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constant-calum · 6 years ago

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Watercolors (Brandon Arreaga) ~ Chapter Twelve: Pollock

Summary: 17 year old Amina Parker was far from a blank canvas, but he still managed to make a finger painting with her love.

A/N: I lowkey despise this story now. Oops!

WARNING: Mention of pregnancy and abortion

Part Eleven Part Thirteen

Amina hated that Halloween was on a Wednesday this year. There was something so badass about getting dressed up in a costume and showing off to everyone in the neighborhood while she took her sister trick-or-treating. On a Wednesday, however, Amina had too much homework to be able to participate in her favorite tradition.

As she sat in the lunchroom on Wednesday afternoon, she pouted in her tuna salad. She realized how ridiculous and childish she must have looked, but she couldn’t help it. All she was looking forward to was dressing up, and she couldn’t even do that.

“What crawled up your ass and died?” Edwin asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

Zane sighed. “She’s sad that she can’t dress up for Halloween this year. That’s a big deal for the Parkers.”

“I take my sister trick-or-treating every single year. But since it’s a stupid Wednesday, I have too much work for the first time ever.” Amina sighed. “It’s frustrating more than anything.”

“Fuck work,” Nick stated bluntly. “You should go out and have fun on your Halloween. Especially if it’s a tradition you look forward to.”

Amina felt like she was overreacting to the situation, but she couldn’t help her emotions. “I really can’t. College applications are becoming all too real, and I have so much homework.”

Brandon placed a warm hand around Amina’s shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze. Amina could feel herself relaxing even the tiniest bit. She immediately wondered when Brandon became a source of comfort for her.

“I’m sorry that you can’t go through with your tradition, Amina,” Brandon looked as though he was genuinely upset for his friend.

Amina nodded, which everyone took as the end of the topic. Looking across the table, Amina noticed Zion staring directly at her. She was about to ask him what the problem was until she realized just what he was so focused on. It was Brandon’s arm...that hadn’t moved from its resting place on Amina’s shoulder. Zion finally met Amina’s eye, smirking slightly.

Amina found it impossible to calm down her racing heart, unsure if it was from the physical contact or from the embarrassment of such a public display of affection. She tried to snap herself out of it. If it were Nick, Amina would not have thought twice about it. For some reason, it was different with Brandon.

A loud ringtone interrupted the comfortable chatter of the lunch table. After a few seconds, everyone realized its owner was Brandon, who got up from the table to take the call. Upset at the sudden lack of warmth surrounding her, she decided to lean her head into Nick’s shoulder, who wrapped an arm around her without skipping a beat.

. . .

Amina didn’t know how she beat Brandon to the art room after school. It was slightly concerning seeing as he had art last period, and tended to just stay there until Amina arrived. Amina just brushed it off, taking a seat on Brandon’s stool even though she knew he would make a fuss the minute he got there.

As if being summoned by someone else taking his place, Brandon walked through the door the minute that Amina’s butt touched the wood. His eyes were red and puffy, dripping with raw emotion. His steps were slow and uneven, as if he was unable to focus on the act of walking. Amina had seen Brandon emotional quite a few times, and it seemed as though every time he got worse.

“B, what happened?” Amina stood quickly, crossing the room until she stood right in front of her friend. “Are you okay?”

Brandon just sniffled, displacing his glasses in the process of wiping his eyes. Amina didn’t know what else to do but grab his free hand and lead him to sit down. Brandon immediately slumped onto his stool, looking as miserable as ever.

“Talk to me, Brandon. I can’t stand to see you like this.”

Brandon’s framed eyes met Amina’s, taking a deep breath before beginning to speak. “It’s Valerie,” he began. “She’s pregnant again now, with this one night stand’s baby. She’s keeping it.”

A piece of Amina’s heart broke for her friend. At a loss for words, she stumbled over what to do or say. Getting over an ex is hard; getting over an ex who aborted your baby is even harder; getting over an ex who aborted your baby and is now pregnant again is nearly impossible.

“I don’t even know why I’m so upset,” Brandon chuckled bitterly. “It’s not like I’m not over her. And I’m not the father of this new baby. It just...it just hurts for some reason. Not even in a ‘she kept this rando’s baby and not mine’ way. But more of a...I don’t even know. I feel like shit.”

Amina smoothed a hand over Brandon’s dark curls, secretly loving how soft they felt under her fingertips. “What do I always say?”

“I’m allowed to feel however I feel,” Brandon mumbled, reminiscent of a toddler reciting rules back to their parent.

“Exactly. It’s okay if you’re upset. It’s okay if you’re upset and you don’t know why. I’ll be here no matter what.”

“I guess there’s too much baby drama for a 17-year-old like me.”

“It’s not even my drama and it’s too much for me.”

Brandon looked up at Amina from his seated position. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Even though Amina could tell he was still devastated, there was a grateful twinkle in his eye.

“Thank you,” he began. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Probably turn into a ball of sadness and die,” Amina joked, causing Brandon to chuckle.

“You’re probably right. I’d have any bit of sadness or drama and I would just combust. Or just make super angsty art about it.”

“That sounds like a much more positive outlet.”

Brandon continued to look up at the girl in front of him, this time with a smile on his face and dry eyes. Amina couldn’t stop herself from running a hand through his hair once more. The two didn’t speak, but they didn’t have to. They both simply enjoyed the moment.

It was Amina who decided to break the momentary silence. “You know you could always make art about this. Write Valerie’s name in super big pretty letters, then just splatter paint all over it.”

“I think my art is a little more sophisticated than that.”

“Of course it is, Mr. I’m-going-to-RISD (Rhode Island School of Design),” Amina chuckled. “But maybe it will help.”

Brandon thought for a moment before finally nodding slowly. He instructed Amina to grab a few tubes of paint and two smocks from the supply closet. She did so giddily, pointing out how she never got to paint and was excited to do so. Brandon just watched her bounce around the room with a lazy smile on his face.

Amina tossed Brandon his smock before attempting to put hers on by herself. She frowned when her short arms couldn’t reach the tie behind her do.

“Brandon? Can you tie this for me?”

The boy did as told, walking over to his friend and securing the tie around her waist. He let the tips of his fingers linger on the small of her back, and smiled slightly when Amina shivered. When she turned to face him, he clapped his hands together.

“Alright, let’s do this,” he grabbed a piece of paper and spread it out on the table in front of them. “So normally, I would outline the name in pencil, and then paint over it, but I’m impatient today. What color should her name be?”

Amina shrugged. “Maybe we should do something bright. Then we can put darker splatters on it.”

“Alright, how about orange?”

The way Amina turned her nose up at the color made Brandon chuckle loudly. He watched as the girl picked up each individual color, inspecting the tube like they were in competition with each other. Eventually, she pulled out the yellow, smiling brightly.

“I think we have our winner!”

The two worked meticulously, watching each other as they alternated between broad strokes of the brush and short flicks. Within an hour the two were done. Amina stepped back to admire the masterpiece she and her friend had worked to creative. As she inspected the whole scope of the work, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Brandon?” Amina managed in between her fits of laughter. “This looks like shit.”

This made Brandon’s indifferent exterior crack as he exploded into laughter. “Mimi, what did we do?!”

“I don’t know! I thought it would look good.”

Brandon placed a hand on each knee, doubled over with the force of his laughs. “It literally looks like a baby vomited on a piece of paper, smeared it, and called it art.”

“I know. It’s pretty terrible,” Amina rubbed her hairline with the back of her paint-covered hand. “At least we did it together right? And don’t you feel better?”

“I definitely do feel better.”

“That’s what matters,” Amina beamed.

The two were quiet as they began to clean up, washing dirty hands and brushes and hanging up their smocks. By the time they were done, the only evidence of their work was the paint smeared paper lying on the center of the table.

“Should I throw this monstrosity out?” Amina asked, still smiling down at their shared work.

Brandon hesitated before picking the painting up and holding it out in front of him. “Nah, I think I’ll keep it.

Amina was slightly surprised that Brandon would even want it, and was a little hurt when she realized that it still had Valerie’s name on it. That’s what it all boiled down to—Brandon and Valerie.

“Okay, well I’m pretty sure my mom is here,” Amina sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, B.”

“Of course. I’ll see you.”

Brandon waved as Amina left the room, still admiring the piece of work that the two created. Something about it warmed his heart, no matter how terrible it was. He smiled to himself.

“Oh, I’m totally framing this.”

. . .

As a compromise for not going trick or treating, Amina’s mother let her man the door for the entirety of Halloween Night. It wasn’t ideal for Amina to be curled up with a calculus textbook in one hand and a bowl of candy in the other, but she was happy to do something to celebrate the holiday.

After spending a few hours gushing over little kids and cute costumes, Amina closed the door for what she thought would be the last time. It was already 9:30 on a school night; no one would let their kids out this late. Her sock-covered feet turned away from the door and began to trek up the stairs until she heard the doorbell ring.

Groaning, Amina turned on her heels, picking up the candy bowl on the way. She flung the door open aggressively, obviously annoyed with this last minute group of children. What she didn’t expect was to see six familiar faces beaming at her.

“Trick-or-treat!” They all said in unison, making Amina break out into a wild smile.

Amina didn’t know if she was happier that her friends had come to see her, or that they were all dressed up in various costumes: Nick was a vampire, Edwin a werewolf, Austin was Ash from Pokémon, Zane was Number 4 from Codename Kids Next Door, Zion looked like some underground rapper, and Brandon was Spider-Man.

“You guys didn’t have to do this,” Amina started. “But damn am I glad you did. You’re all getting your picture taken.”

“Of course we had to do this,” Austin leaned on the door frame. “It’s Halloween. If you can’t go out and enjoy it, we’re going to bring the fun to you.”

Amina beamed. “Well thank you.”

“Thank Nick,” Zane replied. “It was all his idea. He even planned everyone’s costumes.”

Nick looked bashful, shrugging slightly. “It was nothing.”

Amina was speechless as she went down the line to hug each of her friends. When she got to Nick last, she hugged him extra tight. Nick did the same, clutching Amina close as if he were to never let her go.

“Thank you guys, seriously. This means a lot.”

Zion scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “Um, not to be headass, but can we have some candy? Like we are here to trick-or-treat after all.”

Amina chuckled, passing around the candy bowl to everyone. She didn’t miss Austin taking at least six Kit-Kats, but decided not to say anything in effort to preserve the fun.

After a few minutes of the group talking and laughing in the doorway of Amina’s home, Zane declared she was tired, which was instantly met with agreement from the rest of the boys.

“Wait, before you go,” Amina interrupted. “We have to take a picture.”

Although reluctant, the group eventually settled into an appropriate formation, and with a count of three, they were done.

As everyone began to say their goodbyes, Amina found herself pulling Nick close once again, unable to begin to show her gratitude for making her night better. Nick seemed to understand, though, just wordlessly holding Amina until Edwin declared that everyone had to go.

“Mimi, thank you,” Nick whispered, pulling away.

“For what?”

“Being patient with him.”

“With who?”

Amina didn’t get an answer as the group walked away. She just stood in her doorway, confused as hell, watching her friends disperse into the nighttime.

#watercolors #escritos #arreaga #brandon arreaga #prettymuch #prettymuch fanfic #prettymuch imagine

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