Bria

She had come home today. My mother stared me down as we ate the dinner I cooked, Forest stared at his plate.

"You have a boyfriend?" She asked out of nowhere.

"Wha- I-"

"Don't act dumb Bria, Mrs.Frederick told me everything. Including how she saw him waltz in my apartment."

"Mom we didn't do anything I promise! He had nowhere else to go...it was nothing."

"Sure. You better not bring no kids in here or I'll kill you and that baby."

I said nothing else and finished my dinner, Forest still hadn't eaten anything. He was always quiet and to himself when my mom was around.

"Somebody has a birthday coming up." My Mom said placing her hand on Forest's shoulder.

"My birthday was weeks ago. Bria got me an entire paint set-"

"Weeks ago? And no one told me?!"

"I did tell you Mom- remember when-"

"If you told me I would've remembered Bria! I can't deal with this shit...I'll be back tomorrow." My Mom said storming out of our apartment. The most assuring thing to me is that I know, she won't be back.

Chris

I sat in my room, staring at the wall. Being here with my dad there was so many things to do in the giant home, but I always found myself doing the same thing. Staring.

There was a knock on my door, before I could even tell the person to come in, the door opened..Alexander.

"Hey Chris." He said taking a seat on my bed. Why...

"Hey." I said quietly.

"Why you just in here looking at the ceiling? I mean you have a PlayStation...a tv..."

"I'm sorry Alexander. I'm just not used to having all of this."

"Oh it's alright, I know about where you came from. Aside from that, I came to ask you what should I cook for dinner tomorrow, since your girlfriend's coming over."

Fuck, I forgot about that.

"Oh, uh I don't know. She's allergic to nuts." I said shrugging.

"Got it. I'll make a casserole."

"We're black, Alex."

"Oh! Well I guess I'll make Alfredo? I don't know we'll see."

I nodded my head. I expected him to leave my room now, but instead he continued sitting on my bed.

"So..tell me about her."

"Bria? Oh she's smart..like, really smart. And she's selfless. Not to mention fine as f-- uh, very beautiful." I couldn't come up with a lie about Bria, so I told him all true things.

Alexander chuckled.

"I can tell you really like her..can't wait to meet her." He said before finally standing up and heading out of my room.

Bria

"Which one?" I asked Forest, lifting up two dresses. One being burgundy, the other black.

"Um..I like the black one..BUT."

"But?" I asked.

"I like the red one also." He said smiling.

"Ughhh you're no help."

"You look pretty in all colors..in all dresses...in all clothes!"

"Thank you Forest, but I can only wear one dress to dinner tomorrow."

I decided to text Chris, and ask for an opinion.

|Me: |
Black dress or burgundy?

|Chris 💚: |
??? I don't care

|Me: |
:( watch one will look better on me

|Chris💚:|
Hmm I'm not sure. Send me pics in both ;)

I gasped aloud when I read his text. Fuck boy.

|Me: |
How about I send you nothing.

|Chris💚:|
How about you send me pics IN nothing ?

Where is all this coming from??

|Me:|
How about you stop being gross and tell me which color dress to wear 😐

|Chris💚:|
Burgundy. You aren't going to a funeral.

I rolled my eyes at his smart comment. Burgundy it is.

"Bria." Forest said tugging on my tshirt.

"Hm??"

"Where will I be when you go to Chrissopher's house?" He asked frowning.

"I called Trey's mom and she said you can hang out there, is there somewhere else you'd like to go?"

"Can I go to Trey's house with no shoes-"

"No, Forest. What is it with you and wearing no shoes?"

"It's fun!! You're just like my teacher, she gets mad when I take my shoes off in class." He said pouting.

"You have to stop getting in trouble. Your teacher keeps emailing me about a parent-teacher conference. How do you think she'll react she finds out I'm 17...and not your parent?"

He shrugged. "Well you're all I have Bria."

My heart dropped. It's not fair. When I was his age, I had both of my parents around. But when my mom got pregnant with Forest, my dad took off to Hawaii, because he refused to believe Forest was his..and I don't blame him.

To this day I don't know if me and Forest share the same father, (although our distinct skin tone difference was assuring) but I didn't care. To me he was my brother, and that's it.

//

Chris

I woke up Sunday morning with butterflies in my stomach. Afraid that my dad, (as well as my step dad) would embarrass me or make me look bad in front of Bria. By now, there was no denying my growing attraction to her..I just didn't know how to act on it. I'd tangled us both into this fake, complicated relationship...but now I found myself wishing it was real. I shook my head of the feelings I was catching and checked my phone.

The usual, missed calls from my mom and texts from her cursing me out and calling me names. I cleared the notifications and headed downstairs. Alexander was vacuuming the already spotless carpets and my dad was dusting the shelves.

"What's all this for?" I asked them.

"It's your big day! Christian and I are just tidying up." Alexander said, turning off the vacuum.

"She's not coming until 7..."

"We like to work early, so later we'll have more time to set up." My Dad said with a small smile.

"Set up what exactly?"

"By 'set up' I mean cook, set the table nicely, get dressed-"

"Dad it's not that serious. It's just dinner, she won't care about the table being set or whatever it is you're wearing."

Both my dad and Alex laughed, and continued cleaning. I think I missed the joke.

"What's so funny?"

"You're such a teen. I used to be just like you." Alex said.

What's that supposed to mean?

//

Before I knew it, it was 6:30. My dad forced me to put on khaki pants and an itchy sweater. Just like he said, Alex had set the table nicely and did even MORE cleaning.

This was stupid. We were having a stupid fancy dinner for someone who wasn't even who I said they were. She isn't my girlfriend. Every time I remember that this is fake I get this shitty feeling and I just want to end the whole thing...I finally decided tonight I will.

No one was talking about the rumor Devyn started anymore, what's the point?

The doorbell rung, and I heard my dad call me downstairs. I figured I'd just eat dinner with her, and then tell her it's over.

I went downstairs and saw Bria talking to my dad. Alex noticed me and told me to go sit at the table, and Bria did the same. She looked over at me and smiled.

"Hi." She said as Alex brought the food to the table. I felt myself growing shy and looked away.

"Hi."

"I'm not sure what you believe in Brielle but-"

"Bria. Her name is Bria." I said interrupting my father. I felt Bria nudge me underneath the table for being rude.

"My mistake, Bria. I'm not sure what you believe in, but here we say say grace."

We all bowed our heads as my dad told an overly long grace, and we finally began eating.

"So..Bria. Where do you plan to go to college?" Alex asked.

In D.C, I answered in my head.

"Well I definitely want to leave Canada, I'm looking at a few schools in the states."

(Author's sidenote: my dream was to go to university in the states 😪 I wanted to go to Howard. But I learned that shit in America is expensive !!! I can't !)

"What would you like to major in?" My Dad asks.

Biomedical Science. I said in my mind.

"I'm thinking biomedical science, that's what I want my career to be based on." Bria said. I know her so well.

Dinner went by with surprisingly no issues, Bria mentioned that "she didn't have to be home until 10" so invited her to my room. I didn't really believe that story, because how could she have a curfew with no one around to enforce it?

We got upstairs and Bria took a seat on my bed.

"You've got a lot of nice things in here Chris."

"Oh..thanks." I said rubbing the back of my neck.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah..I..I think we should end this. The whole fake relationship thing, it's served its purpose, you know?"

Her smile dropped, but quickly turned back into one.

"Oh..ok. The thing is, I was kind of counting on you as my prom date."

God damn it.

"Prom..I completely forgot. Well in that case-"

"No no it's alright, I'll go with Lincoln I guess."

"Oh uh, Lincoln. Alright."

a/n:
Fake Bristopher is no more 🙁

Who thinks things between Bria and Lincoln will work out??

Who will Chris go to prom with?