“An A,” she breathed, staring dreamily at a piece of paper in her hands.

“What’s going on?” I asked, walking closer to her. “It’s an A! I got an A on my calculus midterm! You’re the best!” she tackled me into a hug, and I chuckled, patting her back.

“I didn’t really do anything, Lissy,” I laughed, kissing her head before she pulled away. “But good job,” I gave her a thumbs up.

She had the biggest smile on her face as she looked at me, down at her midterm paper, and then back up at me. “Ugh, stop being so fucking cute,” I grumbled, pulling her into another hug. I moved some of her hair to the side and buried my face into her neck.

“Hey, none of that,” I snapped my head up and grinned at Tony who was walking by, a mocking grimace on his face. We were back at their house, picking Alyssa up to go back to our apartment for the weekend while their mom went out of town for a high school reunion.

“Ready to go, Lis?” Tony asked.

“Yeah!” she smiled. “I can’t wait to meet Drew,” she sang with a large grin spread across her face. Tony grumbled but also failed to suppress an excited smile. It has now been nearly a month since he first started dating her—and since Ifirst started a relationship with Alyssa, too—and we were finally meeting his mystery girl. Although, she was more of a mystery to Alyssa than to me, because I’ve at least seen her a few times at work.

An entire month, maybe a little more than that. Bree has yet to return, but I hardly even thought of her, as cruel as that sounded. Maybe I should be worried; shouldn’t she be back for her new job, now? But I couldn’t find myself to be worried about her—wherever she was, I was sure she was fine. I would probably know if something was wrong. Besides, I had Alyssa now, and I was insanely happy. In fact, I have never felt this happy in my entire life. And this past month, although not completely, was pretty damn close to perfect. Most of the time Lissy stayed home—her mom still oblivious to our relationship. We didn’t know how to tell her, and we didn’t really want to at this point. We would tell her when we thought it was right.

Her mom worked a lot during the day, so I would normally pick her up from school, help her with homework, and hang out with her. It really was a beautiful routine, but it wasn’t like I was just going through the motions. Every day was different—Alyssa had some good days and her fair share of bad days at school, but I was always there for her. And a few times this month a sudden wave of sadness would hit me, but I would instantly feel better the moment Lissy comforted me. I haven’t missed a single medication in the longest time, but the medication also had a side effect that was responsible for the times I felt a little down.

However, I felt like those times I felt bad were normal. I felt like a normal person, who just sometimes had “one of those days”. There wasn’t a problem in that, right? Slowly but surely, I could feel the depression that used to weigh me down so much begin to lift. I could actually breathe again, and it has never felt this good to be alive.

“Come on, Vic,” I waked from my thoughts when Lissy tugged on my hand. I smiled at her.

“So what do you have planned, Tony?” I asked as we all walked to our cars.

“It’s nothing too serious. Drew gets uncomfortable around new people, so let’s just keep it casual, okay?” Tony looked slightly nervous.

“Sure thing,” I agreed.

“I’m going to pick up some pizza, her, and then we can just chill,” he said. I gave him a thumbs up.

We went separate ways, Tony into his car and me and Alyssa into mine (I had finally saved up enough money for my own, cheap, used, but well-working car).

“Tony looks so happy,” Alyssa said softly as we drove.

“He does,” I agreed.

“And so do you,” she added.

“I am,” I looked away from the road for a moment to give her a warm smile. “And so do you,” I said.

“I am,” she said softly.

“Well, now that we established how happy we all are…” I laughed.

“Is this what it feels like to feel normal?” she asked with a light chuckle.

“I don’t even know what normal is,” I murmured. “But, I guess so,” I shrugged my shoulders. “I kind of like it.”

She smiled, and I reached across the console for her arm. I traced my fingers over her forearm, and I felt her shiver slightly. “You’re doing really good, Lissy,” I said proudly.

She didn’t say anything, but she sent me a warm smile that I reciprocated. This past month I have smiled more than I have in my entire life, and I didn’t feel fake or forced; it was all real, and I felt like I was actually living.

“Things at school are okay,” she said. “I haven’t had any real problems lately.”

“That’s good. I’m glad things are calming down,” I said.

“Yeah, I think everyone’s starting to realize that our last year in high school is half way over and that it would be a good idea to start being nice to people,” she rolled her eyes.

“Eh, it’ll all bite them in the ass later. I believe in karma,” I shrugged my shoulders. She nodded in agreement and I parked the car at the apartment complex.

“I think Tony’s nervous about us meeting Drew officially,” Alyssa laughed.

“I think so, too,” I agreed, taking her hand as we walked into the lobby of the aparment.

“He’s not weird about us, is he?” she asked.

“I don’t think so. He said he’s fine with it, as long as we’re both happy. And I’ve had my fair share of death threats,” I laughed.

“Oh, that’s good then,” she chuckled. “Oh,” she said.

“What?”

“Tony’s calling, one sec,” she picked her phone up and answered the call, putting the phone to her ear. “Hey,” she answered. I absentmindedly swung our hands back and forth as we started to walk up the stairs.

“Oh, shit, really?” she said, and she stopped walking, leaning against the wall. I turned to face her, playing with her hand that was in between both of mine while she held the phone with her other one. “Oh, well that’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Uh, yeah, sure,” she mumbled. “Okay. See you tomorrow, Tone,” I tilted my head to the side in confusion. “Yup, love you too. Bye,” she hung up, and then she frowned.

“Apparently something happened with Drew and her family, so they cancelled tonight,” she explained.

“Oh,” I said. “Is everything okay, do you know?”

“I don’t know, but Tony is taking her back here to spend the night, so he asked if we could go back to my house,” she said.

“Oh, I don’t have a problem with that,” I said. “I hope she’s okay,” I said.

“Yeah, me too,” she frowned. “Tony didn’t sound too horribly worried, which is good I guess. He didn’t really say much about what happened, just that she was upset, but I guess he didn’t want to explain her life story to me over the phone, which is understandable,” she said.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” I said lowly. “At least she has Tony to take care of her,” I said positively.

“Yeah, and it’s good for Tony, too. Like, having someone else to look out for, it makes him forget about his own problems,” she said.

“I know the feeling,” I smiled softly, wrapping my arms around her. I kissed her shoulder and then pulled away.

“Let me go grab some clothes and stuff and I’ll meet you down at the car, okay?”

“Sure,” she smiled happily. I shot her a toothy grin before turning away, darting up the remained of the flight of stairs to our apartment while she went the opposite direction, to the car.

I turned the key and sighed a little when it jammed, but eventually I was able to make my way inside. I quietly hummed to myself as I walked further into the apartment, making my way to my room to grab some spare clothes.

When I looked around subconsciously, though, I swear if it were possible my eyes would have fallen right out of my head. As I walked, my eyes caught something.

Or, rather, someone.

Her soft, brown hair flowed down to her shoulders, her pink, soft lips turned into a slight frown, and her hazel eyes stared at me with an unexplainable emotion.

We stared at each other for a long time. I was too shocked to move or speak, and she stared at me like a deer in headlights, clearly unprepared for me to walk in at this precise moment.

My eyes burned because they were open for too long. I finally brought myself to blink, seeing that she was still there when I reopened my eyes.

“Hi, Vic,” Bree said quietly.

Notes

THE END.












hahahahhaha just kidding!
I'm just going to continue this for a while, until ideas run out and I feel resolved. So there won't be a sequel, but I think that is okay considering this will probably go on for a long time haha

I disliked this chapter because I feel like it's all over the place. And it was also way too short so I apologize for that, I just couldn't bring myself to drag it out any further. Idk
But
omg
BRee's back! What is going to happen??

I already know, because the next chapter has already been written ;)
muahaha