Bring The Heat

20.5. What Love Might Be (FILLER)

Wren was sprawled out on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Her eyes were sore from crying.

"So... what's on your mind, then?" BM asked. With his intelligence came great emotional maturity and empathy, and he figured it would be best to let Wren take this all at her own pace.

"I miss Arabella..." Wren whimpered.

BM thought for a moment. This is what she'd been saying the whole time he took her home - and she needed to talk about more than this...

"Tell me about her." BM asked insightfully.

Wren rolled over to face the wall, and away from BM. She clutched her pillow to her body, as if longing for it to become someone who'd hug her back, and curled up into a fetal position.

"She smelled like berries, and her hugs were warm, and she was nice to me..." Wren replied, seeming far away like she was describing a dream, "...she was perfect. And I let her down... now she's gone."

Wren began sobbing again. 'Ah,' BM thought, 'abandonment issues...'.

"You didn't let her down, Wren. She asked you to do something you didn't want to, and you didn't. You stuck up for yourself and she let you down by leaving."

"Didn't feel that way."

"It rarely does."

Wren rolled back over to look at BM.

"Why does love suck?"

"Well, I'm no expert in that kind of love, but... it's because it's such a powerful thing. It's not an emotion, it's an experience, which can be good, or bad, usually both - but will always be a lot of whatever it is."

"I thought you were an expert in everything? Have you never been in love?"

BM smiled.

"No... that doesn't happen to me. I can love people in the other way, though. The way you love your friends."

"Lucky. Friend love is so much better than girl love..."

"Well, I don't know enough to comment on that. And I know everything! That's how complicated love is."

Wren grunted in agreement, and a silence fell over the two. Then, she had a strange thought;

"What happens if boys fall in love? Do they only love other boys? How can someone not love girls..."

BM sighed. He probably should have been way more hands on with re-educating Wren, instead of leaving it to Tenson and his movies.

"Everyone loves differently. Some people, like you, only like girls. Some people only like boys, some people like both, or neither, or both equally, or in different amounts. And it's not just girls or boys, either. It's a lot like what I just said for love - some people are just a boy, some people are just a girl, some both, neither, the list goes on. At the end of  the day, the main thing to know is what YOU are."

"Huh. I guess that makes sense. Well, I haven't met a boy I loved yet, in the girl love way. And I'm pretty sure I like being a girl... I am a girl, right?"

"From how it seems, yes."

"Ok... what's the difference between boys and girls, though?"

Shit. BM knew there was a good chance he'd have to discuss this, but man, was he hoping he wouldn't. Fortunately, Wren seemed to notice his discomfort.

"Other than physical! Other than physical..."

BM sighed in relief.

"Honestly? It's a matter of opinion. I don't think there's any difference, and that the only apparent personality differences between the two is because they're treated differently."

Wren took a moment to think about this.

"So how come I only like girls then?"

"Well, for the same reason that you don't love all girls-"

Which was true, but honestly Wren doesn't have a great track record for this so far,

"- because it's really things about the person that you're looking for. Chances are, the things you like are things most girls tend to have, whilst boys not so much. Who have you taken interest in so far?"

"Well, Cece, um, maybe Lewis? But that might just be because she offered to... nevermind. Arabella, of course - oh, and a girl at the coffee shop!"

'Huh' BM thought to himself, 'it really is every girl.'

"Well," he piped up, enjoying the idea of being a matchmaker, "Cece's gay too! I can see that working out, yes..."

Noticing Wren's look of confusion, he explained:

"Being gay is liking the same thing as you are. Boys who like boys, girls who like girls, etc. There's... a lot of words!"

"Hmm..." Wren thought aloud, before, attempting to seem uncaring and subtle, asking "so... is Lewis gay?"

"Well, yes. But she's... a lot of work! I mean, she's great, of course. Nevermind. Lewis is, yes! Is she your... preference?" BM stumbled.

"I don't know. Cece's really cool and all... but it's hard not to see her more like a big sister, yknow? But Lewis... I don't know. She's annoying and mean, but I still feel... I just want to be near her a lot. Everything seems pretty perfect when I'm with her."

BM's attention was caught. For the first time in this whole conversation about love, Wren had brought up something that might actually be some kind of love, and not just her being mega horny.

"Then you should spend some time with her and find out! Of course, spending time with Lewis is a challenge of its own... but go find out, hm?"

"Yeah... ok! Thanks, BM."

-(LATER THAT NIGHT)-

Wren was sitting on the couch with Tenson, waiting for the popcorn to finish microwaving before they started to watch the Chucky TV show (the whole way through, continuously) when she thought about what BM had told her.

"Hey Tenson..." she inquired curiously and innocently, "do you like boys or girls or both or neither?"

Tenson seemed to almost recoil from the question, and turned to her with fearful shock.

"Girls! Only girls! And you... you like girls, right?"

Wren really didn't understand his panic.

"Yeah. Why?"

Tenson let out a large sigh of relief.

"Nothing... I was worried you were coming on to me..."

"What? Ew! That's gross."

An awkward silence fell over the two. See, silences with BM are comfortable, but with Wren and Tenson? Unnatural. Which is why it's lucky that it only takes about a couple seconds for one of the two to ask something like-

"Hey, how far do you think I could throw you?"