Far And Away.

Two weeks had gone by since the grocery store incident and Flora found that she and Bret had a lot in common. He was only a Sophomore technically, but since he was homeschooled he was on a different level than she was. God how she wished Bret didn't have to stay at home with his psycho mom who wouldn't let him come to school-she needed the support. Things with Andy had gone from rough to terrible ever since seeing him in the grocery store. Before they had just avoided one another and spoke when they needed to in their Bio class, but now they were openly hostile towards one another.

He called her "Chicken Legs" in front of a lot of people in the hallways and of course, like things at high school do, it spread around like wildfire. Constance had taken to calling her that name whenever Flora needed to get into their locker and Flora tried her best to ignore it. Andy was getting a reputation for being the bad boy around school-often skipping and hiding out on the roof smoking cigarettes. He had a flock of girls that liked to be around him, but he would pay them no mind as his blue eyes locked with Flora's and then he would smirk. Did he think she would care if he fucked any of those girls? Nope, she didn't care in the slightest.

Flora was watching the clock over the doorway, hoping that time would speed up so that she could be done with this day and get out of here. Andy was currently scribbling on a notebook, the green cover covered in random doodles and words. Flora wanted to get out of here because she and Bret were headed to a show tonight and she wanted to get home and get changed before any of that happened. She didn't want to admit it, mostly because she wasn't sure he felt the same, but Flora had developed feelings for Bret and enjoyed being around him.

He didn't make her feel like it was weird that she wanted to get out of town and make something of herself and of course it really helped that they liked the same music. They were going to the My Chem show tonight-thankfully there were still tickets available so that Bret could go with her, otherwise Flora had planned to go it alone. Hopefully mom would let her borrow the car for the night and Flora smirked as she turned and noticed that Andy was staring at her. His blue eyes were heavily lined, making his irises pop out at her and he was chewing down on his lip ring pretty hard. There seemed to be something on the tip of his tongue, something that Andy wanted to say to her.


"Quit staring at me Biersack...you might just turn to stone. But then again that would be my lucky day." Flora sneered as she looked at the kid sitting beside her. His smirk had turned in to a scowl and he only chuckled as he began to place things in his leather satchel.

"I wasn't staring. Just wondering if you and Shrimp were ever going to have little skeleton babies. That would be a sight to behold." Andy quipped and Flora bit down on her tongue. Andy and his friends didn't like Bret, for some reason, and they had taken to calling the short skinny guy Shrimp.

"You're funny..." Flora said but was cut off by the bell ringing-Thank God!

"I am...hilariously so." Andy said as he grabbed for his things and bumped past her on his way to the door. Flora's books flew out of her hands and she groaned as she bent down to pick them all up.


Flora sighed as she left the science room and headed down the stairs with everyone else who was itching to get home. Flora would go home, change and Bret was going to walk over so that they could take the car-as long as her mother was still willing to let her take the car. Her locker was thankfully Constance and Frankie free, so Flora was able to drop her books off and grab her jacket. It was almost the end of October-Halloween would be coming up soon and this was Flora's favorite time of the year.

As she pushed through the mass of people headed for the doors, Flora caught eyes with Andy and noticed how sad he looked as he stood at his own locker. Oh well-he only had himself to blame for not having any friends or plans for this weekend. Flora gave him a smirk, one that she knew probably made her look like a bitch, but she didn't care. She hated him-he hated her, it was that fucking simple. The sun was beating down on the top of her head as soon as Flora exited the building and she laughed as she looked across the street and saw Bret standing there, waving at her adorably. He was so awkward, especially when it came to things like school because he had never been in one before.


"What are you doing here?! You were supposed to meet me at my house you goof!" She called out to him as she ran towards him. Flora tossed her arms around Bret's neck, her black peacoat flying out behind her like a great cape. Bret caught her though, smiling down at her before doing something neither of them had expected.

He pressed his twice pierced lips to hers and smiled softly against her skin.

"I missed you and wanted to actually walk you home. I thought maybe I could do it more often..." Bret said shyly as they broke apart, but Flora was still hanging on to his neck. She hadn't expected the kiss, but she hadn't hated it either.

"You can walk me home any time Von Dehl." She smiled up at him as their long fingers twined together and they headed down the street.

"I wanted to ask you something Flower..." Bret said, his voice shy which was completely unlike him. There was nothing shy about Bret Von Dehl. Flora smiled at his nickname for her-Flora meant Flower in Italian and he thought it fit her perfectly.

"Ask away, but we need to hurry-I still need to get all cute for tonight." Flora laughed as their hands swung back and forth between them and Bret only smiled. They walked down the sidewalk and as he looked towards his best friend he knew that this was the way things had to be.

"You're always cute! Anyways...I was wondering if you maybe wanted to take things to the next level..." He said, his pale skin flushing and Flora felt her heart skip a beat. Was he asking her out?

"Like...be boyfriend and girlfriend?" She asked and Bret blushed even more as they stopped walking once they reached her door step.

"Um, yeah..." He said and Flora couldn't think of a better way to answer him than to toss her arms around his neck and kiss his lips quickly.

"I'll take that as a yes." Bret laughed as Flora slithered down his body and just smiled up at him. She had never seen herself with a boyfriend-she was too focused on writing and getting out to California to work for Rock Sound, but things always had a way of changing.


The two of them entered the empty condo-her mother was out with a client-and Flora quickly ran to her bedroom to change. Bret sat on the couch, petting Mr. Sprinkles the fat cat as he smiled to himself. He really liked Flora-she was sweet, but sassy and she had a gorgeous face and even more beautiful personality. The one thing Bret didn't like about Flora was her connection with Andy-the blue eyed ass who thought he was too fucking cool for anyone or anything. Bret had seen the way Andy looked at Flora-his eyes grew soft and he always seemed like he wanted to say something. Too fucking bad, she was Bret's girl now and Andy would just have to find someone else to leech on.

After about twenty minutes Flora reappeared from her bed room and Bret's breath caught in his throat. She was wearing a pair of tight black jeans that hugged what little curved she had, a ripped tank top with the red MCR logo and a studded leather jacket. Her brown hair was in her face, her bangs hanging over one heavily lined eye while the rest of her hair was teased to within an inch of its life. She had on leather boots that her pants were tucked in to and Bret realized that she was every punk guy's dream right now. And she was all his.


"Do I look okay?" She asked him as she walked into the room and Bret only smiled and kissed her berry colored lips softly.

"Amazing." He said softly as he grabbed for her hand and led her towards the door. Bret was wearing what he always wore-tight skinny jeans that had too many holes in them to count, a black Guns and Roses tank top, with his own leather jacket covering his skinny arms.

"Oh! Let me get the keys!" Flora laughed as she dropped his hand and Bret waited as Flora rooted around the kitchen and finally exited with a set of car keys.


The two of them walked out, hand in hand and almost bumped right in to Andy and two other guys as they were coming up the stairs. The two guys that Flora didn't recognize didn't seem to notice her, but Andy did and he didn't look happy when he noticed that she and Bret were holding hands rather tightly. He looked her up and down, cocking one eyebrow slightly before disappearing behind his condo door and slamming it behind him. Flora only rolled her eyes as Bret dragged her along and they headed down to the car.

As Flora got behind the driver's seat, she couldn't help but wonder what it might be like to go to a show with Andy. Ohwell...she was with Bret now and that's all that mattered.

Notes