You Saved Me

Steph ended up finding Brittany about 10 minutes later, since their food arrived and when she did, Brittany told her everything that Laura said.

How Gables was heading this way. How she had to be extra careful now about where she went and with who.

And the worst part.

Ending it with Joe.

Steph practically flipped when she heard that, but once Brittany explained it to her that it was the safest way for Joe….she understood.

She also understood how nerve racking it was going to be for Brittany for the next 48 hours, more or less, until she saw Joe and had to do it.

As much as Brittany wanted Joe to get back so she could see him and hold him and kiss him, she never wanted him to come back.

That way she’d never have to break up with him and they could still be together.

But her 48 hours was up and it was more of 29 hours when he showed up at her house Monday morning at 5 and was tossing rocks at her window again.

He claimed he really wanted to see her and that was the only reason he came over so early and then he left, saying that he’d see her in school in a couple of hours.

And here she was now, during play practice, secretly hoping and praying that Mrs. Creole wouldn’t want them to do the whole ballroom scene or the ending scene for her sanity.

If she had to act like she was in love with Joe, which she really wouldn’t be acting, it would just make it harder on her for what she had to do at the end of practice.

And by some miracle it was all going well.

She didn’t have to do any scenes with him and they had only an hour left until they could go home for the night.

Things were starting to look up, for the most part, until Mrs. Creole clapped her hands and said the dreaded sentence Brittany didn’t want to hear.

“Let’s do the ballroom scene. Just to make sure that Prince Charming can get his scenes right.”

She let out a sigh of frustration from being so close and then having it ripped away from her in a matter of seconds.

“But, umm, Mrs. Creole, don’t you think we should do the scolding scene again?” Steph’s voice came from nowhere and all the hope that left Brittany’s body was replaced in that instant, just from hearing her friend ask that.

“Ms. Walgrave, you did that scene perfectly on Saturday, why would you have to do it again? If anything we’ll do it tomorrow. Ok?” and then with a flick of Mrs. Creole’s wrist, she turned around and stalked her way towards the stage crew and told them where to set up for the ballroom scene.

Brittany turned on her heel and went towards the back room to change but was stopped halfway there and was pulled into a nearby empty classroom by her arm.

She started to yell out a scream of terror but Joe’s lips soon met her’s and all her frustrations and worries about what she had to do in the next few minutes left her mind.

All she wanted to do was to be with him. And right now, he was giving her that opportunity and even though it would only make it harder for her in the next few hours, she didn’t care.

She kissed him back with everything she had, knowing it could quite well be the last time she kissed him for a while or forever.

She kissed him so passionately, that she started to get teary eyed, thinking about what had to be done later on today and he instantly pulled away when he felt some of her tears on his face.

“What’s wrong?” he practically whispered to her, leaning away from her slightly but still keeping his arms wrapped around her waist.

She opened her mouth to say it. Explain that she couldn’t be with him. But nothing came out. So she opted for the next thing.

She wiped her tears away, hopefully giving her an excuse to get her voice back.

“I just really missed you.” she stated after a few minutes.

He smiled down at her, lovingly, and he couldn’t stop his next move.

“I missed you too.” he said whispered as he moved in for another kiss and all her emotions erupted inside her.

Anger. Happiness. Sadness. Love. Hate.

She was angry because she had to give him up and she didn’t and wasn’t ready to yet.

Happy because even though it would be horrible for her to end it with him, he would be safe. Along with the rest of his family.

Sad because she had to break it off with him and yet she knew it would kill her on the inside from doing so.

Love. That’s pretty self explanatory. The object of her affection was standing right in front of her.

Hate. Now that’s what she felt a lot more strongly at the moment.

Hatred for the her parents being taken away from her. Hatred for having to break up with Joe. Hatred for the one man that she’d never even met, and yet he had this unwritten control over her and her life.

Which wasn’t fair. It was her life, she should be able to do what she wanted.

But if John Gables had his way 9 years ago, she wouldn’t even be having a life right now.

And that actually seemed like a good escape route at the moment.

She knew what it was like to be that sparkle in Joe’s eye. And the reason why he smiled. She knew how it was to feel treated like a normal teenage girl and a girlfriend to an amazing guy.

Yeah, she definitely hated John Gables.

He ruined her life by taking, or will be taking, everything and everyone she ever loved.

“There you two are!” Beth’s panicked voice broke the couple up and making them stand a few feet from each other. “Mrs. Creole is freaking out. You better hurry up and change!”

And with that Beth left, jogging back in the direction she came from while Joe smiled adoringly at Brittany and pulled her in for a quick kiss.

“We’ll talk later.” he said and gave her forehead a quick peck before he left the room to go change into his costume.

Yes, unfortunately, we will talk later.

* * * * *

“So…” Joe’s voice trailed off as they walked hand in hand towards her truck.

She was gonna give him a ride home and she figured then would be the opportune moment to do it.

She was gonna break up with him. She had to. It was for his protection.

At least, that’s what she kept chanting in her head in order for her to keep her courage up to actually do it.

“So what?” she asked, snapping out of the sound of her beating heart and chanting in her head.

“I don’t know. It was just quiet.” he laughed out slightly and she laughed slightly too, but it was more of a nervous laughter.

They got to her truck and made their way out of the parking lot in the strained silence and after the first 5 minutes, Joe couldn’t take it anymore. It was practically eating him alive.

“Is there something wrong?”

She snapped her head at him and wanted to scream, “OF COURSE THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG! I HAVE TO BREAK UP WITH YOU!” but she refrained and sent him a sweet smile and said, “Just thinking about some stuff.”

She turned her head back towards the road and concentrated on her driving while also thinking of what she was going to say to him.

Less words means more questions, but they always say a little goes a long way. Plus, if I kept talking it’ll just keep him around me longer and I don’t think I could handle that.

“Like what?” he inquired while reaching over and putting his hand on her thigh and rubbed it gently to show her he was there for her.

She shut her eyes quickly and let out a loud sigh before answering him and opening her eyes again.

“Just…stuff.” and she could hear her heart start to beat loudly in her chest.

She hated lying to him and even though it wasn’t a complete lie, it was enough to make her feel guilty.

So she changed subjects.

“But enough about me. How was New York and the benefit thingy?”

He smirked at her and gave her thigh a small squeeze before letting his hand just rest there.

“It was amazing. Well, New York was. It’s so pretty there. But the benefit was ok. It sucked cuz I couldn’t see you though. I missed you like crazy Britt.”

Her heart soared from hearing his sentence. He missed her. And he called her by her name.

But it would probably be for the last time, so she savored every second of it and wanted to remember how his voice said it.

“Can you say that again?” she whispered quietly and he looked at her somewhat confused.

“Say what? That I missed you?”

“No. My name.” she stated as she turned onto his street and her heart started working over time when she saw the roof of his house.

This would be most likely the last time she would ever be driving him home.

The last time she would still be welcomed into that warm, loving family that she so badly wanted and yet envied.

“Trisha.”

“No. My other name.” she said with a small laugh at how stupid that sounded and how he probably felt like she was insane or something to prefer him calling her that instead of her ‘real’ name.

But he obliged and said it again as she pulled up to his house and put her truck in park and she closed her eyes and imprinted the sound of his voice into her head as it was sweet and filled with adoration.

“Brittany.” he said again and this time with a little bit more urgency and it made her eyes snap open and look over at him.

He looked suddenly pale and a little sweaty. Like he just got done taking a really hard exam for a class.

He pulled his one hand off of her thigh and rung it out on the bottom of his school shirt while his other hand was going through his shaggy black hair.

“What’s up Joe?” she asked, her mind racing from how suddenly his behavior changed.

Just a second ago he was all calm and collective and now he was like a mess.

He looked over at her and sent her a weak smile before turning his whole body towards her and taking both of her hands in his.

“Brittany, you know how I said I had something to tell you earlier?”

Her eyebrows knit together out of confusion and went back to the beginning of the day and fast forwarded to where they were now.

“No. You never said that. You said that we’d talk later but not that you had something to tell me?”

For a few seconds the freaked out mess of him went away while he thought back throughout the day too before it was back again.

“Sorry. Well, I need to tell you something.”

She nodded her head and licked her lips quickly before gulping down any saliva from how nervous she was.

His hands were somewhat sweaty, making her hands sweat a little bit too and her heart felt like she just ran a marathon.

“So, over the course of the three months I’ve known you…” he started and her breath hitched in her throat somewhat from how soft his voice was.

This must really be important.

“We’ve grown close. I can’t believe I’ve only known you for three months. It feels like I’ve known you for a year or something, which would make a lot more sense but…anyways. The point is, is what I’m trying to say is that….well basically, while I was gone I realized something. When we weren’t together anyways, I realized it. I’m-” he stopped himself and pulled her hands up to his face, kissing the back of them quickly before placing them back down in the middle of the seat where they rested before.

“I’m falling in love with you.”

Her heart shattered.

How could he tell her he fell in love with her on the same day that she had to end it with him?

It wasn’t fair.

Nothing in her life was ever fair anymore.

“Now…you don’t have to say it back, but I just thought you should know how I feel.” he said back quickly to her from her lack of words.

She couldn’t get enough air to her lungs. It felt like she was suffocating.

“Joe…” she croaked out but he shook his head and looked down at their hands. “No. Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”

But I do.

“Joe…” she started again, this time croaking it out because of the tears that were starting to come and she knew would fall within seconds if she had to look at his beautiful face with any form of hurt on it.

She closed her eyes and a few tears escaped from them, rolling down her cheeks from how badly she wanted to scream at him that she loved him and everything would be picture perfect.

They could ride off into the sunset and be happily ever after.

But that was a fairytale.

And her life was anything but a fairytale. It was a more of a nightmare.

“I’m breaking up with you.” she whispered out through her tears and she broke down right there.

It killed her just to say the words out loud. And especially in front of him after his revelation.

She didn’t know what it felt like to tell someone that you loved them, only to have it thrown back in your face.

But she knew what it felt like to lose someone you love, and nothing could be more painful than that.

“What?” he sighed out, as if he was out of breath and retracting his hands from hers to steady himself.

She shook her head, not even able to talk, let alone say that sentence again.

He heard her. She knew it. It was just a question out of shock than not hearing her.

“You’re….but…why?” he asked breathlessly. “Did I….did I scare you? Or do something? Is it because of what I just said? I don’t mean it if it scares you” he rambled on and his last sentence made her stop for a few seconds and laugh slightly.

It was everything she wanted and hated at the time.

If it had been 3 and half days ago that she said this, she would’ve been soaring and higher than a kite….but right now, it was all bad timing.

He fell for her right when she had to push him away in order to save him.

“Joe…” she cried out and he instantly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him. His sensitive side taking over, and she grabbed onto him for dear life.

Because at the moment, it felt like she was dying. Her heart being ripped out of her chest.

“I’m sorry. For whatever I did. Can’t we fix it. Give it another try?”

If only.

She shook her head. This was as hard as she thought it would be, maybe a little harder.

She had to do something, anything to get him away from her and as much as she knew it would hurt him, and her, she had to do it.

She pushed off of him, her acting abilities coming through somewhat from the pain she was feeling.

“I just don’t see us together anymore. I think we’d be better off as friends.”

“But…why? Is it because I left?” he asked her, trying to grab her back and hold her, just so that he could feel her close to him as his eyes started to brim up with tears.

He thought saying ‘I love you’ to someone was supposed to be a happy and joyous occasion, not a break up one.

She thought about what he just asked her, and even though breaking up with him had nothing to do with him being gone, it was an out for her and a idea flicked into her head to make him so mad at her, that he probably wouldn’t want to talk to her again.

“Yes. It’s because you left. I want you all the time, 24/7 and if you don’t give up the band, then we’re done.”

She bit the inside of her cheek and felt a metallic taste.

Great, I’m bleeding now….

His sad and tear filled eyes changed to astonishment in a few seconds and then started to harden as her words sunk into him.

“You want me….you want me to give up my dream. My brothers dream. My family’s dream…for you?”

She did a quick nod of her head at him and hardened her face to make her look like she was unaffected at all.

“Yes. And if you don’t, I don’t see us having a future together. It’s either me or that dream of yours.”

“So basically it’s you or my life and family?” he yelled at her and her heart felt a jab of pain.

A pain that she hadn’t felt in a little less than a month from when Will asked her to homecoming and her and Joe fought the next morning.

She knew her plan was working and she couldn’t decide if she wanted to keep going forth with it or just stop and tell him she was lying and that she wanted to be with him for forever despite everything she just said.

But her thoughts came to a halt when he leaned in towards her, dangerously close.

“Well that’s easy then.” he said back to her and she could hear the anger on his voice, maybe hatred and she knew what was gonna happen next.

“I pick my family. We’re done.”

And with that he got his backpack, opened the door, slammed it and stalked off towards his house, not looking back at her and her trunk once.

She became numb. Knowing that she did the right thing for him and his family, but knowing that she didn’t do the right thing for her.

She wanted him. She needed him. She loved him.

And yet, now….she couldn’t even talk to him.

She knew that by the coldness of his face and voice, they were done.

He wouldn’t look at her. Acknowledge her or even speak to her unless he had to.

And that’s when her heart literally broke down on her and she cried, slamming her fists into the steering wheel as hot, big tears poured out of her eyes and down her already tear stained cheeks.

She couldn’t think at the moment. So many things were jumbling up in her head. But one thing she was able to do was scream, with as much hatred as you could possibly imagine, the name of the man who put her through this hellish ordeal some would call life.

She would willingly give herself up to him right now if he was standing across the street to her because when Joe slammed the truck door on her, it was more than slamming the door on her.

It was slamming the door to any happiness she might have had in her life.