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1336 Words
The drive is quick. Cade is pretty quiet. Not that that's anything out of the norm. Brooke has always liked that about him, honestly.
Before they go in, Cade slips on his "good" ballcap, as opposed to the oil stained monstrosity sitting next to it on the dash.
"It's fashion, babe." He says.
She rolls her eyes and throws her legs out the door.
They barely get through the entrance, seeing at least a dozen people they know. People Brooke would consider friends, but never really understood Cade. So they opt to sit alone.
Brooke walks behind him, honestly admiring his way of making basically the same casual outfit he had on before look so f*****g country boy attractive.
Dark wash jeans, cowboy boots, a 3/4 sleeve red and black plaid shirt.
She sits across from him, heart suddenly pounding in her chest. His eyes are the darkest brown she has ever seen, peeking out from under the dusty Braves ballcap. A perfect jawline grazed with little more than a dark 5 o'clock shadow.
She shivers. He is perfect. Or he seems that way to everyone else, she winces knowing what she knows.
"Are you okay?" Cade asks, bursting her dream bubble.
"Yeah, yeah, fine." She props the menu up.
Cade c***s his eye brow but ignores her.
She manages to catch her breath by the time the waitress takes thier order. They hand the menus over and are find themselves looking straight at eachother.
Cade looks relaxed, Brooke honestly isn't sure she has ever seen him like that.
He starts talking something about trucks. She is barely listening, still lost in those deep eyes. He is smiling, moving his hands. She thinks back to merely two weeks ago, when he would sit in silence, looking terrified, whenever he was around big groups of people, like this.
She cant help but smile back.
He suddeny stops talking and tilts his head.
"What?" He says.
"You're just cute." She shakes her head.
He blushes and takes her hand.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
They eat thier food and slip out quietly.
"I need to go the bathroom before we leave." Cade says.
Brooke realizes he hasn't gone since the shower, which was more than two hours at this point, at least twice as long as he usually lasts.
She watches him walk away. He is nearly to the Men's room door when he is stopped by a group of guys. She recognizes two of the three. They were the quarter and running back of the championship football team senior year. Something tells her even has 23 year olds now, that is still all they have to pride themselves on. The third meathead looks just the same.
She can't hear, but she can see them. The quarterback pushes his hand against Cade's chest. Even being the smallest of the three, he has at least five inches on Cade, who is barely 5'9.
Brooke feels a lump grow in her throat. This same group pushed him around in highschool.
They start bouncing his little body back and fourth, laughing, even 20 yards away, in the dim lit restaurant, she can see Cade's about to cry. She stands up.
She jogs over quickly.
"Hey, leave him alone." She says, suddenly feeling very, very small.
One of the guys has Cade's shirt collar wrapped around his fist.
Cade has one hand grasping the crotch of his jeans, luckily none of them seem to notice.
"Brooke Chance. Who would have ever thought you'd end up with a loser like this."
She pushes the biggest of them away and grabs Cade's arm, pulling hard, away from the other guy.
"Look guys, jackass had an accident." The biggest one says.
Brooke glances down, at the growing stain on the front of Cade's jeans.
They all start laughing.
"Nothing has changed, has it little Cadester? Peed your pants in fifth grade, still peeing them now."
Cade's body is shaking.
"Good thing your girlfriend was here to save you, you pansy ass." The group stalks away.
Cade turns to Brooke, tears welling up in his eyes. She pulls him out the side door and pulls him in immediately. She can feel the shoulder of her dress getting wet.
His whole body is shivering as he sobs loudly. She holds him tight, still in shock as to what just happened.
Brooke had forgotten when Cade peed his pants in school. Now that she thinks about it, he was always in and out of the nurses office.
Fifth grade was particularly bad. They had the meanest teacher in all of Harlingston. They had just been finishing up a test, as Brooke recalled. Little Cade had asked to go the bathroom. He was denied and told to wait 20 minutes until the period ended. He explained it was an emergency, but "11 year olds could hold thier bladder.".
Cade went back and sat down, no more than two minutes later, the quiet classroom began to hear the sound of droplets hitting the hard lenolium floor. Everyone turned to Cade, who had a tear running down his cheek.
Everyone laughed for what seemed like forever. Cade never did live it down. That memory still burns the back of Brooke's mind.
She holds Cade a little tighter, reminiscing on the memory.
"It's okay." Is all she can think to say.
"No, it's not okay." He sputters through sobs.
Brooke drags him back to the truck. She has taken the drives seat. Cade easily hands her the keys, still balling his eyes out.
Even in the dark light she can tell his pants are drenched.
"Take me home, please." Cade says crying.
She does, ever so silently.
When they get there, Cade gets out of the truck and runs inside. Brooke follows him slowly. She takes a deep breath before she opens the door he just slammed.
"Cade?" He is nowhere in sight. She prowls the house slowly, until she sees the only closed door. His bedroom. She knocks, but with no answer. She creeps in slowly.
Cade is sitting on the floor, knees pulled up to his chest. He isn't crying, just starring angrily at the wall in front of him. He doesn't even acknowledge Brooke.
She sits down next to him.
"Cade..."
"I know what you're gonna say." He says, voice hoarse.
"It's okay, it happens. Don't worry about them. We will get you cleaned up." He mimicks in a squeaky voice. Brooke knows it's not aimed at her, she would probably be the same way.
"It's not okay. It's not normal. I can't..." is all he gets out before he starts crying again.
Brooke really doesn't know what to say. She knows it's not okay, not normal.
She doesn't say anything, just guides her hand slowly over his back, testing the waters. He seems to relent, so she pulls him into an awkward side hug. He accepts it. They sit like that for what seems like hours.
Cade sucks in a deep breath and stands up, looking down at his pants. They're mostly dry by this point, but still clear as day. Brooke stands up next to him and follows as he walks to the front of the house. She can hear a slight sloshing with each step. When Cade slips his boots off, his feet are soaking wet. He peels his socks off and throws them in the washer.
"Can I stay over?" Brooke asks longingly.
She knows he will say know. Tell her to take the truck back to home.
"Sure." Cade says unbuttoning his shirt.
Brooke turns so fast she nearly gets whiplash.
"What? Really?"
Cade shrugs.
"I don't have anything to hide from you anymore." He says casually, then goes back to his shy, insecure self.
"As...as long as you're...okay with it..."
Brooke runs her hand through his hair and pecks his cheek.
"Let's go ge---"
She stops herself from saying "get cleaned up"
"Shower" she corrects.
Cade doesn't even seem to notice.
- Writer
