One More Night [BellaB and Amaranthine]

Brandon Scott's life had turned upside down over the last several years. It started - and it all ended - one fateful August afternoon. Life had been good - he was on break from college, had a job, had been getting close to ex-girlfriend Amber Price once again. Somewhere along the line he had gone wrong, though. Maybe, just maybe, trusting girls to be honest about birth control was a bad call. He learned the first time, though. Emma Brooks was supposed to be a hookup, a fling - he'd never wanted anything serious. As soon as he'd started growing closer to Amber once again, he'd dropped her life a fly. How the fuck were things supposed to stay that way when he had a kid on the way, though?

Brandon felt like he lost her that day. Sure, he loved his son - Nolan was the light of his life. He was the best father he could be and though he didn't love the boy's mother as much as he could, Brandon was committed to doing anything that he could for his family - most days. Occasionally, he wanted to run away. Once in a while, he wondered what life could have been like if he had gotten another chance with Amber. He never regretted his son, but he regretted his son's mother.

Tonight was one of those nights. For the third time in the last week, Emma was having some fit or another and he was tired of it. Every minute he was getting a new text message, and all he wanted was to have a break from it for just a little while. Maybe that was why he ended up sitting on the hill in the field behind his old high school with whiskey poured in to a McDonalds cup. While he wasn't drunk - yet - he was definitely tipsy, and maybe that was why all that was on the twenty-three year old's mind was the life that he could have had instead of this. He picked up his phone, originally resting on the grass beside him, and sent a text message to a contact he hadn't touched in a couple months.

"Hey." One word - Brandon didn't know what else to say. There was too much to say and not enough time to say it, but if given the chance he would tell her that he still loved her for the millionth time.

Amber Price's life was also not what she expected. Had anyone asked her a few years ago where she saw herself right now it would have involved two cats, a degree and that beautiful girlfriend of hers. What did she actually have right now? None of that - she had practicals, a one bedroom apartment and an ex-girlfriend who split with her as soon as their final school year had finished. She wasn't really surprised, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Somewhere along the line something casual had turned in to one of the best things that had ever happened to her. How was she supposed to walk away from something so good?

Being home left her bitter. Being alone for the first time in months was difficult; she had never been good at being alone. The first week had been the hardest, but week two wasn't proving to be any easier. It was a Friday night and she didn't have to go in to work the next morning, so Amber had been relaxing on her couch with a bottle of wine and some popcorn as Netflix played in the background. In reality, she was paying attention to social media rather than the movie that was playing. Because of that, she saw the message that she got from Brandon immediately. Hey.

Well, fuck. The last thing she had been expecting was to see that name lighting up her screen, and she pushed a lock of her hair out of her face as she debated what she was going to reply with... if anything at all. There was history, years of it - her relationship with Brandon dated back to when she was young and naive. Ah, high school - she'd never been more happy to leave something behind than she had that. They had dated back when she was fourteen, and the summer after she finished high school she had started to think that maybe she could give him another chance when suddenly he was reproducing with some other chick... From the start she had always tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, only to be sucker punched in the face for it. Brandon was a series of missteps and mistakes, but Amber would be damned if she didn't respond at his beck and call.

"Hey, what's up?" She replied, not sure what else to say. Maybe there was a point behind messaging her this time.

Fuck, she had texted back - Brandon actually hadn't expected that to happen. The male looked at his phone, eyeing it closely for a minute, before he put it back down on the grass beside him. He leaned back and closed his deep brown eyes, tilting his chin so that he faced the starlit sky above him. It was a miracle that Amber didn't hate him by now but damn was he happy that she didn't. Despite all that happened she was still the light in his life, and if he had been able to choose Nolan's mother, the boy would have grown in Amber's womb and not Emma's. Not then, definitely not then. When that kid was born he was twenty and much too young to be mature enough to raise a kid, and Amber would have been eighteen. She would have still had so much ahead of her, so much to still do with her life. Hell, she still did. Out of the pair of them, that beautiful brunette was the one that would be going places.

After a moment of just sitting there, eyes closed and breath held, Brandon lowered his chin and opened his eyes once more. He picked up his phone and sent her another message: "Same ole, same ole. You back in town yet?" He didn't know if she was, but college usually let out this time of the year (ish) and hell, he was allowed to be curious. What luck would it be if she was home? Would he be able to steal her, make her come visit him? Maybe the liquor was talking but it had been two years since the last time they had wandered town aimlessy, talking for hours only to settle either where he sat now or on the stairs by the Catholic school several blocks away. He wanted to live through those memories once again.

His nonchalance made her chuckle - he said "same old" like that meant things were alright. Amber knew that wasn't the case, though. Brandon's definition of "same old" varied greatly from the norm, and she knew that his norm involved a shitty relationship that he only stayed in for the kid. She didn't know if she was proud of him for staying for his son's sake, or disappointed that he didn't make the call to leave her. After all, was it better for that little boy's parents to be together and fighting all the time or separated and not fighting all of the time? It wasn't her business but she thought about it a lot, especially since most of the time that the pair talked it generally involved his desire to walk away from his relationship. Was that terrible? It definitely was, but it wasn't her relationship and even though she felt like it was in a way her responsibility, it definitely was not.

"I am." She replied with two words in her first message, acknowledging his question about whether or not she had gotten back to town. Then, she sent off another message that explained her current situation. "Mel broke up with me bc I moved back home. Currently living alone in a cheap apartment. Kind of sucks, kind of awesome to actually live by myself for the first time. Not sure which part wins."

For a minute Brandon expected those first two words to be the only reply that he got, and if that was the case than he wouldn't have been surprised. In the past he had been pretty shitty to Amber and he knew that he deserved to be ignored and/or shut down. Somehow though that never happened - it could be the middle of a weeknight but she would still answer his calls. Why? Fuck if he knew. Amber was just one perons on a long list of people that he had let down, and sometimes he wondered how he had ever thought he had a chance to get her back. He had cheated on her back when they were younger. Hadn't stuck his dick in anyone, he'd been too virginal to do that quite yet, but but at fifteen kissing someone else was just as bad as sex. Why she had taken his virginity after the fact? No fucking clue.

"Shit really? Where?" He was asking about her apartment, hopefully she would get that message. Once upon a time she had lived three blocks over, in the bottom floor of a duplex that he had snuck in to time and time again over the years. Last he had heard her dad had moved out of that place and he would never get to relive those memories again but damn were they good. Part of Brandon hoped that she would say somewhere close, and he could get her to either come over or weasel his way over there.

As she waited for Brandon's next reply to come in, Amber flitted around her unpacked apartment to grab her bottle of wine. For the second time that night she poured herself a glass, filling it more than usual. Just talking to Brandon made her want to be drunk, because over the last few years she had found out that only booze and weed could quell her mind when the thoughts returned. She hated it - she hated that she still gave a shit but damn it she did. She thought about him, especially on a night like this when she was alone in a silent room with no idea where her life was supposed to go next.

She had just put the down the bottle of wine, a cheap bottle of red that she got purely because it was available at the grocery store down the road, when she heard the familiar trill of her ringtone from her beat up sofa in the living room. With one hand she grabbed her glass, a traditional tall glass rather than one made for wine, and then made her way back towards the sofa. She sipped at the drink before putting it down and grabbing her phone. After reading the text message, she sent another reply back to him: "Like a block from James Whitney."

James Whitney Secondary School - they had both spent four years at that place, and though it was years in the past sometimes it still felt like it was yesterday. All that mattered to her was that her apartment was cheap and that she could afford it without having to get roommates. She would if she had to, of course, but damn it felt good to be on her own for once. Even in college she'd had roommates.

James Whitney - that was the name of the building that Brandon sat behind, sipping whiskey and coke through a straw from a McDonalds bottle, wasting his night away reminiscing and wishing for what he had lost. God, Amber was perfect. He had never met another person so kind, so selfless, so perfect. She was compassionate and honest, not to mention every curve of her was delectably sexy. Maybe the alcohol was starting to win but the black haired boy gave in to his impulse and the next message he sent was risky.

"I'm there right now. You should come." He regretted the message as soon as he sent it, but at the same time he was praying that she would say yes. Brandon missed the way he talked, the way her lips moved when she spoke. Everything about her was entrancing and intoxicating in the best way possible. After a few seconds he sent off another text, hoping to make the offer sound more enticing to Amber. "I have booze. We can rant about life shit."

Brandon's messages surprised Amber to say the least. She had figured that he was either at home or at his parents house, trying to avoid that girlfriend of his. The last thing she had expected was for him to say that he was less than a block away from her, and then to invite her to join him. The offer was tempting - there was little else to do and she was just tired. Not sleepy, but mentally exhausted, drained. How else was she supposed to feel when her life felt like it was at a standstill?

She mulled for a moment but in the end, her decision was made as soon as he had started talking to her that night. Amber downed the rest of her glass before replying, wincing at the sharp taste as it slid down her throat. After letting out a sigh she picked her phone back up and then started typing. After finishing, one more reply was sent in Brandon's direction: "As long as there's booze I can be there in 5. See you soon."

The brunette didn't even wait for a reply before she hopped back to her feet and replaced the cotton pajama shorts she was wearing with the denim shorts she had been wearing earlier. A moment later, she was out the door and on her way with her phone in hand.

A goofy grin lit up Brandon's face as Amber said that she would come join him on the field, thrilled to hear that his favorite beautiful brunette would be coming to join him. He shook the paper cup in his hand, checking to see that it was still mostly full - it was. Okay, good. He didn't want Amber to come for booze and not be able to actually drink anything. Of course, even if they finished the mixed drink that sat supported between his thighs, he still had straight whiskey in a bottle that sat in his bag beside him. They'd just have to find something to mix it with or drink it straight - neither of which he minded. In a way he liked the sting of straight alcohol.

The male replied with "Hurry up ", tacking the winky face on at the end. Did that make it sound more like a joke or a come on? He wasn't quite sure but fuck it, he didn't even care if it was a come on. Amber was hot and he was unhappy in his relationship and thinking about all the could have beens and the elusive "one that got away". With the booze in his system he wasn't thinking straight and though he might regret acting like this when morning came, right then he didn't care.

She was half way out the door when he texted her back, and the brunette didn't check her phone until she had reached the stairwell. She paused at the top, read the message and just shook her head before she slid her phone in to her pocket and then got moving down the stairs. Amber walked out of the building and in to the warmth of the summer night, stars lighting the sky and streetlights lining the beaten-down road that she lived on. If she cut under the train tracks she would get there quicker so she did, and at the brisk pace she took she reached the front of the large high school building within a few minutes.

Her eyebrows furrowed, creasing the corners of her bright blue eyes, as she scanned the entirety of the front of the building. Brandon was nowhere to be seen, and for a moment anxiety struck her. Was he even here at all? What if he had already left? Needing to quell the worry, and also rather confused as to what was going on, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent him another message as she paced back and forth in front of the illuminated front entrance: "Where are you? I'm out front, don't see you anywhere. "

Brandon had the straw of the cup to his lips when his phone went off, buzzing next to him on the grassy hillside. Several minutes had passed since he had last checked it and he was lost in the infinity of the universe. How strange was it to think of how miniscule he was, all of humanity was, compared to the infinite cosmos? Sometimes, especially when inebriated, all he could think about was how little anything that he did matter. Would anyone miss him when he was gone? Nolan was too young to remember, Emma probably couldn't care less (false: that girl loved him more than the world over but her love wasn't enough to make him want to be around her).

"Come out back." He typed three words and his fingers fumbled over them; he had to stop to correct a typo a couple times. Once the message was sent, Brandon clambered to his feet and walked towards the side of the school. Hopefully she would go that way - if not they were going to just switch positions and he would have gotten up for no reason at all. As he walked, Brandon kept an eye out for the familiar form of his ex-girlfriend with his McDonalds cup in one hand and his phone in the other.

Luck was on their side - Amber had wandered in the same direction that Brandon's slim form appeared from just a minute after she had last texted him. As she saw him in the distance she shoved her phone in to her backpack. After shoving her hands back in to her pocket she briskly cleared the space between her and her ex-lover, and as soon as she reached Brandon she pulled her hands out and pulled him in to a tight hug. Despite all the time that had passed, they would still always great each other happily - big, tight squeezes of hugs that never seemed to end.

"Hey asshole," she greeted in a tone that was rather pleasant, a stark difference from the name that she called him. Amber meant well, she really did. Provided Brandon was reasonably present, he would know that the tone showed her true intent - that she was happy to see him, despite the less-than-perfect history that they shared.

Amber could call him an asshole until the day he died, but Brandon was still thrilled to be able to wrap his arms around the beautiful brunette and he squeezed her tight, rocking side to side for several seconds before finally releasing her. Even after she was out of his arms, Brandon's face was lit up in a wide, tooth-bearing grin. He may not have seen her in ages (must have been... fuck, months?) but she was still beautiful; just as if not more so than the last time that he had seen her. When hadn't she been, though? Amber was a saint among sinners, of maybe he was just a little too drunk. Either way, he was a damn happy man right now.

"Hey beautiful," he remarked back; he wouldn't be himself if he didn't at least try to flirt with her whether he was sober or not.

Brandon's tight, squeezing hug didn't come as a surprise to Amber, nor did the fact that he went out of a way to make a remark about her appearance. She didn't even feel like she looked too great, but maybe the low-cut tank top she was wearing was what caught his eyes. It was a summer night and she sure as hell hadn't dressed warm - an open button down over a tank top and some shorts. A lot of skin was showing, but that was pretty typical for her. Regardless, she gave him a skeptical head shake and then reached out for the cup he held, which she assumed would have the alcohol that he had mentioned before she had left.

"Gimme some," she said - demanding words but a requesting tone as her fingers danced in front of her in hopes that he would hand it over. At least to Amber it was obvious that Brandon was already drunk - now if only she was at the same level as he was. Maybe in a few minutes time she would be blissfully inebriated.

"Gotta ask nicely," the tall, lean man quirked back at her, pulling the cup out of Amber's fingers just as she reached it. The grin only grew as he brought the straw to his own lips. Once he had finished taking another sip of the drink, he offered the bottle out towards the brunette as he knew that she was just being teasing. After handing it back to her, he held his hand out for her in hopes that she would take it and he could lead her towards the back of the school. They had a "spot" back there, under a large oak tree at the top of the hill that lead down to the soccer field.

Whether she took his hand or not, Brandon turned on his heel and started walking back around the side of the school, hoping that she would follow. He even let her keep the cup the entire trip back, and wouldn't even ask for it back until after they had settled down under the tree.

Brandon earned himself another shake of her head as he pulled the cup away from Amber's hand just a second before she wrapped her long, slender fingers around the malleable paper material. Her ocean blue eyes narrowed at him as he brought it to his own lips, a glare that only faded when he finally offered her out to it once more - and didn't pull it from her grasp. That frown on her tight lips turned to a smile and she sucked the coke and whiskey mixture in to her mouth as he turned and held his hand out to her.

How long had it been since the last time that she had been here? A couple years, now. Even after they had finished school that field out back had been a common spot for them to meet up and hang out. Amber let out a sigh as her hand fell from Brandon's, and she lowered herself to the ground beneath the thick summer canopy of the large oak that stood at the top of the hill. For a moment she simply sat there, eyes closed and aimed towards the sky, before she brought the cup back to her lips and allowed her eyes to flutter back open.

"God it's nice out," she sighed as she handed the cup back to him. "What have you been up to anyways? I haven't seen you since Christmas."

Like he needed more booze - but he had been the one to reach out for the cup. Brandon swirled the drink in his hand quickly, testing to see how much was left, and then he brought the straw to his lips once more. After downing a mouthful he put the cup down on the grass between their bodies and laid down on the sparsely grassed ground. With his hands up behind his head he let out a sigh. What had he been up to? Work, mostly, and whenever he wasn't there he was at home balancing a two year old and an angry girlfriend. He loved his kid but that woman? Not so much. Emma made being home unbearable, especially when she blew up his phone with text after text just because he took a walk.

"I'm just getting more sick of Emma every day that goes by," he complained. The woman didn't work or anything anything, not even with Nolan in daycare or watched by his mother more than enough for her to. If that wasn't the case then he would get it, but most of the time he just felt like he was being used for his wallet.

"I thought that you two were doing good?" Generally, a lack of hearing from Brandon meant that him and his girlfriend weren't fighting - Amber had learned that much over the years as she wondered what he was getting up to with his life. The brunette stretched her arms out in front of her, stretching from the shoulders, before she shimmied her body slightly down and laid with her head about even with the boy beside her's. One hand supported her head, holding the back of her skull from the ground, while the hand between them rested on her abdomen.

"I don't get why you stay if you hate it so much," she mused as that hand on her belly found the cup that they were sharing, and she only craned her neck enough to grab the straw between her lips. All the while she didn't look at him, her gaze focused on the twinkling of dead stars in the sky and the luminescence of the full moon over head.

"Nolan, mostly." Brandon spoke slowly as his words were altered by the amount of booze in his system. When Amber put the cup back down he picked it up for himself and sucked hard until the tell-tale sounds of sucking air from a straw marked the fact that the drink was almost done. He had downed the majority of a large coke, a decent portion of which was whiskey instead. With a sigh he sat back up and grabbed his backpack from its spot at the base of the tree and pulled out both a two liter bottle of coke and a 24 ounce bottle of whiskey that was currently about half full. He poured several ounces of whiskey in to the bottom of the cup, eyeing the bottle after and then pouring just a touch more, and then filled it to the top with more of the coke. After popping the lid back on he brought the straw back to his mouth and tested the mixture - strong, just like he liked it.

"I wanna give that kid better than my dad gave me y'know?" He didn't exactly have the greatest history, especially not with his father. The man had been unavailable throughout the majority of Brandon's childhood and only showed up as he was a teenager. In fact, the stress of him returning, a drunk and a deadbeat, had influenced Brandon in to the flurry of chaos that had resulting on him cheating on Amber back when they were teens. Having a son of his own meant that he felt a strong need to do better.

Fuck, right - he had a kid. Amber was actually pretty damn impressed at his devotion to his son, but she didn't think that meant that he had to torture himself in a relationship that he hated. She knew that it was possible for someone to parent without being with the other parent - she had watched her own parents try to co-parent her and her younger brother. It hadn't always been pleasant and they had still fought at times, but she had grown up always knowing that both of her parents loved her.

"You can do that," she said softly, turning her head to look at him. There was a softness in her eyes, and she held her hand out in a silent request to take the cup back from him. "You don't gotta force yourself to be unhappy for his sake, he'd be better off with parents who weren't at each others' throats."

"He just deserves so much better than that Amber." The man's words slurred slightly together, a toast to just how much booze he had put in his system already. If he was smart then he would stop. However, Brandon was not known for being smart. He cheated on the best girl he'd ever met, skipped condoms enough to knock a girl he wasn't truly interested in up, stayed with her. The only good thing he had ever done was love his son.

Maybe he was feeling a little nostalgic or maybe he was feeling dumb but damn he wished that he could go back in time and manage to do everything over again. If he had a chance then he would do it right. He would leave Emma before he knocked her up and got tied to her for the rest of his life, and the only woman he would ever have a child with would be Amber herself. He couldn't get the "could have beens" out of his head as he looked to the beautiful brunette beside him. How many times had they laid here together? How many times had they got laid here? Both too much and not enough.

Brandon's words sounded like a plea, especially when coupled with the nostalgic way that he looked at her. The brunette offered her ex-lover a slight smile as she continued to sip at the cup. With nothing to distract her she didn't put it down, and she was quickly making her way through the whiskey drink inside. Without realizing it, or really meaning to, she was winding up just as intoxicated as he was.

"Better than parents who are at each others' throats? Yeah, he does." Being a child of divorce may have skewed her opinions of things, but she couldn't imagine what growing up would have been like if her parents hadn't split. She had heard stories from both sides about how shitty things had been before her brother was born, and that things had only been worse after. Luckily both her and Samuel had both been too young to remember. Right now, Brandon's kid wouldn't remember either. "You're being selfish. You're too focused on what you think the right way to do things is to realize that there are better choices."

Amber's reply grated Brandon; did she really just say that wanting the best for his son was selfish? He did not see things that way at all - if anything he was being brave and selfless. It seemed that the pair had drastically different opinions on what the right thing to do here was. The problem with that was that this was his child, not hers. While he saw her point, he didn't like being told how to parent correctly. Everyone raised their kids differently and just because something had worked for her didn't mean it was better for everyone.

He wanted to leave, though. Brandon was tired of being in a relationship that he wasn't happy with, and lately he had been spending more and more time away from home. While he never ventured far, either simply taking a walk or spending the night at his mother's several blocks away, wouldn't it hurt Nolan to see daddy walk away so much? Fuck - he really didn't want to think about his kid. The one all-encompassing thought in Brandon's mind was that he wanted to be able to do every differently.

"Yeah... but when have I ever made the right choice?" His words were self-deprecating, but true. His gaze turned towards Amber and he was struck with a sudden urge to just kiss her. He was drunk enough to give in to the urge - grab the cup from her hand and put it in the clear on the other side of her, and then push his lips hard against hers. He ended up rolled on his side, half on top of her.

Brandon's sudden move came as a surprise to the drunken brunette, who had zero expectation of being kissed or, well, anything, while out on this adventure. The alcohol in her system kept Amber from fighting, however. His lips found hers and it was like they had never been apart - she remembered the softness perfectly, their shape as they molded against her, the way he tasted (but this time tainted by whiskey).

"I think this is one of those bad choices," she whispered, though she was unable to pull away from him. Brandon wasn't the only one not thinking straight and in that moment years of history came back to her all at once. For a moment she hovered just millimeters from her lips, locking their eyes together for a moment before she gave in made her own desire clear by returning with her own heated kiss.

Oh, this definitely was not a good decision - he would hate himself once he was done more than likely. If not, it would hit him by the time that morning came. For now, though, Brandon was lost in this woman's soft lips and the way she smelled, the whiskey on her breath and how easily he found himself pulled in. He grabbed the side of her face and rolled so that he was on top of her. His legs were separated just enough to fit his hips and he used his empty hand to keep his upper body supported and off of the ground.

"Who cares?" He muttered against Amber's lips as he refused to pull away - not now. His teeth grazed her lower lip and then he let go of her cheek so that his hand could move south towards her chest. At this point he had a one track mind - he wanted to be as close to Amber as physically possible. A sudden wave of lust had also struck him, and if he had his way he would end up inside of her and soon.