the boy who was afraid of the dark

friday 12:13, eliott

  "so, what are we doing tonight?" chris plopped down in the seat next to william and across from me at lunch.

  "i'm probably just gonna call it after school. had a shitty week, ya know." i sighed.

  william looked at me, and laughed shaking his head.
  "good one," he clapped a hand on the table. "party at emma's tonight. starts at 19 so we'll be there at 20:30. we can pregame at mine beforehand."
  chris nodded in agreement with the plan.

  i sighed, and hit my head down to the table.
  chris pat my back, "c'mon, eli! everyone knows the best cure to a shitty week is drinking it away."

  no, the best cure was spending all my time with lucas and forgetting about everything else.
  i just nodded, "fine."

  it's not like i had a choice anyway.

—-        friday 19:45, eliott

  we sat lounged around the couches, just the three of us, listening to music and emptying beer cans.

  "where's the rest of the team?" i asked, throwing an empty can to the table.
"at the party." william took a swig.

  "and..." i narrowed my eyes at him. "we aren't there with them right now why?"
  he looked at me, and sighed, shaking his head the way he does when he's disappointed.

  "you see," chris's sat back up on the couch. "we, the three of us, have a certain image to uphold."
  oh my god.
  i rolled my eyes, "what is this image?"

  "you know, the kind that drives the chicks crazy." chris tried to explain.

  william threw his empty beer can at him, "no chris, dumbass. he thinks we're like the most popular guys at our school. dumb, i know. we just don't wanna party ourselves out. a good party doesn't become a good party until at least an hour and a half in."

  "right," i nodded, and popped opened another can.
  william sat straight up again, "hey, wait, bro. how many is that?"

  i shrugged, and took a swig.

  "the correct answer is four." william took the can out of my hands and emptied it into the trash behind him.
  "yo, what the fuck!" i stood and felt rage, but then too dizzy to to anything, and just sat back down on the couch.

  "it's not good for you, man," william looked straight into my eyes with a serious expression. "you know that."

yes, i do know that. it's never a good idea to combine my grand assortment of medication with too much alcohol, but that's what makes it fun. no need to kill my buzz. why can't i just deal with the consequences later?

  i sighed and crossed my arms, "you sound like lucille." then collapsed back into the couch, rolling my eyes.

  "um, no," chris interjected. "lucille's a controlling bitch and you need to dump her."
  william smacked him, "don't talk about his girl like that."

i shook my head, "no, he's right. i don't know how to do it though."

chris and william stopped and looked at me, sort of an identical shocked expression on their faces.

"w-wait, i was right?" chris stuttered.
i nodded, shifting around in my seat.

"why so sudden, though?" william wondered, then realization hit and he smirked at me. "is there someone else?"

oh fuck. i'm trapped. i can't lie, william would see right through me.

so i just looked at them, who looked at me.
"no," i mumbled. "maybe."

"HAHA!!! CALLED IT!" william pumped a fist in chris' face.
chris whacked his hand away and leaned into me, "so...?"

"so what?" i shrugged.
"who is she, dumbass?" he leaned further in.

"careful, now. don't fall off your chair." i responded, completely emotionless.

luckily enough, they took this as their que to stop asking questions.
"alright for real though," william began. "there's no right time to do it. the longer you wait, the worse it gets. you just have to rip off the band-aid."

i sighed, "when, though?"

chris and william looked at each other, then shrugged.
"do it now." chris suggested.
i looked at william, who nodded.

i glared at them suspiciously, before finally making my mind. my eyes stayed on them as i slowly pulled out my phone.

"wait, no," i slid the phone back into my pocket. "later. tonight. when i see her. i can't end a year long relationship over text."

chris nodded, tapping his head, "smart."