Chapter 3

I went to the kitchen and ate breakfast.

"Hey, sis?"

"Yeah?"

"Did Brian come over last night?"

"No. When I got home you were asleep. Why?"

"Nothing."

"Really, because you moaned a little while you were sleeping." She said while smirking.

I blushed a very deep red.

I walked to the bus stop and waited for Brian.

"Hey, Mark."

Shit!

"Hey, Brian."

"You okay man?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

We got to school, Stephanie pulled me inside.

"Ah, Steph!!!" I screamed.

"Where have you been?! I've buzzed your phone like five times!!!!"

Oh. I thought as I looked down at my phone.

"Sorry, I fell asleep."

"Just tell me more."

She was referring to my crush on Brian, but there's no way I could tell her about my dream or the pool incident. Those are private, especially that dream.

"There's nothing more to say."

"What!"

"Sorry, but some things deserve to be kept secret," I said as I walked off.

"MARK!!!!!"

I snickered down the hall as she screamed. I went to continue my day as normal to try and keep my mind off of it. The day was normal as always and I tried my best to not stare at him too much. Throughout the whole day, Steph was bugging me, but I decided to ignore her. She eventually gave up after a while, thank god. Stephanie decided to ride home with us that afternoon. I started editing more photos of me and Brian, but about half of them, I wanted to scrap. When I got home, I and Ash ate dinner and played video games like we did when we were younger. It was good to play with my sister because we hadn't hung out like this in so long.

The next morning I asked Ash if I could have a sleepover with Brian and Steph. She had known them pretty well because I'd hung out with them a lot. So she was okay with it. That night, sis made popcorn and we watched a horror movie. I've never seen Steph so scared. It was actually pretty funny. Brian and I ended up laughing at her.

The rest of the year went similar to this; I'd hang out with my friends and sometimes invite them over, I'd hang out with my sister and she would help me with my homework. Everything was going great.

Around December, I spent part of Christmas break with Brian because Ash had classes and wouldn't be able to come back for a while. We couldn't invite Stephanie because she was on vacation with her family.

I was in the guest room looking through stuff on my phone when Brian walked in.

"Hey." He smiled.

"Hey."

"Whatcha doing?" He sat on the bed.

"Nothing."

"Really?" He smirked as he snatched my phone.

"Hey! Give it back!"

"Nope."

He found all my edits.

"Did you do all of these?"

"Yeah, I did."

"They're pretty good."

"Thanks."

I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming this time, and THANK GOD I wasn't.

"Why did you pinch yourself?"

"Don't worry about it, okay."

"Okay? Hey, we're gonna watch a movie and drink hot chocolate if you're interested."

"Sounds fun, give me a minute."

I changed into more comfortable clothes and went to the living room. He looked more attractive in black than anything else.

"So, what movie?" I asked.

"I'm not sure."

I don't know why I asked because I didn't watch it. I was too busy watching Brian and his family...he has a mom and dad that would die for him, along with his little brother and sister; Grace and Matthew. They were so caring and happy. He had parents that would never leave him and would be willing to do anything for him. Ashley has to take double shifts at the supermarket just to support us and my parents are...doing who knows what…

"I think I'm gonna go to bed early." I wasn't really tired; I just needed to get out of there. I tried not to cry myself to sleep most nights because I would often have this feeling a lot. Sometimes they would check on me to see if I was alright.

"Hey? Are you all alright? You've been here for almost three weeks."

"How would you feel if your parents left you?" I started to ball into tears.

"Hey, come here." Brian hugged me and I cried into his chest.

"I know how hard things have been for you and Ash. If I could go back and change things, I would." His tone sounded very genuine and kind. He would seriously do that for me?

"Marcus, look at me. Please." I lifted my head and he was giving me a sad look as if he was saying sorry.

"Stop crying. Life isn't always easy, sometimes you need to power through."

"Brian, could you stay with me for a while? In case I start crying again."

"If it will help, then yeah."

We stayed up until midnight that night. We played video games, but most of the time we just talked. I felt a lot better after talking with him. I ended up falling asleep in his arms, but he didn't seem to mind. I wanted that moment to last forever.

Throughout Christmas break me and Brian just hung out like normal with some moments here and there. Each time he made me feel better and my crush kept getting bigger and bigger and BIGGER! He made me really happy and I didn't feel sad around his family as much anymore. I even bought gifts for them and my sister. Brian's gift was a black acoustic guitar with a design of blood dripping down the side and the bottom left corner of the guitar had his name in cursive printed in white.

"HOLY SHI-"

"Brian!" His mom yelled.

"How did-? Why did-?"

"It's thanks for being my friend and being there for me. I know you like playing so I thought you should own one for yourself."

He hugged me so tight I could barely breathe. When he let go, I saw his wonderful smile and tried not to blush. Afterward, we hung out in his room.

"Thanks for the acoustic."

"No problem."

"I actually have something for you."

"I didn't think you would get me anything."

"You're my best friend, why wouldn't I?" I stayed silent while he grabbed something out from the back of his closet. He pulled out a red rose beanie with my initials on the inside, along with a white stuffed bunny.

"Damn!"

"It's not as good as yours, but-"

"Shut up dude, it's perfect."

Just like you…

Vroom!

My sister pulled up in the driveway in her red sedan.

"That's probably Ash, I should go."

"Merry Christmas, Valarie."

"Merry Christmas, Jayson."

I gave him a hug and grabbed my stuff then headed for the door.

"How'd he like it?" My sister asked me as I entered the vehicle.

"He loved it, thanks for helping me find it."

"You're the one who wanted to spend Christmas Day with him."

"Yeah."

We grabbed hot chocolate on the way home, then opened presents under the tree.