Take Me | Rydon

xviii

"No way!" Emily shouts through the phone, and Brendon is smiling brightly from ear to ear. "I'm so happy for you. Did you guys pick a date yet? Are you planning a big wedding?"

"We said we'd do it today, but he got called into work. So we were thinking this weekend. And no, we're not having a big wedding. Just a few people and maybe a small party afterward. I'm not totally sure yet." Brendon replies, staring at the silver band on his finger. He hasn't been able to take his eyes off of it for more than five minutes all day. "Do you think you'd be able to make it here this weekend? I'd really like for you to be there."

"I can try. If not, then I'm really sorry and I'll make it up to you."

"Just let me know. If you need a ride, I'm sure I could come -" Brendon pauses when he hears a knock on the door. It was slow, four soft knocks on the wood. "Hey, let me call you back. I think someone's here."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later."

Brendon and Emily say bye and Brendon sets his phone on the kitchen counter and makes his way to the front door.

He peeks through the peephole on the door and his eyebrows furrow at the hooded figure standing there, their back to the door and a beige purse hanging off of their shoulder.

Brendon opens the door slowly.

"Can I help you?" He asks, and the woman turns around, her brown eyes widened and her mouth agape. "What the fuck." He says, his heart pounding loudly in his chest.

"You look so grown up," she says, tears in her eyes, a few rolling down her cheeks. She reaches out with her right hand and places it softly on Brendon's left cheek. "oh, Brendon."

Brendon moves away from her touch and she retracts her arm back, a saddened expression taking over her features.

She looks older too, Brendon thinks, and maybe it's just from old age or maybe it's from the stress and worrying about where her sons been for the past almost three years. She even looks older than she did when he made the mistake of going back home just a few months ago.

"Can I come in?" She asks softly. Brendon says nothing. He steps to the side and opens the door for her to come in. "This is nice," she says approvingly, looking around at the small amount of photos on the wall. "you don't live alone then?" She asks, her eyes landing on the photo of Brendon and Ryan that was taken years ago at Ryan's old house.

"How'd you find me?" Brendon asks, because that's the only important question right now. Nothing else matters.

"I had to search for you online," she sounds upset and disappointed. Brendon is trying not to look at her. "there's a website, it's called people finder. A friend told me about it so I thought I'd try it. I typed your name in the search bar and I think it took about ten minutes for me to bring myself to actually press the search button."

Brendon's mom takes a seat on the couch, picking up the photo of Ryan and Mollie from the side table. She only looks at it for a few seconds before setting it back down. Brendon stays near the door, his arms folded over his chest and his eyes looking everywhere else but at her.

"There's a lot more Brendon Urie's in the world than I thought, but thankfully it shows an age next to the name. You're the only Brendon Urie who is eighteen years old. Clicked your name and your drivers license showed up on the screen with your address. Took my a week to build up the courage to come here. Half an hour to start the car. But here I am."

"Did you need something?" Brendon asks, his voice angry and icy.

"Brendon, I just wanted to see you." She stands up and slowly steps toward Brendon who's trying not to cry. "I had no idea what happened to you when you were gone for that month. I was so worried about you."