Months had passed now as the last semester of the school year came to an end. Brett and Bailey were as close as ever, even if she had turned him down all those months before. He was spending time with the Republic again, life was good except for one factor that never came around after everything that had happened back in winter. Emma.
When they returned from winter break Emma had transferred out of Mrs. Conrad's class and into another one. Now Brett barely saw her, she was never on the bus or in the hallways she was always preoccupied with something as far a way from him as possible.
Deep down he was craving to tell her how he felt about her, now that everything had blown over with Bailey. In reality he was in the same spot that he used to be with Emma, just this time it was Bailey.
However now it was summer and he didn't see either of them in his day to day life except for Mike and his other friend Tom. Tom used to be in school with the other two boy's except when high school came around he opted out for the school with the 'better' reputation. Now though school didn't matter as they sat in Tom's room playing some retro video games, and engaging with their inner hipsters.
Mike and Brett were going head to head in a classic game of tanks. When Tom walked into the room. Tom was the nerd who believed he was one of the preppy boys. His head was completely shaved except for the very top where his blonde hair had a bit of a curl. Living in a variety of sleeveless muscles shirts to show off his non existent muscles, Tom had been friends with the other two for eight years.
"Alright fellas, I got next."
Behind them Tom sat down on the bed, as he watched the others battle it out. Mike and Brett rapidly clicked buttons as an eight bit explosion popped up on the screen. Brett dropped the controller as Mike won, before picking it back up and handing the controller back to Tom.
"Here. I need a break anyway."
They start up the game again, as Mike and Tom start a new game and fixate on the old school TV. Brett watched for a moment before turning his attention to his phone, he pulled it out of his pocket. He immediately opens it up and looks at the last text message he had received from Bailey, two weeks earlier.
"So did you ever talk to Emma?"
Mike's words broke him out of his trance of the device as he looked back up at the game on the screen.
"I tried but she won't talk to me."
"What about the other girl?"
"She went back to her hometown, so I've kinda given up on talking to her, but man I still can't believe I screwed up everything with Emma."
Brett didn't see himself returning to his phone anytime soon, as he put it back into his pocket. A confused Tom came to life behind Brett sounding confused at the situation.
"Wait, back up. You and Emma have a thing now."
"Not anymore it seems."
"Ah that's to bad cuz she was totally into you bro. Anyways enough girl talk, we're gonna go get us some sugar."
Brett looked a little disheartened knowing the Tom was right about Emma. That was in the past now though as tom reached over and turned the game off and left the room, it was the universal sign for Brett and Mike to get up and follow him out to the front of his house.
Tom was known for taking his time, he was never in a rush when he told the boys to get ready. Normally they'd be sitting on his front porch while he sat inside and played a song on his piano, because he was spontaneously 'inspired' and had to play, no questions asked.
The other two boys had gotten used to it, taking in the fresh air of the dry summer day as they exchanged words between one another. Finally the sound of the piano stopped and the screen door to Tom's house opened up. Closing the door behind him, he checked the knob a couple times before looking over his shoulder at Mike.
"Hey man, check to make sure I locked the door."
Tom was crawling with paranoia as he always asked someone to pretend to be a burglar and try to open the door knob, it was some weird ritual of his and he'd stand over your shoulder holding the door open watching as you turned the knob. Again the door was locked, giving Tom some relief.
"Alright Boys, to the store. We're getting some sugary drinks that will kill us slowly."
As much as Brett couldn't help but cringe at some of the dry jokes Tom was trying to pull off, he gave Tom the satisfaction of giving him a chuckle before standing up on the wooden steps. The three boys begin to walk, chatting about random things occasionally switching up the orientation but mainly Mike and Tom are beside each other while Brett followed behind them.
Mike and Tom switch up the conversation, that Brett had no part in. It resulted in Brett pulling out his phone, hoping one of the girls texted him but it was still silent. Still holding on to hope he opened the conversation with Bailey again and sent her a simple Hey message putting a smiley face after it and pushed the send button before putting it back into his pocket.
The convenience store came into sight as they boys walked through the parking lot to the front door. A Slush machine was on the far wall as each of the boys filled up some cups and headed back to the front counter.
"See boys, right here is the cure to heartbreak."
Tom raised the plastic cup up triumphantly, while Brett watched sipping out some of the liquid before commenting.
"Yea, mountains of sugar."
"What no, I meant brain freezes. Everyone knows you can't focus if your brain is to cold and in pain duh."
Brett wanted to believe Tom was right about the whole Brain freeze thing, yet a freeze could always be warmed up by the thought of some one special that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with, which was exactly what Brett was thinking.