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Drew slammed his door shut, the loud noise echoing in the empty house. He scowled, yanking off his school bag and tossing it to the side. He plopped down into a beanbag, pulling out his phone. It was bombarded with texts, all of which were from his friends. He scrolled through the notifications, eyes peeled for anything from one Jake Sterling.
...
Nope, nothing! He laughed aloud, the sound tasting bitter in his mouth.
So Jake didn't want to be friends anymore, that's fine. Forget about all the shit he'd bought for the blonde, all the fun little trips they went on that Drew paid for, all the times he'd protected the freak whenever some brat decided to run their mouth. No, no, Jake didn't want to be friends anymore? Alright! He didn't care. He still had Liam and Henry and Zo-
He paused. Right, he'd forgotten. So caught up with Jake's betrayal he'd totally forgotten about his gold digging, cheating, bitch of a girlfriend. It was so considerate of Jake to expose Zoey after knowing about it for what, weeks? Months? Years? Yeah no, he really couldn't appreciate the kind gesture more.
His phone buzzed. Looking back down, he seethed at the caller's id. He stared, contemplating picking up for a moment, if only to tell her to fuck off.
..Nope, not today. He turned his phone off, setting it down in his lap. He slumped further in his chair, staring at the ceiling. Breathing through his nose, the fury invading his lungs slowly cleared with each exhale. He mentally relaxed, sighing in relief. Okay, he was calming down. He would be alright, this is fine.
He stopped, the familiar feeling of tears flowing from his eyes interrupting that thought. Nevermind then! He glowered, roughly rubbing his eyes with his arm.
Could the week get any worse?
Drew awoke to the faint sound of knocking at his front door. He frowned, glancing at the clock. It was ten in the morning. Dazed, he stumbled to his feet, his stomach growling with hunger as he slowly opened the front door. He was greeted by messy green hair and worried red eyes.
"Dude, you look like shit," the green one exclaimed. Liam winced, knocking Henry's head.
"What? I'm not wrong!" Henry pouted, crossing his arms as he glared at Liam. Liam sighed, rolling his eyes at the boy. "I didn't say you were."
Drew stared blankly at the two, blinking slowly as he watched them bicker. "What are you guys doing here?"
Liam frowned, concern bleeding into his voice as he spoke. "We're here to check on you, dude."
Drew stopped, turning the words over in his head as he processed them. He smiled wickedly, a dark look casting over his eyes. "Sure, sure, like how you came to check on me when you first found out Zoey was cheating," he scoffed, dropping his smile as he narrowed his eyes at the two. "Except, you didn't."
He gestured wildly, eyes wide with anger as he yelled. "You guys knew and you didn't tell me! Clearly, I was the only person who didn't know my own girlfriend as well as all my friends did!"
Henry cringed, shrinking away from the furious boy. Liam frowned, his hands held out in front of him like a shield. "Drew, we're sorry. I swear, we didn't mean to hurt you," he whispered.
Drew recoiled. The sheer audacity of the statement stunning him. "Didn't mean to hurt me? Liam, what on earth did you think hiding the fact my girlfriend was cheating on me from me was going to accomplish?" He laughed, baffled. "What? Did you think I was going to be delighted and sing kumbaya with all of you when I inevitably found out? Did you?!"
Liam grimaced. "Well, no but-"
"But nothing, Liam! You guys chose to cover for Zoey so both of you can deal with the consequences and LEAVE ME ALONE!" Drew shouted, slamming the door once more. He shook with anger, the act having drained him of most of his energy. He was too damn tired to deal with this.
He walked past his kitchen, staggering up the stairs and straight to his room. He ignored the knocking and pleading coming from his front door. Instead, he lumbered over to his bed, lying down in the comfort of his blanket.
He grabbed his phone, the bright light blinding him. He groaned, bringing the brightness all the way down. In the reflection of his dark screen, he could just make out the tear tracks staining his face still. He scowled.
He ignored the texts and missed calls, going straight to his photo album. He swiped through the photos, deleting the ones with Jake or Zoey in it.
He stopped, landing on a picture of them all at the beach. Even though it'd been years, he still remembered the moment like it was just yesterday. A young Zoey yelled at Liam, grinning as Liam yelled back. The two of them had loved to throw insults at each other, close in a way Drew couldn't comprehend.
Henry was in the background, sat next to Lia as the girl laughed, telling some funny story Drew didn't remember. Henry stared at her, obviously smitten. Drew rolled his eyes, a fond smile creeping onto his face. The picture had been taken before Henry had ever grown the guts to profess his love to Lia, still hiding his huge crush from even Drew and Liam. Not that he succeeded. He was embarrassingly obvious.
Jake was sat next to the two, laughing along to Lia's story. It was such a domestic scene. They'd all been happy, not a care in the world for anything beyond that moment.
Drew remembered the moment he saw it all, when he'd heard the laughter and yelling and finally looked up. He'd felt at home, safe. These were his friends and a part of him had even considered them family. He'd opened his camera app, hoping to capture a snapshot of time, to keep this moment close to him forever.
He was tearing up again. He sighed, putting down his phone. God, this sucked. A glance at the clock showed it'd barely been an hour since he'd woken up.
He should get up and do something. Make food, watch a movie, play a game..
He didn't have the energy for any of this. He'd much rather just rot in bed. He turned over, pulling his blanket over his head as he went back to sleep.
Drew blearily opened his eyes. The room was dark, whatever light seeping in through his window sparse and dim. He glanced at the clock just barely making out the numbers. 8pm. He hadn't meant to but he hadn't left his bed the entire day. At least, since Liam and Henry had visited.
Drew had woken again some time in the afternoon but one peek at his phone was enough to make him go back to bed.
He threw his covers off, standing up. He blinked, furrowing his eyebrows as dark spots gathered in his vision for a moment. There was a gnawing emptiness in his stomach, the sensation reminding him that he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday.
The floor was cold as he lumbered towards the kitchen. Opening the pantry, his stomach cried in anguish as he spotted cobwebs in the dark corners. Right, whatever food his parents left before their business trip had long since finished. Typically one of his friends would've brought snacks over, payment for using his house as their hangout spot.
He reached out, blindly grabbing a glass and filling it with tap water. He could just buy food online but.. He really, really didn't want to turn his phone on.
He chugged the glass, quickly filling it back up again. This would have to do for the time being. He hadn't thought there'd ever be a time he'd be actively avoiding his phone. After all, he was known within his friend group for being glued to the screen.
He shook the thought away, setting the glass down and stumbling back to his bedroom. The living room was empty, devoid of any photo frames or paintings. It looked unused, even an IKEA showroom held more personality than his home. It wasn't the first time he'd had the thought but it stung worse knowing he was truly and utterly alone now.
He opened his bedroom door, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. His bedroom was the only room in the entire house that looked decorated. He looked around, making his way over to his bookshelf. It was mostly filled with textbooks and novels, with just the top shelf covered in what most would see as random junk.
In truth, it was a collection of things that reminded him of the people he loved.
He still remembered the day when Zoey had confessed. She'd handed him a glittery pink card, the words inside written in pretty cursive. He vividly remembered the way his heart had stuttered, the butterflies in his stomach that were a constant with Zoey fluttering twice as hard.
She'd admitted to him later on that she'd learnt cursive just for him, her hand trembling as she drew the letters, throwing away paper after paper over even the slightest mistake. He'd found it cute, imagined her so focused, her tongue stuck out as she was prone to do when having trouble with a Math problem.
He opened the card, rereading the words that had carved themselves into his heart.
"I really, really like you. Do you wanna be my boyfriend?"
He huffed, smiling sadly. They had been so young, a time when neither of them had cared about money or popularity. He put the card down, shaky hand moving on to the next item.
He stared at the bottle of black hair dye, grinning slightly. Liam had had a scene phase, regularly coming over to ask Drew for help dying his hair black. Frankly, Drew had found it weird. Liam stood out in a crowd and Drew couldn't help but cringing. Drew didn't see the appeal.
He'd still helped out, keeping his judgment to himself as he applied dye to his roots. In the end, he figured it was worth it. Liam had beamed in the mirror, his typically insecure friend gaining some confidence.
Drew didn't know why Liam liked being emo, hadn't cared at all for the fake piercings and long fringe. Despite his opinions, he found that he really didn't care. After all, Liam seemed happier in a way Drew hadn't seen before.
He still remembered how his sink had stained, how even though he knew his parents would scold the hell out of him for the mark, he hadn't regretted it at all. People had come up to him all the time afterwards, asking him if he had really wanted to be friends with a freak. He still remembered the fury he'd felt at the question, the clenched fists and grit teeth.
Liam had eventually grown out of the phase but Drew still kept a bottle in his room in case he ever wanted to dye his hair black again.
Next to the bottle was a stack of books, a manga series Henry had recommended time and time again. Drew hadn't bothered watching any anime or reading any manga before. He would've been more than alright keeping it that way.
Then, one day in their first year of high school, Henry had dropped the stack in his arms. Drew had raised an eyebrow, confused.
"I was reading the manga online and the entire time I couldn't help thinking that you'd really like this series. So, I went ahead and bought every chapter so you don't have an excuse not to check it out," Henry had declared smugly.
Drew had only felt more confused, picking up the book at the top of the stack and turning it around. Each book had been about $5, which was admittedly pretty cheap for novels at the time. The confusion had stemmed from the fact that Henry had passed him nearly thirty books, each priced at $5.
"Where'd you even get the money for all this, weeb," Drew had teased, opening his locker to stuff them, never to be seen again.
"Oh, I did some hours mowing lawns," Henry had dismissed, waving his hand as if it was nothing.
Drew had sputtered, choking on his saliva as he turned back to look at Henry. The boy had been entirely serious. Drew had frowned, mentally doing the math.
The next day, he'd put his phone away during lunch, poking at his food as he mumbled about the main character. Drew still remembered the way Henry had perked up, eyes widening in disbelief. Drew had looked away, avoiding Henry's lit up eyes while the rest of his friends watched on out of the loop.
Months later when he'd finished the series, he had confessed to Henry that he'd genuinely enjoyed the series, going so far as to say it might be in his top three. Henry had gasped, vibrating with joy at the news while Drew had stared at the floor, red with embarrassment.
Drew still reread the books from time to time, the pages worn with how often he'd picked them up.
His eyes landed on the final item. A Gacha Switch. He'd bought an identical one for Jake at the start of their friendship, the blonde not even knowing Liam or Henry when he'd gifted the thing to him.
They had spent afternoons and nights over at his place playing battlegames and chatting. Drew still remembered how they'd all had a sleepover at his house once. Henry and Liam had fallen asleep quickly, knocking out the moment they'd laid down.
Drew had been scrolling on his phone, his terrible habit of sleeping late starting from when he was younger. Jake had also been awake, humming softly as he returned from the kitchen. Drew had looked up at the sound, surprised.
"You sound good," he had commented, returning his gaze to his screen.
Jake hadn't said anything, his footsteps pausing. After a moment, he had muttered a quiet, "Thank you."
The two of them stayed up for another hour, Jake continuing to softly hum when Drew hadn't said anything. Drew had eventually fallen asleep, lulled to rest by Jake's voice.
Drew stood in front of the bookshelf for a moment longer, grief weighing down his shoulders. What happened to them? He stepped back, his feet bringing him back to his bed even as his mind lingered on the bookshelf. He laid down, staring up at the ceiling as he drowned in heartache.
Did they even still remember? He wondered to himself. Had they thought back on those moments too when they'd decided to betray him?
He paused. He.. really didn't want to know. He closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep. His stomach grumbled one final time before he dozed off, dreaming of a time when he still had friends.