Learning to Live-Chapter 5
By: Stephanie
Stephanie really didn't know why she had done something so embarrassing as to break down in tears at the fact that Brian had a copy of Chain Reactions. She guessed that the whole evening was taking its toll on her. First, she'd had to work a 6-hour shift, and that's a long night in the food business. Then her idols had come into McDonalds. Then the gunmen had come and kidnapped her. And finally, Brian had had a copy of her story. She dried her tears and apologized profusely to the Boys. Aaron had long since fallen asleep in the corner. She told them that all she
probably needed was a nap. "Like, it's not that you guys aren't exciting enough to keep me awake or anything. I've just had a long day and I didn't get much sleep last night," she apologized as she dragged her beanbag into the corner and flopped down. Brian tossed her a blanket that was near his feet. Stephanie hadn't closed her eyes for more than 4 minutes before she had fallen asleep. "Weird," Nick said, watching her sleep.
"You're not exactly the most desirable person to be around either if you haven't gotten much sleep," Brian told his best friend.
"So what? Why do you guys always assume that because I'm 20 I don't need as much sleep? I'm not AJ. Good for him if he needs less than 3 hours. This big body of mine insists on having at least 7 hours."
"If that's true, then shut your mouth and go to sleep," AJ told him. Nick stuck his tongue out at AJ, but dragged his beanbag into the corner near his little brother because he eyelids were really starting to feel heavy.
Before Nick drifted off, he asked Kevin what time it was. "It's 3 A.M." Kevin told him.
After Nick had gone to sleep, Kevin commented, "You know guys, if he'd never asked that question in the first place, I doubt we'd be on our bus with some crazy gunman up front with Mac."
"And if he'd never asked that question, we never would have met Stephanie," Brian said quietly.
"Yeah," Howie agreed, "she's something else, all right."
"Yes, she is. Remember the look on her face when we walked in?" AJ chuckled.
"Yeah, she's really special. I don't think she realizes it either. Right now, though, I think I'm gonna follow her, Nick and Aaron off to dreamland," Kevin said as he settled down further in his beanbag. AJ and Howie mummered their agreement. Brian watched in amazement as the guys who claimed to never really need sleep went to sleep. He was now the only
one awake.
“Blessed silence. Now I can finish reading this thing without anyone bothering me.” That’s when Brian realized that he was talking out loud to
himself. He chuckled and picked the notebook off the floor and opened to the page where he had left off.
He was still reading an hour and a half later when Stephanie woke up. Most of the lights were off, so the room was dark enough where she could watch him without him knowing, even though he was only about 4 feet away. Within 3 minutes, she saw him smile at something he had read, followed by wiping his eyes 2 minutes later. She also just enjoyed being able to
watch Brian. She’d already come to the realization that Brian was cuter in real life. He was also a total sweetheart. She hadn’t seen him being the joker that everyone claimed he acted like all of the time. Brian
started laughing at something he was reading.
"Is it really so good that I can get Mr. Joker laughing?" she asked as she sat up. Brian jumped guiltily and looked from the notebook to her.
"Yeah, it really is. I've never read fanfiction before. You don't mind that I kept reading?" he asked, still looking guilty.
"No, I don't," she admitted.
"How long have you been watching me?" Brian asked Stephanie as she got up and dragged her beanbag over and dropped it next to his.
"I don't know- maybe 5 minutes. I've never been able to watch someone read my writing before. Who I'm watching is an added bonus!" she told him with a smile.
Brian smiled back and asked, "Where in the world did you get your ideas for this thing? It's kind of like a soap opera in the way you get hooked."
"Yeah, I know. I’ve gotten hooked on writing it. I get most of my ideas from my dreams and daydreams. But enough questioning me. Let’s do
something else.”
“Like what? It’s not like we can do much. And Nick’s video games are enough to wake the dead,” Brian said, tipping his head in the direction of the TV.
“Let’s play a game,” Stephanie said decisively.
“Such as?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. She held out both her hands, palm side down. Brian started laughing.
“Shhh. Now, try to slap ‘em. Betcha can’t,” she teased. Brian proved her wrong. “Not fair,” she claimed, “you have longer arms.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Brian could barely get out, cause he was laughing so hard.
“Women’s logic,” she said with a saucy grin.
“Women’s lack of logic is more like it,” he countered. Stephanie punched him on his arm and stuck out her tongue at him. Brian retaliated by sticking his tongue out at her.
“Wouldn’t know that you’re 25 from your actions,” Stephanie teased him.
“Okay, I’ll give it to you that I don’t always act my age. But do you think I look 25?” he asked, serious again.
Stephanie looked closely at his face. “Well, I’d say you’re definitely older than 23, but not old enough to be 27, so yeah, I think you look your age. What about me? Do I look 18?”
Brian looked at her. She did look kind of young. Then his mind registered why. “Put your hair down,” he requested.
“Huh? Why?” she asked. She wasn’t sure where that had come from.
“Well, as far as I can remember, whenever girls are trying to impress people and look older, they put their hair down,” he explained. She was
already tugging the elastic out of her hair. Brian sharply inhaled as her dark brown, thick mass of hair fell out of its ponytail and cascaded down her back. God, she was gorgeous, he thought. He already knew that she didn’t think she was. Her hair being down brought out the brown of her eyes and her great cheekbones. Once he realized that he was staring, he
looked down at his hands.
“Well, how old do I look?” Stephanie asked impatiently. She combed her fingers through her hair, trying to get the knots out. “God, I could use a hairbrush right about now,” she muttered. Brian finally looked back up.
Okay, don’t think about how pretty she is, he told himself. Think about how old she looks. He looked at her in the dim light. Okay, here goes nothing, he thought. “You definitely look older than 16, but not old enough to be 21,” he told her.
“Why?” she asked, her hands still tangled in her hair.
“Why what?”
“Why do I look older than 16 but not older than 21?”
“You look more mature. And you don’t appear as self-conscious as 16-year-olds do. And you just don’t look old enough to be 21.”
“Gee, that says a lot,” she muttered sarcastically. Brian just shrugged his shoulders.
“Let’s do something else,” he suggested a moment later. Stephanie had finally stopped messing with her hair. “Such as?” she asked.
Brian thought for a minute. “I’ve got an idea!” he proclaimed with a downright wicked grin.
Email: panda_angelaj@hotmail.com
