I swear every gif that I have of Grant makes me swoon. The guy is just too adorable for me to handle. 😍😍
Chapter Seven ϟ You Can't Fool Me, Sunflower
Knock, knock, knock
Brennan's head shot up from the pillow as the knocks got louder.
"Brennan, it's Barry. We're going to need to get going if we want to make it back in Central City on time."
Brennan's mind swirled with different thoughts as she tried to remember just where she was. Memories of the night before drifted back into her stream of consciousness as her eyes caught the mini dark brown glass bottles sitting on the nightstand and scattered around the bed sheets.
Just as she started to remember where she was and what had occurred last night a pounding pain ricocheted against the inside walls of her skull causing her to lay back against the bed, gripping her head while a groan fell from her lips.
Knock, knock.
"Brennan? Are you in there?"
Another groan left her lips as she realized that he wasn't going to go away. Lifting her aching body off the mattress she trudged to the door but froze as she caught her appearance in the full-length mirror outside the bathroom.
"Dear Lord," She groaned taking in the rats nest of hair that was scattered about her head and the skimpy baby pink silk robe that was wrapped around her body but almost falling off.
Covering herself back up while trying to tame the awful mess on her head, she walked towards the door and cracked it open. Barry's fist hung in the air as if he was just about to knock again.
A smile was graced on his lips but as he took in her appearance and the scent of booze wafted out of the room, Barry's grin fell into a frown and concern enveloped his features.
"Are you hungover?"
"No." Her response was quick striking suspicion into Barry. He may not be the biggest drinker but he has gone out enough to know what someone who is hungover looks like.
He raised his eyebrow at her but she kept her stone cold face. That was until she had to blink. She rolled her eyes rubbing the sleep out of them and undoubtedly smearing the leftover mascara that resided on her eyelashes.
"Okay, yes, I am hungover. And?" She countered staring him down. The aggressiveness in her tone concerned him, but he seemed to know not to question it.
"Uh, nothing. I was just saying we should head out soon. I was thinking we could get some breakfast before we left." He suggested feeling slightly uncomfortable since he was still standing in the hallway and Brennan had the door almost all the way shut as if she was hiding something.
"We don't need to get breakfast," Brennan grumbled pulling her silk robe tighter against her body. Words from last night began to fill her head.
You don't need friends. Friends lead to pain and you've had enough of that.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts. "We can head out after I get dressed."
"Are you sure you don't want to --"
"We aren't friends Barry, so no, I don't need to get breakfast with you." Her words weren't exactly meant to hurt, but a little of the bottled up anger seeped into them causing Barry to physically flinch.
"Ouch. Okay, no breakfast." He muttered quietly looking around the hall to see if anyone else had witnessed the embarrassing moment. Luckily they were all alone.
"I'll meet you downstairs in 20 minutes," Brennan stated softly feeling guilty for snapping at him. She shut the door without waiting for a response. She walked into the bathroom that was beside the front door and looked at herself in the mirror.
Her eyes were sunken in, hair still a terrible mess. She could physically smell the Jack Daniels seeping through her pores, and she was right about her makeup. Her stark black mascara was smudged slightly underneath her bottom lid contrasting harshly against her pale skin.
Deep breaths Brennan, deep breaths.
Shaking her head, she splashed water on herself before once again facing herself in the mirror. "You did the right thing. Friends equal family and family equals pain. No more pain Brennan, no more pain."
With those words, she turned around and flipped on the water for a nice, hot shower.
ϟ
After her incredible shower, she got dressed. Slipping into a pair of dark wash jeans, she almost fell over the multitude of whiskey bottles on the floor. She huffed kicking a few into a pile on the floor, before grabbing her white chiffon button up that had a leather color and cuffs over her head. After she tossed all the alcohol bottles into the trash, she grabbed her coat and other items and shoved them inside her duffle bag before walking around doing a final check through of the hotel room.
After making sure that she had everything, Brennan left the room and headed towards the elevator to meet Barry in the lobby.
He was in a lobby seat. His head was resting on the palm of his hand, his eyes focused on his phone screen as he was mindlessly scrolling through something.
Her gut rumbled half from hunger and half from the guilt of yelling at the kind man in front of her. She stopped in the middle of the lobby and adjusted her purse back on her arm.
"Ready to go?"
His head immediately perked up from his phone at hearing her voice. It astonished him that the put together girl in front of him was hungover with a bird's nest of hair on her head, not even thirty minutes to go.
"Barry?" She questioned trying to get his attention.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Let's go." He grabbed his suitcase from beside him and followed her out to the parking garage.
After leaving the parking garage, they set off in the direction of Central City. The car was silent and you could probably cut the tension with a knife.
The slow soft sounds of John Mayor played in the background as the car traveled down the highway. Barry continued to play on his phone to try and ignore the situation but it didn't make it any better.
After about twenty minutes Brennan had had enough. "Okay, Barry. I'm sorry."
This seemed to catch his attention as he looked up at me. "What?"
"I'm sorry for being such a witch to you earlier. I didn't have a good night last night and I didn't mean to take it out on you." She breathed as she looked over at him.
He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "You don't have to apologize, I shouldn't have assumed--"
"No, I do need to apologize. No matter what you assumed, it didn't give me the right to yell at you." She interjected as he tried to play the nice guy and take the blame for her actions.
Barry's mouth opened to reply but he was cut off by the ringing of the black iPhone sitting in his hand. Brennan's eyes peeked at the caller ID to see a familiar number.
Barry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he didn't know the number that was calling him but registered that the area code was from Starling City. "Hello?" He answered glancing back over to Brennan who was now staring at the road ahead of them.
"Barry? This is Oliver Queen. I was just calling to apologize."
Looks like Barry was getting apologies left and right today.
ϟ
And just that phone call was all it took, well that and a little bit of guilt-tripping Brennan, to get the duo to attend the Queen's welcome home party for the one and only Moira Queen.
Brennan didn't know why but when Barry got those puppy dog eyes going she couldn't seem to say no. That was how she ended up stopping in at her usual stylist's office asking to borrow something for the evening.
She had brought Barry along with her knowing that Neeha would have something for him too. And Neeha didn't disappoint.
Walking into the storefront, Brennan was immediately assaulted nasally by the different essential oils that were burning around the room. It had been so long since she had been in here, Bren had forgotten just how into the scented sticks Neeha was.
Even Barry started coughing from behind her due to the intensity.
It brought the corners of Brennan's lips up. Her mother had brought her here for her very first evening gown. Not her biological mother, but Rebecca, her adoptive mother, and the only one she saw that she had. Brennan was five and fresh out of the orphanage. Rebecca and Malcolm had taken her in only a few months before this and she was still getting used to the luxury life that they had built.
When Rebecca had suggested to Brennan that morning to go dress shopping, Bren was hesitant. She had never been shopping in her entire life and though she was little, she had seen what a rich dress shop looked like and immediately she was uncomfortable.
Rebecca noticed, however, and consoled her daughter of the uneasiness she felt. Brennan can still remember the words as if it was yesterday.
"Don't you worry my little sunflower, you're going to feel right at home."
And her mother wasn't lying. The two of them walked into the shop just like Brennan had a few moments ago, eighteen years in the past, as the bell jingled above the door and the shop did feel like a home.
It wasn't a big building and it definitely didn't look like the pristine white-walled designer shops they had passed to get there but that didn't matter to Bren. She was in awe. The walls were a light gray with white scalloped trim lining the ceiling. A few mannequins with different designs on them lined the white carpet floor as three were stuck in the window front. A cash register was placed in the corner towards the back as dresses lined the walls.
Brennan's face held pure childhood wonder and she was now more excited than ever to get her first ball gown.
And in those next few seconds, Brennan got to meet one of the most passionate women she has ever met to this day. A dark-skinned woman of around six foot tall came out from behind the curtain in the back and smiled at Rebecca. She was wearing a very bright orange wrap dress with silver bangles on her wrists. Her black hair was swooped into a fashionable messy bun as silver hoop earrings dangled from her ears.
"Rebecca, you're looking as beautiful as ever!" The two women wrapped their arms around each other in an embrace with smiles on their faces.
"Thank you, Neeha." They let each other go before Neeha turned to stare her chocolate brown eyes at the little girl to Rebecca's left.
"You're most certainly welcome! And who is this gorgeous princess?"
The tall amazonian goddess bent down to the level of the little girl who stared at her with awe in her eyes.
"What's your name Baby?" She cooed in a soft voice.
"Brennan." The little brunette whispered.
"We are here to get her a gown for the ball."
"Oh, I have the perfect fit." She muttered scanning Bren up and down.
And that she did. She brought out one of the prettiest gowns Brennan had ever seen and Brennan wore it with the utmost confidence that it gave her.
Now, as she walked into those same doors, she ached again for the losses she had.
"Bella, I think those plus size designs for the new release is going to be the biggest thing since Torrid. You've got the talent Baby, you're going--" Her words stopped in her throat as her eyes set on the young brunette in front of her.
But it wasn't the older woman that spoke first. It was the younger dark-skinned woman behind her.
"Benny?" She muttered before stepping towards Brennan.
"NezeBella." Brennan responded with a nod, not being able to look her in the eye. The last time the two women had been in the same room, it didn't end in happiness.
"Honey, how are you?" Neeha questioned walking past her daughter to embrace Brennan.
"Fine. I'm good." Stiffly, Brennan wrapped her arms around Neeha.
"Neeha stepped back to get a good once over of the girl. Her eyes raked over the sadness that was etched deep in Brennan's eyes. She hadn't seen her in awhile but the wise woman knew that this wasn't the Sunflower she once knew.
"Honey, you and I both know you aren't fine. You can't fool me, Sunflower." Neeha stated tucking a strand of hair behind Brennan's ear.
Brennan knew that she was right. She never could keep anything from the older woman. "Okay, I'm not fine, but I'm dealing," Brennan muttered with a forced smile as she glanced back to Barry to see him staring in confusion at the situation.
"Really?" Neeha stated knowing very well that Brennan was lying to her. "Because I--"
"Mom." Bella placed her hand on Neeha's arm halting her sentence. The two dark-skinned women shared a look before Neeha sighed. "All right."
For the first time since she saw Nezebella walk out from the back room, Brennan made eyes contact. A 'thank you' was whispered across Brennan's lips to which Nezebella smiled at her in return.
Barry glanced between all the women as a million questions flooded through his mind. How did Brennan know these women? What happened to Brennan that they are so concerned for her and is that why she is so closed off? He focused on the young brunette as the women continued to talk to her.
"Okay Sunflower, what is it that you need?" Neeha clasped Brennan on the shoulder looking into her eyes while smiling.
"I'm here for a last minute gown. We've," She motioned towards Barry, attracting the attention of the two women. Barry's face heated up as he smiled with a slight wave. "been invited to Moira Queen's coming home party." She finishes just as Neeha and her daughter arch their eyebrows in sync at Barry.
"And who might you be Barry? The boyfrie--"
"No, we're nothing more than colleagues." Brennan cut in quickly as she glanced at Nez to see the slight look of hurt in her eyes. It had been the end of high school the last time these two were together but anyone could still see that she was still harboring feelings for the youngest Merlin.
What Brennan didn't notice was the fallen expression of hurt on Barry's face. He knew that they weren't together but he at least thought the apology in the car meant that they were friends, but apparently he was wrong.
Neeha caught it, however, and let out a humphf but she didn't question it.
"All right. I think I have just what you need."
Nicole Beharie as NezeBella (Nez-Ah-Bell-Ah)