Mediocrity 50% [Brallon: Deja Vu, Book 1]

9

"Hey, Bren!" Jon said cheerily, waving him over from where Brendon had entered. Jon, Ryan, and Spencer were sitting in a booth in the restaurant all together. They had agreed to have lunch together today.

Brendon was doing his best to push last night out of his head. He feared he had made it awkward with even mentioning the possibility of romance between him and Dallon. Neither of them had any sort of romantic chemistry or desire for the other, or at least Brendon was trying to convince himself of that. Dallon had confirmed that it hadn't been a date, and Brendon didn't understand the feeling of disappointment that clouded the atmosphere afterwards. His chest had clenched after he had spoken those damning words.

"Hey guys." Brendon said tiredly. He felt like he needed to sleep everything off, and for whatever reason he hadn't been able to do that. It was a Sunday afternoon and he had work later. He dreaded it, but anything to take his mind off of the confusion that was running through his veins. He slid in the booth next to Ryan, rather predictably. Ryan was comfortable. "Where's everyone else?"

"Taylor canceled last minute for some reason that I honestly forgot, Tyler's swamped with grading right now. Reports and whatever. Josh had to pull weekend duty at the lab, or wherever. He said he hopes to make a scientific breakthrough." Jon replied, counting down their friends on his fingers. "I don't know what Dallon, Patrick, and Pete are all doing because they don't have work today, but presumably something. Ry has a real estate showing. Geoff and Otto are doing God knows what. Otto doesn't reply to group chat messages ever."

"Imagine how cool that would be to have a best friend who went down in scientific history. We'd be famous by association." Spencer remarked, laughing around the straw between his teeth. He was drinking a vanilla milkshake because he had a strange craving for sugar that afternoon. He wasn't the biggest sweet tooth, but indulgence was fun every once in a while.

"Do you count as a celebrity if you're an accomplished scientist?" Ryan asks, tapping the table a few times to get everyone's attention.

"Do you count Marie Curie as a celebrity or a historical figure?" Jon responded, bouncing off of Ryan's question in the way that only best friends could. Comfortable banter was exactly what Brendon needed to procrastinate and distract himself from having to deal with the night before. He genuinely had no clue if he consciously wanted Dallon as a boyfriend, but he wished he hadn't mentioned anything. He wished that Dallon hadn't said no. Brendon didn't know what he would have done if Dallon had affirmed in response to his question.

"Well, she's not exactly modern." Brendon quipped. Late 1800s and early 1900s was a lifetime away from the era that they all lived in.

"Celebrity probably has to do with the entertainment industry specifically." Jon commented, correcting and effectively answering the question he had asked earlier.

"That sucks. Josh is still cool as hell though." Ryan said, shaking his head.

"Amen to that!" Spencer said, clinking his glass against Ryan's in a celebratory toast. Taylor's birthday was in a little over a month, and Christmas soon after. The holiday season swept past for their friend group because of all of the birthdays and holidays. New Years crept up on them and then a lull of no celebrations made their lives relatively stagnant. Spencer's favorite month had always been December. "Oh, Brendon, how did your date with Dallon go last night?"

"Date?" Ryan spluttered, looking confused. He abruptly turned to Brendon, searching his face for any sort of clarification.

"What do you mean date? I didn't even know you had a thing for him." Jon asked. His tone was a bit more conversational, though his brow furrowed. He was fully supportive of course, Jon was just surprised he hadn't known before anything happened.