As they walked back to the car, Beth felt awkward. After they put the nylons in the trunk of the car, Beth was making her way to the passenger seat when Brandon said,"I need to get something. Mind if Elizabeth accompany me, Sarah?""Oh, sure, sure."Freezing up as he came up to her, he took a hold of her hand and began leading her away, no words exchanged. Instead of going into the store, he rounded it, taking her to the back. She didn't question him, though. The atmosphere was too tense for that. The back of the store was as quiet and lonely as she'd expected it to be, with only a narrow orange door as an exit. As soon as they got to the middle of the alleyway, he let go of her hand and turned to face her. She blinked up at him, feeling anxious."What?""Why did you go and do that?""Do what?""Pay for what you got.""Oh...." Her brows lowered. "What's wrong with that?""What's wrong with that is that we agreed on this last night.""We agreed that you get things for mom. Not me."Hu

"Are you going to take her to a hospital?"Sherlie's asked. After speaking to Jackie, Beth had gotten a day off work. Sherlie had immediately rushed over. After they'd had breakfast and laughed around with Sarah for a while, she sat with Beth on the couch after Sarah fell asleep."I can, but I don't have enough right now to pay the bills. For now, I'll watch her for a day or two to be sure.""Hm... Okay. You said Brandon said he'll pay for your effort, right?"Beth nodded absent mindedly."How about that? We'll add that to what you have and what I have."Taking Sherlie's hand, Beth lay her head in her lap and sighed, closing her eyes."Thank you, Sher."She sighed in relief as Sherlie's fingers dug into her hair, massaging her scalp. Heaven knew she was beat."Have you told Brandon about it?"Beth shook her head. "No.""Why not?""It's only a speculation. I'm not sure the illness has returned.""But you told me. Why not tell him?""I don't want to worry him. I'm still watching for a da

The Jeans fit perfectly. Too perfectly. So did the plain white t-shirt. She even pulled it together to tie the bottom in a round nut, highlighting just how small her waist was and how round her hips were. Forcing his eyes down, he stared at the pure white Nike shoes on her feet. She looked effortlessly sexy. He looked back up at her face. The innocent and gleeful smile wore chased every immoral thought out of his head. "You look amazing.""All thanks to you," she said, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it. "Thank you, Brandon.""Elizabeth-""Shut up and let me thank you!" She ground out, huffing in displeasure."His eyes widened.Taking his silence as acceptance, she smiled gracefully."Thank you for letting me sleep here. For getting me all this. You even turned up at the hospital yesterday, when you really didn't have to. You could have just stayed at your party with your investors, but you didn't. Not... Not a lot of people have... Come through for me. Thank you for being a

"This is amazing!" She whisper yelled."Shall I play you some music, Elizabeth?""Can you?!""I can. Please, select an option."On the screen, there appeared options upon options of different genres. From reggae, to classical, to jazz, to classical jazz, to hip hop, to country... Even gospel and italian music! With her mouth wide open, she looked up to Brandon.He pointed at her open mouth."I don't know what to say.""You can start by declaring me the best gift giver the world has ever known.""I feel so... So honoured. Wh-- you-.... I don't know what to say," she stuttered, going to wrap her arms around him. "Thank you. Thank you so, so much. I..."He tipped her chin up and pecked her lips."You're welcome." Before she could run off to work, Jackie called and flamboyantly gave her the day off. Deliriously happy and at peace with herself, Beth proceeded to drag everyone into the woods to play with water balloons. Sarah decided to hold onto the pomeranian puppy and the buckets of wat

The next morning, Beth woke up and after taking a bath and brushing her teeth, she turned on her phone. Fielding all the messages from the others, she went straight to her mom's. Sarah's third voicemail left her heart pounding and her entire body tightening with fear. Retrieving nothing, she immediately bolted out of the room and out of the hotel. Brandon pushed past the crowd in front of Beth's house like a mad man. His eyes were stuck on the building ablaze in front of him. Thick smoke darkened the clouds. He felt the hands of the Police officers and Brian around him, but he kept fighting. He had to. Beth's house was on fire. 'Elizabeth, I'm choking. I-I think I left the stove turned on earlier. I'm going to ch-eck. Where are you? C--call me as soon as you get this.' Sarah's strangled voice kept ringing in Beth's head. The voicemail was sent a little over an hour ago. She had called over and over again, but it had gone straight to voicemail. "Please, go faster," she hassled the