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Post by Memai on Jul 1, 2010 10:15:57 GMT -5
A sigh escaped from Chaplin's lips, "He's good at that."
"Hmm?"
"Walking off, he always did that. Always."
"Oh," Roxy felt it wasn't her place to pry, her day had fared pretty awfully as it is, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. You weren't involved."
"I know." She shuffled awkwardly in her place, "A... are you alright?"
"I'll be fine."
"You don't feel like drinking?"
"I feel..." he sighed, "What's the point? Drinking isn't doing anything anymore anyway."
So... what? You're going to start doing drugs? Roxy definitely didn't need to hear that, drugs were scary, more so because she'd seen and understood the effects it had on a person, "Listen, Chaplin, I... I know it's hard." She bit her bottom lip nervously, "Maybe you should rest? I can get a nurse to wake you up."
"Yeah, I feel tired. Thanks."
The little blonde had gone off, remembering to close the door quietly behind her and call for a nurse.
Chaplin sat back on the bed, propping the pillow at a more comfortable angle, and tried to get himself some rest.
Did you really even care? For like, even a minute? I don't know why you left.
Maybe there was something important.
He turned, groaning.
Maybe there were other things, I'm sorry I can't understand. I've never understood you. You hide things from me, maybe it's there for a reason.
But do you know how much it hurts not knowing?
Do you know how much it hurts to go around for a whole year not knowing where to look? Where you start looking in the obituaries and criminal cases in the papers instead of the next-door neighbors, it's scary, Will.
I want you to know the kind of Hell you've put me through this time.
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Post by AshHavynn on Jul 1, 2010 11:49:58 GMT -5
"WILL SILVERBURG YOU HAVE THREE OPTIONS." REL put her foot down--loud enough to make the tiny blonde slipping out of the infirmary jump. Roxy had thought they'd be gone by now, Will still drifting down the hall.
"Either you talk to Chaplin, RIGHT NOW, or I march in there and tell him MYSELF what's on your mind... Or.." She raised her voice, which started to crack in the typical squeaky way it did when she had to yell. "OR ALL BETS ARE OFF."
"REL, please," Roxy said, beside herself. "There are people trying to rest inside." She was causing a scene, too.
"I know what I'm doing, Roxanne. SILVERBURG, I AM NOT ABOVE PUTTING YOUR MAN'S DICK IN MY MOUTH IF YOU REFUSE TO FIGHT FOR HIM!" Roxy's face was a priceless mixture of 'oh-god-oh-dear-what-WHAT!?'--REL had screeched this remark so loud that it would be audible to Chaplin on the otherside. The girls could see Will come to a stop, for whatever reason. By this point in time, REL really had little interest in sleepping around with a man who's tastes in lovers led him to Will, but nobody needed to know that. She just wanted Will's full attention. "Be efficient. Do what you came here to do and stop running away before I bloody drop kick you in your nutsack, and FOR FUCKSSAKE, KISS THE BOY!" She'd 'stress' certain words, hoping the Hawaiian on the other end was listening.
It was partially about control. Partially, she felt she was supposed to be a friend, and that this was some great charity--this 'being nice' thing. In a weird way, she was afraid of not getting under Will's feet--for now, it was becoming increasingly obvious that he was the only one who would have her there. A tiny percentage didn't know what the hell she was doing at all but it was way more fun than roasting competing fashion company's Winter lines, and attending meetings.
Roxy was lucky REL hadn't fully consciously noticed her presence yet.
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Post by DJKID on Jul 1, 2010 12:02:34 GMT -5
"Don't. You. Dare."
Will's head whipped around, giving her a glare that could kill. REL didn't back down.
"Will, if you do-"
"Shut your fucking mouth." His patience was long gone.
"Don't you-"
"SHUT. UP. Why can you not be silent for ten minutes?"
"You need to-"
"I need you to GO AWAY. This is none of your business."
REL stomped her heel again, "NO. You can't EXPRESS YOURSELF."
Will placed his hands over his face, a nervous tendency. He needed to hide, but this bitch refused to back off. Too much pressure, too fast, too much emotion.
He felt trapped.
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Post by Memai on Jul 1, 2010 12:09:57 GMT -5
"I AM NOT ABOVE PUTTING YOUR MAN'S DICK IN MY MOUTH IF YOU REFUSE TO FIGHT FOR HIM!"
WHAT THE FUCK THAT WAHINE'S GONE CRAZY I SWEAR! FUCKING HARPY!
Chaplin had almost drifted off into a dreamless slumber, until he heard REL's infamous harpy-like screeches coming from the hallways.
Does she... not know that I'm here?
Regardless, he was up now, shifting awkwardly in his place on the bed; sitting up right with his hands wringing each other. He decided to stay in his place this way for a while, there were things he needed to go over in his head.
Everything... isn't making sense anymore.
"FUCK THIS!" He got up. throwing the blankets and pillows off his lap and practically stomped out of the room and straight up the hallway where REL was still yelling.
"Chaplin! No, I thought you were resting!" Roxy ran up to the Hawaiian, trying to stop him with one of her delicate hands, "Please, now's not a good time."
"When IS a good time, eh?" He looked to her, he tried not to come off so biting to the tiny blonde, but his emotions got the better of him. He looked towards REL, who had fixed her gaze on him; yet she didn't wear a look of astonishment or surprise like everyone else.
Almost as if she planned this.
"The hell you guys yelling about, can't a braddah get some rest."
"Well--" REL started.
"No, shut up bitch." Chaplin quickly snapped back. He turned to Will, who was on the floor now, face in his hands and shivering slightly.
"THE HELL YOU DO TO THIS KID? Where the Hell're his pills?!"
You know I can't stay mad at you forever.
Will braved one look up to Chaplin.
But that doesn't mean I'm not mad at you now.
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Post by AshHavynn on Jul 1, 2010 12:19:04 GMT -5
"Chaplin, you--"
"Shh," REL cooed, quiet as possible, and cupped a hand over Roxy's mouth. She whispered, stepping backwards and away from the two with her English hostage. "I don't think Will has it in him. I had to provoke him," she explained, in a low voice. "Do you know what's going on with him?" She put some genuine concern in her voice--there was nothing "right" about Will right now. REL might be one of the only people who could see the calibur of that statement.
Roxy just shook her head from behind REL's hand--which prompted her to move the damned thing. "Sorry, Roxanne, I--" There was a mental click. "Roxanne!" It was still a whisper, but it could be equated to the way she's spoken Kay's name, and she managed to throw her arms around this one, too. Ironically, REL remembered her much shorter, but the heels were the only thing setting the brunette above the blonde's petite height.
Not that she ever fucking knew the girl--but she was a nice little pushover of a sweetheart to everyone, so the reception here would be better?
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Post by DJKID on Jul 1, 2010 12:32:42 GMT -5
"Shit, oh man." He'd seen this happen before, he was the one to fish the pills out of Will's jacket for him. "Come on, Will." His face had returned to the safety of his hands. Chaplin knelt beside the boy and snapped his fingers, an attempt to pull Will out from within himself. "Will, please."
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Complete breakdown. It took a mere second for the panic attack to set in.
"No, no, don't do this-" Will tore down the hall before Chaplin could finish his plea.
This time, he didn't hesitate.
"FUCK." He gave REL one glare-
I'm gonna snap her sorry neck if I've lost him again.
No, no not again.
-and took off after the unlucky boy.
It was a good thing he had always been able to run faster.
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Post by Memai on Jul 1, 2010 12:34:45 GMT -5
"R...REL?" Roxy managed through the girl's bear-hug, "REL, I--" She couldn't speak as she was suddenly drug into an air kiss.
"Ooh how has everything been?" Left cheek. "How's that boy of yours?" Right cheek. "Love your shoes, very quaint." Left cheek, end Euro kiss.
Corr... what's going on? Why is no one telling me anything?
"Yes, yes, it's nice seeing you again REL," a smile, polite and formal. Nice? "I've been well."
x x x x x
"FUCK! WILL! CALM THE FUCK DOWN, EH?"
It didn't matter how hard he yelled, it didn't matter if he told passers by to 'stop him', he still had to chase the lithe boy through cobblestone paths and between slow walking students.
"WILL!"
I hate to do these things to you, but...
Just like all those football practices with Coach Burton, just like all those falls he'd take during soccer, just like all those throwdowns during wrestling; he sped him, building power in his back leg...
And finally pouncing on Will.
He held the obviously much weaker boy in a lock, he couldn't escape now, he was the stronger of the pair.
"Where are your pills?" Chaplin asked in a low voice, "Where are they?"
"Leave me--"
"You need them."
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Post by DJKID on Jul 1, 2010 13:16:22 GMT -5
"No..." It was the most pathetic sound in the world.
Chaplin didn't let up, however, his grip still tight and expression stern. He couldn't believe it when Will started sniffling, "Let me go..."
"... You ain't gonna take off?"
A weak shake of the head.
Chaplin slowly released the pale boy. Will sat there quietly for a moment, before his shaky hands pulled the pills from his pocket. He actually had trouble getting the cap off. The whole process made Chaplin sick, but he had learned to accept it. Once the pills rattled into Will's open palm, Chaplin gave him skeptical look, "That ain't the right amount."
Will ignored him, and swallowed the medicine.
"They won't help if you don't take 'em right." Chaplin wasn't too bright, but he wasn't stupid.
"They help enough."
No, this wasn't right. It was frustrating and depressing. Something big had happened to Will, causing him to run away, and somehow he'd missed it.
"You're scared because of that one time, right?" A sigh, "Brah, that doesn't mean you stop taking them."
Will didn't respond.
Chaplin hopped up and pulled the thin boy up by his arm, "C'mon. You can't keep running away just because it fucking hurts."
Will whined at the sudden tug.
I ain't seriously hurting you...
It was obvious the pills were already working though, he had quieted down considerably. Eye contact was still being avoided, but his free hand was now by his side instead of covering his face.
That small habit has always bothered Chaplin. He didn't like all this hiding and running, it made him feel like he would never be truly close with Will. Which wasn't right, was it? Lovers were supposed to tell each other everything.
"I love you."
"You hardly know me."
"I don't have to know everything at once. We can take it slow."
Maybe he had taken it too slow. Hadn't put in enough pressure, and decided to leave well enough alone.
He dragged the boy past curious glances, down the smaller paths, away from prying eyes and eager ears. Will had gone completely silent.
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Post by AshHavynn on Jul 1, 2010 20:20:45 GMT -5
Despite how creepy Will was, Roxy couldn't help her concern. Her curiosity typically did get the better of her, especially when someone looked hurt... Especially when someone looked on the brink of a breakdown... And Chaplin had mentioned pills? Come to think of it, one of the more shady characteristics she could recall of the boy was his precisely timed medication. Roxy could recollect the feeling of foreboding in Will's nearly constant reaching for that bottle, but had convinced herself mostly to stay as uninvolved with the character as possible--it was none of her business and it didn't seem to be a medicine she was familiar with.
Which... come to think of it... Was odd.
"REL," Roxy began, a bit unsettled, staring not at the girl but the abyss that moments ago contained 2 boys in dramatic exchange.
"He'll be fine, Roxanne," REL replied nonchalantly. It was like she was a mindreader. "It looks dreadful now, but darling, you have to understand, people like Will and I--we thrive in the horrid and the wrong."
People like Will and I-- could she even know him that well?
A frown curled up on Roxy's lips--she'd made a connection, and it'd taken her this long. "REL, you said those things, you did them just to make Will crack like that!" The fashionista looked slowly over at the medic, as if to ask how she was just now knowing this. "You wanted Chaplin to hear you, and be upset, too, didn't you?" There was almost anger in her voice. This woman was impossible! She hadn't changed at all, was still the devil she'd always been, saying horrible things about people just to fulfill her sick amusement in their fall. Roxy thought to say a word or two, but ever hasty REL cut her off, in a flat tone--one less sweet than she'd been using with her previously. It brought to mind immediately just the kind of poison in her tone that she used to speak with to people like Roxy.
"Listen, love. There's a method to my madness, mm'k?" She stared her fellow Brit straight in the eyes. "And I'd do the same thing for you, if you needed it." Her tone of voice was nerve wracking.
((I had other to say, but I figure I shouldn't quite run off with Roxy like this. REL will return to her "OMG DARLING ROXY DEAR <3" voice mmomentarily.))
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Post by Memai on Jul 2, 2010 10:08:33 GMT -5
Thatcher University thankfully, hired a gardener who had off days. Chaplin had brought Will to a small clearing behind some one of the department buildings; there were a few benches, a few plaques with the school's ostentatious quotes and achievements. And the trees were deliciously overgrown and unkept, perfect for hiding.
The Hawaiian set his pale friend down on the bench, Will immediately resting his head on his hands, as if he was plagued by a migraine.
"Brah?" Chaplin asked quietly, kindly, gently, "Look at me for a minute?"
Will couldn't help but--
"RAGH!" A punch, square on the pale boy's hollow cheeks. The boy naturally reeled back, holding one hand to where the punch landed and glaring at Chaplin with angry, surprised look.
"What--?"
"I wanted to do that for the longest time, brah," The athlete traced a finger down the cheek he had punched, sighing with near-regret, but it felt so good.
"Why-? Why did you do that?"
"Brah, you don't know how much I hated you when you left me."
"Hated?"
"Yeah," Chaplin took a seat next to Will, folding his arms behind his head and shifting into a more relaxed position. As if this conversation wouldn't hold any weight or meaning. As if this conversation wasn't going to be awkward and painful at most. As if this never happened.
"You see, I thought you died, or summin'. 'Till I heard you were out there, maybe. So I kept looking. I told my parents to go back to Hawaii without me one time, I couldn't afford surfin' around in an ISLAND knowing you'd be out there somewhere."
Will shifted uncomfortably in his seat, he didn't like where this was going at all.
"And it got... hopeless, for a while. I started to think that maybe you actually DID die. I just wanted answers, you know? Wanted to know why you ran. At least if you were dead, I thought I couldn't be mad at you." Chaplin all the while, was staring up into the sky, carrying on as if it were a casual conversation, "But then you know, I just got angry and frustrated. So I drank.
"It felt good, 'cause I would stop thinking about you. Even for a little while."
"That's a stupid thing to do." What else could Will say? It was stupid; stupid for trying to find answers for things he obviously wouldn't understand, stupid for getting into things that he knew he couldn't leave, stupid for even thinking that it was just meaningless abandonment.
"I know. But y'know I'm not like, smart or anythin', brah. What do I know? I just play b-ball all day like it's nobody's business. I don't know anythin' past that and how to annoy tourists."
Chaplin then took Will by the shoulders and turned the pasty boy in a suit to look at him straight in the eye, "Your turn, brah."
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Post by DJKID on Jul 2, 2010 11:02:25 GMT -5
Will instantly turned his head away. What was he supposed to say? Would the truth mean anything, would it just make Chaplin angry?
"I can't-"
"Why the hell not?!"
How could he? After everything I just said-
"You wouldn't understand." These light doses of medication were making it so hard to hold back emotion, but Will still tried. For some reason, he didn't find them necessary for this conversation.
"I'm sure as fuck gonna try!" His voice was so desperate...
"Because it doesn't matter!" Those dark eyes were still looking down, even when Will tried to shove Chaplin away. Of course, it hardly phased Chaplin, but he loosened his grip. Didn't want to freak the boy out again.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter?!"
Of course it matters, aren't you listening to me? How can you be so selfish-
"Because..."
"Because what?" Chaplin glared at the smaller boy, who's hands had drifted back to hiding his face. He always just covered the sides of his face, never his eyes, which confused Chaplin to no end. It wasn't a very efficient hiding method. But there was more emotion in Will's expression than he'd ever seen before-
Oh God, don't cry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean-
"Because how I felt never mattered."
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Post by Memai on Jul 2, 2010 11:18:21 GMT -5
"Because how I felt never mattered."
Like a bullet through his heart; his entire world crumbled. All the frustrations pent up inside him vanished for a moment, only to return with more flare, more power, more anger, more confusion.
Will steadied himself for what was coming next.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER?! FUCK YOU!" Will sat there in his seat, unchanging, unmoving, all on the outside of course, his body and soul trying their very best to hold everything together. Trying to hold back the disappointed look, trying to hold back the sad sighs and the tears that wanted to barge through, trying to hold back the quivers.
Trying to hide the guilt.
I'm sorry this had to happen. I'm sorry you have to feel this way. I'm sorry I can't tell you the things you want to hear.
Chaplin stomped, stormed, yelled, shouted and raged at the smaller boy; never falling short from things like how horrible he had made him feel, how resorting to alcohol embarrassed him, how he took to one-night stands from drunk sorority girls just so he didn't feel like a complete loser, how he tried to look for anyone slightly related to Will if they knew where he had vanished.
You'd never blame yourself, would you, Chaplin?
"AND YOU KNOW WHAT?" Chaplin hissed, breath almost gone from yelling, "I'm sorry I can't be so intelligent and know everything, I'm sorry I tried to be so goddamned patient wit' you. I DON'T KNOW WHY I EVEN TRIED BUT I DID ANYWAY! FUCK!" He kicked at the ground, sending a good chunk of the earth flying into the air, and finally tried to calm his breathing down.
Will didn't even move.
"I have to go," Chaplin finally said after saying all he needed to say, "The game's going to start. I need to change, I need a shower."
"I..."
"We'll talk later, brah."
And with that, he walked away, leaving Will to his thoughts on the bench.
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Post by DJKID on Jul 2, 2010 11:39:37 GMT -5
Will had never felt so disgustingly alone. The last time he wanted to cry this bad, he still had Lane to hold.
He missed her. He needed her. He needed someone that knew him inside and out, someone who could tell him how to handle these problems.
But she was probably hoping he was dead.
Will ran his fingers through his hair. Everything seemed so frustratingly complicated, but he couldn't bring himself to be mad at Chaplin. Without putting any thought into it, he reached into his pocket and lit up a cigarette. It was so automatic he didn't realize he'd done it until he felt the smoke in his lungs.
What to do... What to do...
Chaplin may have messed up, but his actions were perfectly rational. If the reactions had been any different, Will would've been too confused to handle the situation. Still, he was hoping to be surprised. What he had hoped for, more than anything, was to come back and find that Chaplin didn't need him anymore. Then there was no guilt, nothing tying him down, no pesky emotions trying to govern his life.
Why? Why did someone so nice have to love him?
He was meant to be abused. To be disappointed. This loneliness didn't suit him.
"Damn, man, shit's fucked up."
Will jerked his gaze towards the stranger, who propped a boot on the bench and began strumming his guitar.
"Gotta say, I figured they'd done you in after the hospital thing."
What the fuck.
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Post by AshHavynn on Jul 2, 2010 12:14:27 GMT -5
Will gave the unwelcome eavesdropper a moment to explain himself, under the impression that any rational human who'd blow their cover and attempt conversation after listening into things none of their business would get the idea.
I'm waiting. Say your part and leave.
Instead, the intruder just strummed a string repeatedly, tuning it with the other hand and making a kind of queer "ooOoOoOoOoOoh" sound that only guitarists seem to understand.
He was tall-or, taller than Will. His hair was in a mohawk made of tall over gelled spikes, and was dyed blue. He wore atypical black sunglasses slouched over his nose and a line was shaved into his eyebrow--one that served no function at all. He was pierced and gauged and tatted up like some street urchin. Broad shoulders and chest, the man was shirtless, which was unnerving. Everything about him was unnerving--some half dressed metal head marching in on a private conversation in a courtyard and overstepping his boundaries.
But honestly, now was not the time for some musical cretin to come and try to lift his spirits. What necessity did he feel his involvement had, anyway?
"Are you in need of my assistance?" There was just an edge of sarcasm in his monotone voice, and he held his breaths steady, keeping them on a leash just out of reach of sobbing.Taking a deep drag of his cigarette as if it were a personal inhaler, Will turned away from the musician. Maybe he'd leave if Will wasn't paying him any mind.
"Willlllleeeeeen Silverbend?" He strummed a chord on the instrument in hand, then made kind of a grunting noise. "Nah, the hell if I know, man. 's'been too long. All that back there's kinda fuzzy, ya know?" He played like an entire solo. He was punctuating his sentences with melodical statements-- it all fell flat on Will.
I do not need your company. I need you to leave.
"Do I know you?" A bit more emotion in this one, albeit probably feigned. The better translation of this was 'Do you have a purpose here?' or 'Will you go away already?'
"We were bros back at G9, dude." Another chord, this time he bit his lips and threw the guitar back as if it were some rock concert performannce. "Yeah! Oh, hey, dudebro, you want some lunch or something? You look like you're 'bout ready to keel over."
"Leave." Introductions were over. This was no character Will wanted anything to do with, and he was going to make it clear as possible.
"Lead--the--way!" The ignorant rocker sung in unison with his guitar before grabbing the smaller, suited boy's arm and marching off.
what.
"This isn't what I--"
"It ain't right what your bro done to you back there, man, I feel ya. He was all like 'RARRRGH' and you were all like 'oh, fuck!' and I was like, 'naww man. That ain't right.' Ya feel me?" He voiced Chaplin's part like an angry BEAR getting a root canal, and Will's reaction in falsetto, the way men imitate little girls, leaving his own input in a normal speaking tone.
No.
I need to get out of here.
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Post by DJKID on Jul 2, 2010 12:29:53 GMT -5
"Please. I am very busy." This man was giving him a horrible headache. And he called him Willene. God, did he hate that name. He reached into his pocket to retrieve the pills with his free hand, and-
Only one pill fell into his palm.
Oh no. No, no, no, no. Not now.
A familiar rattle reached his ears. Slowly, Will raised his gaze back to the stranger, who had somehow produced a full bottle of little white pills.
"Let a brother hook you up!"
Silence.
"C'mon, babe, lunch ain't gonna kill ya." There was a bit of tune at the end of the sentence, and he flipped the bottle before returning it back to his pocket.
Oh..
The pale features had formed an expression of mild desperation, which the guitarist played oblivious to.
Instead, he grabbed the smaller boy by the wrist and dragged him off, practicing the chorus to some song Will could not identify.
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