Not a Fan Fiction . . . Sort of

3

"So what does Sarah think about you working so far from home? Did she come with you?" I asked. I had been interviewing Brendon for the past twenty minutes, and he was the funniest person I had ever met. Every single one of my questions was answered with a witty remark.

"Sarah?" He asked, taking a sip of his coffee. His face went white at the mention of her name, and I wanted to let the subject go, but I was also curious. "Um, well, Sarah and I had . . . A conflict of interest." I could see that he was struggling with how to word what he was about to say next.

"This can be off the record," I suggested. He nodded once and placed his large hand over my smaller one. It wasn't a grand gesture, but it still made my heart flutter.

"Thank you, Ellesia." He tried to smile, but it came off as more of a grimace. "Sarah, well I have no doubt that she loves me, she's just . . . Distant. All the time. When we first got married, and when we were dating before that, she was great. She was funny, flirtatious, everything I could ask for in a woman. But in the past couple years, she's changed. She stopped laughing at my jokes, she barely kissed me anymore and she would lay on the other side of the bed, far away from me, when we were sleeping."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Brendon." I frowned down at our hands, still in the centre of the table. He followed my eyes with his own, but didn't move his hand.

"The worst part is that when I was offered the job at Da Vinci, she basically told me that if I went, I'd never see her again. But I'd be a fool not to take the job, so I left and I haven't spoken to Sarah since." He paused, choking back tears, then cleared his throat. "But her best friend showed up at my new apartment with court papers last week. I can't believe that after this long . . ."

I put my other hand on top of his and rubbed his between mine. He pulled it away slowly and stood up. I was confused, he had made the move first. "Brendon, I-"

"I'll drive you back to your dorm. Let's go," he helped me to my feet and ushered me out to his car. I couldn't help but feel like I'd overstepped. I knew he was a teacher, I shouldn't have pried, and I definitely should not have tried to comfort him.

The car ride was long and awkward. That is, until we reached the front gates of the school. Then Brendon pulled the car into a parking lot and turned to look at me. "I had a lot of fun with you, even with that talk about Sarah." His lips pulled into a half smile, it was adorable. "Um, so this goes against, like, all of my better judgement and teacher oaths and what have you, but I'm going to give you my number. We should chill again sometime, it'll help you with that little fan fic you're writing . . ." He said teasingly, biting his lip and raising his eyebrows.

I took out my phone and handed it to him. When he saw my lock screen, I was slightly embarrassed. The picture was one of him.

"Hey, nice screensaver!" He chuckled, adding his number to my contacts. Then he took a selfie, pointing the camera at the both of us. I posed geekily, putting up the peace sign and pursing my lips. He set the photo as my lock screen and his contact photo, handing me back my phone. "Alright, weirdo, get out of my car. I'll see you later!"

As he drove away, I waved at him. Then I texted him so he had my number too.

Ellie: hey, it's Ellesia

BrenDONE 😉: hi hi

I laughed at the contact name he gave himself and walked towards my dorm. Chara was not going to believe this . . .

"Where have you been?" She asked as I walked into our dorm room. She was sitting at the desk in between our beds, presumably writing.

"On an amazingly cool adventure!" I squealed, plopping myself onto my bed. It was then that I realized I had left my backpack in Brendon's car. Shit!

"That explains your missing bag," Chara laughed, turning her chair to face me. "Where did you go? Who with?"

"Okay, so you know how I was in the music theory class all day?" I asked, trying to work my way through the whole day's events. It was even hard for me to believe that I had met Brendon Urie, and that he'd given me his number. I couldn't imagine Chara trying to wrap her head around it.

"Yeah?"

"Well, the reason I did that was to start researching for my fan fiction. The new music theory teacher is none other that Brendon Urie. Now, I know you have no idea who that is, so I'm going to tell you. Remember that concert we went to this summer?"

"That band's last concert before they went on hiatus?" Chara asked. She was slowly starting to clue in, and I nodded excitedly.

"Yes! That band is called Panic! At the Disco, and the lead singer is . . ." I waited for Chara to respond, and I could see the gears turning in her head. There was practically smoke coming out of her ears.

"Oh my God! Brandon Urie?" Chara said incredulously.

"Brendon." I corrected, grinning from ear to ear. "Brendon Urie, the lead singer of my favourite band, teaches at my school and has my number."

"Okay, wait, how did you get from spying on him to having his number?" She asked, pulling her knees up to her chest and getting more comfortable. I described what happened at the end of the day, leaving out no detail. Well, except for the thing about Sarah. I told Brendon that it was off the record, and I stick to my word.

"That's crazy, El." Chara laughed, taking my phone from my hand and looking at the screen saver. "We better text him about your bag . . . " she grinned, unlocking my phone and opening Brendon's contact before I could stop her. I took my phone back right as she pressed send and stared in horror at the message she sent.

Ellie: hey hot stuff 😉 left my back pack in your car.

I quickly fumbled over the keyboard for an apology, Chara still giggling in front of me.

Ellie: Oh my God! I'm so sorry, that was my roommate. She doesn't understand boundaries . . . I did forget my bag though

I waited for what felt like an agonizing eternity, but what was in reality only two minutes at most. When my text tone sounded I jumped to see what Brendon's response was.

BrenDONE 😉: Lol don't worry about it, I'm still at the school if you want to swing by my classroom. I noticed your bag and brought it in with me.

"What did he say?" Chara asked, still smirking.

"He told me to come get it from his classroom. I guess he's still at the school." Chara let out a squeal and I laughed, pushing her shoulder lightly. "Nothing is going to happen."

"But he knows about the fan fiction." She gushed. "He said he would help you with it, if that doesn't mean anything, I don't know what does."

"You write too many love stories," I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Don't wait up!" I said before walking out the door.