BEST FRIEND'S BOYFRIEND → DAVE EAST

|TWENTY TWO|

*LAURYN'S POV*
"Are you okay? He didn't hit you again, did he?"

August questioned after I told him what had happened before I had came to his house.

"No, he didn't. He was probably close to hitting me, but he didn't. I just don't know what else to do, Aug. I'm trying everything and anything. As time goes on, it seems that he has like some... mental illness he doesn't know about?"

"I mean, to be fair, the man did get shot. In both of his legs. He for sure has PTSD, if nothing else."

August shrugged, taking another bite of his Chinese food. I barely touched mine yet because I was so upset.

"What's your suggestion? Like what do you think I should do?"

"I think you should just let shit be. You can't really do much if Dave doesn't wanna help himself. You can give him a change to redeem himself and actually try to search for the help. Or, you can just walk away for your sake and just let him be. You're gonna kill yourself if you let him keep draining you like that. It's terrible energy."

"Thank you, August. You're such a great friend. Thanks for always being here. I think that's why Dave is so upset, too. He thinks that we have something."

"No problem, lovely. And definitely not, you're like my best friend. I enjoy being around you and your company. I just thought about something. There's this concert coming up this weekend. You wanna come to get your mind off things?"

"Yeah, of course. Who's concert is it?"

"It's a surprise. I know he's one of your favorite artists."

"Who is it? I have a lot of favorite artists."

I whined. August smirked as he was looking at me.

"It's a surprise, don't worry about it. You'll see this weekend. I just needed you to agree."
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*DAVE'S POV*
I done called Lauryn a thousand of times, but not an answer. Not even one.

As I was about to call her once again, I seen Symphony standing outside of my window with...

Shooter?!

I rolled over to the door and opened it.

"What the fuck is going on?!"

"Dave, I have to come clean about something. The one who shot you wasn't —"

"Wasn't Shooter! I knew it! That shit didn't make sense to me! Even though after a while, I did start to believe it."

"The one who REALLY shot you is Clarence's best friend. He goes by some nigga named Chris. Clarence put him all up to it, then pinned that shit on me. Symphony just turned them in, and I was able to get out.."

Shooter gazed off, noticing the fact that I was actually in a wheelchair. His facial expression went from excited to see me, to upset that I had to live the rest of my life like this.

"I'm good, B. Really, I am. It has been kind of tough, but I'm aight."

"Where's Lauryn? You would think she would be here with you all the time, making sure you're fine."

Symphony questioned, trying to change the subject of the simple fact that she knew who shot me this entire time. How the fuck isn't she in jail too?

"Don't worry about that, that ain't your concern. Why ain't you in jail for holding in the truth?"

"Let's just say... I pretended like I just found out. They didn't question me much farther. Anyway, where's Lauryn?"

"I'm guessing she's still at work. She never texted me saying what time she would be home yet."

I lied my ass off, covering up Lauryn's tracks. I didn't want anyone to see the bad in her. No matter what we go through, that's my baby. I just wish shit wasn't so rough for us right now.

"Riiiight. I'll let you two catch up. I'm gonna go. You're welcome for saving Shooter's ass."

I can't even lie, I'm still gonna be highly upset at Symphony for covering up for her dickhead ass brother. But apart of me is thankful for her because she got my best friend out of jail.

Shooter and I talked for hours, catching up on the last ten months of our lives. By the time I looked at the time, it was two in the morning.

Shooter had left to get himself home, and Lauryn didn't walk in the house until almost three in the morning. But with... a whole bunch of boxes?

"Lauryn, what are you doing with all those damn boxes?"

"Dave, we need to talk. I can't do this anymore. You need to help yourself mentally before I can continue to help you as your girlfriend."

"So you're really... leaving me? After you promised me you wouldn't? What am I supposed to do without you, Lauryn?! I love you!"

"I love you too, Dave. With all my heart. That's why this decision to leave you alone for a little while is the hardest I had to make. I literally spent hours driving around, thinking if this was the right choice to make for myself. I have to put myself and love myself first for once, Dave. It's always just you. I lost myself. I don't even know who I am as a person anymore. I'm hoping that when I'm gone, you can do what's best for you too."

Lauryn started to tear up, tears then rolling down her cheeks. My heart completely shattered at everything I just heard. I'm really losing the love of my life because of how shitty of a person I've become over these last ten months.

"You know I didn't mean for all of this to happen, Lauryn. It's just, after I got shot, everything just started going.. downhill."

"You need to figure yourself out mentally, Dave. I love you, but we've become toxic. I don't want that for us. I want us to be in a healthy relationship. Just please do me the favor and figure yourself out, for yourself and Kairi. She deserves the best version of her daddy you can give her."

"Where are you gonna go when you leave...?"

"I'm moving back with Candice until I can find my own place. I'll be okay, don't worry about me. Just know I love you, and I'll always love you. You were basically my first everything, David Brewster. But right now, this is the best thing for us."

Lauryn wiped her tears away, hugging me tightly as I felt weaker.

"Lauryn, are you sure about this..? We can always try harder to work this out with each other."

"We need to work things out separately with ourselves before we can ever continue with our relationship, Dave."

And that was the end of me and Lauryn for a very long time. I didn't want things to end that way, but sadly they had to.

I admit that more than half of our relationship problems were caused by me.

Lauryn Goodwin, I'm sorry that I couldn't be enough for you...

Maybe sometime in the future, I'll see you again.