Truth Be Told

one

"Just shut the fuck up and call Drew already. Tell him he needs to come before I slit your throat."

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"I'm getting the last slice," Drew announces, but the pizza is already halfway in his mouth, leaving hardly any room for either Colin or Perry to contest.

Colin's already done eating though and he watches Perry try to grab it from Drew with barely concealed amusement.

Drew's a lot like a vacuum when it comes to food. Everything that isn't explicitly labeled off limits in their fridge is at risk of disappearing. This is why a lot of Perry's food has BACK OFF DREW or PERRY ALREADY LICKED THIS labels taped on the food containers.

Last December, Perry bought thin mint cookies and put an ominous DREW DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE note on the tin can lid. Then Perry had to go for his tutoring shift and five hours later he came back to find half the cookies gone and a new note taped over his original note.

oh yes i fucking dared :)

"Where to next?" Drew asks them now through a mouthful of pizza.

Colin shrugs. "Why don't we just buy a couple beers and head back to the apartment?" That's a lot less expensive, and a lot less tedious.

Last week, Drew passed out and Perry and Colin were the ones who had to figure out how to get him home while the fucking asshole threw up on them and slept. Perry had to patiently talk Colin out of leaving Drew passed out on the sidewalk.

Of course it's him who protests against drinking at home. "The night is young, my friends," Drew says. "I feel like getting trashed tonight."

"Please, god, don't fucking do this again—" Colin says just as Perry goes "This time I'll really leave your ass in some dark alley if you—"

"I was joking!"

The three of them file out of the pizzeria in the usual manner that they did everything—loud, boisterous and unapologetic, with Colin and Perry both rehashing last week's events to Drew, reminding him how difficult it was to shove a full grown idiot into the backseat of a cab. (It was pretty difficult. Colin might have slammed the car door on Drew's head twice or thrice. You know, accidentally.)

"I get drunk once—once—and you both act like I'm some kind of alcoholic." Drew rolls his eyes and turns to them with a smile. "Why can't we all just love each other?"

"I don't know about you but me and Colin, we're pretty solid," Perry replies. "You're just the guy we're tolerating because we need someone else to split the rent with us."

As always, Drew ignores this and launches into another of one of his you're just saying that but I know you love me spiels.

Drew's a lot like a dog. Colin realized this immediately after meeting him. The kind that jumps around excitedly when he sees something he likes and whimpers openly when he was down. You feed him and he looks at you like you've given him life. You tell him he's an idiot and the boy tilts his head and smiles at you.

"I'm telling you guys," Drew tells them. "I think tonight's gonna be awesome."

Colin hardly thinks it'll be anything special. The three of them are walking towards their favorite bar now, Drew throwing an arm over their shoulders and tugging them all closer. Colin elbows him in protest, causing him to yelp and jump sideways, nearly tackling Perry sideways.

Colin laughs at both of them, especially when Perry begins to mouth off a string of four letter words and Drew merely smiles back. It's not a smirk, nor is it a grin. There's no hint of mischief or malice in Drew's face. It's just a smile, and not even a sarcastic one.

Despite everything, Colin knows he probably wouldn't be enjoying college as much without either Perry or Drew.

"Hey, isn't that Sadie?" Drew suddenly says.

Colin's laughter naturally dies out. He follows the direction of Drew's gaze, ready to glower at Sadie in case she was looking their way, but then he sees her.

He freezes in his tracks.

He's used to seeing Sadie laugh, a glint of perpetual amusement and mischief in her eyes. He's used to seeing her raging like a mad bull, ready to fight to death with whoever stepped on her toes that morning. He's used to seeing the invincible expression on her face, the one that tells people to back off and steer clear of her before she could even say a word to them.

But now he sees her standing there amidst the Friday night crowd, her hair disheveled and shoulders shaking, looking small and lost and not at all invincible.

Sadie Reynolds is crying.

Colin can't look away from her, his thoughts whirring to a full stop at the image. Confusion and unease settles in his gut at the sight. He doesn't believe what he's seeing. He can't believe what he's seeing.

Sadie Reynolds does not cry. He'd known her for years and he's never seen her cry.

But there she is.

"Shit, man. Talk to her," Perry gives him a slight push. "You know her, right?"

Colin shakes his head, but even Drew shoves him forward. "Just go."

"Why don't you do it?" Colin snaps at Drew.

"You know her better!" Drew says, this time shoving Colin with so much force that he stumbles forward.

He takes a few steadying steps, but they're enough to put him into Sadie's view.

She turns to him, looking lost at first, like she isn't exactly sure what she's seeing. "Colin?" she says and her voice is raspy and her eyes are watery and shit, what the fuck should he do?

"Hey," he forces out. He blinks and clears his throat, one hand reaching up to tug at his hair. "Are you—um—are you all right?"

Sadie looks right at him for a second and Colin curses himself for saying that. Or for being there in the first place. He squirms under her tearful gaze, feeling his ears heat up. He quickly realizes just how stupid his question was. She must be judging him, Colin thinks, and he wants to disappear and pretend none of this ever happened.

But then her expression begins to change—and just when he thought she'd finally give him that teasing smile he knows all too well, her face crumples even further, her eyes filling up with a fresh wave of tears as her lower lip begins to tremble and Colin stands there looking at her like the fucking idiot that he is and all he can think is Jesus, fuck, Colin, what the fuck did you do?

"No," she answers his question, her voice breaking at the syllable. "No, I'm not."

And before Colin can even register what's happening, she's already closing the distance between them. For a second, Colin's convinced she's going to tackle him. His eyes widen in panic and he nearly steps out of her way to avoid the impact.

But what she does is a lot worse than he'd imagined.

She wraps her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest as she cries into his shirt. It takes a moment longer than necessary for Colin to realize the fact that Sadie Reynolds is hugging him.

And what else can he do but hug her back?