New York To Los Angeles

Epilogue - Part one

**1 Year later**

I walk into the room slightly unnerved by the darkness that shrouds it. The curtains were drawn, despite it being midday and the room was littered with clothes and books.  The desk against the wall had a pile of books left over from finals stacked on top of it and the walls had a few holes in them, like someone had diverted their anger to punching through them ferociously. But it was the bed in the centre of the room that caught my attention. I head over to it, the covers doing nothing to conceal the figure lying down underneath them; Courtney's warning flashes in my head as I do so.

"He's not in the best mood right now, don't take anything he says personally"

"Dan, get up" my tone leaves no room for arguments yet it seems that he doesn't hear me. With a sigh I yank the covers away from him, almost falling over in the process and barely contain the gasp that forms at the sight of one of my closest friends.

He was curled over in the fetal position his eyes squeezed shut like he was still trying to capture that last essence of sleep but by the dark, purple rings under his eyes I could tell sleep was the last thing on his mind. His once shiny blonde hair was now dull and oily like it hadn't been washed in awhile and he was still wearing the same clothes from when I saw him, two days ago. I gently shake him so he knows that I'm not going anywhere soon and he groans before opening his eyes. They only add to his haphazard appearance, they were red and distant. Like he had emotionally shut himself away from others after he finished crying.

It broke my heart to see him like this, all quiet and unresponsive. So unlike the hyper and carefree Daniel I had come to know. It wasn't like him to spend so long hidden away in his room, not talking, not laughing not doing...anything. We had all tried countless of times to get him to talk, to get out of the damn room but he would just turn his back on us and continue brooding. It had come to the point where his parents were at their wits end, frustrated that they could do nothing to help their son. Courtney and Bella would only sit there quietly, occasionally plead for him to get over her but it always ended in them leaving with tears in their eyes.

It had been two weeks since graduation, when Lily had sent him a text saying it was over. There was no explanation, no reasoning and when he drove over to her house to talk to her it was too late- she had left to spend her summer in Florida with her grandparents. Ever since then, Daniel's been spending his time cooped up in his room lying deathly still in his bed. Never mind that his sister and best friend were leaving to Chicago in a month or so for college. Or that our college's first semester started soon, he was drowning in his depressing emotions and he was dragging everyone down with him.

"Daniel this is getting ridiculous are you really going to spend your summer rotting away in your bedroom" he gives me a blank stare and a grunt.

"Dammit Scott! You're scaring your parents you know that? They're downstairs wondering what happened to their son while your twin can't bear to leave you alone for more than two seconds! And Bella, poor girl has been crying non-stop" I take a breath and gauge his reaction, he turns his head away but not before I see the tears clouding his eyes.

"She hurt you, I get that. But making your family suffer is not the way to go about it. She'll come back Dan, you know she will. And I promise, I'll be right there with you to help find out what the hell happened" my tone becomes soft, almost pleading as I wait for him to say yes. For him to say, no more moping in bed scaring the family, no more acting closed off. Keeping his emotions bottled in like this isn't healthy and I'm definitely not going to let this carry on.

"I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry" he starts crying and I stare wide-eyed. This definitely wasn't the first time he's cried but just like the other times before, it catches me off guard. It's unsettling to see such a strong guy break down in front of you crying. I bend down and pull Daniel into a hug muttering comforting words and wait for him to calm down.