All I've Got

August 11th, 2006
Baxter Avenue
7:32 pm

Brinley had gained a sense of reckless confidence while she was getting ready for the party with Lexi, a jolt of adrenaline rushing through her and motivating her to enjoy the process and simply look at tonight as another night at another party with her best friend in the entire world.

That confidence had lasted her through the getting ready process, as well as the car ride from Lexi's house to the street where this party was taking place.

However, it dissipated the moment that Brinley's green eyes landed on the two-story house where the party was taking place, all of her old doubts and insecurities flooding her at once.

"Um, Lex?" She asked as the two girls made their way down the street from where Lexi's brother had dropped them off, their heels clicking against the sidewalk in unison.

It was only August in Arizona, so summer was very much still lingering in the air and it was at least warm enough to walk down the street without shivering.

Though Brinley was definitely starting to reconsider her decision to wear the dress that Lexi had so gleefully chosen for her.

It wasn't overly revealing, though it did dip into a lower v-neck than she would have usually considered wearing. The material, however, was quite thin and flimsy, and it was causing Brinley to tug at the hem uneasily.

"Hmm?"

"I'm starting to think that this maybe isn't the best idea," Brinley mentions as she twists her hands in front of her anxiously, the house seeming more and more imposing as they drew closer to it.

One of the things that had relaxed her about this particular party was the fact that it wasn't at a football player's house, or even one of the stoner's that John usually hung around with. It was at Jared's.

Brinley had been in the same class as Jared Monaco since the first grade, and he was one of the only boys at school who she didn't feel completely uneasy around. He was genuinely one of the friendliest people who she had ever met and she had no doubt that he could have befriended a cactus if he were so inclined.

"Oh no, you don't!" Lexi responded quickly, her arm looping around Brinley's at the exact moment that the blonde started to slow her pace down, effectively dragging her towards the house, "You are not walking away!"

"Lex, this is stupid," Brinley huffs as she tries to extract her arm from the other girl's hold to no avail, "He's not gonna even notice that I'm here."

"He will when we're standing right in front of him," Lexi fires back at her, tugging her along as they climbed the stairs of Jared's front porch.

The ground was thumping with the vibrations of the bass music that was running out of the house, with people spilling out of the house and hanging around the porch and front yard, red cups scattered amongst them.

"You can't force him to talk to me!" Brinley hisses back at her, mortification evident in her tone as the two girls step into the house.

"Brin," Lexi says sharply as she turns to look at her best friend, honesty and seriousness emanating from her coffee-colored irises, "I wouldn't be forcing him to do anything. I saw how he looked at you, okay?"

"Was it the same way that psychiatrists look at mental patients, by any chance?" Brinley manages to quip back at her, though she's at least stopped trying to tear herself out of Lexi's grip.

Confident that the blonde isn't going to turn around and hightail it out of the party, Lexi releases her grip on her best friend and instead places her hand on each of her upper arms.

"I know that you struggle with the whole self-confidence thing, so if you can't believe in yourself, believe in me, okay? Coming here was a good decision and you'll believe me by the end of the night," She said with a reassuring smile before squeezing her best friend's arms comfortingly.

"I'll give it a try, no promises though," Brinley smiles half-heartedly at her, still struggling mentally with the effect that Kennedy Brock had had on her earlier that afternoon.

"Brilliant!" Lexi beams at her, slipping her hand back into Brinley's before starting to lead the blonde through the house, "Let's get you and I a drink and see what mischief we can cause then!"

Brinley shakes her head in fond exasperation at her best friend, though she lets her drag her along nevertheless.

Sometimes it was easier to just go along with whatever Lexi intended on doing, fighting it was like trying to fight a hurricane.

Exhausting and tough on the arm muscles.

The two girls had barely stepped foot into the kitchen before John O'Callaghan's booming voice was cutting through the buzz of the crowd to reach them.

"Alexis!" He beamed over at the taller of the two girls, his lips curved up into an easy smirk, "I knew you'd turn up."

"You did not!" Lexi scoffs as she crosses the kitchen to where he's standing, conveniently beside the makeshift bar, "You're talking out of your ass, O'Callaghan!"

"Been looking at it a lot, have you?"

"In your dreams!"

Brinley bites her lip to smother the snicker that wants to escape, watching the exchange between her best friend and John in curiosity.

She had been watching Lexi and John do this weirdly aggressive flirtation for the better part of six months and it was starting to move from entertaining to exhausting.

She couldn't help but wonder who would be the first to give in.

She also couldn't help but let her gaze drift away from her argumentative best friend and towards the shorter man at John's side.

Kennedy was listening to something that Eric Halvorsen was saying to him, laughing at whatever the other boy was saying to him, a grin stretching over his lips.

It had only been hours since Brinley had seen him in the halls of the high school, and yet, he had somehow managed to get more attractive since then.

She wasn't quite sure how he had managed to make skinny jeans, vans and a maroon tank top look so attractive but it was having a peculiar effect on her.

Deciding that she'd had more than enough front row seats to the Lexi and John Ohh flirtfest that was currently having a repeat performance, Brinley casually slipped her hand out of Lexi's relaxed grip.

Her best friend didn't even notice it happening, too engrossed in the argument that she was currently having with John to be aware of the blonde girl who was slipping out of the kitchen and making a beeline for the front door.

In fact, there was only one person in the room who noticed, and that was only because he looked up from his conversation with Halvo to see a blur of blonde hair whip around the corner and disappear out the back door.

→ → →

Brinley felt a soft breath of relief escape her as she sat down on the back deck of the house, tucking her borrowed skirt underneath her body as she looped her arms around her knee's gently.

The sun had just dipped beneath the tree's behind Jared's house, bathing the yard in a warm golden hue, the overwhelming heat of the day disappearing as the sun descended further from the sky.

It was August in Arizona and the summer heat had yet to dwindle, usually not fading until after fall break. Brinley had never been overly fond of the heat, much preferring the cooler months of fall and winter to the blistering summers.

As she'd gotten older though, she had found a way to appreciate the benefits of the heat. Like the way it made the boys wear shirts which showed off their arms or chest.

Or in some cases, not wear a shirt at all.

This particular summer had been even more horrendous than usual though, with record-breaking temperatures that were outrageously high, even for Arizona. She would be glad when October came around and it started to get cooler again.

Brinley had never been someone who was overly ... aware of her surroundings. Her elementary school teachers had all said that she was often 'off with the fairies' so to speak.

Consequently, it wasn't very difficult to scare or spook her. So when a body drops down next to her on the back porch of Jared's house, Brinley can't stop the small scream of surprise that flies out of her mouth.

The grin that awaits her when she turns to look at Kennedy Brock's face though, that almost makes it worth it.

Almost.

"Didn't mean to scare you," Kennedy apologizes to her, though the wide grin on his face and sparkle of mischief in his eyes tell her that he really isn't very sorry at all.

She's okay with him not being sorry, though, especially when he grins at her like that.

"Somehow I doubt that," Brinley says with a small smile as she tucks a blonde curl behind her ear, her own eyes dancing in humored disbelief.

"Why Miss Brinley Douglas, I am offended!" Kennedy gasps overdramatically, placing his free hand over his chest in mock-offense, "Here I am, trying to keep you company and all I get is insults!"

The giggle that escapes Brinley's mouth at the very overdramatic display makes it all worth it to Kennedy.

He had noticed her the moment that she'd entered the party at Jared's house, his very male mind appreciating the summery low cut dress that she was dressed in.

He had also noticed the discomfort on her face when she'd entered the kitchen though and had resolved to come and make sure she was alright when he'd seen her slip out of the room.

He wasn't exactly sure why he cared so much, why it mattered to him if she was upset, but he knew that he had to check and see if she was okay.

It didn't make a lick of sense, but then again, not many things did in his world.

"You could have announced yourself," Brinley shrugs in response to his outburst, an amused smile dancing across her pink lips, "You made me jump."

"Not my fault that you were completely oblivious to everything apart from the sunset," He shrugs lightly, taking a sip of the beer in his hand as he does so, the curve of his grin remaining, even as he drinks the cold liquid.

"It's a character flaw," Brinley shrugs lightly, confused as to why she felt so at ease now, conversing with him as though he was an old friend, but not fighting against it too much, "I get lost in thought a lot."

"Nothing wrong with that," Kennedy shrugs in response, mimicking her pose as his own arms loop loosely around his denim-covered legs, "Thinking about anything in particular?"

"Nothing overly interesting," Brinley shrugs with a light laugh, running a hand through her hair as a bout of nervous energy ran through her, "Just thinking about how much I can't wait for summer to be over."

"Not a fan of the heat?" Kennedy asks with a grin as he takes another sip of the cold beer in his hands.

"I'm a fan of the heat until the point where it makes my skin feel uncomfortable on my body," Brinley answers him easily, internally wondering how a conversation about the weather had become so interesting.

Today had certainly been full of surprises so far.

"You do realize that you live in Arizona, right?" Kennedy teases her lightly, glad to see that she doesn't close up when he does so, "We're literally in the middle of the desert right now."

"Doesn't mean that I have to like it," Brinley scoffs lightly, rolling her eyes theatrically as she leans back on her hands,

"You don't like Arizona?" Kennedy asks her curiously, unable to quash the overwhelming desire to know everything he possibly could about this girl.

She was fascinating to him, there was something about her that had caught his attention and pulled him in and now he found himself entirely surrendered to the possibility of knowing her better.

"It's not that I don't like it, per se..." Brinley trails off, biting down on her lip in concentration as she tried to think of how to phrase her words appropriately.

"I just find the summers to be a bit too intense, you know?" She finally says, looking over at Kennedy and finding herself taken aback at his unwavering focus on her.

His brown eyes were so intensely concentrated on her, that she found it a little unnerving. It put her on edge but she found that it wasn't making her want to run.

It was thrilling in a way, to have that kind of concentrated energy directed towards her.

"Not a fan of the warm weather?" Kennedy snickers slightly, though the good-humored grin on his face didn't waver for a second.

"There's warm weather and then there's Arizona," Brinley points out, amazed at how well she was doing with this conversation, "I'd just like to be able to wake up in the morning without it being 95 degrees."

"I don't know, Brinley, that seems like a pretty difficult request," Kennedy grins at her teasingly, finishing off the last of his beer and placing the bottle down on the porch.

He had been intrigued in her before tonight, since their very brief conversation in the hallway that afternoon, but as she opened up more in front of him, he only found himself growing more and more interested in whatever was going to come out of her mouth next.

Unfortunately for him, however, whatever that was was going to have to wait.

Before he can open his mouth to ask her another question about herself, he's interrupted by someone calling his name rather frantically.

"Kenny! You out there?" A voice yells out, and Brinley looks over her shoulder to see a boy with long hair stick his head out of the open patio doors, "We thought you vanished on us, it's time to get ready!"

"Oh shit," Kenny mutters as he pushes himself to his feet, "I didn't realize that we'd been out here for that long."

As he says that, Brinley notices just how dark it's gotten outside, the sun had completely disappeared beneath the horizon now with little to no light remaining.

"Sorry if I kept you," She says with a bashful smile as she looks up at him, embarrassed suddenly at how much talking she had been doing.

Surely it can't have been entertaining for him to discuss the weather of all things with her, not when he could have been talking to some pretty Gaby Hawkins type inside.

But then again, he had been the one asking her questions. He was the one who had sought her out and found her outside.

Surely that had to count for something, didn't it?

"Nothing to apologize for," Kennedy grins down at her, exposing the rows of slightly off-center pearly whites, a grin that causes her stomach to flip flop in an unfamiliar fashion, though it wasn't totally unpleasant.

"I enjoy talking to you, Brin," He tells her, the use of her nickname surprising her slightly, "I do have to head inside before Jared has a full-blown panic attack though."

"Don't let me keep you any longer than I already have," Brin smiles softly, "I wouldn't want Jared to meltdown."

"Eh, he's alright," Kennedy snickers slightly, "He just gets a bit panicky before we perform."

As he says that, Brinley remembers Lexi mentioning something to her earlier about Kennedy and John being in a band.

She'd be lying if she said that fact didn't make him infinitely more attractive to her.

Not that he needed help in that department.

She would also have been remiss if she didn't mention that he seemed reluctant to walk away from her.

But then, he was suddenly holding a hand out to her, in what she perceived as a friendly gesture to help her up.

"You coming?"