Weight In Gold (Brendon Urie)

The Box

"We don't usually have meals as big as this," says Aunt Jodie, "We just figured today was a pretty special occasion," she finishes with a smile. I smile in response and look around the table. The main course of the meal is salmon, but it's paired with many things such as corn, asparagus, baked potatos, and a few other things. There's also a beautifully frosted chocolate cake on the counter. I look around the table and see that Brendon has easily the most loaded plate. Why does he eat so much?

I can tell that Jodie is a little uncomfortable with how antisocial he's being, so she tries to get him talking a bit. "Brendon honey, why don't you tell Ashley about your music?" She says. He's right in the middle of a bite when she says this, so he swallows and looks up at me from his plate and says "I play music." So this is how it's going to be. Having a smartass in the house is just as bad as having a tool. After that, the rest of the meal is practically silent. The next time someone talks is after we've finished dessert.

"Alright, well Brendon I'm sure you want to get back to sleep, and Ashley I bet you want some to more time to settle in. Why don't we all turn in for the night?" Says Uncle Rick. I nod and start to walk up the stairs, but truth be told I would rather not. I don't really have anything to "settle in" to anymore, and I'm not sure what I can do when I'm bored here. Regardless, I follow instructions and go to my room.

I sit on my bed alone for about 20 minutes when I hear my door open. I look up expecting to see my Aunt or Uncle but I'm surprised to see that it's Brendon. I would love to take a few minites to ogle at his attractive features, but I'm more taken aback by the fact that he just barged in to my room without a second's hesitation. Before he's entirely in my room, I speak to him. "Uh, hey there buddy, ever heard of asking before you enter?" I say. He stops where he is and says "Can I come in?" At home, there's no way a boy could ever be in my room. If I ever had a boyfriend or something and wanted privacy with him, I would have to sneak out. I don't know Rick and Jodie's rules when in comes to things like that, so I hesitate on whether or not I should say yes, but then I remember that it shoulf be fine, considering he is their son.

"Sure," I finally say. I can see him roll his eyes a bit before he walks in. He immediately goes in to my bathroom and I hear him open up a drawer, take something out, and close the drawer again before he walks out with a medium-sized brown wooden box in his hands. "What's that?" I ask him. "Uhhhh.....it's my.....retainer..." he says. He needs to work on his lying skills. I figure whatever it is, it's none of my business, so I leave it alone. Then he starts to exit. Right before he walks out, I remember earlier today. "Oh hey, sorry for making you drop all of your food earlier," I say. He drops his head a bit and laughs before he turns around and takes a few steps back in. "You should be," he says with a laugh. He pulls the chair from my desk out of it's place and sits on it.

"So," he starts, "what did you do that was so bad that your parents sent you all the way across the country?" It hurts how casually he says this, considering it's the biggest thing in my life right now. I consider lying to him, but figure that it probably won't do me any good. After all, this is the first time he's made an effort to talk to me the whole time I've been here. However, I also don't know anything about him, and since I'm going to be going to school with him, I don't know if the truth is the best Idea either. I decide to tell him half of the truth. "I broke in to my ex boyfriend's house, vandalized it, and tried to steal from him only to be caught in the act by my mom and dad because my back-stabbing ex best friend tipped them off." I say as if it's no big deal. Brendon looks surprised at this, but not as shocked as most anyone else would be. "Wow," is all he says.

We sit quietly for a couple seconds before a question pops in to my mind. "How old are you?" I ask him. I know that he's somewhere in my age range, but he's definitely not younger than me. If I didn't already know better I would have guessed that he was about 19, but that can't be right. "I'm 16" he says. Wow, I definitely didnt see that coming. "Really?" I ask, shocked by his answer. He laughs and just says, "yup."  "Are you almost 17?" I continue to question him, because he definitely doesn't look his age. "Nope, my birthday isn't for another 8 months." My birthday is in 10 months, which means he's older than me, but not by much. "You look a lot older than 16," I tell him. "Yeah, prison really seemed to age me a bit," he says and scratches his chin. My eyes get wide, and he bursts into a laugh. "I'm joking," he says.

"So, was the whole breaking in to your ex's house a normal thing for you?" He asks me. "No," I reply, "it was brought on by a shitload of alcohol." He again laughs at this. When he's laughing, his eyes crinkle up and his cheeks turn a bit red. I'm beginning to think that living with him won't be so bad.

We talk for a while longer, mostly about hobbies and what our names mean and favorite colors and things like that (His name is Brendon Boyd Urie, his favorite color is cerulean blue), and eventually he stands up and heads for the door a final time. Right before he walks out he glances over at me, gives a slight smile, and says "I think we're gonna get along just fine."