coping ; joshler

two

brendon urie is by far not the best person.

but he's a good person, at least to me. and i'm glad he's my friend. he already has a towel in the passenger seat for me and the heat up to dry me off.

"thank you," i say, wrapping myself in the towel.

"no problem, ty. i wanted to talk to you anyways. usual place?" he says, starting to drive once i buckled myself in.

"i don't have any money."

he smiles at that. "i'll pay, don't worry. i just got my paycheck yesterday."

he drives to a little restaurant in the center of town. it's our favorite place because the food is good and cheap, and we usually go here when we want to talk privately since it's never really busy.

we sit down at a table and order some ice cream and sodas.

"was your mom really coming home?" brendon asks, stirring his drink with the straw.

i shrug. "i think so."

"has he hurt you lately?" his voice is gentler and more concerned.

i chew on my bottom lip, rolling up my sweatshirt sleeve to show him the burn marks from a few days ago. he mutters something about my mother, confusing me.

seven did this, not my mom.

"did you wash it in cold water?"

i nod. "of course."

our ice cream comes and we pick at it, eating it slowly.

"why were you sad when you called?" i ask, remembering his voice on the phone. his eyes get sad and he sighs softly.

"ryan, again, it's no big deal," he says, swirling some noodles around his fork.

i frown. "what happened?"

"it's just that," he mumbles, looking up at me when tears brim his eyes. brendon never cries. "he said he was fine, but when i went to visit him he barely spoke to me. he's getting worse being locked up in there, ty. and there's nothing i can do to help him."

i move to the other side of the booth, hugging brendon tightly which he returns.

"he's gonna be okay, bren, don't give up on him."

i hear him sniffle and he pulls away from the hug, wiping at his eyes. i move to the other side of the table again, moving my strawberry ice cream around with my spoon.

"our lives are pretty fucked up, aren't they?" he asks, slight sarcasm in his voice.

i smile a little bit. "yeah, pretty damn bad."

he snorts. "you said damn."

"thought it'd lighten the mood," i say, shrugging.

he shakes his head. "let's get out of here."