**warning: suicidal actions**
October 31st--5 years later...
"Are you and him gonna at least show up for dinner tonight?"
"No, why would we?"
"Because!" Paul yelled angrily. "She's his best friend and I'm pretty sure that he would like to celebrate her sw-"
Addison laughed and shook her head, a devilish grin covered her face as she spoke.
"Oh Paul, you don't get it do you?"
Frustrated with her games he sighed and asked her what she had meant by that. I don't like where this is going, he groaned and rubbed his temples. Beside him sat one of his friends, Sid Wilson, he raised a brow at the older male curiously. Paul waved him off and leaned back against the couch.
"Corey, is mine. And I will not allow him to be around some damn slut. End of story, good bye Paul." She said then hung up the phone, Paul's jaw hung loosely.
"What happen man? What'd Addison say?"
"Somethings not right." He mumbled to himself. A huge knot formed in the pit of his stomach causing him to feel even more on edge than he already was. Addison has been acting way more bitchy than usual, and she's been keeping Corey hostage at her house too. It's like as if she's up to something big. Was it drugs? Did she get him hooked on coke, angel dust, or was it something worse? A loud knock on the front door sounded through the house, making Paul jump slightly. Sid watched his friend as he got up and walked over to the front door. Once he had the door opened wide enough Sid saw that all of their friends had just arrived. Joey wore a Jason Voorhees mask and an old mechanics jumpsuit. Some of the other guys were dressed up too in makeshift Halloween costumes. Originally they had all planned on getting nice costumes and hitting up all the parties that they could, but about three months ago Corey had reminded them that it was Thalia's sweet sixteen this year. So they scrapped their original party plans and put their money together to get Thalia a few nice things from the mall and make dinner reservations at the Cheesecake Factory in Ames.
"So when are we gonna head over to Tally's?" Shawn asked as he plopped down onto the sofa next to Sid, Paul just shrugged his shoulders. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Fucking Addison is holding Corey hostage again saying that he is basically her property and that she doesn't want him around Tally."
Chris cocked a brow at Paul and narrowed his eyes, "What else are you not telling us?"
Paul heaved a sigh, letting his head fall into his hands. He knew that once he told the guys what Addison had said they would all equally get pissed off. Joey threw a pillow at him saying, "Tell us already you dick!"
"Alright, alright." He grabbed the pillow and threw it back at Joey. "She had called Tally a slut."
Just as he had expected every last one of his friends got angry and began voicing, well more like yelling, their thoughts and opinions. None of them had really liked Addison from the moment they had met her, but they all agreed to try and be nice to her since she was dating their best friend. It wasn't until Addison has started bullying Thalia that the guys had tried to tell Corey that she wasn't a good person for him to date, but he was stubborn and didn't listen to them since Thalia had never said anything ill about the older girl.
"Guys lets just forget about Addison for right now and just go get Corey ourselves." Mick suggested.
"She won't be too happy if he's not there with us." Jim added, everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Sure they all knew that Thalia loved all of them like brothers too, but Corey had been the first one to know her and become her best friend. Ever since then it had always been Corey and Tally, it was either you handle both of them together or you get neither of them. For some reason Addison hadn't been able to grasp that concept.
"Normally I would agree to that but it's already half past noon and we have to drive to Ames to be able to make the reservation on time."
Silence fell over them, Jim's brow pulled together causing a dark shadow to fall over his face. "Are we really going to leave Corey behind? Tally will probably think that he forgot about her, she's gonna hate him."
"She won't, I'll talk to her when I get the chance." Paul spoke up, he grabbed his car keys then left a note for his brother telling him that he was leaving for the night. "Come on let's get what we need then head over to her place."
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Each boy snickered to themselves as they all huddled around outside of the bedroom. Usually they either let Thalia sleep in or woke her up with a nice breakfast, but this year instead of being nice they all had come up with a funny way to wake up the birthday girl. Paul had been assigned the 'leader' for this, basically he would end up being the first target if Thalia decided to throw a punch or two. Even though she was much smaller than him she still managed to scare him whenever she was mad or rudely woken up. She packed one hell of a punch too so needless to say he wasn't too happy about going in first.
"One.. Two.. THREE!!" Paul yelled as him and some of the guys all charged into Thalia's bedroom. She laid passed out in the middle of her bed with at least three blankets all piled up on and around her. Chris yanked the covers off her small frame while Joey sprayed her with silly string. Craig had a blow horn in his hand and pressed the button when he had it fairly close to Thalia's ear. Her eyes flew wide open as she jumped from the bed and landed on the hardwood floor with a loud thump. She rubbed her hip and glared up at the prankster, Craig chuckled heartily then offered her a hand up. The guys all gave each other a high five and congratulated Paul on not getting punched.
"Happy birthday, Tally." Shawn smiled happily at the younger female then handed her a card that him and the guys had signed. She took the card from him then read it aloud,
"On this day the world was given the most amazing human being that we know. Every day is a new adventure with you and even though you're still a pain in the ass kid we wouldn't trade you for anyone else. (Joey might try to though.. Just kidding) You've always supported all of our bands, you bake brownies for us, help us keep from fighting with each other and getting arrested, but most of all you are our little sister. We love you so much Tally! Happy sweet sixteen.
Love, your brothers."
A huge smile stretched across her face, "You guys are the best!" She cried throwing her arms open wide for a group hug. They all obliged and hugged her before walking back out into the small living room. Thalia walked to the window and threw open the curtains to let in some natural light. Sunlight poured into the dark living room, momentarily blinding her and Jim. He shielded his eyes from the sun's harsh rays then did the same to Thalia. She smiled up at him before turning to face the rest of the guys.
"So what's on the birthday agenda for today?" Paul asked casually. "We don't have anywhere to be until later tonight so the next few hours are dedicated to just you."
This made Thalia's smile deepen. So far for the last three birthdays all of the guys have been busy with something band or family related, so they didn't really to get to celebrate her birthday how they wanted. She let her shoulders rise and fall after she realized that she hadn't even bothered to plan for today. Mick scoffed loudly from his spot on the couch which earned him a smack to the back of his head from Craig. Soon a mock fight broke out in the middle of her trailer and pillows were flying everywhere. She shook her head at them and continued towards the kitchen to make birthday brownies. Once she had the brownie mix ready she poured it into a medium size pan then put the pan in the oven. By this point Shawn had intervened and broke up the fight.
"I smell birthday brownies!" Joey yelled from the bathroom. Thalia frowned, wondering how he could have smelt the brownies from all the way in the back of the trailer.
"He's so fucking weird." She said with a laugh. Soon Joey walked out of the bathroom with a goofy grin on his face, he wrapped his arms around Thalia's waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Happy birthday beautiful." She rolled her eyes at him then pushed his head off her shoulder.
"You're not getting extra, Jordison."
He pouted and crossed his arms over his chest like a two year old, "Why the hell not?"
"Because," she stated. "There's almost ten of us, plus Corey isn't even here yet and I have to save some for him too."
Joey's eyes flicked momentarily to Paul then back to Thalia. His heart stung while he listened to her carry on about how excited she was that she would have all of the guys with her this year. All conversation seemed to come to a complete stop and all eyes were either focused on Thalia or Paul, Joey knew that it was a bad idea to let her think that Corey was still coming out tonight. Paul's lips pressed together into a tight line, his eyes connecting with each of his friends before falling onto Thalia's backside. She was happily tending to the birthday brownies with Joey, laughing and trying to guess what he had gotten her for a present.
Jim leaned over and shoved Paul's shoulder roughly. He was beyond irritated with Paul and about ready to curse him out for being so damn stupid, "Either you tell her he's not showing up or we go drag his ass outta bed right now."
Paul gave a simple nod before standing up with his keys in hand.
"Hey Tally, me and Jim are going to go pick up Corey. We'll be back soon, so be ready to go."
She turned around and smiled brightly at the two men. Paul felt his heart sink in his chest, he knew full well what Thalia was about to suggest.
"Well why don't we all go over there?" Yup, he knew it. "I'm ready to go, so I'll just lock up and we can get him on our way."
The guys all turned to see what Paul would do next. Obviously he couldn't tell her a simple 'no' because she would ask questions and frankly he didn't want to explain that Addison was controlling Corey. That was a road that none of them wanted to go down. He closed his eyes whilst pinching the bridge of his nose. Against his better judgment he found himself saying, "Alright, let's go."
"Let's hope he's at least sober this time." Shawn mumbled as he walked out to Paul's van.
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"Oh I'm sorry, Tally." Corey's grandmother smiled sadly down at her. "He hasn't been home for the past three days."
Paul's brow shot skyward when he heard this, Corey's grandmother noticed this and have him a knowing look. Corey may not have been home but they both knew where he's been over the last few days and neither of them liked that. Thalia hadn't noticed their silent exchange, her attention was lost deep within her own mind wondering if her own best friend had forgotten what today was. She pulled her gaze away from her shoes to look back up at the sweet old woman.
"That's fine, just when you see him tell him not to call me please?" She asked, a glint of pain reflected in her eyes. Corey's grandmother nodded her head in understanding. She knew that it was Thalia's birthday and it hurt even her to know that her grandson had blown off Thalia for some hussy.
"Oh before you leave," she stepped back from the door to grab a card from her purse. She smiled softly and handed it to Thalia. "Happy birthday, Tally."
"Thank you, I'll read it later at dinner." She told her then gave her a quick hug before walking back to the van with Paul. Once they were inside Thalia climbed to the back seat and let Chris take over driving. She didn't want to be sitting next to Paul when she finally broke down in tears.
"So now what?" He whispered to Paul.
"Go to Addison's place."
"Sure that's a good idea?"
Paul nodded his head in response.
Ten minuets later Chris pulled the van up in front of Addison's house. Sometimes you can tell what kind of people live in a house based off of what the outside looked like, and that couldn't have been more true with Addison Blair's house. The entire front lawn was nothing but patches of brown grass and dirt, beer cans mixed with liquor bottles and all sorts of garbage covered the ground. The large bay window was broken and boarded up from the inside, and some graffiti covered the entire side of the house. Basically it was all around trashed and a complete eyesore, a perfect basic description of Addison.
"What are we doing here?" Thalia asked with a slight hint of anger coating her voice. Joey rested his hand on her knee then began to gently trace hearts into her jeans to try and relax her.
"Even though you're pissed off with him right now I just want to make sure he's okay." Paul replied, Thalia frowned and leaned into Joey's chest. "He's still our best friend, Tal."
"I kno-"
A loud ear piercing scream cut off Thalia's words, all heads turned to face the house that they sat in front of. Soon Addison ran out the front door, her white shirt and arms were covered in what looked to be blood. Her mother soon followed behind her, her hands only had a small amount on them.
"Should we call the cops or are they just fuckin with us?" Sid asked hesitantly.
"I honestly don't know." Mick shrugged his shoulders. "As much as I hate to admit it Addison is one hell of an actress."
"Fuck it." Thalia rolled her eyes and pushed her way to the car door. "I'm gonna go check it out."
Paul heaved a sigh as he followed behind Thalia. This whole thing felt kind of sketchy to him seeing as Addison has pulled this type of prank before just to get an old boyfriend of hers arrested.
"The hell is going on?!" Thalia yelled over Addison's high pitched screams. All she did was point at the house and mumbled something that sounded like bedroom. They both sighed and walked into the house, neither of them expected there to be anything except some fake blood on a broken vase. "Remember the last time she tried to pull this shit?" Paul chuckled and nodded his head. "Damn police actually believed her until the blood work came back from the state. I swear if this is another prank and she tried to get-" Her eyes grew wide when she rounded the corner by Addison's bedroom.
"COREY!!"
She screamed and ran to his side. Her shoes skidded across a pool of dark red blood, causing her to fall hard on her knees by his slashed wrists. Behind her Paul gagged at the sight then ran back out of the house before he threw up. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she leaned forward, grabbed his hoodie and wrapped it as tight as she could around his arm and wrist.
"...T-tally?"
"Fu-fucking hell, Corey. Why? Why would you do this?" She asked in a shaky voice, tears boiled in her eyes as she took in the sight of her best friend lying in a pool of his own blood. "You b-better not leave m-me!"
"I-mm sorry, Tal." A soft sigh escaped his chapped lips as his eyes closed and a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist.
"No! Put me- put me down!" She yelled at whoever just pulled her away from Corey. "Let me stay with him! Corey!" Her voice went up a few more octaves the more she screamed for the dying Irishman. Sid tightened his hold around Thalia and carried her outside while others rushed in to help. She tried to kick him where the sun don't shine but before her foot made contact, Mick took her from him. Once she was in his arms she stopped. It was like someone had flipped the off switch on her entire body, she had stopped screaming and fighting to be free; her whole body went limp against Mick's chest as she cried into his shoulder.
"Sid!" Joey yelled to him. "Open the car door!" He then tossed him a new set of keys which turned out to belong to Addison's mom. She had offered to take Corey to the hospital while the guys took Thalia back home. The only ones who stayed with Corey and Mrs. Blair was Paul, Shawn, and Craig.
"We can't take her home, not like this." Joey said once they had pulled away from Addison's house.
"Well where do you want to take her?" Jim snapped suddenly. "She doesn't have any other famil-"
"Drop her off at my place, I'll stay with her."
All eyes landed on Sid, Joey on the other hand glared out the windshield. He didn't like that all of a sudden some kid wants to be a part of his group of friends and try to steal Thalia's affection from him.
"Okay, yeah that works since we're closer to your place anyway." Jim said calmly. "You sure you don't mind?"
"It's fine with me, I've got an extra empty guest room so she can rest there."
"Okay then, I'll come drop off some overnight clothes for her then pick her up in the morning."
Sid nodded his head and fell back against the seat. He wasn't sure why he had offered to let her stay stay with him since neither of them barely knew each other, but in the end it was probably the best thing for her at the moment.