Waiting For The Sun To Rise.

“Hey Brandon, can you tell mom and dad I’m going to be a little late for dinner tonight?” I asked with hopeful eyes. Brandon turned his head over his shoulder, arching an eye brow.

“That depends, why are you going to be late?” He asked, grinning. I rolled my eyes.

“I’m going to Roger’s Bookstore to study with Joey, if you must know. We have a huge Chemistry test tomorrow.” Brandon rolled his eyes and smirked.

“Right, studying. Whatever, just don’t be home too late, and call me if you need a ride.” He said, turning around to pat my head. I smacked his hand away playfully and fixed my hair.

“See ya.” Once I was sure he was far gone, I made my way quickly to Roger’s Bookstore. I hadn’t lied completely. That really was where I was going. Just not to meet Joey.

I walked in the entrance and the annoying clerk looked up once, popped her gum, and went right back to her magazine. Normally I would have made a sarcastic comment of some sort, but I was sort of in a rush. I glanced at the clock on the wall and realized I was ten minutes late. I practically ran to the complete back of the bookstore, where they had tables set up. Hardly anyone ever sat back there. I stopped running as soon as I saw the back of his head. At that moment, he turned around and his eyes met mine. A smirk was brought to his face and he motioned for me to come sit. My heart was doing that stupid thing it always seemed to do around him, speed up like crazy. I mentally kicked myself for feeling this way. He didn’t even know my name.

I walked up to the table and went to sit, but instead, he pulled me onto his own lap and laid a kiss on my lips. My hands found their way around his neck and entwined in his black hair, pulling myself closer to him. I felt his lips smirk wider under my own as his tongue nudged his way into my mouth, as he had done a million times before.

“Excuse me, book store are for reading, not… this.” We both looked up to meet Roger himself. I smiled sheepishly and pushed myself reluctantly off of Logan and into my own chair across from his.

“Sorry Roger.” I said quietly. He smiled down at me after a moment; he had known me since I was nine because I had always came into his store.

“Just don’t it happen again.” he warned, walking away shaking his head.

I looked over at Logan anxiously. He just grinned, obviously amused at the situation.

“Funny, that’s the exact words he said the last ten times this has happened.”

“Where’s Brandon?” Was what I was greeted with the instant I walked through the front door to my house. My mother stood before me in what looked like was her pajamas, and a cigarette was in one finger. I sighed, not wanting to deal with her.

“I’m not sure, I think he was meeting with that agent or whatever, Grant , to discuss some stuff.” I replied, beginning to walk towards my room. My mother decided to stand in front of me and block my way.

“And Why’s he meetin’ with that guy? I already told him he couldn’t leave.” A part of me felt bad for the women before me. She was once so beautiful and happy. Looking at her now, there was no trace of that women before me. Still, deep down in her hard as stone voice, I heard her fear and worry. She didn’t want Brandon to leave, because then she really would be all alone. She had already lost me a long time ago, but that was never really my choice. I never really understood why she decided to isolate herself from me. It happened a few months after Dad died. As if it wasn’t hard enough losing one parent, it felt like I lost them both all at once.

“I don’t know Mom.” I mumbled, trying to walk past her. She stepped in front of me once again, blocking my path.

“Do not lie to me, Jamie Bergenson.” She cautioned, her voice fierce.

“I really don’t know Mom. I just heard from Pete that they were meeting him tonight.” I lied swiftly, looking into her cold green eyes.

Suddenly I felt an odd cold sensation strike my left cheek. It was something I had never felt before. The cold was soon replaced by a stingy burning feeling. I reached my hand slowly up to my cheek and rubbed my fingers across it.

“I told you not to lie to me. I’m going to ask you one more time, where is your brother?”
I looked into her eyes, those cold eyes that stared straight into my own. No remorse or regret was shown in them at all. All that was being reflected was a pang of anger and disgrace.

I ran after that. Ran and didn’t look back. I ran out the door and didn’t stop running until I was at least three blocks away from that place. The place I had once loved to come home to, to be greeted with the loving faces of my mother and father. To be greeted with warm hugs and pleasant smiles of relief that I was home at last.
The place I had so often called my home was no longer.

[ xo ] [ ox ] [ xo ] [ ox ]

“That bitch!” Joey exclaimed, reaching over and wrapping his arms around me. We were sitting in the McDonalds a few blocks away from my house. I sniffled once, but didn’t let any tears fall.

“What did your brother do when you told him? He asked after a moment, rubbing his hands in circles along my own. The comfort felt nice.

“Well…” I paused. If Brandon was there, I wasn’t even sure if he would have done anything.

“Wait a minute, you didn’t tell him? Why?!”

“Well…because he’s at that important meeting with Grant. Their signing all the final contracts and stuff for the tour.” Joey rolled his eyes and draw my chin up to face him.

“Who gives a shit about that? You’re his little sister. This is way more important than some stupid meeting about his stupid band!” I sighed and shook my head.

“You don’t understand, this band is everything to Brandon…besides, it’s his ticket out of this hell whole of a town.” I mumbled under my breath, burying my head in Joey’s chest. He held me comfortingly and sighed in frustration. I knew he wasn’t going to say anything because there was nothing left to say. If I went to Brandon now, he’d probably just say I was making it up or something. I wasn’t sure why I always thought so poorly of my brother. He was basically all I had left, but I just felt like he thought poorly of me. When dad died, my mother isolated herself from me, but in a way, so did Brandon. We used to do a lot of stuff together, go to the movies, the mall, have movie nights, actually talk. Now we didn’t do much of any of that. Why is it that we all lost an important man, but I felt like I lost my whole family?

“Just go to him Jamie, have some faith in him.” I sighed and nodded, looking at him with eyes full of fear of getting rejected.

“Joey…will you come with me?” I asked quietly. He nodded immediately and pulled me up from the bench.

“Lets go.”
It didn’t take long to get there seeing as it was just a few blocks away. Joey told the manager that my brother was in here meeting with Grant Mason. They all believed him seeing as how I did look like Brandon and allowed us to go in. We found them in a booth towards the back of the restaurant. I took a deep breath filled with anxiety. Joey gave me a small nudge towards the booth and just like that, all eyes were on me. Everyone looked a little confused, but some were still smiling, like Pete and Grant.

“Well, it seems I was right. We do meet again.” Grant said warmly, breaking the silence. My eyes were focused on my brother, who was obviously upset.

“Jamie, why are you here? This is a business meeting for the band. ” He demanded. The harshness in his voice was enough to tell me that I had made a huge mistake coming. What was I thinking?

“Uh…” I stuttered, looking at everyone’s faces. They all looked at me with curious eyes.

“Jamie.” Brandon repeated my name, glaring at me. He was ready to stand up and escort me out himself, I could tell.

“nothing, I’m sorry” I blurted out, practically running out of the restaurant. If I would have stayed, I would have noticed the definite look of pure disappointment that Joey gave Brandon. Maybe I would have noticed the slight change in Brandon’s eyes; just the slightest bit of guilt.