After carefully parking his corvette (hey, tons of sand around, ok? And sand is hell on paintjobs. And this car is his BABY) in one of the nearby spots, Brayden led Mac down to the shore, sitting down JUST close enough to the water that when tides rolled in, they wouldn't get wet. Patting the spot beside him, he flashed that million dollar smile up at her. "Have a seat, babe. Sounds like we BOTH got some serious shit to discuss."
He took his shoes and socks off, rolling the legs of his jeans up a little, so that he could scoot down a bit, and let the rolling water hit his feet.
Mac let her backpack drop to the sandy bed before she took a seat next to Brayden on the patch of beach the guy had chosen for them. "Yeah." The teen responded in a single word drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs as she looked out into the ocean. "You first?" Mac asked softly letting her gaze sweep to Brayden with the resting of her cheek against a knee. Maybe if she heard what he was wanting to reveal it would make the telling of her own secret a bit easier. Maybe.
"Me first? Ok. Fine." Where did he start? Well. She DID say she believed in the supernatural. So... Brayden started this with his typical lack of subtlety: "I'm a werewolf." He blurted out with a chuckle. "Not a movie-type, howl-at-the-moon, out-of-control werewolf though. My... whole family is, actually. But if you can believe that, here's the double-whammy that might still make you think I'm nuts: I'm from the future. Well, *a* future. Technically? Here, my parents are only a few years older than *I* am."
Mac blinked as she continued looking over at Brayden. The werewolf thing she could believe, both werewolves and vampires existed. She knew at least that much about the supernatural world. Time traveling back from the future? If Mac hadn't been hanging out with Brayden Bale all this time she might not be believing what came from his mouth, but the teen knew the guy well enough to know he wouldn't try bullshitting her with what was just said. "From how far off in the future?"
"Little over eighteen years. My mom's pregnant with, well, ME right now actually. Ever met the owner of Avarice? Benjamin Bale?" He asked with a cutely proud grin. "That's my dad."
"That must be really weird for you. I mean to be here now and knowing your mother while she's carrying you." Mac didn't know how she'd react to something like that. To actually stand in front of her mother while the parent was carrying you in their belly. "No," the teen smiled a bit sheepishly at her friend, "I've only been there like once, which was to see you. Didn't really pay attention to anyone else who might have been at the club." Mac could have seen his dad on that one occasion and not have even realized it.
"Hey... Its ok! Hangin' with me, you'll be there a lot more. I'ma turn you into a social friggin' butterfly and shit." He smirked, sweetly draping a comforting arm over her slim shoulders. "So. What's your big secret? Trust me, it aint gonna scare me away."
It was then that Mac inhaled deeply and releasing the breath slowly as she allowed herself to lean toward and against Brayden's masculine frame. While she was wanting to tell him, Mac at the same time was still hestitant in sharing her secret with the guy. Even though he was being reassuring that nothing she revealed would affect the friendship that had blossomed up between them, Mac still held a lingering fear that the revelation would change everything. Granted it was an unwarranted fear, but it still was a fear she couldn't seem to shake.
"My parents were killed three years ago and I was taken away from everyone and everything I knew." It was exactly her big secret, but it was a way for Mac to bridge the way to it. This might just be harder then she had thought as the teen could feel tears start to well within her eyes.
"Jesus. Babe, I'm so sorry..." As much of an ass as Brayden was, he couldn't imagine a world without his parents. "You got a place to stay? Like... people you trust? Because you can stay with me in my suite ANY time, seriously."
"Yes," she answered meekly, "I found my cousin after I.... after I escaped. God," Mac sighed swiping at her eyes to keep her tears from falling, "this is going to be harder then I thought it would be. My parents death wasn't an accident, it was intentional, and all because some people found out what I was."
"If you know who did it, tell me." He said with a snarl. God, no WONDER the poor thing was so shy. "I swear I'll have them killed if I have to do it myself." Sure, the Bales were a supenatural mafia of sorts, but for a friend? Brayden would GLADLY do the dirty work.
"I don't," and technically Mac didn't know who had been behind the actually accident that had taken the lives of her parents, but she did know who had been the responsible party behind the tragic accident, and that man had been taken care of. It had been because of what Mac did that had enabled the teen to escape from her from Wolfram and Hart. "There are only two other people other then my cousin who know this. Promise me you won't tell anyone." Mac looked up almost pleadingly to Brayden that he'd not share what she had just told him and what she was on the verge of telling him with anyone.
"Babe. Calm down, I'd never tell a soul. You're one of the few people outside of my parents that I actually give a shit about." He admitted, kind of liking that Mac knew he was a douche and liked him anyway. "So I'd never do anything to hurt you."
"You know you're about the best friend a person could have." Mac smiled weakly to Brayden. Sure he had his faults and Mac knew quite well about the reputation he had garnered for himself, but during the time she had known Brayden he had always been open and honest with her. "And now for what I've been wanting to tell you for a while now," and with that said Mac took another deep breath before she allowed herself to continue, "I'm what they call a dreamwalker." The teen then watched her friend's face for his reaction hoping that she wouldn't glimpse the look that she had been fearing it might flicker across his features.
"....holy shit, for real?" He asked, a little in awe. Not that Bray was some supernatural Rhodes Scholar, but his family had taught him about most of the more powerful things a person could be. And that? Was one of them. "Probably not the reaction you were expecting but... that's fucking AWESOME!"
"I don't feel like it's a freakin awesome thing to have been given." Mac admitted to the guy. Maybe if she had grown and learned to develope that gift on her own with the support of her parents Mac might view it all differently, but that hadn't been the case. The teen had been forced to develope her skill to the satisfaction of another.
"Mac... I'm seriously in awe. You realize the things you could do if you master that? You could make it so that you never hae a nightmare again. Hell, you could make your own dreams and the dreams of others so amazing that we'd all CLAMOR for sleep. There are dreamwalkers who are powerful enough to DO that." Far from being scared or put-off, Bray actually seemed impressed and even envious.
"And there are dreamwalkers who do just the opposite, Bray." Mac informed him. He might see dreamwalking as being some wonderful gift a person could have, but Mac knew all too well that her gift had a deadly side to it.
"So... I guess all I'm tryin to say is.. you're special, Mac. Don't ever look at what you have as a curse. Besides..." He smirked, trying to make her smile, "at least you don't turn all hairy and burst outta your clothes..."
"Guess I should consider myself lucky, then." Mac smiled lightly, though she was unsure if she actually believed her words. Brayden's attempt at trying to make her feel better were appreciated by the young dreamwalker.
"Dude. Screw that... Just BEING with me should make you feel lucky." He grinned, honestly somewhere between teasing her and just... being a cocky shit. "I mean come on. Its ME."
For the first time that day, in fact the first time in a long time, Mac grinned a grin big enough to brighten her whole face. "Being with you has to be the brightest spot in any girl's day." Mac found herself teasing Brayden in return. "Thank you for... thanks for not turning against me after hearing what I felt you needed to know."
"I'd never turn against you, babe." He smirked, snapping his gum and adding, in an attempt to seem like his usual self, "yer too damn hot to turn against. Ok, yer a helluva friend, too. You make me feel like a decent person, which I don't feel like often."
"You are a decent person, Brayden Bale." Mac told him in an almost chiding manner. "Stick with me... I'll help you turn things around." The teen dreamwalker grinned then repeating words that were quite similar to ones said to her not all that long ago.