AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What do you want to learn, Brayden?” Walking around my desk, I lean on the front, crossing my arms in front of me. His eyes scan both of my fully tattooed arms and then he shrugs his shoulders.
“I don’t know. Maybe how to not be an asshole? Seems you could learn a thing of two in that department, too?”
The big guns are coming out today. Granted, the way I handled earlier wasn’t mature of me. I hated seeing him with another guy, especially someone I know he’s been with, well I assume he has been with by the way they kissed.
That still didn’t warrant me speaking about his private work in front of other pupils, no matter who it was. I realize that . . . now.
I put my hands up in surrender.
“I was an asshole earlier, Brayden, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have disclosed anything about your personal grades in front of your boyfriend.” It slips before I can even think about it, and I instantly regret it. His eyebrows pinch together as he rears his head back, he tilts his head. Something I have noticed he does when he is confused about something, and I find it quite adorable. It reminds me of when dogs do head tilts. I bite my cheek to stop myself smirking.
“Boyfriend? Who said Lan was my boyfriend?”
“Your hook up or whatever you youngsters call it.” I raise an eyebrow, a small smile tilting up on one side of my face. He gives me a closed lip smile and shakes his head, glancing down.
“Lan is not my boyfriend. We have hooked up, yes, and I know I gave off the impression earlier that we were late because we were hooking up, but that wasn’t the case. We were in the coffee shop for an hour. I don’t enjoy drinking my coffee too hot, I prefer it warm, and it took a while to cool down before I could drink it.” He exhales as if he’s been holding that on his chest all day. “That’s why we were late.”
“Because your coffee was too hot.” I hold my laugh in, but barely as I smile at him.
“Hey, I enjoy my coffee lukewarm, there is nothing wrong with that.” He leans back in his chair, throwing one arm out to the side and leaning it on the chair beside him.
“OK, now we have discovered thatLanceand not Lanson”—I raise my eyebrow at him—“is your hook up and you enjoy lukewarm coffee. Can we get on with the class?”
“Yeah, sorry. I always forget his name. That’s why I stick with Lan now and hewasmy hook up.” He mumbles the last few words as he leans down and grabs a pad and pen out of his pocket. My ears perk up at thewas, but I try to mask it by nodding and returning to my seat.
“I had a thought which I think will be brilliant for your grade, but it will take some work on your part.”
“Shoot.”
“I think we can link this with your marketing assignment. I want you to come up with a business idea. It can be anything you want. It doesn’t even have to be a profitable business, it can be a nonprofit, whatever you wish. I don’t know if you have thought much about your marketing assignment but—”
“I do have an idea and I don’t know if it’s something I can class as a business,” he says, tapping the pen on his desk.
“Let’s hear it.”
“On my marketing project, I wanted to market a charity and find ways of getting people to donate. By reaching out to multimillion dollar companies who could showcase their commitment to strategic business goals such as social responsibility and ESG objectives.”
I stare at Brayden in amazement. I don’t think he realizes how impressed I am. The thought he has put into this already and the fact he even thought out the larger companies and why they might donate . . .
“Wow.” I’m speechless. My cheeks hurt from how big I smile at him. “It’s perfect, Brayden.” I can’t help but stare at him in amazement.
“Thanks,” he replies shyly, dipping his head, but not before I see the blush creep up his face.
“What’s the charity?” I question.
“I don’t know how it works, but it’s more of a center, but a charity to set up to fund the center.” He pauses, fixating on his pen that he continues to tap away on the table. He doesn’t peer up at me before he says.
“I want to create a rehab center. But not any old rehab center, and nothing like the state ones. I want to create a safe space not only for people with addiction, but for the families who have had addiction affect them.” He gulps. “Like me and Bex.” He winces, as if he’s trying to hold off bad memories. He opens his mouth to talk and closes it again, frowning down at the tapping pen.
“Talk to me,” I whisper.
He takes a few gulps. “Bex was a good kid.” He smiles, as if the good memories flood his thoughts. “He was beyond selfless, always tried to hide me from the bad in the world. He protected me day in and day out. When Mom’s drunk friend would turnup to the trailer, he would barricade the door with every bit of furniture we had so they couldn’t get into our room. He would read to me out loud so I couldn’t hear the fuckery that was happening outside the door. He was my twin brother and all he thought about was protecting me and nothing else. We had a shit childhood, but I can’t say I would go back and change any of it, and that’s because of Bex. He was my rock, my best friend. As long as I woke to him each day and got to spend my day with him, I was OK. I was happy.”
A pain sears through my chest hearing a tiny glimpse into Brayden’s life. I can’t imagine what it would be like digging deep. He must have many terrible memories, but I can’t help but be thankful to Bexley at this moment.
“Bex had to see all the bad to know to hide me away from it. Of course, he couldn’t hide me away from everything, but he did what he could.” He stares past me at the wall, deep in thought. “No matter how hard it got, he was there, and he never closed the door on me.” He frowns at the wall and then blinks multiple times.
“Sorry.” He shakes his head. “So, how do you think I could link this to creating a business?”
