You Saved Me

The next day was horrible.

And the next and the next.

Joe would steal glances at her and she would steal glances back at him with sadness in both of their eyes.

But as soon as they caught each other looking, they both hardened up and turned their heads the other way.

They were both too stubborn for their own good.

Everyone seemed to notice how unattached to the hip the not so happy couple was, and two specific people were taking advantage of that.

Rose and Mike had been all over Joe and Brittany the next day at school when everyone found out the two had broken up after such a short time together.

Rumors were flying around, saying that Joe met some famous celebrity at the benefit in New York or that Brittany had secretly liked his brother Nick and she was using Joe to get to him and Joe just happened to find out.

And even though both of those rumors were horrible, the truth still hurt worse.

Joe still didn’t really understand what flipped a switch on Brittany to make her all cold inside, but he wasn’t going to ask.

And she wasn’t even going to tell him even if he did. She had to stick to her story of wanting him to give up his dream for her even though her and Steph were the only people who knew the real reason.

And unfortunately, because that Steph was the only one who understood, she was by Brittany’s side every second of the day.

Well, as much as possible.

They would sleep over at each other’s house now no matter if it was a school night. Telling Bobby and her parents that they really needed to practice their lines together for the play.

But that left little time for anyone else. Like Katie and Jessica and any other new found friends Brittany had.

And slowly but surely, they all started turning their backs to her whenever she would sympathetically smile at them or say a hi.

And the play didn’t help either with the whole Joe thing.

Rose would be all over him and within touching distance of him all the time and even though Brittany knew how much Joe didn’t like Rose, he seemed to be enjoying some of her attention.

Beth seemed to be the only other friend Brittany had anymore besides Steph, but she still had her moments where she was ‘done’ with Brittany but then would apologize for her rudeness an hour later or so.

Things defiantly weren’t looking up for Brittany, and they weren’t about to get any better since Laura and a team of about 10 agents were all coming in cognito to the play to keep an eye on her to make sure that Gables didn’t reappear since there had been a sighting in New Mexico and Arizona.

Yep. He knew where she was and he was coming after her.

And normally, Brittany would be scared and being asked to be transferred somewhere else, but this time she kinda wanted Gables to finish what he started 9 years ago.

That way she wouldn’t have to live through any more of this torture that she was experiencing with Joe.

It killed her every time they had to do a scene together because he was such a good actor.

He could look at her as if he was in love with her, smile at her and touch her like a man in love would, but as soon as Mrs. Creole called ‘Cut’ nothing but anger and hatred showed on his face and in his eyes.

And every time she saw that, it damn near killed her.

“Brittany, it’ll be ok. I promise. As soon as….you know who is in custody, you can tell everyone and Joe will be back by your side in a heart beat. You know he still cares about you. And although Kevin doesn’t really understand why you two broke up, he feels bad for both of you and is trying to get Joe to turn off his asshole-ness and be nice to you somewhat.” Steph had told her one day when Brittany had yet another breakdown after play practice before they left to go to Steph’s house.

Bobby didn’t really seem to understand the concept of sleeping over at a friends house and practicing lines was right, especially on a school night, but he didn’t put up a fuss with it either.

Not that he really had the time to.

He got suddenly swamped at work and had been out late and up early for the last couple of days.

So to him, it was sort of a blessing that Brittany was always with Steph, that way he knew she was safe.

The first time they performed the play on Friday night it went by semi-good. Considering it was their first performance and was the kick off for the next 5 performances, Mrs. Creole seemed proud of them.

And that’s all that really mattered.

Saturday during the day it went great but Saturday night was a lot less short of good, making her really upset and calling everyone to come in earlier than necessary on Sunday to practice a little bit before the last performance.

“Brittany, it’s almost over with. I promise.” Laura whispered through her phone to Brittany. “I swear, we’re gonna catch this creep and he’s gonna get the death penalty and you’ll be home free. Ok?”

She rolled her eyes and let out a loud sigh before saying, “Ok.” and hanging up her phone because Steph was coming over for her normal, “How are you doing?” check up.

“I’m fine. After this last performance, everything will be better. I never have to see Joe all the time then and talk to him and act like I’m in love with him an-”

“You mean you were acting?” Steph said sarcastically and Brittany shot her a mock glare.

“[uAnyways, then everything will be easier. The sooner he gets away from me the safer he is. Which I’ve been meaning to ask…did you hear anything about Thanksgiving break?”

“You mean that’s it’s next weekend and we have off of school that Friday and the following Monday?” Steph asked, not really giving Brittany wanted she wanted.

Laura had told Brittany that W.P.P think that at the rate of appearances of Gables, they predicted him to be in California the following weekend and Brittany wanted more than anything to have Joe off in a different state at the point in time.

Just for safety precautions.

“Yes. I talked Kevin into having him and the whole Jonas clan into going back to Jersey for Thanksgiving. Although he doesn’t understand why I wouldn’t want him around. But still, it works. Their leaving that Friday morning. So everything Jonas related is being taken care of.”

“Not everything Jonas related.” Brittany mumbled slightly as she caught site of that gorgeous head of black shaggy hair walk onto the stage to talk to some of the guys.

“He asks about you.” Steph stated as she slid down the wall and took a seat next to Brittany for comfort.

“Don’t.” she said while closing her eyes and squeezing out a few small tears.

“I’m just letting you know that he still cares about you and isn’t over you completely. He’s been driving Kevin crazy to ask me how you’re doing.”

“Oh yeah? If he cares about me so damn much then he should….” but she trailed off because there was nothing he could or should do.

No matter what he did or said to her, nothing could change the fact that they couldn’t be together.

At least, not now.

Maybe within the next week or so.

“I promise Britt. When this guy is caught, everything will go back to being happy go lucky again. It’ll be like you and Joe breaking up never happened and everything will go back to normal.” Steph said, trying to reassure Brittany and pulled her into a side hug but that’s when the waterworks started and she couldn’t hold in her tears anymore.

“No it’s not!” she cried out, having a few heads snap towards their direction, one of those heads including Joe’s.

He watched as she cried hard and Steph managed to get her onto her feet and exit the auditorium so nobody else could watch what was happening.

His heart nearly about shattered when he heard Brittany’s cries echo throughout the hallway and then came to a stop when the door slammed shut.

He looked around nervously to see everyone going back to whatever they were doing before her outburst and excused himself from the conversation that he was having some Mark and Jacob about football, saying he had to go the bathroom and walked leisurely out of the auditorium.

Once the door was shut he sprinted around the corner towards her cries that he could most definitely hear followed by Steph trying to get her to calm down.

He completely forgot about the past week of hard looks and mean glares and what she said to him that day in the truck as he saw her and Steph sitting on the floor in front of some lockers while she hugged Steph for dear life.

“It’s never gonna be normal. Never. I’m never gonna have my parents back. That’s what I want most right now.” she cried out and then was sent into a whole ‘nother hysteria of tears.

He stood there, at the end of the hall, in plain sight, but he knew that Steph nor Brittany would see him.

Steph was too wrapped up in trying to calm Brittany down to look up from her.

After what was about 5 more minutes, her crying died down a little bit and Joe quickly went to a corner since Brittany was getting out of Steph’s grip and straightening herself up.

“Ya know what sucks the most about not having my parents around?” Brittany asked while wiping her tears with the sleeve of her shirt.

Steph just sat there, knowing it was a rhetorical question and just rubbed her Brittany’s back to give her the support she would need.

“The fact that I didn’t get to experience any of that stuff your supposed to with your parents.”

“Like what?” Steph asked, not really understanding her friends last statement.

“Like the whole…first period thing. I didn’t get the chance to talk to my mom about it while my dad freaked out. Instead I got to have that talk with a complete stranger in Tennessee. And learning how to wear make up. Yeah…that was a fun one. Las Vegas. You know how they were make-up?! And the whole first date thing. My mom wasn’t there to help calm me down when I flipped out on what I was gonna wear and get me all psyched out if the guy was going to kiss me while my dad makes death threats to the boy about if he touches me, he’s dead. And the actual first kiss. My mom not there squeal out of excitement for me while my dad goes off into his office to read or go over something to do with work so he can get his mind off the fact that his little girl isn’t so little more. And then there’s the things still to come. Like graduation. And moving away to go to college. And my wedding day. And my first baby. My mom and dad aren’t going to be there to help me out when I need the help and tell me that everything will be ok when I freak out.”

She let out a heavy sigh and looked down into her lap and twiddled her fingers around themselves before letting a stray tear fall down her cheek. “It just really sucks ya know. I mean, I love Bobby. He’s about as good of a father I could ask for besides my own, and I’m so glad that I have you to help me out with this stuff, but….I just want them back. For at least one day.”

And she broke down again, bringing Steph with her this time who grabbed onto Brittany and pulled her into a hug.

She never really realized how lucky she had it. She made a little reminder in her head for when she got home to thank her parents for just being parents and say sorry for everything she’d done in the past that pissed them off.

She never wanted to take them for granted again.

He couldn’t take it anymore.

After hearing that speech she gave about how much she missed out on in life he made his way around the corner and went to them, pulling them both into him while the two wiggled around to see who this random person was.

Brittany’s breath hitched in her throat when she smelt that all too familiar cologne he always wore and when he kissed her on the head.

Then her heart almost skipped a beat when he said two simple words.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” she asked while getting out of his and Steph’s embrace while all three of them sat there. Brittany and Steph with their backs up against the lockers and Joe sitting in the hallway facing them.

“I’m sorry about the past week. I really am. I guess I could’ve been a little bit nicer to you. And I’m sorry for whatever happened to your parents. You’re such a good person Trisha and you definitely don’t deserve whatever happened to them. I think I finally understand why you said what you did to me. About me picking you over everything else. It’s because you never really had someone, as much as I hate to say it. They were taken away from you and you didn’t know how else to cope with me being gone. You want someone who’s going to be there for you and be in a stable relationship. And as much as I wish I could do that for you, I can’t. I love my brothers, I respect them and their dream. And I’m sorry if that makes you mad, but I can’t not do this. It’s my dream too.”

She looked at him, completely shocked.

He had heard everything.

And yet he knew nothing.

Her breaking up with him had nothing to do with what she actually said to him. But I guess it was better than receiving a hatred filled face every time their gazes crossed each other.

He reached for her hand slowly and gently wrapped his hands around hers. “I really am sorry for the way I reacted. And maybe, somewhere down the road, we could try things again. But not right now. Can we at least be friends? Like I said to you homecoming night, I missed talking to you and messing around with you and listening to your smart ass comments. And I did promise you that no matter what, I would always be there for you no matter what happened to us. And I’m sorry I didn’t stick to that before, but I intend on sticking to it from here on out. I miss you Trish.”

Her and Steph both sat there, mouths hanging open slightly from the interesting turn of events and how Joe perceived everything he heard.

I guess it was better for him to think what he wanted than to tell him the truth.

And if he wanted to be friends, that was great.

But they couldn’t be friends friends since she wasn’t allowed to be out in public with him and the fact that she didn’t want him to get hurt any more than he already was because of her.

“Can you please stop calling me Trisha?” she asked and a smile came onto his face that made her heart practically melt.

“As long as you say we’re at least friends.” he negotiated and she couldn’t fight the smile that came onto her face.

“Deal.” and with that he pulled her into a hug that she so desperately missed for the last week.

After a few seconds he took off one of his hands from her back and it was soon replaced by Steph’s body as the three hugged each other tightly from all being friends again.

Since Steph was with Brittany all the time, Steph and Joe’s friendship was put to a halt somewhat with Joe assuming that Steph took Brittany’s side in the break up.

But all of that faded away and they ended the hug with Brittany getting up first and then followed by Joe and Steph.

She was as happy as she was allowed to be right now.

She had her best friend by her side, she had Joe back, somewhat.

As back as he was allowed to be in her life at the moment and she knew that Gables was going to get caught.

Things were definitely starting to look up for her. “Come on you two. Time to go put on a show!” she stated and then looped her arms through the two of them and the three made their way back to the auditorium to start getting ready for the play.