Last Year Was Complicated

"You seem happy." Brett looked over at Antoine with a raised eyebrow when he spoke.

They were outside on the deck, he was at the barbecue cooking while she sat in one of the patio chairs with a blanket wrapped around herself. It wasn't necessarily cold to him but Brett was perpetually cold.

"I do?" She asked him curiously.

He turned to glance over his shoulder at her and he told her, "You do. I like when you're happy, you know."

"Oh yeah?" She asked him, brow lifted and he nodded his head.

"I guess it has something to do with Tyler?" Antoine asked her as he flipped each burger over on the grill.

Brett shrugged and dropped her cell phone into her lap as she told him, "I guess, sort of. I don't know, things are really good right now."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"I mean, who knows if this will even last that long but right now I'm happy so we'll see." Brett stated and his brow raised in curiosity and surprise. She went on to clarify, "This whole turning over a new leaf, putting the work in thing has never lasted before. I'm not stupid enough to think anything changed this time, I'm giving it a chance but I'm not expecting any miracles."

"So why keep trying?" He asked her curiously.

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled gently as she told him, "I'm just not quite ready to really end things between us. Guess I'm a sucker for punishment."

"Or you just love him, for some reason, none of us can figure out, and there's nothing wrong with holding onto that for a little while." Antoine surprised her with his words and it must have shown on her face because he laughed and informed her, "I've been known to say a few smart things in my lifetime."

"This might be a first for me in terms of witnessing it." Brett joked, laughing when he ran his hand over the outside of his beer can and flicked the condensation at her.

They were interrupted when Jamie came out onto the deck, sliding the patio door closed behind him and stating, "Everyone's starting to get a little restless about when dinner's gonna be ready."

"So what, they sent you to find out what was taking so long?" Brett asked him in amusement.

He held his hands up in a surrender fashion and said, "Don't shoot the messenger."

He dropped onto the chair next to Brett's and she told him, "You can tell them it will be ready when it's ready and not a second sooner."

"I think I'll just hang out here and make it look like I'm hurrying things along." Jamie stated with a smile. Brett reached out and pinched his leg, and in return, Jamie knocked his knee against hers. After a few seconds of silence, Jamie glanced over at Brett, who was busying herself on her cell phone, and he must have opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to say what he had been thinking five times before he finally just said, "Ty told me about your mom."

Brett turned her head to him slowly and asked, "He did?"

"Well... he mentioned it thinking I knew so he kind of had to tell me." Jamie informed her, adding in, "We were also alone, none of the guys were around or anything."

He didn't want her to think that he and Tyler aired out her personal stuff around anyone, not that she would ever think that in first place.

When Brett didn't respond right away Jamie asked her, "Why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged as she looked down at her phone which was resting in her lap again and she told him, "I just... I didn't want things to get weird, or change."

"They wouldn't have." He told her.

"They always do. Things change when you tell someone that your mom is dying. Suddenly people are around more, they call and text and check in on you and it's not because they want to it's just because they feel obligated to. I haven't really told a lot of people, it had nothing to do with you or me not wanting to tell you, it's just... I haven't told very many people in general." She wasn't lying, the only people who knew in their group of misfits were Gia, Antoine, Kelly and now Tyler and Jamie. Brett had learned the lesson of people suddenly appearing in her life because they felt like they had to the hard way with the first few people she had told. Since then she had kept it to herself for the most part. It had taken her months to tell Antoine and she hadn't even told Kelly she asked him to do it. The least amount of people that knew, the better she figured.

Jamie reached out and grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze before he told her, "You can tell me these things without ever feeling like things are gonna get weird Brett, I promise."

"Told you so." Antoine told her, joining the conversation between them.

Brett rolled her eyes at him and said, "Yeah, yeah."

Again Jamie bumped his knee into hers and he asked her, "How's life as a dog mom?"

Brett grinned and told him, "Excellent."

She pulled her phone out and rolled her eyes when Jamie laughed at her for her entire camera roll being pictures of her dog. Still, he scrolled through them and asked her, "So... Oz huh?"

"Yes, I'm a Wizard of Oz loving freak." Brett told him, rolling her eyes when he laughed.

"I never would have guessed. You went as Dorothy the first Halloween that I knew you, and the Good Witch the year after." Jamie informed her.

With a smile, Brett informed him, "The year before I met you I was the Wicked Witch."

"And uh... Halloween next year... a munchkin?" Jamie joked, making Brett narrow her eyes at him.

"No, I was thinking Toto." Brett told him, trying desperately to keep a straight face. When he turned to her with a quirked eyebrow she couldn't help but laugh. He rolled his eyes at her and she said, "Or maybe I'll just recycle and be Dorothy again... if that costume still fits. I probably have a better chance of fitting into that one than the Glinda one."

"Oh?" He asked her curiously. He could remember that costume. How could he not? It was so... fluffy... and sparkly. In fact, he didn't believe Brett when she first told him that was what she was going as it was so very opposite of what he was used to from her.

Nodding she said, "That costume was sooo tight. Honestly, Ty had to unzip the back like twenty minutes after we got to the party."

"Shut up. You did not walk around that party with an unzipped dress." Jamie told her.

"I swear I did. I couldn't breathe." Brett told him honestly.

Curiously Jamie asked her, "So why wear it then?"

"Because it was the only size left and I figured it was only a size smaller than I would have ordered so it couldn't be that bad. I was wrong. I could have returned it and got something else but I was going as Glinda the Good Witch if it was the last thing I did... and it almost was." Brett told him, the three of them laughing.

Antoine jumped into the conversation to tell Jamie, "Ask her how long it took her to get all the glitter off."

Jamie turned to her with a raised eyebrow and Brett informed him, "I'm still finding little gold and silver and pink glitter all over the place almost two years later. Glitter is the herpes of art supplies."

Jamie couldn't help but let out a laugh and he asked her, "Seriously?"

She nodded, "Yup. I've gone so far as to move out of the apartment I used the glitter in and I still find those little bitches everywhere. In my clothes, my bedding, even a few pairs of shoes. It's ridiculous."

"Note to self; don't ever use glitter for anything." Jamie stated, and Antoine nodded his head in agreement.

Brett grinned and told them, "I'm gonna send you both a glitter bomb one day."

"A glitter bomb?" Antoine asked her, brow lifted in curiosity.

Nodding she explained, "You can actually pay money to have a company fill an envelope with glitter and mail it to your enemies... or in my case my friends."

"That is cruel." Jamie told her.

"That's what I sent Ty for his birthday last year." Brett admitted.

Jamie and Antoine looked at each other and stated, "That is awesome."

Brett rolled her eyes but she pulled up the video she still had on her phone of him opened the envelope and covering himself and everything within a four-foot radius of him in green glitter. He didn't talk to her for an hour after that, not until she gave him his real present and promised to help him get it all off of him later. The video sent Antoine and Jamie into stitches.

When the three of them walked into the house with the food everyone let out a loud cheer and got seated. They were passing around the food when Antoine and Jamie both looked at Tyler and then back at each other and burst into laughter again.

Tyler's brow raised, as did most of the rest of their company.

Tyler glanced at Brett who was smiling at him innocently and he asked her, "You showed them the glitter video, didn't you?"

She nodded, "I may have."

"Dude... what glitter video?" Jason asked from down the table.

Tyler told him, "Brett's really mean idea of a birthday gift was an envelope stuffed full of glitter."

Brett interjected quickly to say, "Green glitter!"

"What does the color have to do with anything?" Tyler asked her, brow lifted again.

She grinned at him as she said, "Stars green... duh."

"You know... I still find little flecks of green glitter in my kitchen from time to time." Tyler informed her.

"Good. If I have to suffer then you should too." Brett told him with a smile.

He exclaimed, "That was your own choice!"

"Yeah, and I chose to make you suffer with me." She rebutted with a wide smile on her face as everyone at the table laughed.

The guys had made their way into the living room to watch sports highlights, not surprising to Brett at all, once dinner was over. Kelly disappeared into the kitchen, also not surprising so Brett gathered the plates and cutlery from the table to bring them into the kitchen. As she started stacking plates Tyler got up from the couch and joined her at the table, loading his arms up with all of the condiments and other thigns that had to go back to their rightful places in the kitchen.

"You can go watch... whatever you guys are watching over there. You don't have to help me." Brett told him, quirking a brow when he simply grabbed a few more things from the table.

He smiled over at her and told her, "I want to."

"If you say so." She told him with a shrug.

"Besides, if my mom ever found out I let you do all the work she would murder me." Tyler told her, and they both laughed as Brett nodded her head in agreement.

Brett gathered the stack of plates and together they headed into the kitchen to catch the tail end of Antoine and Kelly's conversation.

"I've been practicing my French... Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?"

Brett made a face as she set the plates down and stated, "Ew. That's disgusting!"

Kelly laughed, and Antoine turned to face her and stated, "You are the least innocent person in this house right now."

Tyler let out a laugh at that and Brett rolled her eyes.

As she loaded plates into the dishwasher she stated, "I beg your pardon... I am a virgin."

Kelly, Tyler, and Antoine burst into laughter at that.

Antoine called out to the guys, "Brett just told me she's a virgin!"

The round of laughter from the living room made Brett roll her eyes and state, "Well... fine maybe not a virgin but... yeah... I got nothing."

Tyler patted the top of her head the way you might a dog, making her narrow her eyes at him before they headed back out for the second trip. As they gathered the utensils and any leftover dishes and brought them back into the kitchen Brett announced before reaching the entrance for the kitchen, "We're coming in, please don't gross me out again or I'm leaving."

Antoine rolled his eyes and stated, "If that's all it took all these years..."

Tyler laughed and again Brett rolled her eyes.

It wasn't until they were in the car on the way home that Tyler told Brett, "Thanks for coming tonight."

"Of course. I never pass up an opportunity for a free meal, especially when it's Antoine's cooking." Brett informed him with a smile. Tyler laughed and reached over with his free hand to grab hers, tangling their fingers together and rubbing the pad of his thumb over the back of her hand.

"I hate being the only one there without a date, honestly." Tyler admitted to her.

Despite the fact that she knew he was serious Brett couldn't help but lighten the mood by joking to him, "You wouldn't have been. Jamie and Jason didn't have dates."

Tyler scoffed and informed her with a smile on his face, "Jason will never have a date in his life so he doesn't count and Jamie has never brought a girl to those kinds of things."

"You know there was probably a time in your life when people said those things about you." Brett pointed out with a smile.

Tyler rolled his eyes and then he smiled and admitted, "Yeah... probably."

She pulled her hand from his and reached up to run her fingers through the hair at the side of his head a few times before her palm laid against the side of his neck and then slid down his shoulder and back to his free hand. When her fingers tangled with his again Tyler gripped them a little harder than usual and lifted her hand up to his mouth and just when Brett thought he was going to do something totally out of character like kiss her hand he nipped against her knuckles instead.

She yanked her hand back and said, "Rude."

Tyler couldn't help but laugh and as he came to a stop at a red light he leaned over and kissed her quickly. When he went to pull back Brett grabbed the front of his shirt to keep him where he was so that she could kiss him just a little bit longer and then finally she let him go just in time for the light to turn green again.

He pushed down on the gas so hard that when the car shot forward Brett slid back against the seat. He laughed when she reached over and pinched his forearm and he told her, "You're cute."

She rolled her eyes and then she leaned over and kissed his cheek quickly before she said, "You too."