♥︎ polygrumps : pen and paper ♥︎

house of memories

"Promise me a place in your house of memories." He swooned over each word with his thick voice, staring at his two friends deeply into their eyes. All he got was a stern nod from both, one friend with bouncy curls smiling sweetly and the other with a soft smile with sorrow glossing over the brown eyes.

It's been 5 years ever since he spoke to them. 5 years since he's said that line. 5 years of complete loneliness.

Of course, he's met such a nice lady friend, but can't find the right one. He can easily find out that she likes him. The way she says his name-"Brian,"- as if she was dying. The way she tries to always hold hands and the way she looks up at him with bright eyes full of happiness.

He told the lady friend that he was not interested into the romance thing-a total lie. He just hasn't gotten over a long lost friend from high school who is probably getting laid right this second. Brian just slouches back and thinks of all the good memories they once had together, and pulls out his keys. His fingers brush lightly over the blue robot boy, Mega Man, to resemble his rapper friend Arin. Then, he carefully traces each line of the weed keychain as if drawing memories back to him about Danny. Danny. There's something about that name that whenever he says it, it's almost like a cry for help. A plead for Danny to come back.

There's something that strikes him off from his memory tangent when he hears glass shattering. He looks around and finds a glass completely shattered underneath his feet. He took a step back and sighed, muttering a small "You dumb ass," and going on with cleaning up the glass shards.

~~

He vaguely remembers the one time where he was playing the keyboard for his duo band, Ninja Sex Party. What a dumb name, now to think about it. He must've agreed with it when Danny was high and too adorable to turn down. He now wonders if Danny keeps getting high-never mind. He focuses his mind onto the memory where Danny said Brian was so god damn good at hitting keys when in reality he practiced the whole song the night before at least 10 times-reality strikes him and he remembers he only did it twice. It's like his mind just likes to think of the good times with Danny.

He remembers another memory where Arin joined the group and named themselves Starbomb. He kept dreaming each night after that to have neon pink, blue, and yellow lights expressing all of them on a board. Flashing each color like a mantra. To be known in the big leagues. It was something Brian always kept dreaming about ever since they departed high school.

He decides he's tired of thinking over the dumb memories and decides to head out for a nice drink. Maybe a beer will stop his memory headache.

~~

The beer was slick and stung the bare skin of his throat, making his face turn ever so slightly. He listened to the music that lulled over the noise of men and women screaming and dancing. He sat alone, nobody else in the other stools beside him. He just tried to finish the one and be done with it, but it comes one after another. He looks up from rubbing his hand along his face and gazing at the now empty two bottles that stared back.

He felt a sudden presence lurch up to him and ask for 'whatever he was having.' As he glanced over, he felt like he knew this random stranger. Bouncy, curly hair that was shorter than Danny's, and a face that had the exact same scar in the exact same place-his left eyebrow. He keeps staring for a while, studying each moment as if it was another stroke of paint. Suddenly, out of the blue, he was caught staring.

"Can I...help you...?" The man said, his voice curving over each word as if he had the voice of an angel. It was like those four words just triggered a memory-or two, or five-and suddenly felt himself lean forward and into the soft embrace of the man's lips.

A sudden spark fired through his body-he felt the man kiss back. When he pulled away, he stared deep into the eyes and just muttered his name ever so softly.

"Danny..?"