A Girl And Her Prince Charming?

Brian continued to glance back over his shoulder down the hill, glaring at Devin until the rock star and Mindy were both out of sight, "That fucking guy," The teen muttered under his breath. He then turned his attention the the blonde walking just a few steps ahead of him in complete silence, "Hey, you sure you're alright? That was messed up back there,"

Anna peered over her shoulder, her face showed a mix of emotions, "Yeah, that wasn't pleasant, if that's what you're asking, but I'm okay. It's not the first time some dick has raised his voice at me before," Anna replied,

"That sucks to hear..." Brian cleared his throat, "But I'm glad it didn't get to you too much," Anna remained silent, "I'm hoping what I did didn't upset you though," He added on with slight concern,

Anna stopped walking and turned to look at Brian completely, "Why would I have been upset with you over that?"

"I mean, I just didn't want to overstep," He explained with sincerity, "I know you're able to handle yourself, but Devin needed to get checked and I just -- Look, just not who I am to see that unfold to someone like you and say nothing."

Anna's lips curled into a warm smile and she reached out giving Brian a gentle touch on the shoulder, "You stood up for me, it was...it was very sweet, and thank you, I forgot to say that."

Brian's entire body relaxed and his blue eyes lit up all the more, "No thanks needed like I said, it's just not who I am to watch something like that go down and sit by. You step in and protect people, that's how it should work." He merely stated as Anna gave a smile in agreement. Brian motioned with his head and the pair began to walk side by side up their trail once more, "So, if you don't mind me asking while we're on the subject, I'd appreciate hearing your thought process on what was happening back there, because I had no idea that was coming."

Anna began to slow down and brought a hand up rubbing her brow thoughtfully, "What, um, what do you mean?" The blonde girl replied, feigning confusion,

"Well, after spending all this time with you over the last year, I thought I had you pegged. Anna Ross, smart, sweet, and quiet. A girl so good she's without a mean bone in her body," Brian chuckled as he listed causing Anna to feel a small burning in her cheeks almost immediately, "But no; it looks like I was wrong. You're fierce,"

Anna let out a breathy laugh, "No, you were right the first time, I'm not like that. Ever actually, that was...it was a rare case," She easily denied, unable to bring herself to look up and catch Brian's gaze again, "It only dawned on me, just then, exactly what Devin did to my best friend. Nicole had never been that hurt before and for him to be acting like the victim...it just..." She let out a low exhale and her brow furrowed, "It doesn't matter what I thought before, what I believe or think, all that matters is that guy hurt my best friend. He hurt her badly and I had to say something, and it didn't matter if I was scared or not, It couldn't go unsaid. I owed Nikki that."

"If you were scared, I sure as hell couldn't see it. And don't doubt it either, you stood up for your friend from her asshole of an ex, that took serious courage!" Brian proudly exclaimed,

"I don't know if I'd go that far," Anna murmured back, now looking up at Brian with a warm smile, "All I know is my best friend broke up with Devin for a reason, and he has no right to judge her or pretend he has some kind of...ownership,"

"Couldn't agree more," Brian nodded before letting out a thought hum, "Nicole is a hell of a lucky girl to have a friend like you looking out for her...and I feel even luckier to be able to spend some time with you today,"

Anna took a small step back as her face began to burn red, "You're sweet, Bry but I --"

"Sorry, I'm not pressing for anything, not trying to pull a move on you either. I genuinely just mean that you're a good person and you're fun to just be around Anna." Brian calmly told the girl who oddly did feel relief, she half expected the teen to try and kiss her even.

The lingering rumors of his interest and personality during high school refused to fade from her mind, but Brian certainly didn't seem to be reinforcing any of the rumored bad traits he used to exhibit either. Anna opened her mouth but no words left for a good few seconds before was able to push out a simple apology, "I'm sorry, Brian, I'm not great with this stuff," Anna finally sighed, "It's not that I'm not enjoying this time with you, and you're very very sweet. But I don't just jump into things with people,"

"I'd never presume --" Brian attempted to say only to be cut right off by the flustered blonde,

"I only ever had one boyfriend Brian, and I was with him for a long time, and before that, he was my friend too. I'm not like Nicole or Ellie, or really anyone else that I spend time with. I'm the boring girl."

"Hey, you're not boring, Anna. You can trust me on that, I wouldn't lie."

"I appreciate you saying that but --"

"Hang on, can I just --" He interrupted the girl, "Okay first off, I'm holding no expectations," Brian began, "I was being honest when I said I wasn't pressing you for anything right now. Just being able to spend some time in your presence, and getting a chance to talk to you, that's more than enough for me. I don't want you to be like anyone else, I just want you to be you, Anna. And again, Anna Ross is not boring. You have my full attention, promise."

Anna blinked a few times and then reached up tucking her hair behind her ear, "You really aren't anything like I expected, Brian, I hope that doesn't sound mean,"

"It doesn't, honestly I get it," Brian chuckled back, "I'm not ignorant of the reputation I had only a year ago, but I was a different...worse person back then. I needed a reality check, and I'll never be able to express how grateful I was the day that Kenny gave that to me," He sincerely added,

"Kenny?" Anna asked back, tilting her head with interest,

"Yeah, Kenny he...heh, I guess Kenny is the kind of guy who wouldn't say anything about it, huh?" Brian murmured under his breath with a small smile, not overtly surprised that Anna hadn't known about this event from last year, "Kenny saved me from myself," Brian began with a scratch of his chin, "It was...last March? Yeah, last March," He affirmed with a nod, "I was with Mike and a few others in the hallway, they weren't my friends, I know that now, but they always laughed at what I said and loved when I pushed things too far. It's just how I existed for so long, feeding off that attention without a second thought. A-Anyway, So...I see Kenny, he's just standing at his locker, minding his own business, not doing anything wrong. I know him, we shared some classes of course, and I turned and looked to the guys like, "Hey, should I go fuck with him? He wouldn't do shit, he's too fucking chickenshit." Mike laughs and dares me, and I never could back down from those. Ego and shit, so I go over to Kenny..." Anna's eyes filled with a mixture of shock and disappointment, which Brian acknowledged silently, "I walk up to him and just shove him into the line of lockers, and I mean hard too. Kenny turns around and I smack the books out of his hand and yank away his backpack too. I'm there taunting him, trying to make him break, you know, I wanted to see if I could make him lash out, or beg me to stop or anything. But Kenny's just...dude is who he is. He never fought back, never broke either, just kept trying to walk away and I wouldn't let him. Eventually, a teacher comes to break it up, turns out Mike turned me in real quick for what I was doing, and like a dick I couldn't go down alone so I also make sure to tell them that Kenny started the whole thing and he pushed me first. They give us both detention..."

"Oh, Brian...I'm sorry, but that's...that's just awful," Anna couldn't help but say with a shake of her head,

"I know," He instantly agreed with a shake of his head, "Turns out though, this was probably the best thing I ever did. When we ended up in detention Kenny ended up talking to me, he wasn't asking me to leave him alone or anything like that, he just asked me...Why? That was it...he wanted to know why I had done that, what he had done to slight me, and if doing it made things better...How screwed up is that? I decide to fuck with him and he's basically apologizing to me. As if I deserved that as if I had a thought in my head with what I was doing back then." Brian explained in a low disappointed tone, "Of course, I didn't have an answer because there wasn't an answer to give. Ken kept at it though, asking me about the people I spent time with, the shit I would do just to have them around me. It made me see...see that no one liked me at all. Everyone that was with me was there because of my money, they wanted me to do something for them, and without that, I'd be nothing to those people. And worst of all, Mike, the dude who I really thought was my friend was the one pushing me down that path all the while. Just playing me like a chump and letting me ruin everything just for the laugh," Anna's reached out and gently rested a hand on Brian's back, "I didn't like being the asshole but it felt like it was how I was supposed to act but after talking to Kenny like a real person, I had enough,"

"So you changed," Anna softly finished the thought for him, sounding nothing but proud,

"I wish I had done it sooner, but I'm always going to be grateful to Ken for being my first real friend in my life," Brian wholeheartedly stated. Anna kept a warm gaze on Brian as silence fell and the teen let out a breathy laugh, "Sorry, that got heavy. Come on, let's get a move on, I want to be able to show you what's at the end of this trail," He said as he gingerly reached out, taking Anna by the hand. The blonde looked down at their cupped hands for a moment but didn't pull away, instead keeping right in pace with him, shoulder to shoulder.

They were silent for a few minutes before Anna piped up, "Brian?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you..." Anna softly said, "Thank you for sharing that with me, I know it couldn't have been easy but...it shows a lot that you're taking the accountability and really have changed."

"At this point, Anna, I don't want anything more than some real friends who enjoy hanging out with me as much as I do with them."

"Well, I can assure you, I'm enjoying spending time with you." Anna immediately returned with a sincere smile...and just a hint of pinkness lingering on her cheeks.