Bree’s P.O.V (November 10th)
I walked down the corridor, on my way to the lounge. Me and Clay were meeting to work on my project. Before I left Rage, Hayden, Jacob, Parker, and Kyle laid down all the rules, which was annoying as hell; although the rules were pretty fair. They were almost the same as the rules that Kyle made yesterday, so it wasn’t too bad.
“Oh Bree! There you are, I have to talk to you.” Clayton was running down the corridor towards me. His face looked serious, almost panicked.
“Something wrong?” I asked almost scared to hear the answer.
“Kind of, but it’s nothing major. Just a technical difficulty in working on this project. It might not even make a difference to you but, it could. I’m not sure.” He was rambling so I put my hand over his mouth.
“Just get to the point.” I sighed removing my hand.
“Well… Shane’s in the lounge right now and I’ve heard about what happened, so I just thought that you wouldn’t want to be in there with him.” Clayton rubbed the back of his neck, whether because he was nervous or something else, I wasn’t sure.
My heart started to beat faster. Clayton was totally right, I didn’t want to be in the same room as him if I could help it. “Your completely right. I don’t want to be anywhere near him if I can help it.”
“I thought so. So where do you want to work on this then?” He asked, but before I could answer his face lit up. “We can work on my room! My roommates in the nurses office, so we’d have it all to our self.”
“I guess that could work.” I answered slowly. I didn’t want to seem like I didn’t trust him. That would just put the whole plan in jeopardy, but I also didn’t want to break one of the main rules the guys set down.
“Follow me then!” Clayton smiled as he started walking back down the way he came running from. Neither of us talked to whole way to his room. It was an awkward silence, and I almost couldn’t take it anymore.
“Well here we are, sorry for the mess.” Clay laughed a little opening the door to reveal a room almost identical to Kyle or Jacobs rooms. There was a fairly big living area with a two single beds on the far wall, a counter with a coffee maker and mini fridge on it, and on the left hand side of the room a door that led to a bathroom.
“It’s not that messy.” I comment walking over to the couch and sitting down. The room truly wasn’t messy. There was only a few shirts on the floor here and there and the odd pop can, but other than that the room was clean.
“Are you serious?” He asked looking at me like I was crazy.
“yeah?”
“You’re crazy.” He smirked sitting next to me on the couch. I just shook my head.
“So we better start this project.” I stated pulling my note book and pen out of my bag. “First things first. Tell me about yourself. Favourite colors, movies, bands, songs, anything like that.”
Clayton took a deep breath, “My favourite color is dark purple and dark blue, my favourite movie is ‘Fast Five’, my favourite band is Hollywood Undead, but my favourite song is Lollipop by Framing Hanley. I love fall, it’s the best time of the year. Thunderstorms are epic. Halloween and Christmas are my favourite holidays, and popcorn is the best food in the world.”
I quickly wrote that all down in the notebook. As I wrote the thunderstorm thing I grimaced, I hate those things.
“What was that face about?” Clayton asked. His voice laced with worry.
“Oh, I just really hate thunderstorms.” I said quickly as I continued to write down the things he had previously said.
“Why do you hate thunderstorms?”
I sighed, I really didn’t want to tell him, but again If I want to win his trust I have to make some sacrifices. “When I was little, like maybe 6 years old, I was playing at the park. A freak thunderstorm happened and I was stuck that the park. I hid in this rubber tire fort that was there. A tree right beside me got hit by lightning and almost landed on the fort. It was only about 2 feet away from where I was.” I felt the tears coming, but I pushed them down. Clay didn’t need to see me cry.
“Damn…” He muttered giving me a sympathetic look.
“Yeah… But that was the past, this is the present. Next thing for you to answer: Describe one event from your early childhood that changed your life forever, include lots of detail.”
As I looked up after reading the question out, I could visibly see Clayton’s emotions change on his face and in his eyes; sadness, and then anger. “When I was 9, my dad found out that my mom had been cheating on him, with my best friends dad, the whole time they were married. I was devastated. They got a divorce after that. My mom went and got married to that guy while my dad moved out of state. I moved back and forth between the two; a month at each place.” I could hear the tears in his voice as he talked, and I wrote.
“My mom had ‘the perfect life’. She had another son, a ‘great husband’, and even better; she had money. My dad on the other hand turned into a drunk. He couldn’t handle the fact that the woman he loved cheated on him the whole time they were married.” I continued to write as Clayton took a shaky breath. I moved a little closer to him and place a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“As I got older I vowed I would never truly rely on anyone ever again. I didn’t want to make my dad’s mistake. So I became distant from everyone. I started ‘acting out’ and everyone said I had anger issues. Because of what my mom did shaped who I am today.” I finished writing just after he stopped talking. When I looked up his face was stained with tears.
“I’m sorry for making you tell me that.” I whispered putting my pen and notebook down.
He wiped the tears away and then took a breath to calm himself, “No, it’s fine. I knew you ask something like this anyway. I could have said no if it wanted to.”
“I guess. Well as much as I would like to ask more questions and stuff, I’d really hate to make you hurt more. So I guess I’ll be going.” I said standing up from the couch, putting the pen and notebook back in my bag.
“Why don’t we go out for supper or something? It is already 5:30.” Clayton suggested. I gave him a look saying ‘did you really just ask me out?’. He quickly understood the look and added, “As friends?” I gave him the look again. He rolled his eyes, “Fine, as project partners?”
“Sure, as project partners.” I agreed. He smiled and we headed off the where ever we were going to have supper.
***
“I’ll get a baconator and a diet pepsi.” I told the Wendy’s cashier person.
“Okay, and you sir?” She asked looking at Clayton.
“I’ll get the same, but sprite instead of the diet pepsi.” He said politely.
“Okay that will be $19.35.” The lady said. I went to grab money out of my bag but Clayon grabbed my hand, stopping me from doing so.
“This is my treat.” He said pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. He handed the lady a 20 and grabbed the tray walked towards an empty two-person booth.
“You really didn’t have to pay.” I said honestly as I unwrapped the burger.
“Yes I did. Think of it as my way of saying I’m really sorry for making your first two months hear hell.” He said with a pink tinge in his cheeks from embarrassment.
“It wasn’t that bad actually. If you hadn’t of fought with me that day on the track, I would have never gotten together with Parker.” Clayton’s mouth was full so instead of actually asking how, he just gave me a look that asked for him.
“Well after I left you at the track and went back to my dorm, Parker helped me clean up since I was a complete mess. We ended up making out, and then he asked me out and yeah.” I explained.
“oh, well then you’re welcome for that I guess.” He said. After that was silence as we ate. It was kind of an awkward silence, but I was going to complain. I hate talking when I’m eating. Once we were both done, we threw out our garbage and headed back towards the dorms.
“Thanks again for supper Clayton.” I said as we neared my dorm.
“Oh, it was no problem.” He assured.
“Want to work on the project tomorrow?” I asked.
“Sure. 4 in the lounge?” He asked. I nodded my head, twisting the door knob to my room.
“See you then.” He turned and walked away down the hallway. I walked into the room after he disappeared into the elevator.
“Where were you? It’s 7 o’clock, and you weren’t in the lounge.” Jacob’s voice was stern. He looked really mad too. He acted as if he was my older brother not younger.
“I was at Wendy’s Jacob. It’s fine.” I assured him.
“Then why weren’t you are the lounge at all. Nobody saw you there.” He accused.
“You had people watching me? I asked starting to get mad.
“Well we did have to make sure you were okay.” Hayden reasoned. I hadn’t even seen him sitting beside Jacob.
“Yeah, well Shane was in there so Clayton said to work in his dorm.”
“Oh.” Was all Jacob said.
“Yeah ‘oh’. He just was looking out for me.” I huffed before going into the bedroom to get clothes. I had to be quiet because Parker and Rage were asleep. Once going back to the bathroom and changing I walked back out into the living room. Jacob and Hayden were still talking.
“He is nicer than any of us thought.” I stated before walking into the bedroom and crawling into my bed.
Today was definitely one of the weird days here at Dr. Reids Reformative.