Brie had moments ago resurfaced from her bedroom after changing into something more comfortable and was now observing the fella standing in her living room looking out the window. He wore a black leather jacket with a grey t-shirt underneath, slight baggy blue jeans and sneakers.
"I'm really sorry about the whole thing," Keith says when he'd realized she'd come back. Averting his eyes nervously around, he knew his behaviour from the past week had been really atrocious, and he felt like he should've apologized sooner.
"It's all in the past and also I'm really not the one you should be apologizing too."
"I know," he nods, scratching the back of his head. "It's why I'm trying to get ahold of her Brie. I don't seem to know where she is. For a moment I thought she was with you,"
"She isn't,"
"I'm now aware of that," Keith nods again.
"She's probably staying at her parents for the time being but I could try to call her for you."
"That would be cool, thanks."
Going over to grab her phone, Brienna runs through her call log and dials Ava's number. Placing the device to her ear, she listens as it rings and rings. With a frown lacing her face she hangs up and tries again only to get the same result. By this time she is more than a little concerned. Ava had never done such a thing before. In fact, none of her friends had ever done something like that.
Heading back over to Keith, Brie is tapping her phone softly against her inner palm. "She isn't picking up any of my calls, are you sure you guys didn't argue?"
"No, I swear. Since that night at the party, I haven't seen her."
"Maybe it's no big deal, I mean the whole thing was a little bit of a rollercoaster ride. Ava probably just needs some time alone."
"That's no problem at. All I want to know is that she's alright, she doesn't have to come home right away but I just want to know."
Brienna sees the sincerity in the guy's eyes and she sympathized with him. What Ava did really was a shitty thing, she won't lie— cheating is never good and that's the only reason she felt sorry for Keith. "I'll keep trying her I promise."
"Thanks a lot," he smiles weakly before going silent. The atmosphere is filled with a little bit of awkward tension but it dissipates the moment he strikes up a conversation about Raye.
"Is she doing alright, your girlfriend?"
"Yeah, I had the opportunity to speak to her today and she's going to pull through."
"Is it true that she's you know...part of the mafia and all, cause I heard whispers?"
"She is, not gonna lie."
"That's um," he scratches his head again. "Kinda cool not gonna lie either. Not her getting shot but the gang part,"
"So I've been told a couple of times."
"Yeah. Anyway, I'll get going. If you get to speak to Ava anytime soon, just let her call me or something,"
"I will."
After walking the guy back to the door, she closes it and was going off to prepare herself some dinner when her phone starts to ring. She was hoping it would've been Ava but when she answered her stomach danced with excitement.
"Hey baby," a very soft and sleepy voice says and she grins.
"Luca got you your phone I see,"
"I told him I would be missing you so he did me a favour,"
"Uh-huh I miss you too, but shouldn't you be resting?"
"I've done enough of that for days. I want to talk to my woman now," Raye replies, causing Brie to laugh.
"I'm really happy I got to talk to you today, you had no idea how this whole thing was affecting my mental health, "
"Oh, I know. It was awful enough for you to fight my uncle and babe that's like the best thing ever," Raye says, chuckling to herself. "I promise to always talk about it."
"Raye you have to understand I was going through it. Do you understand the amount of stress I was under after hearing that?"
"Baby, relax, " the girl on the other end says, her husky voice doing something different to Brienna, enough for her to blush even in an empty room.
"I'm just trying to pick on you, "
"Don't do that then, "
"Did you tell anyone?"
Instantly, Brie knew what the girl meant and smiled. She'd recalls her conversation with her sister only hours prior and how proud and elated the older girl was to hear such a thing.
"I told Cassie and I asked her not to say anything until you got out. Everyone's going to be so hyped when you're out of the hospital and we'll just do it then, "
On the other end, Raye couldn't help the way in which her lips curled up softly. For a very long time, she'd imagined making Brienna hers officially. She'd always dreamt about it. Now, it was so close she could hear the wedding bells, she could already envision her love in a pretty white dress— it was near, so near and the idea of it left her feeling somewhat emotional. She wasn't one to cry but some amount of tears did sting her vision.
"I can't wait for us to tell them." She answers.
Luca had already been put on the chase to find the perfect ring and without Brie knowing, she was going to make it official. She'll go down on one knee in front of their friends and family and she'll ask her all over again but this time with a ring. She'd be less drugged up and she'll have more words to say because how could she not?
This beautiful woman she was on the phone with had shown her that life was always worth living no matter what but even better if you found someone as equal to you. Brienna showed her that some people would love you no matter what and such an unconditional thing was hard to find in a world filled with self-absorbed humans.
She'd made the mistake to allow her to slip through her fingers once and the outcome was devastating— never again would she ever do such a thing Raye thought.
Trying her best to stifle a yawn that eased its way out of her throat, Brienna smiles at the sound and tries to convince Raye that she should get as much rest as possible. She needed it after having been through it all and not just the incident.
"I know that you're excited to talk to me just as much as I am to hear your voice but you need to rest."
"I will when we get off the phone, just let me talk to you for a few more seconds," implored the girl, her voice getting huskier by the second.
"Okay. Go ahead, I'm all yours."
"I love you,"
"I love you too baby,"
"Everything's going to be fine and I can promise you that. I'll get out of here in no time and you and I will break the news to our family and friends and then we'll plan a big ass wedding and I'm going to marry the shit out of you. We'll eventually move across the country to somewhere remote, and we'll have lots of babies and do whatever we want."
"I like the sound of that,"
There was a moment's silence as Raye envisioned exactly what she'd just said to her love and truthfully she couldn't wait to have that. She couldn't wait to have the girl, kids, a beautiful life— the whole package.
"Me too baby," she replies, her eyes drifting shut and her breathing steadied. Brienna had sensed it and instead of saying anything, she allows the girl to fall asleep, listening to her breath for a bit longer before ending the call. She then stood there with the stupidest grin she could ever muster on her lips.
That woman, she found herself muttering. Even in the face of danger and certain difficulties Raye's soul and intentions remained the same; pure. She'd never really allowed bad things to alter anything in her life. Raye had always made her the centre of her attention and marrying her was the wisest thing to do Brienna thought.
