Monsters and Men ~ Rosenwalker & Richpez

Chapter 33

Shorter chapter because the next one is super long.

Joe slipped as he turned a corner after entering the theatre building. He'd bolted there the second that the bell signaling the end of fifth period had rang. The entire with ordeal with Zoey had caused the situation with Brian to completely slip from his mind. He'd spent the entirety of his third and forth period replaying the entire conversation with Zoey over and over again in his head. Lunch turned into a do-over of the conversation, Zoey again and again apologizing and promising to treat him better.

They'd spent most of fifth period sitting in silence, both staring at but not working on their physics assignment. At one point she'd reached over and tried to hold his hand, and he'd reluctantly allowed her. He tried to ignore the fact that her touch now set his nerves on end.

At some point he let go of her hand to grab his phone, opening it to find himself face to face with his unanswered, unread texts to Brian. He felt so ashamed as he burst through the doors of the choir room. How could he have completely forgotten?

To his relief, he ran in to find Joey and Lauren. "Thank god," he muttered, bending over to catch his breath. He pointed to Joey, who was sitting on the floor with Lauren. "Don't you have class?"

"Skipped," Joey responded simply.

"We've had a day," Lauren added.

"Did you, did you find him?" Joe asked desperately.

"Yeah," Lauren answered, standing up and walking over to him. "Locked in the fucking dumpster behind the building."

"Jesus Christ," Joe mumbled to himself, burying his face in his hands. This day could not possibly get any worse. "Did he, did he say who attacked him?"

Lauren and Joey looked at each other nervously, Joey standing up and walking over. "He um, he doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't want to talk to anyone really."

"Well, what happened when you found him? He must have said something?"

Lauren and Joey exchanged another look. In truth, Brian had said a lot about his encounter with Zoey, but didn't want Joe to know because he was terrified of what she would do to him if he told. "Nothing much, really." Lauren lied. "We sorta just took him home so that he could shower and change, and then we came back here after lunch. He went inside the sheet music closet and hasn't come out since."

"We didn't really pry him for information," Joey added.

Joe sighed, staring at the door to the closet. "He's in there?"

"Yes, but Joe I don't know if you should—" before Lauren could finish her sentence, Joe was already inside the closet, closing the door behind him.

Joe looked down at Brian in horror. He had a black eye, bruising on his cheek, a cut lip, and that was just just his face; Joe didn't even want to begin to imagine what damage he was hiding under his clothes.

Brian looked up at him awkwardly, surrounded by sheet music. "What's up?"

"Thank god you're okay," Joe responded, walking over to him. He dropped to his knees, pulling the stack of sheet music off of Brian's lap. "I was so worried," he admitted, pulling the younger boy in for a hug. Brian gasped in pain at the sudden touch, making Joe quickly retract back. "Fuck, sorry."

"It's all good," Brian responded, smiling up at him. "I'm all good."

"No, you're not." Joe said anxiously. He raised an eyebrow at the gray beanie on Brian's head that he'd never seen before. "What are you hiding under there?"