Abomination (Ryden)

Chapter 39

My dad ends up picking me up, because well, someone has to stay at the hospital with Ryan, and I think it goes without saying that it would be a little more than awkward if my dad was left to comfort Ryan. But you know, just saying.

When my car pulls up twenty minutes after I've hung up with my mom, I'm still pretty drunk. I wave my goodbye to Spencer and Jon who are still standing on the crowded sidewalk, waiting for Jon's mom to pick them up. I already tried one hundred billion times while waiting for my dad, convincing them to come because I really think Ryan would appreciate it if his life-long best friend came to give him some support. I mean sure, maybe Spencer is kind of really pissed the fuck off at Ryan right now, but still, I mean, come on, his dad is in the hospital. Anyways, my attempts at persuading were just a complete and total fail because Spencer would give me this incredulous look every time, and be like, "Brendon, you idiot, we're drunk."

This was true, but hey, I'm drunk too. At least, I figure, a third of the attention would be taken off of me for awhile.

Before getting into my car, I take a deep breath thinking, okay, I can do this. I can be normal. I wont slur, or say inappropriate things. I'll be fine. Unless... oh my God, what if I smell like alcohol, and smoke, and drag queens? I bet I do.

However, it turns out any chance of normalcy gets ruined before I even properly get into the car, because somehow, I manage to trip over some imaginary object, go flying into the passenger seat, almost falling back out of the car and landing on my big, fat butt out on the sidewalk in the process.

I curse under my breath for being such a drunken buffoon, then count one, two, three before turning to my dad, flashing him mouthful of pearly white teeth. It's okay, it's cool. He wont know, I mean, it's my dad after all. I'm just clumsy anyways, that's all. Just be normal, just be normal. "HI DAD!" I practically yell out, full-force into my dads face (and of course, with a bit of a slur) probably giving him a huge whiff of the sour, alcohol smell lingering in my mouth.

Damnit! So not normal, Brendon. So not normal.

My dad stares at me, completely deadpanned, for a total of like, I don't even know, a billion seconds or something like that before going, "You're drunk."

I stare back at him, and blink, forcing back the laugh that's just so inappropriately bubbling up my throat like vomit. I send him the most innocent, angelic look I can muster up in my drunken state. "Who? Meeee?" I gasp. "Dad, no! Who do you think I am?!"

"Brendon," he warns, not smiling, and no, definitely not convinced either.

I sigh, defeated as my dad takes off down the packed street, into the big mess of traffic, shaking his head.

"'Kay, you caught me dad, I am," I admit, head hung low. "But only jus' a little. Justa bit. S'nothing, really," I slur, then add in just for good measures, "that s'all."

He doesn't say anything for a good few solid minutes. I stare at him, waiting, and oh my God, the silence is excruciating.

"You're lucky we're going home," he finally says.

"What? Why?" I cry. "We aren't going to the hospital?"

"Because, your mother figured since we'd be leaving soon anyway, there's really no point in going all the way there," he explains, stopping behind a car for the 34588344 time in the past five minutes since he picked me up. Trust me, driving on the strip on a Saturday night really isn't the best thing ever. "They won't be too long. Ryan just wants to talk to his dad and then they're leaving."

"Oh, okay. Well 'ike, what happened anyway? He's s'okay then, I guess? Right?" I ask, and just fuck, SLUR GO AWAY. I DON'T WANT YOU ANYMORE!!!

"Yes, he's fine. He'll probably just be overnight," my dad says.