10 Days [Brallon]

Rain Part 2

[i find this chapter to be absolutely awful but I didn't wanna rewrite it because I already did that and since it's the 9th day I wanted it to be a calm before the storm chapter so just a heads up this is rlly bad thanks bye]

"Dallon, look! It's raining again!" Brendon shook my shoulders until I told him to stop, his eyes still red from the tears last night. The grin on his lips contradicted the pang of upset there, however.

I sat up and much to my excitement, he was right; the windows were drenched with raindrops still rolling down the glass. The memories from the last downpour flooded my mind, and I could've sworn my left leg twitched in the cast. I wondered if Brendon's arm still hurt. "Huh. I guess it is."

"Yknow what goes great with rain?" He shook like a cold puppy from a mixture of excitement and anticipation "pancakes!"

I frowned and followed him out of my bed and down the stairs, all the way to the kitchen. He swung open the cabinets and pulled out pans and whatever he wanted for his pancakes. "Waffles are better."

"Nuh uh," he argued and stuck his tongue out "pancakes are superior. I bet waffles wish they were pancakes."

"Pancakes look like somebody sat on them. Waffles have texture, their little imperfect squares have purpose and I love them." I said, drowned out by the sound of everything he'd grabbed mixing together at the same time. I guess he was really quick at making pancakes. [DOYOUSEEMYWAFFLEFORESHADOWING]

It took him a little longer to clean up and start actually baking breakfast because each tiny circle he dribbled from the bowl had to be smooth and evenly cooked otherwise it wasn't good enough in his mind. Only about half of them passed his test, all gathered on to a paper plate and set on the countertop next to a vase or wilting Morning Glories. The other ones that had recently flown in were at my shop, I hadn't bothered to bring them back since nobody was going to see any of their purple pink petals anytime soon. I'd been proven wrong, but that wasn't the point.

Brendon seemed to like them all the same. Every other bite he'd play with one of the faded leaves on the stem or scratch at a mark on the glass pattern. A lost feeling smothered the dark amber hue of his eyes, glazing his line of sight and focusing to un-focus on the counter. "I don't know what I'm going to do," he mumbled quietly, under his breath "it's just going to get worse until I either can't take it or I drown in my own mess."

"Therapy exists," I said and he shuddered "I've heard that it works, too. It wouldn't be an empty experience, it might help."

"Therapy is stupid."

"Therapy works."

Brendon frowned and shook his head like a dog drying off after a bath. "It doesn't do anything, it's not gonna help."

"Tell that to the empty lemonade cartons on your dining room table."

Brendon huffed loudly, carefully sliding his empty dish into the sink beside him. His eyes traveled along the divots notched in the counter surface. "They expired on my birthday." He whispered. "I thought it was cool."

"And what about the shampoo bottles that you'd used?" I asked, leaning closer towards him and balancing on my elbows. At that point I was genuinely curious as to why he'd kept so many things and let it get so out of hand.

"I got those... I got those..." Brendon paused, picking at the pristine white cast on his arm "I don't know. I kept them for a reason-"

"So let's get rid of them this afternoon, okay?"

A look of utter horror flooded his gaze, lips parting into a shocked and very appalled 'oh'. "No! I kept them for a reason! What if I remember after I throw them out and I'll never ever see them again? What then? What if it was important?"

"Then you'll just have to let them go, I guess."

Brendon's bottom lip quivered and he crossed his arms loosely over his chest. "I can't. I can't let go. I don't want to."

"You have to eventually," I said as quiet as my voice would allow "you don't need to hold on to everything. Remember when you told me you repeated everything? You let go of that, didn't you?"

He nodded once and blinked tears away from the corners of his eyes. He refused to match my gaze and continued to pick at the dust gathering on the flower vase. "I don't want to remember that. I'm not even sure I ever let it go in the first place."

I'd never heard him repeat things more than once unless I wasn't listening or if he did it to purposely annoy someone, but from the way he treated it I could've sworn it was life ruining. "It couldn't have been that bad-"

"It was bad, okay? Trust me for once. I couldn't leave the house without locking everything 6 times exactly, I had to tell myself everything 2 times otherwise I'd halfway forget, if I didn't tell people something 4 times I was convinced they'd either brush off the conversation the first 3 times or they wouldn't process it right. I hated it but I couldn't stop, I couldn't remember why I had to do it in the first place, but every time I felt like if I didn't do it then something awful would happen. I don't want to do it ever again."

That sounded scarily similar to how he described the whole 'I didn't mean to cheat' situation. I think I believed him too. The tears seemed genuine and it all made a little more sense, like fitting together a cluster of a puzzle to make a chunk of the bigger picture. There were still a few empty gaps, but the main concept was spread out to form most of it.

"Yknow what though? It doesn't matter," Brendon wiped the side of his nose and watched a flock of birds soar past the window "I said I'd never repeat again. I'll toss everything out tomorrow-"

"Are you sure?"

He nodded once, grabbing the edge of my plate still loaded with pancakes and dragged it towards him. Brendon shrugged and tore the food into bite sized pieces that drowned in a pool of stale maple syrup. "I can do it. I think."

Then I had an idea. Probably a stupid and cheesy one, but it didn't matter. I also didn't really care. "If you let me help you I guarantee we can do it in record time."

He giggled and held a hand over his mouth. "Oh really? And how long is record time?"

"10 days." I winked over-exaggeratedly, and just as I'd hoped Brendon found it hilarious. Pride swelled in my chest as a smile spread across his face.

"10 days?" He repeated, still wheezing from laughter.

"10 days."

[so like I actually didn't mean to but I feel like I made a metaphor out of the stupid pancakes and waffles and I actually hate myself smh]