"Alexa, is that you?" Brandon asked again, his voice closer this time, and I began to panic. Obviously, there was no way I could hide so it was time for my amazing improvisation acting skills to make an appearance.
"Brandon! What are you doing here?" I plastered a shocked look on my face - not that it was too hard.
"I- I came to watch the fight..." He trailed off, gesturing at the match and looking completely confused. "What about you?"
"I'm here with a friend! We were hanging out and he brought me here," I gestured around the place with a fake smile.
"He?" Brandon's voice hardened and a frown appeared.
"Uh, yeah," I replied weakly. There was no way I could tell Brandon about Sebastian, especially right now. Why did I have to be gender specific?!
"Where is he?"
"Um..." I frantically searched the room for a possible candidate before my eyes landed on Sean. "There he is!" I dragged Brandon over to where poor Sean was watching the fight, unaware of what was to come.
"Sean, this is my boyfriend Brandon!" The obvious confusion on Sean's face as to why I was introducing him to someone he already knew (and hated) was extremely noticeable and I silently gave him a look, begging him to go along with it.
"Uh, hi?" His voice came out oddly but I don't think Brandon took any notice of it.
"Sean and I are childhood friends, we went to the same school when we were younger and our parents are really close, we met up today because it had been a while and then he asked me to come here and since I'd been to a boxing match before, I thought 'why not?'" Why was I telling Brandon all this? I was the worst at making things up on the spot.
"Oh." Brandon's eyebrows furrowed as he studied Sean. I knew that Brandon and Sean had met before but I wasn't sure if Brandon would admit that to me. "It's nice to meet you."
"I'm surprised you don't know each other, Sean's also a boxer." My voice hardened as I realised Brandon had just lied to my face.
"Well, I don't know everyone, babe." He peered at me curiously, obviously wondering about my sudden mood change. This wasn't the time to get into an argument with Brandon.
"I never said you did." I forced a tight smile onto my face and Brandon clearly took this to mean he was out of the dog house as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
After a few awkward bouts of silence between the three of us, no one actually watching the fight, - instead the boys were having a stare off - Sean spoke up.
"So, how long have you two been together?"
"Three or so months, I suppose." I replied, wondering why Sean had asked that of all questions.
"Actually, it's our four month anniversary next week," Brandon piped in and I didn't miss the hard glare he shot Sean.
"Ah, so not a long relationship then?" Sean taunted with a small grin which instantly made Brandon tense up beside me.
"Long enough to know that Alexa and I are doing perfectly fine." You wouldn't be able to mistake the hardness in his voice for anything else.
"Just fine? I would've thought you'd be able to make a relationship better than that, Flemming." Oh god, now they were deliberately riling each other up. It seemed as though Sean had some sort of past hatred towards Brandon too, but I doubt it was for the same reason as Sebastian. Either way, he needed to stop otherwise things would not end well for both boys.
"At least I'm able to get a relationship." Brandon's terrible comeback caused me to giggle a little and I had to quickly snuffle it. Sean's taunting smirk only widened.
"Why bother when I can just take your girl, and any others I choose, for a quick fuck?" Sean replied nonchalantly with a shrug. That was too far and Brandon stepped forward, red in the face with anger.
"Sean!" I gasped, batting his shoulder and shooting him a 'tone it down' look.
"Well, it's the truth," He grinned cheekily at a furious Brandon who looked ready to throw a punch any second now.
"No, it is not." Brandon managed to spit out.
"Oh, that's right, there's another boy who's got his sights set on you, doesn't he Alexa?" What the hell was Sean doing?! There was no way Brandon would be able to control himself if Sebastian came into the picture.
"Who's got their sights set on you?" Speak of the devil. I internally groaned and externally stiffened, frantically trying to communicate with Sebastian.
"No one." I whispered, my eyes wide. This was the first time since I had become friends with Sebastian that he and Brandon had been together with both of them knowing. And I had no clue what on earth to do.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Brandon's words were venomous but I could tell that they were laced with a hint of confusion. He literally didn't know why Sebastian had joined the three of us.
"Sean's my friend and I wasn't going to let him do anything stupid. Isn't that right, Sean?" A deadly look was directed at Sean for nearly giving away our secret.
"Sure. I mean, this guy is already stupid enough for the four of us." He gestured towards Brandon offhandedly and I'm not sure if it was that comment or the dismissal that finally got to him but within seconds, a fist was connecting to bone.
"Brandon!" I called out, trying to reach him, but by now, he and Sean were in a full out fight. Hit after hit was laid on from both boys and the fight was starting to get a lot worse.
"Alexa, you need to stay back," Sebastian's voice whispered in my ear and I spun around to face him.
"Aren't you going to stop them?" I asked frantically, my eyes glancing back at the two boys that were beginning to become surrounded by onlookers.
"I've just been in a fight. I'm not getting into another one." Sebastian's words reminded me of the whole reason I was here in the first place. Suddenly, I didn't even care about the brawl going on and was instead inspecting Sebastian's wounds. A couple of bruises were beginning to show whilst little cuts scattered his body and face.
"Are you okay? Did you win? Shall we go?" I asked rapidly, gently running a finger over a cut on his cheek.
"I'm a little sore," Sebastian had given up trying to lie to me about his health. "Of course I won, but we can't leave, not when your boyfriend is beating up my friend."
"Oh," I mumbled, having completely forgotten about Brandon and Sean's scrap. "What do I do?"
"I'll sort it out," He sighed heavily before disappearing for a second. Sebastian returned at my side and, before I could ask what he'd done, two guys pulled Sean and Brandon apart.
Now that the boys were separated, Brandon was looking around for me and there was no way I'd let him catch me with Sebastian, especially after what had just happened. I quickly walked over to Brandon, aware of Sebastian's eyes following me.
"Why did you do that?" Only once the words had already left my mouth, I realised that - as the concerned girlfriend - I should be asking 'are you okay?'
"Were you even listening to what he was saying?" Brandon spat at me, his anger not having yet dissipated from the fight.
"He wasn't being serious, you know that," I rolled my eyes slightly. "He was just trying to get a reaction out of you and you let him."
"I don't like anyone messing with what's mine." He clenched his jaw, staring off at where Sean was.
"Excuse me?" My mouth practically dropped open with his words. "I am not your fucking property, how many times do I have to tell you that?!"
"You know what I mean," Brandon dismissed me quickly and it was clear that he wasn't really paying attention to this conversation.
"No, I don't." I crossed my arms over my chest, accompanied with a glare.
"Oh, come on Alexa, look, I didn't mean it like that, okay?" Brandon glanced back at me, giving a half-hearted apology before attempting to grab my hand. "Let's get out of here, yeah?"
"You're unbelievable. Fuck you Brandon," I yanked my hand away from his, spun on my heel and headed out the doors.
He didn't even bother following.
"Are you okay?" Sebastian slipped into the passenger seat of my car where I had been waiting for him.
"Not really, no." I leaned back in my chair and shut my eyes.
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Please don't say 'I told you so'," With a sigh, I started the engine.
"Okay," Sebastian's voice was quieter than I had ever heard it before.
"Sorry I missed the end of the match." I changed the subject as we drove along the quiet roads to my house.
"It doesn't matter, I wasn't very good tonight." His tone was one I couldn't quite decipher and I didn't know if I should inquire further.
"How come?"
"I was distracted." Sebastian frowned at his words, like he couldn't understand why he was distracted, and it seemed that I should let the topic drop.
"Are you still staying at mine?" There was a long pause between my question and Sebastian's answer. I glanced at him and he appeared to be having an inner battle over my simple reminder that he was supposed to be staying the night. Eventually he sighed and nodded.
*
"You're not you tonight, what's wrong?" I asked as I cleaned Sebastian's little cuts an hour later.
"Nothing, it's just been a long day, I guess." He turned his face away from me, which only increased my suspicions that he was lying.
"Seriously Bash? You don't think I can't tell that you're not telling the truth?" I raised an eyebrow as I packed away the first aid kit that now stayed permanently in my room.
"Look, Alexa, can we just go to sleep?"
"Okay," I furrowed my eyebrows at his weird behaviour. "I'm going to go get a glass of water, I'll be back in a minute or two."
"Night." He rolled over, pulling my duvet over his damaged body, leaving me completely and utterly confused.
When I came back upstairs after my drink, Sebastian was sound asleep, soft little snores escaping his peaceful body. I stared at him for a few seconds before grabbing a blanket and pillow and settling down on the floor.
It was going to be a long night.
—-
Dedicated to daleevanf for the lovely comment she left on my last chapter.