The Secret

Chapter 22: old rich people

Jules

~~~~~~~~

"Why was he saying all that?" Norah asks as we gather all the drinks in the living room.

"He was drunk." I say.

"Drunk words are sober thoughts." She says as she throws an empty beer bottle into the trash bag.

"He's dealing with stuff, Norah. He's just got a lot on his mind." I tell her.

She looks at me and sighs, "I know we already talked about this but are you sure there's nothing going on between the two of you?" She asks.

I stare at her before shaking my head.

"Nothing is going on. He was just caught in the past." I lie.

She nods before she continues to throw the trash away. I do the same as I feel guilt creeping through me, it was killing me not telling her the truth. But I knew if I did, it would ruin everything.

We hear footsteps and I look up to see the guys walking downstairs.

"Is he asleep?" Norah asks.

"Yeah." Jake says.

Norah sighs in relief.

I look at Garrett who was staring at the ground, Brennen some fucked up shit to him about his temper. I felt terrible. He didn't deserve it, he was a good guy. He just cared about his girlfriend.

"He didn't mean it, Garrett." I blurt out.

He looks at me and stares.

"He wasn't thinking straight. You're not a bad boyfriend or person in general." I tell him.

He gives me a half smile.

"Okay, so the kitchen is now free of vomit." I hear Taylor's voice.

I turn around and watch her and Lily walk into the room.

"Hooray!" Chris cheers.

We all let out small laughs before it goes quiet. No one knew what to say or do, we were all confused. No one's seen Brennen like that before, so angry and upset all at the same time.

Me and Norah grab the trash bags full of empty bottles and cans and take the bags out to the trash bins.

"I told him that our parents wanted me to go home." She says as I open the trash bin lid.

"How'd he take it?" I ask as I throw a trash bag into the bin.

"He was upset but he knew it was the right choice." She tells me.

I smile, "That's good." I say.

She nods.

"When do you leave?" I ask.

"Not for another month and half. Tickets were tough to find since summer is almost here, everyone is booking tickets home." She explains.

"That's a pretty good amount of time though, I don't want you to leave yet." I say.

She smiles.

"I know." She says.

We walk back inside and I see everyone sitting in the living room staring at the tv. None of us were fully sober. But we weren't exactly in the best mood anymore.

I fall down on the bean bag and sigh. I watched the movie that was playing, Legally Blonde. Chris definitely chose this.

I look around the room and see everyone watching in silence. Why did Brennen think no one loved him? He had all these people right here, who would do anything for him. They wanted to celebrate him walking again, they wanted to celebrate for fun just because he couldn't go anywhere when he was hurt. These people weren't just friends, they were family. Even Taylor, she was pissed at him for kissing her but she was still worried when he was saying all those drunk words. Because she cared. Garrett has a temper but he didn't lay a hand on him even after all the things he said to him.