Personal Assistant (Ryden)

Chapter thirty-six

"Any sign of him?" Dallon asks Spencer, and he shakes his head. Josh walks up too, as well as Tyler. Dallon looks at them, but they both look defeated.

"We can't keep lying to Gerard, he needs to know that Brendon's missing," Josh says, and Dallon takes a deep breath, thinking. He's been missing for 39 hours and he won't answer his phone. 

"I know, I know. Okay, I'm gonna go tell Sarah what's happening cause she's been asking nonstop what's happening," Dallon says, and the others nod. "Just... I don't know, I'll tell him soon."

He turns and walks into the cabin that Sarah's room is in, walking down the hall until he finds it. He knocks on the slightly open door.

"Come in," Sarah says. Dallon does, then stops. "And avoid touching or rubbing it because it might show a little, but you're good to go," she tells Brendon, and Brendon nods, standing up. He looks at Dallon, who is trying his hardest how angry he is right now.

"Thanks, Sarah," Brendon says and Sarah smiles. He turns to leave.

"Of course. Oh, and I hope that whatever's bugging you gets resolved."

"Thanks," he says again, and walks out. Dallon closes the door and follows Brendon, already starting to yell at him.

"39 hours, you've been missing, Brendon! 39 hours! 39 hours of nonstop searching and worrying, and you just show up out of the blue like it's nothing?!" 

He goes on and on, Brendon just silent. They make their way outside and Spencer, Josh, and Tyler see the two, all sighing with relief.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Brendon says quietly once Dallon stops. He takes a deep breath. "I needed... I needed to clear my head, I-I just couldn't work so early. I needed a break," he continues. If Ryan were here, he'd be applauding his acting. 

"You could have told me where you were instead of giving me a heart attack," Dallon says, still mildly upset. 

"I know, I just wanted to breathe a bit by myself."

"Now, what was Sarah talking about?"

"She was putting makeup on me to cover-" Brendon stops.

"Cover what?"

"A bruise. I got a bruise right in the middle of my neck, so she covered it with makeup." Dallon nods. 

"Okay. Well, let's get filming, I've been having to stall for Gerard all of yesterday and the day before and lie that you were throwing up and sick," Dallon says.

"Okay, cool, thanks."

"Hey, Sarah," Dallon says, and she turns around. Brendon is just getting away from filming. They're in the makeup tent, and luckily no one else is around. "You did a good job covering the bruise."

Sarah frowns a bit. "What bruise?"

"Brendon's...? You know, the one on his neck?" Dallon says, now confused. Brendon pulls back the tent to step in.

"You mean his hickey?" Sarah asks, and Brendon freezes in his tracks. Before he can think of leaving, Sarah smiles at him. "Oh, perfect, the makeup is staying on well." 

"Yeah, it's... good job," he says awkwardly. 

It's dark outside, they filmed one of the most intense scenes over and over and it wore Brendon out pretty easily. He keeps thinking of Ryan, missing him despite seeing him just this morning. Ryan can say the same, he knows that. 

They didn't sleep the night before. Brendon didn't, at least. He made Ryan take a nap once it reached 5 am, and when Brendon realized that he couldn't sleep, he left to go to the store.