Good bye.
Brandon, Mariana, Callie and Jude all sat around the kitchen table as Lena was at the stove making pancakes. At was almost five o'clock, basically dinner, and she was making pancakes. She said it was because Brandon was back and that she was craving them after being at the school with the staff planning the assembly on the first day back. Which Lena said was Monday. So there were at least four days left until they all had to return to school again.
"So, what's the assembly gonna be about?" Mariana asked as Lena shoved a pancake onto her plate.
"Uh," Lena said as she walked around the table and put another down on Jude's plate. "Mostly what happened. The four that lost their lives. How it could've been anyone, one of you, and you know that we'll honour them for their bravery."
Mariana swallowed realising how hard things will be when returning back to school. Deep down she felt as if it was her fault. She was the girlfriend to the shooter and she broke his heart so he took the life of four innocents.
"Oh, they're also gonna mention you three, and mat."
Brandon looked from his pancakes to Lena. "Why?"
Lena sat down and stabbed her fork into her pancake.
"You stopped him. It could've been worse, more people could've died. But you stopped him."
"Not in time." Mariana muttered softly.
Lena frowned as guilt hit her mind.
Just then the front door opened and a set of heavy boots made its way into the kitchen.
"Mmm is that-" Stef said then stopped when she saw Brandon's innocent guilty face.
"Hey, b" she said casually. "Glad to see you."
Brandon was amazed at how calm she was. In his mind she would've been loading her gun to shoot him by now.
"Hey, mom." He replied.
Callie looked down at her plate and gave a small smile.
"And yes they are pancakes." Lena said as she stood up. "I'll get you a plate."
Stef pushed her out of the way gently. "No, you sit." She protested.
Lena sat back down with a smirk and went back to scooping pancakes into her mouth.
"So" Stef began as she sat down next to Callie. "How was Courtney's?"
Brandon almost choked. "Uh, fine."
Mariana looked up to Callie who sat across from her and raised her eyes brows a little.
Callie looked away.
"Good, I'm glad."
Brandon shifted his eyes to Callie and watched as she looked up to him for a second.
Brandon looked away followed by Callie and they all are they're pancakes in utter harmony.
"Hey, I'm gonna go get my stuff from Courtney's." Brandon told Stef as he placed his hand on his stomach.
Stef placed his hand on his shoulder and gently moved it to his cheek. "Ok."
"I'll be back soon."
Brandon turned and made his way to the door.
"Drive safe." She yelled after him as he swung the front door open.
"I will."
The cold night air ran through his hair as he walked quickly towards his car.
Brandon opened the door to Courtney's place and walked inside.
"Hey," he said as he saw her sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of red wine in her hand. Brandon pulled off his coat and hung it up. "Moms weren't even mad at me, I thought they would be but they're not."
He stopped talking when he saw the sadness of Courtney's face.
He frowned. "You alright?"
No answer.
He sat down on the seat next to her and leaned in trying to meet her eyes with his.
"Hey what's wrong?"
Courtney placed the glass of wine down on the table and sniffed.
"I got offered a job." She said more like it was bad than good.
Brandon grinned. "That's great."
Courtney ran her tongue along her bottom lip then turned and faced him.
"It's an hour out of LA, eight hundred a week."
Brandon raised his eyebrows. "Yikes."
"Yeah."
She looked down for a moment then back to him.
"And I'm, I'm gonna take it."
Brandon froze. "What?" His voice was hushed and raspy.
"My cousin lives ten minutes away form the place so, so I'm gonna go and stay with her."
Courtney's eyes welled with tears and Brandon knew it was the end of them.
"You're leaving?"
Courtney smiled gently. "Yeah. I'm leaving."
Brandon looked down and frowned in disbelief.
"Uh, uh, when?"
"She's expecting me tonight."
"Tonight?" Brandon was stunned. "Wow"
Brandon nodded sadly.
"Brandon." Courtney said as she grabbed the side of his face and tilted it up to her.
"It's only like two hours away right?" He said with an optimistic sudden smile.
"Three and a half." She corrected.
Brandon fell back to sadness.
"So, I guess. It's the end, huh." He said with a teary smile.
Courtney smiled back gently. "I guess it is."
Brandon straightened up in his chair and stared up at the roof.
"What am I gonna do with this?"
"You can sell it."
"I could just move in." Brandon suggested.
Courtney gave another small smile as Brandon turned back to her.
He thought he would feel more sadder. The one with Callie felt like he had just had his heart ripped out then torn apart by a shredder. This was nothing compared to that. Maybe he just didn't love Courtney enough. He didn't fight for her like he fought for Callie. Maybe it was for the best.
Courtney leant forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Goodbye Brandon."
Brandon smiled gently.
Courtney got up from the bench then walked over to the door.
She stopped then turned and took one last look at him.
"Brandon."
"Yeah."
"Keep the house, maybe one day there'll be someone else to share it with."
Brandon smiled.
She grabbed the suitcase by the door and wrapped her scarf around her neck.
"Good luck." He said as she reached for the door handle.
She gave one last smile then the door closed and she was gone.
Brandon still sat at the bench and just peered around the kitchen.
Everything was still there. The pots and pans, a few stacked plates and cups. Everything but Courtney's personal stuff, like the green frog pillow and the couch covering. He knew they're would've been more stuff she took and more stuff she left behind. He didn't mind anyway.
He took a deep breath in then stood up and walked over to the door.
He switched the lifts off then grabbed his coat and pulled the door open.
He was sure what he was going to do with the house. He wasn't going to move out or sell it. It was his first house, that he bought. He was going to move in. Fresh start.
Maybe all the choices and decisions came to this. Maybe he wasn't meant to go home. He was finally an adult. Maybe this was the start of a new life.
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Who's seen the new promo yet? Oh my god it's so good and intense. I love it. Ahh.
Thanks for reading!