"Care to explain why, exactly, you were sleeping with Bryce?" my mom asked furiously, her arms crossed. We were all sitting on the two couches across from each other. And by all, I mean me and Bryce on one love seat, and Amy, Jesse, and my raging mother on the other.
"Mom, it's not-"
"Are you using protection?" she quickly asked, cutting me off. Beside me Bryce slightly choked, and I threw my head into my hands, hoping that the embarrassment would just hurry and come to an end.
"We aren't doing that," I said, forcing my eyes to travel up and meet hers. Amy, who had been quiet since this whole debate had started, appeared to have a small grin on her face. Maybe she found this amusing, but I, for one, did not. And I doubt Bryce did either.
Jesse, on the other hand, just smirked in my direction. She'd been shocked and slightly upset when she'd first found us, but it was obvious she was completely over that now. Why wouldn't she be? She'd just found her best friend in the bed with the guy said best friend had liked for a bazillion years. Too bad it wasn't what she thought it was.
My mother rolled her eyes and pointed a finger at me before saying, "Yeah, right, Caroline. I wasn't born yesterday, you know. I keep up with how teenagers act and what they do, and if you so much as think for a second that you're going to get away with fooling me, so help me-"
"Mom!" I shouted. The whole conversation was giving me a major headache. No wonder Bryce didn't want to share a bed with me.
"Really, Ms. Miranda, Caroline wasn't sleeping with me in that way. She's just been having some nightmares," Bryce explained, leaning so his elbows were on his knees, his deep eyes trying to persuade my mom into believing him; into believing the truth.
"Nightmares? Caroline's never had nightmares before."
"Well she is now," he politely said. When his gaze slipped to me for a second, I knew right then that he didn't want to reveal why I was having the nightmares; he didn't want to embarrass me more.
"Why?" Jesse asked. By the way she quickly shut her mouth, I knew she had only been thinking outloud. She had always done that.
Before Bryce could come to my rescue again, I hurriedly whispered, "The fire."
"What?" my mom questioned.
"The fire," I repeated. "Ever since the day the Hart's house burned down I've been getting nightmares. Sleeping and talking with Bryce is the only thing that helps keep them away."
The room got silent; the only sound I could hear was the drumming of my heart against my ribs. I absentmindedly wondered if everyone else was able to hear its beating as well, as I fidgeted and anxiously waited for a response.
"Why didn't you say something earlier sweetheart?" my mother asked, guilt clouding her beautiful face.
"I didn't want to worry you anymore than you already were. Besides, it's kind of embarrassing, you know?"
"Actually," she started. "I don't understand at all. There is nothing to be embarrassed about, Caroline. You saw something that obviously was very frightful, and it's completely normal to have night terrors over it. What's more embarrassing is that I'm your mother, and you don't even feel like you can confide in me."
The hurt look in her eyes caused a feeling of guilt to settle itself deep within my chest.
"Mom..." I whined. "It isn't like that. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
The next few minutes consisted of the adults and us going back and forth about the whole situation. My mom held back tears, while I held back the disgusting hatred for myself; I should've just told her in the first place. And then I explained everything to everyone. Once my explanation was finished, silence coated the room for several agonizing moments.
"Well," Amy eventually said. "This is a tough situation, isn't it? On one side we don't want you depending on Bryce too much, since of course our stay here won't be forever. But if there's no other way to stop your nightmares..." She trailed off.
My eyes glanced at Bryce for a small second. Why hadn't he said anything in the past few minutes? What was he thinking? Why did I care, again? Ugh, I really needed to snap out of it!
"Maybe therapy?" asked my mom. Just the thought made me cringe.
"How about this?" Amy started again. "Us adults will talk it over and then let you two know. Until then, go enjoy your break."
I didn't have to be told twice. My legs stood me up and quickly took me to my room where I changed, slipped on my shoes, and grabbed a small bag. I threw my phone and my wallet in it before leaving. Jesse was still in the same position as before, and when her eyes met mine I signaled her with a small nod to follow me. She had already changed prior to the incident of finding me in my crush/ex-crushes bed.
As we left the house, I said goodbye to Amy and my mom, not even daring to watch Bryce, watch me leave.
"Talk about awkward," Jesse said when we were headed down the street. A car would definitely have been nice, but of course, my mother refused to allow me to have one until I graduated. Oh well, there were worse things, I supposed.
"So where do you want to go?" I asked her, not wanting to continue on the subject we had just discussed not even five minutes before.
"Are you okay Caroline? You're looking a little-"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just bored. Now, where's our destination?"
"Um, Target?" Her voice was filled with worry and confusion, but I ignored it. A break, that's all I wanted. Luckily my house was near everything my town had to offer: the movie theatre, a McDonald's, and a Target. Etc, etc.
It took a little under thirty minutes to reach the entrance, and in that time I rambled on and on about random stuff, such as the day I'd get my cast removed and how much I was looking forward to our annual beach trip we took every summer.
Jesse contributed to the so-called conversation, but the real fun didn't start until we actually went inside of the store.
After grabbing a buggie, we headed off to every section, just looking for something to buy. The toy aisle, the music aisle, the clothes section, we went through them all. The only thing was... we had no money. None, zip, zilch. We were just there for the heck of it. There was nothing like window shopping at the local Target.
An hour later we pushed the buggie back to the entrance, but just as I was about to turn around and walk away, my body smacked into something hard. Except, from my view on the floor, it seemed as if that something hadn't been a thing at all. More like a someone. A very cute someone.
"I am so sorry," he said, reaching down to help me up. I allowed him to do so, staring at his face. He had sandy blond hair and green eyes, with a jaw line that would put other guys to shame. He was wearing a red uniformed Target work shirt, informing me of his employment.
"No, don't be," I started nervously. "It was my fault anyways."
"No, I should've been watching where I was going. Are you okay?" he asked, as my eyes shifted downwards to his name-tag. It read Bradley.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" I could feel Jesse staring at me and the stranger I'd run into. She must have been admiring the way he looked because she had yet to pull me away or complain that I was taking too long.
Bradley chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand, before saying, "Yeah, it seems that I'm still completely intact."
"Well," I said nervously. I wasn't very great around strangers. Especially good-looking guy strangers. "I guess I'll see you around."
I turned to walk away, Jesse folding her arm into my elbow when we heard him say, "Yeah, see you around."
-----
"Where've you been?" Bryce asked from the living room couch when I walked in several hours later. Jesse had already left, claiming her parents would be upset if she stayed out too late.
My heart skipped a beat at his voice and my palms got sweaty, but I pushed the anxious feeling I felt in my stomach and simply asked, "Why do you care?"
"Why wouldn't I?" This caused me to stop and stare at him. His eyebrows were raised, his legs crossed as if he was a guest on some talk-show, and his arm draped over the back of the love-seat.
"You never have before," I finally said, moving to sit beside him. Sighing, I plopped down and leaned back. was exhausted.
"What if..." Bryce paused, causing me to snap my gaze over to him. He seemed perplexed about something, and sitting up straighter, I waited for him to finish what he wanted to say.
"What if what?" I pushed.
His eyes traveled to mine, and I nearly melted. Ugh, stop it! You are not supposed to feel this way about him anymore! Get over it!
"What if... I do care about you?" It was a whisper, and the second the words were out of his mouth my face lit up like a fire cracker.
"Uh..." Good reply, Caroline. Any other genius words in that head of yours?
"Listen," he said, coughing and turning to face me. "I've been thinking lately, and I honestly thing being with you is the best thing for me. So... what do you say?"
"What?" I swallowed. Was this another nightmare? What had gotten into him? Had he taken something?
"Come on Caroline," he said, scooting closer. I leaned back.
"This is just too sudden for me," I finally spat out, shoving him away. Or trying to, anyways. "I mean, I've never even dated before, and you spring this up on me out of nowhere? No, no, no! I like you, but-"
Laughter cut me off. Glancing up, I saw Bryce clenching his sides, his eyes crinkled at the edges. What in the world was going on?
"You didn't think I was serious, did you?" he choked out as he struggled for air. "I mean, really? I would never say anything like that!"
My face flushed even more than before and angry tears threatened to fall. "You jackass!" I screamed, reaching for a pillow and slamming it onto his face over and over again.
"Hey, stop it," he said, covering his face. "Ow, Caroline! I said stop!"
"No! You suck! That was so mean!" Finally, after nearly two-dozen more whacks, I stopped and stood, standing over his cowering form.
He sat up a second later, glaring at me. "I was just messing around with you, calm down, will you?"
This only made me angrier, and in one last attempt to cause him physical pain, I took off both my shoes and threw them at him. "It wasn't funny!" And then I stormed off to my room, his laughter reaching my ears as I slammed the door shut.
Dumb jerk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yay! Another chapter!
This one is kind of a filler if you couldn't tell, but I hope you guys like it. Sorry it took so long! I did NaNoWriMo and won! Woot woot! :D . To those who read Love and Lines, that wiill be updated soon as well. I'm already half-way through with the chapter.
Anyways, new character. I'm sure those who have all read the manga or watched one of the dramas (or all of them haha) know what his role will be in this. It'll be a tad different, but yeah.
Until next time! Please vote, comment, and thank you all so much for being so patient! I honestly love you guys! Your support has been amazing! :D .