Post by Dani on Jun 3, 2012 11:39:05 GMT -5
Brandie breathed a heavy sigh as she picked the vegetables and meats off of her pizza and put them in a tidy corner of her plate. It was a habit that she’d had since she was about seven years old. She would always strip the pizza of all of the toppings, eat them, and then eat the rest of the pizza.
“Thanks for humoring me and going along today,” she said to her twin brother, who was sitting across from her, polishing off his slice of pizza.
“Don’t mention it,” Nick replied after washing down his pizza with a sip of soda. “My class got canceled today and Katie’s got class until five. I’m meeting her later for dinner anyways.”
Brandie chuckled a little at the mention of her brother’s girlfriend. “You think you can wait that long to see her?” she teased.
Nick made a face and nodded his head. “Oh please, I’m sure I’ll be fine. It’s just a few hours, not an eternity. I’ll live.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, his cell phone went off, signaling a new text message. He quickly fumbled for his phone, a huge smile spreading across his face as he looked at the screen.
“Tell Katie I said hi,” Brandie said with another teasing grin. She knew her brother all too well. Almost all of her brothers got that same goofy look on their faces whenever a girl was involved. “She doesn’t mind me stealing her boyfriend for the day?”
“Nope, not at all,” Nick said, his face still glued to the screen. “She understands completely.”
“She doesn’t think it’s stupid that I needed a chaperone just to mail my ex-fiancée his engagement ring back?”
Nick shook his head. “I don’t consider myself a chaperone. More like a supportive older brother.”
Brandie laughed and gave Nick a friendly shove. Even though she was two minutes older than him, Nick always considered himself the protective older brother.
“Seriously though,” Nick continued. “Katie doesn’t think it’s stupid at all. I’m really honored and surprised that you asked me to do this. What about your roommate? That redheaded girl, what’s her name, Colleen or something?”
“Oh Collins,” Brandie replied. “Actually her name’s Jordan, but she goes by her last name for some reason. I would have asked her to come today, but she’s busy.”
“You think she’s busy or you know for a fact that she’s busy?”
Ugh, why did Nick always have the ability to see right through her? Damned twin thing…. The truth was that she hadn’t really bothered to check to see if Collins was free today. They got along fine, but they were just starting to get to know each other. Their conversations mostly consisted of schoolwork, the weather, and the quality of the food in the dining hall. Collins would probably think it was weird that she’d asked her to come along.
“She’s busy,” Brandie stated simply. Given the fact that Collins played sports, went to school fulltime, and had a boyfriend, it was very likely that she wasn’t free today.
“Speaking of roommates,” Nick said. “Did I tell you that I got a new roommate this semester?”
Brandie shook her head. Despite the fact that they went to the same college, she hadn’t been to Nick’s dorm in months. “They got rid of that nerdy guy?” she asked, thinking of Nick’s last roommate. She wasn’t really one to laugh at nerds, but his roommate’s pocket protector was quite a sight.
“Carson, yeah they got rid of him. He transferred to some smart school back east. The Institute of something or other……I’m sure his current roommate’s brain is probably twice the size of mine. Anyways, I got put with this new guy, Ryan. He’s pretty cool…..”
“That’s nice.” Brandie said, her mind drifting towards a blonde haired kid throwing his food away. Geez, it’s not Kaden! Stop hallucinating! It was a habit that she’d developed over the past few years. She knew that it was silly that every blonde haired, blue eyed guy that she came into contact with reminded her of Kaden, but she couldn’t help it. He was the only boy that she had noticed in her entire life. The fact that other boys that looked like him even existed was a foreign concept to her, one that she hadn’t been made aware of until Kaden had ended their engagement three years ago.
At the time, she still had major feelings for Kaden. She used to pray that one of the guys that she’d see was actually Kaden coming to her and begging her forgiveness. It was a belief that she had clung onto for the longest time. She had needed him. He had been a part of her life for so long that she had no idea to live a life away without him. It wasn’t until the beginning of her senior year that she had attempted to start a new life. While it had started off fine, it eventually took a turn for the worst, culminating in her crying in her father’s house, wishing that Kaden would come back.
Now she was attempting to start a new Kaden-free life. Her feelings were still there, but much smaller now. She rarely thought about them except for moments like this. Unfortunately, since she now lived in California, the blonde capital of the country, those moments were very frequent.
“…..and Jack knows him too….he works at the fitness center. He…..Brandie?” Nick tapped her on the arm. “Anybody home?”
“Oh…I’m still here,” Brandie said, refocusing her attention back to Nick.
“Good, glad to hear it,” Nick said with a grin. “Did I show you the latest pictures of the boys?” He happily pulled out his phone and began flipping through pictures. “We took them to the zoo. Kyle made friends with the monkeys. I think they wanted to keep him. We gave them ice cream too, which probably wasn’t the best idea.” He flipped to another picture. “That’s why we kept calling Connor ‘The Chocolate Monster’ for the rest of the day.”
Brandie looked at the picture of the happy messy little boy. “Awwww he’s just too adorable!” After going through a few more of Nick’s pictures, she looked back at him with a concerned look. “So you and Katie are getting pretty serious, huh?”
Nick nodded proudly. “Oh yeah, definitely,” he said, his smile fading a few seconds later. “Okay, am I in for another one of those lectures about how I’m making a mistake? I’ve already gotten more than my fair share of them from Dad.”
“No I don’t think Katie’s a bad person at all. I think she’s very nice and I think her boys are adorable. Although Kyle’s a little bit….”
Nick held up a hand and laughed. “I get what you mean. It’s just a phase. He’s eventually going to grow out of it. At least we’re hoping he’s going to grow out of it.”
“Anyways, I’m not like Dad. I’m just worried that you might get too attached. I mean, what if things don’t work out between you?”
“So you don’t think that Katie’s a broke baby mama that’s using me as her meal ticket?” he asked, echoing his father’s words.
“You know Dad probably didn’t mean that. He’s just pissed that you decided to go to college here instead of near him. He’s still pissed at me for the same thing. Actually, he’s more pissed at the fact that Cori, JJ, and I decided to live here with Mom, but he’s mad about college too. He thinks my major is a stupid idea.”
Nick shook his head and made a face. “There’s nothing stupid about being a marine biologist. If it were left up to Dad, you would be a housewife.” He sighed and put his head in his hands. “I don’t feel like talking about him anymore. So why are you so worried about Katie and me again?”
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt, that’s all. You know our family doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to dating.”
“Oh geez,” Nick said after letting out a huge laugh. “You don’t believe that stupid stuff that Alexia was saying, do you? We’re not cursed.”
“I know it sounds silly, but if you think about it, she actually has a point. I mean, just look at all of us. You’ve been rejected a ton of times, Kaden and I didn’t live happily ever after, Sophie got cheated on, Mom’s had two husbands walk out on her, Alexia’s boyfriend disappeared one day, Lucas has the worst luck with girls, and don’t even get me started on Kylie….”
“And what about Jack?” Nick asked with a knowing grin. “I’d hardly consider him cursed. He’s getting married.”
Brandie sighed. Nick had a good point. Jack certainly showed no signs of being cursed. He was happy. Then again so was Kaden at first…..
Before Brandie could think of anything else to say, her brother wiped his mouth and stood up. “I guess we better get going, huh?” He patted Brandie on the shoulder. “Don’t give up, sis….on anything….”
The post office was only about a five minute drive from the diner, but it seemed like forever as far as Brandie was concerned. The drive gave her time to reflect on her and Kaden’s relationship, which essentially meant reflecting over ten years of her life. She could actually see the memories reflected in the car window as she drove through the streets of Riverside. She could see Kaden as a little boy on the playground handing her his school picture. She could see him as a preteen down at his bonfire birthday party, kissing her for the first time. She could see him as a teenager, getting down on one knee in the woods, asking her to marry him. She could see him as a young adult, waving at her and then vanishing into thin air.
She could remember how old she was in each memory and what grade she was in. She could envision herself growing from a cheerful kindergartener to a level-headed, responsible teenager. Ironically, there was very little about her life that wasn’t connected to Kaden in some way. That was all about to change now…..
She pulled up to the front of the post office, yet again trying to pay attention to Nick’s story. She had gotten so caught in her memories that she only caught bits and pieces of what he was talking about. “That’s adorable,” she said, in response to his story about the boys chasing after a bunch of bubbles.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Nick asked after they had gotten out of the car. “You know you could have just gone to the pawn shop like Mom suggested.”
Brandie immediately shook her head. “That wouldn’t be fair. Kaden and his brothers mowed lawns and did so many chores to pay for that ring. He deserves to get the money back himself. Plus, we had a pretty good relationship. He once made me the happiest girl in the world…..it just seems so wrong to sell it. I can’t, I know it makes sense to do it, but I just can’t….”
Nick groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “I get that he was a nice guy. I’m not arguing that point, but don’t you think that you put him on a pedestal way too much? He had faults too, you know? Back home, everybody used to tell me how lucky my sister was. You know what I did? I would correct them and say that Kaden was the lucky one.”
“Really?” Brandie asked, her eyes widening. “I didn’t realize that.” She had never viewed Kaden as the lucky one. Tons of girls wanted him. They used to tell her how lucky she was to be the one who got to date him. Quite a few of them hated her for it as well.
“Yeah, I did,” Nick said. “Because I knew that my sister was an amazing person and that any guy would be lucky to date her. The citizens of Mabtown didn’t seem to grasp that concept. I just thought that it was my duty to remind them of that.”
Completely speechless about her brother’s past actions, Brandie smiled and gave him a big hug. Her position as Kaden’s girlfriend had made her the object of jealousy and ridicule by so many people, resulting in her having very few friends. Even though she knew that Nick would always have her back, it was still nice to hear from his own mouth that he would always be in her corner.
“Did you want to say a few words or something before mailing the ring back?” Nick asked, after hugging her back.
“No that’s okay,” Brandie replied. The fact that she had to bring someone along was weird enough. Making a speech before mailing a ring back just added to the absurdity of the situation. She took a deep breath, walked up to the slot, dropped it in, and headed back to the car.
She felt as though a huge part of her was missing, but it was a heavy part that was holding her down. She felt like she was floating. She hadn’t expected that feeling at all. The tiny sting in her heart was expected, but it was overshadowed by the floating.
“Hey Brandie,” Nick asked. “You’re staying here for the summer semester, right? You’re doing that marine biology thing?” After Brandie nodded her head in response, he continued. “Well, then you should come by the dorm and hang out. I’ll be here too. We could go to the beach or something. You can’t possibly be cooped up with school all summer.”
“Oh no,” Brandie said. “I’m free. I’m definitely going to be free now.”
“Thanks for humoring me and going along today,” she said to her twin brother, who was sitting across from her, polishing off his slice of pizza.
“Don’t mention it,” Nick replied after washing down his pizza with a sip of soda. “My class got canceled today and Katie’s got class until five. I’m meeting her later for dinner anyways.”
Brandie chuckled a little at the mention of her brother’s girlfriend. “You think you can wait that long to see her?” she teased.
Nick made a face and nodded his head. “Oh please, I’m sure I’ll be fine. It’s just a few hours, not an eternity. I’ll live.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, his cell phone went off, signaling a new text message. He quickly fumbled for his phone, a huge smile spreading across his face as he looked at the screen.
“Tell Katie I said hi,” Brandie said with another teasing grin. She knew her brother all too well. Almost all of her brothers got that same goofy look on their faces whenever a girl was involved. “She doesn’t mind me stealing her boyfriend for the day?”
“Nope, not at all,” Nick said, his face still glued to the screen. “She understands completely.”
“She doesn’t think it’s stupid that I needed a chaperone just to mail my ex-fiancée his engagement ring back?”
Nick shook his head. “I don’t consider myself a chaperone. More like a supportive older brother.”
Brandie laughed and gave Nick a friendly shove. Even though she was two minutes older than him, Nick always considered himself the protective older brother.
“Seriously though,” Nick continued. “Katie doesn’t think it’s stupid at all. I’m really honored and surprised that you asked me to do this. What about your roommate? That redheaded girl, what’s her name, Colleen or something?”
“Oh Collins,” Brandie replied. “Actually her name’s Jordan, but she goes by her last name for some reason. I would have asked her to come today, but she’s busy.”
“You think she’s busy or you know for a fact that she’s busy?”
Ugh, why did Nick always have the ability to see right through her? Damned twin thing…. The truth was that she hadn’t really bothered to check to see if Collins was free today. They got along fine, but they were just starting to get to know each other. Their conversations mostly consisted of schoolwork, the weather, and the quality of the food in the dining hall. Collins would probably think it was weird that she’d asked her to come along.
“She’s busy,” Brandie stated simply. Given the fact that Collins played sports, went to school fulltime, and had a boyfriend, it was very likely that she wasn’t free today.
“Speaking of roommates,” Nick said. “Did I tell you that I got a new roommate this semester?”
Brandie shook her head. Despite the fact that they went to the same college, she hadn’t been to Nick’s dorm in months. “They got rid of that nerdy guy?” she asked, thinking of Nick’s last roommate. She wasn’t really one to laugh at nerds, but his roommate’s pocket protector was quite a sight.
“Carson, yeah they got rid of him. He transferred to some smart school back east. The Institute of something or other……I’m sure his current roommate’s brain is probably twice the size of mine. Anyways, I got put with this new guy, Ryan. He’s pretty cool…..”
“That’s nice.” Brandie said, her mind drifting towards a blonde haired kid throwing his food away. Geez, it’s not Kaden! Stop hallucinating! It was a habit that she’d developed over the past few years. She knew that it was silly that every blonde haired, blue eyed guy that she came into contact with reminded her of Kaden, but she couldn’t help it. He was the only boy that she had noticed in her entire life. The fact that other boys that looked like him even existed was a foreign concept to her, one that she hadn’t been made aware of until Kaden had ended their engagement three years ago.
At the time, she still had major feelings for Kaden. She used to pray that one of the guys that she’d see was actually Kaden coming to her and begging her forgiveness. It was a belief that she had clung onto for the longest time. She had needed him. He had been a part of her life for so long that she had no idea to live a life away without him. It wasn’t until the beginning of her senior year that she had attempted to start a new life. While it had started off fine, it eventually took a turn for the worst, culminating in her crying in her father’s house, wishing that Kaden would come back.
Now she was attempting to start a new Kaden-free life. Her feelings were still there, but much smaller now. She rarely thought about them except for moments like this. Unfortunately, since she now lived in California, the blonde capital of the country, those moments were very frequent.
“…..and Jack knows him too….he works at the fitness center. He…..Brandie?” Nick tapped her on the arm. “Anybody home?”
“Oh…I’m still here,” Brandie said, refocusing her attention back to Nick.
“Good, glad to hear it,” Nick said with a grin. “Did I show you the latest pictures of the boys?” He happily pulled out his phone and began flipping through pictures. “We took them to the zoo. Kyle made friends with the monkeys. I think they wanted to keep him. We gave them ice cream too, which probably wasn’t the best idea.” He flipped to another picture. “That’s why we kept calling Connor ‘The Chocolate Monster’ for the rest of the day.”
Brandie looked at the picture of the happy messy little boy. “Awwww he’s just too adorable!” After going through a few more of Nick’s pictures, she looked back at him with a concerned look. “So you and Katie are getting pretty serious, huh?”
Nick nodded proudly. “Oh yeah, definitely,” he said, his smile fading a few seconds later. “Okay, am I in for another one of those lectures about how I’m making a mistake? I’ve already gotten more than my fair share of them from Dad.”
“No I don’t think Katie’s a bad person at all. I think she’s very nice and I think her boys are adorable. Although Kyle’s a little bit….”
Nick held up a hand and laughed. “I get what you mean. It’s just a phase. He’s eventually going to grow out of it. At least we’re hoping he’s going to grow out of it.”
“Anyways, I’m not like Dad. I’m just worried that you might get too attached. I mean, what if things don’t work out between you?”
“So you don’t think that Katie’s a broke baby mama that’s using me as her meal ticket?” he asked, echoing his father’s words.
“You know Dad probably didn’t mean that. He’s just pissed that you decided to go to college here instead of near him. He’s still pissed at me for the same thing. Actually, he’s more pissed at the fact that Cori, JJ, and I decided to live here with Mom, but he’s mad about college too. He thinks my major is a stupid idea.”
Nick shook his head and made a face. “There’s nothing stupid about being a marine biologist. If it were left up to Dad, you would be a housewife.” He sighed and put his head in his hands. “I don’t feel like talking about him anymore. So why are you so worried about Katie and me again?”
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt, that’s all. You know our family doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to dating.”
“Oh geez,” Nick said after letting out a huge laugh. “You don’t believe that stupid stuff that Alexia was saying, do you? We’re not cursed.”
“I know it sounds silly, but if you think about it, she actually has a point. I mean, just look at all of us. You’ve been rejected a ton of times, Kaden and I didn’t live happily ever after, Sophie got cheated on, Mom’s had two husbands walk out on her, Alexia’s boyfriend disappeared one day, Lucas has the worst luck with girls, and don’t even get me started on Kylie….”
“And what about Jack?” Nick asked with a knowing grin. “I’d hardly consider him cursed. He’s getting married.”
Brandie sighed. Nick had a good point. Jack certainly showed no signs of being cursed. He was happy. Then again so was Kaden at first…..
Before Brandie could think of anything else to say, her brother wiped his mouth and stood up. “I guess we better get going, huh?” He patted Brandie on the shoulder. “Don’t give up, sis….on anything….”
The post office was only about a five minute drive from the diner, but it seemed like forever as far as Brandie was concerned. The drive gave her time to reflect on her and Kaden’s relationship, which essentially meant reflecting over ten years of her life. She could actually see the memories reflected in the car window as she drove through the streets of Riverside. She could see Kaden as a little boy on the playground handing her his school picture. She could see him as a preteen down at his bonfire birthday party, kissing her for the first time. She could see him as a teenager, getting down on one knee in the woods, asking her to marry him. She could see him as a young adult, waving at her and then vanishing into thin air.
She could remember how old she was in each memory and what grade she was in. She could envision herself growing from a cheerful kindergartener to a level-headed, responsible teenager. Ironically, there was very little about her life that wasn’t connected to Kaden in some way. That was all about to change now…..
She pulled up to the front of the post office, yet again trying to pay attention to Nick’s story. She had gotten so caught in her memories that she only caught bits and pieces of what he was talking about. “That’s adorable,” she said, in response to his story about the boys chasing after a bunch of bubbles.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Nick asked after they had gotten out of the car. “You know you could have just gone to the pawn shop like Mom suggested.”
Brandie immediately shook her head. “That wouldn’t be fair. Kaden and his brothers mowed lawns and did so many chores to pay for that ring. He deserves to get the money back himself. Plus, we had a pretty good relationship. He once made me the happiest girl in the world…..it just seems so wrong to sell it. I can’t, I know it makes sense to do it, but I just can’t….”
Nick groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “I get that he was a nice guy. I’m not arguing that point, but don’t you think that you put him on a pedestal way too much? He had faults too, you know? Back home, everybody used to tell me how lucky my sister was. You know what I did? I would correct them and say that Kaden was the lucky one.”
“Really?” Brandie asked, her eyes widening. “I didn’t realize that.” She had never viewed Kaden as the lucky one. Tons of girls wanted him. They used to tell her how lucky she was to be the one who got to date him. Quite a few of them hated her for it as well.
“Yeah, I did,” Nick said. “Because I knew that my sister was an amazing person and that any guy would be lucky to date her. The citizens of Mabtown didn’t seem to grasp that concept. I just thought that it was my duty to remind them of that.”
Completely speechless about her brother’s past actions, Brandie smiled and gave him a big hug. Her position as Kaden’s girlfriend had made her the object of jealousy and ridicule by so many people, resulting in her having very few friends. Even though she knew that Nick would always have her back, it was still nice to hear from his own mouth that he would always be in her corner.
“Did you want to say a few words or something before mailing the ring back?” Nick asked, after hugging her back.
“No that’s okay,” Brandie replied. The fact that she had to bring someone along was weird enough. Making a speech before mailing a ring back just added to the absurdity of the situation. She took a deep breath, walked up to the slot, dropped it in, and headed back to the car.
She felt as though a huge part of her was missing, but it was a heavy part that was holding her down. She felt like she was floating. She hadn’t expected that feeling at all. The tiny sting in her heart was expected, but it was overshadowed by the floating.
“Hey Brandie,” Nick asked. “You’re staying here for the summer semester, right? You’re doing that marine biology thing?” After Brandie nodded her head in response, he continued. “Well, then you should come by the dorm and hang out. I’ll be here too. We could go to the beach or something. You can’t possibly be cooped up with school all summer.”
“Oh no,” Brandie said. “I’m free. I’m definitely going to be free now.”
