𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 , 𝟖𝟎𝐬

18 = what'd you walk to las vegas?

MONDAY, AUGUST 10TH, 1987

brandy's point of view

i woke up the next morning to the ring of my cellphone, jolting my body to sit up.

the bed was a mess of covers and pillows and jason and i's clothes from last night were sprawled everywhere.

i grabbed my cellphone off the floor and accepted the call, "hello?"

"what the hell goes through that teenage brain of yours, brandy?" it was my manager, michael, on the other line. he was yelling at me as if it wasn't only 8 in the morning.

"what?" i questioned, racking my brain of every possible thing i could've done to piss him off.

the sound of my voice, and michael's, who's was so loud i had to hold my phone away from my ear, woke up jason next to me.

"you ditched your birthday party early to be with jason last night?" he asked, but more so stated a fact, "did you forget there was press outside of the venue?"

i looked down at a sleepy jason, he furrowed his eyebrows at me.

"michael", i mouthed out and rolled my eyes.

"hello?" michael asked impatiently, as i was now ignoring him.

jason groaned and slowly sat up.

"is that him? is that jason?" michael's voice raised again.

"what? no!" i quickly said and put my phone in my right hand so it was between jason and i's heads so we could both listen to what michael had to say.

"really? then what're you doing right now?"

"i'm- um .. making breakfast."

michael sighed, "well where'd you and jason go last night?"

"we just stepped out for some air, took a walk." i shrugged, looking at jason who also shrugged, thinking it sounded okay.

"what'd you walk to las vegas? you never came back!"

i nervously bit my lip.

"look brandy, i'm just saying, the rumors have already started. it wasn't a good scene and it was the second time the paparazzi got photos of you leaving a party with jason. what'd you guys really do?"

the moments of a few hours before flashed through my mind. truthfully, i'm surprised we didn't get a noise complaint.

i obviously decided to leave that part out though.

"honestly, i just wasn't feeling good. i get really anxious in big crowds and jason took me home early." half was the truth, that's good right?

michael sighed again, "alright alright, i'll talk to the press about getting it straightened out. don't forget, we start day one of shooting license to drive this friday. your call time is at 7 am."

"got it."

there was silence for a bit before we both simultaneously awkwardly hung up.

"good morning." jason sleepily mumbled, sinking back down against the pillows and pulling my waist in for a hug.

"good morning." i giggled, running my fingers through his messy, dark hair.

he let out a content sigh, "last night was really good."

"really really good." i smiled, and pecked his lips with a kiss before hopping out of bed with a blanket wrapped around my body.

"hey, are you okay? you seem better than last night." he sat up with a concerned look on his face.

"yeah, i feel better." i said while grabbing my party clothes to get dressed, "i'm sorry i threw all my emotions on you and shit out of no where."

"don't be sorry. i wanna be there for you ... always."

i stopped moving to look him in the eyes, "thank you, jason."

"you gotta get home?" he asked, hopping out of bed to get dressed too.

"yeah, probably should. my aunt will probably be wondering why i ditched my birthday party last night."

"has she called?"

"no." i stood up straight from bending over to get my heels on.

based off my aunt maggie's past record, she probably hasn't called me worried sick of where i've been because she probably left the party last night too and ran off to do god knows what.

"on second thought, i probably haven't even crossed her mind in the past few hours."

jason let out a soft laugh, "well i'll take you home anyway. that way if michael sends out a search party for you he won't have something else to be mad at."