The Proposal Take Two - Part I

---------------------AFTER BATTLEGROUNDS--------------------

Ashley: "Your ex is such a bitch"

Brandon: "God damn, tell me about it"

Brandon looked at Ashley, who was sitting down beside him in their locker room. She was rubbing the back of her head, where Anna had smashed her earlier with a hockey stick. Brandon rubbed his balls. Anna had kicked him pretty hard.

Ashley: "How are your balls?"

Brandon: "They'll make a full recovery"

Ashley: "They better. We need to celebrate"

Brandon: "Celebrate what?"

Ashley: "Well, you did win that match, remember? You killed Shadow Demon"

Brandon: "Well, I didn't do it alone"

Ashley: "Oh come on, I didn't do that much. You did it all hun"

Brandon: "I guess. I'm still pissed at Anna. God fucking dammit"

Ashley: "She's just a bitch. She'd have to be to fuck you know who"

Brandon: "You can't say his name can you?"

Ashley: "No. I'm too fucking mad at him"

Brandon: "I don't blame you. If I was in your shoes, I'd hate him right about now"

Ashley: "I mean, he hid my dad from me. Who the fuck does that?! Why would he hold that back from me?"

Brandon: "Well, Chuck is a selfish, manipulative asshole. He probably wanted to keep you all to himself, and didn't want to risk losing you."

Ashley: "But still. I mean, my real dad. I don't know him, I've never met him, he gave me up for adoption. Why would he think that I would leave him, the man who saved my life and gave me a new one, for a man I've never met. Obviously I'm not going to leave. It would just be nice to get to know my real dad"

Brandon: "I know. Like I said, Chuck is an asshole. He obviously didn't want to risk anything. So he continued to lie to you, even though he knew that your dad was alive"

Ashley grabbed her bag and threw it around her shoulder, as Brandon did the same. He grabbed her hand and they walked out of the locker room together. They continued to talk as they walked down the hall towards the parking lot doors.

Ashley: "Ugh. I'm just not in a good mood right now"

Brandon: "Is there anything I can do to change that?"

Ashley: "Well, there might be something...."

Brandon: "I like where this is heading already"

Ashley: "Can it wait til we get back to the house though?"

Brandon: "Of course. I didn't want to try to drive and fuck at the same time. At least, not in the middle of Miami"

Ashley: "Yeah. Tried that once. Wasn't too fun"

Brandon: "Do I want to know?"

Ashley: "Nope"

Brandon: "Good."

Brandon stopped when he got to his car. He hopped in as Ashley climbed in the passengers side. Brandon started the car and they drove off towards their house. Brandon turned to look at Ashley, who was looking out into the distance, staring at the houses as they flew by.

Brandon: "Hey Ash?"

Ashley: "Yeah?"

Brandon: "Do you love me?"

Ashley turned towards him and looked at him, with a funny look on her face

Ashley: "Of course I do. I've loved you since we first met. You know that"

Brandon: "I know, I was just trying to cheer you up"

Ashley: "By talking about how I love you?"

Brandon: "Is it working?"

Ashley: "Yeah"

Brandon: "Good. I love you too, if that means anything"

Ashley leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Ashley: "Of course it means something silly. Why are you talking about this?"

Brandon: "Oh, no reason. Just conversing"

Ashley: "Oh..kay. Fair enough"

Brandon: "You wanna hear something funny?"

Ashley: "Sure"

Brandon: "Anna and I once talked about having another wedding on October 25th. A real one this time, with no secret kidnapping plots or anything like that. But the funny thing was, we were both cheating on each other when we talked about it."

Ashley: "I still can't believe Anna cheated on you. Especially with my own step-dad"

Brandon: "It blew my mind too. I honestly thought that Anna was completely in love with me"

Ashley: "Clearly she isn't too smart. She passed up the greatest guy in the entire world"

Brandon: "Awww, you're too nice"

Brandon pulled into his driveway, and parked the car. Him and Ashley hopped out and walked around to the front. Brandon walked over to the mailbox and grabbed some mail, while Ashley walked over and unlocked the door. Brandon followed her inside. He walked into the living room, and was suddenly tackled onto the couch by Ashley.

Brandon: "Ouch. Couldn't wait five seconds?"

Ashley: "Nope"

Ashley reached down and pulled Brandon's shirt off over his head. Brandon pulled her head down and began to kiss her. He reached around her back and lifted her shirt up over her head. As they continued to kiss, suddenly they were interrupted by the doorbell.

Brandon: "Fuck!"

Brandon got up as Ashley looked at him with a pouty face.

Brandon: "Sorry, but it might be important"

Ashley: "Fine, be quick though"

Brandon laughed and walked towards the door. He didn't bother to put his shirt back on, since he would just have to take it right off again. He walked over to the door and opened it. He immediately regretted it.

Nick Ridicule: "Hey man! I heard you were in Miami this week!"

Brandon: "Oh, hey Nick. It's not really a good time"

Nick: "Oh come on man, I just wanted to come hang out. I heard that you and Anna split up, I'm sorry to hear that dude"

Brandon: "I'm serious Nick, this isn't really a good time"

Nick: "Yeah yeah, sure. Why don't you have a shirt on? It's not that hot"

Brandon started to say something, but was interrupted by Ashley

Ashley: "Hey babe, who is i- shit"

Ashley walked around the corner, and immediately stopped when she saw Nick. She hadn't put her shirt on either, and immediately covered up her bra-clad boobs when she stopped talking. Nick looked from Brandon to Ashley, neither of whom were wearing shirts. Brandon let out a sly smile. It didn't take an idiot to figure out what was going on here. Nick stared at both of them for a few seconds, putting two and two together.

Nick: "Wow."

Nick immediately turned around and began to walk back outside. Brandon stood in the doorway as he watched Nick walk down the street.

Brandon: "Come on Nick, I told you it was a bad time!"

Nick didn't turn around, but instead flipped Brandon off while walking down the street. He turned the corner and was out of site. Brandon leaned on the doorway as Ashley walked up to him. She wrapped her arm around him and began to rub his chest with her other.

Ashley: "Come on Brandon. He was bound to find out somehow"

Brandon: "Yeah, I just wish it wasn't like that."

Ashley: "Well he would have reacted the same way no matter how we broke it to him"

Brandon: "Yeah. Still."

Ashley: "Come on. You can't take it to heart"

Brandon: "I'm not. Come on, let's get back to business"

Ashley: "Yes please"

Brandon took one last look at the street, where moments ago, Nick had stood. If there was any way to lose a friend in about five seconds, Brandon had just done so. He needed to talk to Nick, about this whole thing. But right now, he had other things to worry about. He closed the door as he walked back inside to be with Ashley.

---------------------TWO DAYS LATER---------------------

Brandon: "So anyways, hows the team looking?"

James: "Pretty good. Sammy and Mike are looking like they're making a real connection. And Ben is looking great on the right side of me. I'm excited for this season to get started"

Brandon smiled. He had called James to just talk. Since James had retired from wrestling, and because football was back, he hardly talked to him anymore. So they agreed to call each other once or twice a week and just talk. They texted back and forth, but it was good to actually talk for a bit.

Brandon: "That's good. Don't beat up Mike too badly this week, I have him on my fantasy team"

James: "Haha. No promises. We've got our work cut out for us, opening the season against Philly. They've got a ridiculous team"

Brandon: "Yeah, you're not kidding. Their offense has always been good, and then last year with Mike it just took off. And then now they have an insane secondary"

James: "Yeah. It's going to be hard, because Samuel and Asomugha are good enough to take a receiver out of the game by themselves. Sam's gonna really have to be careful"

Brandon: "Yeah. No hard feelings, but I picked the Eagles"

James: "Ooooh. Bad choice there bro"

Brandon: "Yeah, we'll see about that. I'm just excited for my Pats to win the first Monday Night Football game of the year!"

James: "Yeah, that should be an exciting game"

Brandon: "Too bad you guys don't play them this year"

James: "I'm not upset at all, I never want to play against Tom"

Brandon: "Because he would destroy you"

James: "I just don't want to play someone that good. I've heard from all the other guys that he just sees everything, and you can't fool him at all. And judging by the tapes and games I've seen, I would agree with that. They're Super Bowl favourites every single year"

Brandon: "Yeah. Apparently Randy wants back in too"

James: "Randy and Ocho?!"

Brandon: "Maybe. Randy has told people that he is in good shape, and wishes that he never left the Patriots. He's basically said that he could still play, but he'd only play for New England. And Tom has said that he would love it if Randy came back. As long as egos don't get in their way, that could be awesome"

James: "Yeah, except not for every other team in the NFL."

Brandon: "This is true"

James: "So, you've been avoiding it this whole conversation, but I'm gonna just ask now. Have you done it yet?"

Brandon: "Done what?"

James: "Oh come on, don't play dumb with me. You know what I'm talking about. Ashley"

Brandon: "Oh. That little thing"

James: "Excuse me? I wouldn't call proposing a 'little thing'"

Brandon: "Well it's not huge. I'm just waiting for the right moment"

James: "Why not right now?"

Brandon: "Because I'm talking to you, idiot"

James: "Well hang up the phone! I don't want you talking to me if it's going to stop you from proposing to Ashley"

Brandon: "Settle down. I'm not going to do it yet. I want it to be special. And now's just not the time"

James: "Alright, alright, I'll stop bugging you. But you've picked out a ring and everything right?"

Brandon: "Yeah, of course"

James: "Can I see it?"

Brandon: "Fine, give me two seconds though."

Brandon pulled his iPhone away from his ear and began to look through the internet, trying to find the picture of the ring he had bought for Ashley. Eventually, he found the picture and sent it to James.



Brandon: "Sent it"

Brandon could hear James pull the phone away from his ear, and look at the picture of the ring. He heard James bring the phone back to his ear

James: "Jesus Christ man, how much did that thing cost you?"

Brandon: "It was only like, $200 K or so. There were a ton of other expensive one's, but I liked this one the most"

James: "It's really fucking nice dude. You didn't get Anna nearly half as nice a ring"

Brandon: "But I didn't care about Anna half as much as I care about Ashley"

James: "Ouch. That's a harsh way of putting it"

Brandon: "Yeah, but it's true. She hasn't talked to you lately, has she?"

James: "Nope, not recently"

Brandon: "Not Keagan either?"

James: "No, Keagan hasn't heard from her since the funeral. She was really surprised when she heard about the whole Anna Chuck thing. And we watched the last show. I'm sorry dude, that's gotta be rough"

Brandon: "Yeah, it wasn't fun. Luckily, I didn't have to see the ending, I just heard about it"

James: "Yeah, it was hard to watch."

Brandon: "Whatever. I'm so over her it's ridiculous"

James: "Yeah. I'm glad you're happy bro. I'm excited for you and Ashley"

Brandon: "Me too. I'm so excited for our future."

James: "Well, I gotta go. But let me know when you drop the question, alright?"

Brandon: "Will do. Bye James"

James: "Peace Brandon"