egodeath

15

3rd person
Zak woke up first, still bundled up under the blanked and in his friends arms. He crawled out, trying not to wake the other, and walked into his own room. Getting a clean hoodie and jeans he sat at his desk and picked up his charging phone to check twitter. He sent out a "hi <3" and smiled as the comments flooded in. The occasional troll was there trying to rain on everyone's parade, but the overwhelming majority was pure kindness and support.

     "Hey you okay?" Darryl spoke from behind the door.

     "Yeah. I just woke up before you so I didn't want to bother you." Zak said opening his door to his friend.

     "I was thinking we could go out to get breakfast maybe?" Darryl suggested, kinda prodding at the idea not sure how the other would react.

"Sure." Maybe it was the slight euphoria he felt from finally waking up feeling not completely depressed, but Zak really wanted to at least try. That and he'd feel bad if they finally met up only to stay at home and do nothing. Darryl turned around to get his keys and to hide the growing smile on his face.

     As he started the car, Darryl handed Zak his phone to let the other find a nice place nearby to get some food. They finally arrived at a cute looking cafe. It had a beige brick facade covered by vines, and was squashed between two larger buildings. They got out of the car once they found parking and walked in. Darryl noticed Zak tense up a bit and reassuringly put his hand on the others back leading the two to a table by a window, where they sat down and scanned the menu in silence.

     "Hey, I'll be your waiter today. May I take your order?"

     Darryl looked up and smiled at the young girl who had come to their table. He looked back down at his menu to double check before giving her his order.

     "I'll have a mimosa and a stack of chocolate chip pancakes please, please. How about you, Zak," Darryl said, pausing to look over at his friend who had his brows furrowed and seemed lost in the menu, "Zak?"

     "Oh shoot sorry, I blanked." Zak mumbled, looking up at the waiter and at Darryl. "Uh, I'm still not sure, sorry." He finished looking down a bit embarrassed.

     "It's all good, I'll be back in five minutes." She said, never dropping the smile, putting the note pad in her apron pocket and walking away.

     "Everything okay Zak?"

     "Yeah, I just," Zak stoped for a moment to wonder why he was even starting to get stuck in his mind. "I guess just seeing all the options feels overwhelming, my mind just took it and ran." He laughed a bit at the end, feeling dumb and shy.

     "You wanna get the same things? Well, obviously not a mimosa because your not 21 yet but, I don't know, maybe some OJ and the pancakes." Darryl suggested.

     Zak say there looking pensive for a second before answering, "If it's ok i'll just get some water and regular pancakes?"

     "Of course dude, whatever you want." Darryl smiled, while calling the waitress over to give her the other order.

They made small talk until their food came. Darryl took sips of his mimosa and dug into his first pancake. While taking a drink he studied Zak, who had his fork hovering over the untouched stack of pancakes, his bottom lip shaking almost unnoticeably. He looked pretty lost in thought. Darryl reached over and held Zak's free hand which was in a fist on the table. He brought his thumb back and forth the others knuckles as he felt the fist relax a bit.

"Zak was going on." He tried to say as gently as possible.

"I really want to try to eat, there's so many people around us though and I just feel like they're all watching me eat it's embarrassing. I'll just feel like a pig." Zak rambled, mumbling the last bit, although Darryl still caught on.

Darryl winced a bit at his friends words, feeling the others frustration. He gave the tan hand a quick squeeze before letting go to think.

"Well, if this is too much why don't we take it to go and go somewhere else. Not home, you've been cooped up far too long but, not here either."

"Like where?" Zak said, eager to be anywhere other than the busy cafe.

Darryl just smiled, thinking of nice places nearby where they could just be alone and chill. He stood up and walked over to the receptionist to pay for their meal and get their to go boxes. Zak stood up as his meal got boxed up and the two made their way back to the car.

Zak zoned out looking at the passing scenery while Darryl drive them to a location currently unbeknownst to him. He felt the car being placed in park, and saw they were at a more forest-y part of the town. Darryl smiled at him as he grabbed their food and made his way out, gesturing for Zak to do the same.

"There's a little creek down there, we can sit on the rocks and eat our breakfast."

Zak smiled, immediately feeling relief after the anxiety provoking cafe. They walked over to the edge of the softly running water, and Darryl leaned down to cup so fresh water to splash at Zak.

Zak giggled and Darryl just smiled at his friend, happy to see him be in at least slightly better spirits. As they sat down he reached for the boxes and utensils. He was about to hand it over to his friend but he was quickly stopped. Darryl raised his brows, giving Zak a quizzical look thinking, what now? His friend kicked his shoes off onto a nearby log and sank his feet into the somewhat shallow stream.

"Oh my goodness skep youre such a child." Darryl said, although he couldn't help but smile. They sat there smiling like idiots before Darryl remembered something.

"Oh, Zak, before I forget." He said looking for something in his jeans pocket before triumphantly pulling out a tiny pill. "Your meds." Darryl said as softly as possible, knowing how much Zak hated the topic. Zak just rolled his eyes and took the pill from his hands and swallowed it dry. He opened his mouth to prove to Darryl that he actually took it before reaching over for one of the to go boxes the other was holding. They each took their food and forks and finally started to eat their food, in peace this time.

Although Zak seemed hesitant, Darryl could tell he was trying his best, and in no time got through half of the first pancake. He saw Zak look over at his own box, that was now nearly empty, and with a disheartened looked, gazed back down at his own.

"Sorry, I know I take forever." Zak chuckled softly.

"Hey, no need to compare, take your time man." Darryl reassured him with a smile. Zak just nodded and continued eating. He stopped halfway into the second one and said he was full. Darryl just smiled at Zak calmly, although deep down he was excited for the huge step forward in recovery his friend was taking.