Love on the Brain

Brian glanced over at his girlfriend. Jade was settled in his bed, her knees brought up under her chin and her eyes looking down at the wooden floor. She had been quiet the entire ride back to his place, and had barely talked the whole evening.

A sigh left his lips, as he ran his hand through his long hair. He then placed his hand on her knee, his thumb gracing her skin and his eyes looking at her.

“Jade? What happened?” he all but whimpered to the redheaded girl.

He could soon notice the shiny tears that started running down her cheeks peacefully, and he moved his hand until he could brush them away with the tip of his finger.

“Sweet,” he voiced to her, bringing her into his chest, and feeling her wet tears against the crook of his neck, while he rocked her back and forth.

Brian buried his face into her hair, smelling her shampoo and feeling her body that trembled in his embrace. “Please don’t cry,” he whispered, rubbing his big palm down her back.

“I tried to talk to them,” she spoke softly, her voice cracking as she pressed the words out of her lips.

“About us?” he asked her, looking down at her, as she nodded. “And how did it go?”

Brian felt almost stupid for asking, as he could pretty much see the result of that conversation in front of him.

Jade soon launched her face against his chest again, a sob leaving her lips, meanwhile he circled his arms tightly around her and tried to calm her down.

“Baby, talk to me. I’m here for you,” he reminded her, applying a gentle pressure to her body.

“They want us to break up,” she stuttered, tears staggering down her cheeks as she looked up at him.

“What?” his dark eyebrows climbed high on his forehead. “Why?” he placed his index finger under her chin and tilted her head until she looked into his eyes.

“They kept telling me that I’m too young to know what love is and that being in a relationship is just stealing my attention away from what really matters,”

“Which is?” he said, placing his hand on the side of her face and running his thumb over the apple of her cheek.

“Yale,” she sighed.

Silence fell over the two of them for a minute. Brian couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that her parents had ordered her to break up with him. Jade was by far the most well-mannered person he knew. She always did what was right and what she had been told to do, even it meant attending half of the high schools in the country. On top of that she had the best grades in her school, and was the kinda student Yale would be chasing to get.

What the fuck was this?

“I’m sure they’ll come around,” Brian told her. “They just need some time. It’s a lot to take in,” he tried to convince her, realizing that he hadn’t really convinced himself about this.

“I just want them to accept my decision for once,” she exhaled. “I’ve never done something for myself before, and when I first do, they treat me like a reckless kid that’s way out line,” she muttered against his chest.

“It’s not fair,” he told her. “Not at all,”

“I don’t know what to do, Bri. I don’t wanna go back there tonight,” Jade said, her dark eyes looking into his face, admiring his handsome features.

“You don’t have to go back there now. You can stay over for the night,” he commented. “And then we’ll work something out in the morning, okay?”

The redheaded girl nodded, just as Brian went to kiss her forehead.

“You’re too good to me,” she told him, as he brushed his lips down her temple.

“That’s because I love you,”

Shit.

Brian cursed under his breath. His teeth sank into his bottom lip, meanwhile he mentally slapped himself.

What the fuck man?

Panic rose inside of him, meanwhile Brian shut his eyes for a second. Why did he just do that? What had gotten into him? It had taken him almost the entire relationship to say that to Maddie, and now, barely two months into the relationship, the words just slipped out of his lips in the worst moment ever.

Why am I like this?

He had to hold back the urge to scream at himself, as he excused himself, getting up from the bed and telling her that he was grabbing a cup of tea for her.

Did that just happen?

The thoughts kept racing in her head. She had grown up in a family were people said that a lot. Her parents had always reminded her of how much they cared for her throughout her life, and she had heard them say those words to each other a numerous of times.

But now, it was all very different. Her parents were married, and before that they had been together for decades. Brian and Jade had made it through two months, and even though she was convinced that they would make it through way more than that, it still scared her.

Does Brian Haner love me?

The redheaded girl blinked a couple of times, and she even went as far as pinching her arm, trying to see if she was dreaming.

Nope. She was wide awake and Brian Haner had told her that he loved her.

A faint knock against the door caught her attention, as Jade looked up and found Mrs Haner standing in the door entrance. She had a friendly smile hovering over her lips, and she looked almost shyly.

“Can I come in?” she asked, to which Jade responded.

“Of course,” she said.

“I couldn’t help myself, Jade. I sort of overheard your conversation. Please don’t tell, Brian. He’ll slaughter me if he knows,” Jan chuckled. “But I’d love to talk to you about this, because you’re a great girl, too good to be this upset,” the older woman spoke.

Jade watched as Mrs Haner plumped down next to her and draped her arm around the teenage girl’s shoulder.

“I know how hard it is when parents don’t listen to their kids,” she started. “That actually happened to me a lot when I first met Brian’s father,” Jan continued.

“Your parents didn’t like him?” Jade asked, the question too tempting to avoid.

“Oh, honey. They absolutely despised him!” Mrs Haner chuckled, as her mind went back to the early days of their relationship. “My parents thought he was a silly man with no future ahead of him,”

“That’s harsh,” Jade mumbled.

“It was, indeed. My mother was a teacher and my father an engineer. They had big plans for me when I was at your age, and those did not include me getting together with a guy who played music on his spare time,” Jan said.

Jade was taken aback by this. She hadn’t spoken to Brian’s parents a lot, but she would never have guessed that his grandparents had been as uptight as her parents.

“I didn’t know,” Jade admitted.

“Brian Jr doesn’t either,” the mother confessed. “They were really hard on Brian when we first got together, and they nearly kicked me out when I didn’t attend Brown, but instead went to Berkley,” she continued.

“Did they change their minds about him?” Jade mumbled, curious about how this all turned out, considering the two of them were now sharing a house and two children.

“They did eventually, but that wasn’t before after Brian and Brent were born. To them, Brian was still just a guy who didn’t take his future seriously, and they considered me too precious to waste my time on a musician,”

“They almost remind me of my parents…” Jade admitted.

“I believe they could become great friends,” Jan snickered. “But I do also know, as a parent and as a child who rebelled against her own parents, that yours will come around,” she told the younger woman, pulling her closer, as Jade could feel tears in her eyes again.

“I just don’t know if they’ll do that. They’re really stubborn,” she told the older woman.

“Mine were too, and they still are!” Jan assured her. “But when they saw how happy Brian made me and how great people our children are turning into, they realized that one doesn’t need a college degree to make a wonderful parent and husband,”

“And I’m not saying that you should get pregnant and married with my son. I would actually murder him if he turned into a teenage-dad,” Jan said to Jade, causing the young one to chuckle.

“I won’t,” she promised Mrs Haner.

“Your parents will come around, Jade, I promise,” Jan said to the girl, rubbing her back with her hand. “And when they do, I’ll invite them over for a great dinner!” she smiled.

“Thank you so much, Jan. It means a lot,” Jade confessed. “This whole situation really wears me out and I had no place to go,”

“Honey, you'll always be welcome in my home,” the older woman said. “Besides, it’s nice to not be the only girl around here,” she sniggered.

“I can imagine,” Jade chuckled, feeling genuinely relieved after this conversation.

“Mom? Jade?” Brian looked up, finding his mother with her arm wrapped around his girlfriend.

Mrs Haner soon got to her feet, bringing her hands together, before she smiled brightly at her son. “I’m gonna go. I have dishes to do. Have fun! It was nice talking to you, Jade. You know where to find me if you need it,” the blonde woman said to Jade, a sincere smile twisting her lips.

Jade only nodded, watching as Brian’s mother stepped out of the room, ruffling her son’s hair and earning herself a groan from his lips on her way out.

Jan walked down the stairs and in to the living room, where she found her husband and Brent, the two of them slacking on the couch.

“Honey, why don’t you come over here?” her husband called for her, as the woman pecked his cheek sweetly.

“I’ll be over in a minute, darling! There’s just something I have to do first,” she promised him, making the older Brian look at his wife, slightly confused.

“And that is?”

“Something I wish your parents did for me when I was a teenager,” Jan stated firmly, before she walked over to her phone.