I was walking down the street, slowly but surely. Finally, I found what I was looking for. I walked to the front porch of the house and rang the doorbell. Half a minute later, the door opened and I smiled as I found myself facing my childhood best friend.
"Sarah!!!" Brian exclaimed, with one of his angelic smiles on his lips.
"Brian!!!" I exclaimed as well, hugging him tightly. He laughed softly and ruffled my hair, making me laugh too.
"It's been a long time since we last saw each other." He said as the two of us walked inside the house, and he slipped his arm around my shoulders.
"Almost half a year, I know. Forgive me, I've been busy lately. With work and all." I put my arm around his shoulders too as we headed toward the living room "But you've had a lot of work too, haven't you? You and the guys are constantly on TV."
He just smiled modestly. One of the things I loved about him was that, despite being world famous and having thousands of teenage girls at his feet, he was still the same humble guy I knew. We sat in the kitchen and started chatting about everything and anything.
"Well... and how's everything going with Aiden?" he asked, without looking me straight in the eye.
I took a sip of my drink before answering, also avoiding eye contact "Good. All good." There was a sort of awkward silence, something that happened almost every time we talked about my boyfriend "So.. what happened with that girl you were going out with?"
"Oh, you mean Leighanne?" I nodded. "We went out a couple of times. It was nice, but nothing else." Brian was having trouble being in a romantic relationship, for some reason. Maybe he just hadn't met the right girl yet.
A couple of minutes in, I asked Brian where the bathroom was. After he pointed it out, I thanked him and excused myself for a moment. Once in the bathroom, I bolted the door and sighed. It was almost 104 degrees, and my black long-sleeved blouse was killing me with heat. I took it off for a moment and doused the back of my neck and wrists with cold water. Looking in the mirror, I was once again horrified to see the bluish marks on my arms and sides.
When Aiden and I started dating, it was like a dream. He was a prince charming, and he made me feel like his princess. That's why it bothered me so much that the people around me didn't accept him. My parents, my brother, my friends... even Brian didn't like him. What's more, Brian was the one who couldn't stand Aiden the most. At first I thought they were paranoid. Until I proved them right myself.
One day we argued, I said something he didn't like and he slapped me. He told me he got a little crazy. Another day he slammed me against a bookshelf for wearing a skirt that was too short. He told me he was really sorry. Another time, he shook me because I had supposedly "acted like a slut when talking to a group of guys in a club." He apologized again, and did so every time he hit me, but I no longer believed him.
