Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian(44)

Becca felt tears instantly fill her eyes. She hadn't even thought to ask  him if he'd slept with Brooklyn. For some reason, she just assumed he  hadn't.

"You look tired. I'm going to take you home." Her mom patted her hand as she was already scooting out of the booth.

"The show's not over. I can't go yet," Becca said quietly. She did not want to make a scene by leaving before it even ended.

"Says who?" her mom asked. When Becca didn't answer, her mom said, "Well, I'm your mom and I'm saying that I'm taking you home."

Relief flooded through her. It felt so nice for someone else to make the executive decision.

"Okay." Becca nodded and followed her mom out of the booth.

As they made their way to the front, Becca could feel the attention of the dining room shift towards her.

Then, like the Supermom she was, Sandy wrapped her arm around Becca's  waist and she smiled brightly to all the diners as she led Becca out of  there. Seriously, her mom was Supermom. If she hadn't been there to save  her, Becca would have probably been a blubbering mess by the end of the  show.

She just wanted to go home, go to bed, and stay there.

She just had to make it to her mom's car. Then she was home free. As  they pushed through the doors, Becca ran smack-dab into a solid chest.  Before she even opened her eyes to see who she'd collided with, her body  knew.

It was Brian.

* * *

Rushing into The Grill, Brian ran right into Becca and Sandy. Literally,  Becca face-planted into his chest. His arms automatically wrapped  around her, and when she looked up, he saw tears pooled in her  brilliant, blue eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked as she pulled away from him.

When she didn't answer him, Sandy smiled and patted his arm. "I was just taking her home. She's tired."

"I can take her." Brian didn't know what was going on, why Becca hadn't answered him. Why she was crying.

But he was going to find out.

Sandy didn't say anything. She just looked over at Becca, and Brian saw  the look of protection flash in her eyes. Not in an obvious way. To  someone else, it would just look like Sandy was waiting to hear what her  daughter was going to say, but Brian knew that look. It was the same  one Becca got when she felt like she needed to take care of or protect  someone.

Brian hated the way that felt. The Sloans had always trusted Brian.  Always. In fact, when Becca and Brian were seniors, Becca hadn't even  had a curfew if she was with Brian. Her parents used to say that they  knew that nothing would happen to her if Brian was with her.

Why would Sandy feel like she needed to protect Becca from him?

Did she know about what happened last night? Was that why Becca was  crying? Had she just been acting like everything was okay in her texts  but she was actually really upset?

"Becca?" Brian's voice sounded harsher than he'd meant it to. It wasn't anger behind his tone. It was panic. Fear.

Had he ruined the best thing in his life? Had one night, one perfect  night, cost him the most important person in the world to him?

She looked up at him and sniffed. He wasn't sure what he saw in her  eyes. He couldn't tell if she was mad, hurt, or upset. Then it hit him.  He knew exactly what that look was. He'd seen it before when, during  their senior year, a girl Becca had thought was her friend had stolen  Becca's notes and final project that was worth seventy percent of their  grade and tried to turn in the paper as her own.

Becca felt betrayed.

For a split second, he thought she was just going to walk away with her  mom and totally shut him out. But, thankfully, she didn't. She turned  and hugged her mom, saying that she was fine and he could take her home.

Sandy asked if she was sure, and when Becca said that she was, Sandy  hugged Brian then looked right in his eyes and said pointedly, "Take  care of her."

"I will," Brian assured her, still feeling like a piece of shit because Sandy had even felt like she had to say that.

"All right. You two call me if you need anything," she said before  turning and heading towards the parking lot. "I'm just going to be  decompressing from the wedding."

He heard the beep of her car unlocking and looked at Becca, whose gaze once again was cast down.

"Let's go," he said as he heard people's voices from inside sounding  like they were headed their way. He did not want to get stuck here  talking to people who only wanted to talk about the show. He needed to  get Becca out of there.                       
       
           



       

She nodded without looking up at him, and he wrapped his arm around her  waist and quickly led her to his Jeep, which was parked on the street.  After hurriedly opening the passenger door, he heard someone say loudly,  "Oh my God, that's Brian."

Yeah, he needed to get them out of there.

He was around the car and had them halfway down the street before anyone  even made it to the sidewalk. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw  that people were taking pictures of them driving away in his Jeep.

"Thank you," Becca said softly.

"For what?" Brian asked, still watching to make sure no one was following them.

"For getting me out of there," she said flatly. He knew, technically,  that she was thanking him, but she didn't seem too happy about it.

"Of course. That's my job. I'm a ninja," he joked, saying the same thing  he had when he'd helped free her from the slide in pre-K.

Becca's chin trembled as she smiled weakly and then looked out the window.

"Becca, what's wrong?" Something was really upsetting her.

"Nothing. I'm fine," she said.

Brian was exhausted. It had taken him over an hour to calm his mom down.  Then, he'd told her to get him all the financial records on what they  owed, including his brother's and sister's tuition and expenses. While  she'd been gathering that, he'd worked on Mrs. Anderson's water pump,  which had turned out to be a nightmare. One issue after the other had  come up and he had to stay and fix it because he'd promised her he'd  have it to her so she could get to work tomorrow.

By the time he'd finished the car, his mom was back with the records,  which were worse than she'd even known. He had to calm her down-again.  Promised her he would take care of it-again.

Then he hadn't even taken the time to shower or change. He just stayed  in his dirty clothes and got to The Grill as fast as he could to find  Becca not only in tears, but also Sandy acting strange. And now she was  saying she was "fine," but she wouldn't even look at him.

He'd never been a big believer in Karma, but he was starting to think  that today was going so shitty because last night had been so amazing.  Like the universe had to even things out.

They pulled up in the driveway of Krista's house, where Becca was  staying, and Brian went to get out of the car to come around and open  Becca's door like he always did. But before he even made it out of the  Jeep, he heard hers slam.

He looked up as she walked right past him up to the front door. He  followed her. When they got inside, she beelined it to the fridge and  opened it. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, he waited. He wasn't  sure for what, but he waited.

His eyes automatically locked on her round backside and lean legs as she  bent over in her denim shorts. From one second to the next, he went  from nothing to rock-hard-ready. Shit. Apparently his body hadn't gotten  the memo that she was obviously pissed at him.

After grabbing a can of soda, Becca stood and shut the refrigerator door  with as much enthusiasm as she'd closed his Jeep's door. Then, turning  on her heels, she spun around and walked past him, bumping him with her  shoulder-hard-before plopping on the couch and turning on the TV.

Leaning against the doorway, he asked, "Are you going to tell me why you're upset? What did I do, Becca?"

She looked at him with what he was sure she meant to be a blank  expression, but was not blank. "Why do you think you did something?"

"Becca … " He was trying to be patient and give her the benefit of the  doubt. He didn't know what was going on, but this was not her. She never  acted like this. Like other girls he'd dated. Pouting. Not just telling  him how she felt.

Wait. Brian felt fear as cold as ice run through his veins. She hadn't  acted like this when they were friends, but now they'd crossed that  line. Done things they couldn't undo.

Is that why she was acting like this? Because they'd slept together?

No. This was Becca. She wouldn't be acting like this unless something was really wrong.

"Becca." He moved over to the couch and started to sit down next to her.

"Don't," she said, reaching out her hand and stopping him.

He froze. What the fuck?

"Your clothes," she said, nodding her head at his shirt and jeans.

He looked down and saw that he was covered in grease.

"Just go take a shower," she said, her voice still sounding upset but softer. "Then we'll talk."

"Okay," he said, thankful that he'd left his bags-that he'd still had in  his Jeep from the airport-upstairs this morning when he'd gotten the  call from his cousin.