon and hugged him. I told Jon I want to go upstairs by ourselves. The rest informed us of their plans to call it a night, Ben asking to stay and drink some more.
  When Jon and I entered our room, he broke down.
  "Babe, I'm so sorry," I cried to him. I couldn't stop sobbing. "I ruined your birthday."
  Jon was sobbing with me. "No one can ever be happy around me!"
  "Jon, babe, they are. We can't control Brit. She ruined it."
  "I just wanna go to Orlando, fuck this stupid city." I sunk to the floor, against the wall, hating myself for making Jon upset. "Babe, come here," he croaked. I stood up and sat on the bed beside him. "I just think Orlando will be good for us," he help me close and kissed my head. "I need a drink. I need something. I'm miserable."
  "Let's just go home tomorrow and relax. Stay in bed all day and do nothing. That's what this spring break should be, relaxing."
  "Yeah," he whispered. "I guess we should go to sleep now," he laid back, still holding me close.
  Jon held me close and within minutes, we were knocked out.