Passenger Seat

A week had passed by, and Brian was going to be released from the hospital. I was excited, because despite everyone’s offers he had specifically asked me to stay with him until he got better. I had packed a week’s worth of clothes, and was getting ready to go pick him up. I was still in a terrycloth robe and had my hair wrapped up in a towel when I was deciding on what to wear. After much debating, I chose on a white cami, a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, and a leather jacket.

Once I was dressed, I dried my hair and put it up in a loose bun, then decided to start on my makeup. I did a simple line of liquid eyeliner on my eyelids, mascara and some peachy pink lipgloss. As I looked in the mirror, I felt badass. I swung my leather backpack over my shoulder, slipped on my gray TOMS and grabbed my cellphone, keys and sunglasses and went downstairs.

“Going to pick up Bee?” Tallulah asked as she ate her food. I nodded, and she smiled.

“Have fun,” She said in a sing-song voice, and I rolled my eyes. I thanked her parents for letting me stay with them, declined their offer of food and left. I slipped my aviator sunglasses over my eyes and went over to my car. After unlocking it, I swung my bag into the backseat and slid into the driver’s side of the car, and started the engine. I quickly fastened my seatbelt, and quickly, and excitedly made my way towards the hospital. I went up to Brian’s room, and saw a familiar face.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Just telling big ol’ Brian what he’s getting himself into,” Jonathan told me, a sneer in his voice. I glared at him, and told him to get out, only to be denied.

“I can easily call the nurse and tell her you’re violating my restraining order, again.” He started looking nervous, then shook his head, grumbling something to himself before letting himself out. I sighed, and looked over at Brian, only to have a smile grow on my face.

“You ready to go home?” I asked him, and he nodded.

“More than ready,” I laughed and then the nurse came in, and handed him his clothes and told him he could change while she gave me instructions for his care. He smiled over at me before making his way to the bathroom, and I looked over to the nurse.

Her instructions weren’t too complicated, and only consisted of a few restrictions. He was to stay in bed most of the day, he was restricted to limited movement and exercise, and she went out of her way to remind me that meant no sexual activity. I nearly blushed out of embarrassment when she mentioned this, but Brian came out.

“Can we please go now?” He asked, and I nodded. He was wheeled out of the hospital and to my car in a wheel chair, something he absolutely hated. But when we were in the car and going towards his house, he seemed less agitated.

“So, no exercise huh?” He said with a smirk. I grew wide eyed and let out a nervous cough.

“I guess you heard your care instructions,” He nodded and I then blushed.

“So, you know the rules then.” He nodded again.

“Good, then we won’t have any problems.” He chuckled quietly to himself and shook his head.

“What?” I asked, looking over at him briefly.

“Even if I was allowed to ‘exercise’, I wouldn’t.” I cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh, really? Why is that?” He shrugged.

“I’d rather wait.” I bit my lip, and quickly turned into his drive way when I heard the ‘You’re at your destination’ from my TomTom GPS.
He was about to get out of the car when I rushed to stop him.

“Let me help you,” I told him. I grabbed my bag and put it on my shoulders, then opened Brian’s door and helped him out of the car. I kicked the door shut, locked it before helping him walk to the front door.

“Do you have your keys?” He nodded and rifled through his jean pockets before handing them to me. I found the house key effortlessly and unlocked the door, opened it and helped Brian inside the house. I shut the door behind me, and locked the deadbolt and helped him up the stairs. I could tell he was in pain, so I tried to take it slowly.

“You okay?” He nodded, trying to stay strong.

“Okay,” I sighed in relief when we made it to the top of the stairs and found his room. When I opened the door I nearly gasped. The room was bigger than mine, even than Summers’. It was big, yet simple. It didn’t have anything fancy aside from the furniture.

“Do you want to sit up or lay down?” I asked him, and he chose to sit up for now. I placed multiple pillows in a stack so he would be comfortable, then helped him onto the bed and made sure he was situated before sitting down on the bed myself.

“You have a nice room,” I told him, and he smiled.

“Thanks, I wish I could use it more.” I nodded in understanding. I didn’t want to know what it was like to not be able to sleep in your own bed for a year at a time. I would hate it.

“Do you want to watch tv?” He shook his head.

“Do you want to use your laptop?” He shook his head, causing me to sigh.

“What do you want to do?”

“Stare at you for a while,” I nearly blushed again, but laughed to hide my embarrassment.

“Why?” He smiled, and shrugged.

“I like staring at you, you’re beautiful.” I was about to say something in response when I heard a loud DING-dong. I bit my lip, and he smiled.

“Go see who it is, I can wait to stare at you for a few minutes,” I rolled my eyes and got up then left the room, and went downstairs to answer the door. I looked out the window and saw it was Tallulah with John, and the other band members.
I quickly unlocked the door and opened it, letting them inside.

“How is he doing?” John asked, and everyone watched me in silence.

“He’s okay, he’s just getting comfortable.” They all nodded, then asked if they could see him, which I replied with I should ask first. I quickly excused myself and went back up stairs and into Brian’s room, telling him he had company.

“Well tell them to get their lazy asses up here,” I laughed and went outside and leaned over the banister.

“You guys can come up,” They rushed up the stairs, and piled into his room. They all took turns talking, but Tallulah decided she wanted to spend time with me, and let Brian have time with his band.

“We’ll be downstairs, okay Brian?” He nodded, and continued to talk with his band mates. Tallulah and I went downstairs and into the living room, and sat on the large leather couch, facing each other. I waited for her to tell me what was on her mind, but she obviously couldn’t.

“What’s going on Tallulah?” I finally asked.

“It’s about Summer,” I rolled my eyes,

“Oh god, I don’t want to hear about here. It’ll make me all pissy and I might accidently hurt Brian or something,” She shook her head.

“It’s about the both of you, about something she did that’s going to involve you.” I cocked an eyebrow.

“What are you talking about?” She bit her lip.

“I don’t know if I could tell you, I’m not even supposed to know.” I groaned and she shook her head.

“Stop being so impatient with me, I’m just conflicted. I don’t like telling secrets, but if it involves you, you need to know. But I’m not even supposed to know, so by telling you I could get in trouble.” I was ready to pull my hair out at this point. I loved Tallulah, but when she felt conflicted it got on my nerves.

“Just tell me!” She flinched and nodded.

“Okay!” She was searching for something to tell me, then finally sputtered out.

“The wedding is getting pushed back into summer, your sister wants a summer wedding and by then she would have had the baby and she wants you to stay here and help her change everything.” I knew that wasn’t what she was going to really tell me, but I also knew it was the truth. If she was going to avoid telling me something by bringing something else up, it wasn’t going to be a lie. She couldn’t cover up something like this.

“Fuck me.” I muttered, shaking my head.

“I have to stay here a whole year?” She nodded.

“Why?” She sighed.

“Her fiancé is going on a brief tour, and by the time he gets back it’ll be summer again.” I was ready to bash my sisters pregnant head in. This was not cool, not cool at all.

“Hey! Brian wants you!” Jess yelled from upstairs. I told her I would be up there in a minute, and decided to call my neighbor and asked her to keep up my apartment for a while. She was more than happy too, thankfully for me. I walked back upstairs and smiled when I saw Brian.

“Hey, everything okay?” I nodded.

“Yeah, just some stuff with my sister.” The band took this as a cue to go downstairs, and I sat back down on the bed once they had all left.

“What’s going on?”

“She pushed back the wedding into next summer, so I’m going to have to stay a whole year and deal with her, but.” He cocked an eyebrow.

“But there’s something else going on, but Tallulah chickened out in telling me.” He sighed.

“It must be big then,” I nodded.

“I know.”

“What are you going to do here for a year?” I shrugged.

“I have no clue.” He smirked, causing me to get nervous.

“What are you smirking about?” He took my hand in his, rubbing the top of my hand with his thumb.

“I have a proposal,” I groaned.

“Okay, what is it?” He frowned.

“Well, don’t act all unhappy about it or I won’t tell you.” I sighed.

“Sorry, I’m just a bit moody.” He nodded, and then kissed my lips softly. When he pulled away I was all smiles.

“So, what was that proposal?” I asked, trying to keep on track.

“How about, you be my girlfriend?” I grew wide eyed.

“Are you being serious?” He frowned.

“Why wouldn’t I be serious?” I frowned as well.

“I don’t mean it like that, it’s just. I haven’t dated anyone besides Jonathan since, well. Ever.” He grew wide eyed.

“Are you saying that Jonathan is your first boyfriend?” I nodded.

“Yeah,” He let out a low whistle, and shook his head.

“What?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I’m surprised that he’s your first boyfriend,”

“Why is that?”

“Because you’re too beautiful to pass up,” I leaned over, and kissed his lips gently then looked at him for a moment.

“You really think that?” I asked quietly. He nodded.

“I do,” I kissed him again, and my answer to his proposal was then obvious. We heard a cough and jumped apart quickly. I flushed with embarrassment when I saw Tallulah, and all of The Summer Set standing in the door way.

“Finally!”