The Web I Spin for You ~ Richpez & Rosenwalker

Chapter 22

Really long chapter but I promise you'll like me by the end of it.

Joe groaned miserably, trying to fight off consciousness. He kept his eyes closed shut tightly, trying to ignore how outrageously thirsty he was. His body was aching and he wanted nothing more to just collapse back into sleeping, but the light was shining in through his window and pressing against his eyelids.

He sighed, knowing that he would have to accept this hangover sooner or later.

He rolled from his side to his back, slowly allowing his eyes to roll open. As they did, he scanned the ceiling for spiders—something that had become a routine check for him at this point with his frequent nightmares.

"Fuck," he mumbled, forcing himself to sit up and reach over for his water bottle and Ibuprofen. He had set it up before he'd fallen asleep the night before, having a feeling that he would very much need it when he woke up.

Sure enough, he was hungover as hell. He'd been up half the night texting Zoey and trying to decide whether or not he was going to see her tonight. At the same time, he'd been on FaceTime with Lauren, who was doing absolutely everything she could to convince him to reach out to Brian.

He'd shook his head miserably. If Brian really wanted them to be together, he would have come to him by now. He was done with chasing after people and begging to be loved.

He lied awake for a long time, before finally convincing himself to get out of bed and at the very least shower. Zoey had already texted him asking for him to confirm that they were getting together tonight, but he still truly had no idea what to do. He was already feeling the urge to drink, and he wanted to at the very least make it to the afternoon without caving. He threw on a tank top and workout shorts in an attempt to will his body into working out before he ate anything.

Part of him deep down knew that seeing her was a huge mistake that he'd probably regret later on. He tried to focus his mind on that thought as he laid down on his stomach and started doing push-ups, but a louder, much more desperate voice inside of his head kept telling him that without Brian, this was his last chance to be loved.

An hour later he'd managed to break a sweat in his workout, but he still hadn't come any closer to a decision. He paced around his room, wiping sweat from his forehead. His stomach was growling aggressively, but he ignored it. He bit his bottom lip, wondering if he should continue fighting the hangover, or just cave and get drunk again.

He sat down on his couch, staring at the spot in his closet where he had his liquor hidden. Was it worth it? Would drinking make him desperate enough to go see her, or give him the strength to not? He stood up to go into the closet, but before he could reach it he was interrupted by a knock at his bedroom door. He sighed, knowing that it was most likely his mother checking to see if he was alive so that she could force him to eat.

"One second," he called out, checking his reflection in the mirror. He looked hungover as hell, but hopefully his parents would just assume that he looked that way from working out. The bags under his eyes were getting out of control and his face was completely gaunt, but he couldn't find the strength to care. It's not like his parents cared about what he looked like, so why should he? He took a deep breath, trying to allow all of his stress to flow away before walking over and opening the door.

"Hey sorry, I was working—oh. Fuck."

"H-hey." Brian mumbled awkwardly, staring down at the floor. "Sorry to startle you, probably not who you were expecting." He added, nervously running a hand through his hair.

Joe resisted the urge to scoff. "Uhh, yeah. I definitely wasn't expecting you at this point." He responded coldly. Part of him was genuinely happy to see him, but he couldn't ignore the anger that was coursing through his veins. Who did Brian think he was, blowing him off for over a month and then just showing up out of the blue? "What do you want?"