Dysarthria | Dialogue Story ✔

Bonus Chapter 6: Have You No Brain?

Jake- italics and underlined

Bonus chapter 6: 𝓗𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓷𝓸 𝓫𝓻𝓪𝓲𝓷?

"You want me to do something fun? Well, how about this? I'm breaking up with an NFL player."

Cory froze. Her words hurt him like bullets to the chest. He deserved it though. What he said was uncalled for and there was no taking it back. He couldn't stand watching her eyes water anymore. He threw the door open and slammed it shut before storming out of the hospital.

-

Why did you have to say that?

You couldn't think of anything else to say?

What the hell is your problem?

Did you know that there's an organ in your head called a brain that's supposed to prevent you from saying stupid shit like that?

Have you no brain?

Cory's inner thoughts had been haunting him for weeks since the breakup, reminding him how stupid he was to say that hurtful comment to the love of his life. The worst of it all was that he couldn't take it back.

He was currently sprawled out on his bed. His eyes were puffy with dark circles underneath. Each time he slept, Gracie seeped into his subconscious. In those dreams, they were having witty banter, he was tickling her and she was begging him for his cuddles.

He was scrolling through the pictures of the two of them when he heard someone come into his house through the front door.

Jake cursed under his breath when he saw the pig sty that was Cory's living room.

There were empty wrappers strewn across the floor and opened donut and pizza boxes spread out on the coffee table along with empty beer bottles. Clothes, unknown to be dirty or clean, were either hung over the couch, thrown on the floor or on the coat hanger.

"Cory! What the hell is this mess?!" Jake shouted. He heard nothing in response. He was worried about him. Jake knew how much Cory loved football, so with Cory not showing up to practice when the season started in just days, he realized how much damage the breakup did to him. Jake followed the stench to the bedroom and found Cory laying on his bed.

"Go away!" Cory yelled into the pillow.

"Bro, when was the last time you showered? And-shit! You room looks messier than the living room!"

"Leave me alone! I'm grieving."

"And why haven't you shown up for practices? The season is starting."

Cory finally lifted his head to face Jake. His head was pounding when a car drove by with the music loud enough to annoy the whole neighborhood and his eyes were only half-opened as he looked Jake up and down. "Didn't Coach tell you? I'm quitting the NFL. I'm done with football."

Shit!

This was worse than he thought.

"Cory, don't be ridiculous. You're not gonna give up your dreams of becoming a famous football player over some dumb girl."

"She was not some dumb girl! I loved her!" As soon as those words left his lips, he clamped his hand over his mouth. He did not just tell Jake he loved Gracie before he even told her. The strangest part was that he actually did love her. He simply didn't realize it until now.

For as long as Jake had known him, he'd never seen him like this: totally whipped by a girl and head over heels in love with her. Since high school, it was rare that Jake saw him with a girlfriend he was this serious with.

He took a seat at the edge of the bed and faced Cory who was still in shock. "If you love her, why did you call her boring? You may have been drunk when that woman was all over you, but you were perfectly sober when you said that to her."

Cory used all the strength left in him and pulled himself up. His eyes glistened with tears when he thought about it and about Gracie. He wondered how she was recovering from the accident that, in a way, he caused.

"I was a dumbass. I fucked up and Jake..." He shook his head and ran his fingers through his already-disheveled hair. "I don't know how I can fix it."

Jake hated seeing him this miserable. As his best friend, it was his job to get him out of this funk and he was determined to help him. "First things first, you're gonna get off your lazy ass and take a shower. You fucking stink." Jake gripped his wrist and pulled him out of bed and into the bathroom.

He gathered clean clothes from the drawers and laid them out on his bathroom counter. He volunteered to clean up the room while Cory was in the shower, taking the liberty of finishing the box of powdered donuts in the process.

Once the room looked a lot more decent, Jake took a break and turned on the TV with the intention to find the sports channel. As he was switching the channels, Gracie's name on a red banner at the bottom of the screen caught his attention.

Ohhhh, shhhhit.

"Rumors of quarterback of the Cardinals, Cory Walker, cheating on his girlfriend, Gracie Summers—"

"Gracie!" Cory rushed out of the bathroom with his mouth half full of toothpaste at the mention of Gracie's name.

"-were confirmed when Gracie was seen with football rival, Emmett Vaughn, at a Pentatonix concert when one of the group members brought her up on stage."

Cory was devastated, for lack of better words, seeing her with another man after mere weeks of their breakup. Most of all, he was furious at the sight of another man holding her hand for support while she sang.

Emmett had been his enemy since their first game against their team and to see him with the woman he loved had Cory's hands balled into fists. His chest was heaving up and down as a blinding rage surged through his veins. That was supposed to be him going with her to that concert. Not that bastard who he hated with every fiber of his being.

Sensing Cory's anger, Jake immediately turned the TV off before Cory ended up throwing the first thing he saw at the screen.

"You didn't see anything. I never turned on the news and you never found out that Gracie was dating that bastard. Now, you clean the living room up and...I have an errand to run in a little bit, but when I come back, we'll drink some beers and watch an action movie." Jake's fingers were crossed, hoping he wouldn't ask any questions about the errand and move on in the living room.

Cory gave him a skeptical look, but brushed it off with a shake of his head. He needed to get his mind off Gracie and Emmett before he got in his car and did something he'd later regret doing.

Cory finished brushing his teeth before picking up the trash that littered the floor in the living room and putting his clothes on hangers.

While Cory was out of the room, Jake broke into his phone with the password Cory trusted him with in case of emergency. He did feel a tad bit guilty for going through his phone behind his back, but he had to reach out to her somehow.

(xxx) xxx-xxxx:
Sent 11:32am

Hey, this is Jake. I'm using Cory's phone. Are you home?

Jake brought his nails to his teeth as he anxiously waited for her reply.

Gracie was resting in her bed when she heard her phone go off. Even though she deleted his number, she was a hit with a pang of hope that it was Cory.

She was still hurt after what he said, but despite that, she found herself thinking about him all the time. He was her first love. Those kinds of feelings don't just go away. She reached for her phone on the nightstand and read a message by Jake. She released a sigh of disappointment and replied with a yes.

(xxx) xxx-xxxx:
Sent 11:33am

Can we talk?