𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐄 𝐃𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐑𝐄, c.d.

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐨

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO | TODD'S FRIEND
The boys noticed Neil walking out of the theatre and attempted to stop him.

    "Neil, Neil, you were great." The boy took a quick glance at his friends before walking right past them, telling them he couldn't.

    "Neil! Neil!" Outside of the crowd, Mr. Keating managed to catch up to Neil, taking ahold of Neil's coat.

    "Neil. Neil. You have the gift. What a performance You left even me speechless. You have to stay with-" Mr. Perry returned from his car, shoving Neil aside, making Cove's eyes widen. Charlie took ahold of her hand, squeezing it twice to assure her that he was right by her side.

    "Get in the car. Keating, you stay away from my son." The Overstreet girl watched the way Neil looked at his feet, his father clearly scaring the shit out of him.

    "Neil! Neil! Mr. Perry, come on." Cove placed her free hand on Charlie's bicep, keeping him close to her as Mr. Keating turned to him.

    "Don't make it any worse than it is." Neil and Mr. Perry got into the car, quickly driving away as Mr. Keating stood there, staring at the moving car.

    "Is it okay if we walk back? Captain?" The man softly nodded his head as Charlie motioned to the boys. He let go of Cove's hand, wrapping her in his arms as she sighed, feeling content after what had happened. "Knox." The boys and Cove left, leaving Mr. Keating to stare after the car, wiping the falling snow from his face.

..........

Charlie was asleep in Coves room, the girl tucked under his arm when a knock was heard. The boy had never been a heavy sleeper so his eyes fluttered open, groaning as he removed himself from the girls grasp. He stood up, grabbing one of her pillows and placed it in her arms, before making his way to the door. The Dalton boy was met with the tear filled eyes of his friends.

    "What's wrong guys?" Knox sniffled, wiping his nose before telling him.

    "Neil's gone." Charlie's brows furrowed in confusion, asking him to repeat himself. "He killed himself, Charlie." The Dalton boy felt his stomach drop, his chest tightening as he shook his head. He didn't want to believe his best friend, hoping it was some kind of sick joke. "Two hours ago, with his old man's gun." Charlie sniffed, running a hand through his hair as he opened the door wider.

    "Who's gonna tell your sister?" Knox and the boy looked at each other, silently understanding each other as Charlie opened up the door, letting the three boys in. The brunette had assumed no one told Cameron or Todd yet since neither of them were they. Charlie made his way over to the girl, sitting on the edge of her bed as Knox spoke. "Taking good care of her, Char?" Charlie wiped his nose, looking up at the girls brother, nodding his head.

    "I always am, Knox. You know that."

    "Good, because she'll need you a lot today. She won't come to me like usually, because she has you now." Charlie nodded in understanding, placing his hand on the girls shoulder, gently shaking her in an attempt to wake her up.

    "Cove." The girl began to stir, her eyes slowly opening with a groan, wondering why Charlie was waking her up. "Cove, some of the guys are here." The Overstreet girl slowly looked around, her eyes scanning over her friends, who looked as if they were crying. The brunette looked up at Charlie, seeing his tear stained face and slightly red nose.

    "What happened?" Cove looked over to see her brother, who just kept shaking his head, like he wasn't ready to tell her. "Knox?"

    "Neil's dead." Cove began to chuckle, telling herself he was lying to her.

    "Good one. That was almost believable." When she realized that even Meeks and Pitts were looking at her and crying, she knew they were joking. "Tell me you're lying to me, Knox. Meeks? Pitts? He's lying, right?" The two boys slowly began to shake their heads as Charlie wrapped his arms around the girl, pulling her into his chest as she began to breathe rapidly. "He can't be. We just saw him, Charlie. He was just here."

    "I know, Cove. It's okay. I've got you."

..........

It was a snowy, overcast morning when the group of friends walked out of the building. Todd walked through the snow, his coat on over his pajamas like the rest of the group. The other boys and Cove followed closely behind him as he walked down towards the water. Cove had her body wrapped up in Charlie's arms, keeping her from falling to the floor and drowning in her own tears. Her oldest friend was gone and she didn't know what to do.

    "It's so beautiful." Todd suddenly began to gag, falling down to his knees, vomiting into
the snow. The other boys huddle around him, hugging him as Cove pushed snow up against his mouth, wiping his mouth.

    "Todd. It's okay, Todd. It's all right, Todd." Cove kneeled down next to the boy, wrapping her arms around him.

    "Todd, it's okay. It's okay, Todd."

    "It's all right. It's alright." Todd placed his hands on Coves arm, letting her know he wasn't ready for a long hug as he mumbled.

    "He wouldn't-- He wouldn't have done it."

    "You can't explain it, Todd."

    "It was his father! He wouldn't have left us. It's because he- He wouldn't have. His dad was-- his, his father did it. His father killed him. He made him do it." Meeks just shook his head, repeating what he had said before. Todd pushed himself away from the boys and stumbled down the hill, slipping and falling in the snow.

    "Leave him be. Don't make it worse for him." The boys and Cove watched as Todd ran down towards the dock by the river, yelling and crying. "He just lost his first real friend."