Breanna Michelle Santana

"—Thanks for tonight. I'll see you tomorrow." I concluded my kiss with Grayson.

"You sure you wanna go in there, they might still be going at it?" Grayson laughed.

I reached for the handle while fake laughing at what he said. "I'm sure, good night." I kissed him one last time and tried getting out but he pulled me back and I expected nothing less though I'm sure he expected something more.

"I could come up and keep you company-"

"We had a deal, remember? I got it in writing. Good night, Grayson."

"No, 'love you'?"

I rolled my eyes and hopped out finally. "You wish."

After that, I slammed the door shut and waved to him before turning to walk up the stairs leading to the front door.

======

At around nine o'clock, my body naturally woke up. First, I yawned and rubbed my tired eyes open.

The smell of bacon drew me to the kitchen where my dad was laughing and carrying on with some woman in a silk dress that went to a little above her knee caps.

I didn't say anything. Only mean mugged them and yanked the refrigerator open to retrieve the bottle of Sunny D.

"Good morning, Brea. I didn't know you were here, I didn't hear you come in last night," my dad began to ramble nervously,"This is my friend, Angie."

"It's nice to meet you, Brea, your father's told me so much about you." She made sure to make eye contact and smile at me but I wasn't buying it.

With a straight face, I looked back and forth from them and let out a single "ha" before turning to attempt to walk back upstairs.

"Breanna, get back down here!" My father ordered me.

"Why, so you can lie to me some more?"

"What are you talking about, I never lied to you-"

"This is your 'friend'?" When my father nodded at my question, I replied loudly,"you've been seeing her for over a year!"

"How did you-- Grayson." My dad concluded how I found out that information. He sighed and then said to me,"I was going to tell you, I just had some things to figure out first."

"Well, did you figure them out, Chandler?" Asked Angie who covered her freckled, full chest with one of my dad's white button-ups.

"Yes," he let out,"Angie, I'm ready to take the next step if you are. Will you move in with me, finally?"

Wrinkles carved in my forehead as I looked at them with confusion. His proposal took me completely by surprise. How could he invite her to move in when I was living with him and had absolutely no idea who the Hell she was?!

"If she moves in, I'm moving out."

======

KNOCK! KNOCK! I impatiently waited for someone to answer the door.

"Brea, honey, hi... Um, what're you doing here so early?" My mother, named Maria, came to the door and once she did, I went straight inside and fell onto the floor, lying there stiffly.

"You said I could come over any time without calling, so, here I am."

She looked at the clock and then down at me. Trying to reason with me, she sat on the floor Indian style next to my body and told me,"Oh, honey, that's just something people say."

"I need a place to stay." I cut to the chase.

"What happened with your father?"

"He's hosting a fucking bed n' breakfast over there."

"Um-" Before she could spit out whatever it is that she was going to say, her husband called her name out loud from the bedroom. Not even a minute later, he appeared in the living room before my very eyes and dropped his towel, not knowing I was there.

"You've gotta be shitting me." I growled. My mother screamed and covered my eyes like I've never seen a penis before. I pushed her hand away from my face and shot up to storm out of the house while Steve made himself decent.

What's up with all these old people being so damn freaky, I thought in my head. Disgusting!

======

"Brea, don't you wanna think about this some more? I mean, you don't think it's too soon?" Grayson asked, earning him a scowling look from me as I threw my last suitcase in the backseat.

SLAM! I pushed the door closed and paced to my car to start it.

"Brea!" Grayson yelled, tapping his knuckles on my window.

"What?! Yes, I thought about it, okay? Now, can we please go? Oh, great. He's coming." I grunted in annoyance as my dad moved Grayson out of the way to talk some sense into me but my mind was already made up.

"Brea, I'm not going to ask you to stay-"

"Right, because you're choosing her over me."

"No, I'm choosing my happiness."

"Cry me a river." I was over the whole "put my happiness first" bullshit everyone kept spewing about, like Grayson's mother.

"I don't expect you to understand, or forgive me. I lied and kept a secret from you-"

I cut him off again to say,"I literally don't care."

That's when Grayson cut in and told me,"Brea, chill out, just listen to what he gotta say."
I sighed deeply and dropped my hands from the steering wheel. Finally able to, I made eye contact with my father and let him speak his piece without interruption.

"Ever since your mother left me, I haven't been the same. I let her go and it ate me up. Up until I met Angie, it was my biggest regret in life. I'm finally happy, Brea, and I don't wanna give that up, not for anyone - not for you. It's my turn to be selfish for once. You don't have to like her, but if anything, can't you just be happy? For me?"

"Why don't you two just talk later, take some time to cool off? Brea, I'll meet you at the house. Chandler, can we talk?" Grayson spoke up maturely and pulled my father to the side.

"Whatever," I grumbled under my breath and veered out of the driveway. Before I completely drove away, though, I could see them deep in conversation about me, I'm sure.

======

"Gray, can you-- Oh. Thanks." I was ready to ask Grayson to zip up my dress but he must've read my mind because before I finished my question, he rose from the arm of the chair and walked over to me as I stood in the mirror, all while he was looking down to focus on tying his tie.

He didn't say anything, not a compliment or something flirty. Instead, when done, he just sat on the bed and started typing away on his phone.

"Hey," I got his attention,"what's wrong? You haven't talked to me all day."

There was an emptiness in his eyes, like he was zoned out.

When he didn't answer, I asked another question. "Is it about what you and my dad talked about?" At this, his head nodded slowly like it was heavy and weighing him down.

Trying to make him feel better, I sat across him lap and pulled his head onto my breast. I started rubbing his head.

"Do you not wanna talk about it?" I knew he would then open up because communication (and comprehension) was one of his two biggest keys to success in a healthy relationship.

"Let's just go. Can you not be problematic at this wedding, please?" I easily grew offended at that and stood up, letting him walk over to the mini fridge where he grabbed a bottle of pills off the top and downed it with water.

Once he swallowed, he adjusted his tie and glanced at the time on his phone.

I guess he knew I was about to throw a fit and he stopped from before I could even say a word. "I don't wanna argue. Can you just come on, please? Don't forget your stuff, I'll be downstairs."

Honestly, I didn't know whether to be mad or turned on. He really humbled me, but at the same time, he was the one that got me worked up in the first place so what the fuck?

======

"Did you get that shot? Perfect, thanks. Could you get some shots of the wedding cake before we cut it, please?" Holland directed me at the wedding reception as if I didn't know how to do my own job.

Once the bridal party scattered away from me and towards the dance floor, I made my way over to the five layer red velvet cake that was drenched in buttercream frosting, and captured some photos that I'd later put in a wedding album for the newlyweds.

I couldn't explain it, but I was in some sort of funk where I felt kind of down and like everything was moving slow. I didn't really want to be there but had to keep it positive and professional; not only for my business but because Grayson asked me to.

"A-hem," someone behind me cleared their throat.
When I looked over my bare shoulder, I saw that it was none other than Grayson. AKA, my fake boyfriend.

"Here. You look like you could use this." I didn't even bother asking what was in the glass, I just swallowed it in a gulp and handed it back.

"No more headache?"

He shook his head that was aching earlier in the day. "Drank it away."

"Drinking, huh? Not much of a wedding guy?"

"They're pretty fuckin' boring if you're alone." I looked at him questionably.

"You're not alone, I'm here."

"You've been busy, it's not the same. We didn't even get to show off our new dance skills," he laughed and I joined in faintly.

"We can right now!" I went to pull him to the dance floor but Grayson stayed still.

"I'm good." He insisted.

"Maybe when I'm done working?" I suggested softly.

He looked away and said,"I'ma go actually. I'd like it I'd you came with me-"

Before Grayson could fully finish what he was saying, Mark's mother came over and snatched me away, asking for pictures of her and everyone else waiting at the backdrop.

As I pulled out my camera, I aimed it at the smiling faces and snapped the shot. They all crowded me to get a glimpse at the photo and decide if it was good enough or not. While they did that, I looked over to where I was just standing with Grayson only to see that he was gone.