Kaleidoscope Eyes

April 12th, 2007. 6:48PM

"You look nice," Spencer said as I walked into the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and drank the cold water. My hands were shaking as I clutched the bottle tightly. "Nervous?"

"Very. I don't know why," I muttered, screwing the cap back on. I set down the bottle and looked up at Spence. "Are you sure I look nice? Are Brendon's parents gonna like it? God, I fucking h - "

"Rae, calm down, Brendon's parents are so nice. You got nothing to worry about," He reassured me, offering a little smile.

I nodded and let out a shaky breath, "Yeah, yeah...okay. Thanks."

"Have him home by ten. I wanna party," Ryan said in his parent voice. It made me laugh. Which made him glare slightly. "I'm serious, Rae!"

"God, okay, fine, yeah," I rolled my eyes, waving him off. I went to the living room and saw Brendon standing there, looking cute all dressed up. "Well, hello there, handsome."

He looked up phone his phone and smiled at me, "Hey, there. You ready to go?"

"Yup," I smiled, appearing calm and collected on the outside, but freaking the fuck out on the inside. Apparently they were nice. It's okay. It's gonna be perfectly okay. Like I said, parents loved me. Parents loved me.

"See you guys later," Brendon called out behind him as we left.

*

We were at a super fancy restaurant and I was so glad I dressed up like I did, and didn't wear my ripped tights with this dress. I think his parents would've had a heart attack. However, I was wearing too much eyeliner. And I felt awkward.

His parents were nice like Spencer assured me. They were very nice. And so were Bren's siblings. His whole family was nice.

"So, Rachel, where are you from?" His mother, who insisted I called her Grace, asked, sipping some wine. I wanted some damn wine.

"Oh, Chicago, originally. I've moved around a lot, though," I said, awkwardly reaching for Brendon's hand under the table. I needed to hold his hand and calm myself down. I was too worked up over nothing, really. I think it was the atmosphere. Damn fancy restaurant.

Brendon held my hand, lightly rubbing his thumb in a small circle on the back of it. It was calming me down like I wanted.

"Oh, really? Where've you lived?" She pushed further. God, this was Brendon's night. I didn't want all eyes on me. Shit.

"Um, Chicago, Baltimore, back to Chicago, LA, then, uh, here," I laughed, causing his mother to grin.

"That's nice. You know, I've always loved to travel," She started. And she dove into how she loved traveling. Brendon sighed, obviously embarrassed by his mother.

I giggled at his embarrassment and squeezed his hand. He looked over at me and smiled softly.

"Aww, aren't you two just the cutest?" His sister, I think that was Kyla, gushed, totally interrupting her mothers speech on how she loved traveling. I think she was picking up on Bren's embarrassment.

I felt my cheeks grow warm and the corners of my mouth tug up more. Brendon muttered a thanks and looked down, his cheeks growing red as well. Aw! I wanted to attack him and kiss him and all that gooey shit right here. But, I wouldn't because that'd be inappropriate.

"So, Rae, what do you do for a living?" Brendon's dad asked.

My eyes widened a bit. I didn't do anything. I...lived off of Pete for the last two years. Pete spoiled the shit out of me. I didn't have to work or anything. He bought everything for me. Which was nice, but I felt bad.

So, Pete let me model for the Clandestine site to make a little bit of money. Okay, say that.

"Oh, um, some modeling here and there," I forced a smile as I took a sip of my water. I really wanted some of that wine. I eyed the wine bottle and bit my lip. I needed a drink. I didn't like the interrogation.

"That's interesting," He nodded a bit. I didn't know what that meant. Oh, God, what if he disapproved? What if he was judging me? Well, no shit they were judging me. They wouldn't ask these things if they weren't judging me. "Is that how you guys met?"

"Nah, I've never modeled with Bren," I laughed, causing everyone to laugh. That was either really good...or not. I didn't care to explain how Bren and I met, because it meant talking about Pete. And I didn't like to talk about Pete. It still hurt. Even though I broke up with him.

Well, technically, I never broke up with him. I said we were on a break. Then he goes out and fucking shoves his tongue down Ashlee Simpson's throat.

...And I ended up sleeping with Brendon and falling into some sort of relationship as payback. Fuck, I was horrible.

"She's a friend of a friend, that's how we met," Brendon said, ending this discussion. I shot him a small smile, silently thanking him. He leaned over and kissed my cheek. The table erupted into "awwww!"

"Too cute," His sister said.

***

Brendon and I got back to the house right as the clock struck ten. The house was already booming, music pouring out of every crevice it could leak out of, when we pulled up in the driveway.

We could smell the alcohol radiating from inside. Brendon squeezed my hand tighter as we got closer to the front door. He was excited as hell.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" He asked right before opening the door.

"Of course I did!" I laughed, tugging him inside.

People cheered and slapped Brendon on the back, wishing him happy birthday as we walked by. I led Brendon into the kitchen and quickly fixed myself a rum and coke. God, this drink was needed hours ago.

I quickly downed that and poured myself another, right as Brendon poured himself a drink.

"Shall we go dance?" He asked, taking my hand.

I grinned and followed him out to the living room. I turned around and started dancing against him, my hips moving with his to the music.

Multiple songs and drinks later, Brendon decided he wanted to find Ryan. I laughed and nodded, following him back to the kitchen.

Ryan was standing there, leaning against the counter, talking to Jon about something. The two of them smiled when they saw us. I quickly hugged Jon while Brendon started rambling on to Ryan.

"I can't believe you threw me a party!" Brendon said, his smile stretching from ear to ear. I watched, laughing, as he threw his arm around Ryan's thin shoulders. He leaned up and pressed his lips to Ryan's cheek sloppily. "Fuck, Ryan, I actually love you! This is awesome!"

Ryan laughed and ruffled Bren's hair, "Love you, too, Brendon. It wasn't all my idea. Rae helped, same with Spencer."

"I love everyone!" Brendon yelled, throwing his hands above his head. Brendon then became silent. He looked as if he was deep in thought. He then snapped his fingers and made his way back to the living room. I smirked, knowing what he was going to do next.

I laughed as he pushed everything off the coffee table. Drinks splashed on the carpet and food crumbled underneath people's feet. Brendon stood on the table, grabbing everyone's attention almost immediately. The music was cut, too.

I walked over and handed him a Corona. He thanked me and blew me a kiss. I laughed and blew one back. We were dorks, no?

"Alright, you fuckers, I just want to say I love you all so much for coming and spending your night with me for my birthday. Seriously, you're all fucking wonderful as fuck!" Brendon said, holding the Corona in the air. People cheered and raised their drinks above their heads. "Right, let's get fucked up!!"

The music was blasting again as Brendon jumped down from the table. He came over to me and pressed his lips against mine hungrily. I pulled away, a little taken back by that. "What was that for?"

"I wanted to thank you," He smiled, pressing his lips to mine again. He pulled away just a bit. "So, thanks, Rachel."

"You're welcome," I whispered before kissing him once again. We stood there, lips against lips, hips against hips. It felt like no one else was in the room, no music was playing, nothing. It felt like it was just me and Brendon. I loved it so much.

I draped my arms loosely over his shoulders and his hands rested on my hips. His tongue slid along my lower lip, wanting in. I opened my mouth a bit and he took that opportunity. Our tongues moved together.

So, there we were, standing there and making out in the middle of the living room. Suddenly, someone bumped into me, spilling beer all down the back of my nice dress.

I ripped myself away from Brendon and let out a loud shriek. I turned around and saw some girl standing there, trying to look innocent.

"Oh, I am so sorry!" She said and I could just hear the fake concern in her voice. It made me want to punch her in the face.

"Amanda?" Brendon asked. I turned back to him, eyes wide. He knew this girl. How did he known this girl? Was she an ex...?

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Right, no, he could know a girl and they could just be friends.

Don't be so jealous, Rachel. I repeated over and over in my head.

"Hi, Brendon!" Amanda smiled. Standing there, soaking, I watched this girl awkwardly hug Bren. He looked uncomfortable.

His eyes met mine. I raised my eyebrows. He pulled himself away from her and walked over to me, taking my hand. "Let's, uh, go get you cleaned up," He said, tugging me away from her.

"Who was that?" I asked as we walked to my room.

"No one," He muttered, pushing my door open.

No one? She had to be someone. He knew her name for God's sake. I wanted to know more, so much more, but I wasn't going to ruin Brendon's birthday by asking him her. I just zipped my mouth shut.

He flicked on the lights. No one was in here, thank God. He shut the door behind him as I walked to my bed. I kicked my heels off. Then, I turned around to face him.

"I forgot to tell you that I have one more present for you," I grinned.

Brendon matched my grin and ran, yes, ran over to the bed. He jumped onto it, making me laugh loudly.

"You are the best girlfriend I've ever had, Rachel," He said before I crawled on top of him. I started trailing kisses down his jaw. "Seriously, you're so perfect."

I smiled against his neck. Perfect.