"WHY ARE WE all here at 8:00 a.m.? This couldn't have waited until I at least had my coffee?" Robyn moans, leaning her head back onto Sebastian's shoulder.
I'd decided to hold this meeting at Devin's house since his parents were out and he had the most supplies. The pile of markers, pens, pencils, and scrap paper waits for me on the table. Devin glances over at Robyn's sleepy face. "I can make you some, if you'd like."
"You're a saint, Forrester," she mumbles, falling asleep on Sebastian's shoulder.
Devin gives her a tight smile and then disappears. I bounce on the balls of my feet. I was waiting for Hunter and then we could get started. I glance at my watch, wondering what was taking him so long. "What is this exactly, Brayls?" Sebastian asks. He whispers so as to not wake Robs up.
"You'll see," I say with a toothy grin.
Sebastian scowls at me. "No. No way. You're not going to ask them to pay for my dues, are you? I won't let them. I won't take the money."
"We won't be taking anything," I respond back cryptically. "I have a plan."
Sebastian pinches the bridge of his nose. The door opens suddenly and I grin at Hunter's friendly face. "Hunter!" I exclaim. He gives me a small smile and pushes the door open a bit wider. I gasp as I take in Hayley's blonde hair and tentative smile. "Hayley...?"
"Hi," she mumbles. She walks in and plops down onto the couch, right next to Robyn. Robyn wakes up at the movement and instantly squeals, wrapping her arms around her.
"Oh my God! Are you back? Please tell me you're back. Is this just a dream?" she asks, laughing loudly.
Hayley laughs, too. "It's not a dream. Ash called me as soon as everything went down; I'm not mad anymore. Besides, Hunter said you guys needed me...?"
"Braylen said it was a huge undertaking," he says with a grin. "Figured we needed all the brains we could get."
The two share a sweet smile. I raise an eyebrow. Has that always been there or was I just now noticing?
"Okay," Devin says, walking back in. "Coffee with four creamers and donuts for everybody."
He hands the coffee to Robyn who sighs of delight. "You're the best ever. I owe you."
After everyone's conversed a bit and enjoyed their donuts, I stand up. It felt a little weird having everyone's eyes on me but I stood straight nevertheless. "First things first...I'm really, really sorry. I hurt each and everyone of you and I feel so awful about it. I don't know if any of you could find it in you to forgive me but, I'm willing to prove myself every single day if you'll give me a chance."
Robyn's the first to speak up. "You're my brother, Bray-bear. I'm always gonna love you."
"Yeah, man," Hunter chimes in, smiling softly. "You're a sick guy. I mean that in a good way, though. I don't think you have herps or anything. Now that would be sick."
Hayley giggles at Hunter's words; I frown. "I'm sorry for how things ended between us, Braylen. Not sorry for slapping you; that felt strangely good. But I wasn't the best girlfriend, either. And I know you weren't trying to hurt me. I get that now."
I smile slightly. I wasn't sure what I'd done to deserve Hayley's grace but I was eager to put everything behind us. "It's all good, man," Devin agrees. "Hunter's right; you're a good guy and you make my best friend happy. Did you know he called me every night talking about how much he missed y—"
"Okay, that's enough sharing, Dev," Sebastian says and the room laughs. His eyes soften as they look back up at me. I hold my breath. "We all make mistakes, Brayls. Real friends are supposed to call you out on it...but they're also supposed to forgive you in the end. You've always been there for us. How could we not do the same for you?"
I nod my head, agreeing. "I'm happy you said that, Sebastian. Would you mind sharing what's going on?"
Sebastian's cheeks turn red. He gives me a brief nod, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. I smile reassuringly at him. "I...I made a mistake, okay? I got into some bad things over this summer; cocaine, molly. The worst thing I did was heroin." The group's faces ranged from shocked to worried. "I'm clean now...mostly. I swear. But the guy that I got the drugs from, well, I owe him a crapton of money. And I have no way to get it to him."
Hayley makes an "o" shape with her mouth. "Well, that explains the injuries."
Devin purses his lips, leaning forward onto his knees. "I don't get it. Just ask your parents to unfreeze your assets."
"I can't. They don't trust me and I can't blame them. I did get caught trying to steal Victor's watch," Sebastian mumbles.
Robyn reaches forward, grabbing his hand. "Then we can pay it off for you."
The group murmurs in agreement but Sebastian just shakes his head. "I'm not letting you guys do that."
"Don't be a hero, Ash," Hayley counters. "Look, if these guys are hurting you then you need a way out. All of us have more than enough money to help you."
Hunter sighs. "I get his point, though. I mean, it's not like it's our money. Its what our parents make; taking it from them isn't fair to anybody."
Sebastian snaps his fingers. "Exactly."
"Fine," Devin retorts, looking peeved. "If you don't want us to give you money we can just give your dealer the money. Whether you like it or not."
Robyn shakes her head rapidly. "No way! You saw what those guys did to Ash, Dev. They nearly killed him. There's no way we'd get out of there unscathed. I'm not letting you risk your life for this."
"It's not your decision," he says quietly, voice ringing with authority.
Robyn raises her perfectly shaped eyebrows. "You wanna bet?"
"Robyn's right," Sebastian says. "I'm not letting you guys spend your money or risk your lives for me. This is my problem. So I've got to solve it. Alone."
The room sits quiet for a moment, so soundless you could almost hear a pin drop. Then everyone bursts into arguments.
"Stop trying to be so freaking noble!" Devin shouts to Seb over Hayley and Robyn's arguing. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"
Robyn snaps her head back to Devin. "Yeah? What about you, Captain-Save-A-Bro?!"
Hunter giggles. "That was kinda funny!"
"If it were you you'd want somebody to help you out!" Hayley counters. "I think we should do the same for him. I vote helping!"
"Please, just stop," Sebastian says quietly. Nobody listens.
Devin shakes his head at Robyn. "He's my best friend!"
"He can't be your best friend if you're dead!"
"HEY!" I shout. The room instantly silences. Sebastian looks up from behind his hands and I can see just how much everything is weighing on him. He looked tired, older. How hadn't I seen this before? "Arguing isn't fixing anything. The longer we wait the more danger he's in."
Hayley bristles. "So what do you suggest?"
I sigh. "Going up to Aaron and handing him money won't satisfy him, Devin. He's angry with Sebastian; he wants to show that he's in control. You going over there—although with good intentions—would only upset him more. Especially if he thought Sebastian wasn't brave enough to fight his own battles."
"Thank you," Robyn mumbles. "I say we get the police!"
I shake my head. "That wouldn't work, either. Sebastian would go to juvie. Or, they could sentence him to actual prison. He's almost eighteen."
Hunter bristles. "These are all just a bunch of dead ends. He doesn't want our money, we can't just go and pay off the guy, we can't call the police. There's nothing we can do."
Sebastian swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "I'll call him and tell him I'll sell. It's the best chance I've got."
"No," I say, walking over to him. I bend down so that I'm face to face with him. "Remember what I told you at the Bash? You're not that guy, Sebastian. You're not like him."
Sebastian's eyes shine with tears as he looks at me. "I never meant for any of this to happen," he whispers. He looks up from my face. "I'm so sorry, guys. You're being roped into this and—"
"Hey, stop that," Devin says. "We're here for you. I may not always be the greatest friend ever, but I'm changing that. Okay?"
Sebastian sniffs once before nodding solemnly. A tear slips out of his eye and I reach up quickly, brushing it away with the pad of my thumb. "It's all going to work out," I assure him.
It's Hunter who speaks up. "How?"
I turn to him, grinning devilishly. "I have a plan."
Sebastian makes a face. "No way. You've known about this all of two days. How could you possibly have a plan?"
I blush as he calls out my bluff. "Okay, maybe not a plan plan but I've got ideas!"
"Like what?" Devin presses, eyebrows raised.
I glance over at Robyn for help. She shoots me an apologetic smile and I sigh, trying to come up with something quickly. "We kill him!" I exclaim.
Hayley presses a palm to her face and Hunter jumps to his feet. "Dude, yes! That is an awesome idea! My dad has a '38 and I went to the range when I was like fourteen so—"
"We're not committing second degree murder!" Sebastian yells.
I click my tongue. "Technically, it'd be first since its premeditated. But we'd totally cover it up!"
"No!" Sebastian, Robyn, Hayley, and Devin shout. I blubber my lips and press two fingers to my temple, willing myself to think. "This is my mess, like I said. I'll figure it out."
"No, you won't," I say, crossing my arms. "You'll hurt yourself or do something you'll regret and I'm not just going to sit by and let that happen! Not again."
Sebastian licks his lips. "My seizure wasn't your fault."
"Well, I didn't help," I mumble and look down at my shoes. He reaches forward and grabs my face, forcing my eyes up to his.
"Hey. Stop that. Okay? You didn't force me to buy the drugs, you didn't force me to take them, and you sure as hell didn't lace them. So stop talking bad about the boy that I like," he says with an impish smirk. "We good?"
"We're good," I repeat and then my eyes widen.
"What?" Sebastian asks, confused.
I stand up straight, turning back to everyone. "The police."
"We went over that already," Hayley says exasperatedly. "We can't go to the police without them busting Sebastian."
I bite my lip. "What if we could?"
"I don't like that look in your eye," Devin says, frowning deeply.
"Yeah, me neither," Sebastian agrees.
I smile and pull up a chair, sitting in the middle of everybody. "Here's the plan. I go to Aaron to try to buy drugs, only I'll use my phone to record him. He'll never know I know you and when I send the audio to the police station..."
"Bye bye, drug lord," Robyn says, smirking vindictively. "It's genius!"
"It's stupid," Sebastian argues. I turn to him. "You're not meeting with Aaron, okay? It's too dangerous. No. Not for me."
I glower at him. "He'll never know that I turned him in. Besides, even if he did he'll be rotting away in jail. He can't exactly hurt me from there."
Sebastian scoffs angrily. "You don't get it, do you? It's not just Aaron you have to worry about. Aaron has a team of guys protecting him; Brutus, Rufus, Isaiah, Pauli. Not to mention the dozens of people that buy from him. You think all of them will just let you off the hook for getting rid of their plug?"
"The way I see it, this is the only way to ensure your safety," I spit. "You don't want us to pay off your debt, fine. We'll get rid of the problem then. Isn't that what you want?"
"You want to know what I don't want?" he shouts, eyes fiery. "I don't want my boyfriend to get killed by some drug crazy guys just because I was too much of a coward to quit using four months ago!"
A small smile comes to my face. "Boyfriend?"
Sebastian blushes, finding his mistake. "That slipped out," he mumbles and I grin wider.
"No, it didn't," I argue softly. He looks up at me and smiles once, still clearly upset.
I kneel down next to him. "Look. We'll wait until after Christmas, New Years, maybe. I won't get hurt; we'll be super careful and you guys can be nearby. But I have to do this for you, Sebastian."
Sebastian sighs, looking around the room. "Why not me or Hunter?" Devin asks.
Sebastian shakes his head, stating the reasoning I'd known all along. "They'd recognize you instantly; the goons got a good look at you at the Bash and at every party we went to with Nathaniel. They won't know Braylen. Even if they'd seen him at the Bash, Nate doesn't go to the Academy so he doesn't know anything about him." He says this all dejectedly, clearly unhappy with our predicament.
"That's right," I agree. "The guys left as soon as I showed up. There's no way they'd know who I was. It has to be me; Devin and Hunter are too obvious and I would never let Hayley or Robyn go into a situation like that."
Sebastian scoffs. "But it's okay if it's you?"
"Please," I plead softly. His blue eyes bore into mine, trying their hardest not to give in to what I wanted. But he had to. He would.
Sebastian purses his lips and then gives me an almost imperceptible nod.