Dead End Kids

Ryan’s front door was pulled open while he stood there grinning. An expression which quickly slid off his face when he saw Druscilla standing in front of him. “Uh . . . you . . . you’re in my house, Dru.”

“I crawled in through the window.” she said. No real smile, no real frown, not upset, not happy, but not quite a brain-dead zombie either. The ‘girls are weird in weird ways’ theory flitted through Ryan’s head again when his friend pulled him into the house by his hand. “So, it went well then?” she asked.

“It . . . wha’ . . .” Ryan’s voice trailed off in confusion as he cocked his head and stared at the younger girl. “Dru, what the fuck’s going on?”

“With Brendon? Did it go well?” the girl sat down on the couch, pulling him with her. “One would assume that by your expression outside, that it did.”

“I thought . . . I didn’t think you wanted to talk about that.” Ryan mumbled.

The three of them—Spencer, Druscilla, and Ryan—had all silently decided not to mention the fight that had taken place in the garage on Saturday. Druscilla had slept over at Spencer’s that night and sometime within the course of Sunday things had fallen back into place between the three of them without discussing what had been said. They were teenagers. If they didn’t want to talk about it, they weren’t going to.

Dru sighed. “It had to happen. Liz knew it, Brendon knew it. That didn’t mean she wanted it to happen. And you know I can’t stand seeing people get hurt unless I’m the one who caused it.”

Ryan fought a laugh. “Yeah, I . . .” He paused before he prepared to spill forth what had been said in the car. His voice was more serious, the tone that made Druscilla and Spencer know Ryan was ready to be an adult, even though he didn’t believe he was. “I didn’t mean what I said about—“

Dru waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it, Ry. We both said shit. It’s cool.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, freak.” Dru said, shoving him. “Now tell me about Bren.”

“I asked him to go to a movie with me sometime.” Ryan mumbled. It sounded a lot stupider in his house, on his couch, next to Dru. Not to mention the ‘fuck yeah’ move he had pulled outside was pretty ridiculous.

“Brendon’s nice.” the girl said mildly. “A lot different that Adrienne and Lindsey. That’s good. You really like him?” Her eyes drifted away from him when she asked the question.

Ryan, however, was incredibly perceptive for being male. “You mean am I using him for sex or did I think he was cute enough to steal from Liz for sick enjoyment?”

“You’ve done more fucked up things than that.” she said softly. “Remember Janessa?”

“I was drunk.” Ryan said dangerously. “Spencer and I wouldn’t talk for a month over that. So you can shut up about it, Druscilla Ryan.”

“Just saying.”

“Well, don’t.” he snapped. “I like Brendon. I do. I’m not using him for sex or sick enjoyment.”

“So you haven’t thought about him while you jerk off?” the girl asked coyly.

Ryan’s face turned a dark shade of red. “That’s beside the point.” he mumbled.

“Perv.”

“Like you don’t write about Jon fucking you.” Ryan shot back. “Spencer and I found it on your computer.”

“How’d you get into my account?” Druscilla demanded.

“You left it open.” Ryan said, snickering. “It’s so obvious that you’re a virgin, Dru. I hope he does go out with you so your porn gets better.”

She smacked him in the arm. “I was thinking.”

“Scary.” he said fondly.

“Fuck you.” She smiled. “Anyway, I was thinking. You need a bassist for your band. Brendon plays, like, seven instruments. And one is bass.” she added before Ryan could make a lame smart ass retort.

“I’ll ask Spence.” Ryan said, eyes brightening. A drummer and a guitarist weren’t much of a band. He had once attempted to teach Dru bass for that reason. The end result was Spencer and Ryan making her promise to never touch a musical instrument again. Which was fine with her. She was more than happy to watch them play and occasionally act as Ryan’s thesaurus.

“It was Spencer’s idea.” Dru said smiling. Her eyes landed on the clock. “Shit. I got to go. I’m covering for Allison for an hour.” She stood up and hurried to the door, stopping with her hand on the knob. “Ry?” She turned to look at him seriously. “Liz told Jon I thought he was cute. Is that going to make things weird?”

“Not if you don’t act weird.” Ryan promised. “Act normal, Dru.” He surveyed her appraisingly. “Or as normal as you can manage."

“Oh, fuck you.” But the girl looked much happier as she hurried from the room.

* * *

Brendon had briefly considered going to Liz's house after Ryan had asked him out. (Had Ryan really asked him out?) He knew, however, that it was a bad idea. Almost cruel. They were best friends, but had been almost lovers, and she had just ended it. He didn't know why she had. He never would have been able to, would have been too afraid of hurting her.

He did, however, drive past her house. And though he was relieved that it had ended, was beyond thrilled that Ryan had asked him out, it was still with a slight pang of hurt that he realized he would never touch Liz again. Not intimately. No more stolen kisses in her bedroom. That part of her was meant for someone else now, someone who could treat her the way she deserved to be treated, the way Brendon couldn't.

After driving past Liz’s house one more time, he decided to go to Starbucks on the off chance that Druscilla might be working. She was one of Ryan’s best friends and Liz had probably talked to her about things she hadn’t with him. Girl stuff, stuff about him. He wasn’t sure which of Druscilla’s two friendships were more important to him right now.

He turned the radio back up, finishing Saturday before he pulled into the parking lot of the coffee house. Hesitating for a few moments—would she be angry to see him?—he slipped from his car and made his way inside. It wasn’t crowded, but it wasn’t slow. A few people were in line and a few were at tables. He spotted Dru’s hair and saw her making drinks, Jon beside her as a girl he didn’t recognized handed a woman back her change. He took a seat, in no real hurry, and waited for everything to slow down.

A few minutes later he heard his name, or the first syllable at least. “Bren!” Druscilla waved at him. “Hey, babe. Talk to you when this calms down, ‘kay?” He nodded in her direction, continuing to watch her after she had returned to making drinks. He smiled softly as he watched her interaction with Jon. Small, innocent, not quite discrete touches. Her hip grazing his, his fingers casually brushing her arm. He recalled the way Jon had smiled when Liz had ‘let slip’ that Dru thought he was cute. There was something there.

It was a lot different that him and—

“Ryan just asked him out.” Druscilla said to her manager quietly.

“But isn’t he with your friend, Liz? They came in here together the other morning . . .” Jon’s voice trailed off and he busied himself with wiping off the drink he was making.

“Unofficially. Sort of just, you know, friends with—”

“—benefits, yeah.”

“Don’t you sound informed?” It didn’t quite come out as a joke.

“Not personally.”

Druscilla fought her blush. Those words had sounded a bit too understanding for her taste. “Well, she ended it.” the girl continued after a pause.

“Ah.”

This was what Ryan had warned her about. Act normal. And it wasn’t like Jon was doing her any favors. She looked up at the order screen and was surprised to see only one drink on it. Caramel Frappucino. She glanced behind her. No more line.

“I’ve got it.” Jon said. “Go talk to him, kid. Dru.” he corrected himself. Their eyes held for a moment too long before he turned away. Spell broken, Druscilla walked toward Brendon.

“Hi.” she said brightly, sitting across from him.

“He likes you.” Brendon said. He didn’t quite know why the words had come out.

She gave a small smile. “You’re the expert. Congrats on nabbing Ryan.”

“I think he ‘nabbed’ me.” Brendon replied, fingers tapping an unknown beat on the table top.

“True.” the girl said, her eyes laughing. “You’re not quite suave enough to nab anybody.” Brendon stuck his tongue out at her and for the first time the girl was aware of what made him so endearing to Ryan and Liz. He was one of a kind, Brendon Urie. “So you like him?”

“Nah. I just want to notch a senior into my bed post.” he said, grinning. Dru was easy to joke with.

“Your completely unnotched bed post?” He cast an inquiring eye on her, the faintest tint of pink on his cheeks. “Liz told me. Well, I asked and she supplied a bit more than an answer to my question.”

“She would.” A bit of a pause, though not an uncomfortable one. “So . . . Ryan.” Brendon was encouraged by Dru’s welcoming look. “Is he, like . . . a good boyfriend?”

“A bit too good.” Druscilla answered. “He gets taken advantage of a lot, cheated on. He’s had three girlfriends this year and they all cheated. Fucking bitches.”

“But never a boyfriend?”

The girl shook her head, smiling. “You’ll be good for him, Bren. I’ve got to go.” she added as a group of college kids walked in, all cursing loudly. “Fuckers.” Dru muttered. “See you in school tomorrow, babe.” Then she was gone.

Brendon stood up slowly, leaving the coffee house with a smile on his face.

* * *

“You asked Brendon out?” Spencer asked Ryan incredulously. “What did he say?”

“He kissed me.”

“God, what a slut.” the younger boy said, laughing. “Ask him to prom. I bet you’ll get a blowjob.”

Ryan shoved him.

* * *

Liz was at home, watching television and sketching and wondering. Had Brendon moved in on Ryan yet? No, it wouldn’t work like that. Had Ryan moved in on Brendon yet? Probably. He seemed the impatient type. As soon as he found out that Liz had cut Brendon loose he had probably seized the opportunity. Would he know enough not to push Brendon too quickly? Brendon was too gentle to move quickly.

Or maybe he just didn’t move quickly with her. Even when they began fooling around it had taken almost a month to move past making out. Would Ryan be different? Brendon liked Ryan in the way he hadn’t liked her.

Tears pricked Liz’s eyes. It was over. She tried to tell herself that she was strong, brave. It didn’t help, but it would.

She was going to have her best friend back.