7 Days in November, Part 9 (Sunday)

At this point, Ty had given up trying to sleep. She sat cross-legged in her bed staring at the posters on her wall. She yawned, tired, but not enough for it to be any use to her. Her ears still rang from the party. She had taken a shower to wash out of her fur the stink of teenagedom, of cigarettes and beer, and angst and cliques, and gossip, and defeat. She and Farly barely spoke after they dropped off Bryan. She held Farly’s hand, led him to his room, and when she turned on the lights, he crawled on to his bed, curled up tight, and stared into nothing.

“Farly…” she said, standing just inside his doorway. Farly whimpered, and turned over, away from her. Ty sighed, turned off his lights, and closed the door behind her. She roamed the house for a few aimless moments, checking the locks on the doors, turning off the lights one by one. She crept down to her room in darkness.

Ty pulled her covers up tighter, her ears dropping. It felt like middle school again. It was the not sleeping that did it. It had been this way awhile, Ty and sleep, not always, but sometimes, important times, when she had to worry. Old feelings, memories of fear, of planning how Farly would get to school, how she’d be able to watch over him while they were in different classes. Cherrywood had been better, more peaceful, but Farly wasn’t at Cherrywood. If it hadn’t been for Jon, Ty wouldn’t have slept all that year. And Bourbon had been helping too, up until a few hours ago.

Ty’s computer pulled her back into the room. She squinted in the darkness at it, trying to process in her tired mind what had happened. Yawning again, she struggled out of her covers and turned on her monitor.

A message window sat open on her desktop. It was from Bryan. He said, “hey”. And then, a moment later, “you there?”

Farly had made a joke a while back about The Network, that it seemed that one of them was always online at any given time. Usually, this late, it was Jon. Tonight, however, Ty was watching The Network.

Ty keyed in, “why are you still up?”

Ty typing indicator came on, and then, “I need to talk”.

“Sure”, Ty typed.

There was hesitation on the other end before he started typing. “I mean, to you”, he said.

“is everything ok?”

“not really”

“I’ll be over in a few minutes”

“k”

Ty put some clothes on, stuck a quick away message up, and slid out the basement door.

This was pretty common for the group, heading to each other’s houses this late at night. The advantage of having a one story with a walk in basement was that it was easier for them to sneak around when they needed to be with one another. It wasn’t an illicit thing, it was a necessary thing. Sure, Ty and Bryan had their own late-night visits, and Ty was sure Bourbon and Farly did, too, but there were times when they really needed someone there, just to talk, just to be there in a way that IMing could never substitute for.

Bryan was waiting for Ty outside his house. His family’s house was bigger than the rest of the groups’, built later, too. This late at night, with its lights off, it loomed against the streetlights and the light in the distance from Java. Bryan never talked about his parents’ money. Ty knew he resented it; he felt like it had changed his family. And she knew he was frustrated that not only was there nothing he could do about it, but it’d get to him one day, too. Ty never worried about that. She took Bryan’s hand, and he led her inside, straight to his room. After a moment, she understood why.

Bourbon lied on his bed, sprawled out and sleeping soundlessly.

“They brought him here?” Ty asked, her voice just above a whisper.

Bryan nodded. His ears pressed flat against his head, his shoulders slumped. He didn’t look at Bourbon.

“Why here?”

“I guess he said he lived here? I dunno.”

Ty folded her arms across her chest. “Why didn’t they keep him over night?”

“What’s the point?”

“He’s underaged, drunk, and in public? It’s kind of their job.”

Bryan shrugged. “I guess they wanted to make sure he was safe.”

“He could have hurt somebody.”

“I know.”

They withdrew from the doorway. Ty closed the door behind them.

“Where did they find him?” She asked.

“I don’t remember. Somewhere in Mid County. They said he was walking down the middle of the road.”

“Fuck,” Ty said. She leaned against Bryan’s arm, her head touching his. “Some friends. They must have dropped him there.”

Bryan didn’t say anything. Ty took his hand again and pulled him into the living room. They sat down on the big couch, sitting as close as they could get, and stared into nothing.

“What do I do about this?” Bryan seemed to be talking to no one.

Ty put her arm around his shoulders. He was shaking. “Are you OK?”

Bryan shook his head. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t, either.”

“Do you think he has alcohol poisoning?”

Ty shook her head. “The cops would have spotted it.”

Bryan leaned against Ty. He sighed. They let silence take over the conversation. Ty rested her head on his, relieved to find his shaking was getting weaker. Bryan shifted, turning and hugging her close. Ty smiled a little and they held each other.

“Better?”

“No,” Bryan said. “Why the hell did he do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I feel betrayed. I know that sounds stupid, but…”

Ty played idly with Bryan’s ear, making it twitch as she caressed it. “I don’t think it sounds stupid. He sold us out for people that don’t care about him.”

Bryan buried his face in Ty’s headfur, making a muffled, frustrated sound.

“Think about how Farly’s going to feel…”

“Oh god,” Bryan said, sitting up, his eyes wide. “The promise.”

“The promise,” Ty said.

“He broke the promise. Farly-”

“Might kill him,” Ty said. “Well, maybe not so much kill. Maybe maiming.”

Bryan considered this a moment. He yawned and snuggled up against Ty. She stroked his ears slowly.

“Let’s go back to my house,” Ty said. “You need to rest.”

“And leave Bourbon here?”

“He’ll be OK.”

Bryan sat up. “I dunno. I can’t just leave him like this. If my parents…”

“Where ARE your parents?” Ty asked, her voice sharper than before.

“Ski trip,” Bryan said, trying to hurry it over. “But they’ll be back tomorrow…Today. Sunday. I don’t want them finding Bourbon. They… they don’t like him too much…”

“Well, who do they like?” Ty asked, folding her arms over her chest. She’d had this conversation before, though she usually was the subject.

Bryan sank into himself. “Sorry. I wish I could change that.”

“Anyways,” Ty said, calming down, “I feel bad leaving you here alone.”

Bryan blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I was going to sleep out here…”

Ty nodded and headed to Bryan’s room. She returned with blankets and pillows, and laid them out on the floor.

“What’s going to happen tomorrow?” Bryan asked.

“What?”

“When my parents get home,” he fidgeted, “and find us here, and Bourbon passed out in my room. What are they going to think?”

“I’m sure they’ll be happy you’re displaying hetero tendencies,” Ty offered, helpfully. She shoved a pillow at Bryan. “And Bourbon, I dunno. I’m sure they’ll act like they always do.”

“Yikes,” Bryan said.

Ty wrapped herself in a blanket. Bryan followed, and lied down next to her, nuzzling against her. Ty smiled and nipped at his nose, then gently kissed him on the mouth. Bryan smiled, too, looking into her deep emerald eyes. He returned the kiss.

“Hey,” he said, whispering.

“What?” Ty said. He did this a lot, and she loved it. He got really cute when he did it.

“I love you.”

Ty nudged him with her nose. “I love you, too.”

Bryan closed his eyes, still smiling. Ty watched him. She knew he was still mad at Bourbon, and it was going to take a while to put this aside. She wondered how Furball was going to take it. He opted to stay away from the party that night, but he wouldn’t say why. Ty suspected this was the exact reason, or close to it. It’d hurt him too much to see his friends do that, and he definitely didn’t need that now.

Ty smiled. Bryan had left his glasses on. She carefully took them off. Bryan’s eyes fluttered, and he looked at her, sleepy and confused. Ty opened her mouth. She wanted to tell him about the note she found it Furball’s pocket, but that was one more thing Bryan didn’t need. He tried to shoulder everyone else’s problems, never leaving room for his own. She nudged him with her muzzle and smirked at him. Bryan gave her a little content smile, sighed, and closed his eyes again.

Ty glanced at the clock on the wall. In the light steaming in from the neighbor’s house, she could see it was almost four in the morning. She closed her eyes, and waited for sleep.