Mutual Hatred - Love Game (24 page)

"So. You got out of detention."

Was that what she was mad about?

He managed a feeble, "Yeah."

"You're such a man-whore."

Can't argue with that.

"What?" protested Brandon. "How am I a man-whore?"

"It's one thing to date more than half the girls in the senior class. It's another thing to date the juniors. But a
teacher
? That's an all-time low, even for you Brandon," said Shelley. "And she's Johnny's sist-oh, I get it. That's why he hates you."

Brandon nodded grimly. There seemed to be a lot of people who hated him. "Do you hate me?" he asked.

"You disgust me. Is that answer enough?" retorted Shelley.

"If by disgust you mean you're falling for my man-whore ways then yeah, I'll live," Brandon said hopefully.

It was irritating how he could still be cocky at a time like this.

Shelley rolled her eyes and said, "Pick me up at seven."

He was about to say okay when he did a double take. Had Shelley just said told him to pick her up at seven?

"Uh, for what?"

"For our date, you dumbass. Or have you already lost interest in me?"

This girl was definitely on crack. She changed her personality as often as she changed her underwear, maybe even more!

"I knew I would win you over," Brandon said smugly, "I always do."

"It's not actually a date," Shelley added as an afterthought, "If anyone sees us together, we tell them that it's strictly business, got it?"

"Yes ma'am," Brandon said as he saluted her.

"Now get to practice. You're already late."

Shelley hadn't gotten very far when Brandon realized she wasn't walking in the direction of the field.

"Hey!" he called after her, "Aren't you going to practice?"

She turned around, her sheet of golden blonde hair whipping around. "No, I've got other business to attend to. Mr. Wise is in charge of you kids today. Be good!"

Not tonight, he wouldn't be.

- - - - -

After practice ended, Brandon hurried to get home. He took a shower, quickly scribbled some homework, and started getting ready at a quarter to six. He was sculpting his hair when Morgan sauntered into his bathroom and drawled,

"Got a hot date, little brother?"

He smirked at her reflection in the mirror. "Yes, in fact, I do. Tell mom I won't be home until later."

"Alright, who is she and how much do you like her?" demanded Morgan.

"Shelley Sinclair and I'm in love with her," he said in one breath, carefully watching for Morgan's reaction.

"You are
so
shitting me, you bonehead. Who is it really? Not that Chelsey girl again, is it? She's the skankiest whore I've ever had the displeasure of meeting," Morgan said indignantly.

"No, I really
am
going out with Shelley. You can even call her and ask," smirked Brandon.

Still not believing him, Morgan left and went, as Brandon presumed, to call Shelley. Ten minutes later, she came back. Instead of saying something along the lines of 'You were telling the truth,' Morgan said with a look of disdain,

"Are you planning on wearing
that
?"

Now, Brandon was a guy who knew how to dress himself. But if his sister didn't approve, then…

"Alright Donna Karan, tell me what would impress Shelley."

Morgan rushed to his closet, Brandon close on her heels. She flung the door open and started throwing clothes at him.

"This would look good on you, but I don't-or this one!-or how about-no, that wouldn't-oooh when did you buy this?" she said absently.

"We're just going on a casual date," said Brandon from under the pile of clothes. "It's not like we're getting married."

Maybe one day.

"But it's a
first
date," Morgan said importantly, "And first dates are everything to a girl. If you make a good impression, she'll want to go out with you again."

"But any girl will go out with me no matter how I what…"

After throwing a belt at him, Morgan finally settled on a nice loose fitting, dark rinse pair of jeans and a green t-shirt that said, "Just Ask Me" in bold, white lettering.

Just ask me what?

"Are you sure Shelley would like this?" Brandon asked uncertainly, "It's nothing special."

"Excuse me? If
I
picked it out, it's fucking special," said Morgan.

Right.

It wasn't really a change to what he's been wearing before, thought Brandon as he changed, but he supposed sisters knew best.

That was the cool thing about having a twin sister. He and Morgan seriously had that freaky 'twin connection.' Morgan was pretty cool about everything except when it came to her brother and dating. If Brandon ever needed to have a serious, intellectual conversation, she was always there for him. And he suspected that if he ever needed advice on girls-not that he ever would-Morgan would lend him her words of wisdom. They'd both inherited good looks; Morgan had gotten the brains and the logic while Brandon had the brains too and the talent. Together, they were an unbeatable pair.

But back to the matter at hand.

Chapter 20 – The First Date

Brandon took his time getting to Shelley's house, knowing full well that she was one of those girls who took forever to get ready. He arrived at her house promptly at seven. Mrs. Sinclair greeted him at the door and invited him in.

"Get comfortable," she advised, "Shelley just got home. Can I get you something to drink?"

Brandon politely declined. "Where did she go?" he asked.

"No idea," Claudia said vaguely. "I didn't want to pry. After all, she thinks I'm a 'cool mom'."

Brandon chuckled. Mr. Sinclair, still in his suit and tie from work, wandered into the living room just as his wife excused herself to go check on Shelley. Brandon tried not to squirm as he was subjected to Sean Sinclair's condescending gaze.

"Who are you?" he said gruffly.

"Brandon Miller," Brandon said smoothly, extending his right hand over the coffee table. He tried not to feel intimidated when Mr. Sinclair made no move to take it.

"Your father would be Scott Miller, I presume?" Sean said instead.

"Yes," Brandon said politely, regaining some of his composure, "Do you know him?"

"You could say that," admitted Shelley's dad, "Sneaky, filthy-ah, yeah we go back."

Before Brandon could think too much about Mr. Sinclair's words, Shelley made her appearance. She bounded down the stairs, her mother flowing gracefully in her daughter's wake. Shelley, like Brandon, had dressed casually. He noted that they were both wearing jeans and a green t-shirt.

A mere coincidence? Perhaps.

She'd left her remarkably silky blonde hair down. So in other words, she looked
good
.

"Ready?" she asked Brandon breathlessly. When he nodded, she turned to her dad and said, "Don't wait up for me, daddy. Bye mom."

She gave her mom a hug and her dad a quick peck on the cheek, then followed Brandon out the door.

As Sean Sinclair watched his daughter from the doorway, he caught sight of "the boy's" car.

Too flashy, he decided.

As a result, Mr. Sinclair called out, "You behave, got that? I'm still too young for grandchildren! And I know where you live!"

Brandon pretended not to hear that, but he heard Shelley snickering softly to herself.

"Shut up," he said crossly.

- - - - -

Twenty minutes later found Brandon and Shelley at a miniature golf course-Brandon's choice of a fun date. The two were both horribly bad at the game, but had had fun laughing and poking fun at each other about it. They finally decided to call it quits and get pizza from a nearby café.

As they were waiting for their food, Shelley took a sip of her soda and said, "You know, you're really different outside of school-related events."

This remark took Brandon off guard. "How so?"

"Well, you're nice, for one. I was beginning to think you didn't know how to have fun. This is a good side of you," said Shelley.

"Hey! I look good from all sides!"

"Ah, but where would we be if you weren't always so cocky?" she grinned.

"It's my best charm and you know it," said Brandon.

"Here we go again…" groaned Shelley.

Brandon decided it was time to switch subjects. "So what do you do for fun?"

"Oh, the usual. Knitting, computer hacking, weeding the garden," Shelley answered with a completely straight face.

"No, really, what's your…passion?" he persisted.

"I don't know," Shelley said slowly, "I guess if I had to pick something, it would be reading."

"Reading?" snorted Brandon, "Can you same lame-o?"

"Hey, you asked!" her voice took on a defensive tone, "Haven't you ever just wanted to curl up in bed on a rainy day with a good book and a mug of hot chocolate?"

Brandon stared at her blankly. Girls were so….weird.

"Not really."

"You should. It's the most relaxing thing in the world."

"What's your favorite color?" Brandon said suddenly.

"Red," said Shelley. Warily, she added, "Why do you want to know?"

"I don't know. I feel like I should get to know you. I've never had that feeling before," he shrugged.

Dinner arrived just as Shelley responded somewhat sarcastically, "Aren't we the smooth talker."

"Wanna hear a joke?" he offered.

Brandon really did have a short attention span. He'd almost sounded sentimental when he had told her that he felt like getting to know her. His sudden mood swings were getting hard to keep up with.

Without waiting for an answer, he forged on. "So there are two pretzels walking down the street. What happens to one of them?"

When Shelley shook her head, he said, "It got assaulted! Get it? …Pretzels get salted?"

Shelley's laugh rang across the room. It was such a bad joke that it was hysterically funny.

While she was still laughing, Brandon said seriously, "I tell jokes when I'm nervous. And I don't know why I decided to tell you that. God, am I rambling?"

"Yeah, but it's cute."

"I am
not
cute! I'm
charming
," corrected Brandon.

"Random, too. Did anyone ever tell you that?"

Brandon leaned back in his chair. "Another one of my irresistible quirks, I suppose. I can't help being attractive."

"And I guess you can't help being an egotistical asshole either?" Shelley snorted derisively.

"Well now you're just being mean," said Brandon, feigning hurt.

"With good reason," Shelley countered.

"I would totally give my left nut to read your mind for a day. Isn't that insane?" he gave her a maniacal grin.

"You really do say the most
random
things ever. I'm not following you…"

"Can I be honest with you?"

Shelley nodded slowly. "Tell me anything you want."

There was something about the way she said those five words that made Brandon want to tell her everything. Shelley seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say, and Brandon was pretty sure she'd keep it to herself.

"Okay, I feel like a fag saying this but-"

He never got to finish his sentence because Brandon heard someone call his name. And indeed, there was Marcus Humps, girlfriend in tow. The two boys did their complicated handshake, and that was when Marcus noticed Shelley. He glanced at Brandon, and then back at Shelley.

"I thought you two weren't dating," said Marcus.

"Oh, we're not," Shelley said quickly, "This is strictly business."

"Oh, then you won't mind if Marianne and I join you, then," said Marcus with a sly grin on his face.

"Actually, we were just leaving," interjected Brandon. "See ya around buddy."

Brandon slid out of his seat and gallantly offered his arm to Shelley, who took it with ease.

As they sauntered out the door of the café, Marcus still standing open-mouthed, Shelley said laughingly to Brandon, "I do believe Marianne just eye-raped you, my friend."

Brandon snorted. Shelley had a dry sense of humor, and he liked it. "I could say Marcus did the same to you."