KIMBERLYAfter I left Brandon standing in the kitchen, I went to the girl's apartment and spent the rest of my day with them. When I got back home, I went straight to bed.I'm beyond livid, he looked me in the eye and lied to me. Marisa is not his responsibility, she knows what she's playing at and he's falling headfirst into the trap she's setting up."Well look who it is."I roll my eyes at Marisa's voice.She comes to stand directly in front of me. It's a Monday and I'm waiting for Matt in the café."Just save your breath Marisa.""Yeah, sure, I will save my breath for something else which is more important, or maybe some...Brandon, perhaps?"I bite the inside of my cheek. In a swift move, she pushes my books off the table and papers I neatly kept together scatter on the floor."Oops, I'm sorry, I can be a bit clumsy sometimes."I tuck my lips in and restrain myself from punching her straight on the nose.I crouch and pick up my scattered papers."I don't have time for this."I wa
BRANDONI kept delaying the conversation and that made things worse. Had I told her myself, she would have believed me. I had no fucking idea she saw what happened between me and Marisa at the ball.My mind refused to rest after the blow up conversation with Kim, I spent the whole night on the couch awake.It's now morning and I stand rooted outside the bedroom door, debating whether it's the right time to approach her or not. Making a final decision, I turn and walk away.* * Two Weeks Later* * Everything is almost back to normal, almost, because I feel like Kim is still holding back from me. I don't blame her because my past with Marisa is too complicated, the fact that I almost took my own life because she left me would alert any new lover after she returns.The feeling I felt when Kim came back home and spoke to me without distance and anger is beyond the word relief. Lily's friend poking her nose where she shouldn't is another thing that's making my time bomb tick faster. I w
BRANDON It's been two days staying at the cabin and it surely is going on the best vacation list I've ever had with my friends. We leave tomorrow, I'm finally graduating and so are the Kim, Sam, Naomi, Michael and Jonathan. Xander has one more year to go since he decided to up his level in business. "In two month time, it's going to be busy for all of us, finally we get to work!" Sam says, clapping her hands excitedly. "Mhhm.." Kim hums in agreement. She flops down on the seat next to me and grabs her champagne glass. "And that my friend, deserves a cheers." Nao scoots to the edge and smiles. "Well, cheers to us finally being full out grownups!" She says. "Yes baby..." Jonathan grins, lifting his glass of whiskey to the center where all of ours follow and clink together in the middle. I sit back, flicking my lighter open and closed. Kim turns to look at me over her shoulder and smiles. "Congratulations for the big offer." "Thanks baby, I wouldn't have done it without you."
BRANDON I close the door to my car and walk up the steps to the front door with Kim and my friends following close behind me. I spoke to my mom after I finished packing and she she wouldn't leave Marisa's side. Marisa tends to act impulsively when she's upset, I wouldn't put it past her to do something crazy after losing her eyes like that. We enter the living room and I spot her curled up in my mother's side on the couch while she runs her hand soothingly over her hair. "Rissa," my mom says when she sees me walking to them and Marisa's head snaps up. When our eyes meet, she jumps from the couch and runs to me, throwing herself in my arms and wrapping her hands around my neck. In that moment, I don't know what to do, my hands remain at my side. I look at my mom and she gives a small nod. My hands move and wrap around Marisa's back, at that movement, she squeezes me tighter. "I'm sorry for your loss." A voice speaks softly beside me, Marisa pushes back and looks at Kim w
KIMBERLYIt's dark when my eyes open again. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and grab my phone on the bedside table to check the time. It's almost midnight and there's no text or missed call from Brandon. I know Marisa is hurting, I understand that Brandon is part of the people that she seeks comfort in, it's just three days, it'll soon be over and I'll have Brandon all to myself again.Clicking the side button to shut the screen, I place back the phone on the bedside table and go back to sleep.* *The Next Morning* *Still no text or call from Brandon, I try to call his number but it goes straight to voicemail. Well, maybe his phone shut down and he couldn't find proper time to charge it."I saw the news about that girl Marisa's mom, such a sad and traumatic situation for her to witness."I meet her eyes and sigh."Yeah, suicide isn't a light death.""So, Brandon?""He's at the funeral house with his mum. Marisa called him while crying, that's why we left our weekend vacation short.""
KIMBERLY Car after car passes, making it's way to the graveyard where Laura is being put to rest. "Thank God it's finally over." Sam says. "Yeah, we can go back to LA and continue where we left off from." After finishing our coffees, I try Brandon's number again but it's still going straight to voicemail. Deciding I've had enough, I turn off my phone and head over to Nao's house with her and Sam. After helping her pick a dress to wear to her lunch date with Nate, we all head out. Sam stops walking, focusing on her phone with parted lips. "What?" Nao asks. Both of us walk back to her when she continues scrolling in silence. "Sam, what's wrong?" "Look," she hands the phone to me and Nao scoots closer. The headline reads : SUICIDAL FAMOUS LAWYER AND JOURNALIST FINALLY PUT TO REST. I skip the rest and go to the three pictures below, one is of the tombstone with Marisa's mom's full names, the other is of the people who were present, I scroll down to another post and it's the on
KIMBERLYBrandon and I didn't talk the entire ride back to LA, why? Because I joined Nao and Nate's ride."Are you sure you're okay, Kim?" Nate asks.It's just the two of us since Nao went upstairs to change. My head is bowed as I play with my fingertips."No," I shake my head. "It's just so hard Nate, I've been nothing but composed and understanding and I think people take that as me not having feelings at all, I'm human too, of course It would get too much and I would eventually lash out at some point, which is exactly what happened.""I get that, and I hope that Brandon sees your side of things, you guys are strong, I believe in you and i know that the love you have for each other will conquer all obstacles.""Honestly, I'm just so tired of all the fighting. It's getting worse with each time, I don't want to reach my breaking point."He stares into the distance and I know he understands me very well, that happened to Nao years ago and she almost got herself killed by not taking goo
KIMBERLYI'm extremely annoyed, no, annoyed is an understatement, I'm utterly pissed and livid, I'm angry, I'm a lot of things right now. I glare at Michael who is seated opposite me with his elbows resting on his knees and a bottle of beer dangling between his fingers. The moron looks unbothered by my glare, in fact, when i glare harder and my eyes turn to slits, he grins at me."Michael!" I say with more annoyance and frustration but his grin widens some more."What?" He arches a brow.I sigh,"Are you just going to sit there and follow orders from Brandon instead of having fun?"He takes a sip and keeps staring at me as if I didn't even say a single word. My attempt at poking him fails miserably but I don't give up.Scooting closer to the edge of the sofa, I try to bargain with him."Look," he turns his head away from me, pretending to be avoiding me but I continue. "If you just let me do whatever the hell I want, I might get you a date with April."His eyes snap to mine.Yes!"I
KIMBERLY I take his hand and get to my feet. We dance around for what feels like forever and everything feels better, so much better. The Weeknd's song I Feel It Coming starts playing and something in the air changes as the lyrics go on and on. Matt's hands are on my body, touching,tracing,everywhere. He turns me around, my back to his front. A tingle zips through my vagina and my legs clench but his hands slowly move to my inner thighs and he parts them open. His fingers press down on my clit over my panties and the feeling intensifies. Why am I so horny? I ask myself the words that don't leave my mouth. His lips come to my neck and he nibbles at the skin there. This isn't right, it isn't and I don't want to do this, but why does my body say otherwise? Why can't I say no? He plays with my belly button and then his fingers are pushing down my panties, cool air blows on my skin then his finger is inside me, my back arches and he slowly moves his finger in and out until all I
KIMBERLY There's a knock on the door, I straighten from the couch and head over to open only to find Harry standing in front of me. "Harry?" I gasp then wrap my hands around his neck. "Thank god you're okay, I've been trying to call you for weeks now." "Yeah," he clears his throat. "I was away." I lead him to the living room and sit, pulling him down to the empty space next to me until we are facing each other. "What happened to you? The last time I saw you, you were in a hurry and didn't look good." "Oh, that. I got your messages that's why I came here. I was going through something and needed to go away for a while in order to clear my head." I nod. "Well, you're not the only one going through a lot." "Why? What happened? Are you and Brandon having problems again?" "Long story short, Marisa followed him in Andy's diner toilets and forced a kiss on him then revealed it using the classic game truth or dare and made it seem like something else." Harry sighs. "I'm fed up of
KIMBERLY You know when you cut yourself so deep they have to stitch you up and then you mistakenly end up getting the stitches open? Yeah, that how I feel right now. I was healing, but then I feel like I'm moving backwards from the progress I was making. My vision becomes blurry with all the tears forming. I look to my left and see Matt and his friends chatting, I jog to them, when he sees me, he pushes off the car with a smile on his face. "Please take me away from here." His smile drops. "Hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" "Just take me away from this place." I wrap my hands around my middle. "Okay, okay, come on." "Catch you later man." His friends walk away. I get in his car and turn my head to the side, rolling down the window because i really nee the air, i feel so suffocated right now. These stupid tears won't just stop flowing, I wipe at them angrily and Matt starts the car and drives off. This isn't the way to the girls condo but I can't seem to care about tha
BRANDON "Truth." I glare at her. She grins and I find everything wrong with this whole situation, it makes me uneasy and I don't know why. What the fuck is she playing at? "If you were told have sex or like kiss with Brandon." My head snaps to Lily but she keeps staring at Marisa. "In any diner's toilets, would you do it?" "Oh for fucks sake!" Jonathan says with annoyance lacing his tone. I look at Marisa, ready to pull her up and drag her out by the hair if I have to but she keeps smiling and then takes a sip of whisky. "Well, I wouldn't say no, I mean we actually-" "Marisa." I say through gritted teeth. She ignores my warning and keeps going, her eyes briefly moving to stare at something over my head. "We actually did it recently and I must say I enjoyed it quite a lot, so doing it again wouldn't be a bad idea." "Marisa!" I call out angrily and get to my feet. "What? She asked, I'm just playing the game." She shrugs her shoulders. "It's the truth anyway." She mumbles.
BRANDON Kim has been down for a few days now, she must have caught something when we went boat cruising five days ago. I step out of the pharmacy from getting her her meds since the ones she was taking got done last night. I stop at the gas station to fill my tank, then Andy's to get her favourite food. I leave the order and enter the bathrooms, exiting the stall, I feel hands wrap around my waist. I flinch away and turn only to be met with Marisa's eyes. "Whoa, there's no need to act like that, it's just me." "Yeah, it's just you and that's the problem. It's not supposed to be." "Oh come on, Brandon." She throws her hands up. "You're overreacting." "Get out of my way, Marisa." As if my words entered from one ear and left through the other, Marisa gets on her tiptoes and quickly crashes her lips to mine, sucking on my bottom one. The act makes me freeze but I push her away with my hands tightly gripping her shoulders. "What the fuck is you problem?" "Brandon," she fo
BRANDON "Did you tell Sam about your outing with Shiloh?" I ask when Kim stays silent for long. "No, why?" "Just asking, since you girls tell each other almost everything." "I didn't." She sighs. "I don't know how she'll react to that." I pause flipping through the papers and look at her over my shoulder. "I think it's great that you and Shiloh hang out, she's Xander's girlfriend and everyone agrees that they've moved on, it's only fair that she's made to feel welcomed." "Yeah, and I do want to hang out with her for Xander's sake and the fact that she's nice, but the last thing I want is to make things awkward if I decide to bring her along at the barbeque and Sam is there. You know, the 'the ex I hate's girlfriend thing'." "Maybe you don't have to bring only Shiloh, Sam's boyfriend can come too." "That's okay with everyone?" "If you mean Xander, then the answer is yes. He wouldn't mind." "Cool," is all she says. After a few beats of silence, I hear her stand. "Do you wa
KIMBERLY I grab my books and head out of the café when someone steps into my path, blocking me from moving. I sigh, starting to get tired of the repeated shit. "What do you want, Lily?" "You know exactly what I want Kimberly, my only problem is why you haven't yet done it." I roll my eyes. "If you're here to talk about Brandon, then forget it because I'm not leaving him." Her eyes harden and if it were possible, I would be seeing smoke coming out of her ears just by how mad she is right now. "It wasn't enough that you almost got Marisa killed? All that empathy for her I saw I'm your eyes was just a façade, wasn't it?" "Look, I was really sorry for what happened to Marisa, but it wasn't my favourite, so stop trying to pin it on me." I try to move around her but she grips my arm and pushes me back. I grit my teeth, finally annoyed. "You know, Lily, there's one thing that surprises me more in this whole little dynamic of yours. You seem to hate me more than even Mar
KIMBERLY I jump to my feet and throw my hands around Brandon's neck. He wraps his around my waist, after long minutes, I pull back and meet his eyes. "I-i didn't know this would happen, you need to be at the hospital and not here." His worried eyes look over my shoulder at the girls. "What the fuck did Lily say to her?" Nao repeats what Lily's exact words were and I wrap my hands around my middle and repeat what I just said to him when he entered the room. "You need to go to the hospital, Brandon." His eyes move back to mine and soften, then he places his hand on my cheek. "Where I need to be is here, with you." "No," I shake my head. "I know you say you don't but you do care, Brandon. I won't be that selfish to stop you from checking up on someone who attempted suicide because you shut them out." "Baby, what Lily said is bullsh-" "Please," I cut him off. "Please." Contemplation dances in his eyes. "For me." His eyes search mine. "Fine, but you're coming w
KIMBERLYI hug my books to my chest, leaning against the wall and smiling at Harry."Sooo, you will make it, right?"I sigh."I don't know, Harry. But I promise I'll try my best to make time."His face falls and I instantly feel bad for turning him down."Hey babe," Brandon says from beside Harry and he goes tense.Bran's eyes find Harry, but instead of scaring him off, he smiles at him and says,"Hi." I'm taken aback for a second there and so is Harry."Uh, hello. Kim, I better get going.""Sure, see you around."He walks off and I'm left with Brandon. I turn to him and smile with amusement."Well look who's being nice."He corners me until there's no space behind me and the wall. He places his hands on the wall behind me, caging my head between them, then he leans down so close such that I have to cross my eyes to get a better look at him."For you, I'd be nice even to the devil."He smiles down at me and I'm reminded once again that this man is the only one for me.I smile back an