Brielle’s P.O.V.

Logically, being with my father for the first time should have been incredibly awkward. Actually, it wasn’t. I mean, sure, there was the first couple days when we kind of top-toed past each other, getting used to each other. But after that, we seemed like any old father and daughter.

We learned a lot about each other in the five days we’ve known each other. He told me a lot about James when he was a little baby and I told him about my trial, all the details. He wanted to know more about me, and I told him. I told him about myself, and in turn he told me about himself.

I told him that I could sing, and he demanded that I sing him a song. He made me sing for him right there, on the sidewalk.  Once I finished my song, people applauded for me. Since then, I’ve sung the streets a couple times, making a few bucks. My dad usually comes with me. Actually, he’s watching me play right now.

“Thank you!” I called, strumming one last time.

A couple coins clinked into the bottom of my guitar case. I smiled at the little girl who put money in.

“The next song I’ll be playing is Dear Mr. President by Pink,” I announced then strummed my guitar.

“How do you walk with your head held high, can you even look me in the eye,” I sang. “Let me tell you about hard work.”

Some people stopped to watch me as I stood on a curb and sang loudly, as I didn’t have a microphone.  Some people clapped.

“Dear Mr. President, you’d never take a walk with me,” I finished the song.

Some people clapped, but I didn’t receive any money. I figured that because people didn’t know Pink as well as Americans did. Oh well. I like her.

“Next song is Oh My Goodness by Olly Murs,” I said. “You just winked at me as you walked by,” I sang, looking at a guy around my age walking past. When he noticed me looking at him, he blushed and walked faster.

“You’ve got me dreaming of a life that anybody else would die for,” I sang.

“Anybody else would die for,” I finished.

More money clinked in my guitar case. I smiled at them and said thank you. I messed with my strings a bit before I heard some money clink in my case. I looked up to smile at them but my smile froze on my face.

It was Niall. He looked tired and his eyes were red, but he smiled at me.

“Good job,” he said.

I barely nodded. My new policy to ignore him was working well. He’d called me once, and I just let it ring. In his message, he was drunk. Way drunk. So drunk that I could barely understand him because he was slurring so much. The gist of the message was that he missed me and he wanted me back. I didn’t even respond to it.

“Hi,” he said.

I nodded at him.

“How are you?” he tried.

I shrugged.

“Come on Brielle, talk to me,” he begged, blue eyes wide and begging.

I tried not to look at them. When we were dating, I’d always give in because of his blue eyes. I was a sucker for blue eyes.

“Why should I?” I snapped. “I have no reason to.”

“Look, I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean what I said.”

“Yeah right,” I retorted.

Niall looked like he was thinking, and then his eyes fell on my guitar. He opened his mouth and started singing.

“I wish the couple on the corner would just get a room. Seems like everyone around me’s on their honeymoon,” he sang, looking directly at me. “I’d love to take a pin to a heart-shaped balloon. Everybody’s got somebody but me.”

And whose fault is that, I thought, but Niall wasn’t done. He had more to say.

“Well I don’t know how I landed on this movie set. It’s like a casting call for ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ I never would have noticed if we’d never met but everybody’s got somebody but me,” he sang, coming closer to me.

I fought the urge to run away. My dad noticed what was happening and came closer, trying to figure out who Niall was.

“And I miss you. Without you I just don’t fit it. I know we’re through, but I’m hoping we could try it again,” Niall sang.

He sang the whole song, dedicating it to me, and I saw some sappy girls’ aww and put their hands over their hearts, thinking that he was just so sweet and I should kiss him and make him happy. Well, sorry, I’m not the sappy type.

I put my guitar down. Niall looked hopeful for a second, but then I straightened up and opened my mouth. If he wants to battle with Hunter Hayes songs, which I introduced to him, let’s go.

“Wasted time and money honey, treating you like a prince. I might as well have just thrown matches at a tank of gasoline,” I sang and I saw Niall’s smile fall off his face. “Well it all went up in a ball of flames, yeah boy you torched me good. Yeah, I got burned and learned that I loved you more than I should.”

I was feeling pretty badass about the whole thing, and I kept singing. “Cause my heart said a long time ago, buddy tuck your tail and run. Cause it ain’t love when you’re stuck on the wrong end of the gun. Well you put your finger on that trigger and shot me where I stood. I found out the hard way I loved you more than I should.”

Niall’s face dropped and he looked miserable. For a second I felt a twinge of regret for what I was doing, but then I shook it off. He hurt me. He deserves this pain. A part of me thought that he looked like he’d suffered enough, mentally punishing himself for what he did to me.

The part of me that still loved him, the part that kept his texts, the part that read my previous diary entries and smiled when I read my words about him, the part that listened to his voice mails over and over again said stop, before he hurts even more.

The part of me that wanted revenge, , the part that wanted to slap him, the part that refused to talk to him, the part that was singing this song urged me to keep singing, to never stop until he has been punished enough.

 I gave in to my revenge. That chunk of me was bigger; it had more control over me.

“Well, curse the girl that made the sweet cologne that cast the spell and curse the night that made us kiss beneath the star that fell. And curse the girl before me; didn’t warn me when she could, and curse me most of all for loving you more than I should,” I sang, looking directly at Niall, circling him now.

Niall took a step back, face flushed now, looking embarrassed. I kind of felt bad for him, but it was more of a vindictive pleasure. He deserved to be embarrassed.

“Cause my heart said a long time ago, buddy tuck your tail and run. Cause it ain’t love when you’re stuck on the wrong end of the gun. Well you put your finger on that trigger and shot me where I stood. I found out the hard way I loved you more than I should.”

I wanted to stop singing, but I was angry. I needed to finish this song. It said everything I wanted to say.

“Oooh more than I should, yeah!” I sang.  “Last night I found myself inside the strangest sweetest dream. You were standing arms wide open right in front of me. The closer I moved toward you, the further away you stood. I woke up and whispered, ‘I loved you more than I should.’”

This last part wasn’t actually true. I did dream about Niall, but they were nightmares. At night, I replayed that one day that changed it all. I wanted to forget it, but I couldn’t. Since I’d moved out, my old reoccurring nightmare of that day I was almost raped was coming back too. Addie would have to wake me up because I was screaming so loud. And the worst part is, I sometimes didn’t even recognize her. She’d have to comfort me and I felt bad for waking her up when she had to work the next day. Now that I was making some money, I could help pay rent, but about five pounds a day didn’t exactly help that much.  

The one part about my nightmares that I hated was that when I slept with Niall, I didn’t get nightmares. Something about him chased them away, and I hated that I had to be with him to sleep through the night.

“They’ll write on my gravestone I loved you more than I should,” I paused for the buildup. “More than I should yeah!”

I stopped singing and looked at Niall. His eyes were a little teary, and he looked kind of like I slapped him in the face. I guess that’s how I looked when he called me a clingy, slutty, bitchy murderer. Good. He deserved every single word.

I pocketed my money, put my guitar away and walked away, leaving him standing in the middle of a crowd. I could have sworn I heard him call my name, but I didn’t turn around. My dad joined me after awhile.

“Who was that?” he asked.

“My ex-boyfriend,” I answered.

He was silent for a while. I had told him all about my past relationships, as he asked. He was startled to learn about Niall, and wanted to bash his head in. He’d voiced that thought aloud several times. He’d never met him though, and had no idea what he looked like. My dad was already protective of me, even though we’d only met barely a week ago. He told me he was making up for lost time.

“Still want to kill him?” I joked.

My dad cracked a smile.  “No, I think you handled that pretty well,” he said.

I started walking faster and my dad stumbled, trying to keep up with me.

“Why are you walking so fast?” he asked, after catching up with me.

“We have a trial tomorrow,” I said grimly. “And there’s no way I’m going to lose.” 

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Tada! Well, here's some of Brielle's revenge, she's not done yet. Evil laugh time hahaha. But seriously, here it is. I actually got inspired by Hunter Hayes, that's why this chapter is full of him. I don't actually know if they listen to  him in the UK, but I'm from America, so I listen to him all the time. It just works for this story. The song Brielle sings is in the sidebar, it's called More Than I Should, give it a listen, it's good :) Anyway, the picture in the sidebar kind of represents Brielle's two halves, the side that still loves Niall and the side that wants revenge. Yup, that's it. Soooo please vote and commet, I go away for the weekend and I come back to another 500 reads. That's just awesome, thank you. Dedication goes to my 51st follower, she's cool and new, so follow her if you can. Yup............ soooooooo I don't know what to say........ well, talk to ya later!

Love ya!

-11tay99