The Treehouse - Chapter 4

"This is too great," Chris murmured. "May I have this dance?" he asked Brianne, holding out his hand in a gentleman-like manner.

"No!" she said sarcastically, giving him her hand. Chris took her other hand as well and pulled Brie out of the chair. If you had appeared at the door at that very moment, you would've turned to run for your life. Brie was shakin' that thang while Chris was on his knees, pretending to play the guitar and belting out the lyrics. When the song was over, Brianne collapsed on the floor, out of breath and laughing.

*NSYNC's "This I Promise You" was on the airwaves as Chris helped his friend up from the floor.

"May I have this dance, too?" he asked softly. Brianne replied with a smile and loosely placed her arms around Chris's neck. 'This is beginning to get weird,' she thought to herself. 'I gotta find out what's going on with him…' She puzzled over the situation. Chris's mind wasn't exactly on the same thing.

'Ok, hands away from the ass… oh shit! I touched it!' Chris bit his lip, praying Brianne hadn't noticed. She turned to look at him out the corner of her eye, but didn't think much of it, since she wasn't sure he actually did touch her butt. It was getting late by then, and Brianne rested her head on Chris's shoulder, closing her eyes. A chilling breeze swept through the rectangular holes in the wall, making Brie shiver with goosebumps. Chris automatically tightened his arms around her petite waist, snuggling her body into his. Chris sang softly to Brie as they swayed back and forth to the beat of the ballad.

As it ended, Chris and Brianne returned to the beanbags to talk before falling asleep. Brie fell victim to the comfort of rest faster than Chris did. He was too busy thinking to fall asleep.

'Should I tell her? Would it ruin our friendship? Does she feel the same? Will I ever find out?' All these questions tumbled around in Chris's head as a dryer tosses socks. He stared down at Brie, a smile broadening his face. She was curled up against him so his chest acted as a pillow, and he could feel her warm breath escaping her mouth. Chris's arms were draped securely around her, seeming to keep all the nightmares from her dreams. Chris finally fell asleep post-decision… he would tell her in the morning.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Victoria woke up Sunday morning, eyes glistening with determination. She had managed to hunt down Chris's phone number last night, and intended to call him when it was late enough in the morning. She breathed a deep sigh and grabbed the phone off its stand on her desk, briskly dialing Chris's seven digits.

"Hello?" Mrs. Trousdale answered.

"Hi, this is Victoria, is Chris there please?"

"Not at the moment, would you like him to call you back?" Mrs. Trousdale was aware of the way Chris felt about Vickie, and she didn't expect him to return her call. She didn't really like Victoria either, judging by the way Brie talked about how mean she was to her.

"Ok, thank you!" Vickie hung up, very frustrated. "That's it, I am calling her house to talk to him! Maybe I'll throw in a threat or two as well… now, if I only had her phone number…

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"What the f*ck?!" Jesse yelled, tossing aside another pair of jeans. He was very upset that he couldn't find his favorite Tommy boxers, and he had torn apart his room looking for them. Timmy came running down the hall to Jesse's room, flinging the door open and scolding Jesse.

"Jesse! Mommy said no swearing when you baby-sit!" Timmy screamed. When his eyes met Jesse's, Timmy turned around and ran for his life. Seeing my older brother butt-naked in the middle of his trashy room would scare the snot out of me, too. Jesse had stupidly undressed before realizing his boxers were missing.

After discovering them in the drawer where they belonged, Jesse paced around his floor, which was strewn with clean clothes. He took a thin chunk of his blonde hair and twisted it around his index finger, thinking about what he should do about Brianne. Jesse spied his orange covered phone book, lying open to the "M" page on the floor.

"Super!" He picked it up and ran his finger down the page, looking for "Morro." He ran out to the kitchen and snatched the phone off the hook, pressing the buttons to the sequence of Brianne's number.