Shorter chapter because the next one is super long.
Joe slipped as he turned a corner after entering the theatre building. He'd bolted there the second that the bell signaling the end of fifth period had rang. The entire with ordeal with Zoey had caused the situation with Brian to completely slip from his mind. He'd spent the entirety of his third and forth period replaying the entire conversation with Zoey over and over again in his head. Lunch turned into a do-over of the conversation, Zoey again and again apologizing and promising to treat him better.
They'd spent most of fifth period sitting in silence, both staring at but not working on their physics assignment. At one point she'd reached over and tried to hold his hand, and he'd reluctantly allowed her. He tried to ignore the fact that her touch now set his nerves on end.
At some point he let go of her hand to grab his phone, opening it to find himself face to face with his unanswered, unread texts to Brian. He felt so ashamed as he burst through the doors of the choir room. How could he have completely forgotten?
To his relief, he ran in to find Joey and Lauren. "Thank god," he muttered, bending over to catch his breath. He pointed to Joey, who was sitting on the floor with Lauren. "Don't you have class?"
"Skipped," Joey responded simply.
"We've had a day," Lauren added.
"Did you, did you find him?" Joe asked desperately.
"Yeah," Lauren answered, standing up and walking over to him. "Locked in the fucking dumpster behind the building."
"Jesus Christ," Joe mumbled to himself, burying his face in his hands. This day could not possibly get any worse. "Did he, did he say who attacked him?"
Lauren and Joey looked at each other nervously, Joey standing up and walking over. "He um, he doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't want to talk to anyone really."
"Well, what happened when you found him? He must have said something?"
Lauren and Joey exchanged another look. In truth, Brian had said a lot about his encounter with Zoey, but didn't want Joe to know because he was terrified of what she would do to him if he told. "Nothing much, really." Lauren lied. "We sorta just took him home so that he could shower and change, and then we came back here after lunch. He went inside the sheet music closet and hasn't come out since."
"We didn't really pry him for information," Joey added.
Joe sighed, staring at the door to the closet. "He's in there?"
"Yes, but Joe I don't know if you should—" before Lauren could finish her sentence, Joe was already inside the closet, closing the door behind him.
Joe looked down at Brian in horror. He had a black eye, bruising on his cheek, a cut lip, and that was just his face; Joe didn't even want to begin to imagine what damage he was hiding under his clothes.
Brian looked up at him awkwardly, surrounded by sheet music. "What's up?"
"Thank god you're okay," Joe responded, walking over to him. He dropped to his knees, pulling the stack of sheet music off of Brian's lap. "I was so worried," he admitted, pulling the younger boy in for a hug. Brian gasped in pain at the sudden touch, making Joe quickly retract back. "Fuck, sorry."
"It's all good," Brian responded, smiling up at him. "I'm all good."
"No, you're not." Joe said anxiously. He raised an eyebrow at the gray beanie on Brian's head that he'd never seen before. "What are you hiding under there?"
"Under where?" Brian asked innocently, grabbing another stack of music and staring down at it to avoid eye contact.
"Don't play dumb with me," Joe responded, grabbing the beanie and pulling it off of Brian's head.
"Can you not!" Brian yelled at him, raising his hands to cover the bandage that was wrapped around his head. "It's not as bad as it looks!"
"Brian, enough! What the hell happened? I want names, and I want them now." He handed Brian his beanie back, knowing that he was coming across harsh. "This is some serious shit, and I'm putting an end to it. I care about you too much to see you get hurt."
"I don't know who did it." Brian lied, putting the beanie back on over his head. "I don't know them. I can't give you names."
"I don't believe you," Joe stated honestly. "This is the second attack. You don't expect me to believe that this is completely random, do you?"
Brian shrugged, not looking up at him. "It could be."
"Well, was it the same guys as last time?" Joe asked desperately. "Give me a description. Eye color, hair color, what sort of clothes they were wearing, something!"
"Joe, I appreciate what you're trying to—"
"You clearly don't, or you'd let me help you!" Joe yelled at him, feeling his emotions get the best of him. Why was Brian being so difficult? It didn't make any sense to Joe.
Brian sighed, trying to stay calm. "It's not that simple Joe." He responded simply, his hands shaking as he struggled to organize the music in front of him.
"Someone hurt you. I could protect you, but you won't tell me who I need to protect you from." Joe responded, rising to his feet. "Why are you refusing to let me help you? Or Joey and Lauren? You know, we can't help you if you're completely unwilling to help yourself!"
"Oh that's rich, coming from you." Brian spat out, laughing. He couldn't believe that he was talking to Joe this way, but the irony on that one was through the roof.
Joe froze, taking a step back from him. "What's that suppose to mean?"
Brian finally looked up from his sheet music, locking eyes with Joe. "Did you break up with Zoey?"
Joe shook his head, taken aback by the question. "What?"
"Did you break up with Zoey?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "You know, the girl who evidently hurt you so badly that you called me at three in the morning last night, saying that you needed to leave her?"
Dread filled Joe's chest. "What does that have to do with any of this?" He asked nervously, wondering why Brian had felt the need to randomly bring that up.
"Well, you're claiming that I'm refusing to help myself, and making it impossible for my friends to help me. So, did you help yourself? Because from what I just heard from Lauren, you didn't."
Joe stared at Brian in disbelief. First of all, how the hell could Lauren know about what had happened with Zoey? His stomach knotted at the thought of Brian and Lauren discussing his situation with Zoey together. "That's, that's not the same."
"Isn't it?" Brian asked. "Did you not finally acknowledge last night that she's bad for you? That she treats you like shit? That she fucking abuses y—"
"Shut up." Joe stated, feeling his anger rise through his chest. "Why, why are you bringing this up? This isn't important right n—"
"It is just as important as what happened to me Joe." Brian yelled over him, feeling tears begin to swell up in his eyes. "I know that she's hurting you. And I in want to help you, we all want to help you, but you're so fucking in denial about her being an abuser—"
"Don't talk about her like that!" Joe yelled. "How could you even begin to compare her to the people who hurt you? She never beat the shit out of me, and she certainly never locked me in a dumpster!"
"Oh for fucks sake, do you think I'm stupid?" Brian asked, the tears finally spilling down his cheeks. "Do you really think that I couldn't tell last night when we were on the phone that she'd done something to you? Do you think I can't see the bruises and scratches on your face and arms and put two and two together?"
Joe was silent, his cheeks flushing red with humiliation. Brian could tell? "I, I don't—she never hurt me."
"Yeah, sure she didn't." Brian responded harshly. "You wanna say what happened to you isn't as bad as what happened to me? What she's doing to you is worse. A lot worse." Brian stood up, walking over to Joe, who's eyes were beginning to water. "Being hurt by a bully, versus being hurt by someone who's supposed to love you? I can't even begin to imagine."
Joe wiped his eyes, for once not feeling comfortable crying in front of Brian. "Yeah, you're right. You can't imagine. You don't understand. So stop pretending like you do." He stepped back away from Brian. Anger was coursing through his veins, followed by embarrassment, and then an unbearable sadness. He'd never felt so uncomfortable around Brian. "I just wanted to help. Fuck me for giving a shit about you," he responded harshly, knowing in his heart that Brian didn't deserve that comment. He wanted to apologize as soon as the comment left his lips, but found that he couldn't bare to be around him any longer.
He stormed out of the closet, past Joey and Lauren, and out of the choir room without looking back. He heard Lauren chase after him, but she was definitely the last person he wanted to hear from apart from Brian. He was already so overwhelmed over whether or not he was making a mistake with Zoey—hearing his closest friends reiterate that same anxious thought to him was evidently too much for him to handle at the moment.
He stormed out of the building, running to his car as the tears continued to stream down his face. He was exhausted—he was beaten, bruised, hurting, and his heart aching horribly. He started coughing as he opened the car door and sat down in his car, resting his forehead on the steering wheel. He brought his hands to his face, trying to catch his breath as the tears continued to stream down his face and drop down on to his jeans.
What was he supposed to do? No matter what he did, he was letting someone down. Why couldn't things just be better? He didn't want to fight with anyone anymore.
He wanted to feel happy. He wanted to feel safe. He wanted to feel loved. He needed to feel that reassuring sense of relief that he was enough. It was all that kept him going.
His hand shaking, he pulled out his phone and called Zoey, hoping to god that she was still on campus. He never should've left her after physics to go check on Brian. To his relief, within minutes she was at his car, opening the door to the drivers seat and pulling him out of the car. Standing up, he immediately fell into her arms.
"Shh," she whispered, rubbing his back soothingly. Joe continued to cry, but could feel his anxiety beginning to settle down as a feeling of warmth spread through his chest. "It's okay Joe, I'm here. You're okay. I love you. And I'll never let you go."