How Many Times Can You Race Around the Tree Before You Catch Me?

He was so quiet that i thought he hung up.

“Vinny?”He coughed.

“Can I ask why?”

“Well, I joined the uh band…”

“Joined the band?” He seemed shocked.

“Yeah,” Mikey popped into the room just then,” Uhm, I’ll tell you about it when I see you tomorrow. I have to go…” Vinny sighed through the phone.

“I’m really sorry Vin, I just have to take care of this stuff. I’ll come find you in the morning, ok?” His quiet ‘ok’ was the end of the call and I stood up with a groan.

“Trouble in Paradise?” Mikey chuckled and promptly stopped when he noticed the look on my face.

“None of you have any right to comment on my life at any point in time,” He crossed his arms and stared me down, as if trying to get me to stop talking,”I may have come back because you were desperate, but that doesn’t mean we’re back to rainbows and puppy dogs.” I left Mikey to finish grabbing stuff and immediately went back to the bus.

The only person I could see when I stepped onto the bus was Bryce, which made me grimace. He was the last person I wanted to deal with right now.

“The guys went to get food, I thought Mikey was inviting you?” I just kind of stared at him.

“Yeah, I just yelled at him. He walked in while I was on the phone with Vinny and made an unnecessary comment.” Bryce rolled his eyes and went back to the computer. After the shit that happened today, this was the end of the line.

“What the fuck is your problem?” He seemed to ignore me, so I wake over to him and slammed his laptop shut. He pulled his hands away, narrowly missing the closing device. He looked up at me with a blank face.

“That, That is my fucking problem. You think the world revolves around you, like everything everyone else does has to be approved by you! You don’t even take the time to look around and see what’s wrong with everyone else! Fucking Jake has been killing himself over what happened between you two and you wouldn’t come back no matter what any of us said! It’s your fault that our brother is lifeless in a fucking hospital right now! and you act like helping us out is ending the god damn world which you walk on….” He was breathing heavily and his fists were clenched, for a second I thought he might hit me. When he didn’t, I made sure to throw the first punch.

My fist lashed out with intent to nail him in his still healing black eye. Instead, he pushed me away so I was just out of his reach. I barely caught myself before I stumbled to the ground. After I recovered, He hit again. This time he launched at me, sending both of us crashing to the ground. My head hit hard and my vision blurred for a split second, giving him the time to raise his fist. I didn’t see the hit coming when he finally nailed me in the cheek. My vision hadn’t fully rebounded and I wasn’t sure it was going to after this. Luckily, my instincts kicked in and I was able to push him off of me. He fell back and I took it as my chance to jump on him. He brought his feet up and kick into my stomach, sending me flying onto the couch. My vision started to clear up and I saw his next hit coming.

“Fuck you!” I launched my self at him and sent both of us back onto the other couch. My arms were around his torso with part of my body on the ground, while his entire body was on the opposite couch.

His elbow struck my in the back, causing me to cripple out.

“No, this is your fucking fault!” He tried to jump back on me to nail another punch, but I kicked him away. He ended up in the front of the bus rolling down the stairs. I heard the door slam open and I followed.

“Nothing that happened is my fault! If anything, It’s everyone else’s fault for ignoring it!,” I stumbled down the stairs and saw him curled up,”You all had the chance to fix it! but instead you fucking gave up on him!” I kicked out and nailed him right in the ribs. He rolled over with a loud groan.

“How fucking dare you tell me my best friend is dying because of me,” My breathing was labored and I couldn’t help but need a break before I continued talking,” I did everything for you guys and you turned into the biggest dick because I couldn’t handle being around you guys anymore.”

Tears stung my eyes as I went to kick him again. His hand reached out and grabbed my ankle before I could hit him. He pulled me down and he rolled on top of me.

“Every problem we ever had was at your hands…” I went to push him off of me but he pinned my arms down.

“I’m fucking tired of it,” I tried to sit up so I was face to face with him, but he head butted me in the nose causing me to cry out, “It’s time for you to sit down and shut up. I will NOT stand for your crap any longer….” The tears threatened to spill over and I wasn’t going to have him talk to me like this.

I used every bit of strength I had to remove my arms from his grip and push him off. I jumped on him and pinned his arms down immediately.

“You have no right to say those things to me Bryce! I worked so hard to be the strong one for all of you, the second I left you all fell apart. I watched their show get worse. I’ve seen their gear fall apart. I couldn’t come back because I couldn’t be the strong one anymore!,” That was the drop that broke the dam. The tears streamed down my face,” If I came back I would have been the one in that hospital bed. If I was there, I wouldn’t be coming back….” I saw the little droplets hit his shirt to make dark circles.

“Wha, stop being a little bitch.” That was the last straw. I lashed out and hit him. And I didn’t stop.

He was bleeding like crazy when I finally calmed down, but he was awake.

“Fuck you” were the words he uttered as I stood up.