An Unlikely Pair - (Lesbian Short Story)

Chapter 7: Lacking

"I'm in love with you, Brooke."

The words haunt Brooke. Everything from that evening haunts her. She finally gets a friend, and now it's all over.

"We're Brooke and Jason, Jason and Brooke." "Do you want to give up Prom Queen?"

The way Jason said her name versus how Waverly said her name makes Brooke want to cry. Jason and Brooke had been dating for so long and for the wrong reasons. Maybe at one point, Brooke genuinely liked him, but not anymore. They were always dating for the school. They were the power couple. "Homecoming King and Queen" as Jason put it. That's all they were. That's all they have been. Brooke never would have realized this without getting out of her toxic circle by being with Waverly. Waverly was so genuine, so honest. Brooke never had to guess why Waverly was hanging out with her, except in the beginning because it was very odd.

Brooke's thoughts are interrupted by her phone ringing. Looking over at the phone facing up, she sees an attractive brunette's picture take up her screen: Waverly is calling. Brooke's hand starts to move to pick up the phone, but quickly retracts and rolls over in bed. I wish she'd stop calling, Brooke thinks to herself. I want to talk to her, but I can't handle it. She wants to talk about what happened and I'm not ready to deal with it. She probably thinks I hate her, and I don't hate her. I just can't right now.

The next day at school, Brooke walks into her first period and immediately everyone is staring at her. They begin to whisper. Dressed in jeans and her new Fall Out Boy concert t-shirt, Brooke puts her hair in a ponytail and sits in her assigned seat. Jason doesn't stop by to say hello, not that it's a surprise.

Coming to Brooke's rescue, the teacher walks in and begins class before Brooke could focus too much on the whispering. The whole school has heard about the break up. That is one of the worst things about being popular. Your private and personal news is everyone's entertainment. Brooke talked to Waverly about this. Her heart stings at the mental mention of Waverly's name.

"Mr. Jackson?" Brooke says, raising her hand. "May I go to the bathroom?"

"Very well, Miss Jones." The teacher says in response, not caring much.

Brooke quickly grabs her backpack and first leaves the classroom, and then the school. Jumping in her car, Brooke drives back to her house and gets in bed. It was too soon to go to school. She should have known the news would have gotten around by now. Brooke kicks off her shoes and gets under the covers in her bed.

~~

"She skipped school!" Waverly exclaims after her last class. "I haven't seen her in the halls, her car isn't in the parking lot. She ditched school because of me. Oh, my god, she's going to transfer to get away from me, isn't she?"

"Whoa, Waverly, calm down. Maybe she's sick." Audrey says, trying to comfort Waverly.

"Yeah, she's sick," Waverly says spastically. "That's why she won't answer my calls, right? She's sick and she's been coughing, so she doesn't have a voice. But she could text me. Maybe she's on cold medicine, so she's been sleeping. Yeah, that's it."

Trying to be as convincing as possible, Audrey agrees and walks her friend to the bus. "This one is yours, sweetie. Call me when you get home. I'm worried about you, love." She gives Waverly a quick hug and lets her get on the bus.

Once the bus takes off and begins leaving school, Waverly stares at Brooke's name on her phone. Her thumb jumps back and forth from the call button to the close button and back. She wants to call, but knows Brooke won't answer. Maybe today she'll answer, but she wouldn't know without calling. She decides to call.

Ring. Ring. Waverly exhales. Ring. Ring. Inhale. Ring. Ri--.

"Hello, you've reached Brooke. I'm busy right now, but if you leave a message, I'll get back to you whenever I can! Later!" Waverly mouths along to Brooke's voicemail message as she has it memorized now.

"Hey, Brooke, it's Waverly. Waverly Martin. Um, I didn't see you at school today, so I wasn't sure if you're sick. Are you sick? I hope you feel better. I miss you. I mean, I miss seeing you. I mean, um, call me when you feel better. If you want. Sorry, bye." Waverly quickly hangs up and instantly regrets calling. That must be her fortieth message.

~~

Brooke wakes up 1:30 pm and checks her phone. Moving her scattered blonde hair out of her face, she opens one eye to see her phone read "10 missed call, 4 new voicemails."

"Ugh, Waverly is calling again?"

Opening the notification, Brooke is quickly greeted with 1 missed call from Waverly, but 5 from her mother, 2 from her brother, and 2 from her father. And a voicemail from each."

Starting with her mother, the voicemail says "Brooke?? I called your school, but they said you left class. Why did you leave class? Ugh, I'll yell at you about that later. Anyway, your brother is in the hospital, which you would know if you ANSWERED YOUR DAMN PHONE! Just get here. It's our usual."

Jumping out of bed, Brooke begins fixing her hair and getting her things together as the other two voicemails play, casually avoiding Waverly's message.

"Hey, Brooke it's your father. Your mother keeps calling and thinks you'll answer my call instead, but apparently not. She's about to start calling again. Anyway, call us back or just get to the hospital as soon as you can."

"Brooke," her brother's raspy voice comes through the speaker. "I can't say much, but please come here. I need you."