Normal //Ryan Metzger

20.5: happy birthday

"Ryan," I said, brushing my teeth and walking into our bedroom. "Why haven't you gotten ready yet?"
   He ignored me by continuing to type frantically on his computer. One of his headphone covers was off of his ear so it was clear he could hear me.
   "I will, Lauren," I said, mocking him as he ignored me. "I'll put down the sample machine and get dressed right away."
   "I'm getting there," Ryan said, snapping. "Give me a minute.
   "Ryan, I've given you an hour," I said from the bathroom, rinsing off my toothbrush and wiping my mouth. "Tonight is supposed to me a relaxing night away from the stress you three have been under."
   "You mean the stress I've been under," he said, still going hard on the laptop.
   "Ryan, what's your problem?" I asked, leaning on the doorframe in between the bathroom and bedroom.
   "My problem is," he said, raising his voice a littler louder than he should. "Is that this drum kick isn't matching up to the lyrics because its not on time and every time I slow down the time measure in that section, it fucks everything up and I don't know why."
   I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his stature in a comforting matter.
   "Cmon Love," I said kissing the top of his head. My nostrils filled with the smell of his shampoo. "You need some fresh air and some beers in you to calm down."
   "I'm fucking calm," he said, not responding to anything else. Usually he would look up and kiss me or something but not this time.
   "Ryan," I said pulling away. "Are you even coming out tonight?"
   "I don't know, am I babe? Because listen to this shit," He ripped out the headphone cord from the laptop and played the track that honestly didn't sound that bad.
   I told him that and he blew up, all of his frustration and stress that was bottled up from the weeks prior let loose.
   "It is bad, Lo!" He said. "The lyrics don't make sense, the beat is completely shit, the spokestep doesn't even match the contents of the song, and it's just complete shit!"
    I looked hurt at his words, as if he was blowing up on me instead of the work. He saw the hurt in my eyes but I moved away before he could do anything.
   I grabbed my phone and bag off of the top of the dresser and headed towards the door.
   "Laure-"
   "I'll just get a ride from Jack," I said quietly. I gave him one more look, and another verbal punch in the gut. "Happy birthday to me."
   I walked out into the living room, Jack jumping up from his seat on the couch. He wore a dressed down suit with his famous fur hat.
   "Ready?" I asked, sniffling back a tear. He looked at me with confusion but I waved him off to just let it go.
   "If you are, where's Ryan?" He asked, still confused.
   "Not coming I guess," I said sighing. "Didn't you know the new song was shit?"
    He stood there without words as I left the apartment. He followed me with his car keys and we took the elevator down to the parking garage where Jack's car was parked right by Ryan's.
   I climbed into the front seat, where I know I'd be moved to the back as soon as we got to Jess' apartment. I crossed my arm like a pouting teenager and looked out the window the whole time until we picked up Jess, where I did the same in the back, staying silent.
   As we pulled up to the bar, Adam and Emily were searching around for us. Emily spotted us, tugging at Adam's hand with her own. We all climbed out of the car as they greeted us.
   "Where's Ryan?" Emily asked, looking around confused with Adam.
   "I think he's coming later," I said shrugging. "I'm honestly not sure. But I'm pretty sure he forgot my birthday, so that's fun."
    Emily consoled me by rubbing the back of my arm.
   "I'm sure he didn't forget love," she said. "He's just been a little stressed that's all. But hey, we got you a special surprise."
   She held up a rectangle that was wrapped in dark green wrapping paper.
   "I told you guys not to get me anything," I said. "I just wanted a night out with the six of us."
   "We know," Adam said. "But since you just finished 'Misery', we'd thought you'd need another book to read while we wrote music."
   I ripped open the paper and saw a cover of 'IT' by Stephen King. I was touched because I had been talking about this being the book I'd read next, and I never got around to reading it.
   "You guys are the best," I said, hugging the book to my chest.
   "Because you're the best," Adam said. "Now group hug."
    We all 'awed' and grouped together, with me smack dab in the middle. We all probably looked drunk to everyone, even though none of us had a drop of alcohol in us yet.
   "Alright," Jess said, pulling away the hug. "Let's go drink the night away."
   We all laughed and entered the bar, taking a rounded table in the middle of it all. TV's were on everywhere, some with sports and some with news.
   I fixated on the nightly news one in front of me, since I rarely had a chance to watch it because Ryan and I go to bed so early.
   I couldn't hear the sound, but text scrolled at the bottom of the TV and I fixated on that, reading everything that passed.
   Adam came back with a tray of beers, one for each other the five of us, and passed them around the table. My beer bottle had a little umbrella in it for my birthday.
   "They had to," Adam said, shrugging and laughing. I reached over and stuck the umbrella behind his ear. We all laughed as Adam flaunted the umbrella like a girl with a flower in her hair.
"Wait," Emily said, taking the umbrella from his ear and placing it in the middle of his beard. We all busted out laughing as Emily took a picture of him.
I let out a sigh from my laughter and stared down at my bottle into the brown glass. The liquid foamed up slightly at the brim it was sitting at. I stared at it as thoughts rose in my head.
He forgot your birthday, he was being snappy with you. Ring a bell with someone you used to know?
I shook off my thoughts, knowing Ryan was more of a man than Blake Morgan would ever be.
I looked back up at the news as Jack went on about the new album and how it's coming together.
What I read next stopped my heart.
"Breaking news: there was a fatal car accident just outside the city on the corner of South and Market. Rebecca Martin has more at the sight," the news anchor said and the screen jump cut to a car crash scene.
"Yeah so Warner Br-" Jack started, it I quickly interrupted him.
"Guys," I said, raising my hand to point at the screen. What looked like Ryan's white car was smashed in a ditch with an SUV on the other side of the road.
They all snapped their heads to the screen. You could tell all of their hearts dropped.
"Hey!" Adam yelled at the bartender. "Turn up TV 30!"
"Yes, I am here on the corner South and Market where a deadly crash occurred. Five people were involved in the accident, with four being transferred to the hospital and one not surviving on sight.
One of the survivors is in critical condition,being care flighted to the local hospital with a level one trauma unit."
"Oh my gosh," Emily said. "Is-is that really his car?"
Tears puddled at the brink of my eyelids and I held onto them, trying not to break down in front of the whole bar. Emily looked at Adam and Jack, trying to see wha the plan was.
"We are just now getting word that the critical condition survivor is Ryan Metzger," all of our heart dropped out of our chests. "Doctors and medics say that no alcohol was in his system, but the driver, and victim, of the SUV had intoxication levels through the roof."
Emily started to cry as the people around us went silent. The bartender had turned it up all the way and they whole car was quiet except for Emily's sobs.
"We-we've got to go," Jack said, looking at the group with watery eyes.
They all started to get up but I was not.
"Lo," Jess said, tugging at my arm. I couldn't move.
I was too focused on the fact that when they zoomed into Ryan's vehicle, there was a dozen red roses and a 'happy birthday' card that were smashed up against the windshield.
_____________to be continued___________