Ignorance

Before I could even process what was happening, Khan was at my side and pulling me away to the far corner of the room. He turned me around quickly and hid my face in my chest. I closed my eyes tightly and clenched my fists around the cloth of his shirt in an attempt to block out all the sounds. I listened to the sounds of fists hitting body parts and yelling and grunting and groaning. As much as I found it weird, the only thing I could think of was how cool it would have been if dramatic music had been playing, like in the movies. I let out a shaky breath as I turned around in Khan's arms to see the scene unfold in front of me.

I knew it began with Kai. He ran towards Arik and punched him down. And of course, in Arik's defense, Ethan had to intervene and dominated against Kai. Toby ran into the fight immediately, along with Joseph, Benjamin, and Hero. Black eyes, bruised ribs, busted lips, and bloody cuts. Kai was taking down Arik, Hero was fighting with Benjamin, and Toby was handling Joseph and Ethan by himself. Divine was nowhere to be seen in the room. I closed my eyes tightly in hopes that when I opened them, the scene would be gone. However, once my eyes opened once more, the scene was still continuing. My eyes wandered over every person when I realized someone was missing. And it wasn't Divine. I scanned the room in a panic until I found the person I was looking for. I fought off Khan's arms around me and ran into the battle. I fell to the floor next to Ricky's bloody form.

I pushed his wet hair back from his blood soaked forehead. I put my ear to his chest to hear his breathing was constricted. I pulled his form in between his legs as I patted down his pants. I closed my eyes to try to stop my tears from falling.

"Ricky, baby, you know you're not supposed to go anywhere without your inhaler. Baby, breathe. Please, breathe," I whispered in his ear, ignoring the kick in my back. "Richard Henry Barlett, you listen to me. We promised each other we'd die on the same day and believe me, it is not that day. Feel my chest, baby, and breath with me. I'm not losing you this way, baby."

My head fell back, causing my tears to fall into the hair above my ears. I sniffled once as I rubbed my hand across Ricky's chest. His raspy breathing died down but they still echoed across the silent room. I could feel his pain, his struggle to breathe. I bit my lip down as I gave my silent prayer to God. My beautiful boy didn't deserve to die in any way like this. I wouldn't allow Death to take my best friend from me. Selfish or not, I would not allow Ricky to be taken from me. My black lips brushed against Ricky's cheek, leaving a black streak on his face, before moving up to his ear.

"Breathe, baby," I whispered.

And ever so slowly, I heard Ricky's breathing go clear. It wasn't as clear as it should have been but it was clear enough for him to breathe without being in too much pain. I choked back a sob before I hugged him tightly to my form. My warm tears mixed with the blood in his hair. Ricky slowly turned around so he could wrap his arms around my waist.

"Never let that happen again," I told him.

"I missed you, Ani," he whispered.

"Bro, are you okay?" Arik asked he knelt by me.

"What kind of fucking question is that?" I asked loudly.

"Noel," Toby said.

"He's his twin. And even if he wasn't, even a blind, deaf, and dumb person could figure out he's not fucking okay!" I exclaimed.

"He's just making sure his brother is fine now, Noel," Khan said from the corner.

"I could have died," Ricky said softly against my stomach. "All because the great Benjamin Johanson had to make his ex-girlfriend feel shitty."

"Hey! Don't bring me into this," Ben exclaimed as he took a step forward and pointed to his chest.

"Dude, you brought us here. You brought yourself into this," Ethan said from the doorway.

"That's right, I'm always the bad guy!"

"Well, no fucking shit. I mean, you're obviously beyond pathetic considering you dragged you and your friends to a concert just to make your ex feel miserable," Hero said.

"Do you want to fucking go, man?" Ben yelled at Hero.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Hero yelled back.

"Shut up!" Ricky yelled by me.

We all looked down at him in surprise. He was kneeling on the floor, his fists clenched by his side. He was glaring up at Arik and Ben with daggers in his eyes.

"Ben, this is your entire fucking fault. You were the one who was an asshole to Ani in the first place. You broke up with her. You made her leave. You dragged us here. You started this fight," Ricky ranted.

"Me? Arik is the one who pushed her!"

"You are un-fucking-believable, dude," Arik shook his head.

"Arik, shut up! I'm tired of all this bullshit. I want my best friend back. I don't want this anymore."

"Ricky, what are you saying," Joseph asked in a whisper.

"I'm saying...I'm saying that I quit the band," Ricky said.

"Ricky, no. You're my brother, man, my twin. We're in this together," Arik pleaded as he slowly knelt to the floor.

"No, we're not. We haven't been in anything together in years. I quit," Ricky said as he looked at him before standing up to walk out the door.

My arms were slightly shaking as I looked up from under my eyelashes at Arik and then at Ben. He was staring at me with an indescribable look in his eye. I let out a sigh as I shook my head before standing up. I stroked Arik's head as I walked past him. I tried not to look at Joseph as I passed him and pulled my arm out of Kai's touch when he tried to hold his hand out to me. I raised an eyebrow at Divine, who was hiding behind the door Ricky just walked out of. My shoulder brushed against hers roughly.

I ignored their voices as they called after me. It took me all that I had to not look back. But I was focused on finding my best friend and trying to change his mind. For all of our sakes.