Searching for the balm of healing, tags Mew.

[Bree Marcus]

After talking to Sloane, Bree spent the rest of the clean up realizing she was still too damaged to even think of going out with Noah. Not that sex would necessarily come up on a first date, but it was likely he would want a kiss good night. She knew she would freak out if that happened. She didn’t know him well enough to feel comfortable with even the mildest of affection. She tried to think of a solution, but it was difficult.

Thinking perhaps easing into it with someone she trusted, Bree immediately thought of Tyler, but though she doubted he would physically hurt her, he was easily capable of hurting her emotionally. Considering the few other men she knew and liked, she came up with a short list of people she could trust for something so critical to her healing. She came up with Cam, who was disqualified as she would never come between a friend and her boyfriend. The other option was so absurd it was almost laughable, but the more she thought of it, the more it stuck in her head.

Unfortunately she was fairly sure after the fiasco with Phil at the event, Mew would not be willing to be her therapy partner. She did think he would keep her secret and not mock her, so as she was desperate, she decided to once again pop by his home and surprise him with another even more odd request.

The ride was accomplished quickly and Dare’s limo was just dropping Mew off when she pulled up behind it. Jumping out of her sport car, she called out his name before he could get up the steps and dart inside. “Mew?”she called out. “Can you spare me some time?” She was already a pale pink with embarrassment and she hadn’t even started explaining her problem.

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

Mew gave Dare a more terse goodbye and thank you than he probably should have, considering that Dare had reached out to him, but the other boy was (in his mind) attempting to paint Phil as more villanious than he ought. It wasn't Phil's fault that Annie had essentially outed him to the whole school! He had a right to be upset about it!

He jumped when a female voice called out to him; he had not been expecting Bree Marcus to follow him home. "Bree?" He mouthed, uncertainty etched into his features. Was the cheerleader, like Dare, here to 'reach out' to him just because Phil had denied their mutual crush in public? Or was she here to ask why Phil was a jerk, or ask if he felt the same way? There were any number of possibilities, all of them uncomfortable. He wanted nothing more than to tell her no and flee back into his house, to his Korean MMORPGs, somewhere he wouldn't have to deal with the fall out from the park.

"Umm. Yeah, sure." He couldn't believe those words had just come out of his mouth, especially not since he'd run away from her party and then his friend had ruined the park clean up she was helping with. "Uhhh, what for? Did I leave something?" He'd been in such a hurry to leave that this was a possibility, but he was almost certain from the way she was looking at him that this wasn't it. No, it was far more likely something that dealt directly with Phil. It wasn't Bree's fault that his day had been crumby, so far, though, so he gave her what was meant to be a reassuring smile. "It must be important for you to follow me home."

[Bree Marcus]

Bree caught up with Mew and looked at him with even more uncertainty. He didn't seem at all happy to see her even with the smile he forced onto his face. "This is probably a really bad time, isn't it? I should just let you go inside and let you chill out," she backpedaled, searching for an excuse not to go to the place she had been determined to get to just five minutes ago.
She was bright red and was obviously embarrassed. By even coming to Mew's house she had come closer to revealing her secret self than she had in the last ten years of her life. "Listen just forget I even came."

Bree turned and ran back to her car. Imagined derisive laughter rang in her ears and she was eight years old again, a tiny girl with flame red curls kneeling on the carpet as the weight of her father's disapproval bowed her head and she prayed that this time the punishment would only be dealt with in the public parts of the house and not carried into the bedroom. And that the bruises and other marks would be well-hidden so she could attend school and not have too lie too much to her teachers.

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

"Umm, what? No, that's..." Mew blinked in surprise as Bree turned and fled without even telling him....whatever it was she wanted to tell him. "But, ummm, but you're already here!" He objected in confusion, raising his voice as she escaped to her car. "I said it didn't....wait, Bree?"

Why were people so confusing? One minute they wanted to hang out, the next moment they were running away as if he carried some sort of pathogen. This was really starting to be some sort of trend: Phil, Lexi, now Bree. Next he'd have people he didn't even know fleeing his presence. Maybe he should just skip school tomorrow; that would be so much easier than dealing with everyone acting as if he were contagious. However, Bree had actively sought him out before running away, and while she was a cheerleader he'd determined (from her prior visit with Sloane) that she was definitely not the sort of girl to play cruel tricks, but he couldn't fathom what her motivation might be.

"Really, what is it you needed? I can spare a minute." Especially if she didn't want to discuss the events at the park. In fact, if she wanted to talk about anything else at all that might be a welcome distraction.

[Bree Marcus]

Mew's anxious voice cut through the confusion and fear and Bree turned back with wide eyes. "I'm sorry, Mew, " she said, feeling like a complete idiot. She had told herself she would go through this precisely because he was nothing like her sadistic father. "I am not doing well right now and I hoped maybe you could help me. Is there somewhere we can talk in private?" she asked, not wanting any of his siblings overhearing her problem or request.

She felt terribly guilty because Mew looked worn down and beat up and she wondered if there was more to the thing with Phil than a purely false accusation. If so he wasn't going to want to help her, but at least maybe he would have some suggestions. She never really paid attention to anyone's lifestyle choices before because not wanting to have advances made to her, it really hadn't affected her.

If nothing else they might become good friends, hopefully one that would trust her enough to share parts of his own life rather than keeping secrets from her. May had never told her she preferred girls and Sloane and Tyler had led her to believe they would never 'do' each other. Of course she had been rather naive to think that was true.

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

"Umm, yeah, of course." Mew could certainly understand Bree being upset after the clean up had fallen through. He scoured his brain for a place that would count as alone. His bedroom? But his parents would be home and their tolerance of girls in his bedroom was doubtful. In any event, even if his parents didn't say anything, Libby and Yell certainly would.

"Umm, actually, why don't we go somewhere?" He suggested, gesturing toward the car she had been fleeing toward moments before. "Then, ahhh, then we could talk on the way. Umm, would that, ummm, would that be private enough? I mean, ahh, my parents are home, and ummm you know, they'd be nosy. And umm if you want to umm want to talk about this afternoon, I ahh I'd rather they not know." He admitted uncomfortably. They would probably start thinking Phil was a bad influence; they already worried, so there was no need to assure them their fears were entirely founded.

"We could, umm, we could go to Starbucks. Or maybe the bookstore and then Starbucks." He offered, since let's go somewhere was perhaps not the most helpful suggestion ever. The car would be the most privacy they could get for, well, whatever she wanted to say. Starbucks was just a destination -- though a destination he was very, very fond of.

[Bree Marcus]

Bree's face cleared and a smile broke through. "Sure... that sounds great," she agreed. If she was driving she wouldn't be looking directly at him as she spoke or he wouldn't be if he was driving. "You want me to drive? or Would you prefer to drive?"

Thinking that a car was the perfect place to unload her nightmare of a secret, Bree also thought it would be good to have some tea and a muffin or something. And of course a book store was always one of her favorite places. "What kind of books do you like to read, Mew?" she asked, her voice showing she was interested and not just making small talk as they walked to the car. "I like biographies and books on history. Sometimes I wish I had lived back when chivalry was alive."

Bree had never been allowed to read fiction unless it was a classic or assigned for school, so her reading habits were very serious. She kept thinking about buying a book her father would have disapproved of, but she still had disobedience issues and hadn't been able to do it despite her father's death. That she had been able to wear jeans and a casual shirt today was almost a miracle and it had taken all her nerve to do it.

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

"I, umm, I don't mind driving," He offered, then frowned, "But I'd have to ask my parents if they mind me borrowing their car. They usually don't, but, umm, I dunno, if you wanna talk quickly, that might not be a good idea and, ummm, I'm not sure it would be okay to drive your car, you know, from an insurance stand point. If we got into an accident that could be bad. Not that I'll crash your car, and I think it's too early for people to be drunk, but you know, in case." He explained, waving his hands ineffectually before realizing that they really were walking to her car. "Yeah, umm, if you want me to drive I will, I don't mind driving, but ummm only if you're okay with someone else driving your car."

The worries of the day were quickly and easily tossed aside in favor of discussion of books, at least for the moment. "Yeah? I, umm, I really love Arthurian fiction, too. L'Morte D'Arthur, of course, and TH White, but the books by, ahhh, by Mary Stewart, too, and then I have a bunch of short stories....it just seems that no matter how many times they're retold, it's still interesting. But then, I'm a huge fan of fantasy. The Forgotten Realms, even though some of them are really cheesy, they're still fun, and David Eddings, David Farland, Robert Jordan, George RR Martin...oh, and I guess I read alot of manga, too." It was easier to discuss books than most anything else; he didn't even notice that he was hesitating less now that their conversation was focused on a topic for which he had passion.

"History isn't too bad, but I guess I umm I'm not big on biographies. I mean, I like the ones I've read, but umm I just don't, I don't seek them out."

[Bree Marcus]

Bree handed him the car keys. She had an all-inclusive and very expensive insurance policy in case on of the servants needed to drive her car. "My insurance will cover you," she said simply. "I read L'Morte D'Arthur for a class, but the others are a mystery to me. My father felt fiction was useless unless it was for a class, so I wasn't allowed to have any books that he didn't approve of." She climbed in the low slung car and buckled her seat belt. "Perhaps you can help me pick out some novels to start me off now that I have the freedom to expand my horizons."

"I don't know if you ever met my father, Mew, but he was not at all like the image he presented to the public. He was very controlling," she said, getting to the meat of the matter. "I never made a decision before he died. He made them all. Everything was about image. I am a cheerleader because he wished me to be popular and be invited to all the right parties. I couldn't wear anything that wasn't the best or do anything that might estrange me from the best people. "

I spent the first sixteen years of my life in constant terror that I would make a mistake and I am still having a terrible time moving beyond his influence. I am afraid I will be crippled for the rest of my life by the terror he instilled in me. I was hoping that you might be able to help me move beyond it. I trust you, in a way I cannot trust anyone else. I especially hope you will never tell anyone the things I am telling you today," Bree glanced at him in the driver's seat, hoping she wouldn't see disgust on his face.

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

"You can borrow some of them," Mew told her, though he wasn't entirely convinced that a gorgeous cheerleader like Bree would actually be interested in the adventures of Elminster or Belgarath or Rand Al'Thor. It didn't hurt to offer, though.

He revved the engine to life, listening to her with concern. He didn't understand why anyone would care so much that their daughter was popular and went to the right parties -- his parents wanted Libby to avoid parties, and found her interest in being popular cause for concern, though they certainly had never been concerned about Yell's actual popularity so perhaps there was a bit of a sexist double-standard there.

"I won't tell anyone." He promised quietly as they drove down the quiet Riverside street. "That's, umm, that's really awful." He wasn't sure how she expected him to get over that, but it didn't sound like a situation that anyone should have to live through. "I'm ahh I was..." He began, then stopped; he had been about to offer to teach her how to play Tales of Pirates with Phil, but after this evening he wasn't sure how that would go over. "If umm if you want to play any RPGs or anything, they're good escapist fun. I think if umm if maybe you play someone with more confidence, umm maybe you'll gain a little." Although, if that were the case he probably wouldn't be hesitating so much as they spoke.