Heartbreak Story - Byler

XII - Couldn't Bear to Ever be Alone

"Mike? Mike! MIKE!" Kelly's voice invaded my head and brought me back to the land of the living.

"Yeah?" I whispered back, breathless and bemused.

"Are you okay?" She asked, concern was laced in with her words but I had no idea how to respond.

I tried to steady my breathing but I couldn't take my eyes off Will who was dancing along to the music whilst talking to a much taller boy with dark curly hair, not unlike my own. Will was laughing with him, drink in hand and I thought for sure that I must have been hallucinating.

I ignored her question and instead voiced one of my own: "Who's that guy over there? The tall one with the glasses?"

"Oh, that's my friend Rick. We go to school together and are in a couple of the same classes. He's a total idiot, always making jokes at the wrong times and stuff but he's actually really nice when you get to know him. And the little one he's talking to, I don't know him but Rick asked if he could bring a friend and I said that was cool so he brought him. I spoke to him when he first got here and he seems okay. I think his name is Bill...no Will. Yeah, I think it's Will."

"Will actually came with that guy?" I asked, utterly bewildered. I'd never seen Rick before in my life nor had Will ever mentioned anyone by that name so who on earth was he and how did Will know him?

"Yeah, as I said I don't know Will so he wouldn't have been able to come alone now, would he?" She chuckled and then paused as she realised. "Wait, do you know him? Does he go to your school or something?"

I, again, ignored her. "I need to speak to him." I said, wrenching myself out of her grip and stumbling my way to Will. I left Kelly behind looking disappointed and hurt but nothing in the world could have stopped me from going to him in that moment.

"Will. Will!" I called as I neared the boy I loved, the boy I would be willing to sacrifice anything for. Mid-laugh, Will turned to me and I watched as his smile faltered and vanished from his lovely face in bewilderment. He excused himself from his friend, put down his drink, and made his way over to me, struggling to walk in a straight line. He was clearly drunk and, in all honesty, so was I.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed at me.

"Kelly invited me, we're friends. Who the hell is that Rick guy and why are you with him?" I struggled to get my words out due to the fog in my brain and when I did, they were slurred.

"Let's talk somewhere quieter." Will suggested as he turned away, fighting to get through the masses of partygoers surrounding us as I meekly followed. Will drunkenly led me to the vacant garden which I noticed was also garbed with Christmas decorations to the maximum.

"Okay," he began, "Rick is a new friend. He's actually Alex's cousin and we met maybe a month ago. After he heard what Alex did to me, he sought me out and told me how much of a shitty guy his cousin is and always has been and told me he was sorry. Rick is bisexual and he said Alex stopped speaking to him entirely when he found out and no one was there to support him when it happened so he wanted to be able to support me. We've been spending a lot of time together recently and he's a good guy."

Despite the alcohol-induced haze, something clicked within my brain. "He's been who you've been sneaking off to go and see when none of your family know where you are, right?" I was shouting, furious at Will for what he'd been doing to his mother and brother and also jealousy was spurring me on.

"Don't you shout at me!" He screamed back. "It's none of your business what I've been doing or where I've been going. How do you even know about that? What, are you stalking me now?"

"Well excuse me for wanting to make sure from Jonathan that you're not dead because from what I've seen, that is a highly likely possibility from you now!"