Can You Keep a Secret?

Four: Fall Apart
The next day...
Brendon yawned loudly, flipping through the magazine he had picked up that morning after breakfast. Ryan always found it odd that his friend was so interested in people gossiping about other people... other rich people, nonetheless. Ryan couldn't be bother by it. It was all a bunch of bull, in his opinion.

"Looks like trouble in paradise," Brendon stated, fixated on an article deep in the magazine. His eyes scanned the page greedily, as if each word fed his desire to know more about whatever it was he was reading.

"What, Brendon?" Ryan asked distractedly, attempting to humor his friend by pretending he was even just a little bit interested in what he was reading it. Ryan plucked a string on his acoustic guitar, stoppped, took the pencil off his ear and scribbled something on the open notepad on the bed.

"Oh, just reading this article about you and Vic," Brendon replied nonchalantly, though it was easy to tell that he was engrossed in the article. Brendon smiled wickedly, knowing he had peaked Ryan's curiosity and eventually got his attention.

"Whhhatt?!" Ryan yelled, placing his guitar on his bed, and snatching the magazine out of Brendon's hand. Brendon pouted at Ryan, unhappy that his magazine had been stolen from him. He watched as Ryan's eyes skimmed over the article.

Ross and Grant together again, seen in club, leave separately

Ryan glanced at the various photos of Brendom and him leaving the club and Vic and her friend leaving the club. Ryan blinked, then his anger let loose.

"How the hell do they figure this? I didn't even see her there!" Ryan screamed at the article.

"I wasn't even with the dumb guy!" Brittany screamed angrily at Alex. "This is why I absolutely HATE the paparazzi. They spread SO much shi-"

"Wooooah, calm down girl," Alex answered, watching her friend passionately beat her head against a pillow.

"I can't believe this is happening..." Brittany muttered, exasperated. She picked up the magazine again and studied its cover, hating that the media could make such an assumption because Ryan and she had both been at the same club by coincidence.

"Well..." Alex started, "You should have figured this would happen when you decided to get all famous and stuff."

"Alex, I didn't just 'decide' to get gamous. I don't think anyone can just 'decide' they're going to be famous. And I didn't even do anything! I just dated a guy!" Brittany replied, frowing at her friend who was laying on the couch now.

"Well... yes... you dated a guy who happened to be famous... so therefore... you're famous... oh and you fell in love with a probably more famous guy... so that just adds to your fame some more," Alex replied in a distant voice, pasuing at random times in her sentences.

"What's with all these fame points, Alex?" Brittany asked, slightly amused at her friend's thought process.

"I don't... know... But if you add it up, you're probably more famous than those two boys combined," Alex added.

"You're not helping my situation."

"Oh, sorry."

Brittany blinked at Alex, totally at loss as to what her next move was. The brunette closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair, as if she were removing the stress that hid in it. She took a deep breath and exhaled.

"How do I fix this?" Brittany asked a little while later, opening up her eyes in the process.

"Party?" Alex offered.

Brittany frowned at the lame response and started to pace back and forth around the girls' living room apartment. "Partying never accomplished anything. Besides, look at what partying has done to me. If anything, it's only my situation worse."

Alex was silent for a while, as though she were thinking deeply.

"Well... there's always work..." Alex tried again.

Brittany gave an exasperated sigh, "It's the middle of July. The pre-school doesn't start up until September."

"Yeah... I forgot,"

Brittany stopped pacing and stared at Alex, finding it peculiar that she didn't seem to paying much attention in their conversation. Brittany frowned. Alex was texting someone on her phone. So much for her undivided attention.

"Who are you texting?" Ryan asked Brendon.

"No one... important, really," Brendon replied nonchalantly.

"I've been ranting for the past fifteen minutes and you haven't said a word. Don't you have something to say? Like, I don't know, explain yourself to me?" Ryan said quickly in one breath, obviously irritated that Brendon had been acting so out of the ordinary since they had arrived in California.

"Yeaahh.. not happening," was Brendon's reply.

"And why the hell not?"

"Well... because we're going to go out and eat lunch... and I think that would be much more entertaining than listening to you whine about nothing. Besides, I don't have to explain anything to you. I've done nothing wrong," Brendon stated as he stood up and grabbed a jacket.

"Done nothing wrong? Are you kidding me, Brendon? Have you even read this article? Let alone the headline? It says ROSS AND GRANT together again!" Ryan paused a second to catch his breath. "FIRST OFF, we were NEVER together to begin with. And, second, we're not together NOW."

"There you go again... ranting. Will you shut up so we can just go to lunch?"

"So who is this guy?" Brittany asked Alex.

Alex glanced back at her friend and smiled. Brittany rolled her eyes, it was something she had caught herself doing a lot lately. Around her, shiny glassed buildings passed her. The clean sidewalks smelled of money and expensive cars drove passed them filled with well dressed people. Alex had decided to drag Brittany along the streets of Los Angeles to a little restaurant a few blocks away from their apartment. It was a nice day out, but Brittany would have preferred taking a car.

"Some guy I met at a club," replied Alex, turning her head around to stare at Walk-Don't Walk signal.

Brittany frowned. Some guy? Brittany and Alex were always at clubs together. She would have noticed if Alex was talking up some poor guy but Brittany couldn't recall anyone recently that Alex may have gotten a number from.

"What's his name?" Brittany asked.

"Oh, Brad something or other. I slipped him my number before we left yesterday," Alex replied as she let go of Brittany's wrist and entered the restaurant.

"Yesterday? Was this when you got our drinks?" Brittany asked again.

But Alex didn't reply. Her attention was captured by the cute brown headed and brown eyed hunk that was at the host stand. He looked about 26-years-old. The host was showing off his toothpaste ad smile to Alex who was smiling back.

"Hey there," Alex said to the host, ignoring Brittany's question.

"Hi, I'm Jeremy. Can I help you two?"

Brittany folded her arms, annoyed again by her friend's tactics. Her friend has some gravitational pull towards all men. The good, the bad, and the ugly. However, Mr. Host was neither ugly nor bad. In fact, he was very good looking and checking Alex out. That worked out well since she was checking him out the moment they walked into the restaurant.

"Yeah, can we get a table of four on the outside front patio?" Alex asked.

"Sure thing."

The two girls followed their host to the table where the sun shone brightly on them. The weather seemed to be irritating Brittany. She glared at Alex who seemed to be feeling just as bright as the sun itself. Brittany, for some reason, felt dark and negative. Jeremy excused himself for a moment, leaving the two girls alone.

"What's going on, Alex?" Brittany asked Alex from across the table.

"What do you mean, Britt?"

"I thought we were just meeting mysterious Brad from the club. Why did you get a table for four?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe he'll bring a friend."

Brittany opened her mouth to fire back at her friend only to be interrupted by the arrival of their host. It's not that Jeremy was a bad guy, he was just a typical guy and Brittany could tell by how much attention he was giving Alex, who apparently was the better looking of the two. He placed plates on each mat and pulled out four menus from his back pocket. He reached over Alex to place a menu in front of the chair next to her, lingering a second longer than he needed to. Brittany rolled her eyes. Jeremy was looking down Alex's shirt and she was smiling up at him, encouraging him. She took off her big shades, and placed it on her shirt collar, pulling it down farther. Jeremy only grinned wider.

"Can I get you two anything before your waiter arrives?"

"No," Brittany replied.

"Actually, yeah," Alex replied. "This napkin is dirty, could you get me another one?"

The napkins were the cloth kind. They shouldn't have been dirty. Brittany watched her friend closely as Alex handed her napkin to Jeremy. Her number was clearly written on it. Brittany sighed and stared off into the distance, spacing out.

Jeremy takes it with a smug smile.

"Thanks," Alex said with a smile.

"No, thank you," Jeremy replied,

The next few minutes were peaceful. Except for Alex repeatedly checking her phone, everything was silent. Brittany lost herself in thought about the night before: seeing Brendon again... seeing Ryan... with those... girls. Brittany sighed. When Alex suddenly stood up, Brittany finally noticed that there were people approaching the table.

"Heeeeeeeey," said a familiar voice.

Brittany turned to see Alex hugging a tall figure but he's not the one who her mind focuses on. A knot had formed in her throat. Behind the two hugging friends, Brittany sees an all too familiar face. Her throat went fry and her mouth hung open. Shock filled the unsuspecting girl, disabling her ability to stand. She tried, desperately to stand. To run away. But she couldn't. She was stuck.

"Heeeey, Brandon," Alex greeted.

"It's Brendon," Brittany corrected, still staring at the figure behind Alex.

"Hey Vic!" Brendon says, walking around Alex.

Brittany forced herself to stand and accept Brendon's hug. However, her gaze never left the brown haired boy who was staring at his shoes. After Brendon released her, he looked up.

"Hey, Vic."

"Ryan."