Such a Beautiful Lie to Believe In

As soon as I was done hugging the life out of Brian, I began walking toward the parking lot with him following. “I know you wanted me to go back to your place as soon as my shift was done, but I should probably stop back off at home first. It’s kinda been a long 24 hours and I could use a nice long shower.”

“That’s understandable, I mean technically you got out an hour before I thought you would so the guys won’t be expecting you to come over until later.”

“That’s good to know. But still, I feel bad for making you drive all the way over here.” We finally reached my car and to be honest, I was surprised that he was still following me.

“It’s not a problem at all, considering I just walked here.”

I couldn’t contain myself…a small laugh escaped my lips. “You walked here? Brian, that’s like borderline insanity. It would be like a 15 mile walk!”

He shrugged like it was no big deal at all. “How else do you think I stay in such amazing shape?” he asked, with a little laugh. That might have been the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.
“So you wouldn’t mind if I snagged a ride to your place and chilled there until you were ready to go, right?”

“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” I shrugged, unlocking the passenger side of the car to let him in. We drove the entire 7 minute drive in silence…but contrary to what you might be thinking, it wasn’t awkward. That might just be because we were playing “Welcome to the Jungle” on the maximum volume and were screaming to the song. It was great.

“Well, I know this isn’t nearly as impressive as your place, but here is my lovely little condo,” I said pushing the door open and being greeted by our baby Dalmatian, Jingles (he was my Christmas present last year).

“This is still a pretty sweet place. And your puppy is a cutie, I’m sure he’d get along great with my doggie.”

“I didn’t see any dogs at your house,” I thought out loud.

“Oh, trust me they were there. There’s still a lot of the house that you haven’t seen yet so we can take care of that later tonight.”

“Hmm, I’m definitely not surprised. Alright, the TV is right over there. My room is the last one down the hall on the left, Kathy’s is across from mine, and Brittney’s is across from the bathroom. I don’t think any of them should be coming home soon, but if they do uhh just smile and wave!” I laughed, nearly out of breath from all the directions.

After that, I scrambled into the bathroom trying my best to hurry up so I’m not keeping Brian waiting – and so I can to his house sooner and do a little “exploring.”

*Brian’s POV*

I wasn’t in the mood to watch TV…I wasn’t in the mood to drink or eat…I wasn’t in the mood to sleep; therefore, you may be thinking there’s something wrong with me. Well, I have a very good excuse and that would be: snoop around in Joie’s room while she has no idea.

Carefully, I opened the door to her room. The walls were painted black, and were covered in countless band posters. Hell, even her ceiling was covered in pictures, magazine clip-outs, and other random stuff. There was a heartagram HIM comforter covering half of her bed and some of the floor.

Judging by the pictures of herself and her friends, I could tell that she was just simply a normal 24 year old girl. I hated to admit it, but I think I was almost on the verge of feeling a pang of guilt for her. There’s no reason for me to be the one who ruins her perfectly perfect life. Oh shit, don’t even try to tell me that I’m really really starting to fall for her?

I was startled from my thoughts when I heard the water finally turn off, giving me very little time to get back to the living room. Just as I was walking around her bed, I froze in place when the door next to me slid open, revealing a half naked Joie, dripping wet and covered by a small towel. Me being me, I couldn’t help but stare at her cleavage. Unfortunately, she noticed.

“Brian! I didn’t know you were gonna be in here,” she gasped, attempting to cover herself up a little more.

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly as I laid down on her bed, “I was planning on getting out before you came in, but then you just came out of nowhere.”

“Oh, yeah that’s because of my ‘secret’ passageway between my closet and the bathroom, no one else knows about it so you better not tell,” she said teasingly.

“I won’t tell…but it would be nice if in return you could oh perhaps drop that towel?” I said boldly with a large smirk across my face. She, on the other hand, looked shocked to say the least.

“Excuse me?” she asked, probably trying to figure out whether I was being serious or not.

“Well, why not? I mean it’s not like I haven’t seen you like that before…”

“Hmm, too bad I don’t remember that at all,” she complained, digging around in a drawer for some clothes. “Sorry, but I’m not as easy when I’m sober, you’ll just have to wait,” she said while turning back toward the bathroom to change in there.

Damn and here I was so close to round two.

*Normal POV*

I locked both doors to bathroom before I even thought about continuing to change. It’s not that Brian creeped me out, it’s just that I’d rather not have anymore sexual encounters tonight. It’s bad enough that I don’t even remember having sex, so I’m not exactly tempted to try for any sort of round two.

Once I was done changing in some black skinny jeans, an Alkaline Trio t-shirt, and my classic black Converse, I was ready to finish off my look by styling my hair a little and doing some make-up. Cautiously, I opened the door to the hallway to hear the TV on in the other room. Ok, good he’s actually down there this time.

I walked back into my own room and crammed a few things into my purse and then greeted him again. “Ok, I think I’m finally ready to go.”

“Awesome…although I wasn’t complaining about earlier,” he laughed, leading me out the door.

I rolled my eyes and locked the door behind me, unaware that it would be the last time doing so.

Brian drove my car back to his place, simply because it was mutually agreed that it would be easier than attempting to give me directions again. Let’s just say that me and directions never got along very well. Hell, I’d get lost even with a GPS…those things are traitors and shouldn’t be trusted!

Anyway, once he pulled into the twisting driveway again, I re-experienced the same feelings I had felt 24 hours ago. It was like seeing the house for the first time again, I was just amazed. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to its greatness eventually,” he told me, practically reading my facial expression.

I just laughed in response and followed him up the stairs, this time voluntarily holding onto his hand during the “journey.” The door flew open just as we reached the porch to reveal Jimmy. “Damn what took you two so long?!” he shouted excitedly.

“You can blame Joie for taking forever in the shower and then surprising me afterwards,” Brian laughed.

I playfully punched him, though I’m sure he didn’t feel a thing, and said, “No, you can blame Brian for being a pervert!” I stuck my tongue out at him afterwards, because clearly my response was better than his.

“Aw how cute, you guys are having your first fight!” Jimmy gushed, leaning against the banister and smiling. I was slightly confused…

“Um, well not exactly. I mean, at least in my opinion, that wasn’t a real fight, and also Brian and I aren’t dating…well, um not yet anyway.”

Jimmy and Brian exchanged looks, and their facial expressions were far too hard to try to read. I mean it looked like they were having some sort of intense mental conversation that I was clearly not meant to be a part of. And then Jimmy started smiling again and said, “Alright, well still that was cute you two. Now, Joie, I’m gonna have to steal you from your man for a little bit. Matt wants to give you a personal tour of the place.”

I felt some of the blood drain from my face. From the little bit of memory that I had of last night, I recall that Matt was the one guy that I didn’t trust. There was just something about him that didn’t make me feel safe around him. Needless to say, I did not want to spend a whole house tour alone with him.

Ok, truthfully, I was scared shitless to be alone with him. Why couldn’t Brian at least tag along? He’s going to kill me if I’m left alone with him…and I don’t even know why I feel that way about him. And wait a minute. If I’m just hanging out here, why would I need an entire formal house tour in the first place?

Something’s not right here…