Asterisk*

Parties and Paparazzi*

"What's taking so long?" Dash asked, bursting into my room as I was sitting on the edge of my bed, holding a shirt that he would lend me. "Come on, I'll be there. How bad can it be?"

"That everyone hates me."

"No one hates you," Dash told me, sitting down next to me. "I don't think most of them even know who you are. I mean, the police questioned Aiden, but not you."

"Police?" I asked, taken aback.

"Yeah, just for information and stuff."

"Was that supposed to help me feel better? That people don't even think we're friends?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows. "It doesn't."

"Look, the point was, no one's gonna fuck with you. Now get dressed so we can leave, okay? It's just dinner."

I nodded as Dash left the room so I could change. It felt so inappropriate, having a dinner while Kadance was missing. But what else were we all supposed to do? Loathe in self pity? I have no idea. Everyone's first thought was that he ran away. I hated it, but that's what I thought as well. At the same time though, it didn't really make sense. He left his phone. What would he even be running away from? He had his own place, it wasn't like he was trapped somewhere he didn't want to be. If he didn't run away, there was only one other option. The option no one wanted to think about, the option that we tried to push out of our mind. So instead, I focused on the first option, the option that seemed better through the two of them.

I started buttoning my shirt, each loop like another chapter of my life that I would have to close. Everything seemed so wrong. Tears started moving down my cheeks as I immediately tried to wipe them away, leaving my face red and swollen, giving away my whole state of mind with a look of an eye. The door creaked open when I was in the middle of trying to shake my feelings off, Dash giving me a melting look like he knew all of this would happen. Eventually, my whole face got scrunched up, and Dash just watched me, giving me a hug when I calmed down. I didn't know how to react. It just felt like there were a thousand things all around me, a thousand storms that I couldn't get away from, and I couldn't bring myself to throw the lightning bolt that would help clear the storm.

"Marcus," Dash whispered, rubbing his eyes. "You're gonna make me fucking cry."

"I'm sorry," I laughed, still wiping at my eyes. "I've had a shitty few weeks."

"No shit," Dash laughed back, still teary eyed. "Your best friend goes missing? You're ten times stronger that I would ever be."

"Don't forget about the ruined relationship," I retorted.

"That's a new one," Dash questioned, tilting his head a bit. "What's his name again? Apollo?"

"Yeah," I responded, taking a deep breath. "I really think I fucked it all up."

"You know, nothing's fucked forever," Dash told me, patting me on the back and opening the door to my room. "Including this. Now, we got to go to dinner and try to be there for the people who are hurting too. And once we get back home, we'll go to that ice cream place and stay out all night."

"Stay out all night? Who are you?" I smiled, referring to all the times he would get mad at me for doing the same thing.

"Shut up. I'm your cool older brother."

"Sure," I nodded, rolling my eyes.

We both walked out of the room, following Dash as he entered the kitchen of our house, taking out the food my mom had made for Kadance's. My parents were running around the house, trying to find my dad's dress shoes. We eventually all got ready, piling into my dad's SUV as he blasted the heater to overcome the chilly winter air. We were all mostly silent, not knowing how to get the conversation going. My parents didn't really know what to say. They tried to understand, but they couldn't really be there for me in the way they thought they were. Dash was really much better at it. I was glad for it, glad for anything, really, because I truly felt stranded on desert island with no resources left for me to find.