THEY WERE ON TO him. Brandon doesn't know for how long or how much they knew, but Patricia and Joy knew something and they may have already told Marissa.
Brandon paces his bedroom nervously, biting his thumb nail despite how nasty of a habit it is. His chest felt tight, he gripped his hair so tight he was surprised no strands fell out. Butterflies formed in his stomach, and they weren't the good kind.
His dad was going to be furious. "You had one job," Brandon can imagine him saying. Which is true. He failed.
-
Marissa Bradley woke up happy. Like she has for the past few nights, on Cloud 9. She walked as if she were floating, she spoke as if nothing bad could ever result in any conversation ever, her eyes gleamed as if she were in love. Contain yourself, Marissa told herself. It's been one date.
Which is true; it's been three days since their night out at the diner, and Brandon hasn't even brought up anything that could potentially swerve into a conversation about a second date.
Marissa frowned at that thought, but quickly shook it out of her head to prevent the loss of her good mood. Of course Brandon was going to ask her on a second date, right?
The girl finished getting dressed for the day and skipped out of her bedroom, humming her way down the stairs. She bid a greeting to Victor (who gave her a strange look) and even smiled in Jerome's direction when she passed him in the halls (ignoring the eyebrow raise Alfie sent).
Lately, Jerome and Marissa haven't been arguing as much as they used too. They haven't been speaking at all, actually. The smile Marissa sent is the first sign of contact the two shared since the girl got back from her date with Brandon.
Flinching slightly at the thought of her past date and probably dead-end unofficial relationship, Marissa took her seat at the breakfast table, expecting to see Patricia and Joy sitting in the seats beside her. They weren't.
That's another odd thing that's been going on; the dynamic trio haven't been seen together in three days. Marissa didn't notice it as much as her housemates did, for she too stuck in the 'honeymoon phase' of a relationship that hasn't even been declared official yet.
The thought of Patricia and Joy being upset with her hasn't even crossed the girl's mind. In their five years of friendship, never have the three girls ever been in a rough patch (other than that one time they couldn't decide who would get to fake-date Stefan Salvatore).
Marissa didn't realize how naïve she actually was.
-
Advice is annoying.
Whether you are the one in need of it, or the one giving it, it never ends well. The giver can say the wrong thing leaving you more confused than you were before, or the advice you get is not something you wanted to hear.
In Marissa's case, it's both.
Amber stayed true to her – vague – words when she last came to Marissa for advice. The brunette spotted her blonde friend leave a conversation with the one and only Brandon, moments before it was time to head off for class.
Marissa didn't want to come off as nosy (she would never get a second date then) so she shrugged it off, completely forgetting about it, until Amber came up to her.
"Did you know that Brandon is literally the funniest guy I've ever met?" She asks, pretty much swooning on the spot.
Jerome and Alfie, who were sitting right next them, gasped dramatically, yelling out a series of "how could you" and "eight years we've known each other!"
"That's good to know, Ambs," Marissa chuckles, trying to focus on her Chemistry homework and not how fast her heart rate sped up.
"Also, did you know that that boy is quite possibly head over heels for you?" Amber said again, her question rhetorical but still excited for some sort of reaction
Marissa bit her cheek, trying to stop the smile that would inevitably appear on her face. She was too busy trying to hide her emotions, she didn't even notice Jerome doing the same thing.
Fists balled and jaw clenched, the boy wasn't happy. He's pretty sure Alfie is saying something from beside him, but Jerome heard nothing, his attention clearly elsewhere. On someone else. The girl head over heels for the enemy.
Jerome doesn't care, though, of course.
Why would he?
-
He finally did it. Brandon Samuels finally had the guts to ask Marissa out on a second date. The two are pretty sure they heard a very excited "yes!" from somewhere behind them, but both were too caught up in their embrace to know for sure.
Marissa was over the moon happy.
Brandon was completely and utterly terrified.
He finally got a second chance and if he messed this up, he would never hear the end of it, and his dad will take care of the "problem" himself. He can't let that happen. Not after last time.
He's going to have to plan everything perfectly, down to the last detail. If something goes wrong then there will be no third chance. It's now or never, and despite Brandon desperately wants to choose the latter, he knows that won't be possible. Go in, get what you need, leave. Three, easy to remember steps.
She's head over heels for you. This won't fail, he tells himself. Not after last time.
-
Marissa was jumping up and down on her bed in child-like excitement. She ignored Victor when he demanded from downstairs what that "incessant noice was" and she moved over slightly when Amber asked if she could join.
She got the second date, that's all she cared about.
"We need to talk."
Marissa stopped suddenly, her hair falling in front of her face and her cheeks rosy from exhaustion, yet the smile still as prominent on her face.
Patricia and Joy stood at the foot of her bed, both their arms crossed over their chest. Both their faces looked serious. Marissa's smile fell.
Amber excused herself from the tension, claiming the aura the room suddenly gave off was going to stress her out. Marissa doesn't blame her.
"What's going on?" She asks tentatively, sitting on her bed properly. "Am I in trouble?" She adds, trying to lighten the mood. The look on her friend's' faces pretty much told her they were in no mood for jokes. Marissa shut up.
"You can't go on that date," Joy says.
The girl on the bed looks taken aback, her heart sinking at her best friend's words.
"Why?" She asks, her voice smaller than she wanted it to be.
"We explained to you before, Marissa," Patricia snaps. "He's not a good guy and you're going to get hurt in the end."
"How do you know that?" Marissa demands, her anger rising drastically. "You weren't on that date, he acted completely normal to me."
"That's because you were too lovesick to realize how fake he actually is!" Patricia argues, determined to get her friend to realize how awful this guy was for her.
"We don't want you to get hurt," Joy said, repeating what they said before. "You were on our side before, Marissa. You believed us when we told you he was no good, but now you changed your mind, and we're trying to change it back."
Marissa sighs, wanting to just lay back in bed and sleep, but she sucked it up. She needed this conversation to be over with. "You're right, I did believe you. Trust me, I was weary throughout most of the date and I even asked him if he knew anything about my mom. But guys, he looked so offended that I even accused him of anything in the first place. He doesn't know anything," she finished, hoping her friends will get the hint.
The two girls share a look and sigh, not saying anything but thinking the same thing.
They were just going to have to wait.
-
They were an hour into the date. With her friends words still in her mind, Marissa wasn't paying full attention to dinner, and Brandon noticed.
"What's going on?" He lightly asks. He placed his hand on the girl's cheek, gently bringing it up so their eyes met. Marissa shook her head. "Come on, you can tell me," Brandon says again, pleading with his eyes.
Marissa sighs.
"It's just..." she bit her lip, wondering if she really could trust this boy. She shook her head, pulling herself together. What Patricia and Joy think are just assumptions. They're far off from the truth. "It's just Patricia and Joy," Marissa explains. "We got into an argument, and I feel kind of bad about it, but at the same time, I'm upset with them."
"What happened?" Brandon pressed, slightly too eager for the answer.
Marissa noticed, and realized something flash across the boy's eyes. Greed, desperation, impatience. "It's nothing," she says hesitantly, placing her attention back on to her pasta.
Brandon grit his teeth, frustrated he was getting nowhere with this. He took a deep breath, calming himself before his anger got the better of him. That would make everything so much harder.
"We need to talk about something," Brandon started. Marissa looks up. "It's about your mom. I lied before, I do know what happened to her. I know how she died." It was that moment that Marissa Bradley realized what her friend's' were saying was true.
-
She ran home, faster than she's over run before. She let him finish explaining, but she couldn't process his words fast enough. All Marissa knew was that Brandon was a liar, Patricia and Joy were right, and she needed to get out of there.
Marissa didn't know if the cause of her hazy vision were her tears or if it was the rain, but it resulted in her getting lost more than once and increasingly more frustrated than before.
It took an hour before she finally made it back to Anubis house. She was sobbing, she was wet, she was late for curfew.
Marissa was a mess.
(note!)
lil late im sorry
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