It was a really chick-like thought, but all he could think was that there weren't many worse people he could run into. Not because he didn't want to see Bea or anything; as a matter of fact, there wasn't much that was further than the truth. But the simple fact was, he didn't want her seeing him like this. Chick-like and annoying as the thought was, though, he couldn't help it. Of all the people he could handle seeing him like this—which weren't many—the chick he kind of had feelings for, maybe, wasn't one of them.
But, in true Brandon fashion, he played it off. Pasted a tired smile on his face and shook his head when she started telling him that it was her fault. "Not letting me off the hook that easy," he told her, trying to fall into his confident, lady-killer character that he used to be, but falling more than a little bit short. "I wasn't really paying attention, either, so..." he chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the awkwardness he felt.
You look like hell, she told him. It was a simple enough statement, and Brandon knew it was true, but in spite of that, his attention wandered in the direction of the window nearest him. Yeah. Hell was a nice way of putting it. "That's fucking generous of you," he muttered under his breath with a little laugh. "It's been a rough week." A simple enough explanation, and the only one he could really think of right then. He didn't feel like going into the whole 'guilty feelings' debacle. Not now. Not ever, really, but he was sure, sooner or later, someone would catch on and make him say something.
Her question caught him off-guard a little, and he turned his attention to look at her. "Huh? Oh..." he shrugged. "Yeah, I have."
Yeah, he'd been here since Wednesday, but where else could he really be? Not only was Silas in a fucking coma, but a few rooms away, Leah was desperately clinging to someone else that Brandon was supposed to protect. And then there was the Nichols girl. One thing that day that Brandon had done right, but either way... she shouldn't have been there either.
"Shouldn't really be anywhere else right now," he said, showing uncharacteristic sadness.