dishonesty // egobang

4. dishonesty

arin slowly opened his eyes to the sound of his phone ringing. it was two am. he picked it up.

"hello?" arin rubbed his eyes.

"arin?" dan. who else wouldn't have the common decency to call him at two in the morning?

"is everything okay?"

"no." arin shot up out of bed and was already pulling his sweatpants and flip flops on.

"where are you?"

"in front of wednesday's apartment." arin thumped down the stairs and got into his dad's van and didn't think to leave a note saying where he was going. he was already on his way.

"why the hell are you not inside? it's freezing!"

"we had a fight." dan sniffed, and for the first time, arin was listening to his best friend break down and cry. he cried for a couple minutes, but nonetheless.

when arin arrived at wednesday's apartment complex, she was giving dan her last piece of mind before slamming the door shut and leaving him on the dewey lawn to ask himself where he could've possibly gone wrong.

"oh, dan," arin began, already walking to console his friend. he took no time in wrapping his arms around dan's broad shoulders and swaying back and forth.

"i don't know where it went bad, arin, i really don't." dan spluttered through muffled cries. arin patted his back and pretended to know what he was going through.

arin didn't think dan would be the one to break down. he always thought it'd be himself broken down on someone's front lawn at two am wondering what he should've done to keep things the way they were before. but he wasn't, and he needed to be there for dan. although, he couldn't help but wonder.

"i know, bud, i know. it's hard, i get it." he didn't know. he didn't get it. who could experience the exact same thing as you and feel exactly the same way? truly, nobody feels the same. they're all different.

"no, arin, you don't." dan knew. he crumpled. he pushed his face in the crook of arin's neck and held his shoulders tightly. "nobody ever knows, arin, not even you. not you, not my parents, not my sister, nobody knows." dan beat his fists against arin's chest.

"danny, calm down buddy, you're overworking yourself."

"shut the hell up, arin hanson! you know it's true, i know you know. don't stand here and tell me you know how it feels to be rejected by every, single, person you've ever had any relationship with! i'm just waiting to hear you say the same thing she did!" dan's agitated cries were muffled by arin's hoodie, which was probably for the best.

"leigh daniel avidan, you stop your blubbering and look at me." arin cradled dan's jaw and made sure they made eye contact. dan's eyes were red and swollen, his cheeks were pink and flustered.

"what?" dan said, almost defensively.

"no. i'm not going to stand here and tell you i know how it feels. i don't. you need something to rely on?" dan looked away, and arin shook his arm to get his attention back on his face. "you can rely on me. i'm not leaving you, and you need to get it through your thick skull. i need you to know you can rely on me. your girlfriend kicks you out? so what? you have me. if you wanted, we could get an apartment and i'll be your girlfriend if that cheers you up." dan chuckled.

"thanks." dan wiped his cheeks on his sleeve and gave arin a proper hug.

"anything for you, danny."

"no, really. thank you, big cat. you're probably the only person that's said i could rely on them. that means a lot to me. also," dan pulled away and gave arin's outfit a look up and down. "sorry for dragging you out of bed at two."

"do you think i give a damn?"

"probably not."

"damn right. you need a place to crash?" dan nodded. they were already on their way back to the van. once they had arrived home, arin walked through the door with dan close behind. his father was sitting at the kitchen table with a stern look on his face. without turning his head, his spoke.

"arin joseph hanson." both boys stopped in their tracks. "i raised you better than to sneak out. and without a note? i was worried sick."

"didn't expect you to react like this, dad." mr. hanson cut his vacant gaze to dan and his son. his brows furrowed.

"and with this hooligan? are you serious? who even is he?" he rose and towered over his son. dan was almost half a foot taller than mr. hanson, so it was difficult to not look intimidating.

"i'm sorry for having-" mr. hanson cut dan off.

"i don't want to hear anything out of you. get out of my house and never speak to my son again." dan was about to turn and step back out the door but arin grabbed his arm.

"he's not going anywhere." mr. hanson scoffed.

"excuse me?"

"i said he's not going anywhere. ground me, take my phone away. just don't send him out, he doesn't have anywhere else to go."

"no wonder, when he looks like he does. unacceptable. don't come back here until he's gone."

"how much do you have on you?"

"i've got forty and some change, how about you?" dan raised his brows and dug through his wallet.

"sixty." he sounded surprised he had that much money.

"okay, should get us a night or so." arin turned to the motel manager and slammed the money down on the counter. "give me your finest suite!" with that, both boys found themselves in a room cramped in a bed together, back to back.

"so, you consider this an accomplishment?" dan asked. the wind blew against the window and filled a bit of the four am silence.

"mhm. why, don't you? i just bought a motel room, that's the highlight of my year." arin gloated as if that were the actual highlight of his year. it really was.

"i mean, i've bought motel rooms before, not with another one of my guy friends. definitely haven't slept in the same bed as one of my guy friends." arin went silent for a minute.

"you sure? i mean, ever been so high with your friends you decided to crash at a motel? you know, broke?" dan tried to recall a time when he'd done this. he couldn't.

"can't say i have, bud."

"oh. alright."

nobody spoke, nobody stirred, nobody got out of bed that early morning.