The Treehouse - Chapter 6

At around one o'clock on the same Sunday, Victoria called Brianne soon after discovering her number.

"Hello?" Brianne answered the urgent ring of the phone.

"Is this Brianne?" Vickie tried to disguise her voice by making it raspy and scary-sounding.

"Yea…"

"Watch your back, woman," Victoria threatened. "One wrong move and it's all over…" Brianne hung up, frightened out of her skull.

"What happened?" Chris implied, concernedly looking at her shocking face. Brie's tears were streaming down her cheeks as Chris went over to comfortingly hold her.

"I got… a… threat," Brie choked between sniffles, nuzzling her face into Chris's shoulder. Her whole body was shaking with sobbing as Chris held her tight, rubbing her back.

"Do you know who it was?" he asked.

"No," Brianne replied. "That's the worst part!" A fresh set of tears wanted to push through Brie's eyes, but she didn't let them. She softly pushed Chris away, trying to regain her confidence.

"You alright?" Chris implored.

"I hope so," Brianne prayed. "I hope so."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Hey Gorgeous!" Jesse called, waving to Brianne. They had planned to meet at the local movie theater later that night, and the occasion was at hand.

"Hi!" Brie replied, taking Jesse's arm as they walked in. Time passed quickly during the film, and before either of them knew it, the credits were rolling. Nothing extraordinary happened that night, but they did make plans for another date. And another after that. And another. Before long, Jesse and Brianne were officially an item - boyfriend and girlfriend.

Two weeks after that whacked out Sunday, Chris and Brianne had dance class on a Thursday after school. Chris was a bit nervous when he picked Brie up because he hadn't talked to her in a while. Dream Street had kept him busier than usual, due to their new album promotion, so he only talked to Brie on the phone a couple times to briefly catch up on things. All he heard about Jesse and Brie was that they were together; but he was about to get socked with all the details from Brie. Jesse never really told him anything about their relationship.

"Hey, Stranger!" Brianne said, jumping into the car with a smile. Chris half-smiled back, turning on the ignition.

"Haven't seen you in a while, huh?" he commented, staring at the road ahead. Brianne immediately knew something was up.

"What's wrong?" she wondered.

"Can't keep a damn secret from you, can I?" Chris smirked, shaking his head. He glanced at Brie, who looked slightly concerned, in case something really was wrong.

"I don't know what to say to Pine," Chris made up a confession. "I've known her for so long, it's going to be a little awkward, don't you think?" Brianne relaxed a little, seeing nothing life threatening was worrying him, and pondered.

"The first thing is to keep being yourself. Girls notice when a guy changes like that," Brie began giving him pointers, most of which Chris already knew. "Just casually walk up and ask her if she wants to hang out sometime, don't flat out say 'Will you go out with me?' 'cause that's too weird. Then just…" Chris wanted to kick himself for avoiding the truth again. Why couldn't he just tell her what was really on his mind?

They arrived at the dance school and went in, chatting it up with everyone on the way. There were approximately fifteen people in the class, all friends of Brianne and Chris. Pineapple was talking to another guy in the class, Gavin, when Chris went over to talk to her. Brie sat in the corner, putting on her black hip-hop shoes, talking to Noelle.

"They make the cutest couple!" Elle swooned, lacing her own shoes, and admiring the way Chris and Pine's coloring matched so well. Brianne nodded in agreement, as the class got ready to run through their stretching routine. It became a systematic thing once you had been going to the school for a couple of years, so since there wasn't much thinking required, everyone socialized during the beginning of class. This gave Brianne a perfect opportunity to talk to Chris, so when they got into lines of two for leaps, she jumped in the left-hand line behind him.

"Did you ask her?" Brie asked, poking Chris in the stomach to get his attention.

"No. I just can't…" Chris began leaping away, so Brianne had to wait until she got back into line after her turn for him to finish. Running to the back of the line after right developes, Brie listened to Chris continue.

"I can't do it. I don't feel anything for her, you know? Remember that morning I was about to tell you who I liked?" Chris did three left developes across the floor, leaving Brie. She took her turn with her partner in the other line and returned behind Chris.

"Yes, I remember, go on…" Brianne pressed.

"Well, you never let me finish. You just assumed, and I didn't know what to say, so I went along with it."

"So you never really liked her?"

"As a friend, of course," Chris replied. After Chris, Brie did her right granjete leaps and got back in line.

"But I never wanted to date her," Chris continued.

"I'm sorry," Brie apologized. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's alright, don't apologize."

"Who do you really like then?" Brianne implored with wondering eyes. Chris turned to leap with a sly grin, leaving Brie in wonder. She rushed through left granjetes and skipped back to Chris.

"Who is it? Tell me, tell me, tell me! Please?" Brianne made an irrisistible puppy-dog face.

"I will when the time is right," Chris promised.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Friday evening, Jesse was preparing his hair for when Brianne was coming over. Instead of going out to see a movie, the couple decided it would be much more comfortable if they watched one at Jesse's house. Brie rang the doorbell at exactly seven o'clock. Jesse dashed to the door and led Brianne inside. Reaching the living room, he popped the DVD into the player and sat down, snuggling with Brianne on the couch. Kissing turned into making out and making out turned into a sex scene. Thank goodness Jesse's parents had gone out and he had managed to get his aunt to baby-sit Timmy and Lea for the night!