Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was ever since that stupid love song that she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She’d felt this feeling before, but never over a boy. Maybe clothes or makeup or maybe even people being in a relationship. But never. Ever. Over an actual boy.

Jealousy.

Brittany stood in front of her bathroom mirror, gripping the sink and staring deeply into her own eyes.

“Get a grip!” She hissed to herself, hoping she wasn’t loud enough for either of her sisters to hear. 

She took a deep breath before letting out a long sigh and finished getting ready for the day. 

All she wanted was to stop thinking about it. About him. But the only thing swirling around in her mind was, “Why doesn’t anyone ever write love songs about me?”

And why was she upset that he would write a love song about a girl he used to like..?

The truth was ringing loud and clear in her face. It made her want to vomit. How could the most popular girl in school have fallen flat on her face for, for him? It wasn’t fair. And the worst part was there was no reason she could find at all for it to have happened. At least, that’s what she told herself.

Brittany and her sisters walked to school that morning, much to Brittany’s relief. She wasn’t sure if she could have taken being in the car with the boys the whole way there. Not with the way she was feeling since she woke up.

Sooner or later though, she knew she would have to see him. She just hoped she could pull herself together enough to not make a fool of herself.

“I still can’t believe his song went number one this week and he won’t even admit to anyone but us that it was him,” Jeannette mused. 

“Yeah, for real. He hit a lifelong goal of mine all because he was sulking about a girl who’s not even that pretty.” As soon as the words left her mouth Brittany knew she’d made a mistake. Jeannette and Eleanor stared at her, dumbfounded.

“And why do you care if she’s, ‘not that pretty,’ Brittany?” Eleanor asked with her hands on her hips.

“Because… it, always matters to me whether people are pretty or not,” she faltered. It was too late now. Her sister’s definitely knew something was up, and she braced herself for what they might say next.

“Uh-huh…” Jeanette squinted, but didn’t push it. She and Eleanor looked at each other and shrugged before leaving Brittany where she was standing.

“Oh, you idiot,” she whispered to herself. But, much to her relief, they didn’t seem too interested in pressing the matter.

All day she did her best to avoid any kind of contact with Simon. It didn’t seem to her that anyone had caught on, and Simon was as oblivious as they came so she figured she got away with it. At least for today. 

As the day drew to a close, her emotions finally caught up with her. It was all she could do to find a place even slightly secluded. The bathroom was no good, the girls always gathered in there to gossip after school was over, and teachers were busy cleaning up their classrooms so those were no good either. It was frustrating, and she knew she didn’t have time to make it home before the dam burst.

Finally, she found an empty hallway towards the back of the school. She slid down with her back against the wall until she found herself on the floor with his face buried in her knees.

Tears slid slowly down her cheeks and onto her pants. All of her frustrations with Mandi, Simon, and most of all herself poured out into her pathetic silent sobs until she couldn’t take it anymore. In a fit of rage she grabbed her phone and threw it as hard as she could across the hallway, nearly hitting someone turning the corner in the process.

It all happened so fast. As her phone left her hand the regret hit instantly. The next thing she knew Simon of all people was staring at her wide eyed with his mouth hanging slightly open.  “What was that about?!” He sounded bewildered.

Brittany stayed silent, trying to process what was happening.

His head snapped to her shattered phone and back to her in a split second. “I really hope you weren’t meaning to hit me with that,” he chuckled nervously.

“Oh. My. Gosh. Simon, I am so sorry.” Her hands flew up to her face as her tears attempted to escape her eyes again.

“Um… a-are you okay?” The slight fear in his eyes turned to a soft concern. It made her heart melt. 

“Sure.” She turned her head away from him. No way could she let him see her crying.

Then she gasped. Her phone.

“Oh my gosh.” She scrambled to her feet and pushed past Simon to her poor shattered phone on the floor. 

It was worse than just shattered. A sob escaped her lips as she stared at the consequence of her rage. And it happened in front of him of all people. 

“Ooh. That’s, uh, that’s pretty bad.” He scratched the back of his head as he knelt down next to her.

Brittany just sat in silence. She knew if she said anything she would start to bawl. She couldn’t have that.

“But! Um. Not-not so bad that I can’t fix it.” 

She finally decided to look at him. “Really?” Her voice shook and just sounded so freaking pathetic. How in the world did she manage to find herself in such a horribly embarrassing situation.

“Of course,” he grinned. His expression was so soft, Brittany could hardly stand it. Did he even have any idea what he was doing to her?

Probably not.

He picked up the broken pieces of her phone as carefully as he could and put them in his backpack. She stared at his hands, unable to get herself to move. Until he grabbed hers and helped her to her feet. Her heart felt as if it jumped into her throat. 

“If you’re not doing anything, do you wanna come over while I fix your phone?” 

“Sure…”

“Do… do you wanna talk about it?” He asked as he adjusted his glasses.

“Not with you…” Why did she have to say it like that. Of all the things she could have said why did it have to be that.

Simon froze. That same initial fear crept back into his eyes. “Did I uh, did I do something?” 

She knew he was talking about the phone. “No…” she sighed. “I just don’t want to talk about it.”

“With me.”

“With anyone.”

He peered at her from over the top of his glasses. She could tell he wasn’t fully convinced, but thankfully he didn’t press the issue anymore.

“Um, by the way, Dave, Alvin and Theodore won’t be home for a while. They went to see a movie that I have no interest in. So… it’ll be just the two of us if that’s okay.”

“Oh, yeah, no that’s fine. Honestly that’s kind of a relief…”

“Cool. Ready when you are.”

And off to the Seville house they went.

Chapter Text

It was very strange, and maybe slightly uncomfortable if he was being honest, walking beside such a defeated Brittany. Sure, he’d seen her emotional outbursts before. More times than he could count actually. But for her to not be able to bounce right back was a rare sight indeed.

He kept stealing glances at her. She didn’t seem to notice, what with her head and eyes downcast. He didn’t want to bring it up again though, so they walked in silence while he tried to come up with something to say.

There had to be a way to crack a smile from her.

“So, uh, is there anything specific you’d like for dinner tonight? It’ll probably take me at least an hour to fix your phone and I, uh, I don’t want you to get hungry.”

“Huh? Oh. I’ll think about it.” She didn’t even look up at him. He was almost positive she really was mad at him, even if she wouldn’t admit it. The worst part though was he could not for the life of him figure what he had done to cause, all of this.

“Okay, yeah, just, let me know.”

He tried to strike up conversation several more times before giving up entirely the rest of the way home. It felt so wrong to be so awkward around Brittany. He’d always thought they had a pretty close friendship. But whatever it was that was happening right now sure made him feel the opposite.

He unlocked the door to the house and led her up to his lab. Usually it was Jeannette he’d have up there with him.

But Jeannette wasn’t the one who threw her phone so hard it nearly snapped in two.

“You can sit anywhere you like. I’m sorry I don’t have the comfiest of chairs in here,” Simon said as the door to his lab opened.

“It’s no problem. I’ll probably just sit on the floor.”

“Oh, yeah, you can do that,” he paused, unsure if he should say more or just get straight to work. “You, um, you can put some music on or something if you want to. I don’t mind.”

“With what?” Brittany crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

Simon glanced at the tv behind her. She turned around and let out a scoff. “Right. That makes sense.”

He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “Here’s the remote.”

“Thanks…”

He wasn’t sure initially if she would take him up on his offer, but a few minutes after he sat down and got to work she turned the tv on and pulled up Spotify.

As he worked, he found himself humming or singing softly to some of the songs she’d queued up.

Occasionally he’d turned around to give his eyes a break, and every time he found her staring at him. She always quickly looked away, but she was always initially looking. He wanted to question it, but he didn’t want to make things any worse for her than they already were.

“You know,” she said, causing him to jump and nearly mess up what he was doing. “I think you should lead more often.”

He froze for a moment before deciding to put a pause on his work. He spun his chair around to face her once again.

“Like… like in our band?”

“What else would I mean, dummy,” she cocked her head to the side and finally smiled.

“Yeah, that was admittedly a stupid question,” he chuckled. “But uh, why?”

“Why not? I like your voice more than Alvin’s.”

His eyes widened and he could feel heat beginning to rise in his face. He desperately hoped she couldn’t tell.

“Heh, um, t-thanks.”

“So?”

“So…? Oh! Oh… um, honestly, it’s really just because I don’t want to.”

“You don’t want to? Why not?”

Simon sighed. “I’ve just never been interested in it. I don’t mind being background vocals and instrumentals. Like, at all.”

“Hm… okay. I still think you should ask Dave if you can lead a song though.”

“Why do you care so much?” Simon chuckled. He couldn’t deny it felt good knowing someone, especially Brittany, liked his singing enough to ask him to lead a song.

“I just told you. I like your voice better than Alvin’s. You seriously think I can listen to him sing all day?”

“Are you implying you could listen to me sing all day?” Simon smirked. He really wasn’t sure what was happening right now but he did know he kind of liked it.

His heart skipped a beat and his smile faltered. Why did he like it? He quickly tried to recover himself, hoping that she didn’t notice the split second his smile dropped.

“Maybe,” she shrugged and looked away.

“I-I’ll think about it. How’s that?”

“Really?!” She turned back to him, wide eyed and smiling bigger than she had all day.

If that’s what it takes, he supposed he could do it. Besides, why not? Maybe it would be fun to lead a song for once. And considering the fact that he already wrote a hit single, even if it was an accident, he could probably have a pretty good say in what he wanted it to sound like.

“Really.” Gosh she was so pretty. He bit his lip and turned back to her phone. He had to get this finished and get her out of his lab before he said or did something stupid. This weird feeling could not be happening right now. “I’m gonna, uh, go-go ahead a-and finish your phone now.”

He was kicking himself now. He’d already told himself a long time ago he couldn’t let this happen. Why was he suddenly slipping up now?

No more looking back at Brittany. He had to get this phone finished.

Chapter Text

“Well, it only took me a little longer than I thought it would,” Simon said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s no problem. I’m just glad you were willing to fix it.”

Simon shrugged and refused to meet her eyes.

Brittany’s heart was begining to speed up. Had she done something wrong while he was working on her phone? She didn’t think she had, but then again who knows? She sure hoped she hadn’t…

Quickly, she decided to change the topic to dinner. Simon freaked out for a brief moment after completely forgetting about the very need for food in the first place. But soon enough they’d had a nice, albeit somewhat awkward dinner, and she was on her way.

He’d initially offered to walk her home, but she knew she was going to get questioned enough by her sisters without such a, for lack of a better way to put it, romantic gesture, so she refused. He seemed a little hurt at first but quickly regained his composure and walked her to the door.

“Thank you again Simon…” she turned to face him fully before leaving.

“Really, Brittany, it was no problem at all,” he paused. It seemed there was more he wanted to say but she wasn’t sure if he was actually going to muster up the confidence to say it. “I, um, I-I had a good time with you this evening. It-it’s not often that just the two of us hang out. If uh, if you wanted to do this again I wouldn’t be opposed. You know, minus you breaking your phone.”

Brittany’s heart almost stopped. He wanted to hang out with her again.

Alone.

She didn’t even know what to say. She wanted to say yes. Of course she wanted to say yes. But what would everyone else think? Did she actually care what everyone else would think? She should tell him yes of course she’d love to hang out with him more.

She hadn’t even realized but she was taking so long to respond that Simon began to panic. “Or! Uh, w-we don’t have to! Sorry, I don’t—“

“NO!” She grabbed his shoulders, realizing she was now way too up in his face but it was far too late for her to really care. “No, that’s not, I’m sorry. I would love to. Absolutely.”

“Okay,” he chuckled awkwardly as she let go of him.

“Sorry, I, it’s just been a rough day.”

“I know,” Simon frowned. “I’m still here if you ever decide you do want to talk about it.”

“I doubt I will but, thanks anyway,” she smiled and waved one last time.

Her heart felt like it had leapt inside her throat as she walked back to her treehouse.

How was she going to explain what all happened? And why she was hanging out with Simon. Alone. The last thing she wanted to do was tell them about her phone and everything that had transpired afterwards.

“Where were you all evening Brit?” Eleanor asked as she walked in the door.

“Oh, um, I broke my phone after school and Simon offered to fix it…” She hoped giving most of the truth would suffice.

“How did you break your phone?” Jeanette chimed in.

“Ugh Jeanette, the way anyone breaks their phone,” Brittany crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Maybe if she gave them enough attitude it would get them to leave her alone.

Jeanette and Eleanor looked at each other, both raising an eyebrow and turning back to Brittany.

“Right. So, why are you being defensive about it?” It seemed Eleanor wasn’t going to back off the way she had earlier.

“It just dropped okay? Geez.” Brittany stormed to the other room and ignored everything else her sisters tried to say to her. There were far too many emotions happening in her brain and she really didn’t want to have another explosion happen.

She put her backpack down and realized with a sigh that the whole time Simon was fixing her phone she could have been doing her homework.

“Guess I’ll just have to do it now,” she grumbled to herself.

It took a lot longer than she thought it would, and by the time she’d finished her sisters were already asleep in bed.

The night was so quiet and peaceful. Perhaps too quiet and peaceful. Her mind swirled with the memories of the day, and soon enough there were butterflies fluttering all around her stomach.

She wondered if Simon was still awake. Chances were he was. Not necessarily because he wanted to be, but because Alvin kept all of them up.

As quietly as she could, she crept over to window that gave her the best view of the boys’ room. Sure enough, the light was still on and the boys (mostly Simon and Alvin) appeared to be arguing over something probably entirely pointless.

She smiled to herself as she walked away from the window. Maybe he would text her tonight to check up on her. Or maybe she could text him and thank him again for fixing her phone.

She really did hope he would text her first.

It was hard not to constantly glance at her phone as she got ready for bed. Her heart skipped a beat every time a notification popped up, but every time it was never him.

She crawled into bed feeling so very pathetic. Of all the people in the world to be desperately waiting to hear from and it had to be him.

After she had decided to just give up, it finally happened. She was setting her phone down on her nightstand when it buzzed one last time.

And there it was. The name she wanted to see more than anything in the entire world.

SIMON SEVILLE: ‘I hope you’ve been feeling better this evening. And please let me know if there’s anything at all I can do to help. Goodnight.’

Chapter Text

-Brittany POV-

The following morning Brittany had decided that she wasn’t going to let herself be awkward with Simon. She was going to interact like normal and everything was going to be just fine and he would stop worrying about her.

So naturally she was going to be put to the test right away by bumping into him.

“Oh, hey Brit!” He smiled.

“Simon! Hi! Sorry I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s alright. Oh, hey, while you’re, uh, while you’re here! How’s your phone holding up? Everything still uh, still working alright?”

“Of course everything is working alright. Why wouldn’t it?” Brittany crossed her arms and leaned against the lockers. She loved the fact that he was thinking so much about her. From the text last night to now. It made her heart soar.

“Well, I-I just, I wanted to sure, yknow?”

“Ah, I see. Weren’t feeling quite confident in ourselves?” While it certainly wasn’t quite up to her normal standards, Brittany’s own confidence had much improved since yesterday. She leaned forward, purposefully getting in his face this time and smirked. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off. “Well, I had full confidence in your abilities. So there’s nothing to worry about.”

Simon took a deep breath and stood frozen for a moment. Brittany would’ve given anything just to see what was going on in his mind.

“Thanks,” he smiled softly and looked at ground. Brittany couldn’t deny, she loved being able to get such reactions out of him. She liked to pretend she was the only one in the world who could. And who knows, maybe she really was.

“So… wanna walk with me to class?”

“At this point it would be kind of weird if we didn’t, right?” Simon raised an eyebrow at her. He did happen to have a point though.

“Fair point. Let’s go.”

-Jeanette pov-

Jeanette felt a little pang of guilt for the way she was almost spying on her sister, but she just had to know what exactly was going on with her. She was spending so much more time with Simon than normal, and there had to be a reason why.

The obvious was right in front of her, but she just couldn’t bring herself to believe it just yet.

“What are you looking at?” Alvin’s voice shook Jeanette out of her thoughts.

“Geez, Alvin, please don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“Listen, if I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times. It’s just part of my charm. I can’t stop,” Alvin shrugged. “Seriously though, what are you looking at?”

Jeanette pointed her finger at her sister, who was walking awfully close to Simon and staring at him with such longing in her eyes she almost thought her pupils must look like hearts.

“They’ve been spending an awful lot of time together recently,” Jeanette said looking back at Alvin. His brow was furrowed and his mouth was hanging partially open.

“What do you mean they’ve been spending a lot of time together?” Alvin pulled his eyes away from Simon and Brittany to look back at Jeanette.

“Well, you know, I mean, she was at your house for quite awhile yesterday.”

“She WHAT?!” Alvin yelled so loud Jeanette was sure the entire school must have heard him. It was then that she realized her mistake as well. He had no idea what happened yesterday. Not that she necessarily knew much about what happened, but she did know Simon and Brittany had spent a lot of time with each other.

“You didn’t know?” Her voice got quiet and she put a hand over her mouth.

“No I didn’t know! Why was she over at my house?!”

“Alvin! Please be quiet! All I know is she broke her phone and Simon offered to fix it. I just, can’t understand why he wouldn’t tell you?”

“Oh, he’s gonna tell me alright,” Alvin began to march his way to his brother when Jeanette grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Hey!”

“No wait! Please don’t let him know I told you.”

“And why not?”

“Because… clearly he didn’t tell you for a reason. And… and look at them. Brittany has been so upset lately and for the first time she actually looks happy. So please…” Jeanette looked up at Alvin with her big pleading eyes. Alvin rolled his eyes but she could see his frustrations slowly quieting inside him.

“Fine…”

“Thank you!!” She wrapped her arms around his wait and squeezed tight.

“Okay, okay, you’re welcome,” Alvin chuckled.

Chapter Text

“What are you doing this evening?” Brittany asked as she and Simon headed off to their last class.

“Uhhh, I have game night over at Kevin’s. Why?” He tilted his head just slightly, and Brittany’s heart skipped a beat. How was he able to be so unintentionally cute?

And also, why did he have to be hanging out with Kevin tonight?

“Oh! Okay, I was just wondering,” she shrugged as she felt herself deflate. “I guess, I was just going to take you up on that offer to hang out again.”

Simon froze. Brittany could have almost laughed at how shocked he looked.

Almost.

He shook himself out of it and said, “Really?”

“Sure. I mean, why not?”

“I-I don’t know. I guess, I thought, I don’t know. I don’t know what I thought.” The gears in his mind appeared to be working overtime. Maybe she was doing too much too soon.

“Well, don’t worry about it! We can hang out another time!” She didn’t want to hang out another time. She wanted to be with him right now. But she knew he would never break a previous commitment. A trait she both despised and admired about him.

“Yes, absolutely. I-I promise I’ll make it up to you.” He stood there awkwardly, so clearly unsure of what to even think right now.

Anxiety gnawed at Brittany’s heart. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him away. But she also wanted so badly for him to know how she felt. She hated feeling so unsure of herself.

“That’s sounds great!” She smiled, and he seemed to relax just slightly. “Anyways, I should probably get to class. So, I’ll just see you later then!”

“Oh! Yeah, yeah, no me-me too. I’ll just. See you, late-uh, see you later.” He smacked his forehead as he stumbled over his words and Brittany had to stifle a laugh.

They parted ways and that was the last Brittany saw of him for the rest of the day.

Despite how hard she tried not to let herself be so gloomy, it just didn’t seem to work. Her sisters had said nothing to her initially, but after sulking on her bed for over an hour after getting home, Eleanor couldn’t seem to take it anymore.

“Alright Brit. Spit it out. What the heck is going on with you?” Her hands were on her hips, and while on one hand she was being forceful, Brittany could tell just how concerned she was.

With a groan she rolled over to face her sister. Jeanette was standing only a few feet behind her.

“We’re really worried about you…” Jeanette frowned.

“It’s just stupid…” Brittany whispered. There was no way her sisters would understand her feelings. Most likely, she thought, they would end up being discouraging and she would feel even worse than she already did about it.

Eleanor and Jeanette both sat down on Brittany’s bed.

“Well, whatever it is that has you this upset can’t be that stupid,” Eleanor said.

Brittany sat up with a sigh and pulled her legs to her chest. Both of her sisters were waiting patiently for her to finally speak.

“Is it, a boy maybe?” Jeanette asked after it was clear Brittany was struggling with what to say.

She didn’t mean to do it, but she grimaced and all that was all her sisters needed to know almost exactly what was wrong.

“So it is a boy!” Eleanor exclaimed. Then she glared at Jeanette “I guess I owe you five bucks…”

“What?!”

“No, wait! Brittany! We were just joking about that!” Jeanette grabbed her hand. “But, seriously, it really is a boy?”

Perhaps she could get away with not having to name names and her sisters would move on once she gave them just enough information.

She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded.

“So, what exactly do you mean when we say is it a boy? You’re not being hurt are you?” Eleanor crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Ugh! No. Not that at all, Ellie,” Brittany took a deep breath before spilling the most embarrassing part of this whole mess. “I just… wish he would notice me.”

“You? Wish someone would notice, you?” Jeanette asked slowly, looking between her and Eleanor.

“Yes. Gosh. Why is that such a surprising thing to hear?!”

“Uh, because you don’t ever wait for a guy to notice you?” Eleanor said.

It was true. If Brittany wanted something she would go out and get it. Why was this so different? Was it a good or a bad thing?

Jeanette broke her out of her thought with a small laugh. Brittany was just getting ready to yell at her when she said, “You must really like this one then.”

Suddenly everything made sense. In the past she had only ever been interested in guys in the most superficial way. She never actually cared about them. When you were the kind of girl who never had to try to get attention, it just naturally followed you, it was terrifying to find yourself wanting it from someone who meant something to you.

She felt like she could cry. She really did care about him. What if she messed everything up? What if she hurt him? She never cared about hurting boys before. It was just part of the game.

“I… I do,” her voice cracked and Jeanette leaned in for a hug.

“So, who is it then? Like, actually, who in the world has got you this messed up?” Brittany could Eleanor was trying not to laugh.

And it seemed they were not going to be satisfied until she told them who. She should have known better, really. She would have wanted to know too.

“I don’t want to tell you… you’re just going to tell me to leave him alone.” She buried her head in his knees as she held back tears.

“Brittany…” Jeanette began before being cut off.

“It’s Simon,” Eleanor said matter-of-factly.

Brittany’s head snapped up and she looked at her sister in horror. So she had been that obvious. “How…”

“Oh please Brit, I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at him. And, well, honestly? Actually, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but, I can kinda totally see it.”

“Me too!” Jeanette shook her hands in excitement.

“You can..?” Brittany’s heart felt so light for this first time since, if she was honest with herself, before Simon wrote that love song. “But… what if he doesn’t feel the same way? Everything would be so terrible and awkward…”

“Well, I personally think Simon would be gracious enough to not let it be awkward,” Jeanette said.

“Yeah, but more likely he’s probably into you too whether he even realizes it or not.” Eleanor was, probably right.

“I don’t even know what I would begin to say to him…”

“What if you wrote your feelings down? Give him a letter or something?” Jeanette suggested. Then an idea struck.

“Wait! That’s perfect! I can write a song!” This whole mess started a with a love song, maybe she could finish it with one too.

“Oh, I like that too!”

“I have to go get started now.” Brittany flew off her bed and headed straight for her desk. Ideas of every possible thing she could say, every possible way she could put how she felt, swirled endlessly in her mind. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but finally, she felt like maybe she really could do this.

Chapter Text

Several days had passed, and Brittany finally felt like she was satisfied enough with her song.

Initially, she’d been hoping to get it done the same night that she’d decided a song was the way to go, but it seemed that things were just not going to work out that way for her.

After getting the approval of both of her sisters, it was time to finally get Simon up to the treehouse.

All Brittany could seem to do was stare at her phone, fingers hovering over the keyboard.

“I can’t do this…” she whispered.

“What if I sent the message for you?” Jeanette asked, walking over to Brittany.

“No, that would be so awkward to have you text him and then, oh, turns out it’s me who wanted him to come over?”

“Um, well, I meant send the message from your phone. So he wouldn’t know it was me.”

“Oh…” Brittany pondered for a moment. Perhaps it would be smart to just let one of her sisters send it. She took a deep breath and said, “Okay. Hurry up before I change my mind.”

Jeanette took her phone and began to type.

“Okay. How does this sound? ‘Hey Simon, I’ve been working on a new song this week, and was wondering if you’d like to come listen to it?’”

“Oh gosh I hate it.”

“It’s kind of straight to the point though, isn’t it?” Eleanor chimed in from the kitchen.

“I guess… ugh. Seriously. Hurry up and send it before I come snatch my phone back.”

Jeanette hit send and Brittany and buried her head in her hands. “I feel like I’m gonna throw up. Why am I doing this?”

“Because… you want to tell Simon how you feel?”

“But why does it make me feel so terrible?!”

“You said it yourself Brit, you actually care about him. Of course it’s going to be scary doing something like this. But I promise it’s going to be fine.” Jeanette said as she pulled Brittany’s hands from her face and smiled sweetly. It was strange to feel so comforted and yet so, almost weirded out to have her sisters both fully support her in this. They must know something she doesn’t.

Her phone buzzed, and her heart leapt up into her throat.

“I can’t look. What did he say?”

“He said, ‘Sure! Be over in a few if that’s okay?’ Guess you’d better get ready!”

Jeanette handed Brittany her phone back, but Brittany felt so frozen with anxiety.

“It’s gonna be fine Brit. Will you please believe me?”

Brittany nodded, and with shaky hands grabbed her phone from her sister and responded back to Simon.

“Well. This is it I guess. Um, don’t hesitate to come rescue me if things go wrong!”

She grabbed her guitar and sat semi patiently on balcony. In the short few minutes she had to wait, all she could do was go over her script she’d worked on in her head all week over, and over, and over.

About five or so minutes after Brittany sat down, she heard the faint sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. Time had finally come.

He hadn’t seen her at first and was going for the front door. Just as she was going to call out to him and he glanced her direction.

“Oh! There you are,” he smiled so sweetly. Her sisters had to be right, right?

“Yeah, yeah I’m out here,” she laughed sheepishly. “It’s just, y’know, so nice out still.”

“I definitely agree. Probably won’t be like this for too much longer.” He sat down across from her and adjusted his glasses. “So… uh, you’ve been working on a song?”

“Mhm.” She nodded. It was hard to tell at this point if she was even going to find enough of her voice to sing.

With all the strength she could muster, she picked up her guitar and took a deep breath. The moment had finally come. There was no turning back now, and she had to make it perfect.

“I… I wrote this for someone,” she said quietly as she began to play. She caught Simon’s face briefly. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but just ask quickly closed it when Brittany started to sing.

She couldn’t bear to look at him, even though she wished she could have seen his face as she confessed her feelings in the only way she felt that she could.

As her song came to an end, she finally allowed herself to look up. He wasn’t looking at her, but he appeared to be deep in thought. After a moment of gut wrenching silence he caught her eyes with his. His eyes widened in surprise as if he hadn’t expected her to be looking at him.

“That, uh, t-that was uh, that was really good, Brittany. I mean I, y’know, I always knew you were a good songwriter. But. Y-yeah. You can tell the-the heart that went into that one.”

Brittany’s heart sank all the way down to her toes. He didn’t even realize…

“Oh, yeah, thanks Simon,” she did her best not to let her hurt show.

“You… said you wrote that… for, someone?” He asked quietly.

“Yes.” A flicker of hope sparked once again in her heart.

“You know, this might sound kind of weird coming from me,” his eyes were downcast, and if Brittany didn’t know any better, he almost seemed a bit defeated. “But, a guy would have to be a fool not to realize you were into him.”

Something inside Brittany snapped. All of that work and effort she put into everything and he still didn’t get it. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Yeah, you’re telling me.” 

“What?” He finally looked back up at her, confusion written all over his face.

Brittany stood up quickly and crossed her arms. “You know what Simon, for being like, the smartest person in the whole world, you sure are an idiot!” She instantly regretted her choice of words, but it was too late to fix it now.

Simon sat frozen as realization finally began to dawn on his face. “W-wait. Are-are you—“

“Just, forget it, okay? It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry I even tried to say anything.” She cut Simon off as she started to walk off, leaving him stunned.

“No, no, hold on. You can’t just—you don’t get to just say that and then tell me to forget it!” He shot up so quick out of his chair to take off after her that he knocked it over. He grabbed her hand and she stopped walking. Her heart was beating faster than she ever thought it could, and she was sure he could hear it.

She turned her body slowly back towards him, but wouldn’t look up to meet his eyes. “Simon… please… just forget…”

“No, no, hold on. Why do you want me to forget?”

“Because, I know it was stupid of me to feel this way!”

Simon let go of her hand and took a small step back. She took her now free hand and rubbed her other arm with it.

They stood there silently for what felt like an eternity. Tears stung at Brittany’s eyes at the thought that she completely ruined everything. But now that it was out there, and there was really no taking any of it back no matter how much she begged him to forget about it, she allowed herself to be fully honest without using her song as a crutch.

“I know I’m not… I’m not the type of girl that you go for…”

“Huh? Wait, what do you mean by that?”

All Brittany could do was shake her head. She knew if she tried to speak again she would begin to cry.

“O-okay, um, I’ve never been on this side of a confession before. And I’m sorry I’m just trying to, uh, to process this. So you… you like me like me?”

Brittany wanted to punch him. But she just closed her eyes and nodded.

“Cool, cool,” he paused and shook his head. “Th-that was terrible, oh my gosh, I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath and recomposed himself. “You wrote a song, for me, and as you already established I’m an idiot, and now you’re upset because I, ‘don’t go for girls like you,’ correct?”

“Yes!” She shouted. She fully expected him to flinch, but instead he just nodded, more to himself than anything, as if he putting some missing pieces of an invisible puzzle together.

Simon let out a shaky breath, and Brittany opened her eyes to see just how red his face had become. “I-I never thought I would—I would ever, say this, to anyone much less you.” Their eyes met once again and for the first time that afternoon neither of them turned away. “Do you know why, I don’t, go for girls like you..?”

“What do you mean by that..?”

“Do you honestly think someone like me would even consider having a chance with someone like you? I mean, you do look in the mirror, don’t you?”

Brittany felt almost too dumbstruck to speak. All of her anxiety and distress melted away by one little thing he seemed to be implying.

A smile began to creep onto her face as she said, “Wait… are you saying you think I’m pretty?”

“…Yes,” he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He opened his eyes back up as he let his hand drop to his side. “But, more than just that… you’ve always been there for me. More than you probably even realized. And I’ve always admired the way that you work hard, even though, you and I both know that you probably don’t actually have to.  You know, I could definitely go on, but, I, y’know, p-point is, I like you too.”

Chapter Text

He couldn’t believe the words that had just left his mouth. Never in his entire life could he have even dreamed of a moment like this happening, and yet here he was, standing in front of Brittany as they confessed their mutual feelings to one another.

Brittany squealed so loud, if circumstances had been different he might have complained about it hurting his ears. But this time, all he could feel was the immense amount of joy swelling inside his heart.

She threw her arms around him, pinning his arms to his side and squeezed.

“Brit,” he grunted, “I can’t breathe.”

“Oh, sorry!” She backed up and smiled sheepishly.

“It’s okay,” he laughed. He hadn’t wanted her to let go, but now it felt like the moment had passed and he was still too nervous to do anything about it.

They stood there a little awkwardly for a moment when Simon thought he had another realization.

He let out a small gasp and said, “Wait a minute…”

“What..?” Brittany said slowly.

“Your phone!”

“What about my phone..?”

“Please don’t lie to me… was that… that was my fault wasn’t it?”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Anger flashed in her eyes, but the flame quickly went out and she sighed. “That’s actually the first place your mind went..? Ugh. Okay… It sort of had to do with you, yeah…”

“Geez,” Simon sat down on the chair next to the one he’d knocked over. He needed to make sure he remembered to pick it up soon. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, Simon, it’s okay. Honestly, it had less to do with you than it did…” she paused and squeezed her eyes shut. “Than it did… uh… Mandi…”

That was a name he sure hadn’t been expecting to hear. Mandi? Of all people, Mandi? He was about to ask her what in the world Mandi could have done to her, when he realized. Brittany had been jealous.

A strange new feeling welled up inside his stomach at this new revelation. Or at least, what he was assuming to be the only logical reason why Brittany would be upset with Mandi. And he figured he knew exactly what ticked her off.

“Oh.”

“And, you know, while we’re here, you wanna know what made me the most upset?”

“Uh, I-I guess so.”

“I just wanted someone to write a song about me like that. Like, how stupid is that?” She wrapped her arms around herself and looked almost as if she could start to cry.

“That’s not stupid,” Simon stood up  from his chair and, not wanting to see Brittany get upset again, took a great leap out of his comfort zone and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

He could feel her tense up at first, but quickly she melted into his embrace and wrapped her own arms around his waist with her head laying on his shoulder. It was strange, but in that moment he couldn’t recall a better feeling ever in his entire life. Good grades, science awards, music awards, it didn’t matter. He was so sickeningly in love with this girl in his arms.

“You know Brittany, I would loved to write a song about you. In fact, I could probably write hundreds of songs about you.”

She pulled her head from him but didn’t let go. Instead she just looked up at him with the cutest grin and said, “Really?”

“Really.” He pulled her in just a little tighter before letting her go altogether. “So uh… what, what do we do now..?”

“Hm…” Brittany put a finger to her lip and looked up. “I guess whatever we want?”

Simon stood with his hands on his hips and he thought long and hard about what he wanted to do. This was Brittany after all. He was sure she would have some kind of expectation.

An old idea stuck him. It was something he’d always wanted to do, but never really thought it would ever happen. At least, not at this point in his life. He let out a small gasp and said, “Wait! I have an idea! I need to go grab my wallet really quick.”

“Oh, okay!”

“I promise I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

He took off toward his house, heart pounding and trying to keep a smile off his face. He was taking Brittany Miller on a date. He was so sure he was going to wake up any minute now.

After grabbing his wallet from his room, he wrestled with himself over whether or not he should tell Dave what he’s doing. It wasn’t like him to just, disappear, but he really didn’t want anyone to know what he was doing yet either. Especially not Alvin. He knew they would all have to know sooner or later, depending on how well tonight went, but the least interruptions he could have the better.

In the end, he decided he would at least tell Dave he wouldn’t be home for dinner.

Dave was in the kitchen, and Alvin and Theodore were, unfortunately, playing games in the living room.

“H-hey, uh, hey Dave?” Simon stammered.

“Oh, hey Simon! What’s up?”

“I uh, just wanted to let you know, that, um, I-I won’t be home, tonight, because I, have, plans.”

“Oh, okay, thanks for letting me know.” Dave barely even looked at him.

Simon breathed a sigh of relief as he slid out the back door. Now he just had to hope that Alvin or Theodore wouldn’t see him make his way back to the treehouse.

He had been expecting Brittany to still be outside, but she was nowhere to be found.

He poked his head inside the door and saw her sitting at the kitchen table talking to her sisters. He felt his face begin to heat up.

All three of them turned their heads towards him.

“You’re back!” Brittany said as she got out of her chair and flung herself at him. He nearly stumbled from her force, but fortunately managed to catch himself before they toppled over.

“Yup, I’m, I’m back.”

“Awww,” Eleanor and Jeanette said simultaneously.

“So, uh, I guess they know?” Simon laughed awkwardly.

“We, kinda heard the whole thing,” Eleanor shrugged.

Simon wanted the ground to open up and swallow him right then and there. It was bad enough he’d made a bit of a fool of himself in front of Brittany, but the other two heard it all too?

“Are you kidding me?”

“Well, it’s not like we really meant to, if that helps at all,” Jeanette chimed in. “You guys were just, loud enough to hear.”

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, sure.” He sighed and attempted to regain his composure. “Anyways… Brittany, do you wanna help me grab a few things and then we can head out?”

Brittany, very enthusiastically, agreed, and soon they were at the store. They seemed to go through little spurts of talking nonstop and semi awkward silence. Simon had so many things he wanted to say to her, but at the same time his brain felt either so overloaded or so empty that he often remained silent.

As they walked, he kept finding himself glancing down at her hand. Should he hold it? Should he ask her if he can hold it first? Does she even want to hold his hand? He fought internally with himself the entire time they were in there. He never was able to get up the courage.

He led her to a nearby park, where they laid out a blanket and spread their various food and drinks out.

“Simon, I can’t believe you thought to do all of this so quickly,” Brittany said as they finally sat down to eat.

“Well, I mean, it’s not like, um, it’s not like this is the first time I’ve ever thought about… doing… this…” his voice trailed off in the end. He wanted to admit everything he’s ever thought or felt to her, but it still felt so unreal.

“What do you mean? Like, with me or just, in general?”

“Uhhh… I mean. S-sort of a, general, thing, I guess. I guess it also would be stupid to lie now and say I never thought of, you…”

“Oh really?” She smirked as she leaned in closer.

Simon gulped and leaned back slightly. “R-really.”

“You know, it’s funny. I always thought you would have ended up with Jeanette.”

“Yeah. I get that a lot…” He signed and ran his hand down his face. “I, look. I like your sister a lot, but, well obviously, not in that kind of a way.  She’s just always been a really good friend, and that’s about it.”

“So, not even once did you ever—“

“Nope.” He felt bad for cutting her off but he really did not want to talk about Jeanette right now.

“Gotcha,” Brittany laughed.

The sun began to set as they finished eating. The sky lit up with pink and purple painted on the clouds. Brittany scooted in just a little bit closer to him.

He tried to keep his eyes focused on the fleeting sunset, but he couldn’t help himself and look towards her. She was staring up at him, smiling softly, until their eyes met and she looked away. Her smile never left her face.

“It’s so beautiful,” she said quietly, just barely loud enough for him to hear.

“Yeah. It is.” He never looked away from her.

He felt like he’d blown it once already by not holding her hand earlier, and the last thing he wanted to happen was for the night to end with anymore regrets.

With a shaky breath, he scooted right up next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. Her head almost instinctively leaned into him.

It seemed there really was no need for words in that moment. As the pink and purple faded into gray and the first few stars made their appearances in the sky, the two of them just sat on and watched as the world around them changed.

As much as he hated to admit it, he really had longed for a moment like this for some time now. And it seemed that maybe, all of the other heartache he’d gone through in life, whether it was rejection or Alvin interfering, it was all worth it just so he could have this moment right now with Brittany.