Down For The Count

Win Some, Lose Some

Brandon's POV

"Hey! Sorry I'm late." Paisley said as she walked into the diner, sitting down in the booth next to Kat while I sat across from them. I smiled, watching as she stole the fries off of Kat's plate.

I'm glad Paisley and I decided to just be friends. It makes things way less weird.

"You're fine, I was gonna say you can share my food but you've already stolen all of it." Kat groaned and Paisley shot her a smile.

"Chill, I'll order you more."

I've missed this, Paisley's always so busy, which I guess is good because now me and Kat have become really good friends. But I miss Paisley. I miss us all going to the same school, and it's just...so weird that she has a bunch of new friends now.

"What's been happening?" I asked, causing Paisley to groan.

"Too much. What about you?"

"We're only a week into school and I'm already failing Spanish." I sighed. Paisley laughed, shaking her head. I listened to Kat and Paisley trade stories about their summer, watching as Paisley's dimples poked out when she smiled and how her eyes crinkled when she laughed too hard and...

Jesus Christ.

This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought. But it's good, I wouldn't want to ruin being her friend. This is good...this is what I want.

"Shoot, I've got to go. Eric's waiting in the parking lot." Paisley sighed, gathering her things.

"Eric? Who-"

"My brother." Paisley cut Kat off. Kat's eyes immediately widened as her jaw dropped.

"But didn't he-"

"Yup."

"Then...how-"

"Long story." Paisley said before breaking into a grin. "But he's alive! And he's gonna yell at me if I take much longer, so I have to go. Bye guys!"

Before I even had the chance to say goodbye, she was already out the door. I sighed, leaning against my elbow as Kat raised her eyebrow, eating more of her food.

"What's wrong with you?"

"She was here for like ten minutes."

"So? We can still have fun." Kat smiled, and I forced a smile back, but I really wasn't feeling it. I don't know...I was really excited about hanging out with Paisley.

And don't get me wrong, Kat is awesome. She's probably one of my best friends. I just...I get to see her everyday. I haven't seen Paisley in weeks. It sucks.

"I'm glad you and P decided to just be friends. Otherwise that would've been a weird situation with you and Eric." Kat laughed, looking down at her plate. I frowned, feeling extremely confused.

"What?" I asked. Kat shrugged, not looking up at me.

"They're just really close is all. Wouldn't be surprised if they started dating now that they're both teenagers."

"But...didn't she say that's her brother?" I pointed out.

"Step-brother. They're not related."

"But it's still her brother. Besides, Paisley said she wasn't ready to date." At this point I was desperately hoping that what Kat was saying was wrong. That's the whole reason we said that we were just gonna be friends, because Paisley didn't want to-

"I'm sorry, Brandon." Kat frowned, looking genuinely upset. "Honestly, I would just move on if I were you. Stop being so caught up over her."

"But I'm not, we're just friends and I-"