A Little Relief
Nick walked slowly down the beach towards his friend. As he drew nearer he could see that Brian was rocking softly back and forth, in a comforting motion. The gentle shake of his shoulders suggested to Nick that Brian was crying again. He decided not to embarrass his friend and so he called out to Brian to alert him to his presence and allow him to hide his tears before Nick arrived. Sure enough Nick saw Brian raise a hand and swipe away his tears.
Nick sat beside his friend, offering his silent support, he wanted to hold onto Brian and let him cry in his arms, but he knew that Brian would push him away. He studied Brian's profile, immediately noting the red and puffy eyes, which seemed sunken in their sockets, and the paleness of his complexion. Brian looked awful, and Nick again felt a wave of anger at the woman who had caused his friend so much pain.
"Hey Frick." Nick said softly, hoping for a response.
"Nick." Came the even softer reply.
"Dinner's ready." Nick informed him.
"Don't feel like eating." Brian replied.
"You've hardly eaten a thing Bri."
"Not been hungry."
"Come on Brian. You've got to eat."
"Don't tell me what to do dammit." Brian raised his voice as he spoke and jumped up from the sand, staring down at his friend.
Nick jumped up as well, and met Brian's gaze. Shock registered in Brian's mind as he realised that Nick had tears in his eyes.
"Don't do this Brian, please. We're worried about you."
"I'm fine. I just want y'all to leave me alone."
"That's the one thing we won't do and you know it. We love you Brian, and we can't stand to see you hurting like this. But you won't let any of us in, you won't let us help you."
"I don't need your help."
"Yes you do and you know it. You've always been there for us- why won't you let us be there for you."
"Nick..." Brian began, about to push him away again. Nick however, wasn't going to let him.
"Dammit Brian I'm scared." He shouted. Brian's response died on his tongue, his mouth opening but no sound escaping as he heard Nick's admission.
"Your my best friend Brian, I love you like a brother, and right now I'm scared I'm going to lose you."
Brian watched as Nick fought to control the tears that were still threatening to fall, and in the fog that was his own self pity, he could finally see the pain he was causing his best friend. He immediately felt bad, and so he raised his hand and reached up to cup Nick's cheek, catching the solitary tear that spilled from Nick's eye. He wasn't ready to talk, but he could at least try and stop worrying his friends so much.
"C'mon Nick. Let's go get some dinner before AJ eats it all."
Nick broke out in an enormous smile, which caused Brian to crack a small smile of his own, and the two set back off towards the house.
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After dinner (which Brian practically wolfed down when he decided that he was actually starving). The five lounged around in the sitting room, relaxing. The other four tried to get Brian to interact with them as much as possible, but Brian wasn't feeling very talkative, and so most of their attempts fell flat, the room lapsing into silence more than once.
"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Nick asked, trying to restart the conversation.
"Dunno. What do you wanna do?" AJ asked him.
"I don't know. That's why I was asking you." Nick shot back. Neither of them were serious, both attempting to lighten the mood a little and get Brian to smile. Not that it was working.
"How about we go out on the boat?" Howie offered.
"Yeah, we could. Weather's 'sposed to be good, I could find the shipping report to check out the tides."
"I'm afraid I can't guys." Kevin spoke up. "I've got a promotional thing for JWR tomorrow, and I can't back out of it."
"We could go the day after instead." AJ said.
"No, no. Don't put it off for me, I can go next time. Y'all go out and catch some waves." Kevin told them.
"Okay, we could make a day of it. Get up early, go out and find somewhere nice to drop anchor, take some lunch with us, come back late..."
AJ glanced at Howie. He could sense something was up, and one look into Howie's eyes confirmed it. Howie was up to something. But what the hell was he planning?
"Cool." Nick agreed enthusiastically. "That all right with you Bri?" He asked.
Brian looked up from where he had been studying the carpet. "Umm. Yeah. Whatever y'all want." He told them, with little enthusiasm in his voice. Before Nick had a chance to offer up something else to do instead Howie spoke up.
"Great. That's settled then. Tomorrow, sailing." Nick looked up at him, surprised by his eagerness. Howie met his gaze, silently telling him not to question him now. Nick turned and glanced at AJ, who just shrugged and then looked away. 'What the hell is Howie up to?' He wondered, as the conversation shifted onto other topics.