AAOOOSC!: Gulls' Adventures!

The next morning, the Monarossabergie House is fairly quiet. Two of its three residents, Brandon and Nick, are sitting at the dining table, munching on leftover lasagna as their breakfast. Brandon is wearing a dark gray hoodie over his gray T-shirt with black shorts; Nick is wearing a black long-sleeve shirt with jeans. The other resident is out of sight.

Nick scoops a bit of the tomato sauce-covered pasta onto his fork, then peers at his teammate. “Where’s Joey?”

Brandon peers at the foyer’s direction. “He’s still in his room.” He turns back to him.

“Is he gonna come out?” Nick pops the food in his mouth.

“I don’t think so.” He gazes down at his plate and mindlessly pushes the chuck of lasagna around his plate. “He usually doesn’t stay in his room for this long.”

Nick swallows, then lets out a sigh. “Everyone else forgave me.” He places his fork down with a dejected expression. “Why doesn’t Joey forgive me?”

Brandon puts his fork on his plate and gazes at his roommate, his arms folded on the table, “Nicky…,” he starts off solemnly, “it’s gonna take much longer from Joey to come around to forgiving you than the rest of us.”

From the foyer, Joseph paws himself into view, wearing a gray jacket over a white and black T-shirt and black pants. He clearly hears the conversation about him between his two roommates. He guides himself backward, out of view, to hear in on what they think about him.

“He was affected the most by your plan,” Brandon continues on in the same tone. “He’s…” He pauses, scrambling mentally for a good word. “...he’s hurt. You traded away his best friend, Maxi. You know the two, they would do everything together. They were close buddies. And you took that away.” He gives him a sorrowful frown. “So it’s reasonable for Joey to have that attitude toward you. He misses Maxi a lot.” He then nods. “But once he gets over it, he’ll forgive you.”

Joseph leans back into view from across the room. “Monty…!” he calls out lowly toward the television.

Brandon whirls to his right, spotting Joseph peeking out from the foyer’s wall. “Joey--?”
“Come over here…”

Brandon turns back Nick. “I’ll be back.” He then gets up and ambles over toward his blind roommate, halting in front of him. “What—?”

“Let’s go to my room.” Joseph slowly turns himself away and begins sliding his hand against the wall as he makes his way back down the hallway.

“Uh, okay.” Brandon grabs his shoulder and leads him efficiently to his room.

Once they entered his dark room due to the closed blinds, Brandon closes the door. He turns around, spotting Joseph’s back on him.

“So, um, what is it?” Brandon asks, making his way past his roommate to face him.

“You just told Ritch I was weak,” Joseph answers bitterly, a scowl on his face.

He narrows his eyes at him with confusion. “What—?”

“You told him I was weak!” Joseph shouts, fists at his sides. “I’m not weak!”

He throws his hands in the air. “I never told Nicky you were weak—!”

“You told him I was hurt!” He throws his fist at his chest. “That makes me weak!”

Brandon leans back, attempting to make the best eye contact possible with him. “Well, is it true that you’re hurt?” he asks with concern.

Joseph keeps his eyes aimed ahead. His sharp facial expression softens gradually, his narrowed eyes widened and his eyebrows rising.

Brandon maintains his gaze at him. “Joey? Is it?”

Without saying a single word, Joseph shuffles past his roommate, halting inches from his night table.

Brandon follows him with his eyes. “Joey, are you hurt?” he repeats sternly.

“Yes,” Joseph forces out. “Yes, I am hurt. He hurt me. He took Maxi away. I am hurt by that.” He takes in a deep breath and begins to turn back around slowly. “Maxi is my best friend. We would talk to each other, play with each other, even dance and make videos with each other but he took that away from me.” His eyes are on the ground. “He took Maxi away from me.” He adds in bitterly: “And then he made me blind! I knew he was up to no good when he walked into this house.”

He then begins ranting in rising rage: “If only we were still in Norfolk, if we only we still had Maxi, if only it was just the three of us, none of this would be happening:” --his voice begins to break-- “Maxi wouldn’t be in St. John’s, the team wouldn’t be split apart, I wouldn’t be blind…” He pauses as his eyes flutter in tears, having them pour down his cheeks. “…and I wouldn’t be crying…” He then drops his face into his hands and begins sobbing.

Without missing a beat, Brandon throws himself at him, engulfing him in a supportive hug.

“I’m so sorry!!!” Joseph wails from his shoulder. “I’m sorry! I don’t want you to see this—!”

Brandon rubs his back in an attempt to soothe him. “It’s alright—”

“It’s just so hard to have a tough exterior all the time!” He takes in a shaky breath. “I don’t want anyone to know that I’m hurt. I want to be intimidating, I want people to fear me, to know that I’m not weak! But I don’t know, I’m just losing it—!” He sputters more sobs, stuffing his face in Brandon’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, it’s okay…,” Brandon tells him placidly, rubbing his back.

Joseph takes in heavy breaths mixed with hiccups, calming himself.

“It’s alright, we all have a breaking point,” he murmurs.

Joseph reduces his sobs to quivering breaths.

“You’ll be okay.”

Joseph lets out a whimper from his throat in response.

Brandon pulls away from him, his hands on his shoulder. He peers at his black-coloured eyes and his tear-stained cheeks. “Okay?”

With pursed lips, Joseph wipes his the back of his hand across his eyes. “Yeeahhh…,” he croaks out.

“Okay.” Brandon lets out an exhale. “Now…,” he continues gently, holding the palms of his hands out toward him, “will you forgive Nicky?”

“HE TOOK AWAY MY BEST FRIEND!” Joseph roars, tears streaming down his face once again. “WHAT DO YOU THINK?!”

“Joey, please—”

“NO!” he snaps at him. “I’M NOT GONNA FORGIVE HIM!” He thrusts his hand across him. “NOT NOW, NOT EVER!”

“Why, Joey?” Brandon throws his hands out from his sides. “Why aren’t you going to forgive him?!”

“Because if I do, he’s just going to stab me” --he slams his fist against his chest-- “RIGHT BACK INTO MY HEART!”

“So you’re just going to have bitterness toward him for the rest of your life?” Brandon gawks at him.

“Yes!” he replies forcefully, his glower evident in his face. “Because nothing can undo what he did to me. I am not going to wave this off. I am not going to let him win again.”

Brandon places his hands on his chest with a pleading expression. “Joey, for me, please—”

“No!” he hisses between bared teeth.

“I think Maxi would forgive Nicky,” he points out matter-of-factly.

Joseph narrows his eyes at him. “No, he wouldn’t.”

Brandon throws his hands in the air. “Just forgive him and we can move on—”

Joseph snaps his arm from his side, pointing toward his right, which is perpendicular to his bedroom’s door. “Get out.”

Brandon gawks at him. “Joey—”

“Get. Out.”

With a deep breath, Brandon shakes his head. He then turns around and strides out of his room.

Notes

E.19 "Calculating The Aftermath"
Part 2/10
Episode 19/20