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Post by Myranda on Jul 6, 2010 12:03:38 GMT -6
"And though it made her angry, that was the day we fell in love," Brandon Crawford sang to himself, as he put sunblock on the boy next to him. Brandon was an okay singer, but how it sounded didn't really matter all that much to him. "It makes no difference- Justin! Stay still, you little wiener." He said, now slipping little arm floaties on the kid. Justin was his most cherished belonging; his most cherished friend. The one year old went with him everywhere, even to work. Brandon had decided to take him out to the beach, as a reward. Justin loved the beach; he always got so excited when they were there.
But, with Brandon being such a protective father, they weren't seated at the ocean but a small cove hidden by rocks. It was like a mini-ocean, a pond where Justin could play safely without Brandon having to worry about him. Some teenage parents would say that having a kid was the worst mistake of their life. Justin, however, was Brandon's most favorite mistake. Having him as a son wasn't all that bad, because he was such a great kid.
Justin acted and looked a lot like Brandon. Except, he had his mother's bright green eyes. And, boy, did Brandon love those eyes. He often daydreamed about Willow, still to this day. She was the love of his life, and he prayed every night for her to come back home to him. She would meet Justin and fall in love, and she'd see how much Brandon had grown and matured. Brandon was a man now, as opposed to the immature junior he was back then.
Brandon hadn't found another woman quite like Willow since she left. He was sure women like that didn't exist, she was one of a kind. Not to mention, it was a little inappropriate to date in his situation. No girl wanted to date a guy who had already gone through the romance cycle with someone else, no matter how great of a guy Brandon was. It appeared that women didn't usually understand how big of him it was to take responsibility of the child. They didn't realize that he could have just as easiy given Jusin up for adoption.
The thought made Brandon wince. Giving Justin away was completely unimaginable. That was his boy! They were going to play catch when he was older in the front yard of their American dream home. He was going to meet Justin's future girlfriends and some day even his fiancee. It was what Brandon lived for- he was going to raise this boy right.
Justin stepped into the shallow, warm pond water and bent down to pick something up. He walked it over to his dad. He attempted to say "Look at this," but it sounded more like, "I took this." Brandon smiled and took the item out of his hand. "That's a sea shell," he informed him. "Go get some more! We'll bring them home to Kyle and Gramma!" He laughed as the boy nodded and waddled away. Brandon continued singingthe only lines he knew of the song. "And though it made her angry, that was the day we fell in love."
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2010 13:12:48 GMT -6
Hailey sat on her dorm room bed. The air conditioner was blowing and music was playing from inside her bathroom. She had a pad of paper and a pencil next to her. She absently looked out the window. "Forget this," she muttered to herself as she got up. "It's too warm out to be working on homework," she told herself. She walked over to the few boxes that were still left unpacked.
Once she had moved out of her old dorm and into her new one, she had been slowly unpacking everything and still had quite a few boxes left to unpack. She frowned to herself as she kneeled on the floor by all of the boxes. As much as she hated digging through all her stuff, she was dying to go to the beach.
After searching through every single box, she still wasn't able to find her bikini. She sighed, leaning against her bed before thinking about where she might have put it. She tapped her foot for a moment before jumping a little. She quickly hoped over all the boxes in the middle of the room and made it over to her dresser.
She was quite excited when she pulled out her light purple bikini. She smiled, walking over the boxes again, almost tripping in the process as she made her way to her bathroom. She quickly changed and looked at herself in the mirror. I need to loose more weight...she thought to herself with a slight frown. She shook her head to herself and pulled on a sundress that was hanging in the closet over her bikini.
Hailey grabbed her beach bag with her sunblock, towel and a bit of money, and put it over her shoulder. She picked up her keys and walked out of the dorm room, locking it before she left. She smiled to herself a bit as she walked out to her midnight blue Camero. It was her early birthday gift and she absolutely loved it. She put her bag in the seat next to her and drove off.
She soon arrived at the beach. She looked around at the almost full parking lot. Holy crap, maybe I should have given up on my homework earlier... she though to herself. She sighed, walking away from the entrance to the beach and to the little cove she had discovered a few weeks ago. She was pretty sure not many people actually knew about it, so she was surprised to see a guy and a kid when she arrived. "Oh, uhm, sorry," she said quietly.
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Post by Myranda on Jul 6, 2010 13:34:44 GMT -6
Brandon was surprised to see someone show up in his and Justin's spot, as well. He had stopped his almost-awful singing when he heard footsteps, and turned to see a blonde girl. She was definitely younger than him, and wearing a dress. Brandon immediately gained some respect for the girl. Girls these days rarely ever wear dresses; most girls have the mindset that if they're one of the guys they'll get more guys. But, Brandon always liked when a girl looked feminine. It was cute, and different from the constant jeans and a t-shirt.
He quickly snapped his head back to Justin for a brief second, afraid that if he took his eyes off him even once, the boy would drown. He slowly looked back at the girl. "Oh, no problem. Did we steal your spot?" He asked, raising a quizzical brow as he looked back at Justin. He hoped the girl wouldn't expect them to leave, because he was looking forward to spending the day at the beach with Justin, and this was the only place where there wasn't a chance of him being sucked in by the undertow, or eaten by sharks. It was a comfortable place for the both of them, and he was willing to share the sandy spot if she was.
He half expected her to just turn and leave. That's what California girls are known for. When they don't get their way, they storm off in a fit, or they sit there and pester you until they get what they want. It had happened a lot throughout Brandon's life time. He recalled a girl who had a super big crush on him- but he didn't feel the same way. It was senior year, and she had confessed her love for him. And when he told her he didn't share those feelings, she flipped. And then, every day for the next three months, she asked him the same question. "Are you sure you don't like me?" Brandon would just nod. "Mmhmm. I'm sure." He'd say.
But, that was a whole year ago. He turned back to the girl and smiled as he waited for her to respond. He could put up a fight if need be, but if he lost he could always take Justin out for some pop-rock ice cream. The only thing that bothered him right now was his lack of clothing on his top half. He'd always been self conscious about his upper body, but that wasn't really what made him uncomfortable. It's the fact that without a shirt on, he felt naked; especially around girls. Hopefully, she wouldn't call him out on it.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2010 14:23:58 GMT -6
Hailey stopped herself from laughing at his terrible singing skills. If she had actually known the guy, she would have playfully picked on him for it. But she stopped herself from doing that too, she knew it was rude and that her parents had taught her better than that.
What she hadn't expected was the guy to sound so nice about it. She had been told to get away before, just like she had been asked to come over, just in a sexual way from guys who only thought about sex.
She snapped back into reality and shook her head quickly. "No, not at all. It's not really my spot anyway," she said with a small laugh. "I just...I didn't think anyone else knew about this place," she said with a small shrug. She stood there awkwardly, not exactly sure if she should leave or stay. At the same time, she didn't want to intrude, but she also didn't want to leave.
She loved the little cove. It was nice and cozy and away from all of the loud screaming people at the crowded beach. It was indeed, a nice change from actually being around everyone else. She bit her bottom lip a little as she waited for his response. Hailey shifted her beach bag to her other shoulder, glad she had bothered to put the dress on over her bikini. Sometimes, being self conscious helped her out. But most of the time, she hated it about herself.
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Post by Myranda on Jul 6, 2010 14:52:47 GMT -6
Brandon didn't know what to say, so he just did what he knew was right; be nice. "Well, you're welcome to stay if you want. I'm just here with my s...weet little brother." He gulped, knowing full well what he had just done. He had just lied about Justin being his little brother, because... Well, that part was actually a little hazy. He could have done it for a number of reasons; because he was embarrassed, or afraid of her reaction. But most likely, it was because he didn't want her to judge him right off the bat. Yeah, most likely it was because he wanted her to think he was a good guy who was just taking his little brother to the beach.
But, it was a little more complicated than that. He was a good guy taking his one year old son to the beach. He'd have to now explain why he and his 'brother' had an eighteen year age difference. He'd have to keep up with this lie if he ever met this girl again. And God forbid they become friends, and she ever comes over, because then he'd have to get his family in on it. Which would mean that they would have to know that he lied, and they would be so disappointed in him. Worst case scenario; he tells his family to lie to his friend, and Kyle decides not to, and then she tells her that Justin's really his son, and then this girl decides to never be his friend again and tell the whole world that Brandon was a fatty liar who never told the truth. And then he would explode.
Brandon realized that he had been staring off into space for a moment; he didn't know how long. He snapped out of it, though. Freaking spaz, he thought to himself. He really needed to stop with the whole deciding future scenarios before he had even met the people the scenarios included.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2010 15:25:01 GMT -6
Hailey gave a small nod slowly moving over and sitting down on the sand next to him. "Thanks," she said quietly as she messed with the helm of her dress. She looked up to see him spacing out. She decided not to bother him and just let him think as she looked back down at the sand.
She soon looked up toward the water to were his 'brother' was. She wasn't quite sure if he was telling the truth. What parents decided to have a kid eighteen years later? She just chose to leave the subject alone. Its not any of my business, she told herself to keep the curiosity from itching at her. She was always curious about things, she just hated voicing her questions, because when she did, she felt like an idiot.
She glanced at Brandon once more before reaching into her beach bag and pulling out her sun block. She was always quite pale, she couldn't tan, it was impossible for her. She only burned and then went back to being pale. She hated it.
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Post by Myranda on Jul 6, 2010 15:35:54 GMT -6
Brandon felt bad about lying, but still, he didn't want to just come out and tell her. "Uh," he said, trying to think of something to say. "I'm Brandon." He smiled widely, trying to be friendly, although he figured she probably just thought he was a creep. He offered his hand out to shake, but realized that she had pulled out her sunblock and would probably rather put that on, not shake his hand. Gah, he thought. He was so freaking awkward! He pulled his hand back quickly, not sure if he should offer to shake her hand after all.
Brandon looked over at his boy, who was walking over to him carrying another shell. "And, this is Justin." He said, smiling at the kid who still had some sunblock staining his nose. "Whatcha got?" Brandon asked, taking the shell from him. He put it in their pile of now three shells and Justin ran back, arm floaties and all. Brandon chuckled. Sometimes it was weird to think... he made that. That little person, with his little mind.
Brandon, again, snapped out of it. He was thinking like a chick. It was a little scary how much he cared about Justin. It was so weird- he would die for this kid, and he wouldn't trust him in anybody else's arms other than his own. Brandon had never been good at taking care of his nice things; he breaks iPods and cell phones on a regular basis. But, it was different with Justin. It hurt Brandon when Justin fell down and got a scratch. It was why he was so damn protective.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2010 17:40:13 GMT -6
Hailey mentally slapped herself for not introducing herself first. She rubbed in a bit of sun block into her arm. She looked over at the boy she now knew as Brandon. "Hi Brandon, I'm Hailey," she told him with a small smile. She got up for a moment and slipped off her dress and sat back down. She folded the dress neatly and set it down next to her.
She continued rubbing sunblock on her legs until Justin came up. She watched him soon walk back to the water. "Awww!" she cooed. "He's so adorable!" she laughed, mostly at herself. "I love little kids, the way they think is just so...amazing," she said happily. She knew she either wanted to be a teacher or a pediatrician when she grew up.
Hailey absolutely loved kids. She had fun taking care of her younger brother a lot, considering she usually baby sat for her parents a lot because her older brother was always out drinking or something of the sort.
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Post by Myranda on Jul 6, 2010 21:00:41 GMT -6
Brandon smiled and said, "Nice to meet you," before reaching into his backpack and pulling out two water bottles. Hr offered Hailey one. "It's not as delicious as soda, but I've been trying to eat healthier and soda's not the best route to take with that." He rambled on. He was trying to get into shape for baseball season; he was going into his now second year of college and in order to keep his spot on the league he needed to keep on shape. He still thought that his upper body looked awful- even though it was nicely toned. His shoulders were fairly big, nice pecs & a six pack, but he was still a skinny dude in his eyes. Compared to some of the hitters on his team, he was a skinny dude.
Brandon looked at the girl. He had always taken a specific liking to brunettes, but blonde looked good on this girl. He wondered if it were natural; he could never tell nowadays. His trick was to look at the girl's eyebrows and see, but most girl's liked to cover their eyes with bangs- a trait Brandon hated. After a moment of trying to catch a glimpse of her eyebrows, Brandon realized he was being a creep and snapped out of it. He always did that; stared off all focused on something until someone snaps their fingers in front of his face.
Justin was a pretty cute kid. But Brandon mainly loved that he looked like him. He was convinced that this boy would be knocking the ladies down some day. "Ha, he's a'ight." Brandon said. "That little wiener is such a flirt, though." This was also true. Justin flirted with girls more than Brandon did. It was like he knew his practically toothless smile and big green eyes won the hearts of women everywhere; it was like he knew it and abused it.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2010 21:21:25 GMT -6
Hailey smiled, setting down her bottle of sun block and taking the bottle of water gratefully. "Thanks," she said happily. "And no problem, I'm not a big fan of soda anyway," she told him. She pulled a hair tie off her wrist and pulled her blonde hair up. It was way too warm to keep it down. Plus she hated when she went in the water and it got tangled, after that it was a pain to brush through.
She gave a small laugh. "No wonder, he's so darn cute," she smiled. "I bet when he's older, there will be a lot of girls' dad's who are going to need a gun," she joked. "The weird thing is, my dad actually does have a gun," she smiled. She thought it was caring how her dad joked about shooting any guy who looked at her in the wrong way. She was the only daughter in the family and she enjoyed how much she actually got spoiled for being the girl and her new Camero proved it.
Hailey had noticed his staring at her for a moment. He sure seems to be staring off a lot, she thought to herself. She looked up at his eyes. She could have sworn her heart missed a beat when she looked at his eyes. She quickly snapped out of it, she wasn't one for staring off at random times. She took another short moment to find her voice. "Are you okay?" she asked. "You just seem to...space out," she said with a small shrug.
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Post by Myranda on Jul 6, 2010 21:51:06 GMT -6
Brandon's heart skipped a beat, too. But he wasn't sure if it was because he was embarrassed or because he found this girl attractive. It made him raise his eyebrow quizzically that she had felt so bold as to ask him if his characteristics were out of place, even though they had only just met. "Yeah," he said. "No, I'm fine, I mean. Just cursed with an constant awkward-esque state of being." He had been awkward his entire life; yet, that seemed to attract girls. Some girls like an athletic jerk, some girls like the 'broken' ones. But the real way to rake in girls was to be incredibly awkward around them. Theyfound it oddly cute.
He sighed, and laid back on his towel. Justin waddled up and dropped a rather heavy shell into the pile. It was heavy enouch to crack two of the other shells in half. Brandon was certain that any other kid would have cried in disappointment, and he would have understood if Justin did. But, instead, the little boy innovated. He took the two halves of the shell and held them together. Brandon watched in fascination as Justin searched the cove for... Something. When Justin had returned, thebsea shell halves were held together by a sticky substance; it almost looked like bird crap. But, Brandon could not have been more proud of the kid just then. "Hey! Way to go, kiddo." Brandon smiled and gave him a pat on the back.
As Justin returned to splashing in the water, Brandon considered his following week. He had to work for the next three days, and then he had to buy supplies for school on Monday. He'd have to look into finding a place to live so he didn't have to mooch off of his parents (who refused to make him pay rent) any longer. He was a busy guy for the next week or so. Which meant, this was the last day he could spend liesurely with his son.
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2010 22:08:37 GMT -6
Hailey gave a small laugh. "Being awkward isn't that bad," she said jokingly. "There's many types of awkward," she shrugged. "Socially, Physically, etcetera," she smiled. "From personal experience, I would have to have socially and physically are the worse," she said simply. She watched Justin. She was already loving the little kid. He was the smartest and cutest she had ever seen. "He's so smart," she murmured as she watched him go back to the water.
"I love kids, I can't wait to actually have a family some day," she said happily. The thought of it just brought her mood up. The only fact about having the whole family dream was being huge to have a kid. "But first I'm looking more towards my future job," she smiled. She had many dreams about having the job and wonderful husband and beautiful kids. But the dream always seemed to end before she could see what her husband looked like. But both her kids had her bright blonde hair.
She shook out of it. "I think your spacing out has got me spacing out," she said playfully. She didn't look over at him, too afraid she'd get lost in his gorgeous eyes. "Wanna go swim for a bit?" she asked him, absently drawing little patterns in the warm sand.
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Post by Myranda on Jul 6, 2010 22:22:04 GMT -6
Brandon smiled, thinking it was adorable that she was sitting here telling a complete stranger about her some-day. That's what Brandon liked to call his future hopes; his some-day. Someday, I'm going to live in a big house on the ocean and watch Justin grow up to be a better dad than I can be. That was his main goal- to watch Justin grow up.
Brandon stretched his arms out and took a deep breath in, his ribs showing through a little as he did so. He had a flashback, of he and Willow laid out on his bed. He had leaned back to stretch exactly as he had just now, and she took the opportunity to wrap her arms around his torso. It made him chuckle mid-stretch; the action was so cute. It was one of his fondest memories of being with her. But, Brandon's unfortunate flaw was that he only thought about the fond memories. It rarely crossed his mind; the thought of how angry he was to see her smoking a cigarette while four months pregnant with his son. Ir that one time shehad threatened to just give up and throw herself down the flight of stairs at the library.
Brandon mostly remembered the day Justin was born. He didn't come out crying, like other babies, which worried the docs. Even when they slapped him on the butt, he just yawned. Brandon looked from Justin to Hailey. "We could try to swim in that, but it's only about a foot and a half deep." He said. "It's the only reason I bring Justin here, I know he won't drown."
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Post by Jenny on Jul 6, 2010 22:35:09 GMT -6
[/i] she thought to herself. Since the animal attack when she was younger, she had trouble remembering simple things. It often upset her and made her mad, but she refused to let it show. The most she did was frown for a second before wiping it away. She hated the feeling of knowing that something in the past was holding her back. In her mind, it was one of the worst feelings ever. Throw it away, forget yesterday, we'll make the great escape. The song she listened to practically every day. Living in the past was a waste of time. Broken hearts and soon to be forgotten memories...[/ul]
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Post by Myranda on Jul 6, 2010 22:55:03 GMT -6
Brandon smiled at her, as he squinted an eye from the sun. "You can swim, if you want. Just don't try to dive in!" he laughed a little, though the thought still made him cringe. His mom was friends with a lady who dove into the shallow end of a swimming pool and ended up paralyzed from the neck down. It was a truly sad story; now that lady can never walk again, or hold hands with her husband, or hold her grandchild. The thought was torturing, until Brandon realized that he himself wasn't paralyzed. Just that lady. All he had to do was not dive into the shallow end.
But that, of course, that wasn't all that he had to do. He thought about it everyday. Having a kid draws a big fat 'Responsibility' on your forehead. Brandon actually had a lot he needed to do, but he praised God for Kyle and his mom. Without them, he probably wouldn't even be going to college. He'd be a high school graduate working as a mechanic for the rest of his life, with no means of giving Justing the proper California lifestyle.
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