Falling, Alone, and a Mess

Chapter 10: Thunder as Loud as Your Thoughts

Duncan stood in front of the window, watching as the rain came down from the sky. The sky was grey, and the thunder was loud.

The only sounds that he could hear were the rain droplets hitting his window, and the sounds of loud thunder.

He inhaled deeply.

He got out of juvie 2 weeks ago, it felt like a month.

He didn't really make any friends while he was in there. He kept to himself, but if any one tried messing with him, it was a different story.

Duncan walked back over to his bed and laid down.

He looked in the corner of his room and stared at his plant.

Phillip. I'll call you Phillip.

He looked over to the cactus on his nightstand.

Sandy. I'll call you Sandy.

Every year for his birthday, Darren never got him anything special. Mostly just money or a gift card.

Demi would give him plants, and tell him he needs to go green and become vegan.

Donnie would buy him new shoes or new cologne.

Derek literally would get him nothing, but every year he says the same thing.

"A gift isn't what matters, it's the thought."

And Duncan replies with,

"But you didn't even get me anything."

And then Derek just smiles and walks away.

His birthday was coming up in four days.

Him and Chelsea had agreed to throw a double party. It would be at the beach and all of his friends and family would be there, including hers.

Duncan already bought Chelsea a gift. It was a painting of the sunset on the beach. And in the painting there were two people, they were sitting on the sand.

You couldn't make out the people, they were too dark. But person one had their head on person 2's shoulder.

Duncan was shopping with his mother when he saw it. They were originally looking for a new mirror to put inside the guest bedroom since the other fell and broke, but when Duncan came across that painting, he fell in love with it.

It wasn't huge, and it wasn't incredibly small either.

Duncan also bought her another gift, but he wasn't going to give it to her for a while.

Derek had bought her a pair of ear rings from Kay Jewelers that his mother picked out.

Chelsea came over a lot just to spend time with Duncan. Derek would get home and they would be chasing each other around the house with spatulas.

Yesterday was no different from the rest. Chelsea came over that morning and made Duncan breakfast, then watched Parks and Rec with him.

He knew it wasn't right to be doing this. But hey, they're just friends.

Well, they hangout as friends.

They do friendly stuff.

They treat one another as a friend.

Friends.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Duncan thought to himself.

He was right, they were friends. She was his brothers girlfriend.

It's normal for them to hangout all the time, right?

Duncan looked over by his bathroom door and saw the bag with Chelsea's gift in it. He smiled to himself,

She's gonna love it.

It was 5pm, and no one was home but him and his parents.

Derek was out having dinner with Chelsea's family, and it felt strange to Duncan.

He wasn't her boyfriend, he knew that. But, sometimes it seemed like Derek was just a third wheel between the two.

Derek would get home and Chelsea and Duncan would be sitting on the couch watching reruns of The Walking Dead, and Derek would awkwardly join in.

Sometimes Duncan felt more than a friend to Chelsea. She always made him breakfast and he would help her clean up afterwards.

Is this how marriage is?

Duncan thought.

Duncan looked over to his closet, he saw the outfit he had planned for the beach day.

White Hollister muscle top with black swim trunks.

He smiled to himself again,

I bet Chelsea's gonna look more gorgeous than ever.

"Dinner's ready." His mother said as she knocked.

Duncan got up from his bed and walked down stairs. He was only wearing his sweatpants and socks, his room was the coldest out of the whole house.

As Duncan sat down with a plate of food in front of him, his father greeted him.

"He's finally up from the dead." He smiled.

Duncan's father hardly ever smiles. He's a grumpy old man. After having five kids with no discipline, it's like the life has been sucked out of him.

"Yeah..." Duncan chuckled.

"So," Duncan's mother said as she sat down, "On Friday we're all gonna go have dinner at your choice. So any ideas on where you wanna go?"

Duncan thought for a moment, then finally said, "The bowling alley."

His mother looked at him surprised.

"You wanna eat at the bowling alley?" She said with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, then we could bowl and go roller skating like we did when I was younger." Duncan said cheerfully.

She gave him a warm smile and looked at his father, who had he same expression on his face.

"Whatever makes you happy, Dunc Dunc." She laughed.

Duncan rolled his eyes.

When he was a baby that's what everyone called him. When he got back, it seemed everyone forgot about it. Everyone but his mother.

Dunc Dunc.

He thought,

How ridiculous?

A/N- this chapter is a lot shorter than the other ones but I feel like it should be. when I was writing this there was a huge thunderstorm going on and it was so quiet in my house, and it gave off a peaceful vibe. which is the vibe I got from this chapter. oh and btw if any of y'all are wondering, Duncan's room is all white and calm. but anyways stay tuned for chapter 11: Put a Ring On and Keep It On