He's Insane (Dave Franco AU)

Act of Kindness

this chapter has been revised

"And then boom. Dave fucking stabs the dude with a fork! A fucking fork!" I finished explaining the whole story to James.

It was just James and I hanging out together in the basement. He sat in the chair while I lied down on the couch, as we passed a blunt back and fourth from each other.

"I mean, yeah. I believe it." James nods, taking a hit. "He's constantly breaking things, and throwing temper tantrums. Him hurting someone was bound to happen." He exhales the smoke and passes the spliff back to me.

"This wasn't a temper tantrum though." I say, grabbing it from him. It was only now a roach, so I ash it out. "It was like he was sticking up for me. Like this is his way of being nice."

"Yeah, you're right. It's the first act of kindness I've heard him do in a long time." He chuckles.

I laugh. "I don't know if an act of kindness is the right word for it all."

James stood up and stretched his arms and legs out. "Can you do me a favor and take all this stuff back up to my room? I've got a job interview I have to be at in like ten minutes." He looks at the time on his phone.

"You have a job interview and you're going high as shit?" I question him.

He rolls his eyes. "I'm nervous, okay?"

I giggle, standing up also, and gather his things together. "Yeah, I will. Good luck at the interview and don't fall asleep during it." I tease him.

He laughs and grabs his jacket, and hurried up the stairs. "I'll see you later, Brooke."

I grab the mason jar that James kept his stash in, along with his bong, and a few empty water bottles that we'd been drinking to cure our cotton mouths.

I thought the house was vacant since James' parents were still on a trip, and he had just left for his job interview. I began to belt out 'My Heart Will Go On' by Celine Dion as loud as I could, since everything echoed so nicely off the high walls.

But as I walked up the stairs to put everything in James' room, I could hear music coming from Dave's room again. That indicated I wasn't here alone, and I prayed to God that his music drowned out my singing. I could feel my face getting hot.

I threw everything onto James' bed. As I was putting everything back in it's place, I couldn't help to notice that amongst many of the pictures he had of him and friends framed on his dresser, there was also one of him and Dave when they were younger. They were both lying on a bed, playing videos game together and both had the same grin on their faces. I picked the frame up and studied it for awhile.

I pursed my lips together. It really pained me to see how close they were then, and how distant they were now. I felt terrible for James. He tried so hard to be on Dave's good side.

I set the frame back down and contemplated on going to Dave's room. I haven't seen him since the incident at Nola, and I thought it'd be appropriate to thank him for...assaulting someone for me since I never got the chance to before.

I left James' room and shut the door behind me, and walked toward Dave's. I knocked quietly and waited for him to answer.

Assuming he couldn't hear my knocks over his loud, rock music, I knocked again with a little more force.

"Hey, Dave? It's Brooke. I just wanted to talk real quick." I speak loudly, and close to the door.

Still getting no answer, I knock again once more. I slowly twist the knob and open the door myself to find a shirtless Dave sitting at the edge of his bed, with a lit cigarette in his hand, burning himself in the inside of his bicep. He winced in pain as it pressed against his skin.

"Dave, what the-?" I raise my voice, walking up from behind him.

He quickly shot up, facing me, and dropping the cigarette to the floor. He stomped on it to put it out, and reached for the nearest shirt.

"What the fuck are you doing in here?!" He shouted.

I quickly grab his wrist and hold it out to expose his inner arm. There were plenty of scars around where he was harming himself.

Dave snatches his arm back and puts a shirt on. "Who the fuck do you think you are barging in like that?! Huh?!" He turns the music off.

"I knocked like three times, I came in here to talk to you about the other night. But apparently we need to talk about more than that." I cross my arms.

"We don't need to talk about shit. This is none of your fucking business." He tries to push my shoulders, forcing me to leave his room but I resist.

"What the fuck is going on, Dave? Why are you doing this to yourself?" I step farther back into his room, so it'd be more difficult for him to kick me out.

"Don't fucking worry about it, alright?!" He steps closer to me, where his face is inches from mine. His jaw is clenched, and veins were showing through his neck. "You really shouldn't fuck with me right now, I'm not in the fucking mood."

"You can scream, curse, and spit in my face all you want, but you don't scare me. All you have is a lot of anger built up inside of you."

His jaw unclenches, and he breathes out. He steps back, returning my personal space.

"Why are you even here? This isn't your house, this isn't your room, and this isn't your place to be questioning what the fuck I'm doing, alright? So just get out."

"Look, I know you don't know me that well, but you had the decency to stick up for me at Nola the other night which I appreciated. Even if it was a bit brutal." I say, picturing the drunken man get stabbed all over again.

Dave sighs and sits at the edge of his bed. "Yeah, well that guy was an ass. No girl should have to put up with all that bullshit, even if it is her job."

I pull the swivel chair out from under his desk and roll it to where I was sitting in front of him.

"Thank you for that." I say, and genuinely meant it. "It shows that you have compassion towards other. Just like I do." I tell him. "Which is why I'm worried about this now. So talk."