West Coast
three.
“Hey kiddos.” Brian Sr. drawled once everyone was inside.
Brian helped Scout with her coat tossing it alongside his own into the small closet beside the front door. He bounded over to his father with a goofy smile on his face and motioned for Scout to join him at the sight of her standing by the door uncomfortably. She slowly made her way over to the two men, silently cursing at herself for showing up. If only she had just fought Brian enough to make him leave….
Brian and Brian Sr. quickly consumed themselves with a conversation about guitars or music in general, Scout wasn’t really too sure. Suzy had excused herself to the kitchen to check on brunch, and McKenna and Chris had their faces glued to one another. The brunette felt someone nudge her causing her eyes to refocus and turned her attention toward Brian.
“I was just telling Pop that you were interning for Zack and that you might be able to work at VU full time.”
Scout nodded, “Oh yeah, it’s been great. Zack is a really cool guy.” She bit her lip nervously as she could feel Brian Sr. looking her over. “Honestly though, I’d just be grateful for any kind of work.”
Brian Sr. let out a belly deep laugh and kicked his feet out to rest on the coffee table “Don’t I know it.”
Before the conversation had a chance to get any further, Suzy had returned from the kitchen, “Feet off the table!” Brian Sr. made a face and mumbled under his breath, something about his wife having a sixth sense for him putting his feet on the table, “Brunch is ready.” She added.
The five of them stood up almost simultaneously and began filtering into the dining room. As if Scout wasn’t feeling uncomfortable enough with Brian’s parents thinking they were dating, McKenna had come up beside her at the table causing Brian to have to sit on the other side of the table. They all took their seats, Brian Sr. and Suzy at each end and the girls on one side, boys on the other.
“So how old are you?” McKenna asked as she popped a piece of chicken into her mouth. Brian coughed and Suzy gave her daughter a scolding look. “What?” The 20-year-old asked, “I’m just curious. She looks like someone I’ve seen around campus.”
Scout looked across the table at Brian with pleading eyes which he missed as he reached for a glass of water to hopefully calm down his cough. “I uh, I’m 20… I turn 21 in a few months though.”
McKenna smiled, “No shit, Chris is 20 too! His birthday is next week though. I’m 18, but I’ll be 19 soon.”
Suzy shot her daughter a scolding look for cursing to which McKenna simply shrugged and popped a few carrots in her mouth. It was difficult for the older woman to get her head around the idea of her step-son being with someone so much younger than he was. Even her daughter dating someone three years older was tough. Brian Sr. could practically read his wife’s mind and made a mental note to speak to her about it later.
“How long have you guys been together? Did you meet at a show?” McKenna kept shooting off questions. She always had an interest in the women her brother had dated, especially one special enough to be brought home to meet their parents.
Brian groaned, “Why are you asking so many questions Kenna? What about Chris, when do we get to grill him?”
McKenna rolled her eyes, “It’s no biggie, drama queen.”
“We’ve been together about six months now,” Chris, who had been quite for the majority of the meal finally spoke up, “and we met on campus. I was visiting a friend and we bumped into each other outside one of the classrooms.”
Scout smiled as she watched McKenna and Chris retelling their story, stealing adoring glances at one another. When the brunette looked across the table, all she found was Brian looking down at his lap, presumably on his phone. She bit her lip and sighed, before reaching for her glass of wine that Brian Sr. had graciously poured her.
“What about you two, Scout?” Suzy asked, leaning back in her chair. If she was going to accept this young girl in her life, she might as well get to know her a bit. “How did you and Brian meet?”
Scout gulped and glanced up at Brian, who decided suddenly that he needed to use the restroom. She sighed before turning her attention toward Suzy, “We met through Zack actually. I’ve been interning all semester at his clothing company.”
“Shit, shit, shit. Fuck! God damn.” The string of explicit language continued to roll out of Scout’s mouth as she looked around her cubicle searching frantically for her hard drive. Not only did she had several finished assignments saved on it, but mock ups for her boss. The brunette was only a week into her internship; the last thing she needed was Zack, her boss, to see her as a fuck up from the get go.
The door from the conference room opened with Zack standing in the doorway, “Ready?”
Scout looked up from her desk with big doe eyes as she watched all her fellow interns begin to collect their things and make their way to the conference room. “Hey, Sean! Can you let him know I’ll be right in? I can’t find my damn hard drive.”
The intern nodded and smiled, “Sure. I’ll save you a seat next to me too.”
Scout grimaced before returning to her frantic search. She was so preoccupied tearing through a pile of papers on her desk that she never noticed someone walk by and pick something up off the floor. It wasn’t until they were upright again and spoke that Scout noticed them.
“Looking for something?” He stood a good five or six inches taller than she and smiled at the distraught look on Scout’s face.
She let out a gasp loud enough that everyone in conference room looked over. “Thank you so much! I can’t believe I didn’t see it there on the floor.” Scout reached out to grab her hard drive from the stranger when he pulled it back and held it over his head, taunting her.
Before Scout had a chance to argue with the man, Zack cleared his throat gaining both of their attention. “Brian, man… taunt the interns on your own time. Give me like fifteen for this meeting and then we can go.”
Brian nodded and smirked as he lowered his hand allowing Scout to snatch the hard drive out of his hand and scurry off to her meeting.
“So you’re still in school then.” Suzy commented as both she and Scout sent Brian a warning look as he returned to the table.
It wasn’t long before Brian and Scout began saying their good-byes and headed back out to his Escalade. There was silence for the first few minutes with the exception of music playing softly in the background. Scout sighed, resting her head against the cool glass of the window while Brian focused intensely on the road. Eventually, it got to the point where Scout just couldn’t ignore all the questions in her head.
“Why the hell did you bring me and tell your parents that we were dating?” Her voice came out much softer than she had envisioned.
Brian shrugged as he turned on his blinker to turn down his street, “I don’t know. I mean, aren’t we?” His voice was so casual and nonchalant.
Scout’s eyes nearly fell out of her skull as she pulled herself into a more rigid sitting position, “Are we, Brian? That’s news to me then. Honestly, I have no idea what the hell it is we’re doing unless your definition of dating is two people who hang out and fuck once and a while but never talk about their feelings.”
The guitarist nearly jumped at Scout’s response. It certainly wasn’t the one he had been expecting. “I didn’t think it was something we had to talk about. I just assumed-”
“Yeah well, there you go with those stupid assumptions.” Scout unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out of the car as soon as Brian pulled into her driveway. “I’m going to grab Blue, and then I need you to take us home.”
Brian groaned, hot on her heels, “Hold up, hold up! Just calm down, alright? You want to talk, we’ll talk. We can bring the dogs down the beach and let them run around while we talk. Ok?”
Scout stared at Brian as she watched him jog up the steps to his front door and unlock it. She bit her lip and followed him into the house. Blue and Pinkly came bounding in from the kitchen with the biggest smiles on their faces. “Fine, let’s talk.”
Brian helped Scout with her coat tossing it alongside his own into the small closet beside the front door. He bounded over to his father with a goofy smile on his face and motioned for Scout to join him at the sight of her standing by the door uncomfortably. She slowly made her way over to the two men, silently cursing at herself for showing up. If only she had just fought Brian enough to make him leave….
Brian and Brian Sr. quickly consumed themselves with a conversation about guitars or music in general, Scout wasn’t really too sure. Suzy had excused herself to the kitchen to check on brunch, and McKenna and Chris had their faces glued to one another. The brunette felt someone nudge her causing her eyes to refocus and turned her attention toward Brian.
“I was just telling Pop that you were interning for Zack and that you might be able to work at VU full time.”
Scout nodded, “Oh yeah, it’s been great. Zack is a really cool guy.” She bit her lip nervously as she could feel Brian Sr. looking her over. “Honestly though, I’d just be grateful for any kind of work.”
Brian Sr. let out a belly deep laugh and kicked his feet out to rest on the coffee table “Don’t I know it.”
Before the conversation had a chance to get any further, Suzy had returned from the kitchen, “Feet off the table!” Brian Sr. made a face and mumbled under his breath, something about his wife having a sixth sense for him putting his feet on the table, “Brunch is ready.” She added.
The five of them stood up almost simultaneously and began filtering into the dining room. As if Scout wasn’t feeling uncomfortable enough with Brian’s parents thinking they were dating, McKenna had come up beside her at the table causing Brian to have to sit on the other side of the table. They all took their seats, Brian Sr. and Suzy at each end and the girls on one side, boys on the other.
“So how old are you?” McKenna asked as she popped a piece of chicken into her mouth. Brian coughed and Suzy gave her daughter a scolding look. “What?” The 20-year-old asked, “I’m just curious. She looks like someone I’ve seen around campus.”
Scout looked across the table at Brian with pleading eyes which he missed as he reached for a glass of water to hopefully calm down his cough. “I uh, I’m 20… I turn 21 in a few months though.”
McKenna smiled, “No shit, Chris is 20 too! His birthday is next week though. I’m 18, but I’ll be 19 soon.”
Suzy shot her daughter a scolding look for cursing to which McKenna simply shrugged and popped a few carrots in her mouth. It was difficult for the older woman to get her head around the idea of her step-son being with someone so much younger than he was. Even her daughter dating someone three years older was tough. Brian Sr. could practically read his wife’s mind and made a mental note to speak to her about it later.
“How long have you guys been together? Did you meet at a show?” McKenna kept shooting off questions. She always had an interest in the women her brother had dated, especially one special enough to be brought home to meet their parents.
Brian groaned, “Why are you asking so many questions Kenna? What about Chris, when do we get to grill him?”
McKenna rolled her eyes, “It’s no biggie, drama queen.”
“We’ve been together about six months now,” Chris, who had been quite for the majority of the meal finally spoke up, “and we met on campus. I was visiting a friend and we bumped into each other outside one of the classrooms.”
Scout smiled as she watched McKenna and Chris retelling their story, stealing adoring glances at one another. When the brunette looked across the table, all she found was Brian looking down at his lap, presumably on his phone. She bit her lip and sighed, before reaching for her glass of wine that Brian Sr. had graciously poured her.
“What about you two, Scout?” Suzy asked, leaning back in her chair. If she was going to accept this young girl in her life, she might as well get to know her a bit. “How did you and Brian meet?”
Scout gulped and glanced up at Brian, who decided suddenly that he needed to use the restroom. She sighed before turning her attention toward Suzy, “We met through Zack actually. I’ve been interning all semester at his clothing company.”
“Shit, shit, shit. Fuck! God damn.” The string of explicit language continued to roll out of Scout’s mouth as she looked around her cubicle searching frantically for her hard drive. Not only did she had several finished assignments saved on it, but mock ups for her boss. The brunette was only a week into her internship; the last thing she needed was Zack, her boss, to see her as a fuck up from the get go.
The door from the conference room opened with Zack standing in the doorway, “Ready?”
Scout looked up from her desk with big doe eyes as she watched all her fellow interns begin to collect their things and make their way to the conference room. “Hey, Sean! Can you let him know I’ll be right in? I can’t find my damn hard drive.”
The intern nodded and smiled, “Sure. I’ll save you a seat next to me too.”
Scout grimaced before returning to her frantic search. She was so preoccupied tearing through a pile of papers on her desk that she never noticed someone walk by and pick something up off the floor. It wasn’t until they were upright again and spoke that Scout noticed them.
“Looking for something?” He stood a good five or six inches taller than she and smiled at the distraught look on Scout’s face.
She let out a gasp loud enough that everyone in conference room looked over. “Thank you so much! I can’t believe I didn’t see it there on the floor.” Scout reached out to grab her hard drive from the stranger when he pulled it back and held it over his head, taunting her.
Before Scout had a chance to argue with the man, Zack cleared his throat gaining both of their attention. “Brian, man… taunt the interns on your own time. Give me like fifteen for this meeting and then we can go.”
Brian nodded and smirked as he lowered his hand allowing Scout to snatch the hard drive out of his hand and scurry off to her meeting.
“So you’re still in school then.” Suzy commented as both she and Scout sent Brian a warning look as he returned to the table.
It wasn’t long before Brian and Scout began saying their good-byes and headed back out to his Escalade. There was silence for the first few minutes with the exception of music playing softly in the background. Scout sighed, resting her head against the cool glass of the window while Brian focused intensely on the road. Eventually, it got to the point where Scout just couldn’t ignore all the questions in her head.
“Why the hell did you bring me and tell your parents that we were dating?” Her voice came out much softer than she had envisioned.
Brian shrugged as he turned on his blinker to turn down his street, “I don’t know. I mean, aren’t we?” His voice was so casual and nonchalant.
Scout’s eyes nearly fell out of her skull as she pulled herself into a more rigid sitting position, “Are we, Brian? That’s news to me then. Honestly, I have no idea what the hell it is we’re doing unless your definition of dating is two people who hang out and fuck once and a while but never talk about their feelings.”
The guitarist nearly jumped at Scout’s response. It certainly wasn’t the one he had been expecting. “I didn’t think it was something we had to talk about. I just assumed-”
“Yeah well, there you go with those stupid assumptions.” Scout unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out of the car as soon as Brian pulled into her driveway. “I’m going to grab Blue, and then I need you to take us home.”
Brian groaned, hot on her heels, “Hold up, hold up! Just calm down, alright? You want to talk, we’ll talk. We can bring the dogs down the beach and let them run around while we talk. Ok?”
Scout stared at Brian as she watched him jog up the steps to his front door and unlock it. She bit her lip and followed him into the house. Blue and Pinkly came bounding in from the kitchen with the biggest smiles on their faces. “Fine, let’s talk.”