After Hours (boyxboy) | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Brendon’s POV

Donny was, perhaps, my only friend right now. Who knows why he was rooting for me now. But he was, and I appreciated any support. Any at all. The rest of my friends had texted me earlier to let me know that I had lost their friendship. It was rough.

Last night, Donny told me that Emmett was sending me birthday wishes. My birthday was a week ago. He wasn’t at work that day. Me and Laura shared a birthday (unbeknownst to Donny and me). So Donny brought me a cake, and decided last minute that we could share it with Laura too. I hadn’t told Emmett about my birthday because I didn’t want him to get me anything. I also didn’t want him to freak out and plan me a party or something. Because he’d totally do that (if we were still together).

Donny also told me that the most romantic color was red. Emmett didn’t like red. But it could work. Or I could do pink instead. Or blue (his favorite).

I was going to set up somewhat of an apology today. Emmett deserved something special. I didn’t know what to do quite yet. I knew I was giving him a gift: a CD. But that’s all I had in mind. Maybe my friends would have some ideas.

On my kitchen counters, I had a spread of baking ingredients. Somehow, I was going to bake a cake. I strolled around the room, staring at the recipe on my phone. Suddenly, it started ringing. Donny’s contact appeared on the screen.

“Hello?” I said. In the background, I could hear talking and laughing.

Donny answered in a whisper. “Brendon? Hey. Everyone is at my house right now.”

“That’s cool…” I replied, not sure why he was calling.

“Come over. They’re all in the same place. Now’s your chance to win them over,” he explained quietly. Someone screamed in the background. I could only assume it was Dani.

I hesitated. “I don’t know… They’ll probably all yell at me.”

“It’ll happen eventually, pal.”

“Fine.”

I hung up and closed the recipe. It’d have to wait. All I could do was hope to get into Donny’s house without being detected by our friends.

The ingredients were left on the counter as I rushed to the front door. I hoped my mom wouldn’t come home and put everything away (it was definitely something my mom would do). I locked the door and jogged to my car. It was boiling inside. Thankfully, I only had two CDs inside at the moment — neither were damaged.

Donny lived about ten minutes from my house (which was kind of a long drive considering the closeness of our town). It was odd: he was my closest friend, but he lived the farthest away. 

As I passed Emmett’s house, I felt my eyes search for him. He wasn’t at work, obviously. He also wasn’t at home (his driveway was empty). Maybe he was out with friends. I still hadn’t met his friends. I guess our relationship really was young. We’d only been talking for a couple months or so. But I still felt more attached to him than anyone I had ever dated.

In Donny’s part of town, the houses were a little more spread out. He lived right on a beach overlooking the harbor. It was a really nice place. And the inside was nice, too. It was well-decorated (thanks to his very fashionable and very rich mother), and there were a ton of windows. His parents were cool, and barely ever home. In my mind, Donny was living the dream. But he didn’t really act like it.

I finally reached the familiar neighborhood. In an effort to be stealthy, I parked my car a few houses down. In the driveway were three cars — Donny’s dad’s Tesla, Dani’s truck, and Jaden’s old sedan.