Pay for Your Sins

Ever since the moment in the kitchen, things had been different between Jolie and Brandon. They hadn't become best friends, but at least now they could be in the same room together without getting into some stupid fight. And they had hung out once or twice without anyone else have to be there. It was definitely a step in the right direction.

The guilt was still there, though. Because even though they were sort of friends now, Jolie hadn't told him the truth. She had wasted all the chances that she had gotten, chickening out at the very last second. But she knew that she had to tell him soon or she was going to be in some deep trouble.

Tonight she wasn't going to worry about it. Delilah had dragged her out to a local bar where the guys were celebrating a win over the Blues. At first, she had been worried because it would be hard to explain why she wasn't drinking. But when they had arrived at the bar, most of the guys were well on their way to drunk and no one seemed to be paying attention to what she was drinking so she was able to relax a little.

Now she was squished in a booth between Andrew and Abby Sharp, sipping on a 7-Up as she listened to Abby tell a story about the cutest thing that Maddie had done lately. Or at least she was trying to pay attention to what Abby was saying, but she could feel Andrew's eyes on the back of her neck, watching her like a hawk. She knew that Andrew had noticed something was off about her thanks to a talk with Delilah, so she had been trying to act as normal as possible to throw him off, but it didn't seem to be working. But as long as Abby was here, she didn't have to deal with Andrew.

Jolie's luck didn't last long because soon Patrick Sharp was coming over to them, a big grin on his face. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I absolutely need my wife to join me on the dance floor. We have to show these youngin's how it's done."

"You are so not sorry, but go, get your groove on," Jolie said, making a shooing gesture with her hands. She grinned widely as she watched Abby stumble out of the booth, clutching her husband's hand as they made their way to the dance floor.

As soon as the two had disappeared into the crowd, Jolie tried to slide out of the booth, but stopped when she felt a hand on her arm. She turned to face Andrew, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

"You've been acting different lately.

"How so?"

"You're eating chipotle pickles. Spicy foods aren't your thing."

"First of all," Jolie started, holding up a finger. "Just because I wanted chipotle pickles doesn't mean somethings up or that I'm acting different. People get cravings for foods that they don't like all the time. It's not some earth shattering event."

"What about you and Brandon? You two hugged and now you're all buddy-buddy?"

Jolie held up a second finger before speaking. "And second of all, who cares that we hugged? I had just gotten off the phone with my mother and was really upset. I really needed a hug and Brandon was the only person around. You should be happy we're getting along now. Doesn't it make your life a lot easier now that you don't have to make sure that the two of us are never alone or that we aren't fighting with each other?"

Andrew frowned deeply, shaking his head. "It still doesn't make sense."

"I don't care if it makes sense to you or not. Just let it go."

"I'm not going to let it go. I can't trust you and I know you're hiding something!" he snapped, narrowing his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Jolie let out a deep sigh, but she kept her mouth shut. She was going to have a talk with Delilah about Andrew's trust issues. Not that he should trust her since she was hiding something, but still. She wasn't about to get into a fight with him over it.

So when Brandon came sauntering over to the table, she grinned widely. He was just the distraction that she needed.

"Why does Mutt look like someone just pissed in his beer?" Brandon asked as he slid into the booth, dropping an arm around Jolie's shoulders.

Andrew uncrossed his arms so he could flip the both of them off. "Fuck you. I'm going to get another drink," he grumbled, climbing out of the boot, stalking to the bar.

Brandon chuckled softly, shaking his head as he took a sip of his beer. "So fucking dramatic."

Jolie's grin only widened as she leaned against Brandon's side. "He thinks that I've been acting different lately and it's bothering him."

"Have you been acting different lately?" Brandon inquired as he glanced down at her, eyebrow raised.

The words were on the tip of her tongue, ready to be spit out. But she swallowed them down, shaking her head. "Nope. I'm the same old me."

"Good," he stated, giving her shoulder's a gentle squeeze before he was taking his arm away.

Some of the happiness left her when she realized that she had just let another chance to tell Brandon the truth slip by her. Though, in all fairness, telling him she was pregnant while they were out celebrating wasn't the right way to go. A better time would come.

Until then, she had to enjoy all the time that she got to spend with Brandon. She didn't know how long the good times were going to last and she didn't want to waste that time worrying. She was going to enjoy every minute they got to spend together.