Picture Perfect

After our intense moment together, Brandon and I began to just talk about everything. I really didn't know where it came from. I was just so... So open with him now. Maybe he had that affect on people. Maybe I had finally come out of my hard, icy shell.

Either way, we were officially friends. And that made me so happy.

And more frightened.

The dull grey clouds that graced the sky began to turn darker and darker, and the cold, winter air got considerably chilly. “I guess we have to get home now,” Brandon said with a frown.

I shrugged. “There’s always tomorrow. It’s not like it’s the end of the world, right?”

He gave me a half-smile. “Very true, but the end of the world could suddenly come tomorrow with aliens invading the earth.”

Okay, that’s pushing the limit, I thought. I raised my eyebrows. “Really? Aliens?”

He laughed. “My dad’s a sci-fi geek. Give me a break, will ya’?”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, you freak. But no more alien talk.” I dramatically shuddered. “It gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

Brandon laughed. “Will do, Jamie. Will do.”

Brandon’s cell began to ring in one of his jean pockets. “Hold on a sec,” he said, holding up a finger. He then lowered his arm pulled out his phone and checked the caller I.D. His eyes widened for a just a moment and then opened his phone to take the call.

“Mickey?” he said in shock. “It’s been so long! How’s Montana, dear friend?”

He paused for a moment, hearing the person’s voice—a girl’s perhaps? I wasn’t quite sure. What I was sure of was that I was ticked off for him being just a tad obnoxious talking with his old friend in Montana.

“Dude, are you serious? That’s amazing!” he yelled in excitement.

His face fell after hearing something Mickey replied back with. “I miss you too, Mickey. I really do—” Brandon stopped in mid-sentence. “Yeah, I know. We all hate that part about my dad. Who doesn’t?” he laughed half-heartedly.

What the hell was Brandon’s connection to this “Mickey” girl? I really wanted to know. She sounded nice, which was always a plus in my book. But for some odd reason, I just had a bad feeling about her, almost to the point of not liking her. But why? I had no reason to. I never judged people before hand. What the hell was my brain thinking?

Brandon went silent once again, hearing Mickey’s reply. “I wish I could see you too, stupid. I miss Montana in general.” He gave me a quick glance. I raised my eyebrows, urging him silently I wanted him to end the call. “Hey, I got to go. I’ve got a new friend named Jamie—”

His eyes widened. “No! It’s nothing like that! God, shut up!” Brandon argued. I grinned at his defensiveness. He shot me a glare—I still grinned towards him—and began talking again to Mickey again. “Great, now you’ve got Jamie laughing at me. I swear to God I’ll talk to you later. Happy? Good. Now bye!”

Brandon hung up the phone quickly before Mickey could say anything more. He groaned loudly and then looked at me. “Well, it seems like this Mickey girl is a character. What does she think of me?” I smiled widely.

“Shut up,” was all Brandon said.

I laughed and Brandon cracked a small smile. “Oh, come on. Tell me more about Mickey. I won’t bite,” I pressed on.

“Well,” Brandon started. “she’s one crazy girl. You could say she fits into the “punk” type, although she hates labels like you so don’t. She’s always the first one to hear of any new bands in the area, goes to every rock concert she can, and moshes like a mad woman. How’s that for a description?” he raised an eyebrow, waiting for my reply.

I smiled. “She sounds great. She and Isabel would get along just perfectly. Isabel’s the same way with music.”

We reached the road and began walking towards High Street, the road to go onto before it went into the road Brandon and I lived on. I noticed a motorcycle on the side of the road that we were walking towards. Whose was it? “Hey, do you know whose motorcycle that is? Looks nice,” I noted.

“It’s my dad’s,” Brandon answered. “He lets me borrow it from time to time when I need a vehicle since mine isn’t here yet. I figured I’d take it here so we wouldn’t have to walk the rest of the way home. Good thing I did. It’s really dark out tonight.”

“Wait… ‘We?’” I repeated.

Brandon nodded.

“Okay, first off; me and dangerous don’t mix. Usually, dangerous things often win in giving me near-death experiences. Secondly… Do you even know how to drive that thing?” I asked nervously.

Quite honestly, I had never been one for dangerous things. Motorcycles being driven by 17 year-old children didn’t scream “safe” to me. Then again, teenagers riding vehicles on the road wasn’t that safe to begin with. I was an extremely cautious kid. I didn’t really do things that would put me in danger. Maybe there was something wrong with my head. Who knows?

“Look, I can ride it just fine,” he said. “Just put the helmet on, get on the back, and hold on. I can do this.” Brandon gazed into my eyes, making me lose touch with reality for only a split second. I shook out of it.

“No,” I said, my tone mimicking a pouty five year old’s.

“Yes.”

“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?”

“Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way then...”

“Wait, what?” I said, mentally freaking out.

And with that, he threw me over his shoulder. With a quick yelp, I was soon lying over his shoulder. I pounded on his back with my fists, yelling at him to put me down. Brandon soon put me down on the back of the motorcycle and got on fast. He turned the keys to turn the motorcycle on. He revved the engine by turning the handlebars. It roared loudly, which scared me too much.

I thought I was about to die of fright.

But I soon realized I didn’t have to worry about dying. Instead, I blacked out, falling on Brandon’s shoulder with a light thud.