"Mm..she said we've been fighting a lot and that if we stayed together and we kept fighting we would end up hating each other and she didn't want that to happen to us" Neilson said.
"Oh right right...that's really stupid" Bradley said as they began to laugh.
"You know she could do a hell of a lot worst than you" Bradley said "Hell I'd date you" he said.
"Dude she used to get so mad at me for the stupidest stuff" Neilson said. "She always said she was 'second' in my life" Neilson said using his fingers for air quotes.
"Second to who?" Bradley asked.
"You" Neilson said.
Bradley turned to look at him and cracked up laughing "Me? She's jealous of me?" he asked as they laughed.
"Well in a way she was right, I always thought Nat was the one person I couldn't live without right? But you know she's gone now and you're here and I'm okay" Neilson said.
"I'll never break your heart Neilson" Bradley said laughing.
"Oh come on!" Neilson said as he started to laugh again "I'm trying to be serious here!" he said "You got to go and quote Backstreet" he said as Bradley continued laughing. "But seriously, you are the one keeping me here, so thank you" Neilson said.
"Hey, you'd do the same thing for me" Bradley said to him.
"Hell yeah I would" Neilson said "No really, I love you dude" Neilson said.
"No, I know, I love you too" Bradley said.
"Come here" Neilson said grabbing him and hugging him.
They heard the faint sound of a piano coming from inside the car "Oh man" Bradley said getting up and leaning into the window, he turned the volume up.
Oh, the time has come
And you know that you're the only one
To say, okay
Where you going
What you looking for
You know those boys
Don't want to play no more with you
It's true"
"Here it comes" Bradley said sliding himself back on the roof of the car.
"You ready?" Neilson asked.
"YOU'RE MOTORING...WHAT'S YOUR PRICE FOR FLIGHT?!" they sang before laughing.
The next afternoon Nick came down to the kitchen.
"How is he today?" Brian asked.
"First few days are the hardest, Bradley's been a huge help" Nick said.
"He took him out last night and got him drunk" Brian said to him.
"Yeah, how come you never do that for me?" Nick asked him.
"Hey" Bradley said coming in with yet another take out bag.
"Bradley you really think stuffing Neilson's face with food is going to make him feel better?" Brian asked.
"It's comfort food...I'm trying to comfort him" Bradley said.
"Wait" Nick said putting his hand in the air.
"What?" Brian asked him.
"Shh...you hear that?" he asked as they all became silent and began to listen intently.
"Oh my god" Bradley said horrified.
"That's Back To Your Heart" Brian said.
"He's listening to us" Nick said astonished.
"Oh god this is bad" Bradley said running hurriedly up the stairs. "No no no no no" Bradley kept saying as he burst into Neilson's room and turned the music off "Okay that's it, we got to get you out of here" he said leaning over Neilson, meeting his face. "When you start listening to the old men, things are bad" Bradley said.
"Look no offense or anything I just feel like being alone for a while" Neilson said to him.
"But I brought you Taco Bell" Bradley said.
"I'm not hungry" Neilson said.
"What happened here? Last night you were fine and now you're back to...mopy" Bradley said.
"Bradley would you just go?" Neilson said irritated.
"Alright" Bradley sighed "Obviously you're in a mood...I'll come back later" he said setting the bag down on a desk and started towards the door.
"You know this all your fault!" Neilson said angrily.
Bradley stopped in his tracks and turned around "Excuse me?" he asked "What is my fault?" he asked "I know you're not talking about this whole break up thing" Bradley said.
"Yeah I am" Neilson said to him.
Bradley scoffed "I'm sorry...when did I become Natalie?" he asked.
"Maybe Nat was right, I could never put her first, maybe if I did she would still be here but I didn't and for what? For you, you always had to tag along with us everywhere! maybe if you just stayed out of the way half the time, we would still be together!" Neilson said to him. Bradley sighed deeply "It's not fair that my girlfriend dumped me because you can't find your of your own" Neilson said to him.
They stood there in silence "Wow" Bradley finally said Bradley said "Yeah you're right, I don't have a girlfriend at the moment...I don't have much of a best friend either" he said sadly "Enjoy your food...oh and your space" he said.
"No I didn't mean that" Neilson said.
"Yeah you did" Bradley said leaving.
"Bradley! Come on!" Neilson called after him as he left the room.
The bells above the door jingled as Bradley came into the bar "Hey Charlie" he said to the guy behind the counter.
"Well Bradley J., what's up kid?" Charlie asked.
"Nothing" Bradley said sighing leaning against the bar.
"You alone? Where's Neilson?" Charlie asked.
"Well he said he wanted space so I'm giving it to him" Bradley said.
"Uh oh, that doesn't sound good" Charlie said popping the top off of a bottle.
"No...he's having a bad week that's all and he decided lashing out at me was the best medicine" he said "Thanks" Bradley said as Charlie slid the bottle over to him, he took his jacket off and hopping up into a stool.
Neilson lied on his bed, looking up at the cieling, he took out his phone, tapping on Bradley's name and typing out a message "dude, I'm sorry, call me" he wrote.
"Neilson" Nick said knocking on the door.
"Come in" Neilson groaned.
"Hey, how you doing?" he asked sitting next to his head at the foot of the bed.
"Oh great, I'm pissing off everyone this week" Neilson said sitting up.
"What do you mean?" Nick asked laughing.
"I said some...pretty awful things to Bradley" Neilson said.
"How awful?" Nick asked curiously.
Neilson sighed "I...basically...blamed him...for Nat breaking up with me" he said.
"Okay yeah that's pretty awful" Nick said agreeing with him.
"Yeah, I know, thanks" Neilson said.
"Come on, he knows you didn't mean it" he said "He knows you're in a bad place right now, don't worry everything will be fine" Nick said.
"You think?" Neilson asked hopefully.
"I think I know you both pretty well, you can't stay mad at each other for long" Nick said.
"True...well he's not answering any of my texts and he's not picking up when I call...maybe I should go find him" Neilson said.
"If you think that's what you should do then you should do it...I don't know how you're going to find him though, he could be anywhere" Nick said.
"Not necessarily" Neilson said leaving the room.
