ben knew something was up when giselle mentioned she hadn't talked to rodrick in four days. it wasn't like his nature to be this silent and whenever it did happen, ben knew it must be serious.
the last time rodrick acted this way was when heather hills embarrassed him at a party. he finally confessed his feelings for her after months of chasing after her affection; only to have heather shame him in front of everyone at the party.
rodrick had it bad and refused to leave his house.
but ben knew this had nothing to do with giselle, it had to be something else.
giselle was perfect for him and wouldn't do such a thing.
ben sighed, approaching the heffley's front door and knocking on it gently. a few seconds later, the door opened up and revealed greg who didn't have the most happiest expression on his face.
"he isn't allowed to have friends over." greg told ben whose eyes averted to the huge duffel bag in his hands.
"what are you talking about? it's friday." ben stated. "it's band practice."
"ben, he can't have—"
"—listen greg, let me see him." ben interrupted, pushing past the younger heffley and dashing inside the house. he ran as fast as he could to rodrick's bedroom, before susan and frank could catch him and kick him out.
he stormed into rodrick's room and unsurprisingly, it was an absolute pig sty. the room reeked of day's old pizza and rodrick clothes were strewn all over the place. his eyes focused more on the open suitcase on his best friend's bed.
"so when were you going to tell me that band practice was cancelled?" ben spoke up, catching rodrick's attention.
he looked worn out like he'd been awake for days.
"what the hell are you doing here man?" rodrick questioned, focusing back onto untidily packing his clothes.
ben scoffed, approaching him. "what do you mean, what am i doing here? you've been nowhere to be seen dude. did you even come to school?" he questioned, in a frantic.
"yes, you just didn't see me." rodrick muttered.
"for 5 days?" ben elaborated.
but rodrick remained silent.
"rodrick what the fuck's going on?"
"i am not performing." he let out, refusing to look at his best friend.
ben stood silent, confused at what rodrick had just said. what does he even mean? loaded diper's been rehearsing for days. there's no way he can be backing out now.
"what the fuck? why?" ben questioned.
"because.." rodrick trailed off.
"what?"
"because of the fucking party man," rodrick sighed, throwing one of his shirts to the other side of the room. "my mom found out and i made a fool out of myself in front of the aoki's."
ben furrowed his brows together in confusion. "the aoki's?"
"giselle's mom is my mom's boss and they came over for dinner. just my luck it had to be the same day my parents find out about the party." rodrick huffed, plopping onto his bed.
ben pursed his lips together running a hand through his hair. "shit man."
"dude her parents think i'm a loser."
"oh come on man don't say tha-"
"—nah, don't bullshit me. they do."
"you're just saying that because you got humiliated but that doesn't mean it's true." ben reasoned, knowing very well rodrick was starting to doubt himself in everything he did.
this had all happened before with the one and only heather hills. she humiliated him in front of everyone at the homecoming dance, the boy felt hopeless and went on self destruct mode. rodrick began to accept that he wasn't good enough for her and avoided any chance he had to make himself feel good.
ben knew he was slipping into his self sabotage and that was the last thing he wanted.
"rodrick come on man," ben sighed. "you're not a loser, it's obvious giselle likes you for you and so what if you don't play? we'll have other gigs." ben told him, practically pleading his words to knock some sense into the boy.
"ben just go," rodrick huffed. "i'll be fine man."
"i can stay with you bro," ben pointed out. "we can talk shit out."
"i don't need help!" rodrick cried. "don't pity me just because you feel bad about this!"
"rodrick i know what you're doing and it's not gonna help you at all."
rodrick turned to him, a blunt expression on his face. "i'm heading to my grandpa's at the nursing home. we'll just talk later, alright?" he said in a more solemn tone this time. "i just wanna think things by myself."
ben stayed silent before nodding. "alright." he let out, "if that's what you want. i'll give it you." he said, as he made his way to the door.
the boy took a pause, turning back to his best friend who was still standing by his bedside.
"just please promise me rodrick, that you won't shut giselle out."