An Honest Apology (TF)

Juliet slowed her car to a halt in front of a large metal gate; looking past the bars was an impressively large marble-white mansion. Some hundred years ago, the large building had acted as Greenwall's town hall, but it was eventually replaced, and now like most things, it belonged to the White family. Now repaired and more than improved on, it was the most impressive home she'd ever seen, and Juliet would wager was the best in the state. Needless to say, it was more than befitting that it was where Brian lived.

The raven-haired girl rolled down her window as security hard slowly made his way to her car window, "Can I help you ma'am?"

"Yes, I'm a friend -- Er, I'm -- Ugh, sorry, I'm here to see Brian White. Is he here?"

The guard let out a soft chuckle, and Juliet sank down in her seat, "Ah, of course, let me see if he's available for you."

"I'm not --" Juliet called out as the guard stepped to the side, speaking into his radio, "This isn't what it seems. I'm not here for some usual visit like the other girls."

"Of course, ma'am." Juliet flared her nose; the guard couldn't have sounded more dismissive of her claim. She sat back in her seat, waiting for close to a minute before the gate suddenly started to roll open, "You're free to go ahead, miss. Enjoy your evening."

"I'm not staying long."

Juliet drove through the gate, doing her best to toss away the frustration the guard had just given her. "I'm here to apologize, not for some fucking hook-up, asshole." Her upper lip twitched, "But why should I be surprised? Of course, Brian would have a bunch of girls showing up at his house to fuck. And I feel bad for this, dude? God, Juliet, you are a fool." She parked her car right in front of the steps leading up to the manor doors, "Dammit, no...stop. Don't go in half-cocked. Just relax, apologize, and then go home. You can do this. Like Syd said. You're sounding like mom right now."

The brunette's chastising was more than enough to set her back on her path, and she climbed out of the car. She climbed the steps with an extra hop to her step, ready to get this over with, but before she could even knock on the door, she saw it pulling open. Juliet's body all but stiffened, and she felt a rush of heat on her cheeks as she found Brian standing before her. "Juliet? What are you doing here?"

Juliet's mouth was dry; she had been trying so hard to control her anger and resentment that she hadn't even considered feeling embarrassed upon seeing Brian again after their hookup. An awkward silence lingered between the two for a minute as Juliet searched for the right words to start this, but unfortunately, her mind remained a jumbled mess. Brian turned his head left to right, looking all around before back at the silent girl, "Are...you alright? Someone got a damn gun on you or something? You look like you're about to puke."

"I need to talk to you!" Juliet finally blurted out sharp enough to make Brian jump,

"Oh, okay, yeah, what's up?" Juliet pursed her lips, and her eyes remained wide and uncertain, "Julie, if you need to talk, you have to talk." Brian added with a chuckle, "What is up with you? You're acting weird; even I know that."

"I know! I know I'm -- I don't know where to start," Juliet pinched her brow, blowing out a sharp breath, "Can we...I don't know; can we please talk somewhere private? Doing it here just feels weird."

At once, Brian's eyes sprang open, and the teen's face went a ghostly white, "O-Oh...Oh shit..." He whispered under his breath. The blonde quickly stepped aside, extending a hand, "Y-Yeah, come inside. Let's go to my bedroom; no one will bother us there." Juliet stepped into the manor, and her embarrassment drifted into confusion as she watched Brian. His head was low as he led her up a set of stairs, down the hall, and finally into his bedroom. Not once did he speak, nor did he even flick an eye at her; it was like he was a different person altogether.

As they entered the room, Brian quickly shut the door and grabbed a remote off his desk. With a press of a button, the lights in his room turned on, and with a second press, a large eighty-inch television that hung from the ceiling slowly retracted out of sight. He stepped past her and pulled out his desk chair for her before taking a seat on the edge of the massive king-sized bed that sat in the room's center, its head against the back wall. Juliet was in awe of the room, as much as she hated to admit it, but she wasn't here to be wowed by his money; she had a conscience to clear.

Juliet sat down on the office chair and scooted it a bit closer, "Okay...I'll be honest, I'm not even sure how to start something like this." Juliet admitted with a nervous rub on her forearm.

Brian easily lifted a hand, "You don't even need to say it, Julie. I'm sorry; this is my fault." Juliet's brow raised, "I should have known better and been smarter. It was a wild night, and even if the better part of me knew I wasn't doing something smart, the part of me that has...well, always liked you didn't care." The brunette blinked as she silently listened to his sincere words, "It's not an excuse, I know, but I want to promise you this was never for a second my plan."

"That...that means a lot to hear you say that, Brian. Thank you,"

Brian blew out a relieved exhale and nodded, "Of course. Now...for the matter at hand," Brian got up and anxiously wrung his hands together, "Whatever -- God, fuck me -- Okay, whatever you want to do about it, Juliet, I'll support you. If you want to keep it, I won't go anywhere; I'll step up; this is my responsibility too."

Juliet jumped from her chair, "You think I'm fucking pregnant?!"

Brian froze in place, staring back at the now inflamed girl, "Uhhhh, I mean -- Uh...You're not?" He all but winced,

"No! Oh my fucking God, Brian, do you think I'd have let you finish inside me if I was going to get knocked up?! Have a fucking brain!"

Brian's head dropped back, and he let himself fall flat on his breath, "Oh, thank you fucking Jesus!"

"You are so fucking stupid; it's a wonder how you even get dressed in the morning!"

"Oh, come on, that was not a leap to take right there, Julie. We hooked up one night, you ignored me for weeks now, and suddenly you showed up wanting to talk, and you looked scared at shit. Anyone would have thought you were pregnant."

"Do you want to get smacked again?" Brian held up his hands, silently lamenting, "Good...God, I swear," Juliet sighed, stepping over and sitting down on the edge of the bed as well, "Now, listen, I had a reason I needed to come and talk to you tonight,"

Brian sat up, "A reason beyond threatening to hit me?"

For once, the joke did help lighten Juliet's mood, "Yes, a better reason than that, believe it or not." She softly giggled, "I...I wanted to --" Juliet groaned and cupped a hand over her eyes, "I wanted to apologize for the things I said. I wasn't acting anyway appropriate and hitting you...that was just too far..."

Brian slowly nodded, "Damn, I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that," Juliet slowly lowered his hand, looking over at the blonde who seemed lost in thought. "Huh," He murmured to himself before glancing back over to Juliet and immediately smiling, "Hey, it's no sweat. Shit happens, right." He gave her a gentle pat on the back and stood up, "You're good."

"What?"

"I said you're good; we're cool,"

"You're...not mad? You're okay with all of it?"

"Yeah? What's the point of me making a big deal out of it? Shit happened, something things were said, and now you've apologized. We're okay, Julie, honest."

"You...you're an idiot!" Brian recoiled, "You should be mad at me! You should hate me! I said awful, awful fucking things to you, and to top it off, I hit you! And you're just okay with it?!" Juliet's breathing started to turn sharper and shorter, "Bullshit! You don't get to take the high road and make me look even fucking worse here, Brian! It's not fair!"

Brian let out a low exhale through his nose, "Seriously? Are we still at this stage?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Juliet, I'm not that guy anymore, okay? I'm not going to yell at you. I'm not going to cut you up to other people and spread a story about you being some easy lay. And I'm not going to act like a douche just so you feel justified." Juliet's shoulder slumped, and she rolled in her lower lip, "Look," Brian sighed, scooting closer to the girl and putting an arm around the small of her back, "We all do shitty things sometimes; no one is perfect. I don't blame you for freaking out; I'm not holding a grudge. But just because you don't like how you feel right now doesn't mean I'm gonna pretend to be the bad guy, so you don't, okay?"

"You're...You're not supposed to be this way, Brian." Juliet weakly whispered with a defeated shake of her head, "I know you..."

"No, you knew me, Julie. I'm different now; people change. You have to let go of whatever outlook you have in your head that tells you how things are supposed to be. No one can know everything." Juliet cupped a hand over her eyes, "Hey, how about instead of us just sitting here feeling awkward and shitty, we head over to Claire's birthday party?" Juliet was silent, "We can go together, but not like...together, you know?" He suggested again with a small smile, "What do you think?" Suddenly he heard a small sniffle, followed by a whimper, and finally, Juliet began to cry, "Ah shit...Juliet..." Brian sympathetically ran his hand up and down on her back, "Don't do that...come on."

"I'm a f-fucking terrible p-person," Juliet whimpered,

"No, you're not, Juliet. You're just human like the rest of us."

"I'm so fucking confused, Brian. I -- I don't know what to do," Juliet lowered her hand, looking over to the blonde with tear-soaked, red eyes, "I feel so fucking awful about everything that happened between us. Even when I know it's wrong, I keep telling myself that it's all your fault."

"Well, to your credit, last year you probably would have been right," Brian attempted to lighten the tone to no avail.

"Kenny can't fucking stand me because I'm mad he and Claire are together. I don't know why I feel so betrayed by what he's doing, but I can't look at him without my blood boiling, and now...now I can't even talk to Claire, and I know that makes me shitty! I know it does!"

"Julie, you...you gotta take some accountability," Brian's hard words came out as gently as he could make them, "You're not always going to be right or happy in the world, trust me. You gotta just take what happens in stride. You can't control everything, and you must stop expecting and seeing the worst in people. Kenny didn't betray you. Claire is still your friend. You just need to change your perspective."

"Oh, like that's so easy? I should just," Juliet snapped her fingers, "Change my way of thinking just like that, and poof, everything is fixed overnight, right?"

"No, it's definitely not that easy. You gotta work at it. I had to for a long time, but I can see it in you. You know what's right and wrong; you just don't want to accept it. That's why you feel so shitty. It's because you keep trying to ignore what you already know for what you think you know."

"I can't, Brian...I know myself enough; I just...I just f-fucking can't," Juliet squeezed her eyes shut, and after a few more tears, she suddenly felt a light embrace from the blonde teen next to her,

"You can, Julie. One thing I know about you is nothing stands in your damn way." He encouraged with a warm, comforting chuckle, "And besides, I forgive you; Claire would in a heartbeat, and no way in hell you'll ever be able to burn a bridge with Ken. We all like you too much as it is. So just take a breath, relax, and then start listening to that little voice inside your head trying to send you down the right road. You'll get there in no time."

Juliet sniffed, and Brian felt her hands sliding around his waist before interlocking around his back, returning the embrace. "Thanks, Brian..."

"Anytime, Julie," A few moments passed, and Juliet remained firmly in his embrace, "Uh, Julie?" The brunette hummed, "You still want to go to Claire's?" Juliet pulled her head away from Brian's chest and looked up. Their blue eyes met, gazing into one another for a good long while until Juliet pushed up, deeply pressing her lips against his.