Chapter 11- Don't judge a book by it's cover.
"Is that a... condom?" My eyes widened when I saw a rubber ring lying on the sofa, the which I was currently sitting on.
I shot up from the sofa and looked at it in horror. As far as I know it's not used. Hopefully, I'm right.
"Uh... yeah," Brandon said sheepishly.
"Wow! So this is where you dump your... stuff?" I quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Well... you would be surprised if I tell you the places where I like to dump my stuff," he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows in suggestion.
"Ewww!" I cringed at his horrible innuendo.
He laughed and grabbed a plastic spoon from the counter. He held the spoon upside down and slid the condom on the spoon. He then wrapped it in a plastic bag and threw it in the dust bin.
"How could you be so irresponsible! You have a child in your house for God's sake!" I exclaimed, he said that he had a baby sister. You cannot forget a condom on the damn couch just like that knowing that you have a child in the house.
Before he could respond, a high-pitched scream echoed in the house. I saw a baby girl with bright green eyes and beautiful blonde hair. She had rosy cheeks and was wearing a pretty orange colored summer dress. So, in short she epitomised cuteness. She ran down down the stairs and sprinted towards Brandon.
"Hey darling," he said and ran towards her, he lifted her in his arms and kissed her cheek. She giggled and pressed a kiss on his nose.
"Sophie, she's my sister, Peyton,"he said fondly. As soon as he kept her down, she hid behind his feet. She clutched them with her chubby fingers and peeked a look at me.
"Hey," I greeted and crouched down at her level. I offered her my hand, she looked at me and then at Brandon. He nodded his head at her and gave her light smile. With lots of hesitation, she took it and came to me.
She was literally the cutest thing ever. She smiled at me and gently took her hand back after a few seconds.
We had to submit the synopsis of our project after three days so we had to start working on it from today itself, much to Brandon's disappointment.
We didn't have my place as an option because my sister is still home and I don't want to take Brandon with me when she's there. She would make every thing ten times worst by exaggerating every single word that flew out of her mouth.
After a lot of arguments, few insults, a few death threats and a promise of broken balls, he finally agreed to "waste" his precious time on the project. I had to take a permission from my mother whether I can stay back and do my work, even though I'm eighteen. Lucky me.
After she agreed ,we drove to his place on the motorcycle, of course. And let me tell you that it's the best thing ever. I don't know why was I so scared from that vehicle. Naturally, I'm going to find a car boring after this.
He asked me to make myself home at his place, so I sat on his couch. What I did not expect was a condom lying beside me. I was about to put my hand on it. A shudder ran through my spine as I thought about it. Go ahead and call me prude, but just so you should know that I'm a virgin and seeing a condom when you're all alone with a guy is enough to scare the living daylights out of me.
"Let's go to a park," Peyton whined, giving us puppy dog eyes. Who could say no to such a cute face?
"We have to work Peyton."
Well, Brandon could. Actually, he was correct. We had to complete our work, but at the same time I was tempted to spend time with her.
She made one more adorable face and I could not resist it. Why to small kids have to be so cute?
"Maybe you could go after two hours. By that time, we'll be done with a huge chunk of it," I suggested. This way we can finish our work and spend time with Peyton as well.
"Okay," Brandon agreed.
He fished out his laptop from the cupboard and we started working with the project and the possible subtitles which we needed to include in the project. After almost one and a half hour we had finished with the advantages of Morphine which included sedatives, pain killers, etc.
We neatly wrote it down on a piece of paper and filed it properly. To say that Brandon was good at this subject would be an understatement. He pretty much escalated in it. Maybe that's wht they say that we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. I wonder how I didn't notice that before?
After that, we transferred the synopsis into the pen drive and wrapped up with the project work for today.
Peyton was waiting for us to finish and as soon as we finished our work completely, she rushed downstairs with a barbie doll in her hand. She had changed her clothes and now she was wearing cute jean shorts along with a pink T- shirt.
"Let's go to the park," she said enthusiastically. "Even Sophia will come with us."
I did not have the heart to refuse her, so I naturally agreed to go.
"Okay," I smiled.
"Yay, let's go!" She grabbed each one of our hand and started dragging us to the the front door. Brandon grabbed the house keys from the shoe rack while I tied the lace of my converse.
We started walking to the nearest park. According to Brandon, it was only a five minutes walk.
After we reached the park, Peyton ran towards the swings with her doll tightly clutched in her arms. Her eyes had a glint of pure innocence and her cheeks were had turned rosy bexause of the sudden adrenaline rush.
We sat on the nearby bench and watched her play.
"I'm sorry," Brandon suddenly whispered, sounding very guilty. His eyes were casted on the ground, he ran a hand over his hair and sighed in frustration. He was acting as if this is the first time he has ever apologised to someone, which did not surprise me at all.
"For what?" Why was he even apologising in the first place?
"For everything," he said and looked at me. "All of this happened because of me. I know that you're not comfortable when it comes to large crowds, but still I somehow manage to draw all the attention to you."
That was unexpected. I never thought that he'll notice my fear when it comes to spotlights. I always try my best to act completely natural, but he still caught it.
I placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed it in a reassuring way.
"It's okay Brandon, I know that none of it was intentional. Besides, what's done is done. You can't do anything about it. Let's just forget it and move ahead with our lives."
And this time, he gave me a genuine smile. The one which makes his blue eyes twinkle, the one which can make a girl lick his feet and the one which I'm fond of.
I felt slight prick on my right arm. For a nanosecond, nothing happened, but after that I suddenly felt like there has been an electric shock running instead of blood running through my veins.
I shrieked and started rubbing my arm vigorously. Brandon looked bewildered because all of a sudden I started jumping up and down. He shot up from his seat and grabbed my right arm to examine that what the hell was wrong with it.
"Relax Sophia, it's just a bee sting," Brandon said in an attempt to calm me.
"How on Earth am I supposed to relax? I feel like pulling my arm off," I half-screamed and half-groaned at the last word as a sudden prickle of pain shot through my injured arm. He flinched at my scream, but did not say anything. By that time, we even had Peyton by our side. Even, she was eyeing me with concern.
"There's a pharmaceutical store nearby, we'll go there and buy an antiseptic which will help you to ease the pain," he said and grabbed my other arm with his right hand. He then asked Peyton to hold his other hand and she gingerly obeyed. I'm sure we might've made quiet a show for the people, but at this point of time, I don't care.
We got the antiseptic from the store. Brandon asked for a piece of cotton instead, they gave him the whole role. He plucked a piece from it, dipped it in the bottle and pressed it properly on my wound.
He tried to be gentle, but as soon as he presses it, the electric current started flowing through my body. I clamped my mouth shut and muffled a scream. He applied more pressure and the pain became worse Unfortunately this time, I was not able to control myself and a high-pitched scream left my mouth.
"Owww." I screamed and he loosened the pressure on my arm.
"Don't be dramatic, Sophie," he rolled his eyes at me and continued with his work.
"Brandon it's painful!" I exclaimed. "You know what? If I were a crazy witch, I would've cursed you that about thousand bees would sting you on every part of your visible skin. Only then you'll understand that how it feels."
I noticed that he simply ignored me and carried on with his work with a slight smirk on his face. Jerk.
After he cleaned it with an antiseptic, he took a new cotton ball, applied some ointment on it and gently placed on the sting. He then firmly bandaged it on my arm.
By now, the pain had considerably reduced and I was feeling better. Much better.
I frowned when I saw him paying for the medicine and other stuff.
"Brandon wait. I'll pay," I said and removed the money from my jean pocket.
"It's okay, I got it covered," he said.
"But..." I was about to say and he immediately cut me off.
"I've already paid, now let's go." He held Peyton's hand and started walking ahead.
"Wait," I said and caught with him. "So what about tomorrow? Your place or mine?"
"Anything is okay with me," he shrugged.
"Then my place?" I asked. My sister would be gone, so my place won't be an issue anymore.
"Oka..." Peyton immediately cut him off.
"Nooooo," Peyton whined. "Can you come at our place, please?" She said and stuck her bottom lip out.
How can I refuse such a cute girl?
"Okay then, your it is," I said and she immediately grinned.
We made our way to Brandon's place so that we could drop Peyton over there and then he would drop me home. I told him that I could go by a cab, but he insisted.
He said that if his mom was there then we can leave immediately, but if she wasn't then we would have to wait until she arrives.
Suddenly, I became nervous about meeting his mother. It's not like I'm one of his girlfriends, so why did my heart started beating faster at thought of it?
Chill Sophia, his mother would be just like others, sweet and caring. In other words, she'll be normal. She won't prepare burnt cookies for you like Luke Castellan's mother while waiting for her son to arrive.
I gulped at the thought.
As soon as he opened the door, I prepared myself for the worst.
XXX
I've decided to change the end part of this chapter.Accordingly, I've written the next chapter. Let me now if you're confused about it.
I had finished this part long ago, but as soon as I published it, everything went blank. I was asked to log in once more and as soon as I did it, the whole chapter disappeared! :( One time I forget to save it on Word and this happens :/
I did not feel like writing after that, but somehow I managed to write the whole thing again.
For those who didn't understand, Luke Castellan is a character from Percy Jackson.
Unedited. Kindly point out my errors.
Vote.Comment.Follow.
_FrustratedTeen_