You Think You've Got It, Don'tcha?

*Brian's POV*

I was watching TV as I turned my attention to Ryden and Matt who were just now making their way through my basement door. I perked an eyebrow, because Ryden's face was as red as a cherry, and Matt had a very smug smirk on his face. I shook my head, reaching for the soda I got out of the fridge before I sat down, and took a sip. "Well look at who finally came upstairs." I pointed out. Matt rolled his eyes and Ryden had her hands over her face, standing by the door to the house.

"Oh shut up, Bri." She mumbled through her sleeves, shaking her head. Matthew leaned in the basement door, crossing his arms, looking over at Ryden. "I think I'm going to go home now.." she said, opening the door slowly and she walked out, closing the door.

"What did you do to her?" I said, standing up to straighten out my shirt.

"Nothing. I just kinda like.. Kissed her I think..?"

"Dude. Zack's gonna be pissed." I said, aggressively jabbing my finger towards him. I could hear Ryden shut her car door and start the car, and then slowly pull out of the driveway.

"How? He doesn't know her." He remarked. "Not that I know of, anyways."

"He's got her on lock if you guys don't work out. If you guys decide to work anything out." I said, hugging my arms to my chest. "I've told him all he needs to know to win that girl over, and if you end up breaking her heart, I'm breaking your face."

Matt rose his hands up in defense. "I'm not going to try to work anything out with her. I don't want to mess with her feelings and I ended up doing that to her in the basement and now she thinks that we're going to possibly be a thing. I don't want that."

"Then you tell her." I paused a moment, "Or I will."

"This isn't any of your business, Haner." Matt spat.

"That girl is my best friend!" I shouted, pointing out the door in the general vicinity of her house, "Of course it's my business! I don't want her getting hurt worse than she already has, and so help me God if I end up asking her if you two have talked about anything and she tells me no? Your ass is grass." I grabbed the collar of his shirt, pushing him against the wall. He snickered, rolling his eyes and clasped a hand on my shoulder.

"Whatever you say, Brian." He replied. I gave him another shove, indicating that I was serious.

"I don't kid when it comes to Ryden." I said through my teeth, glaring down at Matt, who was still pressed against the wall.

"Kay, dude. I get it. No hurting Ryden," he said, pushing me back to let him go, waving his hands sarcastically. "I gotcha."

*Ryden's POV*

I parked the car in the driveway and sat there, still smiling to myself as I thought about Matt brushing his lips against mine again. That was the first time he had done anything like that, and honestly, I think I can get used to that. I got out and locked the car doors before walking inside and my dad caught me right at the door.

"Hey, Ryden." He said suspiciously, his gaze not leaving the newspaper that was in his grasp. I raises an eyebrow.

"Hey, dad." I replied, slipping off my jacket to place it in the bin by the door.

"Where were you off to?"

"Brian's house."

"For? I thought he was in Germany."

"They came back this morning." I replied, "He said that I could leave all of my Hello Kitty things in his basement until I could get a storage unit for them or something. Or until I graduate. Whatever floats my boat." I shrugged, walking to the staircase and looked back at him. "Where's mom?"

"Bedroom. She wasn't feeling too well when she got home this morning, so she's laying down for the time being." He said. I nodded slowly.

"Right, okay." I replied. He nodded in response and said nothing more as I walked up to my bedroom and plopped onto my bed to notice that everything around me had been packed into boxes, piled up neatly by my window and I grinned. Not really sure who did this, but hey, it works, I thought. Everything was packed up except my panty drawers and my bed, so I could do all of that when I went to California. The sooner I left, the better. I picked up my phone to dial Brian's number and before I knew it, he showed up on my lock screen. I slid the screen and pressed it to speaker then sat it on my nightstand. "Hello?"

"Heeeyyyy, Kitty." He mused. I picked up the blanket, folding it."

"Hey, Bri. What are you up to?" I asked, setting it down to fold my other blanket.

"Just got done talking to Matt, which is why I had called in the first place." He stated. I paused a moment, raising an eyebrow. It hasn't even been thirty minutes since I left Brian's place and I could already tell something went down between the two of them after I had left. I picked up the phone and turned it off speaker, pressing it to my ear.

"What happened?"

"I want you to stop whatever it is that you and Matt have going on." He said. "I don't feel comfortable with you around him. He'll only end up hurting you in the long-run."

"Matthew wouldn't do that." I said, "He said he wouldn't."

"He's told me differently. You might want to talk to him about it." He said. I then asked for his number and grabbed my pen and paper, which was sitting on my nightstand, and wrote down the number.

"What all did he say?" I asked, raising my eyebrow again.

"He doesn't want to work anything out; he doesn't think you two will work."

"I even knew that. But ouch.." I said, rubbing my neck. I could hear Brian sigh deeply, and I imagined him rubbing the bridge of his nose as he spoke. Which is what he was probably doing.

"So what's gonna go down? You know, I know someone in Cali that's been asking an awful lot about you since that phone call. His name's Zack, and I want you to meet him."

I lit up like a Christmas tree. This should be good. "Is he at least cute?" I asked. Brian mumbled over the line.

"I uh... Really don't have much say in that department. But I could show you a picture of him later if you'd like." I grinned.

"Oh, yeah. That'd be great. When will I get to meet him?"

"Whenever you leave for Cali, and I'm going with you."

"Since when did you decide this? I wasn't confronted about this, Haner."

"You'll live, Kitty. You know you'd want me to go with you anyways since you don't know this guy."

"And who's to say that I won't have Matthew come with me?"

"Because I told you to stay away from him and I honestly don't want you to even call him to talk to him about what we talked about."

"You're lucky I love you Brian. You know that? I'll stay away from him if that makes you happy."

"Of course it makes me happy." He replied. "I don't want you getting hurt."

I stayed quiet for a minute and bit my lip "Okay."

"Okay."

Notes