The Web I Spin for You ~ Richpez & Rosenwalker

Chapter 41

"Are your keys in your gym bag?" Brian asked, struggling to both support Joe and carry their bags.

"Hmm?" Joe asked, his head slumped against Brian's shoulder. Evidently his adrenaline from the entire incident had worn off, and he was starting to really feel the impact of the attack. "Oh, uhh, yeah I think so." Joe lifted his head off of Brian's shoulder to see that they had reached his car. He forced himself off of Brian, leaning against the side of his car as Brian pulled his keys out of his bag and unlocked the car. "Toss me the keys." He asked before missing as Brian threw them directly towards him.

"Are you, are you going to be okay to drive?" Brian asked as he opened a door to the backseat and tossed their bags into the back. "Should I maybe call someone?"

Joe froze, having been in the process of opening the door to the drivers seat. "Goddammit," he mumbled under his breath, reaching down to pick the keys up off of the ground. "No, probably not."

"It's okay, I can call Nick or maybe even one of my sibli—"

"You got this," Joe said simply, tossing the keys over to his boyfriend. "You've done it before, remember?"

Brian caught Joe's keys, surprising himself. "I mean... you were a little more alert when I did that last time." Brian said nervously.

"Not really," Joe admitted honestly, slowly making his way around to the passenger seat. "I had just basically had a panic attack, remember? I was out of it then too." His feet started to stumble, and Brian grabbed him just in time to prevent him from crashing onto the ground. "Aw, baby." Brian said sadly, helping Joe as he climbed into the car.

Joe leaned his face against the window glass, closing his eyes tightly as he heard Brian open the other door and sit down in the drivers seat. "Same rules apply as last time; don't crash my car." He teased, wishing that he didn't feel so horrifically depressed.

"If I can manage that, are you going to overload me with compliments like you did the last time I drove?" Brian asked, the ghost of a smile managing to find its way on to his face as he turned Joe's car on. "I don't know how well you remember that, but you called me adorable, and I'm pretty sure that I almost stopped breathing."

"Actually I said that you were 'undeniably adorable,' which you are." Joe told him happily, leaning over and kissing Brian's cheek. "Now no more stalling. Wow me with your good driving abilities."

xXx

"That really was actually fucking insane." Joey commented, sitting down on one of the beanbag chairs in his bedroom.

"One hundred percent," Corey agreed, taking the beanbag opposite of him. "I mean, did you see his face? I agree with Lauren, he should've gone to the ER."

"Yeah well, when the fuck does he ever listen to me?" Lauren commented, sitting on the floor next to Joey's beanbag. "I can't believe we haven't even attended school yet, and this whole thing has already gotten worse. I mean, it hasn't even been thirty-six hours since the post went up."

"Is it still up?" Corey asked. "I haven't looked since last night."

"It is, I just checked." Joey answered, tossing his phone down. "I talked to Mr. Davidson before auditions, but he said that there's nothing he can do since she didn't mention Joe by name. He offered to go to Principal Goodman, but Joe definitely doesn't want that kind of attention drawn to the whole thing, otherwise they might tell his parents everything that's happened."

"Might be for the best," Lauren chimed in. "I mean, literally. Do you guys ever just stop and wonder why we don't fucking just get adults involved? I know why Joe doesn't; because he doesn't want anyone to know about everything that she did to him. But... I don't know. I feel like his parents need to know. Sometimes I debate just going and telling them myself, but I feel like Joe would never talk to me again if I do. Which I know, is probably selfish of me."