You and Me, Forever Young

Brendon looked up with a start and sent me a sad smile.

"Hey Lilly."

"Why aren’t you hanging out with us Bren? I didn’t even know you were here."

He shrugged and wiped his nose with his sleeve as I noticed the glass of beer in his hand, the sight looking somewhat comical.

"I didn’t want any fake sympathy from a bunch of people. I feel like enough of a burden on Ryan." He muttered before taking a big sip of his beer.

"Aw, sweetie what's wrong?" I asked.

The coffee running through me must have woken up some of my mommy genes since I immediately found myself at Brendon's side.

"I found out my girlfriend was cheating on me. Needless to say I'm now a bachelor..." He sighed, taking another long gulp of beer.

"Bren how many of those have you had?" I asked, slipping my hand reassuringly on his shoulder.

He looked up at me with red rimmed eyes. "One."

The bartender cut in at the perfect moment as he went by. "Three."

I sighed and looked at Brendon. "Fuck Bren, no matter how many of those you drink its not gonna drown out the feelings."

"It's working for now."

I rolled my eyes. "You're gonna regret it in the morning."

"And I'm going to feel worse?" He asked bitterly, staring back into his beer like it had the answer.

Suddenly it was like some strong force overwhelmed me (the coffee most likely) as I stood straight up and forced Brendon to look at me.

"That's enough Brendon. No more alcohol and no more self pity."

His bitter self hating attitude disappeared in that moment.

His eyes softened as he let out a whisper. "Then what's wrong with me?"

I never thought I'd hear those words come from Brendon, my Brendon.

"Nothing. You're a wonderful boy Brendon and this girl made the biggest mistake of her life. Don't you ever blame yourself for her stupid mistakes." I said, keeping his gaze held with my hand under his chin.

Instead of him nodding or disagreeing with me like I thought he would, both scenarios went flying out the window.

That was because Brendon's lips came crashing down on mine.

A second passed of our lips together, qualifying as a kiss, before I pulled away.

"Brendon I..."

He shook his head dejectedly. "No it's okay. It's all the same shit I've heard before..."

I sighed. "No Bren, I meant to say I'm married. You're my friend and your hurt, not to mention I think you're drunk."

He shrugged, and let a small smile slip on his face. "Probably a little."

I nodded and slipped my hand in his.

It honestly didn’t bother me that he had kissed me.

I'd had my share of mistakes when I was depressed, it would only be hypocritical of me to hold it against him.

Still, I knew we were both still friends and nothing had changed except another problem on Brendon's long list, and I was determined to fix that.

"Come on Brendon, let's get you home."

He laughed a little. "Home is like fifteen hundred miles from here."

I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder, leading him out of the bar. "Well then where are putting up all your frilly shirts?"

That earned a chuckle out of him. "A hotel not far away."

I nodded and put my arm around his waist as he started to wobble. "Come on kid, I can't drag your scrawny ass there myself."

So we slowly made our way out of the bar, holding onto each other to keep from falling on the sidewalk, and went in search of a cab.

We both managed to hail one and as I helped Brendon in I couldn’t shake the feeling someone was watching me.

I looked down to see Brendon's eyes on me and understood, though it was a little hard to tell as his eyes kept looking back and forth.

"I never knew you had a twin Lilly." He laughed.

I sighed and got in the cab with him.

"There's no way your making it back to your hotel without getting kidnapped and raped."

With that I told the cab driver the name of the hotel and we went speeding past the bright city lights.

I was sure by the look on Brendon's face he was ready to puke.

We made it to the hotel just in time as he emptied the contents of his stomach on the curb.

"That's lovely, really Bren, but how about we get back to your room and do that?"

He nodded, looking a little green.

I left him slumped against the building as I fumbled for my phone to text Will.

Long night, lots of drama, meet you back home. Pick up kids?

I got him to his room safe and sound and tucked him in, making sure to leave a glass of water and an aspirin on the table.

Along with them I left a note saying to call me if he ever needed to talk and left the hotel to head back home.

By the time I got to the apartment I was ready to pass out, so when I unlocked the door and found the chain on the door I only got annoyed.

"Will, the chain is on." I sighed in the crack of the door.

He appeared on the other side and replied emotionlessly.

"I thought you'd be enjoying your night with Brendon."

That caught me by surprise.

"Will I-"

"I'm sure he'll still have drunken sex with you if you get back before he passes out." He said coldly.

As the door went slamming into my face I was left with one question in my mind.

What just happened?