Brenna brought her hand up to cover her mouth as she let out a yawn. She blinked her eyes a few times and crossed her arms over her chest.

“What time does his flight get in?”

“Eight seventeen,” Justin replied, lifting the sunglasses off his eyes for a brief moment as he scanned his eyes around him.

She yawned again. “It’s so early. Why didn’t Trace get a later flight?”

“There weren’t any later flights for today.” He looked over at her. “I thought you’d be more excited to see him than you are.”

She shrugged. “Me and Trace were never that close. We were just both friends with you. It’ll be nice to see him against but it’s so early. And it’s my day off.”

He waved her off. “You’ll be fine. At least you got to sleep on the way here.”

“Not that it helped. Who is this other person who’s coming?”

“Kate Willows. She’s my stylist. She and Trace are really good friends. You’re gonna like her. She’s a lot like you.”

“How long are they staying again?”

“A week. We fly out to LA the same day as them but our flight’s at like eleven at night or something. Theirs is at noon I think.”

“Okay.”

Justin began to move forward and Brenna followed, seeing Trace coming towards them. She stepped to the side as Justin grabbed Trace’s hand and pulled him into a hug. Justin had been so excited to see his best friend again so she didn’t interrupt.

When Justin pulled back, he immediately went to hug the tall girl that had been standing beside Trace.

“So I hear I’m gonna be showing you how to be J’s PA,” Trace said, pulling Brenna’s attention to him.

Brenna gave him a smile. “That’s what I hear.”

“How’ve you been?”

“Good. You?”

He smiled. “Great.”

Justin pulled away form the girl but kept one arm around her shoulders. “Yeah, Bren, you’re gonna be around Trace a lot so you better get used to his smelly ass.”

Trace laughed and punched Justin in the arm. “Shut the hell up, man.”

Justin smiled and then turned to Brenna. “Bren, this is Kate. Kate, this is Brenna.”

Kate smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

Brenna returned the smile. “You too.”

As Justin began talking, she discretely examined Trace and Kate. Trace looked exactly the same as she had seen him at any point during the past ten years. He still looked like he had just rolled out of bed. Kate, though, she was beautiful. She was tall and elegant looking, even in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun and her face glowed, although Brenna was pretty sure that was partly from the magic of makeup. There was no denying this girl was beautiful though. From what Brenna knew though, everyone in LA was.

After getting Trace and Kate’s bags, the four left the airport and went to Lynn’s car that Justin had driven to the airport. Brenna got into the backseat so Trace could sit up front with Justin. Kate climbed in beside her.

Justin and Trace were both talking as they left the airport, each talking over the other one and neither seeming to be affected by it.

“They’re like a couple of psychotic cocker spaniels, huh?” Kate said, leaning over to Brenna.

Brenna smiled. “Yeah, no kidding.”

Kate leaned back in the seat. “I swear they’re like this every time they’ve been apart for any kind of period of time. And they’ll go like this for five minutes and then boom, they’re done. Then we’ll get a chance.”

Brenna laughed.

“So have you lived out here your whole life?”

“Yeah.”

“So moving to LA is gonna be a major change then. Are you excited?”

“Yeah, I am. I need a change.”

“You’ll love it out there. Life is never dull.”

“Have you lived there your whole life?”

“I moved out there when I was eighteen with some friends.”

“How long have you been Justin’s stylist?”

“Two years.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, I know. Sounds long but time goes by quick.”

“Yeah.”

As Kate predicted, a few minutes later Justin and Trace quit talking and let Brenna and Kate get a word in. They stopped at McDonalds to get some breakfast and then continued to Shelby Forest. Once in town, they stopped off at Trace’s house for a while so he could see his family. Brenna stayed mostly quiet, taking it all in. Trace and Kate brought a little of LA life with them and she tried to absorb it all. Maybe if she did than it wouldn’t be as much of a shock to her when she actually moved there.

* * *

Three days later, Brenna sat down at the picnic table by the pond. She was supposed to meet Justin there at eleven but she was early and she knew he was going to be late, so she had a good fifteen minutes by herself.

She had spent the past few days with Justin, Trace, and Kate. Justin had been right when he had told her that she would like Kate. She had found herself talking to Kate more than anyone else. Kate was really down to earth and funny and she had also grown up in a small town. She had promised to show Brenna all around LA once she got there and Brenna was grateful that she would have a friend there besides Justin.

She had four days before she and Justin were leaving Shelby Forest and that reality was starting to sink in. She couldn’t deny that she was a little scared to be going to a place she had never been before and be away from her mom. Even though Justin would be there, she was still nervous.

She was planning on spending the next few days packing and working. Her last shift at the bakery was in two days and she knew that was going to be hard because she had worked there for so long. John and Catherine had both been sad when she had told them she was leaving, but each had been excited that she was getting to move to La and had made her promise to write.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Brenna looked up, expecting to see Justin. She was instead greeted with the sigh of Jake coming towards her. She got up, prepared to leave but he caught up with her and grabbed both her wrists. She winced at the tightness of his fingers around her skin and tried to yank free.

“Don’t, Jake.”

His fingers tightened more. “Stop pulling. I want to talk to you.”

She tried to pull her hands away again and a sharp pain went up both arms. “Let go.”

“No.” By her wrists, he pulled her back to the picnic table and she reluctantly sat on the bench. He sat down beside her.

Even though she had stopped trying to free her arms, he still didn’t let go or even loosen his grip. She hadn’t really expected him to, simply because this was Jake and he really seemed to have no conscience.

“So I hear you’re moving to LA or something.”

She stared over his shoulder, refusing to look in his eyes. “That doesn’t concern you.”

“Yeah, it does. How can you just leave like this? Do you really think life will be good there? Yeah, you’ll be with Justin, your little best friend, but don’t think that he won’t drop you in a second. He’s a huge celebrity, Brenna. And what are you? You’re a nobody.” He squeezed her wrists and she winced again. “Are you that much in a fantasy world that you think that won’t happen?”

“You don’t know anything about anything. You don’t know Justin or me.”

“Oh, I know you. We’ve known each other our whole lives. I know all about you. And I know you’re all about a little happily ever after ending. Guess what, those don’t exist.”

“Not here they don’t. Not when you’re around.”

“Now why do you have to say things like that, Bren? I’m not that bad of a person.” He let go of her wrists as if that would somehow prove his point. She jerked her hands away and rubbed her wrists. They felt like they were on fire. Now that his hands were free, he curled one hand around her leg so it rested on her inner thigh just above her knee. “Don’t you remember how things were with us? They were good.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. She wanted to run away and get away form him. She knew he could easily catch her though if he wanted. She didn’t reply and sat tense, silently praying he would leave.

“Come on, Bren. You remember how good things were.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. For the first time in a while, she couldn’t see any meanness in his eyes. He looked like he had when she had first developed a crush on him in grade eleven. But he was still Jake. Anything he said could be a lie. He lied all the time.

“Things weren’t good.”

“Yes they were.” He rubbed his thumb on her jean covered leg and she felt tears well up in her eyes. She just wanted so desperately for him to go away. She couldn’t take him doing this to her. “We were so perfect together. Everyone thought so. You can’t just leave and throw all that we have away.”

“We don’t have anything.”

“Don’t say that.” He moved a little closer to her and brought up his free hand to stroke her cheek. “I know you were upset when I broke up with you but we can try again. I know that’s what you want to do.”

A tear fell down her cheek and she shook her head.

“It’s what you want to do,” he repeated. He leaned his head down to hers. “You remember what it was like, Bren.”

She didn’t move or respond when he kissed her, instead just prayed it would be over soon. Her prayers were answered when he pulled away and glared at something over her shoulder. He pulled away completely and stood up.

“I’ll see you around. Think about what I said.”

Through wet eyes she watched him walk away. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when someone set their hand on her shoulder.

“What was that all about?”

She jerked her head around to see Justin standing behind her, a confused look on his face as he watched Jake’s retreating figure.

“I thought you hated him and then I come up and see you guys kissing?” he looked down at her and his expression changed. “Hey, why are you crying?”

She turned her head back around and he came in front of her and sat down, straddling the picnic table seat.

“Why are you crying? Did he do something?”

She shook her head silently, not wanting to answer.

He picked up her hands and his eyebrows lowered. “What happened to your wrists?”

She looked down and saw that her wrists were still red from where Jake had been holding them and faint bruises were beginning to become visible. Tears began to fall faster.

“Did he do this to you, Bren?” Justin demanded. “Those weren’t there yesterday. Did Jake do that?”

She pressed her lips together and nodded.

“That piece of shit,” Justin mumbled. “Has he done that before?”

Bowing her head, she nodded again.

“How many times?”

“I don’t know,” she said softly.

“When I first got here and you had those bruises on your arm. Was that him too?”

Another nod.

“Shit, Bren. Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

She shrugged and stared at her knees.

“What did he say to you before I got here? Why were you kissing him?”

She pulled one hand away form him and wiped her cheeks. “I wasn’t. He was kissing me.” She took a shaky breath. “He knows I’m leaving and he started acting all nice all of a sudden and said how things between us were so good when we were dating.” More tears fell. “And they weren’t. He was always mean.” She dropped her head into her hands. “I hate him so much.”

Justin’s arms went around her and she let him pull her towards him in a hug. “The guy’s an asshole, Bren. Don’t think about anything he said. People like that are so messed up in their own lives that they just want to mess up other people’s lives.”

“I still hate him.”

“I don’t blame you. But just think. In a few days you’ll be gone and you won’t have to deal with Jake Murphy ever again.”

She pulled her head back and wiped her face. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Are you gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. I just need to stop thinking about it.”

“I bet a swim in the pond’ll make you forget it.”

She began to smile a bit. “You think?”

“Have your bathing suit on?”

“Yeah. You said to wear one.”

“Cool.” He stood up and then pulled her up. “Let’s go frolicking in the water.”

A small laugh escaped her. “Let’s.”

* * *

“So when are you gonna start teaching Brenna the PA thing?” Justin asked as he and Trace left his house and started walking to the General Store.

“I thought I’d wait till we were in LA so she can actually see how it works.”

“That’ll work. Cause I won’t be going right back to doing stuff. I’m not completely healthy yet.”

“I guess that’ll teach you not to fool around with chicks you meet in clubs.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“So you think having Brenna as your PA will work out?”

“Yeah, it will. I think she’s really gonna like it. She needs to get out of this place.”

“She hates it that much?”

“Yeah. You remember Jake Murphy?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

“He treats her like shit.”

“How?”

“He’s like abusive to her. Just an asshole.”

“I never really knew him.”

“Me neither.”

“So once we get back to LA, are you gonna be good for going out? Cause I wanna get as much partying in before I’m stuck at school all the time.”

“I think I’ll be okay for it. We’ll find out. Hey, so what’s going on with you and Kate? You two seem different from when I left.”

Trace laughed. “She’s been a damn flirt. Who knows. Nothing’s going on though. She has her eye on this friend of a friend. Some dancer guy.”

“Man, last night when we were all watching that movie she was like sitting on you. Half expected you guys to start going at it.”

“I wish man. Nah, she’s all about being friends. Having a go with her would be something though. She’s got great legs.”

“I know. Everything about her body’s great. Can’t take that away from her.”

“Yeah. Why have you never tried anything with her?”

Justin shrugged. “Not really my type, I guess.”

“Gorgeous isn’t your type?”

“You know what I mean. I’m not gonna mess around with my stylist. That gets too complicated.”

“Yeah, maybe. But it would be fun while it lasted. Hey, you know what’s gonna happen once you get to LA and Brenna’s your PA, right?”

“What?”

“Everyone’s gonna think you’re dating.”

“Whatever. I’ll just tell everyone she’s my PA.”

“But you guys act like a couple.”

“No, we don’t.”

“You do, man! No one’s gonna believe that she’s your PA and you’re just friends.”

“Well…whatever. I don’t care what people think.”

“Will Brenna?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well you might wanna mention it to her cause she won’t be ready for her picture being taken all over the place…”

Trace continued to talk but Justin stopped paying attention as he saw a guy leaning against the side of the General Store, talking to another guy. His eyes narrowed a bit as he recognized the one guy.

“Hold up, Trace,” he said, interrupting his friend. “I just gotta take care of something.” He began walking towards the guys, Trace following behind him.

Jake Murphy didn’t really react when Justin came over. Jake started to push himself away form the wall but once Justin reached him, he found himself gripping Jake’s shirt and shoving him back against the wall.

“What the hell?!” Jake said, attempting to push him away. Justin held tight. “Get the hell off me!”

Instead of stepping back, Justin pushed him against the wall again. “Shut the hell up,” he hissed. “I saw the shit you did to Brenna and I know you’ve done it before.”

Jake’s facial expression didn’t change but he stilled. Neither Trace or the other guy attempted to step in.

“Look, man-” Jake started.

“Shut up,” Justin cut him off. “I don’t know what kind of sick pleasure you get from beating up on girls, but if you touch her ever again you can deal with me. She’s coming with me to LA so you can just find someone else to pick on. Leave her alone.”

“I ain’t never beat her up.”

“You left bruises all over her. I could convince her to press charges and you could find your ass in jail real fast.”

At those words, Jake’s face paled a bit and he said nothing.

“If I find out you touch her or even talk to her, I’m gonna first kick the shit out of you and then I’m gonna get her to press charges. You got that?”

Jake didn’t respond but his silence was enough for Justin. He abruptly left go of Jake’s shirt and stepped back.

“Come on Trace,” he muttered, walking away.

Trace fell into step beside him and they went into the General Store.

“He really beat up on her?” Trace asked quietly.

“Yeah. She was wearing long sleeves yesterday probably to hide it but she had bruises all around her wrists.”

“I was wondering why she had long sleeves on. Seemed kind of weird.”

“Yeah.”

“You think he’ll bother any anymore?”

“He better not. You don’t disrespect a girl like that. That’s just wrong, man.”

“I know, J. Where is Brenna today, anyways?”

“Working.” He checked his watch. “Actually, she’s probably off by now. I think she said something about packing.”

“Oh yeah. I think Kate mentioned helping her.”

“Wanna head over there after we buy this shit?”

“Sure.”

By time they left the store, Jake Murphy and his friend were no longer in sight, which Justin decided was a good thing. He still wanted to punch Jake in the face and the though was sounding better and better as time went on.