We Must Reinvent Love

"So, that's it? Nothing else?" Brendon asked as we walked through the halls, heading outside. I shrugged and stopped in front of my locker.

"Uh, well, I do have a sister.." I murmured as I stuffed my locker with a few books I didn't even need.

"Great! Can I meet her?" his eyes sparkled with excitement but he doesn't know what's he's in for.

"Sure, uh, she's at home." Brendon nodded and we both started walking through the doors. I'm not sure if its obvious but I'm not the type of person with a lot of friends. Its just Brendon and my sister, Danielle. Okay, we'll, she's not really my sister. She's my step sister and my very best friend. Danielle knows all about Brendon, his followers, my secrets, my goals, and my little patch on ink on my lower back.

The walk home was pretty exciting. He told me about what I missed out on, like one of his birthdays. I felt bad and my stomach churned. I used to always wish him a happy birthday, followed by a cake and new pictures added into our scrapbook. Brendon wanted to make a big scrapbook to show our parents at our senior party at the end of the year. He was so focused on taking pictures with me wherever we went but ever since sophomore year, we lost touch, friendship, and his damn camera.

A familiar little red convertible Corvette was parked so nicely in my driveway. I told her to stop driving that thing around because kids here have sticky fingers and have an eye for hotwiring shit. Brendon did a little hop skip before running off towards the gate to the backyard. I smiled and ran with him, jumping on his back in the process.

“Oh hello there, my fair lady, would you be so kind as to opening the gate to your chambers keep?” he asked, grabbing my legs to keep me up.

“Of course, my good sir.” I reached in front of me and started fumbling with the lock on my gate. It clicked and I pulled it towards me, leaving a great opening for Brendon. He slid through and stopped, letting me turn around to close it and lock it up again.

“Alright, my fair lady, lead us to your staircase.” Yeah, staircase. Right outside was a big, black spiral staircase right up to my room. My dad and uncle had put it in when I was little so I could live my princess dreams. To be honest with you, I’m still excited to see it every day and it was constructed when I was 5. Brendon let me down and I grabbed his hand, skipping to my staircase. I smiled a cheesy smile before walking up the black staircase, gripping my backpack as I thought about the chances of Dani being in there.

Brendon set his backpack on the balcony and peered into my room, smiling at the raspberry dots on my wall. He was the one who painted those dots when I was 13. That shows how long we’ve been best friends for. Brendon pulled the glass door open and I sighed, throwing my backpack on the closest bed. Knowing that the door was open meant that Danielle had been in my room.

“Danielle Gabriella Grayson! Where the hell are you?” My voice echoed throughout the house and my stepdad’s voice echoed back to me.

“Language, you ignorant bitch!” That shut me up and it did to Brendon as well. He looked at me with an angered look before storming off towards my bedroom door.

“Brendon, no! You can’t do anything.” I grabbed his arm and his eyes looked at me in a pained way. Almost like we wanted to go kill my stepdad but then he wanted to stay and comfort me. “Bren, don’t.” That did it for him. His arms snaked around my waist and he rested his face into my shoulder, stroking my dark brown hair. I could feel his tears seeping through my shirt and I brought my shaky hand to his head, gripping it from the roots. Our crying and sniffling was the only noise filling my room.

Let me take you back. WAY back, to when I was 10 years old..

Brendon and I walked inside the house, holding our soccer balls in our hand. My mother was in the kitchen with my stepdad, yelling with him as normal. The only thing I remember about that was my stepdad shot her with a pistol I didn’t even know he had and boom, she was gone. I was screaming and Brendon was pulling me towards the door as my stepfather started coming out towards me. His eyes were wide and he had his arms straight out for me, like he wanted to pick me up or something. Brendon started telling him that he would regret what he did and that I would be leaving to live with him. My dad got so mad that he ran at me and threw me into the couch. He pulled off his belt and hit me once. Then, Brendon laid next to me and put his arms around me so he would be taking the beatings instead of me. Bren was partly true, I did live with him for a few days. But then my father was taken away and only sentenced for 5 years in prison. The house was left empty until Brendon’s parents told me I could live there and they would stay over for a while with Brendon. Danielle started staying with us as well but she was only 14 at the time, so she couldn’t be my guardian. But now that I’m 16, my stepdad’s out of prison, and Danielle’s 20, she’s now my legal guardian but that doesn’t stop my stepdad from coming over.

Back to reality.

“I’m sorry for l-leaving you. I forgot…that he was out…and you were j-just here with him.” Brendon sputtered out between sobs and sniffles. Aw, this poor boy. I can’t imagine the pain he’s feeling right now but I don’t want him to feel like this all the time. I lifted his chin and looked into his eyes, wiping his tears with my thumb. He blinked and averted his gaze the beds.

“Hey, hey, Brendon Boyd Urie…look at me right now, ” He looked at me and sighed, “Calm down. Don’t feel bad for me at all, life’s a climb. But you know what, looking out over the scenery is amazing. Its worth it.” I moved in and closed my eyes, already feeling heat in between us.

“Anderson!”

Brendon and I froze and turned to look at Dani.

“Get him out of your room before I kill him with my bare hands.”