One Life for the Two of Us

~Zac~

I picked up Neil in my bright blue jeep. "Ay!!!" He got in the car. I pulled into the street. "So! Arctic Monkeys!!" He shouted. I smiled at him. "All thanks to me." He playfully punched me. "And hopefully this will take your mind off you-know-who." I gave him a weak smile. Maybe.

• • • • •

We got to the concert arena. "Alright, let's go," Neil said. "We need time to get snacks before it starts."
"And I need to hit the bathroom," I added. Neil nodded. We got out of the car and headed inside. Neil smiled at a couple girls. Like I said, he was a charmer. I however, awkwardly nodded their way and kept walking. "Bro! Yo Zac! You need to put yourself out there if you wanna get over Georgia-Rose." I stopped abruptly. "Can you just stop? Maybe I don't want to completely get over her. She left me, Neil, and we can't all be like you and move on in a week! I am sad right now. And I'm mad. I'm mad at her for leaving me for a stupid camp and I'm mad at you because you won't stop bothering me about it! I am still processing through this and you are not helping!" Then I noticed people were staring. And then I looked back at Neil. He looked shocked and hurt. "I'm going to the bathroom," I mumbled. When I finally found the bathroom, I went into a stall and took a couple deep breaths. It took everything in me not to start crying. I had never yelled at anyone like that. Poor Neil. I missed my mom. She would've made me feel better. She wouldn't have been proud of me though. I needed to go back and apologize to Neil but I couldn't do it. Not yet. He looked so hurt. He's probably never been yelled at like that. And worse, I blamed it on him when it's my fault and my problem. I took a deep breath and headed out. I looked around for Neil. I didn't see him. He probably went to get food. I checked the food trucks but I didn't see him. Some girl saw me looking around. "Hey. You're the one who yelled at that guy, right?" I cleared my throat. "Um, yeah. Have you seen him?" She pointed towards the door. "After you ran away he left." What? He left? "Um, okay, thanks."
The girl walked away and I headed outside. I walked to where my car was and he was sitting on the ground against the front tire with his head in his hands. He heard me come up and looked up. He didn't say anything. I went and sat next to him. He cleared his throat. "I was going to sit in the car but you had the keys so... I couldn't get in." I sighed. "Look man, I'm sorry," I said. "It's okay," he replied. "The ground's not so bad."
"No, I mean I'm sorry for yelling at you. I... You never deserved that. You were only trying to help and I completely ruined everything and I... I'm sorry. I understand if you just want to leave and never talk to me again."
"You know what? I'm gonna be completely honest with you," Neil said. "I am tired of all this." He paused. "When you yelled at me, I-" He cleared his throat. "When my parents split up, they yelled at each other a lot. I couldn't take it. It was like the world was ending. My world was ending. I'd sit in my room with my headphones on the highest volume to try and block out the noise. But I had never been yelled at, and when you did I-" his voice broke. "You're my best friend, Zac. You're the only one who gets me. Of course I don't want to leave. We're at Arctic Monkeys for freaks sake!" I let out a long breath I didn't realize I was holding in. "But you can't keep getting mad at me," he said. "I'll try to give you some space about the breakup and your love life and everything but-"
"Yeah. No, it won't happen again. I promise." He got up and held out his hand. "Great! Now let's go and have the time of our lives." I took his hand.
"Sounds good to me."