Party’s Over Closing Act

The loud music is somewhat drowned out by the shouts of Landon, begging for Brielle to explain as she walks away from him.
“WAIT! I don’t—I-I, what’d I do?! Please, Bri, just talk to me!”
He creates a scene, and Brielle turns to him with a mix of worry and hurt. Yet, she does not respond to his pleas, just shaking her head in an attempt to stop him from shouting. Confused murmuring floats around the room as Brielle makes her way to her bedroom to avoid eyes being on her. Landon freezes in his place, watching her go as if the world had stopped for him. He unknowingly held his breath until he felt a hand on his shoulder, to which he didn’t even turn over to see.
“Dude, what happened?” Carlos asked, his voice wobbly.
Landon could hardly respond, “I-I don’t… I don’t know.”
His eyes start to sting from his tears warming them. Maybe it’s the alcohol, maybe it’s the weather, maybe it was his birthday—he doesn’t even know himself. The world was spinning, spinning too fast for him to keep up now, he felt faint. Next thing he knows he’s led to the couch and is getting comforted by various people—people he doesn’t bother to look at, nor listen to over the incoherence of his sobbing.
Carlos says through his worry, “M.. maybe we should go home…”
Liam looks over at him, “Are you sure he can drive like this?”
“I don—I dunno, I can’t drive..”
“… I can drive you both.”
Rodger says walking over, handing Landon a cold water which he takes to drink, but doesn’t look at him.
“What’s your address?”
“I-I’ll put it in your phone. I guess I’ll just.. uber back here tomorrow or-or something.” He replies.
The three walk out, waving to their friends goodbye. Landon continues to look down. He’d removed his glasses and his teary eyes had made the world look like one big blur—that, plus the drinks almost had him falling over himself. They enter Rodger’s car.
“Uh, i-if you need me to pull over, just tell me… I, I don’t wanna clean up any messes, this is my sister’s car, so..”
Slurring over his tongue, Carlos says, “No, yeah, that’s fine dude. Lemme give you our address…”
In the backseat, Landon leans his head against the car door. His tears dried into cold lines on his face. The fierce cold breeze circulating the inside of the car made him close his stung eyes, but he was far from relaxing. Thoughts kept rotating in his head, the sounds of party music replaying in his mind, the picture he imagined of the light and rotting wood of the porch, the image of the prettiest woman he’d ever seen engraved in his mind, and what she’d told him had been branded in his brain. “We should break up.” He couldn’t even be mad, nor was he even upset with her at all. He just laid, disheartened and confused, basking in his sorrow as he aged. Occasionally, Carlos would look over his shoulder to look at him and see him seemingly asleep, but even he knew that something was wrong.

Tracy’s anger filled the silent room, “What was that about? What happened, Bri?!”
“..You—You need to hear me out—”
“On his birthday? That’s a low-fucking-blow. I mean, I know most of your relationships suck but… goddamn, while all of his friends are there?”
“There’s more to it, Tracy, please—”
“I wanna know. I wanna know, actually, what you think can justify this. I-I feel… I—I don’t even know how I feel about—”
Brielle retaliates in frustration, “JUST LET ME EXPLAIN. You—I don’t.. know if you’ll understand this, but it felt like him and I were drifting apart… And—now I know that still doesn’t sound right—but… he seems so lost with me. I love Landon, I really, truly do, and that’s why I can’t have him.”
Tracy stares somewhat grimly at her.
“… You’re right. I don’t understand. I.. I’m gonna go sober up. I think I’m gonna go with Liam.”
Brielle hesitates to wave them off and just looks away in shame.

The passenger door opens and Landon is “awoken” suddenly. Carlos topples out of the car, still slightly drunk, but Rodger goes to open the backseat door.
“W.. We’re here..” He says, hesitantly.
Landon doesn’t respond, but finally looks in Rodger’s direction and looks him in the eyes. They were perched under a streetlight together, and the light reflected off of Rodger’s eyes, making them look like a bright amber instead of brown. Landon winces, thinking of Brielle. He shakily gets up from the seat and nearly stumbles over; Rodger grabs him up and guides him to his porch, where Carlos is struggling with his own keys.
As the door clicked open, the dark cold interior of the house seemed harsher than the outside conditions.
“uurgh.. Thanks so much… for the ride, Rodger. I toootally owe you…” He says.
Rodger responds, “I-It’s alright. I understand tonight has been… rough.”
He stood in the living room as Carlos took off his shoes and coat, but Landon was still attached to Rodger’s side, lost in his mind.
“There’s… a spare house key under the welcome mat, feel free to, uh, use it to lock up.” Carlos continues
“Ah, a-alright.”
He turns to Landon.
“.. Wh-where’s your room?”
Quietly, Landon responds, “… down the hall. First door on the left…”
They walk together, allowing a break for Landon to remove his shoes as well, but he keeps his hoodie on. As they walked into Landon’s room, a faint layer of dust had settled over bottles of half-drank water, his bed remained messy, and even his desk had dust laying about. He hadn’t cleaned since he left to stay with Brielle for the last two days. Landon topples into bed, laying on his arm and feeling a slight pain from his wrist to his side. The bracelet. The garnet-lined, beautiful bracelet given to him as a gift for aging. Garnet—what a lousy rock. He removes it gently and puts it on his pillow, next to his head. Suddenly, he feels his blankets move to cover him—the feeling of being tucked in, warmly.
“…I’m really sorry about tonight. Happy birthday, Landon.”
“… Goodnight, Rodger.”