Rewrite Your Happiness (A Ryan Ross Fanfiction)

Aubergine Dreams

I couldn't hear the end of it. "Elise, I finished rereading Invisible Monsters. Do you want to read it? ...no? Well, let me know when you do. I'm going to read it again." It was quite clear Ryan loved the gift more than I thought. Every time he came to our apartment, it would not be far out of his reach. Who was this author and how did they wrap him around their finger like a little bitch? With no one contacting Ryan about their demos or Halloween video, he was trying to keep his drive to write music in his vocabulary I guess...

More or less, 2003 came to a close with 2004 taking its place and, like every end of the year, the holidays were but left behind and spirits became quite mundane. No one made new year's resolutions because we knew change was very unlikely. Brendon did try to visit his family, but came back without so much as a hug or kiss. Ryan went back to studying, making music, avoiding his dad and hanging out with us...and Sam. Spencer was still as moody as the night he left so it was only a matter of time before I got to the bottom of that. As for me, I was applying for colleges and conjuring up a plethora of believable homeschool records since I needed more proof of my educational background.

And surprisingly, it was working because the minute I finalize my honors from years past, teachers started talking to me like I was their favorite pupil. I'd seen that behavior more than once so, to get them off my tail, I played "keep away" with the chalk eraser with Brendon excitedly in tow and got maybe one or two detentions. Who'd have thought keeping my status I established when I got here would be so easy to uphold. Apparently the sensitive-assed teachers. Aside from that, nothing was too different.

It was the near the end of January when things finally started picking up. Before everything happened, I had a letter from the University of Nevada, the college of my dreams. The dying question: did they accept or reject me? I was about to open it when Brendon scared me even more by bursting through the front door, excitedly holding a flyer. He looked around the room. "Ryan's here, right? RIGHT??"

"Holy shit, Brendon, you scared the cheese out of me!" I exclaimed, trying to catch my breath. "Yeah, I think he went to the junk room." I said, pointing down the hall.

Brendon had recently visited his parents house to pick up what was left of his belongings and place them in one of the two rooms past the bathroom. Thus, the name "junk room" was born. I told Ryan if he ever needed to stay long term, that room was open and a lot easier that trying to blow up an air mattress in a junky living room. I mean, the living room was Brendon and mines bedroom until we sorted our shit out.

Brendon started to head in the direction I was pointing. But he quickly trotted backward when Ryan came around the corner wide eyed. "You trying to recreate our first encounter again, dude?" Ryan asked, holding up his hand to get a sense of distance. Brendon couldn't care less as he grabbed the anxious boy's hand and pulled him into the living room, hurling him into the empty spot next to me on the loveseat. With a loud thunk, Ryan snapped his head up with wide eyes. Now he had both our attention.

"Dudes, listen. Chuck Palahniuk is going to release a novel sometime next year and he's going to be doing a public reading and book signing to promote it." Ryan gaped at Brendon, who slammed the flyer on the table excitedly. "The local Barnes and Nobles is on that list. We have to go!" I looked at the two, confused. I didn't know Brendon was an avid book reader. Ryan, on the other hand, yes. And after hearing this news his eyes lit up. Brendon could see this light and nodded, tapping the flyer with his index finger. "I fucking love his work! If I could meet him and I never told you about this...Ryan, I know you would die and take me with you because it was me meeting him and not you." Ryan chuckled at Brendon's jab. Apparently I was missing something. My face scrunched inward. "...uh, don't hate me...but who?"