Stricken - Chapter 1 & 2
Title: Stricken
Author: _superherogirl_ a.k.a Lucy
Pairing: Brian/Zacky
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Brian and Jimmy both need to get their community service hours done for graduation. So they decide to do their hours at this rehab center... that's when Brian meets a very disturbed boy along the way. Did I mention that he is obsessed with the weather?
POV: Third person
Authors Note: Took me forever to post something dammit. I had started a standalone but it wasn't coming out the way I wanted it to. :( So hopefully someone will like this one. Yes another highschool fic, but give it a chance.
Dedications: My friends that have supported me and my fics *those including my #1 fandom over at jephkielove* from the beginning, thank you. :)
Disclaimer: Don't know, own, and please please no sueing. ;)
The day was particularly sunny and partly cloudy, but coming from the far south it seemed as it might rain. Well, from the view that Brian Haner Jr. had from his bedroom window. He looked over at his clock and it was about to be seven. If it weren’t because he had perfect attendance and was fairly OCD about such things he would shrug it off and just spend the day out. Not at school entrapped within four boring beige walls listening to a teacher babble on and on about whether the driving privilege should be taken away to those too senile to even think straight. Or something along those lines… Brian’s economics teacher wasn’t really too keen on going by the book. He was too expressive and opinionated for that, nonetheless Mr. Sullivan was beyond interesting. Even if his son, which coincidently was really a good friend of Brian’s, hated the fact that his father had to be teaching a class he needed for his graduating requirements. After a good while staring out the window he finished putting on his snakeskin boots, taking his folder with him as he walked out his bedroom door. Brian was not one to take a bunch of stuff to class, he always finished whatever work at school and left everything else in his locker. He wouldn’t consider himself an honor student of any sort but he always liked to do what was not expected of him. Sure, he had his friends and he would go to the occasional parties held by them and the like but he much preferred to stay at home and watch the weather channel. Yes, he liked the weather channel, he was a weather forecasting nerd. His friends especially Matt hated it, in the middle of his conversation Brian would look up at the sky and pop up with his own weather forecast. Alright, so he wasn’t right 100% of the time, but a good 85% he was. He just had a knack for it… although his dream was not to become a “weather man”, he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do.
He kissed his mom on the cheek as he took an apple with him to munch on his way to school. Brian would have said goodbye to his dad, but when he was in his office, forget it… he was not to be disturbed. So he walked out the door and made his way to his car, starting it off and driving to his beloved school…
Thankfully he lived right there, he could of walked but he just liked driving better. He got out of his car and walked into the school with fifteen minutes to spare before the bell rang. As he made his way to his locker he spotted Jimmy taking his books out. Brian smiled and patted his friend on the back, “Hey buddy.”
Jimmy smirked as he slammed the locker door shut getting his economics book and any other one he needed. “Hi Bri, could you let me copy the eco homework before my dad walks into class?”
Brian couldn’t help but laugh, that just sounded funny all on it’s own. “Sure Jimbo, why didn’t you do it this time?”
“Uh… sheer laziness?”
He nodded, “That makes sense.”
Jimmy smiled and nodded as well, “But of course it does. Hey, are you going to Matt’s house later today? It’s just going to be the four of us and the pool table.”
“Sounds like a plan, and I wouldn’t want to spend my Friday night anywhere else.”
His friend scoffed, “Even if it means missing the weather forecast? No way…”.
It was Brian’s turn to scoff as they made their way to their seats in the classroom. “Oh shove it, I’ll live.” He laughed as he pulled out his assignment from his folder.
“Thanks. Hey, but who can blame me or any one of us… you’ve blown us off before because of it. I mean, I remember when you wanted to stay in because it was hurricane season. Dude, we live in California why the hell do we have to worry about hurricane season?”
Brian chuckled and shook his head, “Just finish copying the assignment will you…”.
And so Jimmy did just in time before Mr. Sullivan walked into the classroom, he handed Brian his paper. Although not in time for his father not to have noticed. Jimmy yelped as Mr. Sullivan made his way up to the both of them. “Letting my son copy off you again, huh Mr. Haner?”.
Brian sighed, “He was just looking over my paper sir, he wasn’t copying me…”.
“So you’re saying that if I read his it won’t be an exact replica of yours?”
He shrugged, “Maybe…”.
“You’re a good kid Haner but I don’t assign work for my own son to slack off and not do.”
“I’m sorry sir…”.
Jimmy rolled his eyes and interrupted, he was obviously not the least bit intimidated by his father. “Dad-”.
“-It’s Mr. Sullivan.”.
“Alright, Mr. Dad Sullivan could you cut the crap? Just jot down in your teacher planner thing that I didn’t do it and that’s it… geesh…”.
Brian made a face and looked down, this was going to get ugly and fast. He knew for a fact that his father could be the coolest person when he was not provoked… otherwise it was best to not piss the man off.
He snatched the papers from both their hands and said in a dangerously warning type tone, “If I catch Mr. Haner letting you copy off his paper again, there will be dire consequences.”
“Haha, ah come on dad quit it…”
“Remember Sullivan, you don’t only have to put up with me here. I’ll talk to you more about this at home… young man.” He then clicked his heel and walked back over to his desk.
“What an ass…”
Mr. Sullivan shot a quick glare at his son then resumed looking over the rest of the classroom. “Pass up your homework everyone, no lesson will be given this class. Today is just to make sure all you seniors have all the right amount of credits and necessary requirements to graduate.” Everyone in the class wasn’t sure if to be glad there wasn’t going to be a class or be a little slightly worried if they were missing anything for their graduating requirements.
In the other side of the classroom this rather built guy groaned, “But sir, this is the last day before Spring Break can’t you just… cut us some slack?”
“Not my rules Sanders, now shut your pie hole and wait till your name is called so you can check your credits.”
Matt sighed and nodded, “Yes Mr. Sullivan.”
Brian and Jimmy both chuckled then bringing back their attention to the front of the class. A couple of names were called and then the teacher soon reached H, and after hearing his last name being called Brian made his way to the front of his desk. “Alright sir, just tell me all the stuff I have so I can go sit back down…”
“You have all the credits you need-”
“Okay that’s good, thanks sir I’ll be going back to sit-”
“But…”
“There’s a but?”
“Don’t you know Mr. Haner, there’s always a but… now. You have all your credits and all but you’re still missing your community service hours and or project. Without that you know you won’t be able to graduate.”
Brian passed a hand over his wavy brown hair and let out a frustrated sigh, “Will I have enough time? It’s already March and-”.
“Trust me Brian, you have time. You can take this Spring Break and start then.”
“You’re kidding me… but it’s Spring Break!”
“Do whatever you want it was just a suggestion, it’s your choice if you want to graduate or not.”
Brian nodded, “Thanks sir, I’ll take your word for it.”
Mr. Sullivan chuckled and patted him on the back, “Not to worry I have a feeling you’ll be accompanied by none other than Jimbo over there… He has yet to do his hours too.”
Jimmy arched a brow when he saw his dad pointing over at him.
“Thanks.” With that he walked back over to his seat and sighed.
“So…?”
“I need to do my community service project thing…”
“Ah shit… I almost forgot about that…”
“So, are you willing to join me?”
“Uh… but what can we do?”
Brian shrugged, “I’m not really sure, but there is this rehabilitation center nearby… maybe they have spots for volunteers and stuff.”
“You mean an old folks home?”
He chuckled, “It’s not only considered an old folk’s home dude… Besides it’s right there, so what do you say?”
“Cool, anything to get it over and done with. We’ll just start after Spring Break.”
Brian shook his head, “Your dad said we had to start now to get the right amount of hours before June.”
Jimmy grunted, “No way, but it’s Spring Break!”. Mr. Sullivan shushed his son and another grunt escaped him. “This is not cool…”.
“I’m sure it won’t be so bad, how about we go check it out after school?”
“Eh… sure…”. Jimmy sighed and semi slammed his head against the desk. Brian couldn’t help but laugh at how overly dramatic his friend was being.
****
After the bell rang both Brian and Jimmy met by their lockers, followed by Matt and Johnny. Everyone was rushing towards the exit of the school and going back home to plan for their one week vacation. Everyone was excited except for two people in particular.
Matt grinned and showed off his fangs, “Do you think that girl I’ve had my eye on will like them?”.
The rest of the guys blinked and just nodded.
He grinned, “Cool, so are you three still up for a game of pool at my house?”.
Jimmy stuffed his books into his locker and shrugged, “Well me and Bri have to stop by the old folks home.”
Brian sighed, “It’s not an old folks home it’s-”.
“Yeah, yeah we know. Either way yeah we have to stop by there and see if we can get our community service crap done there.”
Matt ohhed and looked over at Johnny, “What about you?”
Johnny stopped staring at these girls walking by and looked back at his friend, “Oh right, sure dude.”
“But we might stop by later so be on the look out.” Brian reassured them.
Johnny had walked over to these two girls, they were twins… He smirked as he leaned against their lockers slightly, “Well hello…”.
The girls ignored him and they slammed the locker doors extra hard as they walked away. Johnny let a disgruntled sigh escape him, “No respect, seriously…”.
Matt chuckled as he waved goodbye to Brian and Jimmy, “Alright, hope to see you two later.” He placed an arm around Johnny and explained to him on their way over to his house on how not to approach a pair of twins. Number one being the way he had done so.
Brian turned to the parking lot of the Sunnyberry Ashland Rehabilitation Center and found a nice parking spot. He got out of his car and looked up at the sky, it was such a beautiful day. He would have loved to have gone on about it but none of his friends were really interested in the weather, or were ever grateful for nice not very cloudy sunny days such as today. Jimmy followed suit as they went up the entrance stairs, “I know what you’re thinking Bri, just say it if you must. It looks like it’s killing you not to…”.
He took a deep breath and opened the door for his friend, “It’s a beautiful day, and no clouds in the sun’s way. Even if I do think it might rain at about 6:30.”
Jimmy laughed, “Feel better?”
“Fuck yes.”
“Alright so… what do we do now that we’re inside. Ugh, I hate the smell of this place already.”
Brian arched a brow, “What does it smell like? I can’t really tell.”
“Like old people.”
“Dude, cut it off with the old people. Like I said that’s not the-”, Brian was interrupted by a young girl that had bumped into the both of them slightly.
The young girl smiled and excused herself, “I don’t believe we have met, I’m Briny.” She extended her hand and continued to smile sweetly at them.
“I’m Brian, and this is my friend Jimmy… uh we wanted to know if there was any well volunteering positions available?”
Briny giggled and nodded, “But of course! Not many people like to volunteer so there can never be enough, I’m actually one as a matter of fact.”
“That’s great! Well, we were wondering if maybe we can do something around here. We kinda need to get our community service project done before June.”
“That’s perfectly fine, follow me to work out the hours you will be helping out as well as which floor.” She walked over to the front desk, walking around to go through to get the papers. Brian smiled to himself, she couldn’t have been older than them and she had the cutest neon pink highlights. Which complimented nicely with her pale skin and blonde hair. Jimmy had noticed his friend checking out this girl and he just rolled his eyes. He didn’t think it was fair that he had someone to eye and he had no one.
In a lame attempt to keep the conversation going somewhat, Brian insisted on some shameless flirting. “So… have you graduated high school already? Just doing this for fun?”
Briny shook her head, “Nah, I’m in my junior year. I’m just trying to finish this community service stuff early. I’ve been volunteering since the beginning of the school term.”
“Wow, in other words… not like us that have slacked off to the very um… end.”
She laughed, “Pretty much.”.
Jimmy scoffed and leaned against the front desk, “I didn’t slack I just… sorta forgot we had to do any of this junk.” That’s when someone caught his attention, like never before. She was taking a boy in a wheelchair to he didn’t know where…. But she was certainly something. He smirked to himself, “It’s about time… geesh.”
“Hey Louise!” Briny grinned wide and motioned for her to walk over to them.
Louise smiled and made her way over to them as she looked down at the boy in the wheelchair, “Give me one second Danny… Hey Briny, what are you up to?” She looked over at the boys and smiled some more. “I see you have new friends, do introduce them.” She winked as she leaned over the front desk smiling wider than before.
“Well this is Brian and that’s Jimmy, they’re here to volunteer too.”
“That’s great! The more the merrier so far it’s just us two and it’s kinda boring…”.
Jimmy scooted closer to Louise and smirked, “Hi.”.
Brian wanted to laugh at his friend but that would be sorta rude, he crossed his arms and looked over at the boy in the wheelchair. “So Danny is it?”
The boy blinked and nodded, “Yeah…”.
“Not much of a talker eh?”
Danny blinked and began to roll away not waiting for Louise.
Brian chuckled nervously and looked over at Briny once more, “So, what do we have to do? And when and all that jazz…”
“Well, since you are coming after school how about 3-4? Or would you like two hours or more? Whatever you would like.”
Brian looked over at Jimmy to see of what he thought but at the moment he was making googley eyes to Louise. “I’ll go with two hours after school for now. How about you Jimbo?”.
“Uh… sure yeah two hours alright.”
Louise batted her eyelashes and Jimmy did the same, Brian wanted to hurl. “Alright two hours cool- okay wait I just noticed something. This week is Spring Break, so we can come earlier if you want.”
“That would be great, considering that Louise and I are not going to be here for the following week. Just bring your community service papers with you and one of the supervisors will let you know how much you can do and stuff.”
That caught Jimmy’s attention and he made a face, “Huh… why… where are you going?”
Louise chuckled and looked over at Briny, “We’re going up North with our families, they were planning this big surprise of some sort. And Danny…” She looked back and he wasn’t there, “Danny…? Danny!!!”.
“He had kinda rolled away awhile back…” Brian said as he looked around for any sight of the boy.
“Well, nice meeting the both of you, hope to see you again soon. Time for me to find my little brother.” Louise gave them a short wave and went looking for him.
Jimmy’s jaw had dropped, he was not amused in the least bit. He sighed and leaned over the front desk where Louise had been leaning. “So next week it’s only us?”
Briny nodded, “I suppose so. Well, either way Brian you can take the third floor. Louise usually is in charge of that floor but having more help is never a bad thing. If you want you can take a look around now before you go.”
“What type of patients or um… well…people are usually in the third floor?”
“Kids our age or younger, a lot of them have suffered from drugs, alcohol, or well kinda are a little off their rockers from something or other…”
She had said that in the most cheery tone ever, Brian worried slightly. “Wow… um alright. I’ll go check it out now.”
She looked at Jimmy and smiled, “And you Jimmy have the second floor.”
“What’s on the second floor… so I can have kinda of an idea of what I’m going to be facing…”.
“Patients over the age of 50.”
Brian could of sworn Jimmy’s eyes had bulged out, he patted his friend on the back.
“No way… no way I’m taking care of old people!”
Briny shushed him and shook her head, “They’re not old and they’re really nice.”
“They have old people smell!”
“Louise loves the second floor and everyone in it, she had originally wanted to be in charge of it but at the time someone else was doing so. She stops by often to greet them and stuff, if you want after Spring Break I’ll just tell her-”
Jimmy sighed, “Fine…”.
“So you’ll do it?”
“Yes ma’am. Wee, old people hooray…”
Brian laughed, “Couldn’t have picked anyone better fitting for the job…”
Jimmy growled and his best friend stepped back.
“Well… I’m going to check out that third floor now. Maybe you should follow my example, Jimbo…” He laughed and rushed to the elevator before Jimmy had a chance to hurt him in anyway possible.
****
The third floor looked a little tad bit more on the welcoming side. Brian had taken a peek of the second floor and he could probably understand why Jimmy disliked elderly people so much. He shrugged it off and started walking down the hallway, and he spotted that boy Danny. “Hey Danny, nice seeing you again.”
The boy nodded and attempted a smile, then continued to make his way to his room.
Brian chuckled as he passed by a room occupied by someone obviously, he took a slight peek and saw a boy around his age. He looked up at the room number and kept that in mind, him being who he was he knocked. Since the occupant didn’t say anything he just walked in, he had great manners like that. “Um… hi.”
The boy was standing by the window as he looked over to the door. When he saw someone standing by it he went back to looking out the window.
“So… what are you in for?” Brian scrunched up his forehead and knew that was probably the worst way of asking someone why they were in a rehab center. Smart boy… so smart. “I mean that why-”.
The boy snapped back and almost growled, “I know what you mean, and I just don’t care to tell you. Could you leave the room now?”.
Brian stood there a bit dumbstruck and looked down, “I suppose I deserved that, I’m sorry. Could I try the introducing bit again?”
“How about if I don’t want to introduce myself?”
“Well I still do… so wait right… uh there… and I’m going to go knock again. And this time let me come in.” He smiled as he walked out of the room and knocked slightly on the door.
The other boy rolled his eyes, “Come in…”.
Brian grinned wide and made his way into the room, “Hi, I’m Brian.”
“I’m Zack.”
“Pleased to meet you Zack.”
“Sorry I can’t say likewise.” He passed his hand over his bottom lip softly.
Brian nodded, he understood that this Zack was not going to be too friendly from the get-go. But Brian was a determined boy and if this Zack wouldn’t talk to him… he’ll make him! Alright not make him, but he was determined to create a nice ol’ bond with him. Oh yes. He walked over to him, not too close as not to be in the boy’s ‘bubble’ and he saw that he had two small holes on his lip. One on each side. He arched a brow and thought maybe it wouldn’t bother to ask, “What happened to you there?”
Zack shrugged, “I had to take them off…”.
“Take what off?”
“My lip piercings along with my septum.”
Brian ohhed and nodded, “Right, right. Did they make you get rid of them, throw them away, what?”
Zack continued looking out the window as he then decided to look over at this Brian character, “I really don’t know what they did to them really…”.
“Oh.”
“Could you please leave now?”
“I… I’m sorry, I guess I should. But just letting you know you will be seeing more of me.”
The boy blinked, “Why…?”
“Well because I’m the latest addition to the volunteer crew and stuff.”
“Wonderful…”
“Isn’t it so?” Brian walked over to the empty bed. “Can I sit here?”
“Sure, I don’t care.”
“Great. Um, Zacky… can I call you Zacky?”
Zack turned to him and sighed once more, the boy was obviously not going to give up anytime soon. “I guess.”
Brian smiled, “Alright, so Zacky… what do you do around here?”.
He arched his eyebrow and smirked in a very cynical manner, “After having tea and crumpets with the queen of hearts I usually wait for the white rabbit to come by and I follow him down the rabbit hole.”
“Wow, and I thought I usually had very eventful days, but clearly yours are more so.”
Zacky chuckled but didn’t let Brian see him as he turned the other way, “They just put me in this room two days ago, they haven’t actually let me do anything out of it. So I just watch the occasional T.V and as I’m doing now… staring out the window.”
“Doesn’t that get pretty boring after awhile?”
He sighed, “More than you know but I’m supervised most of the day, they want to make sure I don’t do something stupid.”
Brian passed his hand over the bed as he looked around the room again, “Why would you…?”
“You still don’t really know why I’m here, I’m sure if you did you’d have a better understanding.”
“Right…”
Zacky walked over to the bed and sat on the edge where Brian wasn’t sitting. “Now that you know my name and the like, can you leave? I’d rather be alone…”.
“Alright, if that’s what you want.” He stood up from the bed and looked down at Zacky. There was something about the boy that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Brian smiled slightly and nodded. “I’ll see you on Monday…”. He began to walk out the door and waved goodbye to the boy. Zacky ignored the wave and laid back onto his bed as he grabbed onto his purple notebook. He scribbled down the date at the top and just started writing…
*****
Brian couldn’t keep his mind off the boy with the dark hair and the purple streaks, he oddly wanted to see him again. He knew that Zack had his own problems but he wanted to help, so bad. Even though he probably wouldn’t be able to, the boy was not going to open up to him anytime soon. But then again he was asking for too much, something like that was not going to possibly happen on the first day. Zack intrigued Brian, in many ways… there was just something about him. He shrugged it off as he got back into his car with Jimmy. “So how was the second floor Jimbo?”
Jimmy grunted and was really annoyed, “Funny...”
“It was just a question…”
“Bah… there was this old hag that kept staring at my ass. Needless to say I felt quite violated.”
Brian laughed as he made a right turn to the street where Matt’s house was. Thankfully they all lived close by so it was not a situation of how far one lived from one another. “Excuse me, but what ass? You have no ass.”
His jaw semi dropped, “Yes I do!”
“Either way, you should feel special. Some old lady thinks you’re worth looking at.”
Jimmy crossed his arms over his chest, “Oh yes, an old hag thinks I’m worth looking at. Wouldn’t her equally old man not like that?”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t, but he’s probably dead.”
Jimmy laughed, “You’re probably right. But anyway, special is the last thing that I would feel. What about you, how was your floor?”
“I met this dude named Zacky.”
“Cool, what was he like?”
“I think I would take one of your old folks any day…”.
“Now that’s not very nice, was he that much of an ass?”
“Kinda, but then again God knows what his issues are and why he’s there…”
“Didn’t you ask him?”
“Believe me I did, but that’s still something you don’t ask someone in a rehab center… Considering that I came about it all wrong… I’m surprised the kid didn’t attack me or something.”
Jimmy scoffed and pointed over to Matt’s house, “My old folks are more capable of attacking than any sixteen or seventeen year old…”.
Brian turned and parked in the driveway as he shook his head, “You speak so highly of your old geezers. Now come on let’s go, Matt and Johnny are waiting for us.”
Jimmy was already ahead of Brian and out of the car, he semi shouted over to him still with a smug smile across his face. “Only good thing about today was that we kinda both scored good points with those two girls.”
He smirked as he made his way to Matt’s front door, “You’re right, and they were cute looking too.”
“Do you think we’ll get lucky when they come back from Spring Break?”
“No doubt about it.” That’s when Matt answered the door grinning like a fool still showing off the fangs he had gotten. “See told ya we would make it.”
“Come on in you two and tell us all about your day… What is this about scoring with some chicks?” Matt motioned for the both of them to go inside and they did.
Brian shook his head and laughed, “Not scored… we haven’t scored yet…”.
********** The weekend passed by a little too fast for Brian’s taste, and he was kinda nervous to go back to Sunnyberry but there was no turning back now. He had gone to pick up Jimmy and after he did they ended up once again in front of the rehab center. As they both got out of the car Brian heard Jimmy chuckle. “What’s so funny?”
“I just find it amusing how we got stuck with this thing, and Matt and Johnny are probably having fun at the beach or something…”.
Brian sighed as he looked around, “Yeah it’s a pretty nice looking day, but you remember what your dad told us… and I would raise hell if we didn’t get to graduate just because of something petty as community service hours.”
“I would have taken the beach any day…” Jimmy had shrugged and held the door open for his friend this time.
He shook his head as he walked over to the front desk, Briny wasn’t there… he knew she wasn’t going to be there but there had still been a glint of hope. Instead in her place was an older woman around her late forty’s. “Good afternoon you two, are you the new volunteers that I was informed about last Friday?”
Brian nodded, “I suppose so.”
“Alright then here you go.” She handed them both two tags that said “Volunteer”, and Jimmy stared at it with an eyebrow raised. “Just put them on and go to your posts.”
Jimmy placed the tag over his chest and he let a cheesy grin escape him as he looked over at Brian.
“Thank you.” Brian placed the tag over his chest as well and made his way to the elevator followed by Jimmy too.
“We’re so going to be the talk of the second and third floors.”
Brian laughed and shook his head, “Not more so than you. Make sure to show granny, I’m sure she’ll be quite impressed.” He winked and shoved him out of the elevator as the doors opened.
Jimmy straightened up and tried not to fall over any decrepit looking people. “Later dude…”.
“Later.”
The elevator doors opened again and he walked out making his way to room 314. He knew he should make sure everyone else is alright, but he was sure he’d have time for them later. When he spotted Zacky on his bed writing in his notebook, he smirked. “Hey.”
Zacky was a bit startled as he looked up, but when he saw who it was he rolled his eyes. “It’s you…”.
“I did say I would be back.”
He closed his notebook leaving the pen inside, “It’s Monday already?”.
Brian walked in making his way to the front of the bed, “Do you not keep track of the days of the week and stuff?”
“I could care less really.”
“Well I’m getting more out of you today.”
“Not like I have a choice though… I’ve kinda given up on the trying to kick you out approach. Then again if any of the orderlies see me with my hands on you they’d think I was trying to pull a fast one… so I wouldn’t want to risk it.”
“You’ve got a point. So… what kind of things do you jot down in that notebook of yours?”
Zacky sighed as he lay back, “Why do you care?”
“Curious…”.
“Just stuff I do or feel during the day. Nothing special, the occasional sketch or two…”
Brian eyed the notebook then looked back at Zacky, “Can I take a look at it?”
“No.”
He shrugged, “Fair enough…”
Zacky looked up at him and the tag on his shirt, “I thought your name was Brian.”
“Very funny…”
He laughed and sat up, “Haha, I know.”
It had stayed pretty quiet for a couple of minutes after the lame name tag joke. Brian wasn’t really sure what to ask the boy, since he was really limited. Some things he knew not to ask off the bat but some other things he was dying to ask about. He sat on the nearby chair next to the window.
Zacky felt a little awkward since this dude hadn’t finished leaving and it was just really quiet. So he decided to randomly say something to break the silence, “So how’s the… weather?” That was usually a question to ask when things would get awkward between two people.
If the boy only knew what he had just triggered, if only he knew… Brian chuckled and looked over at him. “The weather?”
“Yeah… the weather. Something wrong with that?”
“Not at all.” He got comfortable in his seat and looked at the window, then standing up to open it slightly. He took a good while staring outside then turned to Zacky’s direction once more. “Right now the sun is shining at it’s best, no clouds in sight. Perfect day to be out in the beach with friends and just hang out. Unlike last Friday it won’t rain, but there might be some strong winds coming from the east at around 4:30 maybe earlier...”
Zacky blinked, “I didn’t actually mean to give me some weather forecast dude… and besides how are you so sure?”
“Trust me kid, I’ve been watching the weather channel since I was four. I know my shit, more or less anyway.”
The other boy couldn’t help but laugh loudly, “I’ve never met someone like that before…”
“Should I be flattered? Is that a good thing?”
“I don’t know, it’s just funny.” He continued to laugh as he then looked away and smiled.
“Well, I should go and check on the other patients… I’ll be back in a little bit.” Brian made his way to the door and caught a little bit of the boy’s smile. He felt slightly better that he had made him laugh. That was a good sign… he thought so anyway.
Zacky stood up and shook his head, “Wait I…”.
“Yeah…?”
“Um… well you will be back right?”
The look in his eyes, they were quite the sight. He had the nicest set of green eyeballs ever. Brian couldn’t help but smile, “That’s what I said.”
“Before the strong winds?”
Brian laughed again, “I’ll make sure of it.” With that said he walked out the door and went to look at other rooms as well.
A half hour had passed and there was still no sign of Brian, not that Zacky cared… but Brian was still someone to talk to. He didn’t have anyone to talk to at this point. The other orderlies that would bring him his medication or to just check up on him weren’t the same… They were not his age, and they would never understand what he had gone through, and still is going through. When he first got there they wouldn’t even let him go to the bathroom alone, he hated it. Even if they took away any sharp objects, or anything that he could self inflict himself with. They wouldn’t let him shave on his own either in fear of him hurting himself again. They were just doing their job, it’s not as if they really cared about Zacky…
He stood up from his bed and went to the bathroom, he closed the door behind him leaving his purple notebook on his bed. He looked at himself in the mirror without his piercings, it was so weird for him. It just wasn’t Zacky, the person that was looking at him right now in the mirror was not who he was three months ago. So much had happened and he didn’t know if this rehab place would actually help him in the least bit. If anything he would go more mad and find a way to just give up…
“Curiouser and curiouser…”, Zacky lifted up his sweat shirt sleeves revealing the scars on his arms. They were staring at him in the face and laughing at him for being so weak. He hated them so much, because they were going to be a constant reminder to him of how things could have been different… but he decided to take the easy way out. But in reality at the time, he didn’t know what other way to go… He didn’t think there was another choice, no one was there for him when he needed help the most. And till this day he still has no one to comfort him in his time of need. He slowly brought his sweat pants lower and he looked down the scars on his thighs this time, he remembered as it were yesterday… They were just scabbing, but he remembered… oh did he remember. He was brought back to reality somewhat when he heard footsteps coming from outside. When he heard Brian’s friendly voice he pulled down the sleeves and the pants up. Then making his way outside again. “You’re back.”
Brian smirked and held out a honeybun to him, “I promised, and besides I brought you something.”
“A honeybun?”
“You don’t like honeybuns?”
Zack smiled and snatched it away from his hand, “I love them.”
Brian chuckled and winked, “Alright, then you’re welcome.”
He smirked and opened up the honeybun bag offering Brian a piece before he stuffed it into his mouth.
“No thanks…”
Zacky shrugged and took a bite off the honeybun as he saw Brian make his way towards his bed.
Brian sat down at the same edge of the bed he had on the first time he had seen Zacky, “So what did you do while I was gone?”
He shook his head and swallowed the piece of honeybun that was in his mouth, “Nothing really, I was just about to take a leak when you had walked back in.”
“Then by all means go do so, don’t let me stop you.”
“Not now, I’m eating the honeybun.”
Brian chuckled, “Right, of course.” He stared at him some more and noticed his sweat pants hanging a little low off his waist. He was so pale, pasty even… he grinned and Zacky had noticed him staring as he pulled his pants a bit more up. “Sorry…”
He finished off the rest of the honeybun and shrugged, “It’s alright.” He walked over to where Brian was sitting and took his notebook away from the bed.
“Don’t you go to school?”
“I used to… then when I couldn’t get along with my classmates my dad… decided to home school me for awhile… and well… it just wasn’t working out.”
“Oh.” Brian wanted to persist with the questions, he really did… he wanted to get to know Zack, but he didn’t want to push his luck.
Zacky sighed and walked over to the window looking out at the beautiful view.
“You know Zacky, you probably have one of the best views in this building.”
He smirked, “I do?”
Brian nodded, “Yeah, I was looking around… and I don’t know your view is just the best.”. He walked over to where he was standing and looked out the window as well.
Zacky felt a little uncomfortable around Brian… not a bad uncomfortable, but just uncomfortable. He felt his bottom lip twitch as he turned to him. “If you say I do, I must then.”
When Brian saw those bright green eyes look at him something inside of him sent off these weird signals into his mind. He didn’t know what it was but he just felt himself smiling back. “You miss your piercings don’t you…”.
“More than you’ll ever know, I feel weird whenever I move my mouth and I don’t feel them there. And then my nose as well, I just…”
“Zack, can I ask you…”
“What?”
“Why were you put into rehab? I know the first time I asked the words didn’t come out right and I’m sorry, but I’m just-”
“-Curious?”
“I… yes…”
Zacky looked down and didn’t let his gaze meet Brian’s again, “You know what they say… curiosity killed the cat…”
Brian didn’t know how to take that, he just simply nodded. “I’m well aware, if that’s the case let the killing begin.”
He smiled still not meeting the other boy’s gaze, “If you really care to know… how about when you come tomorrow?”
“How do you know I’ll be here tomorrow and not at the beach or something?”
Zacky couldn’t help but let a coy smirk escape his lips, “Oh you’ll be here… Mr. Volunteer.”
That boy knew all to well, and he was right… Brian grinned, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Take care Zacky.” He walked away not looking back once as he left the room for the second time.
Brian had just finished dropping Jimmy off who was still as annoyed as the first time he had set foot on the second floor. But he had to admit it was quite amusing to hear his babbling about how this one woman claimed to have been married with him in another life. At this point Jimmy had been married twelve times and divorced twice as much, which made no sense but it was still funny. He considered himself lucky since no one had given him a hard time… the only one that he could think of that was even the slightest bit… not even but either way Zacky. But Brian was glad that he was talking with him more and laughing, he really did love it when he would laugh at his corny jokes. It made him feel good. He decided that the rest of the day he’ll dedicate it to watching his favorite program and channel. He had a lot of catching up to do…
****
Author: _superherogirl_ a.k.a Lucy
Pairing: Brian/Zacky
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Brian and Jimmy both need to get their community service hours done for graduation. So they decide to do their hours at this rehab center... that's when Brian meets a very disturbed boy along the way. Did I mention that he is obsessed with the weather?
POV: Third person
Authors Note: Took me forever to post something dammit. I had started a standalone but it wasn't coming out the way I wanted it to. :( So hopefully someone will like this one. Yes another highschool fic, but give it a chance.
Dedications: My friends that have supported me and my fics *those including my #1 fandom over at jephkielove* from the beginning, thank you. :)
Disclaimer: Don't know, own, and please please no sueing. ;)
The day was particularly sunny and partly cloudy, but coming from the far south it seemed as it might rain. Well, from the view that Brian Haner Jr. had from his bedroom window. He looked over at his clock and it was about to be seven. If it weren’t because he had perfect attendance and was fairly OCD about such things he would shrug it off and just spend the day out. Not at school entrapped within four boring beige walls listening to a teacher babble on and on about whether the driving privilege should be taken away to those too senile to even think straight. Or something along those lines… Brian’s economics teacher wasn’t really too keen on going by the book. He was too expressive and opinionated for that, nonetheless Mr. Sullivan was beyond interesting. Even if his son, which coincidently was really a good friend of Brian’s, hated the fact that his father had to be teaching a class he needed for his graduating requirements. After a good while staring out the window he finished putting on his snakeskin boots, taking his folder with him as he walked out his bedroom door. Brian was not one to take a bunch of stuff to class, he always finished whatever work at school and left everything else in his locker. He wouldn’t consider himself an honor student of any sort but he always liked to do what was not expected of him. Sure, he had his friends and he would go to the occasional parties held by them and the like but he much preferred to stay at home and watch the weather channel. Yes, he liked the weather channel, he was a weather forecasting nerd. His friends especially Matt hated it, in the middle of his conversation Brian would look up at the sky and pop up with his own weather forecast. Alright, so he wasn’t right 100% of the time, but a good 85% he was. He just had a knack for it… although his dream was not to become a “weather man”, he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do.
He kissed his mom on the cheek as he took an apple with him to munch on his way to school. Brian would have said goodbye to his dad, but when he was in his office, forget it… he was not to be disturbed. So he walked out the door and made his way to his car, starting it off and driving to his beloved school…
Thankfully he lived right there, he could of walked but he just liked driving better. He got out of his car and walked into the school with fifteen minutes to spare before the bell rang. As he made his way to his locker he spotted Jimmy taking his books out. Brian smiled and patted his friend on the back, “Hey buddy.”
Jimmy smirked as he slammed the locker door shut getting his economics book and any other one he needed. “Hi Bri, could you let me copy the eco homework before my dad walks into class?”
Brian couldn’t help but laugh, that just sounded funny all on it’s own. “Sure Jimbo, why didn’t you do it this time?”
“Uh… sheer laziness?”
He nodded, “That makes sense.”
Jimmy smiled and nodded as well, “But of course it does. Hey, are you going to Matt’s house later today? It’s just going to be the four of us and the pool table.”
“Sounds like a plan, and I wouldn’t want to spend my Friday night anywhere else.”
His friend scoffed, “Even if it means missing the weather forecast? No way…”.
It was Brian’s turn to scoff as they made their way to their seats in the classroom. “Oh shove it, I’ll live.” He laughed as he pulled out his assignment from his folder.
“Thanks. Hey, but who can blame me or any one of us… you’ve blown us off before because of it. I mean, I remember when you wanted to stay in because it was hurricane season. Dude, we live in California why the hell do we have to worry about hurricane season?”
Brian chuckled and shook his head, “Just finish copying the assignment will you…”.
And so Jimmy did just in time before Mr. Sullivan walked into the classroom, he handed Brian his paper. Although not in time for his father not to have noticed. Jimmy yelped as Mr. Sullivan made his way up to the both of them. “Letting my son copy off you again, huh Mr. Haner?”.
Brian sighed, “He was just looking over my paper sir, he wasn’t copying me…”.
“So you’re saying that if I read his it won’t be an exact replica of yours?”
He shrugged, “Maybe…”.
“You’re a good kid Haner but I don’t assign work for my own son to slack off and not do.”
“I’m sorry sir…”.
Jimmy rolled his eyes and interrupted, he was obviously not the least bit intimidated by his father. “Dad-”.
“-It’s Mr. Sullivan.”.
“Alright, Mr. Dad Sullivan could you cut the crap? Just jot down in your teacher planner thing that I didn’t do it and that’s it… geesh…”.
Brian made a face and looked down, this was going to get ugly and fast. He knew for a fact that his father could be the coolest person when he was not provoked… otherwise it was best to not piss the man off.
He snatched the papers from both their hands and said in a dangerously warning type tone, “If I catch Mr. Haner letting you copy off his paper again, there will be dire consequences.”
“Haha, ah come on dad quit it…”
“Remember Sullivan, you don’t only have to put up with me here. I’ll talk to you more about this at home… young man.” He then clicked his heel and walked back over to his desk.
“What an ass…”
Mr. Sullivan shot a quick glare at his son then resumed looking over the rest of the classroom. “Pass up your homework everyone, no lesson will be given this class. Today is just to make sure all you seniors have all the right amount of credits and necessary requirements to graduate.” Everyone in the class wasn’t sure if to be glad there wasn’t going to be a class or be a little slightly worried if they were missing anything for their graduating requirements.
In the other side of the classroom this rather built guy groaned, “But sir, this is the last day before Spring Break can’t you just… cut us some slack?”
“Not my rules Sanders, now shut your pie hole and wait till your name is called so you can check your credits.”
Matt sighed and nodded, “Yes Mr. Sullivan.”
Brian and Jimmy both chuckled then bringing back their attention to the front of the class. A couple of names were called and then the teacher soon reached H, and after hearing his last name being called Brian made his way to the front of his desk. “Alright sir, just tell me all the stuff I have so I can go sit back down…”
“You have all the credits you need-”
“Okay that’s good, thanks sir I’ll be going back to sit-”
“But…”
“There’s a but?”
“Don’t you know Mr. Haner, there’s always a but… now. You have all your credits and all but you’re still missing your community service hours and or project. Without that you know you won’t be able to graduate.”
Brian passed a hand over his wavy brown hair and let out a frustrated sigh, “Will I have enough time? It’s already March and-”.
“Trust me Brian, you have time. You can take this Spring Break and start then.”
“You’re kidding me… but it’s Spring Break!”
“Do whatever you want it was just a suggestion, it’s your choice if you want to graduate or not.”
Brian nodded, “Thanks sir, I’ll take your word for it.”
Mr. Sullivan chuckled and patted him on the back, “Not to worry I have a feeling you’ll be accompanied by none other than Jimbo over there… He has yet to do his hours too.”
Jimmy arched a brow when he saw his dad pointing over at him.
“Thanks.” With that he walked back over to his seat and sighed.
“So…?”
“I need to do my community service project thing…”
“Ah shit… I almost forgot about that…”
“So, are you willing to join me?”
“Uh… but what can we do?”
Brian shrugged, “I’m not really sure, but there is this rehabilitation center nearby… maybe they have spots for volunteers and stuff.”
“You mean an old folks home?”
He chuckled, “It’s not only considered an old folk’s home dude… Besides it’s right there, so what do you say?”
“Cool, anything to get it over and done with. We’ll just start after Spring Break.”
Brian shook his head, “Your dad said we had to start now to get the right amount of hours before June.”
Jimmy grunted, “No way, but it’s Spring Break!”. Mr. Sullivan shushed his son and another grunt escaped him. “This is not cool…”.
“I’m sure it won’t be so bad, how about we go check it out after school?”
“Eh… sure…”. Jimmy sighed and semi slammed his head against the desk. Brian couldn’t help but laugh at how overly dramatic his friend was being.
****
After the bell rang both Brian and Jimmy met by their lockers, followed by Matt and Johnny. Everyone was rushing towards the exit of the school and going back home to plan for their one week vacation. Everyone was excited except for two people in particular.
Matt grinned and showed off his fangs, “Do you think that girl I’ve had my eye on will like them?”.
The rest of the guys blinked and just nodded.
He grinned, “Cool, so are you three still up for a game of pool at my house?”.
Jimmy stuffed his books into his locker and shrugged, “Well me and Bri have to stop by the old folks home.”
Brian sighed, “It’s not an old folks home it’s-”.
“Yeah, yeah we know. Either way yeah we have to stop by there and see if we can get our community service crap done there.”
Matt ohhed and looked over at Johnny, “What about you?”
Johnny stopped staring at these girls walking by and looked back at his friend, “Oh right, sure dude.”
“But we might stop by later so be on the look out.” Brian reassured them.
Johnny had walked over to these two girls, they were twins… He smirked as he leaned against their lockers slightly, “Well hello…”.
The girls ignored him and they slammed the locker doors extra hard as they walked away. Johnny let a disgruntled sigh escape him, “No respect, seriously…”.
Matt chuckled as he waved goodbye to Brian and Jimmy, “Alright, hope to see you two later.” He placed an arm around Johnny and explained to him on their way over to his house on how not to approach a pair of twins. Number one being the way he had done so.
Brian turned to the parking lot of the Sunnyberry Ashland Rehabilitation Center and found a nice parking spot. He got out of his car and looked up at the sky, it was such a beautiful day. He would have loved to have gone on about it but none of his friends were really interested in the weather, or were ever grateful for nice not very cloudy sunny days such as today. Jimmy followed suit as they went up the entrance stairs, “I know what you’re thinking Bri, just say it if you must. It looks like it’s killing you not to…”.
He took a deep breath and opened the door for his friend, “It’s a beautiful day, and no clouds in the sun’s way. Even if I do think it might rain at about 6:30.”
Jimmy laughed, “Feel better?”
“Fuck yes.”
“Alright so… what do we do now that we’re inside. Ugh, I hate the smell of this place already.”
Brian arched a brow, “What does it smell like? I can’t really tell.”
“Like old people.”
“Dude, cut it off with the old people. Like I said that’s not the-”, Brian was interrupted by a young girl that had bumped into the both of them slightly.
The young girl smiled and excused herself, “I don’t believe we have met, I’m Briny.” She extended her hand and continued to smile sweetly at them.
“I’m Brian, and this is my friend Jimmy… uh we wanted to know if there was any well volunteering positions available?”
Briny giggled and nodded, “But of course! Not many people like to volunteer so there can never be enough, I’m actually one as a matter of fact.”
“That’s great! Well, we were wondering if maybe we can do something around here. We kinda need to get our community service project done before June.”
“That’s perfectly fine, follow me to work out the hours you will be helping out as well as which floor.” She walked over to the front desk, walking around to go through to get the papers. Brian smiled to himself, she couldn’t have been older than them and she had the cutest neon pink highlights. Which complimented nicely with her pale skin and blonde hair. Jimmy had noticed his friend checking out this girl and he just rolled his eyes. He didn’t think it was fair that he had someone to eye and he had no one.
In a lame attempt to keep the conversation going somewhat, Brian insisted on some shameless flirting. “So… have you graduated high school already? Just doing this for fun?”
Briny shook her head, “Nah, I’m in my junior year. I’m just trying to finish this community service stuff early. I’ve been volunteering since the beginning of the school term.”
“Wow, in other words… not like us that have slacked off to the very um… end.”
She laughed, “Pretty much.”.
Jimmy scoffed and leaned against the front desk, “I didn’t slack I just… sorta forgot we had to do any of this junk.” That’s when someone caught his attention, like never before. She was taking a boy in a wheelchair to he didn’t know where…. But she was certainly something. He smirked to himself, “It’s about time… geesh.”
“Hey Louise!” Briny grinned wide and motioned for her to walk over to them.
Louise smiled and made her way over to them as she looked down at the boy in the wheelchair, “Give me one second Danny… Hey Briny, what are you up to?” She looked over at the boys and smiled some more. “I see you have new friends, do introduce them.” She winked as she leaned over the front desk smiling wider than before.
“Well this is Brian and that’s Jimmy, they’re here to volunteer too.”
“That’s great! The more the merrier so far it’s just us two and it’s kinda boring…”.
Jimmy scooted closer to Louise and smirked, “Hi.”.
Brian wanted to laugh at his friend but that would be sorta rude, he crossed his arms and looked over at the boy in the wheelchair. “So Danny is it?”
The boy blinked and nodded, “Yeah…”.
“Not much of a talker eh?”
Danny blinked and began to roll away not waiting for Louise.
Brian chuckled nervously and looked over at Briny once more, “So, what do we have to do? And when and all that jazz…”
“Well, since you are coming after school how about 3-4? Or would you like two hours or more? Whatever you would like.”
Brian looked over at Jimmy to see of what he thought but at the moment he was making googley eyes to Louise. “I’ll go with two hours after school for now. How about you Jimbo?”.
“Uh… sure yeah two hours alright.”
Louise batted her eyelashes and Jimmy did the same, Brian wanted to hurl. “Alright two hours cool- okay wait I just noticed something. This week is Spring Break, so we can come earlier if you want.”
“That would be great, considering that Louise and I are not going to be here for the following week. Just bring your community service papers with you and one of the supervisors will let you know how much you can do and stuff.”
That caught Jimmy’s attention and he made a face, “Huh… why… where are you going?”
Louise chuckled and looked over at Briny, “We’re going up North with our families, they were planning this big surprise of some sort. And Danny…” She looked back and he wasn’t there, “Danny…? Danny!!!”.
“He had kinda rolled away awhile back…” Brian said as he looked around for any sight of the boy.
“Well, nice meeting the both of you, hope to see you again soon. Time for me to find my little brother.” Louise gave them a short wave and went looking for him.
Jimmy’s jaw had dropped, he was not amused in the least bit. He sighed and leaned over the front desk where Louise had been leaning. “So next week it’s only us?”
Briny nodded, “I suppose so. Well, either way Brian you can take the third floor. Louise usually is in charge of that floor but having more help is never a bad thing. If you want you can take a look around now before you go.”
“What type of patients or um… well…people are usually in the third floor?”
“Kids our age or younger, a lot of them have suffered from drugs, alcohol, or well kinda are a little off their rockers from something or other…”
She had said that in the most cheery tone ever, Brian worried slightly. “Wow… um alright. I’ll go check it out now.”
She looked at Jimmy and smiled, “And you Jimmy have the second floor.”
“What’s on the second floor… so I can have kinda of an idea of what I’m going to be facing…”.
“Patients over the age of 50.”
Brian could of sworn Jimmy’s eyes had bulged out, he patted his friend on the back.
“No way… no way I’m taking care of old people!”
Briny shushed him and shook her head, “They’re not old and they’re really nice.”
“They have old people smell!”
“Louise loves the second floor and everyone in it, she had originally wanted to be in charge of it but at the time someone else was doing so. She stops by often to greet them and stuff, if you want after Spring Break I’ll just tell her-”
Jimmy sighed, “Fine…”.
“So you’ll do it?”
“Yes ma’am. Wee, old people hooray…”
Brian laughed, “Couldn’t have picked anyone better fitting for the job…”
Jimmy growled and his best friend stepped back.
“Well… I’m going to check out that third floor now. Maybe you should follow my example, Jimbo…” He laughed and rushed to the elevator before Jimmy had a chance to hurt him in anyway possible.
****
The third floor looked a little tad bit more on the welcoming side. Brian had taken a peek of the second floor and he could probably understand why Jimmy disliked elderly people so much. He shrugged it off and started walking down the hallway, and he spotted that boy Danny. “Hey Danny, nice seeing you again.”
The boy nodded and attempted a smile, then continued to make his way to his room.
Brian chuckled as he passed by a room occupied by someone obviously, he took a slight peek and saw a boy around his age. He looked up at the room number and kept that in mind, him being who he was he knocked. Since the occupant didn’t say anything he just walked in, he had great manners like that. “Um… hi.”
The boy was standing by the window as he looked over to the door. When he saw someone standing by it he went back to looking out the window.
“So… what are you in for?” Brian scrunched up his forehead and knew that was probably the worst way of asking someone why they were in a rehab center. Smart boy… so smart. “I mean that why-”.
The boy snapped back and almost growled, “I know what you mean, and I just don’t care to tell you. Could you leave the room now?”.
Brian stood there a bit dumbstruck and looked down, “I suppose I deserved that, I’m sorry. Could I try the introducing bit again?”
“How about if I don’t want to introduce myself?”
“Well I still do… so wait right… uh there… and I’m going to go knock again. And this time let me come in.” He smiled as he walked out of the room and knocked slightly on the door.
The other boy rolled his eyes, “Come in…”.
Brian grinned wide and made his way into the room, “Hi, I’m Brian.”
“I’m Zack.”
“Pleased to meet you Zack.”
“Sorry I can’t say likewise.” He passed his hand over his bottom lip softly.
Brian nodded, he understood that this Zack was not going to be too friendly from the get-go. But Brian was a determined boy and if this Zack wouldn’t talk to him… he’ll make him! Alright not make him, but he was determined to create a nice ol’ bond with him. Oh yes. He walked over to him, not too close as not to be in the boy’s ‘bubble’ and he saw that he had two small holes on his lip. One on each side. He arched a brow and thought maybe it wouldn’t bother to ask, “What happened to you there?”
Zack shrugged, “I had to take them off…”.
“Take what off?”
“My lip piercings along with my septum.”
Brian ohhed and nodded, “Right, right. Did they make you get rid of them, throw them away, what?”
Zack continued looking out the window as he then decided to look over at this Brian character, “I really don’t know what they did to them really…”.
“Oh.”
“Could you please leave now?”
“I… I’m sorry, I guess I should. But just letting you know you will be seeing more of me.”
The boy blinked, “Why…?”
“Well because I’m the latest addition to the volunteer crew and stuff.”
“Wonderful…”
“Isn’t it so?” Brian walked over to the empty bed. “Can I sit here?”
“Sure, I don’t care.”
“Great. Um, Zacky… can I call you Zacky?”
Zack turned to him and sighed once more, the boy was obviously not going to give up anytime soon. “I guess.”
Brian smiled, “Alright, so Zacky… what do you do around here?”.
He arched his eyebrow and smirked in a very cynical manner, “After having tea and crumpets with the queen of hearts I usually wait for the white rabbit to come by and I follow him down the rabbit hole.”
“Wow, and I thought I usually had very eventful days, but clearly yours are more so.”
Zacky chuckled but didn’t let Brian see him as he turned the other way, “They just put me in this room two days ago, they haven’t actually let me do anything out of it. So I just watch the occasional T.V and as I’m doing now… staring out the window.”
“Doesn’t that get pretty boring after awhile?”
He sighed, “More than you know but I’m supervised most of the day, they want to make sure I don’t do something stupid.”
Brian passed his hand over the bed as he looked around the room again, “Why would you…?”
“You still don’t really know why I’m here, I’m sure if you did you’d have a better understanding.”
“Right…”
Zacky walked over to the bed and sat on the edge where Brian wasn’t sitting. “Now that you know my name and the like, can you leave? I’d rather be alone…”.
“Alright, if that’s what you want.” He stood up from the bed and looked down at Zacky. There was something about the boy that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Brian smiled slightly and nodded. “I’ll see you on Monday…”. He began to walk out the door and waved goodbye to the boy. Zacky ignored the wave and laid back onto his bed as he grabbed onto his purple notebook. He scribbled down the date at the top and just started writing…
*****
Brian couldn’t keep his mind off the boy with the dark hair and the purple streaks, he oddly wanted to see him again. He knew that Zack had his own problems but he wanted to help, so bad. Even though he probably wouldn’t be able to, the boy was not going to open up to him anytime soon. But then again he was asking for too much, something like that was not going to possibly happen on the first day. Zack intrigued Brian, in many ways… there was just something about him. He shrugged it off as he got back into his car with Jimmy. “So how was the second floor Jimbo?”
Jimmy grunted and was really annoyed, “Funny...”
“It was just a question…”
“Bah… there was this old hag that kept staring at my ass. Needless to say I felt quite violated.”
Brian laughed as he made a right turn to the street where Matt’s house was. Thankfully they all lived close by so it was not a situation of how far one lived from one another. “Excuse me, but what ass? You have no ass.”
His jaw semi dropped, “Yes I do!”
“Either way, you should feel special. Some old lady thinks you’re worth looking at.”
Jimmy crossed his arms over his chest, “Oh yes, an old hag thinks I’m worth looking at. Wouldn’t her equally old man not like that?”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t, but he’s probably dead.”
Jimmy laughed, “You’re probably right. But anyway, special is the last thing that I would feel. What about you, how was your floor?”
“I met this dude named Zacky.”
“Cool, what was he like?”
“I think I would take one of your old folks any day…”.
“Now that’s not very nice, was he that much of an ass?”
“Kinda, but then again God knows what his issues are and why he’s there…”
“Didn’t you ask him?”
“Believe me I did, but that’s still something you don’t ask someone in a rehab center… Considering that I came about it all wrong… I’m surprised the kid didn’t attack me or something.”
Jimmy scoffed and pointed over to Matt’s house, “My old folks are more capable of attacking than any sixteen or seventeen year old…”.
Brian turned and parked in the driveway as he shook his head, “You speak so highly of your old geezers. Now come on let’s go, Matt and Johnny are waiting for us.”
Jimmy was already ahead of Brian and out of the car, he semi shouted over to him still with a smug smile across his face. “Only good thing about today was that we kinda both scored good points with those two girls.”
He smirked as he made his way to Matt’s front door, “You’re right, and they were cute looking too.”
“Do you think we’ll get lucky when they come back from Spring Break?”
“No doubt about it.” That’s when Matt answered the door grinning like a fool still showing off the fangs he had gotten. “See told ya we would make it.”
“Come on in you two and tell us all about your day… What is this about scoring with some chicks?” Matt motioned for the both of them to go inside and they did.
Brian shook his head and laughed, “Not scored… we haven’t scored yet…”.
********** The weekend passed by a little too fast for Brian’s taste, and he was kinda nervous to go back to Sunnyberry but there was no turning back now. He had gone to pick up Jimmy and after he did they ended up once again in front of the rehab center. As they both got out of the car Brian heard Jimmy chuckle. “What’s so funny?”
“I just find it amusing how we got stuck with this thing, and Matt and Johnny are probably having fun at the beach or something…”.
Brian sighed as he looked around, “Yeah it’s a pretty nice looking day, but you remember what your dad told us… and I would raise hell if we didn’t get to graduate just because of something petty as community service hours.”
“I would have taken the beach any day…” Jimmy had shrugged and held the door open for his friend this time.
He shook his head as he walked over to the front desk, Briny wasn’t there… he knew she wasn’t going to be there but there had still been a glint of hope. Instead in her place was an older woman around her late forty’s. “Good afternoon you two, are you the new volunteers that I was informed about last Friday?”
Brian nodded, “I suppose so.”
“Alright then here you go.” She handed them both two tags that said “Volunteer”, and Jimmy stared at it with an eyebrow raised. “Just put them on and go to your posts.”
Jimmy placed the tag over his chest and he let a cheesy grin escape him as he looked over at Brian.
“Thank you.” Brian placed the tag over his chest as well and made his way to the elevator followed by Jimmy too.
“We’re so going to be the talk of the second and third floors.”
Brian laughed and shook his head, “Not more so than you. Make sure to show granny, I’m sure she’ll be quite impressed.” He winked and shoved him out of the elevator as the doors opened.
Jimmy straightened up and tried not to fall over any decrepit looking people. “Later dude…”.
“Later.”
The elevator doors opened again and he walked out making his way to room 314. He knew he should make sure everyone else is alright, but he was sure he’d have time for them later. When he spotted Zacky on his bed writing in his notebook, he smirked. “Hey.”
Zacky was a bit startled as he looked up, but when he saw who it was he rolled his eyes. “It’s you…”.
“I did say I would be back.”
He closed his notebook leaving the pen inside, “It’s Monday already?”.
Brian walked in making his way to the front of the bed, “Do you not keep track of the days of the week and stuff?”
“I could care less really.”
“Well I’m getting more out of you today.”
“Not like I have a choice though… I’ve kinda given up on the trying to kick you out approach. Then again if any of the orderlies see me with my hands on you they’d think I was trying to pull a fast one… so I wouldn’t want to risk it.”
“You’ve got a point. So… what kind of things do you jot down in that notebook of yours?”
Zacky sighed as he lay back, “Why do you care?”
“Curious…”.
“Just stuff I do or feel during the day. Nothing special, the occasional sketch or two…”
Brian eyed the notebook then looked back at Zacky, “Can I take a look at it?”
“No.”
He shrugged, “Fair enough…”
Zacky looked up at him and the tag on his shirt, “I thought your name was Brian.”
“Very funny…”
He laughed and sat up, “Haha, I know.”
It had stayed pretty quiet for a couple of minutes after the lame name tag joke. Brian wasn’t really sure what to ask the boy, since he was really limited. Some things he knew not to ask off the bat but some other things he was dying to ask about. He sat on the nearby chair next to the window.
Zacky felt a little awkward since this dude hadn’t finished leaving and it was just really quiet. So he decided to randomly say something to break the silence, “So how’s the… weather?” That was usually a question to ask when things would get awkward between two people.
If the boy only knew what he had just triggered, if only he knew… Brian chuckled and looked over at him. “The weather?”
“Yeah… the weather. Something wrong with that?”
“Not at all.” He got comfortable in his seat and looked at the window, then standing up to open it slightly. He took a good while staring outside then turned to Zacky’s direction once more. “Right now the sun is shining at it’s best, no clouds in sight. Perfect day to be out in the beach with friends and just hang out. Unlike last Friday it won’t rain, but there might be some strong winds coming from the east at around 4:30 maybe earlier...”
Zacky blinked, “I didn’t actually mean to give me some weather forecast dude… and besides how are you so sure?”
“Trust me kid, I’ve been watching the weather channel since I was four. I know my shit, more or less anyway.”
The other boy couldn’t help but laugh loudly, “I’ve never met someone like that before…”
“Should I be flattered? Is that a good thing?”
“I don’t know, it’s just funny.” He continued to laugh as he then looked away and smiled.
“Well, I should go and check on the other patients… I’ll be back in a little bit.” Brian made his way to the door and caught a little bit of the boy’s smile. He felt slightly better that he had made him laugh. That was a good sign… he thought so anyway.
Zacky stood up and shook his head, “Wait I…”.
“Yeah…?”
“Um… well you will be back right?”
The look in his eyes, they were quite the sight. He had the nicest set of green eyeballs ever. Brian couldn’t help but smile, “That’s what I said.”
“Before the strong winds?”
Brian laughed again, “I’ll make sure of it.” With that said he walked out the door and went to look at other rooms as well.
A half hour had passed and there was still no sign of Brian, not that Zacky cared… but Brian was still someone to talk to. He didn’t have anyone to talk to at this point. The other orderlies that would bring him his medication or to just check up on him weren’t the same… They were not his age, and they would never understand what he had gone through, and still is going through. When he first got there they wouldn’t even let him go to the bathroom alone, he hated it. Even if they took away any sharp objects, or anything that he could self inflict himself with. They wouldn’t let him shave on his own either in fear of him hurting himself again. They were just doing their job, it’s not as if they really cared about Zacky…
He stood up from his bed and went to the bathroom, he closed the door behind him leaving his purple notebook on his bed. He looked at himself in the mirror without his piercings, it was so weird for him. It just wasn’t Zacky, the person that was looking at him right now in the mirror was not who he was three months ago. So much had happened and he didn’t know if this rehab place would actually help him in the least bit. If anything he would go more mad and find a way to just give up…
“Curiouser and curiouser…”, Zacky lifted up his sweat shirt sleeves revealing the scars on his arms. They were staring at him in the face and laughing at him for being so weak. He hated them so much, because they were going to be a constant reminder to him of how things could have been different… but he decided to take the easy way out. But in reality at the time, he didn’t know what other way to go… He didn’t think there was another choice, no one was there for him when he needed help the most. And till this day he still has no one to comfort him in his time of need. He slowly brought his sweat pants lower and he looked down the scars on his thighs this time, he remembered as it were yesterday… They were just scabbing, but he remembered… oh did he remember. He was brought back to reality somewhat when he heard footsteps coming from outside. When he heard Brian’s friendly voice he pulled down the sleeves and the pants up. Then making his way outside again. “You’re back.”
Brian smirked and held out a honeybun to him, “I promised, and besides I brought you something.”
“A honeybun?”
“You don’t like honeybuns?”
Zack smiled and snatched it away from his hand, “I love them.”
Brian chuckled and winked, “Alright, then you’re welcome.”
He smirked and opened up the honeybun bag offering Brian a piece before he stuffed it into his mouth.
“No thanks…”
Zacky shrugged and took a bite off the honeybun as he saw Brian make his way towards his bed.
Brian sat down at the same edge of the bed he had on the first time he had seen Zacky, “So what did you do while I was gone?”
He shook his head and swallowed the piece of honeybun that was in his mouth, “Nothing really, I was just about to take a leak when you had walked back in.”
“Then by all means go do so, don’t let me stop you.”
“Not now, I’m eating the honeybun.”
Brian chuckled, “Right, of course.” He stared at him some more and noticed his sweat pants hanging a little low off his waist. He was so pale, pasty even… he grinned and Zacky had noticed him staring as he pulled his pants a bit more up. “Sorry…”
He finished off the rest of the honeybun and shrugged, “It’s alright.” He walked over to where Brian was sitting and took his notebook away from the bed.
“Don’t you go to school?”
“I used to… then when I couldn’t get along with my classmates my dad… decided to home school me for awhile… and well… it just wasn’t working out.”
“Oh.” Brian wanted to persist with the questions, he really did… he wanted to get to know Zack, but he didn’t want to push his luck.
Zacky sighed and walked over to the window looking out at the beautiful view.
“You know Zacky, you probably have one of the best views in this building.”
He smirked, “I do?”
Brian nodded, “Yeah, I was looking around… and I don’t know your view is just the best.”. He walked over to where he was standing and looked out the window as well.
Zacky felt a little uncomfortable around Brian… not a bad uncomfortable, but just uncomfortable. He felt his bottom lip twitch as he turned to him. “If you say I do, I must then.”
When Brian saw those bright green eyes look at him something inside of him sent off these weird signals into his mind. He didn’t know what it was but he just felt himself smiling back. “You miss your piercings don’t you…”.
“More than you’ll ever know, I feel weird whenever I move my mouth and I don’t feel them there. And then my nose as well, I just…”
“Zack, can I ask you…”
“What?”
“Why were you put into rehab? I know the first time I asked the words didn’t come out right and I’m sorry, but I’m just-”
“-Curious?”
“I… yes…”
Zacky looked down and didn’t let his gaze meet Brian’s again, “You know what they say… curiosity killed the cat…”
Brian didn’t know how to take that, he just simply nodded. “I’m well aware, if that’s the case let the killing begin.”
He smiled still not meeting the other boy’s gaze, “If you really care to know… how about when you come tomorrow?”
“How do you know I’ll be here tomorrow and not at the beach or something?”
Zacky couldn’t help but let a coy smirk escape his lips, “Oh you’ll be here… Mr. Volunteer.”
That boy knew all to well, and he was right… Brian grinned, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Take care Zacky.” He walked away not looking back once as he left the room for the second time.
Brian had just finished dropping Jimmy off who was still as annoyed as the first time he had set foot on the second floor. But he had to admit it was quite amusing to hear his babbling about how this one woman claimed to have been married with him in another life. At this point Jimmy had been married twelve times and divorced twice as much, which made no sense but it was still funny. He considered himself lucky since no one had given him a hard time… the only one that he could think of that was even the slightest bit… not even but either way Zacky. But Brian was glad that he was talking with him more and laughing, he really did love it when he would laugh at his corny jokes. It made him feel good. He decided that the rest of the day he’ll dedicate it to watching his favorite program and channel. He had a lot of catching up to do…
****