It's a Hard life | Hardzello♡

11. Allen

{Flashback to a few months ago, mid summer}

From his room, Ben can hear the doorbell ring. He quickly puts his last stuff in his backpack.
"BEN! Allen is here!" The voice of his mother yells.
"I'm coming, ma'am!" Ben yells back. He is so happy that he can flee the house for a moment. His parents really drive him crazy sometimes. He runs down the stairs and smiles at his friend. "Hey man." Ben gives Allen a short hug.
"Ready to go?" The Irish boy asks.
Ben smiles and nods.
"You better behave, you little piece of shit. I don't want people talk badly about our family." Mr Jones yells at Ben from the kitchen.
The blond boy rolls his eyes. "I will sir." He says. Ben quickly pushes Allen towards the front door, indicating that he wants to leave.
His best friend gets the hint, and opens the door. 

"Jesus man, how can you still be alive?" Allen asks as soon as Ben's house is out of sight.
Ben smiles and shrugs. "I don't know. I'm just glad you're here to get me outta there sometimes." He says. 
Allen chuckles softly. "Just give me a call and I'll be your savior mate." He says with a wink.
After a ten minute walk, the boys arrive at a lawn near the river.
Too bad they aren't the only ones with the idea of going for a swim on this hot summer day. The whole place is teeming with people.
Allen puts his backpack down, and starts taking off his clothes. "Come on man, hurry!" He says to Ben while running towards the water.
Ben smiles and starts taking off his clothes so he can join his best friend. With only his swimming trunks on, he walks to the waterfront. With a smile on his face, Ben walks into the water, slightly shivering at the cold. 

After a few hours in the water, the hottest part of the day has passed and most people went home already.
"Shall we go home?" Allen asks to Ben after they get out of the water.
Ben sighs and shrugs. "You can go home, but I'd rather not to, if you understand what I mean." He wraps a towel around his waist, and looks at his friend, waiting for an answer.
Allen smiles and nods. "Yeah I get that. If you stay, I'll stay too." He says with a smile.
Ben's lips curl into a smile. "Thanks." He says gratefully. He is so happy to have Allen as a friend. He is the only one that understands how hard it is for Ben at home. How horrible his parents are.
"Let's go into the water for one last time. Then we jump from that bridge into the water." Allen suggests with a smirk.
Ben hesitates. "Isn't that a bit too high? Isn't that dangerous?" He asks.
Allen laughs and shakes his head. "No, I've done it before. And no one's watching, so let's do it." He already pulls Ben by his hand with him towards the bridge.
"I uhm- I don't know dude. Maybe you should go on your own." Ben frees his hand from Allen's grip.
The latter turns around with a grin on his face. "Well someone's scared."
Ben gives his friend a playful nudge. "Maybe. It's just so high." Shivers run down his spine when he looks at the bridge.
"Okay then, I'll go alone. Coward." Allen sticks his tongue out to Ben before walking on towards the bridge.
"Yeah yeah, but you love this coward. Otherwise you wouldn't be here." Ben yells after his friend with a grin.
"Of course I love my best friend. Love you, coward." Allen yells at him from a distance.

{Flashback over}

"That's the last thing Allen said to me. He climbed over the railing of the bridge, and was ready to jump." Now Ben is telling about his friend, he feels like he is reliving it. He is so focused on keeping the tears away, that he hasn't noticed yet that Joe is holding both his hands.
The ginger listens attentively to the blond boy. He can see Ben searching for the right words.
"But he slipped, and bumped his head against the railing. Unconscious, he fell into the water." That's when Ben can't stop the tears from flowing anymore.
Joe puts his arm around the boy and pulls him close to comfort him.
Ben places his head on Joe's shoulder. "I- I tried everything to safe him." He sobs. "I dragged him out of the water. I tried everything to get him to breath again Joe. I promise." He crooks his head into Joe's neck, so the ginger doesn't see him cry.
"Shh, it's okay. I know you did." Joe whispers softly. He puts his arms around the boy, just hugging him to let him know he isn't alone.
It stays silent for a while, but neither of the two minds.
After a while, Joe can feel that Ben has calmed down.
The blond's muscles finally relax, and Ben's breathing is back to normal.
"Let's go inside, okay? It's getting cold. We can talk further there. Or not, of course. Whatever you want." Joe suggests.
Ben nods and smiles gratefully at the ginger. 

Once inside, Joe makes Ben some tea.
"Thanks. Not just for the tea." Ben says with a smile when Joe hands him a cup of tea.
The ginger sits down next to him on the couch. "You can always talk to me. You know that." He says softly.
Ben nods.
Joe takes a sip from his tea. "So, one last thing." He says to Ben. "Will you now tell me what the real reason was that you had a panic attack a few days ago? I know it wasn't without a reason." He asks carefully.
Ben sighs and nods. "Well, it was actually kinda stupid. You gave me that cd, remember?"
Joe nods, not knowing where this is going.
"That album was Allen's favourite. We used to listen to it together. Every day he would take me to Brian's music shop to see if they had the cd version. That's why I wanted to go there the day we went shopping, you know? When you gave me that cd, I started to think about Allen. Which lead to a panic attack." Ben explains. During the explanation, he hasn't looked at Joe once. Which is why Ben is quite surprised when he feels Joe's hand on his knee.
"That's not stupid, never say that." The ginger says.
Ben smiles at him and nods. He yawns and closes his eyes for a moment.
Joe can't help but think about how cute the blond looks. "Let's go to bed blondie." He says with a small grin.
Ben chuckles softly and nods.
They turn of the lights in the living room, and walk to their rooms.
"Wake me up if you wanna talk or something's wrong, okay?" Joe says before Ben can close the door of his room.
The boy nods, and shoots him a last smile of this night.

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I don't have that much to say today people🙃

I could use a little feedback tho. How was this chapter? I'm not sure what I think of it

Anyways, sending all my love to y'all❤