Brendon
My daughter whirled on her swivel chair and sighed. "I honestly thought it would be less boring here, no offence."
"Oh, shut up," I said, rolling my eyes and smiling. You have Bogart and Penny Lane with you!"
"And my amazing dad," she muttered under her breath in the most sarcastic tone you could ever hear from a teenage girl.
I put my feet up on the table and tapped my pen on my forehead, trying to think of song lyrics. "That's right," I said a little absentmindedly.
The moment you arrived
They built you up
The sun was in your eyes.
I've always had a thing for lines like that— the sun was in your eyes.
You couldn't believe it
Riches all around—
Someone knocked on the door and Nicole, Panic! At The Disco's new bassist, poked her head in and gave me a wide smile. I held back a sigh— I almost had the first verse.
"Hey," Nicole said. "Just wanted to ask if you're up for dinner over at my house today with my family. Mike and Dan are coming. It'll be really fun."
I thought for a moment and sighed. "Nicole, I'm so sorry but I can't. I'm meeting up with an old friend this afternoon and I'm picking up Sarah from the airport tonight and—" I motioned to my messy desk littered with crumpled papers in which wrote what could've been potential song lyrics— "I'm really busy trying to finish the new album. I'm sorry. I swear I'll make it up to you."
Nicole shrugged, still smiling and seemingly unfazed, and walked inside, taking a seat beside Yanna who had taken a place on the small couch next to my bookshelf. "Oh, that's alright, Bren. There's always a next time. By the way, how are you doing, Bree? I haven't seen you in a while!"
I smiled at my daughter and my little sister— Nicole isn't related to me by blood in any way, although she's like family to me— and went back to work, leaving them to chit-chat and catch up on everything they'd missed out on. I sighed and returned to my work.
You're walking
Stars are on the ground
You start to believe it
Almost got it, Brendon.
Every face along the boulevard
Is a dreamer just like you
You looked at death in a tarot card
And you saw what you had to do
I dropped my pen loudly on the table and stood. "This is, by far, the hardest song I've ever had to write."
"Take a break then, Dad," Yanna said, giving me a small smile.
I looked up at the clock. Three-thirty. Thirty minutes 'til Ryan. "I will in a while. I'm meeting with someone in thirty minutes. Do you want to stay here or do you want me to drop you off at home?"
She nodded. "Alright. I'll stay here with Nicole."
I nodded and kissed her forehead. "Okay, I'll see you later, sweetheart." As I was leaving, I turned to Nicole and did finger guns. "Catch ya later, kid."
Nicole grinned. "See ya, dork."
I chuckled and closed the door behind me. I opened my phone and noticed that I'd received a message from Ryan:
R: Hey Brendon, you still up for later? :)
B: Yep. See you in thirty!
I took a deep breath and headed to my car, putting my phone back in my pocket. Well, this was gonna be a long day. I drove home and quickly changed my clothes, opting for all black— black ripped jeans, black shirt, black shoes. Like in my good old emo days, minus the eyeliner and weird haircut.
I was in the caffé after five minutes and it was three fifty-four and I saw Ryan sitting in a nearby table, tapping on his phone with sort of a blank look on his face.
I walked towards him. "Hey."
He looked up, putting his phone away and shaking away loose strands of hair from his face. "Hey."
"So," I began. "You wanna order something?"
Ryan nodded and we stood up and headed to the cashier. While he was placing his order, I tried to come up with ice-breakers, conversation starters, to make everything less awkward.
We got our food and headed back to our table. I was about to ask him how he was doing and what he's been up to these days when he spoke up.
"Listen, I don't know how to put this out subtly so I'm going to be blunt with you, yeah? I wanted to go out for coffee with you because I wanted to talk about some stuff that happened in the past."
My breath hitched in my throat and I nodded. "Alright. Go on."
"I know we didn't exactly part in good terms and—" He exhaled loudly, thinking of his next words carefully. "— and I wanted to say I'm sorry for that. Do you think maybe we can... I don't know, make up and be friends like old times?"
I looked at him incredulously and let out a humorless laugh. "Seriously? You think that you can just apologize and we can go back to being friends again? You think a single sorry can make up for all of it?"
He was silent for a full minute and then: "No, I don't. There's not a day I don't kick myself for hurting you— my best buddy and partner-in-crime— and leaving like that. I really am sorry."
I shook my head and looked him straight in the eye. "Look, Ryan, it pains me to say this, but we can't go back to the way it was. Too much has happened and too much time's passed for that to happen."
Ryan sighed. "I know you'll never forgive me— hell, I can't even forgive myself— but please know that I'm really sorry. You deserved a better friend."
"That's where you're wrong," I said softly. "I've forgiven you a long time ago. And you— you were a great friend to me. Stop troubling yourself with what happened before, Ryan. It's time to let go of the past."
I stood up and smiled at him. "I'm sorry too, man," I continued. "But it's just too late already. I wish you the best."
I squeezed his shoulder a little and left the place.
My phone buzzed with a notification. It was a message from Sarah.
S: Honey pick me up at the airport at around 6. We're leaving earlier that I thought. Love you! <3
B: Alrighty love. I missed you!
B: Btw Nicole's inviting us over for dinner at her place but I said I couldn't go because I was picking you up later. Buuuttttt since you're arriving earlier, do you wanna come or do you want to go home and get some rest?
S: I'd love to go to Nicole's! We haven't seen each other in a while
B: Okay then I'll see you later. I love you
I headed back to work and found the two— namely Nicole and Breanna— still chitchatting. They didn't seem to notice I was there since they were both too preoccupied stalking someone's Instagram profile. I leaned on the wall, crossing my arms, and waited.
"Ooh, so this is the Ryan you're talking about," Nicole said. "He's really good-looking. And hot. Do you like him?"
I raised my brows.
Yanna scoffed. "As a friend, yeah. Not my type, I guess."
I chuckled— I couldn't help it. I'm pretty sure my daughter was low-key crushing on this Ryan but she wasn't really keen on admitting it.
The two girls' heads shot up and they looked at me in shock. I walked towards them.
"How long have you been standing there?" my daughter asked.
"Long enough," I said, waggling my brows and sitting beside her on the couch. "So, Ryan, huh?"
Breanna sighed and said, "Ugh, no, dad."
"What?" I asked innocently, dragging out the a's. "It's alright to have a crush."
She turned and gave me a glare that was purely Urie. "I don't like him, okay? And I thought you're like... an overly-protective dad or something?"
"Protective, yeah, when it comes to suitors and boyfriends. But crushes are normal and everyone has them," I countered. "I, for one, have a small crush on Ryan Gosling."
"Really? Me too," said Nicole and Yanna simultaneously.
The three of us burst out laughing and it took three full minutes for the chuckles and giggles to die down. When the room was finally silent, we just sat in silence and relished in each others' company (Companies?).
"Oh!" I exclaimed, removing my arm that I had placed over my eyes and sitting up straight, anf causing the two ladies to jump in surprise. "Nicole?"
"Yeah?" she murmured in response.
"Are the others still having dinner over at your place? 'Cause it turns out Sarah arrives earlier than expected and maybe we can still make it there."
"Oh," Nicole said. "Yeah, we're still having dinner! It'd be great if you guys could make it there later. Change of pans, though. I think we're having a barbecue instead."
As if on (barbe)cue, my alarm sounded. I stood up and stretched, yawning a little.
"I'm headed to the airport to pick Sarah up," I said. "Anyone wanna come?"
∞
Breanna
I kind of felt bad for my dad because he looked so stressed and he still has to drive quite a long way. One of the first things I'll do when I become of age is get a professional driving license— or whatever you call that— so I can take the wheel in situations like these and let the person rest.
"Dad, are you sure you still wanna go to Nicole's dinner later? You look really tired."
He frowned. "Of course I do. And besides, you, Nicole, and your mother have a lot of gossip and catching up to do. Don't worry about me, I'm fine."
"There's always a next time." I put a hand on his arm. "You really do look tired, dad, you should get some rest and we can head home."
He gave me a warm smile and placed a hand on my cheek. "You and Sarah are such mother hens. I'm fine though, I swear."
I raised a brow, obviously not buying it, but smiled back. Whatever floats your boat, dad.
I checked the time. Five forty-five.
I sighed and sank into the car seat, closing my eyes.
I was about to fall asleep when I heard a long and loud screech and everything went silent.
∞
(A/N): GUYS WTF this was supposed to be up like Saturday, but my internet was terrible so I waited the entire night for it to upload (which it obviously didn't but I thought it did) ugh I'm so sorry :(
Also, 1,88k reads? I'm in shock and tears aaaaahh thank you all for reading this fanfic, it means a lot! ♥
-Angie