Too Close for Comfort

Summer: Day 17

Summer: Day 17

Britney's POV:

I am not a likeable person. I've tried and tried, but honestly you can't please everyone.

And the more people you try to please, the more you lose yourself.

Like most people nowadays, my family is broken. Not broke; broken. My father and mother split up and divorced when I was thirteen, and when my brother was eighteen they bought him a house to feel better about it—even after all those years of undoable damage. So I'm roommates with him because I couldn't stand being around my parents despite their separation. Because they'd still have 'sleepovers,' then they'd drink, and then it'd turn into arguing, and if things really got out of hand, broken picture frames adorned the hardwood floors.

When you're broken, like a shattered piece of glass, you tend to resort to acting—acting like everything is great. That life is perfect. That you have a good life. And at the end of the day, you still lay in bed at two in the morning so helplessly lost in that made up fantasy of a 'good life' in your head.

But in reality, at the end of the day, the people who claim they know you don't really know you at all. And everyone who thinks they care couldn't actually give two shits about your messed up situation.

My brother Corey is one of the most unselfish human beings I've ever met, though he is a stuck up piece of immature crap. He's always been there for me, helping me through my lowest points, the darkest of times, the good, the bad, and all—despite having to go through the same thing as me; perhaps, even with more weight on his shoulders.

I've never really felt loved by my parents. I mean, how are you supposed to feel loved if they don't even know how to love themselves? Growing up, my father was far too invested in stocks, and my mother was busy launching her fashion blog. Nobody paid attention to me. Which is ironic considering everyone at school wishes they were me. Haha, if only they knew.

And maybe I haven't allowed myself to be loved, but then again—how would I know what love is when I have never been shown?

Now that my introduction is all done, I know what's on the back of everyone's minds. I originally went to the ice cream parlor to confront Kylar and blackmail Mack. But when I saw Kylar's reaction to the image, I realized he had so much love to give her, yet here she is openly rejecting it. Honestly, I think everyone knows he's had a thing for her since eighth grade. Everybody but her.

So maybe I'm selfish for wanting him, but Kylar is a nice boy and deserves more than a friend zone. He is a gentleman who is boyish in his own ways. I mean, I've known him for forever, through my brother and Monty, and I have never doubted his good looks. He has brown eyes and blonde hair like me, though his eyes are more honey-like and his hair is the color of sand dunes. He's not popular, nor is he a social outcast. He's just ordinary to other people, but to me—now he's my boyfriend.

Boyfriend. Who would have thought pretty little me would settle down and start dating my brother's best friend's younger brother?

"Britney?" Corey says, lightly knocking on my bedroom door. "You up?"

"Yeah," I reply before answering the door.

"Wanna go out to breakfast? My treat." He gives me one of his signature smiles and opens his arms out for a hug. "C'mere sis, you look pretty."

"I look like I just got beat up by a monkey," I joke, accepting my brother's hug.

"How fast can you be ready?"

"Can I wear my sweats?" I ask, giving him my puppy eyes.

He shrugs. "Whatever you want."

"Then I can be ready in a quick five minutes."