new friend, old friend || BASIL x reader

chapter seven

"you know... after everyone drifted apart... i felt so alone. but now, i realize that i was the one who was pushing everyone away. in the few months after MARI died... everything changed so fast. SUNNY and BASIL became more closed off... KEL made a bunch of friends playing sports... and HERO always seemed to be busy studying. i was so... angry... at how life kept moving on. i felt like everyone abandoned me... and abandoned MARI, too. but... i couldn't see that everyone was dealing with the pain in their own ways. after SUNNY stopped coming to school... i saw BASIL sitting alone during lunch... so i asked him if he wanted to study together at his house. he seemed kind of uneasy about it at first... but after i begged him, he agreed. the walk there was really quiet... BASIL wouldn't even look at me. when we got to his room, i tried to talk to him... but he said he had to go to the bathroom and ran off. that's when i spotted his old PHOTO ALBUM on his bookshelf. i just wanted to go through the photos, because... well... i guess i just wanted to see everyone happy again. but... when i opened it... BASIL had blacked out all the photographs with marker! i couldn't believe it... he had even blacked out MARI's face...! all of our memories together... it felt like he had destroyed them! i was so confused and angry... i thought he was a nutcase. so... instead of trying to understand him... i stole his PHOTO ALBUM and started calling him names. and eventually... i wasn't the only one... i feel terrible for that now. but, you know what... ever since then, all i've been doing is trying to cut myself off from everyone. it's kind of funny. what i've been doing is worse than what BASIL did, yet i'm the one who was angry at him... i'm such an idiot." AUBREY falls to her knees and begins sobbing.

SUNNY backs away, while KEL, HERO and i walk over to comfort AUBREY. i sigh. why's he such a heartless asshole...?

"hey, it's okay, AUBREY. we've all made mistakes."

"yeah! and you were kids! you were angry... and you didn't understand. but now... you've learned that it's not right, and you're a better person."

"at that time, i didn't really understand what was happening... i was afraid that i'd somehow make things worse... so i just decided to stay out of all of it. i'm really sorry, AUBREY... and i'm sorry to you too, SUNNY. i was a pretty terrible friend."

"you were still pretty young then, KEL, but i'm the oldest... so i should have known to take care of everyone. i... i just..."

"ah... no, it's fine. everyone's here now... so it's okay. i don't... i don't deserve friends like you."

"don't be silly, AUBREY. of course you do. during all this time, it's pretty obvious that you still cared about us. i mean... just look at all the photos in the PHOTO ALBUM. there's no trace of any of the black marks you were talking about anywhere! you can see all our faces just fine! i don't suppose they all just cleaned themselves, did they?"

"it's alright, AUBREY... i promise that from now on, i'll always be there for you!!" KEL states.

"yeah, i promise too... we should all be here for each other!" HERO speaks.

"me too! i'm just a call away if anyone needs me." i agree.

AUBREY collects herself and stands up.

"hey, you know what? i think this is the perfect time for a big group hug!"

"GROUP HUG!? AWW, YEAH! COUNT ME IN!!"

"group hug sounds great to me!!"

"w-wait just one second!"

"READY OR NOT, HERE WE COME!"

HERO drags SUNNY over and pulls all of us into a group hug for the second time today.

"we should go see if BASIL is back home. i need to apologize to him... and... i think right now... he's probably the one that needs us the most."

SUNNY leads us back through his house and out the front door, and we head to BASIL's house. once we get there, i walk up to knock on the door again, hoping he's here this time. i hope him and his GRANDMA are okay...