“How did you know?”
“Brea, she has been keeping me in the loop.” I bet she has.
“Oh, did she tell you that she has a new boyfriend?”
“Yeah, kind of. Some guy Julian hooked her up with. I figured she would have dumped him by now.”
“I dunno, they seem kind of serious, serious for Brea anyway.”
“Humph!”
“What was that humph for?” I ask curiously.
“No reason, anyway, so I just wanted to call and wish you luck seeing your dad. I wish I could be there for you.”
“Don’t worry about it, Brea and Jonathan will be going with us. I will be fine.”
“Humph!” There it was again.
I wanted to give him the third degree about why it was he seemed so annoyed every time I mentioned Jonathan but Brea walked into the room before I had a chance to pry. He has known Brea just as long as I had and nothing about her dating life had ever mattered to him before.
“Well, Brandon I gotta run, Brea just walked in. We have to head out in a few minutes.”
He then asked to talk to Brea, who took the phone and bounced out of my room with it pressed firmly to her ear. I could have sworn that I heard Brandon’s voice yelling on the other end. What was that all about? I am not so sure I wanted to know.
Once we arrived in Galveston we were completely famished. Other than the fact that Brea was acting a bit off , having she and Jonathan in the car with us offered good distraction from the racing images of last night’s dream that were racing through my head.
We checked into our rooms and Brea and I headed down to the beach while to boys unloaded Julian’s truck.
“Jem...” Brea grabbed my hand as I started off to put my feet in the water. “Can we talk for a sec?”
“Of course, Brea, what is it?”
We both sat down burying our toes in the sand.
“I want to tell you something but I am not sure how you will react. And maybe this is not the time and place to say anything but I need to tell someone and you are generally the first person I would tell. And...”
“Brea just spit it out, OK? Life is not all about me, you are my best friend, I am sure whatever it is, it is not nearly as bad as you are making it out to be.”
“OK, here it goes, you know the day Brandon saw you and Julian. The day I followed him out after he got all weird and stuff?”
I nodded. I would never forget that day, the look on his face that told me I had broken his heart for the umpteenth time.
“Well, we sat in his car for a while. He was upset but trying really hard to be strong, you know, like he always does when it comes to you.” she stopped for a moment to catch her breath.
“Anyway, so we were talking about you, he was telling me how he didn’t know if he would ever stop loving you, that he had thought you were the one, but he had to try and move on before you killed him. Then he said something else...” She hesitated.
“Tell me Brea? What did he say?” I was starting to get impatient.
“He said...he said, Jem, he said that he wished he had chosen me.”
I closed my eyes for a moment not knowing how to react to the words tumbling out of Brea’s mouth.
“I don’t think he meant it as like, you know an insult to you or anything, he was just hurting. I think it was more of an insult to me actually because Brandon thinks of me as a total whore, something he has made pretty apparent over the years.”
“Why are you telling me this Brea? Are you trying to hurt me? I don’t understand why I need to know that.”
I was confused and wanted to know what she was getting at, there had to be more to the story.
“OK, please don’t hate me Jem. When he told me he wished he had chosen me I kind of lost it. I seriously think all of my brain cells shut down because...because...ugh! Because then I kissed him.”
I stopped breathing and my body stiffened. What did she mean she had kissed him?
“I don’t know what I was thinking. But when he kissed me back...”
“He kissed you back!” I shrieked.
“Very much so. Jemma, we were both so screwed up at the time. One thing led to another and we were in the back seat, my skirt was up and he was on top of me and...and....I don’t...”
I felt her face collide with the palm of my hand before I ever had a chance to register what I was doing.
“You fucking bitch, you fucking God damn fucking whore! Did it have to be Brandon, out of all the jackasses you have at your beck and call, did it have to be him? He is mine Brea!”
And then I realized I had went to far. Brea jumped up and slapped me back.
“How dare you call me a whore? I told you I was in love with Brandon, I told you and you just blew me off like my feelings didn’t count for shit. You of all people should not be judging anyone. Look at how fast you jumped into bed with Julian, twenty four hours later you pretty much raped Axel ruining his friendship with Brandon forever and do not think for one second that Brandon didn’t tell me that you tried to fuck him that same night. I have never fucked three guys within 48 fucking hours, so FUCK YOU Jemma Hale, fuck you all to hell!” she screamed.