“I gotta get Brenna to get some groceries,” Justin said the next morning as he stared in the fridge. “There’s barely anything left in here.”

Trace looked up from a textbook. “Do you think she’ll actually get groceries from you? I never did.”

“That’s cause you’re a bitch. Brenna will get me groceries if I ask.”

“Is she even here? I never heard her come in last night.”

“She got in after you were asleep. I’m surprised you didn’t hear her. She was so drunk.”

Trace began to laugh. “Brenna drunk? Now there’s something I can’t see.”

“Man, it was hilarious. I never thought I’d see her drunk. She almost fell down the stairs trying to get upstairs.”

“That’s awesome.” Trace looked back down at his textbook. “Shit. I forgot how much I hate studying.”

Justin went over and picked up the textbook, looking at it. After a minute he shook his head and gave the book back to Trace. “Way too complicated. How is any of that ever gonna help you in real life?”

“That’s what I said and my teacher gave me this nasty look and told me to shut up.”

“Already making enemies with your teachers?”

“My math one’s just stupid.”

“Damn, I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with any of that. One day I was with Mike and he was doing Calculus or shit and it was like another language. I can’t imagine doing all that.”

“Luckily I don’t’ need anything like that for my program. That would suck.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Justin looked at the doorway as he heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs. A moment later Brenna appeared in the entranceway. He smiled at the sight of her. Her hair was tangled and sticking out in various directions and her clothes were wrinkled from sleeping in them. The funniest thing was her eye makeup that Kate had carefully applied the night before that was not smudged all around her eyes, giving her a raccoon look. She had some pillow indents on her face and was squinting her eyes as she came into the room slowly.

Trace whistled. “Looking good, Brenna!”

She frowned and rubbed her eyes, messing up her make up even further. “Thanks, Trace,” she said quietly.

Justin laughed and filled up a glass of water. He handed it to her and then shook out a few aspirin from a pill container and placed them in her hand. “How’re you feeling?”

She shook her head and took the pills, wincing as she swallowed. “Not good.” She set down the glass on the counter and went over to sit at the table. She laid her head in her arms at the table and closed her eyes. Justin stared at her.

She looked so different than she had looked a few weeks prior when they had been in Shelby Forest. She never used to wear a stitch of makeup or bother to spend too much time on her hair. He knew a lot of it was Kate’s doing but it was still weird to get used to.

Brenna opened her eyes and he looked away. She sighed and then moaned a little.

“Do you want something to eat?” he asked. “If you eat a piece of toast or something you’ll feel a lot better.”

“I don’t want to eat anything.” She shut her eyes. “I just wanna die.”

He couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “You’ll feel better in a few hours. Eat something, drink some coffee, and shower and you’ll be okay.”

“Easy for you to saw,” she mumbled, closing her eyes again. “Please tell me we don’t have to go anywhere today.”

“Lucky for you we don’t. I’m going golfing with a friend in an hour.”

She moaned again. He went over to stand behind her and gently pulled her tangled hair away from her face.

“Go shower, make yourself less racoony, and eat something. You won’t feel any better until you do.”

She groaned and lifted her head. With a wince, she stood up and he followed her out of the kitchen. She paused at the foot of the stairs and stared up at them.

“Did I fall down the stairs or something last night?”

He laughed. “Just about, Bren. Now go shower.”

It was three weeks later when Justin got to his house at three in the afternoon after being at the studio all morning. He was recording a duet with Alicia Keys and after recording the day before and that morning, it was finished.

He got out of his car and strolled to the front door. He had nothing to do for the rest of the day and was planning on relaxing.

He passed Drew’s car on the way to the door and figured Brenna must be there if Drew was. He had watched Brenna and Drew grow close over the past few weeks and Brenna seemed generally happy. He liked Drew but deep inside he had mixed feelings about Brenna and Drew’s relationship. When he had been in Shelby Forest, it had just been him and Brenna and they had been together constantly. Almost as soon as they had gotten to LA he had been able to spend less and less time with her. He hadn’t spent any time alone with her for almost a week and he missed just hanging out with her. He was hoping that night they’d be able to do something.

The house was silent as he went in and he walked toward the kitchen to get something to eat. He stopped in the doorway when he saw Drew and Brenna. Drew was leaning back against the counter and Brenna was hugging him, her head on his chest. Drew’s one hand was resting low on her back, practically on her ass. Neither noticed his presence and he backed out of the doorway silently, not wanting to disturb their private moment.

Instead of getting something to eat, he went upstairs to his computer room. He spent the next half hour on the computer before the phone rang. It was his mom on the phone and he talked to her for a while before going downstairs to get Brenna so she could talk to her too.

Drew and Brenna were no longer in the kitchen but through the French doors, he saw them out by the pool. Going over, he opened the door and stepped onto the porch.

“Brenna!” he called and she turned towards him.

“Yeah?”

“My mom’s on the phone. Do you wanna talk?”

She smiled and pulled herself out of the pool, saying something to Drew as she grabbed a towel, before starting towards the house. Justin held open the door for her and then followed her inside.

“Hey, before you get on the phone, what are you doing tonight?”

Brenna rubbed the towel down her arms to dry her skin. “Tonight? Nothing.”

“Nothing with Drew?”

“No, he’s going to his sister’s house for dinner.”

“Wanna do something?”

“Sure. Like what?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just hang out. Trace is going to some study group or something.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“Alright. I’m gonna go for a run. I’ll be back in like an hour.”

She picked up the cordless phone in the kitchen. “Alright.”

He left the kitchen as she began to talk to his mother and he went upstairs to change. He left the house happy, looking forward to spending the night with Brenna.

“Okay, beat those eggs,” Brenna instructed that night as she disappeared into the pantry.

Justin nodded and picked up a fork from the counter and began to beat the eggs. “Where do I put these?”

She came out of the pantry with a bottle of vanilla. “Put it in the mixing bowl and then turn it on.”

He followed her instructions and watched the eggs mix with the other ingredients. After they had eaten dinner, he had wanted something sweet and Brenna had suggested they make brownies. He wasn’t big on baking but she had convinced him it would be fun and he had given in.

“Where’s the flour?” Brenna asked as she measured out the vanilla and poured it into the mixing bowl.

“I’ll grab it,” he said. He moved past her and into the pantry. The bag of flour was on the floor and he opened it up to see how much was in it. Seeing that the bag was mostly full, he hoisted it up and came out of the pantry. Brenna was standing at the counter.

“Here you go.”

“Don’t drop the-”

Her words came too late as he dropped the bag on the counter and a cloud of flour came out of the top and into her face.

“Shit. Sorry,” he apologized, pulling the bag away.

She coughed and reached up her hands to rub the flour off her face. “Thanks, Justin.”

He tried to suppress his smile but couldn’t at the sight of her covered in flour and a broad smile spread across his face.

“Shut up,” she mumbled. He watched her nose crinkle up and then she sneezed. “You got flour up my nose!”

He started to laugh. “Sorry,” he got out when she glared at him. “You look so damn funny!” He pulled the bag of flour closer to him as she eyed it. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Oh, like you don’t deserve it,” she replied.

“Hey, I did it by accident. It would just be mean if you did it on purpose.”

She mumbled something under her breath and ran her hands through her hair. “I’ll be right back.”

He watched her leave and then chuckled again. He was having a lot of fun with her. It felt like they were back in Shelby Forest when they would just hang out for hours, neither worrying about what they had to do. He had forgotten how much he missed it.

Brenna reappeared a few minutes later, her face now clean of flour although her hair still seemed to have a bit in it.

“You owe me,” she said, pulling over the bag of flour and dipping a measuring cup in it.

“I always owe you,” he replied.

She rolled her eyes and dumped the flour into the bowl. They spent the next ten minutes finishing the brownies. Once they were in the oven and the kitchen was clean, they went into the entertainment room and found a movie to watch. After ten minutes, he could smell the scent of the brownies and his mouth started to water. By time the buzzer went off, his stomach was rumbling. He jumped up.

“I’ll take them out.”

“They have to cool!” Brenna called after him as he left the room. He went to the kitchen and pulled out oven mitts. He pulled the pan of brownies from the oven and then grabbed two forks and carried it all to the entertainment room. Brenna gave him a questioning look. He set the pan on top of the oven mitt on the table and put the forks beside it.

“I’m pigging out tonight,” he said, sitting back down on the couch.

“We’re just gonna eat from the pan?”

He shrugged. “Why not? Live a little, Bren.”

“Yeah, eating brownies right from the pan is living.”

He smiled and turned back to the TV. After a few minutes he decided the brownies had to have cooled off enough and he transferred the pan from the coffee table to the small space of cushion in between them. He handed her one of the forks.

“Here.”

“Thanks.”

He sank down into the couch and ate form one side of the pan while Brenna ate from the other. Once neither could eat anymore, he put the pan on the table and then stretched out his legs and propped them up on the table. Brenna eventually laid down on her side, taking up her cushion and the middle cushion.

He had forgotten how much fun it was to watch movies with Brenna. She liked to make sarcastic comments throughout the movie and it made it funny and interesting. He had missed being alone with her. He had known once they got to LA they wouldn’t always be able to hang out and do nothing all day but that didn’t make it any easier to get used to.

“Lynn said she was coming out here next week.”

He looked over at Brenna. “Yeah. She told me that today.”

She looked at the TV and then back at him. “She’ll stay here, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m so glad she’s coming. It feels like I haven’t seen her in forever.”

“Yeah, it’s been over a month.”

“Yep.” She turned back to the movie and he felt her feet bush up against the side of his thigh. “You’re taking up all the couch.”

He laughed. “I’m taking up all the couch?” He poked at her feet. “You’ve got me all pushed into the corner.”

She raised her head to look over at him. “You have lots of room. Don’t be such a drama queen.”

“You’re starting to sound like Kate with all the insults.”

Brenna smiled and laid her head down. “I’m thinking she’s onto something.”

He scoffed. “You should be glad I’m too polite to respond to your childish comments.”

When all he got as a response was a snort, he smiled and looked down at her feet. Before she could react, he pulled off her socks.

“Hey!” she said, lifting her head. “Give me my socks back.”

“Nope.”

She lunged across the couch at him but he jumped up before she could reach him. She growled out something and got up, advancing towards him. He laughed and took off running through the house, Brenna chasing after him.

He ran upstairs to the darkened floors and through the hallway, turning a corner and stopping short. A second later, he heard the sounds of Brenna coming up the stairs and then down the hall. He grinned as he heard her mumbling something under her breath and he waited around the corner quietly. He could hear the sounds of breathing as she neared him and he waited until just the right moment before jumping out from behind the corner.

“Boo!”

Brenna screamed and raised her hands to cover her face. He began to laugh.

“You jerk!” she yelled at him, hitting him in the arm. He couldn’t respond for a minute because he was laughing too hard.

“Your face was awesome!” he finally managed to gasp out.

Her hands found her hips and she glared at him. “Give me my socks!” she demanded.

Still laughing, he handed them to her and she turned on her heel and stomped downstairs. She didn’t seem really mad, but he figured he should go make sure so he composed himself and went downstairs. The light was on in the kitchen and he heard her moving around in there so he headed in that direction. He stopped cold when he turned the corner and got a face full of flour. Sputtering, he took a step back and shook his head. He raised his hands to his face and wiped it. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted with the sight of Brenna standing there, a satisfied smile on her face.

“Now we’re even.”