Chapter 13 Soon to be Boyfriend
"Hey B," Stephanie says into the phone.
"Steph Hi," Brooke replies from the other line on the phone.
"Are you home?"
"Yeah. We're back. It was -"
"Can you come over?" Stephanie interrupts her.
"Rude," Brooke drawls in an offended tone.
"Please?"
"I'll be there in ten," Brooke agrees.
"Thanks," Stephanie hangs up.
She needs to speak to Brooke right now. Not over the phone, face to face, eyeball to eyeball.
She has to tell her the crazy shit that happened today.
She stands and walks into the kitchen to get herself ice cream from the fridge.
With a spoon and tub of Ice cream in hand, she walks back to the living room. She sits on the couch she was previously on and picks up the TV remote.
Talking to Christopher today was shocking. This is the fourth year of them going to the same school. And the first time talking to him was at a park not even in school.
You're wondering what happened?
Well, it was quite awkward talking to him since she vividly remembers kissing him at the party.
Thankfully, he didn't or doesn't remember her.
Or does he?
He remembers talking to Brooke that night so how could he possibly not remember her?
Maybe he doesn't care, and she'd be grateful if it's that.
When that Nora girl came, Emily handed the leash to her and joyfully hugged her friend.
They walked away together and Chris had walked over to a woman she assumed was Nora's mother. She had seen that as her opportunity to escape.
Not from danger but from having any more conversation with him.
So immediately he went to meet the woman, she walked away with the dog behind her.
She has the feeling that if she had waited, he'd come back to continue the nonexistent conversation with her.
So she left the Park with Daisy. She totally left the park grounds because he could have maybe you know - searched for her.
She took Daisy on a walk around then they headed back to their neighborhood. She returned Daisy to Mrs. Grace and settled down at home to watch TV.
Hours later, she's still on the couch binge-watching Game of Thrones.
When she guessed that Brooke would be back home, she dialed her number and now, she awaits Brooke's arrival.
Some minutes and plenty of spoons of ice cream later, there's a knock at the door.
Stephanie hurries to the front door and opens it to reveal Brooke. She pulls her in by the wrist and shuts the door. She hugs Brooke quickly and then pulls her into the living room and makes her sit down beside her. Then she mutes the TV.
"Okay? What's going on?" Brooke asks bemusedly.
"Hi," Steph grins weirdly.
"Hey," Brooke hesitates before answering.
Stephanie stops grinning.
"You won't believe what happened today?" Stephanie jabbers.
"What happened?" Brooke asks curiously seeing the look on her face.
"I.....spoke.....to......" Stephanie drags unnecessarily, blinking rapidly.
"Talk, would you?" Brooke shakes her slightly.
"I spoke to Christopher today," she blurts out with her hands on both sides of her face and her eyes wide.
It takes a few seconds for Brooke to answer, "What?"
Stephanie nods vehemently.
"Christopher Hayes?"
Stephanie nods.
"From school?"
Another nod.
"Green eyes and dark brown hair?"
"Yeah, B. That Christopher," Stephanie emphasizes.
"Holy shit! How did that happen? Did he remember you? Did he......" Different questions spill out of Brooke's mouth all at once.
Then Stephanie tells her the events of this morning.
After telling Brooke every single detail, Brooke says, "This is huge!"
Stephanie shrugs.
"Stephanie Valentine?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you stupid?" Brooke asks.
"Of course, I'm not," Stephanie declares.
"Then why did you run away?" Brooke hisses.
"I didn't run away. I just......"
Brooke shakes her head and facepalms.
"He could have dropped on his knees and asked you to be his girlfriend, you know."
"What! There you go again. You're the crazy one in this relationship, I swear," Stephanie tells her.
"How did you even think of that? Geez!" Stephanie exclaims.
"Whatever," Brooke waves her off smiling sheepishly.
"So he didn't remember you?" Brooke questions.
"No. I don't think so," Stephanie answers truthfully.
"I don't believe that you know. He remembers speaking to me. Why wouldn't he remember kissing you during the game?" Brooke speculates.
"Maybe he was drunk and doesn't remember the kiss," Stephanie guesses.
"But he remembers talking to me after that?"
Stephanie shrugs.
"That's absurd," Brooke says.
"Or he just doesn't care," she deadpans.
"I hope he does. I believe he does. I knew you'd eventually talk to him," Brooke smirks.
She scoffs in response.
"I knew that kiss would change your life," Brooke hollers.
"No shit, Sherlock," Stephanie replies, sarcasm dripping.
She faces the TV, picks up the remote, and turns up the volume.
"Let's talk about something else. Where did your dad take you guys to?" Stephanie changes the subject.
Brooke doesn't answer immediately as she thinks.
"I think Chris is hung up on your kiss," Brooke lilts.
"Oh please! Enough of your outrageous thoughts."
"Didn't I say to change the topic?" Stephanie glares at her.
Brooke shrugs.
"Where did your dad take you guys?"
"Oh yeah. That."
A grin appears on Brooke's face as she begins to tell Stephanie what she wants to know.
\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday.
The day students and even teachers dread. Does anybody else find it annoying how long Monday to Friday is? But Friday to Monday - it's a different story.
Stephanie's happy on this Monday though.
Surprisingly, her parents aren't going to work today.
They came back yesterday afternoon.
Her mum made her breakfast this morning while her dad gave her a ride to school.
She had texted Brooke to not bother picking her up earlier this morning.
They're supposed to meet at Brooke's locker.
Stephanie hops out of her dad's car and waves to him.
"Bye Dad," she says.
"Bye Sweetie," her dad replies, beaming.
Stephanie walks into school smiling and heads for Brooke's locker. She finds Brooke getting her stuff for class.
"Good morning, B." She grins.
"Someone's cheery this morning," Brooke states, accessing Stephanie's expression.
"I guess," she shrugs but still has a smile on her face.
"So....who drove you to school?" Brooke questions.
Stephanie smiles, "My....."
"Soon-to-be-boyfriend?" Brooke cuts her smirking.
"What?!" Stephanie exclaims with wide eyes.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"I know your soon-to-be-boyfriend drove you to school," Brooke continues smirking.
"What the heck! I do not have a soon-to-be-boyfriend for crying out loud," Stephanie exclaims exasperatedly.
It's at times like this that Stephanie questions Brooke's sanity.
"You do not."
"Or do you?" Brooke adds raising her eyebrows suggestively.
"My DAD drove me here, you idiot," Stephanie deadpans glaring at Brooke.
"He did?" Brooke's eyes widen.
"Yes he did," she replies still glaring.
"OMG! That hasn't happened in a long time," Brooke states happily.
She knows how Stephanie hates that her parents are always busy with work.
"Yeah. Mum even made breakfast," Steph grins.
"Wow. I was wishing it would have been your soon-to-be-boyfriend," Brooke pouts childishly.
"If I may ask, who is this so-called 'soon-to-be-boyfriend'?" Stephanie asks, air quoting.
"Christopher Hayes of course," Brooke answers in a 'duh' tone.
"It's official, you're a psycho," Stephanie announces.
"I'm not," Brooke argues.
"You are and he is not my whatever you call it." Stephanie glowers.
"He is and will be your boyfriend eventually."
"When it comes to anything that involves Chris, you say stupid things. I'd say you have a crush on him if I didn't already know you like Cole."
Brooke laughs boisterously.
Her eyes glint mischievously when she sees the aforementioned guy walking past them who talking to Jason animatedly.
"Stephanie!" Brooke yells loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear.
Her objective is to gain Chris's attention cause he obviously didn't notice them.
Stephanie's eyes widen as everyone around pauses and looks at them.
She hates attention.
"What the heck, B!" She whisper-yells at Brooke.
Brooke grins and she sights Chris from her peripheral vision noticing them.
"What is wrong with you?" Stephanie hisses as everyone goes back to their businesses.
Brooke shrugs, "I needed to get someone's attention."
"Who?"
Brooke smirks as Stephanie notices Chris heading towards them.
"Brooke Dawson! I'll get you for this," she threatens and turns to walk away but Brooke pulls her back by holding her wrist.
"You're not going anywhere."
Stephanie begins to struggle to get out of Brooke's grip.
"Let me go," She commands as Chris draws nearer.
But Brooke doesn't.
Well, too late, Stephanie thinks.
"Hey girls," Chris says as he arrives.