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Anthony's chest was heaving up and down as he sprinted down the sidewalk. He could barely hear anything over the sound of his pounding heart, he couldn't hear the people shouting his name trying to see if he was alright, or the ringing of his phone as Josh and Jaden aggressively spammed his phone with countless text messages and calls.
The only thin playing through his mind was the sound and image of Bryce screaming at him, telling him that he was annoying and was just being overdramatic. In all reality, Bryce wasn't screaming but he was yelling, and the entire time he had a look of annoyance on his face as he rolled his eyes. Basically, a few of the boys were gathered in the living room, smoking a few joints and swallowing down some random pills that Anthony couldn't recognize. He had told Bryce that it wasn't a good idea, that things could go wrong and someone could get hurt, and his career could get ruined if people found out he was doing drugs. The older boy kept trying to brush his words off, replying with little "whatever's" and "just shut up dude".
Anthony was agitated by Bryce's actions, the way he just ignored his friend's genuine concern, treating it like it was more of a suggestion than a practical plea. And thanks to his hot-headed personality and short fuse of a temper, Bryce had finally had enough of the younger boy ruining his high, so he decided it would be best to just yell at him. It would get his point across that he didn't want to deal with Anthony's whines.
"Fuck off Anthony! You're honestly being an annoying little bitch, god sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with goody-two-shoes like you!" He shouted, rolling his eyes as he did so. He watched as Anthony's face morphed into one that was a mix of panic, fear, and sadness. And with that, Anthony took off, out the front door and into the streets of the city, as the sky began setting behind him.
It wasn't Anthony's fault that his parents raised him with the mentality that any slight sign of rebellion would be punished in a physical and emotionally abusive manner. He was brought up in an unhealthy environment, and despite whatever argument Anthony would make against it, it was downright abusive. When he was a child and going into his teenage years he would get beat for pretty much every little mistake he ever made. If he broke a plate, the night would end in him covered in bruises and walking with a limp. He couldn't imagine what would happen if his parents caught him doing drugs, or being around someone who did drugs.
So his feet were currently pounding against the pavement of the sidewalk, he ran until his legs physically hurt and his side felt like it was on fire. He had been running for the past hour, and he knew that if he didn't turn back now, there would be no way in hell that he made it home before midnight. So with that Anthony began the torturous walk back home, beginning to plot in his head how he would slip upstairs and into his room undetected by one of the boys who would most likely scream at him for leaving.
He walked down the sidewalk, looking at the ground as he felt fear overwhelm his body, what if he ran into Bryce while he was walking inside? What if Bryce yelled at him again?
Through his swarm of worried thoughts and fear, he managed to walk all the way back home and was a bit surprised when he looked up to see the sway house in front of him. He slowly stepped forward, opening the front door and silently slipping inside. To Anthony's surprise, no one was downstairs, the lights were all turned off, not even the TV was on. It seemed strange, judging that it was around 11 pm and nobody was downstairs playing video games or overall just fucking around.
Anthony thought he was extremely lucky, that he managed to come back after everyone had fallen asleep. That he would be able to go up to Jaden, Josh, and his shared bedroom and go to sleep, pretending that nothing had happened. And he hoped and prayed that Bryce hadn't told anyone about him being a buzzkill and running off like a little bitch.
But boy was he wrong. He opened the door to the shared bedroom, expecting to see his two friends fast asleep in bed. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of the two boys pacing back and forth with worry present in their actions. When Josh and Jaden heard the bedroom door open, the two of them instantly turned their heads to look at the boy who had caused them so much worry.
"Where the hell were you! You were gone for two fucking hours!" Jaden screamed, running towards Anthony. The two boys had been worried shitless, and it wasn't just Jaden and Josh, everyone in the sway house was practically throwing up, that's how worried they were.
"You scared us shitless! Why would you do that!" Josh shouted, beginning to regret it as he saw Anthony flinch in fear. Anthony didn't know what to do, so he tried to do what he did best, run. He turned towards the door, trying his best to push himself out the bedroom door. But Josh and Jaden being the protective friends they were, they wrapped their arms around Anthony's waist, preventing him from leaving the room while Jaden locked the bedroom door.
"I want to leave!" Anthony cried, trying to push his way out of his friend's arms. They quickly understood how upset their friend was, and they toned down the anger and tone of their voices.
"Hey, It's ok, why did you run off? We were worried about you," Jaden said softly, running his hand up and down Anthony's back in an attempt to comfort him.
"Bryce yelled," he mumbled out shyly, not wanting to make it a bigger deal than what he thought it was. But in all reality it was a big deal, almost everyone in the house knew about Anthony's childhood, and how awful and triggering yelling could be.
"No, it's ok. He shouldn't have yelled," Josh comforted, slowly walking towards the big bed, sitting down and pulling the other two boys to sit with him. They all shifted so that they were laying together, cuddled up in the bed with Anthony in the middle.
"Just, please, please don't run off," Jaden said softly, brushing his hands through the younger boy's hair.
"Ok," was all he could reply before tucking his head into Josh's chest, letting the older boys comfort envelope him like a warm hug.
__ Hi! I feel bad because the last few chapters weren't requests, but I'm trying my best to get them done.
