Dark Corners / ✓

twenty: of regression

"The Devil watches over his own." - Wardaddy, Fury 

"What do you mean Grant is missing?"

I leaned against the side of Grant's car - which was still in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot - and took a deep breath, refusing to meet Griffin's eyes. He was staring at me, clicking his tongue impatiently, but I didn't know what to say. How the hell was I supposed to explain what just happened? How was I supposed to explain that Grant just had a sudden, extreme, emotional outburst and stormed off?

"He just left," I said, letting out an exasperated sigh. My nerves were fried, and the way Griffin was staring at me wasn't helping, "He just - I don't know. He just had an outburst and took off - he just kept going."

Griffin tugged his fingers through his hair and groaned loudly, eyes closing. He leaned back and let out another loud noise of frustration, one that I completely agreed with. I had been waiting at Dunkin Donuts for a half hour before Griffin showed up, and now our conversation wasn't going quite like I expected. Griffin almost seemed more annoyed than worried, which wasn't something I had been prepared for.

"Well, why did he snap?" Griffin asked, dropping his head back down and opening his eyes. He quirked an eyebrow in my direction and stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Did you say something? Grant doesn't just snap for no reason, Emmy."

Part of me didn't want to tell Griffin that I had told Grant about our... situation from the other day, but I know I had to. Griffin needed to know why his brother had suddenly flew off the rail, and I wasn't going to lie to him about what had happened. This was for Grant's safety, and I wasn't going to lie - even though I really, really wanted to.

So I took a deep breath and quickly blurted it out: "I told Grant that I accused you of - um... you know, being schizophrenic. And he accused me of picking sides and flipped out, Griffin. He flipped."

Griffin stared at me, jaw slack, blue eyes filled with complete and utter shock. Griffin stared at me for a few minutes before he began laughing. Laughing. Griffin let out a loud, humorless laugh and stared at me, blinking, the same look of complete shock on his face. I stared right back, not sure what he thought was even mildly funny about this situation.

"Why the fuck did you think it would be a good idea to tell my brother you called me schizophrenic? Did you not see how that went over when you said it to me?"

He had a point and I knew it, but I refused to admit it. I knew it was stupid of me not tell Grant about what I said, but it still didn't justify his outburst. What Grant did - that wasn't just brought on by him being angry about what I said. It was something else entirely, and Griffin, for some reason, couldn't seem to grasp that. 

"Griffin, this is serious, don't you get that? He left his car and just took off - "

"This is not serious, okay?" Griffin said, softening his tone. He bent down a bit at the knees so he was looking me in the eyes and put two fingers under my chin, gently pushing my head up, "Grant does this when he gets overwhelmed. He's at my mom's grave - he goes whenever he does this. This is not your fault and it is not serious. It's fine. I promise."

Griffin dropped his fingers from under my chin and stood up straight, pulling his car keys from his pocket. I stared over at him and took deep breaths, trying to calm my slightly racing heart down. It felt wrong - letting Griffin comfort me while his brother was missing - but I tried to assure myself that he was right. This was Griffin's brother, and if he wasn't completely freaking out over this apparently normal incident, then I shouldn't have been either.

"We'll go get him. Right now. And you'll see that he's okay, yeah?" Griffin asked, jiggling the keys between his fingers. He clicked a button of the key-chain and the lights on Grant's car flashed, "I have a spare key for when this happens."