Bridgette - Chapter Four: How the Game is Played

It was the day of the pool party and our house was a buzz of excitement.  Mom was in the kitchen preparing all sorts of yummy food; Dad was outside making sure all the chairs, tables, and the pool were clean; Kate, Charlie and I were making sure the music was ready to go, and Jeff. . .well, Jeff was doing what he did best, being Mr. Cool.

At about 11:00 Mom called to us upstairs. “Guys! It’s about an hour till the party starts! You might want to change and get ready.” We had had many parties at our house though the years, but this was the first for one for our senior year and we wanted it to be the best.

After we had all changed, we headed down to the pool.  I always thought it was funny that my parents had built this house with a pool. Neither of them used it much so it just seemed odd that they put one in when the house was built. I suppose they were thinking of us even though we were toddlers when we moved here.

We were standing around talking when people started to arrive. Star was the first one. She had a piano lesson earlier in the day so was just now making it over.  Julia and Trent arrived together which I thought was interesting. I had noticed the last couple days that where one was, so was the other. They seemed awful clingy.

Julia and Trent joined us and we continued to talk. Then Carson and Waverly arrived; they came out to the pool area and she was once again stuck to him like glue.  I was starting to wonder if she was scared or nervous around us.

I walked over to them and tried to put her at ease. “Hey there you two! Glad you could come Waverly!”

“Thanks, Bridge.” She had started calling me that but I could tell it was uncomfortable for her.

“Hope you guys are hungry cause Mom is making a ton of food.  There’s drinks in a tub over by the TV and of course there’s music, the pool, and the hot tub.”

As I talked to both of them, I noticed Waverly’s eyes getting huge.  “Are you okay Waverly?” I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.

“Yeah. . .Since I’ve never been to your house I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.” It had never really occurred to me that our house was overwhelming to others. None of our friends had really taken issue with our house before. Sure, it was a big ranch on a big piece of property, but most people didn’t make a big deal about it. Maybe it was because we didn’t make a big deal about it ourselves. Thanks to Mom and Dad’s careers we had money that allowed us to buy things we enjoyed but we never were the type of people to shove it in people’s faces.

“It’s okay Waverly. Hey, you want to go check out the TV? It’s awesome!” Thank goodness Carson intervened since I had no idea how to respond to her.  I watched as they walked toward the TV with Waverly looking around like a lost child in a museum; not knowing where to look next.

“What was that about?” Kate came up and asked me.

“I’m not sure; something about her feeling overwhelmed by our house. Did you guys feel that way?” everyone else had gathered over to where Kate and I were.

“Maybe a little bit at first, but I got over it once I saw the video game room downstairs.” Trent joked.

“Yeah, I don’t know why Waverly would make such a big deal about it.” Julia piped in.

“Well, whatever the case, I guess we should try to make her feel comfortable and welcome.” I suggested to everyone.

“Why do we have to go out of our way to make her feel comfortable?” Charlie annoyingly asked.

“Because for whatever reason, Carson has started dating her and for that reason alone, we need to be nice to her.” I couldn’t believe the words were coming out of my mouth but we really had no other choice. If we didn’t play nice, we risked losing Carson as a friend. At that point I noticed that Waverly and Carson were heading towards us.

“Hey Bridge, is it okay if Waverly uses one of the restrooms in the house?”

“Of course it is! There’s no need to ask! Do you want me to show you where one is, Waverly?”

“No! I mean, I think I can find it if you tell me where to go.”

“The closest one is through the deck doors. After you go through them, go through the family room into the hallway. Turn left into the hallway and there’s one at the end of it.”

“Thanks. I think I got it.”

“If not, my Mom should be in the kitchen so if you get lost just yell for her and she’ll help you.”

“Thanks! Be back in a minute.” She turned around and walked on to the deck and then into the house.

“Carson, she seems a little. . .nervous, what can we do to make her feel more comfortable?” Kate asked.

“She’ll be fine, just give her a little time and she’ll warm up to you all. She kind of feels like an outsider right now since we’ve all been friends for so long and she’s just coming in.”

“There’s not much we can do about that, bud.” Charlie stated. I gave him a warning glance.

“I know. I really think that with a little bit of time, she’ll start to feel more comfortable.” Carson reassured us.

*****

I entered the house and it was exactly what I thought it would look like. Exquisite furnishings, rugs, paintings; it was absolutely beautiful.  It would figure that her house would be this beautiful.  Bridgette, the girl who had everything, well, almost everything. I had after all gotten Carson which I was sure was eating her up inside.   After three years of being in school together I had finally beaten her at something and in my opinion, it was the one thing that mattered most. She was too stupid to realize what she had right in front of her with Carson and hopefully by the time she had realized it, I had already snatched him up.  I did really like Carson but knowing that I had taken something from her made it even better.

I entered the hallway and looked to the left.  I saw the door at the end of the hallway but instead of turning to go to it, I turned right and headed toward the stairs. I had a huge curiosity about seeing where the princess slept.

I could hear their mom in the kitchen and knew I had to creep as quiet as a mouse up the stairs.  I was grateful that I reached the top of the stairs without one creaking.

When I turned to look down the hallway, I was shocked by the number of doors. There were six to choose from, plus, there was a spiral staircase that led to another floor of the house. How big is this house? It’s gigantic! Once again, I was disgusted by the fact that of course she would live in such a house.

I had passed by this house many times while growing up and had always wondered what it looked like on the inside. I couldn’t believe that I was actually inside it now. When I was little, I often had wondered about the people living inside it and who they were. Once we started school, I had finally found out. They had always been popular. Everyone wanted to be invited to their house and their parties so people were always nice to them. I had tried being friends with Bridgette when we were younger but she acted like I didn’t exist. Ever since then, I had tried to think of a way to get little miss perfect back. Once I had found out she had rejected Carson this summer, I knew I finally had my chance.

I tried the first door on the left and looked inside. It appeared to be a guest room. This is bigger than my parents’ bedroom.

I opened the next door on the left and was looking into a bathroom. The next door on the left was a nursery. I started thinking about this past summer and how Bridgette and Charlie had almost lost their mother. Although I wouldn’t want anything like that to actually happen to anyone, it was kind of satisfying to know that the princess had had some turmoil in her perfect life.  The next door on the left appeared to be the master bedroom.  About what I would have expected.

I then moved over to the right side of the hallway. I tried the door at the end of the hallway. I looked in and noticed that there were two twin beds and the room was decorated in a masculine theme. I guessed that this was Charlie and Jeff’s room.

I must be getting close. The last door in the hallway proved to be the jackpot. I opened it and saw the princess’s room.  It was exactly the same size as the boys room but was done in a very feminine theme. 

I noticed some pictures on the wall and walked over to them.  Some of them were older and were probably Bridgette’s family.  I was about to head to her desk when I was startled by someone.

“Waverly, why are you in my room?”

I turned to see Bridgette standing in the doorway. Crap! She caught me!

“Oh hi Bridge, I got lost finding the bathroom.”

“Um…Waverly, I told you it was on the first floor. Plus, you could have asked my Mom if you’d gotten lost.”

“So you don’t trust me, is that it? I assume since you came looking for me.”

“No, I came looking for you because you had been gone for a while and Carson was worried about you.”

“Oh don’t blame Carson for this, you obviously have a problem with me.”

 *****

What is her deal? She’s the one that’s in my room ! “No Waverly, I don’t really have a problem with you but I do have a problem with you snooping in my room.”

“Oh whatever. You know you have a problem with me, after all, I’m the one who snagged Carson. You were either too slow or too stupid to get him. Maybe it was a little bit of both.” She had a smirk on her face that I wanted to smack off of it.

“Wow, Waverly, here I’ve been trying to be nice to you and instead I should have been the complete opposite. I was feeling bad for you because you seemed to be uncomfortable around us and was trying my best to figure out how to make you feel more welcome. Silly me, I guess now I won’t have to try so hard.” She squinted her eyes at me and then laughed.

“Oh, I would say that you’ll have to be extra nice to me from now on.”

“Why would I be nice to you after this?!”

“Because if you don’t I’m going to tell Carson about how you’ve been calling me names and making me feel unwelcome. Not only that, I’ll make it sound like you’re brother and other friends are giving me a hard time and then Carson will get mad at all of you and stop being friends with you.”

“You really think he’ll believe you? I mean he’s been dating you all of a month or two and he’s known us for years.”

“But he already listens to me. When we first started back to school I told him how uncomfortable I was with all of you and that I thought you all were making fun of me. He talked to you about it, didn’t he? He did mention that he didn’t appreciate you acting upset that he was dating me, didn’t he? That wasn’t him; that was me. He did that because I acted all pitiful and he believed me. So imagine what he would do if I started telling him that you and your friends are making me feel unwelcome and it’s just crushing my heart.”

I stood there stunned for a minute. I had never really liked Waverly but I had thought that it was because I usually found her slightly annoying. But it turned out that my gut feeling about her was right and that there was something about her that was not just annoying but just down right mean.

“Waverly, why would you even think to do that? We’ve been nothing but nice to you.”

“Oh whatever! I tried when we were little to be friends with you and you acted like I was the last person in the world that you wanted to be friends with.”

“What in the world are you talking about Waverly?! I have no memory of you trying to be friends with me.”

“That’s because you’ve always thought you were so much better than me and never gave me the time of day.”

“This is ridiculous Waverly! I mean are you really going to act like this about something that you claim happened years ago and I honestly have no memory of it happening.”

“Oh it doesn’t matter if you have any memory of it; I do. I’ve been waiting to get a chance to get back at you and I’ve finally got it.”

“Whatever Waverly, just get out of my room.”

She walked past me and then turned around. “And by the way, I wouldn’t go telling Carson about any of this or I’ll make sure he stops being friends with you.  I may do that anyway but for now I’ll let you sweat about when it will actually happen.”

With that she turned around and headed downstairs.  I stood there outside my door absolutely stunned by what had just happened.  I wished I could think of a way to stop what Waverly was doing, but I knew she was right. If Carson had really acted the way he had several days ago because of what she had said to him, I was screwed. I was going to have to play her game and wait for a chance to get Carson out from being under her spell.

I walked outside and saw her and Carson standing around everyone. Carson had his arm around her and the moment Waverly saw me, she cuddled closer to him. Just wait Waverly, I don’t know how long it will take, but I will beat you at your own game.



Bridgette - Chapter Three: Are You Really That Blind?

I'm giving this chapter a PG-13 rating since there is a moment where mature behavior is suggested (well, maybe more than suggested). Still, I just wanted to warn people; even though there's a warning when you enter the blog.

To say I was pleasant company during the drive home after school that day would be the most massive lie in history. I drove with both hands on the wheel and both eyes forward. I had just lived through the worst school day I had ever had. Charlie of course tried to cheer me up by making some joke, but he failed, horribly.

We arrived at the house and I wanted nothing more than to lock myself in my room. I slammed my car door shut and didn’t bother to wait for Charlie, Kate, and Jeff.

I heard Kate tell Charlie to let me be before I walked through the door.  I was wishing and praying that I would make it to my room without being noticed by Mom or Dad. I crept up the stairs and rushed to my bedroom.

I closed the door quietly and locked it. All I could do was stand there leaning against my door in shock about the day I had just had.

I couldn’t help feeling that I was losing my best friend. I knew I didn’t want that to happen but I knew if I kept trying to persuade Carson that dating Waverly was a bad idea, I was probably going to lose him as my best friend.

I guess I’m just going to have to get over it and hope that their relationship doesn’t last too long. In the meantime, I’ll just try to get along with Waverly. Who knows, maybe I’ll see what Carson thinks is so great about her. . .Who am I kidding.  I chuckled to myself. I will probably never understand what Carson’s fascination with her is. But sometimes you gotta take one for the team and this was one of those times.

As I sat down at my desk to do my homework, I tried to come up with a plan to persuade Carson that everything really was okay between the two of us and Waverly and me.

 I was about halfway done with my homework when I heard Charlie and Jeff’s door shut and then there was a bang on the wall that was between our two rooms. I rolled my eyes and got up.

“Hey! Whoever’s in there, shut up! I’m trying to do homework in here!” I shouted as I banged on the wall. I heard the muffled sound of voices and then it was quiet.

Good! After the day I’ve had I don’t want to have to deal with either of them being their obnoxious selves.  I loved my brothers but they were, you know, teenage guys and could sometimes be the most annoying creatures on the planet. 

I sat back down at my desk and started to work on my homework again. After a couple minutes I heard a loud thud on the ground that sounded like it came from the guys’ room again. That’s it! They’ve picked the wrong day to mess with me. I stood up and stomped out my door and then right next door to their room. Without hesitation I flung the door open and started going off on whoever was in the room.

“I don’t care what you’re doing in here! I’m over there trying to actually do homework and you’re in here making all kinds. . .of. . .” I almost screamed at what I saw. In front of me, on the floor, was my other best friend and my brother in a position I never thought I’d see them in.

For a few seconds we were all frozen from shock.  Once it registered what I was seeing, I covered my mouth and ran into my room trying not to scream from the horror of seeing my best girlfriend and my brother together.

I sat on my bed hugging my knees when I heard a knock on the door.

“Bridge, can we come in?” I heard Kate ask from the other side of the door. Before I could answer Charlie was flinging the door open.

“Why are you asking her when she doesn’t even bother to knock herself. This whole situation could have been avoided if she had.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and stood up. “Don’t you dare blame this on me!” I was trying my best to not talk too loud since I didn’t want Mom and Dad rushing up stairs. “I’m not the one getting it on with our best friend.  What is this?! The day of “Let’s keep the fact that your best friends are dating people and haven’t bothered to tell you day?! I assume you all are dating, right? Or is this a sometimes thing with the two of you? And exactly how long has this been going on behind my back.” I looked over at Kate when I said the last part.

She put her head down and mumbled an answer I couldn’t understand.

“I’m sorry? What’s that? I can’t understand your mumbling.”

“She said since this summer after Scarlett was born. And dammit Bridge, stop being such a drama queen about everything! We’ve all had a lot to deal with this summer and have been walking on eggshells trying to protect each other.  We knew you were having a difficult time with, well, Carson this summer and we didn’t want to add to your problems. It wasn’t done to piss you off.”

I looked back and forth between them and I couldn’t help it, I started crying. Kate came over to me and put her arm around me.  “This has been one of the worst days I have ever had.”

“Finding out that we’re dating is one of the worst things for you?” Charlie looked like he was going to explode.

“No, I was trying to explain this to Carson earlier today. It’s not so much that you all are dating or even who it is, it’s that you didn’t tell me. For whatever reason, you didn’t.  We’re all supposed to be friends and it just feels like right now everyone is keeping things from me.”

“Charlie, do you mind if I talk to Bridge alone?” Charlie looked at Kate and he smiled sweetly at her. I had never seen him look at a girl like that and it actually kind of warmed my heart.

"Sure. As long as Bridge promises to be nice.”

“Oh good grief Charlie! She is my best friend you know.” I reminded him.

“All right.” He looked one more time at Kate and I noticed her blush. 

I was starting to wonder how I hadn’t noticed the little looks they were giving each other before. Charlie closed the door as he walked out and Kate turned to look at me.

“Bridge, I hope you know we didn’t keep any of this from you because we don’t trust you. If anything, that’s the furthest thing from the truth. It’s like Charlie said, our relationship changed around the time Scarlett was born and we saw how hard it was on you and the rest of the family and we didn’t want to create anymore ripples in peoples’ lives. So we decided to not tell anyone.  We kept waiting for a good time but it just didn’t seem to present itself.”

 “But Charlie?! I mean, how can you even look at him and be even remotely attracted to him?!”

“Oh Bridge, of course you look at him like that! He’s your brother.  I think he and I had been fighting our feelings for each other for a while. It took the shock of the events this summer to help us realize that it wasn’t worth fighting our feelings anymore.”

“But aren’t you worried about what will happen to your friendship if things don’t work out?”

“Honestly, no. I mean we did sit down and talk about our feelings
 and that conversation was a little hard just because we kind of had an idea that we each liked each other but neither of us were one hundred percent sure.  But once we got over that hurdle, there’s been no looking back.”

I stood there for a minute thinking about Carson and how we too had had a conversation about our relationship during the summer but it had gone in a completely different direction.

“Wha’cha thinkin about, Bridge?”

“Oh. . .well. . .”

“Carson, right?”

"How is it that you can always read my mind?”

“Bridge, we’ve known each other since we were born in the hospital.”

“Oh, yeah.” I attempted to chuckle. “I just keep thinking about what he said to me today and about how we had a similar conversation about our friendship, relationship, whatever you want to call it, this summer.  We came to a completely different conclusion though.”

“Really? Cause where I’m standing, I just don’t see how that was possible.”

"What do you mean?”

“Oh come on Bridge! He’s been interested in you since our freshman year. Are you really that blind! Sure, he’s a great friend but when you’re not looking, he sneaks glances at you. I thought you knew.”

“No! I mean, I kind of had an idea that he started having feelings for me last year but I didn’t think it went back that far.  He seemed pretty willing to just remain friends when we talked this summer. Are you sure?”

“Yeah Bridge. We’ve all known, we figured you knew but just weren’t interested. I have noticed that he really hasn’t been doing that since about mid-summer though.  Which probably makes you feel a little relieved.”

“I guess. . .I don’t understand something though, why didn’t he mention it when we talked this summer? He acted like it was no big deal that we were just friends.  If he really liked me that much, wouldn’t he have said something?”

“I don’t think I can answer that Bridge. Only Carson can; but maybe he did it because he saw how you felt and he didn’t want to risk losing you as a friend.”

At that moment, it hit me right between the eyes.  “I always put my feelings aside for you. . .” That’s what he had told me earlier.

“Oh God, Kate! I think I just figured out why Carson was so pissed at me today. And, actually, why he’s been distant the last couple of weeks. I think you’re right. I think he may have still had feelings for me and I shot him down this summer. Even worse, I didn’t even bother to think about how he felt. I told him how I felt and then I didn’t really give him an opportunity to tell me. I just assumed he felt the same; and honestly, I didn’t care if he didn’t. I just didn’t want to deal with it then and tried to shove it under a rug, or hide it in a closet.  No wonder he’s so mad at me.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Bridge. Your family has had a tough summer. I’m sure that’s why he decided to not let you know how he felt; not because you didn’t give him an opportunity to tell you.”

But as I laid in bed later that night, I couldn’t help shake the feeling that Kate was wrong. She wasn’t there the day Carson and I had our talk. I had rushed through telling Carson how I felt and when he quickly agreed, I immediately carried on like nothing had happened. 

Maybe this is why you haven’t really had a boyfriend yet?  My conscience was doing its best to make me feel even worse.  What, the fact that I seem to be oblivious about a guy liking me?

No, the fact that you are so absorbed in yourself and how you feel. Wow, thanks for the confidence boost there conscience.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe there was some truth to that statement.  Man, do I owe Carson a big apology.

I laid awake most of the night trying to think about how to apologize to him. I definitely owed him one and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to apologize again for giving him a hard time for dating Waverly. There had to be some good reason he was dating her, so I needed to find out what that was and go with it.

The next morning I woke up and got ready for school. I almost ran into Charlie as I was getting breakfast and my face blushed when I looked at him. It was going to take me awhile to get the sight of him and Kate out of my brain.

As we finished breakfast, Kate came over and Charlie stood up. He walked over to Kate and cleared his throat. “Everyone, we have something we’d like to say.”

We all stopped eating and looked at them. “We figured now was a good time to tell you that we’re dating and have been for several months.”

I will never forget Mom’s response. “Well, it’s about time you finally told us! We’ve known the whole time but we’re waiting for you to tell us.”

Mom and Dad got up and hugged them.

Charlie looked at Jeff “Did you know bro?”

“Uh. . . yeah. I think everyone did. It was pretty obvious.”

I had never felt so ashamed. Everyone had noticed, but me. Was I really so self-absorbed that I didn’t pay attention to the people I loved?

“Well, we better get going to school. Come on Bridge and Jeff.” Charlie and Kate walked toward the front door and Jeff and I grabbed our stuff.

“Bye kids! Have a great day!” Mom called out after us.

I drove all of us to school and couldn’t help but sneak glances at Charlie and Kate in the rearview mirror. I could tell they were holding hands and they kept looking at each other, smiling. I still couldn’t get over the fact that I was so blind that I didn’t even see that they were together.

After arriving at school Charlie, Kate and I headed over to our normal before school meeting spot. Carson and Waverly were already there. I noticed how once again, as I walked up to them, Waverly moved closer to Carson. I tried to brush it off.

Carson looked over at Charlie and Kate and got a big smile on his face. “Finally decided to let the cat out of the bag, huh?” Charlie and Kate were holding hands and it seemed that quite a few people in school were noticing.

“Yeah, did you know too? We were trying so hard to keep it quiet. I thought we had done a great job.” Charlie told him.

“Are you kidding?! Anyone would have noticed the glances between the two of you.  If anything, you did a really bad job.” Once again, I was being shown how oblivious I was to everything. I looked up at Waverly and she was looking at me.

“So, Waverly, we all had talked this summer about having a back to school party at our house. It’s going to be this Saturday and of course, you’re more than welcome to come.” As soon as the words left my mouth, everyone turned and looked at me like I had lost it. I mean, I was really trying to be nice to her.

“Oh. . .that’s really nice of you Bridgette. Thanks.”

“No problem. And please don’t call me Bridgette. People only call me that when I’m in trouble.” I glanced really quick at Carson then looked back at Waverly.  “Just fair warning, Trent is known for tossing people in the pool so make sure you wear a swimsuit.”

“Oh man! Do you remember the time that he threw Julia in the pool? I thought she was going to kill him!”

We all started walking to our classes when I felt a hand on my arm. “Bridge?” I turned to look and it was Carson. “Thanks for trying with Waverly.”

“No problem. That’s what friends do. But you and I definitely need to sit down and talk about what happened yesterday.”  We kept walking and I thought about how that was a conversation I was not thrilled about having.

New Chapter...Finally!!

So sorry this has taken so long! After things settled down I realized I had writer's block. So it took me a little bit to get past it. I can safely say that it is over though and Bridgette's story is back on track.  Hope you enjoy today's new chapter and the ones coming up.

Thanks for reading!
Sandybeachgirl