Second Chances

The chorus from Pantera’s Walk began playing from the counsel between them as they drove home.

Chelsea

“Do you want me to answer?” She asked, picking up the small blackberry.

“Sure.”

She pressed the green button and put the phone up to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hello?” An unfamiliar female voice answered. “Who’s this?”

“Samantha.”
“Oh. Well where’s Brian?”
“Right next to me,” She said looking over and Brian who had his hands on the wheel. He glanced over at Sam who had a confused expression on her face. “He’s driving.”

“Can you tell him Chelsea called? It’s not important, but I just needed to talk to him later.”
“Sure.”

“Oh and Samantha,” Chelsea called out.
“Yeah?”

She went silent. “Never mind. Just tell him I called.”

“Okay, bye.”
“Bye.”

She hit the end button and put the phone back where it was. “Chelsea called.”

His eyes went wide as he slammed on the brakes. “W-What?”

Sam shrugged. “She just told me to tell you she called. She needs to talk to you about something.” She looked over at him, “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah,” He stuttered, putting his foot back on the gas.

She dismissed his weird behavior and waited to get home. He turned off the car and got out, heading to the trunk to grab Sam’s guitar. The driveway to Jimmy’s house was still empty.

“You wanna come in?” Sam invited, standing at the back of the car with him.

“I should actually probably go see what Chelsea wants,” He said in a disappointed sounding tone.

“Oh,” She said looking down at her feet. “Okay.”

He handed her her guitar and played around with his keys, finding the one that went to his car. He climbed back inside and was just about to start the engine when Sam called out to him.

“Brian!”

He looked out his window at her. “Yeah?”

“Who’s Chelsea?” She asked, puzzled at who this person may be.

He hesitated before answering, swallowing a deep breath of air in his throat. “She’s my girlfriend.”

She nodded and turned her back to him, walking back up to Jimmy’s house. She heard the roaring of Brian’s car engine so she knew he was gone. Once inside she put her new guitar down on the couch and went in to the kitchen, picking up the piece of paper with his chicken scratch on her and just staring at it.

‘He’s nothing Sam. He’s just one of your cousin’s friends.’ She thought over and over as she crumpled up both piece of paper and threw them out in the trash.

She sighed as she closed the lid, heading back in to the living room to grab her guitar and bring it upstairs with her. She put it down on the bench in front of her bed and pulled her iPod out from her bag, plugging it in to the iHome Jimmy and Leanna had bought for her.

She scrolled through her artists before settling on People In Planes. She turned up the volume and went back over to her bed, crawling up on to the middle of the unmade mess and laying down on her back, looking up at the ceiling.

“And you know it hurts like hell. So come out of the closet. Let’s talk about it.”

Meanwhile, Brian was driving to Chelsea’s place to see what she wanted. The whole time he was cursing himself out because he was making moves on Sam, or at least he thought he was anyway.

Chelsea and him had been going strong for a long time now and he was almost getting the nerve to ask her to marry him, but every time that thought crossed his mind, he got cold feet and ignored the thought.

He pulled up in to her drive way and killed the engine, shutting the door behind him as he got out. He walked up the steps to her home and was about to knock on the door when she answered.

“Hey.”
“Hey.”

She opened the door a bit wider and invited him in, closing it behind him.

“So what did you need to talk to me about?” He asked, making his way over to her couch and sitting down on it.

“You know what I want to talk about Bri,” She said sternly.

“Chells,” He sighed.

“We’ve been fighting over this for weeks Brian!” She complained. “You know how I feel already about this.”

“I know,” He said bowing his head down. “You know how I feel about this too.”

She sat down on the couch across from him and sighed. “So what are we going to do?”

“Chelsea,” He said picking his head up. “I love you more than anything in the world. You know that.”

“Brian…”

“You know that after Michelle you were the one who fixed me and got me out of my bad habits. You showed me that there’s a hell of a lot more to life than just drugs and pretty girls.”

He moved over to the couch she was sitting on and put his hand on her knee. “I love you Chelsea. I really fucking do.”

“I know Brian,” She said, pushing his hand off of her. “I know you say you love me and I know you mean it. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Then why can’t we just leave it at that?” He asked.

“Because even though I love you, I just feel like this is the end for us. For me at least it does.”

She met his brown eyes with her glassy green ones, trying to find some sort of understanding in them, but all she found was his puppy love.

“Just a break, that’s all I’m asking.” She spoke softly. “If we find each other again and still feel the same way, then it’s meant to be, and if we don’t ……”

“Then I’ll have lost you forever,” He said sadly.

“Please Bri? I need this. For myself.”

“You know I don’t like it,” He muttered, focusing his attention on her carpet.

“I know you don’t.” She sighed. “But it has to be done.”

“No it doesn’t.” He said with that same depressed tone as before.

She didn’t want to fight with him anymore, so she tried to change the subject. She straightened herself out and sat up, moving away from him a little. “So, who’s the Samantha girl that answered your phone earlier?”

“Jimmy’s cousin.” He answered, not removing his eyes from the carpeting.

“Is she pretty?” Chelsea asked, hoping that would get some sort of response out of him other than the sadistic and depressing comments he was making.

He shrugged. “I guess she is.” He sat there quiet for a minute before he opened his mouth to speak again. “She has the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. They’re even bluer than Jimmy’s. They’re like this deep ocean water blue. And she has a cute smile. I’d give a nickel for every time I’ve gotten to see it already.”

Chelsea sat there and listened to him ramble on about Sam some more. She nodded her head in the appropriate places and watched his face light up when he talked more about her.

“Oh! And! She has this cute little blush when I compliment her,” He added.

She smiled at her now ex-boyfriend. “She sounds great Bri.”