2 hearts || ryden

[17.0]

"brendon? hey, you okay?"

i slowly opened my eyes to a bright light and a concerned face.

"your parents called me earlier, asked if you were with me," dallon stated. i yawned and nodded, staring off into the distance.

     "how did you find me?" i mumbled.

     "well, first i asked spencer if you were with him and he said no, so he gave me like a bunch of places to look. this happened to be one of them." dallon shrugged and sat against the tree.

     "aren't you gonna go to school?" i asked.

     "maybe, i'll decide eventually." dallon turned his head to face me, analyzing me. "how much sleep did you get last night?"

"i don't know. before i decided i was gonna come here it was like 3:25," i said.

"weren't you tired? your house is like nearly 20 minutes away if you're walking."

     i hummed in response.

     "did you fall asleep right after you got here?"

     i chuckled slightly. "no, actually, ryan was up here, too," i told him. i saw dallon's eyes light up with a small tinge of hope. "and no, we didn't make up, if that's what you're thinking." dallon's expression slightly faltered. "i tried talking to him but he left."

     "wait, brendon, it was probably four or some time past that when you fell asleep."

     "yeah?"

     "dude, it's six thirty. shit, come on, bren." dallon grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

"it's not that big of a deal..." i trailed off. "wait, why were you up so early?"

"so i could go out looking for you," he said as he dragged me down the hill and towards his car. he quickly opened the passenger door and got me inside.

"what? why? you could be sleeping in right now—"

"because i care about you, brendon." dallon got inside and shut his door, looking at me. "we all do. you have no idea how worried we were when your mom called asking if you were with me."

a tinge of guilt formed in my stomach.

"look, i know you're upset, which i don't blame you for at all, but you matter to us. okay?"

i swallowed and nodded. dallon let out a sigh as he started up the car and began to drive.

"you can try to sleep in here for now, alright?" he offered without moving his eyes off of the road.

"where are we going?"

"my house. you need to get some sleep, brendon. you haven't slept well in lord knows how long and this all just makes me worry even more."

     i almost brought up how ryan helped me sleep, but i held back remembering that ryan won't even talk to me anymore.

     "you know i can do well without sleep," i said. dallon remained silent. "i mean—"

     "brendon, it's not good for you to keep fucking up your sleep schedule. please don't argue with me."

     i sighed and mumbled a small 'alright' before leaning my head on the window and shutting my eyes.