Weight In Gold (Brendon Urie)

The Story

This can't be happening. I thought it was over. I thought that now I was here and away from there, I could get away from that. From her. From him. From everything. But I guess I was wrong.

Brendon runs over to my side and immediately tries to comfort me, and starts asking me what the call was about and who it was, but he sounds as if my head is surrounded by water. My vision starts to blur, and my eyes close as I feel myself hit the floor.

I wake up laying on the couch, a blanket over me. I see Brendon and Ryan next to me. When they notice that my eyes are open, they rush over to my side. "Are you feeling okay, Ashley?" Brendon asks, his voice calm. I shrug. "Do you think you need to go to the hospital?" He asks, sounding concerned. I shake my head.

The two of them leave me, just laying there for a few minutes before they start talking to me again. "Can you try and answer a couple questions?" Brendon asks. I nod.

He takes a deep breath and asks his first question. "Who was that phone call from?" Immediately the memories of the phone call rush back to my memory and tears start streaming down my face.

"Avery," I choke out. Brendon and Ryan look at each other. "Who's Avery?" Ryan asks with a gentle voice. "She used to be my best friend. I don't want to talk about this anymore," I tell them. Brendon sighs and nods and moves a strand of hair away from my face. I close my eyes and drift back to sleep.

When I wake up, I feel a little better and calmer. I think I'm ready to talk to Brendon and Ryan. I get up and find them playing a game in Brendon's room. When they notice me, they immediately grab the remote and turn the tv off, giving me their attention. "I haven't been completely honest with you guys about my past," I tell them. "There's more to the story of why I got sent here than you think. Please just understand that I'm not a horrible person, I swear. I just made a mistake."

Brendon and Ryan do look a little concerned, but they nod and so I step into the room and have a seat on Brendon's bed before launching into my story.

"It started the night I caught my ex cheating. His name was Luke, and he was sleeping with some girl, who I thought was my friend, named Claire. I was furious. I drank and smoked pot a lot more than what was healthy then, and one night after I had been out drinking, I decided to get some payback on him. His family was supposed to be out of town that night, so I gathered together some of ny friends and we drove over. Our plan was to sneak in and break some of his stuff, maybe spray paint his walls, nothing too awful. I was with this girl, Cindy as well as Avery. Cindy was smoking a cigarette and wasn't being the most careful, and I guess she didn't put it out all the way and tossed it on the ground in his house because as we were walking away to go back to the bar, our fake id's already in our hands, the house engulfed in flames, and my parents pulled up. I found out that it was Avery who had called them, because she was on Claire's side the whole time. As if any of that was actually important..." I say and trail off.

"I was so mad at my parents, so self righteous, I couldn't see that this was my fault, this whole thing was all my fault, until I got the call today." I take a deep breath before I speak the next sentence.

"The house wasn't empty. Luke was still there. He didn't leave for vacation when his parents did. I knew he was hurt, but I didn't know he was battling for his life, until Avery called me. She told me that he's dead, and that she hopes I'm glad I got my revenge because it's my fault." Tears are now streaming down my face and my heart feels like it's in a sieve. Saying all of this out loud made it feel so much worse than it is. I tried to tell the story as truthfully as I could, even if some of it didn't make the most sense, because I'm tired of lying.

Ryan stands up and walks over to give me a big hug. When he let's go, Brendon gives me a hug and a kiss.

"I know how hard this must be for you," Brendon says. "But it's something we can get through together."

"I think I should go home now," Ryan says. I look at the digital clock on Brendon's bed stand and see that it's almost 3 am. I give Ryan a hug and Brendon and I walk him to the door. "Are Rick and Jodie home?" I ask. Brendon nods. "I told them that you fell asleep on the couch, and then they went to bed." I nod. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" I ask. He nods and we walk back upstairs.

I go to my room and put on a pair of boy's boxers as shorts and a long t-shirt then walk to Brendon's room. He has his shirt off and is wearing sweatpants. He turns off the light and gets into bed and I crawl next to him, allowing my back to lay against his chest. I grab his hand and fall asleep to the constant rhythm of his breathing. It calms me down and helps me stop crying. Somehow, I know that my business in Arizona isn't quite over.