What Twisted Webs We Weave

Hearts, Lies and Friends

(Patrick's POV)

Brendon knocked on my door at eight in the morning.

When I first heard the knocking I thought it was Pete. He did promise to come back as soon as the sun was up. So of course I rushed out of bed, more than ready to see him again. Only to be decorated with disappointment when I saw Brendon standing there. It's not like I didn't like seeing my best friend, I'd just rather see Pete.

There was something weird about Brendon. At first glance I didn't see it. He was wearing his usual t-shirt and jeans with a sweater over it to fight the morning breeze. His hair was styled upward as always and he was even wearing his reading glasses.

But when I looked again I noticed something was off. His eyes were pink. And not like when he was stoned. His inner eyes were red and the rims around them were even redder. There were bags large enough to hold a weeks worth of clothes under his eyes. He looked alert. A little too alert. The kind of alert you got when you didn't sleep all night and you drunk tons of coffee to hide it.

"Good morning." His smile made him look insane.

"Good morning, Bren." I stepped to the side to let him in.

"Did you have a good night?"

He sat down in the center of the couch. Placing a stack of folders on my coffee table. I closed the door slowly. Taking my time walking over to the couch to sit next to him.

"Yes. D-Did you?"

"Yeah." He rolled his eyes. "Well, kind of."

"Oh?"

"Work stuff kept me up a little later than usual." He motioned to the folders.

"Do you need some help?" I offered.

It was my office he was doing all the work at after all. It was about time I stopped moping around and got back to my job. Brendon could only do it by himself for so long. I was grateful for him taking control during my downward spiral. He'd done a damn good job. But now Pete was back and I was better. I needed to start pulling my weight. Especially if doing it alone made Brendon this way.

The look of relief he gave me made me feel worse. This was really too much for him. "Yes, please."

"Okay." I reached over and lifted the one from the top. "Amanda Rose." I read the familiar name. "Throat cancer, right?"

"Right." He nodded.

I opened the folder and scanned over her chart. "I see you've  started her on the Carboplantin. Why did you stop the Cetuximab?"

"What?" He looked at me in a dazed confusion. Like he'd been day dreaming while I was talking. "Oh. She had a skin reaction to the Cetuximab last month."

"Brendon." I sat the folder back on the table. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." His bloodshot eyes connected with mine. "There's just a- a lot of work to get done and- and-"

His eyes closed for a few seconds. I sat there staring at his eyelids in worry. When they opened again, they were full of tears. Instinctively, I grabbed Brendon towards me. Letting his head rest on my shoulder. His nose pressed against my skin as he cried.

"Brendon, it's okay." I cooed as I rubbed his back. "You can take a vacation. Go somewhere with Ryan for a while. I'll just hire a temp and-" He cried even harder. "Holy smokes, Bren. I don't know what to do."