Forgotten Fling 5/7
pairing: Y/N x Brett Talbot
warnings: blood, guns
A/N: here’s part 5! the last two parts will be coming out soon, so be on the lookout! i have also decided that i’m going to go back to part 1 and rewrite a few parts of it. i realized that there’s probably a few things that i need to clarify, and that it would best be done in part one. i’ll make a note on here whenever it’s updated!
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You knew tonight was a full moon. Not only a full moon, but a supermoon. You had told Brett earlier in the day that he could call you if he needed anything, or if he just needed you to be there. He didn’t like to call you on nights like these, in the rare case that he wolfed out and hurt you. You had found out you were his anchor a while ago, right around the time you found out about the supernatural in the first place. Brett was very good at keeping himself in control, but every werewolf had their slips, and it didn’t help that today was a supermoon. That meant that Brett would become stronger, angrier, and have a much harder time controlling himself.
The sun was setting, and you were in your room watching TV. You looked out your window at the moon that was already very visible in the salmon skyline. You were torn with yourself on whether or not you should go to Brett’s. He hadn’t called or texted you, but you knew he probably wouldn’t unless it was an emergency. You decided to send a simple text and ask how he was doing. When you still hadn’t gotten a text back 30 minutes later, you were growing very worried. As you were getting up to start putting your shoes on, you got a text from Lori.
Are you busy?
Not at all, what’s up?
It’s Brett. The supermoon is effecting him really bad and he won’t calm down. He told me not to text you but I didn’t know what else to do
Hey, don’t worry. I’m on my way
Thank you. We’re in the shed out back
You finally put your shoes on and grabbed your stuff, running out of your house and into your car. You sped to Brett’s house, where he lived with Lori, Satomi, and a few other members of Satomi’s pack. When you got there, you headed around the house to the shed that was in the backyard. Satomi had the shed specifically for this reason, in case a member of her pack had trouble on a full moon. You walked in, not bothering to knock, and were shocked at what you saw. Lori was crouched in a corner, looking scared to death, Satomi had a cut across her cheek that was in the process of healing, and in the middle of the room was Brett, halfway chained to a pole. He had broken one of his arms out of the chains, and was pulling at the other restraint on his other arm. His claws, fangs, and eyes were all out and every prominent, but he wasn’t completely wolfed out, which you took as a good sign. You hesitantly made your way to the middle of the room, calling Brett’s name. At the sound of your voice, he looked up, and growled,
“Y/N? You shouldn’t be here.”
“When do I ever listen to what you tell me what to do?” you responded lightly, knowing that talking to him normally would help him focus on you.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he growled again.
“And I don’t want you to hurt anyone else,” you said. At that, he pulled at the restraints again, growling. You slowly walked over to Satomi and asked her quietly,
“What’s wrong with him? He’s never been this bad.”
“I can’t say. I haven’t seen him struggle this much in a long time,” she responded.
“What can I do?” you asked.
“Get him to focus on you. It will make him human,” she told you. You nodded and slowly made your way over to Brett, standing just far enough to where he couldn’t reach you.
“Brett?” you said, “Can I ask you something?”
“What?” he said, louder than you were expecting.
“Why didn’t you want me to come out here tonight?”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, not as loudly as he had been a few seconds ago.
“That’s not the reason. I know you won’t hurt me. What’s the real reason?” you said. He seemed to hesitate as he thought about his answer, which was what you wanted him to do. You wanted him to think more on his answer instead of thinking about hurting you.
“I don’t want you to be scared of me,” he finally said, no longer growling and sounding like his normal self. You heart broke slightly at his answer, but you tried not to let it show. You walked closer to him and placed your hands on his cheeks. You brushed some of the hair that had fallen onto his eyes away as you said,
“Sweetheart, I will never be scared of you. I know that you’re doing your best to stay in control, and if you were to hurt me, it wouldn’t be on purpose. You hear me? I will never be scared of you Brett.” At your words, you saw Brett’s fangs slowly retreat, and looked down to see his claws had also gone back to normal. His eyes were still yellow, but you knew he was calming down and regaining control. You stood on your tiptoes and kissed him slowly, and he kissed back immediately. When you pulled away, you saw that his yellow eyes were gone, and his beautiful green eyes sat in their place.
“Feel better?” you asked. Brett nodded, before you heard Satomi clear her throat behind you. You had almost forgotten that the Alpha and Lori were in the room because of how quiet they had been.
“The connection between the two of you is remarkable,” Satomi said. You felt your cheeks flush, as did Brett’s, and then Satomi motioned for you to untie the remaining restraint that held Brett’s arm. When he was free, he walked over to Satomi and placed his hand on her cheek, where he had previously scratched her.
“I’m so sorry,” he said to her. She placed her hand over his and responded,
“I healed, and you’re in control now. That’s what matters.” Brett nodded before turning around, looking for Lori. She had stood up and had made her way to stand next to you. Brett moved to give his little sister a hug, and she hugged him tight. Finally, he turned to you and wrapped his arms around your waist in a hug. You reached up and snaked your arms around his neck, holding him tight.
“Thank you,” he whispered to you. You nodded in the crook of his neck before pulling away, the four of your walking out of the shed and towards the house. You stayed the night with Brett that night, holding him until he fell asleep, not wanting to be anywhere else.
You don’t know why you had been thinking about your most recent dream all day, but the reoccurring thought hadn’t left your mind since you woke up. The school day was now over, and you were trying to get some studying done in the library before the charity game tonight, but you couldn’t bring yourself to focus on anything except last night’s dream. After your last encounter at Sinema, you didn’t know where you and Brett stood. To make matters even more complicated, you knew Brett was going to be at the school tonight, considering that Beacon Hills was playing Devenford Prep. The pack was trying to get the game canceled, because of The Beast that had been lurking around recently. No one wanted to take the risk of playing the game and putting the entire town in danger. You knew even if the game was canceled, you would probably still end up seeing Brett tonight, but you had bigger problems to worry about than that right now.
“Y/N,” you heard from behind you. You turned to see Scott, Stiles, Lydia, and Liam walking into the library, heading straight for your table.
“Hey guys. What’s the plan for tonight?” you said as they all sat down around you.
“Well, Mason said it’s not just a transmitted frequency. It’s high powered. Like it has to be a really strong signal,” Liam said.
“And that’s causing it to shift?” Lydia asked.
“No. I don’t think it’s just that. Last night, Argent said it’s getting smarter. What if the Dread Doctors are trying to make the Beast grow faster?” Scott said.
“With frequencies?” Stiles asked, to which Scott replied with,
“No, by shifting. The frequency is just the trigger. The important part is when it shifts into the werewolf.”
“Like Peter,” Lydia said.
“Right. Yeah, when Peter was an Alpha, he got stronger every full moon. Eventually, the burns healed and he was back to normal,” Scott confirmed. That’s when you butted in and said,
“So the Dread Doctors don’t want to wait for the full moon.”
“They want the Beast to be as strong as possible, as fast as possible.”
“Because of Parrish,” Liam said.
“So if this is happening tonight, what are we gonna do?” Lydia asked.
“Uh, we’ve got one clue to go on,” Stiles started as he pulled something out of his backpack,
“This came from the hospital. Whoever’s lurking inside the Beast is wearing a size 10 of indeterminate make.” Everyone looked down at the picture of the bloody shoe print before you said,
“Indeterminate?”
“Means it’s a partial print. Basically it was all we were able to get considering all the fire, blood, and carnage.” Stiles responded.
“How many size 10s are there?” Scott asked.
“Only one with Parrish’s blood on the sole,” Stiles said.
“So are we going to try to get the game cancelled?” Liam asked.
“No, no. we’re going to play, but we’re just going to hope really hard that it doesn’t turn into a blood-soaked massacre,” Stiles answered, albeit sarcastically.
"Okay but, aren’t we kind of missing out a chance to catch this thing? We don’t have the ‘who,’ but we have the ‘where’ and the ‘when,’” Liam asked. Everyone paused and looked around at each other. Liam made a good point, but was it worth the risk? Scott seemed to be thinking the same thing, and said,
“There’s too many people.”
“And we still don’t actually know if it’s going to happen. It just might end up being a regular lacrosse game. It’s possible, right?” you asked, Lydia nodding in agreement.
“Well, uh, it’s possible,” Stiles said.
“So we’re still getting the game canceled?” Liam asked
“We’re getting the game cancelled,” Scott said confirming his question.
The five of you got up and headed out of the library in your own separate directions. You and Liam headed for your car so you could run to your house for a little bit. Liam needed to get his lacrosse gear and you wanted to change, and on the way home, Liam asked a weird question,
“So, are you going to talk to Brett tonight?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, are you going to talk to him? You two seemed like you were getting along better a few weeks ago.”
“I don’t know Liam. I have no idea where we stand right now, I won’t even know what to say,” you said.
“Why don’t you start with ‘Hi’?” Liam asked.
“Since when are you the one giving me advice?” you said laughing. Liam laughed with you before saying,
“I’m serious. Talk to him.”
“Maybe.”
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A few hours later, you pulled back into the Beacon Hills High parking lot and parked in one of the only available spots left. Almost the entire town was here, and that made you nervous for what might happen. You and Liam got out and headed towards the field, where you saw Scott and Stiles getting out of the Jeep. You jogged over to met them, and saw that they were turned around looking at something in the distance. When you looked over, you saw that they were looking at the Devenford Prep charter bus, and more specifically, the player getting off of it. Brett. All of a sudden, the stadium lights all came on one by one, lighting up the entire field as if the sun was out and shining. You also saw the news vans scattered around the field. You made your way towards the school with the boys, to the classroom where you were meeting the others. When you arrived, you saw Kira, Malia, Corey, and Mason all sitting around a lab table in the chemistry classroom. Scott immediately jumped into the plan for the night and said,
“Mason, you know your part.”
“Corey and I break into the Devenford Bus and search their shoes,” he said nodding.
“I take out the TV vans,” Malia chimed in.
“Right before the whistle, Coach forfeits the game,” Stiles said.
“The rest of us are looking for a size 10 with a bloody sole,” you said.
“Just out of curiosity, what if it doesn’t work? What if we have to go up against this thing? I mean I hate to bring up back memories, but Scott’s still healing from what Theo did to him” Malia asked.
“No he’s not,” Kira said.
“She’s right,” Scott confirmed. He pulled up his jersey to reveal a completely healed torso, with no signs that he had ever even been touched.
“It happened the night we got Lydia out of Eichen House. I healed. When we were all together again; when we were a pack.”
“The Beast doesn’t have a pack,” Liam said.
“Not like us,” Scott said, looking around at everyone at the table,
“We can do this guys. No one dies tonight.” You all nodded in agreement before heading out of the room to the field. Malia made her way towards the news vans, Mason and Corey headed towards the Devenford bus, and the rest of you walked towards the field. As you were able to head up the bleachers to find a seat, Scott stopped you.
“I talked to Brett earlier. He said Lori can help you search the bleachers for shoes.”
“Oh okay. You were with him?” you asked.
“Yeah only for a second when they got here. Lori should be somewhere around here,” Scott said.
“I’ll find her,” you said before making your way up the bleachers. You were able to get a better view of the field, and you saw the young werewolf walking around the field towards your side of the bleachers. You made your way down and over to her, where she greeted you with a hug. The two of you made small talk and caught up as you made your way back to the bleachers. Just as you were about to sit down, Stiles came running up to you and said,
“Coach isn’t forfeiting the game.”
“What?” you and Lori said at the same time. Stiles had run off by then, leaving you and Lori confused. You heard the whistle blow and turned your attention to the field where both teams were running out, and saw Brett and Scott squat in the middle of the field. Just like that, the game started, and you and Lori were able to get away without alerting anyone’s attention. You started walking under the bleachers searching all of the shoes for even the smallest speck of blood, and after 20 minutes of searching, nothing. Knowing that there was nothing else the two of you could do for the time being, you both sat back down for the third time that night and watched the game.
You watched Kira score a goal, taking down half of the Devenford team in her path. She was playing very rough, and you were growing worried about what was going on. A few plays later, you watched Brett tackle her, and she fell to the ground. Immediately she was back on her feet, and swung her lacrosse stick, striking Brett on the head. You gasped as you shot down the bleachers. You watched his helmet fly off his head as he fell to the ground. You knew you couldn’t go onto the field, but you watched from the sidelines as Kira was kicked out of the game, and Liam helped Brett to his feet. Kira stormed past you and Lori, and Scott stopped next the two of you. He nodded at Lori and she ran off after Kira, but as you moved to go after her, Scott stopped you.
“Go see Brett,” he said. He knew you wanted to check on him, but you also wanted to make sure Lori didn’t get hurt. You were debating and Scott could tell, which is why he said,
“She can take care of herself. Go see him.”
You nodded before taking off towards the opposite side of the field, where the guest benches and bleachers were. You saw Brett sitting alone on one of the benches, still looking a bit disoriented. As you were walking, Brett turned towards you. You could see a smile spread across his face, which caused a smile to form on yours as well. You sat down next to him and said,
“Why do you always seem to get hurt when I’m around?”
“Maybe so I have an excuse to talk to you,” Brett responded. You laughed lightly before asking,
“How are you feeling?”
“A little hazy, but I’ll be fine,” he answered. You leaned over a little to get a better look at his forehead where he had gotten hit.
“If you weren’t a werewolf, that would leave a nasty bruise,” you said.
“I can already feel it starting to heal, I just hope I can get back in the game.”
“You’re Brett Talbot. I guarantee your back in the game in like 5 minutes,” you said to him. You hadn’t realized how close you were to his face, but Brett seemed to have noticed right away. You could have sworn you saw him glance down at your lips, but you might have been imagining things. You involuntarily glanced at his as you were having an internal conflict with yourself. Your head was screaming at you to stop, while your heart was screaming at you to go for it and kiss him. Right when you were about to go with your heart, the Devenford coach called Brett’s name. You snapped back into reality and said,
“I told you,” you whispered as you started to pull away. The two of you stood up as you said,
“Try not to kill us out there.”
“I can’t promise anything,” Brett said with a chuckle.
“Talbot!” his coach yelled at him; he was clearly growing impatient. Brett grabbed his lacrosse stick and helmet, and started jogging over to the Coach. As you were turning around to head back to the other side of the field, Brett called your name. You turned around and he asked,
“Come see me after the game?”
You smiled and nodded, watching him jog back onto the field, playing as if nothing had ever happened.
Throughout the rest of the game, you, and the rest of your pack, were growing more and more nervous. The Beast hadn’t shown up and Devenford was close to ending the game, and none of you had any idea what to do. You hadn’t seen Kira or Lori since they both ran off, nor had you seen Corey or Mason, or Malia. Scott had run off, Brett and Liam were getting into it, and Beacon Hills had called a timeout. Eventually, Liam had evened up the score, and the game went into overtime. You were cheering so loud for your little brother that you hadn’t even realized that the news vans had just about exploded from the feed back. You closed your eyes and winced from the loud noise, and when you opened your eyes, you saw Liam charging at the school busses, and The Beast was flying over the busses right at him.
“NO!” you screamed out. You ran down the bleachers towards your brother, someone hot on your heels. You figured it was probably Hayden, and you realized it was when you both came to a sudden halt. The Beast threw Liam to the ground, and ran towards the bleachers. When you turned back to Liam, there he was, bleeding profusely from what seemed like every inch of his body.
“LIAM!” you and Hayden yelled, running over to him. He was struggling to breathe, and he wasn’t healing, which in turn just made you freak out even more. You saw someone running towards you in your peripheral vision, and when you saw that it was Stiles, you moved to help Liam up.
“Liam, come on we have to get inside. Can you walk?” you asked. Liam yelped in pain before saying in a strained voice,
“Yeah. Yeah, I think so.” Stiles went around the other side of Liam to help him stand, and Hayden led you all into the school. Everyone from the game was in the process of running into the school, so when you all found the first available classroom, you took it. After knocking off the contents of the desk, you and Stiles laid him down on top of it. Liam kept repeating ‘I’m okay’ and ‘I’m fine’ over and over again, but by the tone of his voice and the blood pooling out of his chest, it was very clear that he was not fine. You moved to peel up his jersey to look at the damage, and at the sight, Stiles gagged.
“Is it that bad?” Liam said, sounding nervous.
“No!” you and Hayden said at the same time, while Stiles went in the opposite direction and said,
“Very.”
“Okay. Okay, what do you guys usually do when this happens?” Hayden asked, not have nearly as much experience with this as the rest of you.
“Oh, I usually pass out. And I still might do that,” Stiles answered as he started swaying.
“Stiles! Not the time!” you said, grabbing his arms and forcing him up straight.
“Okay, Okay. Scott did this with pain. He could trigger it. Pain makes you human,” Stiles said.
“He’s already in pain,” Hayden said, sounding annoyed.
“Right, okay, but maybe adding a little more could help take away the pain,” Stiles said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Just then, Liam yelled out in agony, not being able to hold it in.
“Take away the pain. Take away the pain,” you mumbled under your breath, before saying out loud,
“Hayden, you’re the only one who can take his pain away,”
“How do I do that?” Hayden said frantically. You didn’t know how to answer that. Both you and Stiles were human, and had no idea what to do in terms of taking someone’s pain.
“Y/N! Did Brett ever take away your pain? How did he do it?” Hayden said, needing an answer fast. You thought about it before saying,
“He would kiss me. He would kiss me and it took the pain away.” As soon as the words left your lips, Hayden kissed Liam, and you saw the vines in her cheeks turn black as the pain moved from Liam’s body into hers. When Liam laid back down, he seemed much more at ease than he was before, and Stiles said,
“Next time I’ll kiss him.”
“Brett,” you whispered to yourself, before it clicked in your head that you hadn’t seen Brett since you left him at the bench.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. Where’s Brett?” you said, panicking once more.
“I’m sure he’s fine, he’s probably in one of the classrooms,” Stiles said, trying to calm you down.
“You don’t know that Stiles,” you said loudly without meaning too. Without thinking, you headed for the door and threw it open, ignoring everyone’s calls for you to stay in the room. You knew it was dangerous to leave the room, but you had to find him. Who knows where he was, or who he was with, but you knew you had to find him. You ran from classroom to classroom, looking inside each of the windows to see if you saw him. You had no idea how many doors you had looked in or hallways you had ran through when you heard a roar coming from the direction of the library. You ran in the opposite direction, down a hallway that you hadn’t checked yet. Finally, you looked into a room and saw a sea of green lacrosse jerseys, and the tall head of blonde hair that belonged to the boy you were looking for. You pulled the door open, which caused everyone in the room to turn towards you looking frightened. When Brett saw that it was you, he ran towards you, and you ran to meet him. You leapt into his arms and he caught you with ease, holding onto you like you were going to disappear into thin air.
“Oh my god, you’re okay,” you whispered into his ear.
“I’m okay. I’m right here,” he whispered back. He set you on your feet before asking,
“How did you know I was in here?”
“I didn’t. I was across the school helping Liam when I realized I didn’t know where you were and I just ran,” you said, seemingly out of breath after running across the entire high school. After saying that, you realized you should probably text Stiles and let him know you were safe. You pulled out your phone and texted him, and almost immediately got a text back, which read
Library
“We need to get to the library. That’s where the Beast is, and that’s where Scott’s going to be,” you spoke lowly, not wanting the rest of his team to hear you.
“It’s not safe. Stay in here. I’ll come back for you,” Brett said
“You’re an even bigger idiot than I thought if you think I’m staying in here,” you said, and with that, you grabbed Brett’s hand and pulled him out of the door towards the library. You saw Liam, Malia, and to your surprise, Braeden running in the same direction. You met with them in the middle, and Braeden wordlessly reached for her ankle and unstrapped her drop gun. She thrust it in your open hand. Brett squeezed you hand before letting go and running towards the doors, Liam right behind him. The second they saw the Beast, they jumped towards it, striking it in the head, before being thrown to the floor. You, Braeden, and Malia followed suit, you and Braeden aiming anywhere on the Beast’s body, and shooting. After having enough of getting shot, the Beast ran towards the floor-to-ceiling window and jumped through it, leaving everyone in the library out of breath and terrified. Malia and Liam moved to help Scott up, while Braeden stood there and said,
“You didn’t seriously think you were going to have a chance against that thing did you?”
“No,” Scott breathed out, “But I got its scent.” he finished as he ran out of the library with Liam hot on his tail. In the moments that followed, you had given Braeden back her gun, you and Brett had left the library, and the two of you were now walking towards the empty lacrosse field. Brett had left all of his belongings when he ran, and as the two of you were walking he said,
“You didn’t have to walk with me if you didn’t want to you know?”
“Aren’t you the one who asked me to come see you after the game?” you retorted back, making him chuckle.
“Can I ask you something?” Brett said, to which you nodded, prompting him to continue.
“Why did you come looking for me?”
“I told you, I didn’t know where you were,” you said, hoping he wouldn’t push you further. Wishful thinking.
“I know that, but why did you leave?” he said. You hesitated. Should you tell him you were scared that he was hurt? That you wanted him to be safe? That you were freaking out over the thought of not knowing if he was okay?
“I just- I- I needed to know you were safe okay?” you finally threw out, slightly louder than you had anticipated. You stopped walking and closed your eyes, taking a deep breath before starting again.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.” You started fast walking towards the bench, when Brett grabbed your hand and spun you around, and said,
“Hey, hey, hey. Slow down. Why are you freaking out? You heartbeat is going like a mile a minute right now.”
You sighed, trying to gather all of your thoughts so you didn’t say something you regretted.
“I don’t know,” you finally said, looking up to meet Brett’s eyes for the first time since this conversation started. Brett moved his hand from yours and brought both of his hands to rest on your cheeks, before saying,
“You want to know something? Right before you came through the door of that classroom, I was searching for my phone so I could call someone, anyone, who might have known where you were. The guys kept telling me to calm down, and that you were probably okay, and then you walked through the door.”
“Why didn’t you just call me?” you asked, confused on why he wanted to call your friends, rather than just calling you.
“Someone still has my number blocked,” he said lightly, easing the mood. You let out a breathy laugh, before saying,
“Oh yeah. I wasn’t sure if I should unblock it or not”
“You should. Now come on,” Brett said, moving to grab your hand again and led you to where his bags were. You sat down on the bench while he started gathering his stuff, putting all of it in his bag. He started stripping off his lacrosse gear, leaving him in a tight workout shirt and his uniform shorts. Once he had everything tucked away in his bag, he sat down next to you. The two of you sat there in comfortable silence, until,
“Can I ask you something else?”
“Sure,” you said, curious as to what else he wanted to know.
“Do you still hate me?” The question took you by surprise, and you contemplated with yourself before saying,
“No. I don’t think I ever hated you.”
“It sure seemed like you did that day you walked away,” he said tentatively, not wanting to start an argument.
“You had just told me I had to chose between you and my little brother. I was mad. I was mad for a long time. But I don’t think I ever actually I hated you. I don’t think I ever could,” you said. You weren’t sure why you were telling him this, but it had to come out at some point, right?
“You know, I tried to stop you from walking away. I wanted to take back everything I said, but it was too late. I tried to call you that night, but I think you had already blocked my number,” he said. You could feel him looking at you, but with the words that were falling from both of your lips, you couldn’t bring yourself to look at him just yet. You were staring off into the night sky when you said,
“Yeah, I blocked it the second I got home that day. It was easy to do in that moment since I knew I wasn’t going back to Prep, so I knew I wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences.”
“You know why I started an argument with Liam when I got off of the bus, that day last year? Because I knew that if you were anywhere around us, you would’ve come to stop it. I wanted to see you. I didn’t want to pick a fight with Liam, I just wanted to see how you would react to seeing me,” Brett let out. For some reason, this made you smile, and you said,
“It just took a lot for you to admit that didn’t it?” Brett let out a breathy laugh and said,
“Even over a year later, you still know me better than anyone else.”
“Yeah, well, there’s some things I could just never forget,” you said, standing up. You knew the Devenford Prep bus would be leaving soon, and it seemed like Brett did too. Brett stood up after you and grabbed his lacrosse bag, before he reached his hand out for yours. You looked at his outstretched hand and back up at him, before biting back a smile and lacing your fingers through his. It wasn’t a new feeling by any means, but a feeling that you hadn’t experienced in quite a while. The two of you started walking towards the parking lot in a comfortable silence, and after a few minutes, Brett spoke up again.
“You know, I never got the chance to apologize. And I mean really apologize for what I did back at Prep. I never meant to make you chose between me and Liam. I was angry and I took it out on you, and I’m so sorry.”
That was what you had been waiting for. An apology. You knew that you and Brett were in the process of mending your friendship (or whatever it was), but the one thing you wanted was an apology from him before you forgave him.
“Thank you. That means more than you know. I always wanted to bring it up and ask if you really meant it, but I think I was always too scared to say anything.”
“I didn’t mean it. I promise I didn’t,” Brett said. By that point, the two of you had reached your car, and you were expecting him to let go of your hand when you stopped walking, but he made no move to pull away. You turned towards him and nodded, before saying softly,
“Apology accepted.”
This brought a smile to Brett’s face, and unbeknownst to you, lifted a huge weight off of his shoulders.
“Promise me that you’ll be safe? I know that with everything going on its hard, but I need you to be okay,” Brett said, slightly pleading with you. There was the ‘promise me’ phrase again, the one that used to be so prominent between the two of you. You nodded and looked up at him, saying,
“I promise. Promise me you’ll stay safe too, and keep Lori safe.” Brett nodded, a small smile playing on his face. All of a sudden, you heard someone yelling from behind you, the sound coming from the direction of the Devenford Prep bus.
“Talbot! Stop playing grabass and let’s go!” You both turned around to see one of Brett’s teammates leaning out of the bus doors. You chuckled and shook your head, before turning back to Brett and asking,
“They haven’t changed a bit have they?”
“Not at all,” Brett answered. He then let go of your hands and hesitantly moved to wrap his arms around your waist, hugging you. You reached up and brought your arms around his neck, pulling him in the rest of the way. You had missed Brett’s hugs; the way you felt safe in his hold, the way he would lean his head into the crook of your neck, the way he would slightly sway the two of you back and forth, the way he would barely lift you off your feet because of the height difference. Neither of you wanted to let go right away, so neither of you did. You stood there in each other’s embrace for as long as you could. It was your way of conveying all of your emotions to each other, without having to say a word. When you finally started to pull apart, Brett pressed a kiss to your forehead before pulling away completely. You felt goosebumps run down your back at the lack of body warmth. You both said your goodbyes, before you watched Brett walk over towards the bus. You weren’t quite ready to get in your car, and it seemed Brett wasn’t quite ready to get on the bus, because you saw him turn towards you one last time, as if to make sure that he hadn’t been dreaming for the last hour. He definitely wasn’t dreaming, because you were right there, smiling back at him as he climbed the steps to the bus.
When the bus doors finally closed, you got in your car and started the engine. You still weren’t quite ready to pull off, so instead you pulled your phone out. You went to your contacts, and scrolled until you found Brett’s name. You clicked the contact name and proceeded to unblock the number, before sending a short text that read,
hi :)
You felt content as you put your phone away and pulled out of the Beacon Hills High parking lot. The long overdue conversation you had just had with Brett put you at ease, and had settled a lot of your worries. However, it also made some new thoughts float around in your mind. It made you wonder if you had made a mistake walking away that day, instead of talking it out. More importantly, it also made you wonder if maybe the feelings you had developed for Brett months ago weren’t as one-sided as you thought they were. Maybe he was just good at hiding them.
