The boyfriend my friends paid for - REVISED

Chapter 22 - The Worst Day

Chapter 22 – the worst day

-Brooklyn-

It was the morning of the funeral and although I'd protested against it my mum had forced me to have the whole day off school even though I didn’t want to, I had however managed to get Dylan an invite so I wouldn’t be totally alone. Dallas had barely gotten out of bed since he was back from university, mum had called them the day after the news and they said that Dallas could take as long as he wanted and that they would get him up to speed when he got back, but at this rate I was worried whether he’d ever go back. My head had been a mess and even though I hadn’t had a day off I wasn’t sure I'd taken anything in from the last four days, Rachel had been round every day after school, sometimes accompanied by Dylan but I think he hated seeing me like this and I wasn’t about to force him through this with me.

I woke up to a knock on my door. “Come in.” I crooked before coughing and sitting up in my king-sized bed. I was hoping to see Dallas standing in my doorway but instead I got my mum holding a tray of food with a mug and a very smart looking Dylan holding a flower. He’d never been in my room before and I could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t approve of the way it was painted but I wasn’t going to pick him up on it.

“Dylan got here a few moments ago so I said he could come up, I hope that’s ok Brook?” mum looked worried, like she’d done something wrong, but she hadn’t Dylan was just what I needed right now and the growing grin on my face must have shown it because Dylan grew in confidence and began striding across the room towards me.

“Yeah course it is,” I replied to mum and Dylan lay the pink rose on my table and crawled into bed next to me. I heard a noise outside of my room and my thoughts instantly turned to Dallas. “Is he up yet mum?” I thought I knew the answer before I'd asked the question, but I had to, just in case I was wrong.

“No honey, he’s not, but I don’t want you worrying about it, you just stay here eat your breakfast and keep your mind off things.” Part of me wanted to start arguing the case that if I was in school then I would be preoccupied but I didn’t want to fight today and especially not in front Dylan. Mum walked over, handed me the tray and left. I looked at the full cooked breakfast and wanted to be sick I looked at Dylan, picked up the tray and put it on his lap.

He looked from me to the tray and then back to me. “Brook you have to eat, even if I spoon feed you like a baby.” He picked up the knife and fork and began to cut a piece of bacon.

 “I don’t want it Dylan,” I put my hand out to stop him and he drew his attention back to me. “I might have something later but right now I just want to turn on the TV and have a cuddle.” Dylan clearly knew I was right and so he put the tray down beside my bed and opened out his arms to me.

~*~

We were about to leave and although Dylan mum and I were ready there was still no sign of Dallas, although mum had said she’d seen him up and about I wasn’t so sure and if we didn’t leave soon we’d be late. I was just about to give up hope when I heard a rustling from upstairs I looked up to see Dallas stood at the top of the stairs in a black suit with red puffy eyes. I wanted to run and give him a hug while he was walking towards us but Dylan had a firm grip on my waist and I knew I could wait a few moments until he was down the stairs. When he reached us Dylan released me as if he could read my thoughts and I flung myself into Dallas’ arms. I could hear him begin to cry and that set me off. Dallas pulled away to whip the tears from my face and although we were both crying I could tell that Dallas was pleased to see me again.

Mum walked over to where we were standing and pulled us apart, nobody said anything but we all knew it was time to go. Nobody said anything for the whole journey and although I wanted to tell Dylan that I was fine I couldn’t fight back the tears to be able to talk.

We soon arrived at the church and I felt like saying to mum that I couldn’t do it and ask to be driven back home, but then I remembered that I had to be there for Dallas and I couldn’t let him down like that. As we walked in I had Dylan in one hand and Dallas in the other and my mum was standing behind me, although I felt protected I still didn’t feel secure and was regretting coming more and more with every step I took. While we were walking in I didn’t dare look up from the floor but once we’d sat down I had no choice but to look up and see what I was fearing. There he was, lying still as a log and looking so peaceful, there were pictures up all over the place of him at different points in his life from being a baby in his mum’s arms to him posing in front of his car, I realised then that this was going to be far harder than I ever imagined but I just had to brave what was about to happen.

~*~

After the funeral all four of us travelled home together and although mum was trying to spark conversations Dylan was the only one sane enough to talk to her. Dallas sat in the back and held me the whole way home and even though he was crushing me a little I didn’t want him to let go. We dropped Dylan home and after that the rest of the journey was silent, mum put the radio on but unlike before neither Dallas nor I felt like singing along.

That day was by far the worst day of my life so far but it wasn’t just because of Rider’s funeral, that was the day that I realised I didn’t love Dylan the way he loved me.