Avoiding A Guy For All The Wrong Reasons Who: Mac and Brayden Where: Regan High Library When: Tuesday Afternoon - May 4 Status: Complete
For the first time in ages, Brayden Bale found himself completely befuddled by a woman. Not some woman that he had screwed, or had been TRYING to screw... no. This time? He was confused by a woman that he'd TURNED DOWN. Yeah, go figure.
He walked through the halls of Reagan High, reflecting on the last time he'd spoken to her. It had been the night of the prom. They'd danced a few times, had fun... and then? The girl made the mistake of drinking some of the spiked punch. Before either of them knew it, the poor girl was asking Brayden if he wanted to have sex with her, more or less acting like she owed it to him for taking her to the dance. While part of Bray WANTED to (hey, chick was hot), he cared too much about her to do it. Instead, he'd simply kissed her sweetly on the forehead, and driven her home. So why, if he'd done the gentlemanly thing, was the girl now clearly avoiding him?
Finally, he walked into the library, grumbling as he dropped a few books into the return slot, wondering what the hell it took to do the right thing anymore...
As she had been doing for days after her moment of embarrassment at the prom, Mac walked her way to the school library to have lunch rather then the cafeteria where she was sure to run into Brayden. She had thus far been successful in avoiding the guy and not accepting the few calls he tried making to her. It was Mac's thought that the longer she routinely avoided the Bale boy, the less attempts Brayden would make in trying to contact her. It would hopefully lead to him giving up completely.
So imagine the surprise on BOTH of their faces when he saw her walking in. Well... what a freakin' coincidence. Clenching his jaw, he walked over to her, crossing his arms over his chest. "Ok... so I have to ask: how is it that the ONE time in my life I try to be a gentleman, I get treated like a pariah for it? I mean, would you be less pissed if I *had* taken advantage of you? Or did I insult you by not doing anything? You gotta throw me a bone here, sweetheart..."
To say that Mac was surprised to find herself standing frozen in time, and face to face with Brayden Bale, and in the library of all places, would have been a great understatement. "I... " Mac tried to explain, but the words just wouldn't come. Instead they got locked in her throat which left the teen standing there pretty much like an idiot just staring at Brayden. It really wasn't what he was thinking it was. She really wasn't upset or insulted with him for being the gentleman he tended to be around her. It was all about Mac and her pretty much trying to throw herself at the one person among her peers that was actually a friend. It was something she would have never done sober, but she hadn't exactly been in a sober state when she suggested, or rather offered herself to Brayden. That realization all came crashing down around her when she woke the morning after the prom filling the poor girl with waves of embarrassment.
"Look, Mac... don't think I don't find you attractive. Because I *do*." He said, honestly taking her avoiding him the ENTIRELY wrong way. "Hell, I think you're one of the cutest girls I know. But you're also one of the few GOOD friends I have. And I ain't about to ruin that by just... making you another notch on my bedpost. You deserve better than that. Better than ME, in a way. When you finally share yourself with someone, it should mean something. Not... just be some dalliance with a man-whore like me."
"A good... " Mac sighed heavily letting her eyes finally be pulled away from looking directly at the guy, " a good friend who made a complete idiot of herself. I thought after that night and the way I acted you'd never want to be seen with me again. I... I was just trying to make it all easier for you." Mac had been under the impression that Brayden had let her down easy after her proposition to save her from further embarrassment.
"Easier for me? Mac... I never wanted sex from you. Not as payment for taking you, or anything like that." Well... time for honesty, hm? "I admit: when we first met, I flirted with you with the intent of bedding you. But once I got to know you... you're a GREAT girl, Mac. And I'd never do anything to hurt you, or make you feel like less than the amazing kid you are. So stop avoiding me, ok? I still adore you, ya damn goofball."
"You.... you don't hate me for letting letting alcohol speak for me?" Mac looked up to Bray with questioning eyes after he finished saying what he wanted to say. She hadn't realized it at the time, but it all came together the morning after that Mac had let herself be influenced by the alcohol she had unwittingly consumed at the dance.
"Hate you?" He asked incredulously, blinking at her. "Because some idiot spiked the punch and you didn't realize it? And then you made an assumption about me that, frankly, you had every right to make? Hell no. Like I said... you're just too good for what you went for. No way am I going to ruin you like I've ruined so many other girls." He almost smirked, knowing he enjoyed every moment of those ruinings.
Her lower lip quivered slightly when Mac smiled weakly up at the guy. "Guess all this steering clear of you was for nothing, huh." Mac had thought she'd been doing the right thing when all along it had been the wrong option for her to take in regards to Brayden. Most guys would probably have just taken advantage of her and then just cast her aside after getting what they wanted or done what Brayden did that night and then simply kept their distance. At least that was Mac's mindset on the whole situation.
"So... whaddaya say? We still friends?" The fact that Brayden cared this much about anyone's friendship was a bit shocking... usually, he could care less what ANYONE thought of him. "Because really... if you say no, you're gonna totally make me cry. And can you even PICTURE a hunky guy like me crying? Fuckin' tragic, man. Seriously."
"Let go of the only true friend I have here? Are you kidding." Mac laughed weakly with a light brush of fingertips across the base of her eye to swipe away the couple tears that escaped. "You are an amazing man, Brayden Bale." And then without any thought put behind it Mac leaned up to softly kiss Brayden on the lips. "And don't let anyone go telling you different." The dark haired teen catching his eyes once more as she gave him the softest of smiles.
Well shit. As much as he joked about it, he almost DID tear up a little there. That was easily the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to him. "You know, you're gonna be the death of my reputation, kiddo. I'm gonna have to work extra hard at being an asshole just to not go totally soft eventually..." Well, plus, he had to make a joke to not think about that kiss, because, while a gesture of appreciation? Kinda hot.
"I think your rep is still fully intact." Mac told him with a lingering smile. "I think the majority of the student body still thinks you taking me to the dance was a charity case or something."
"Charity case..." he snorted, rolling his eyes. "Please. You were one of the hottest things THERE, girl. And you know I ain't the type to say shit just to say it. You, Blake, and Van Warren were the hottest chicks THERE. You got NO idea how hard it was NOT to take you up on your... 'offer'."
"I glad you didn't." If he had taken advantage of the situation while Mac wasn't in complete control of her facilities that night her embarrassment afterward would have been a hundred times worse, not only that, but the teen might have suffered from a slight case of humiliation as well.
"Like I said. One day... some guy is gonna DESERVE to be your first. And you're gonna make him a lucky, lucky guy. And damn... even I'M not a big enough prick to ruin that for you." He leaned in toward her, kissing her forehead sweetly again.
"And someday you'll find that special someone." As bad of a rep as Bray had now, Mac knew there was someone out there that would get through the defenses Brayden had built up around himself. Someone that would be deserving of him and vice versa.
"You know? I think I already know who she is. Funny part? It's like the tables are turned. She thinks I'm hot... but her heart totally belongs to someone else. Lucky bastard." He snickered and rolled his eyes, trying not to let on to how badly it really bothered him. He didn't WANT to be smitten with someone, dammit!
"Half the female student body thinks you're made of total hotness, Brayden Bale." Mac smirked as she relayed those words to him even though she knew he probably had hit on that realization long ago. "Then she's not the one, Brayden." If she were Mac knew that the girl's heart wouldn't already belong to someone else.
"I just don't GET it, Mac." He wasn't the type to admit to any kind of doubt, or to admit something was bothering him. So why he was doing it now? Was beyond him. "Meredith is the hottest woman I know. Shes JUST like me, and we get on like a house of fire. But she's totally in love with this scrawny, pale little wuss named Ash. Apparently she has been for a couple years."
"Well, then until she gets over him you're just going to have to accept things as they are, Bray." Mac told him not making the connection between the Ash he just mentioned and the Ash who was one of the few friends she had. Wasn't like the name was all that uncommon, Mac knew of two boys who attended Regan High that went by the name Ash. And really, Mac didn't think of her Ash as being a scrawny, pale little wuss. Bray's description of the guy Meredith was totally into didn't fit the Ash she knew in any way.
"Hey, I'm not the type who's gonna sit here and wallow over ANY woman. She decides I'm the one she wants? She knows where to find me. She wants to pine after someone who's never gonna love her as much as she loves him? That's her call." One thing about Brayden: he'd never let those defenses down. Not without a MAJOR fight. "Although how that kid got her wrapped around his finger AND managed to land Lucy Van Warren is so far beyond me that I can't even process it."
"The loss is hers then... " The smile faded from her face as it was in that instant Mac realized just who Brayden was talking about. "Maybe they see something in Ash Kowalski that most people overlook." Ash was a good friend, one of the very few she had, and Mac wasn't liking the negative views Brayden had about the guy. Brayden Bale, though possibly her best friend now, wasn't lacking in his faults.
"So... Now that that's all cleared up, at the risk of fucking things up again, I still wanted to talk to you about... what we'd STARTED discussing at the dance." He arched a brow, leaning in further to whisper. "You know what I'm talking about, right?"
Mac nodded lightly in response to that. "I think we both have something to talk to each other about." If Brayden was going to be sharing things concerning his life with her, then Mac could only do the same. It might be difficult for her to broach the subject, but she was going to try and tell him about the past three years of her life.
"When's good for you?" He asked, just wanting to get this part over with, ASAP. "Gimme a time and place, and I'm there. Just... make sure you show up with an open mind and a strong stomach."
"What about now?" Mac suggested with a slight hesitation more nervous about revealing things to Brayden then learning whatever it was he was wanting to tell her. "We could go to the beach or something." Anywhere away from school grounds where her little secret wouldn't be overheard by any of the student body. Sure it would mean her missing a few classes. Something that Mac had never done prior or post to her abduction, but the teen was willing to endure the consequences of her actions to kept her secret from being learned of by the wrong people.
"Whoa... You offering to play hooky here kiddo?" He asked with a playfully shocked expression. "Maybe I'm rubbin' off on you more than I thought..." Of course, part of him knew that for her to offer that, this had to be major. But damn if Brayden wasn't a master of making light of shit that worried him. "Wanna just take my car? Got my 'Vette parked out back..."
"Unless you'd prefer to walk the distance to the beach." Which Mac knew Brayden would have none of, especially with the guy owning a Corvette. It was a flashy car, one that was bought to show off. Not a vehicle that was purchased just to sit in locked up in a garage.
"...you've never been in a Vette, have you?" He asked with some amusement. "C'mon... Let's get outta here, babe. Let's go talk." Giving that typically shitty grin, he started to lead her out towards the parking lot...