The photo is entirely unrelated to the story, I just really like it

"Delirious? Where are you going?! You can't just drive out to some random address! I- Jonathan! Don't you dare walk out that door!" Bryce screeches after Jonathan, running after him when he receives no response.

Ryan sat there, staring down at the papers scattered across Bryce's bed. He then turned to his phone, picking it up as an idea forms in his head. He taps on the call button, deciding that maybe, just maybe, Luke would answer the phone.

"You have reached the voice mail box of..."

Fuck. Of course Luke didn't pick up. He probably has better things to do, anyways.

"If you would like, leave a message after the tone signal. If not, hang up and call again some other time."

Ryan quickly decided it wasn't worth it to leave a message. If Luke calls, for the first time since his disappearance, just this morning, then what were the chances that he would be willing to talk again? Ryan knew his friend- or, at least, he hoped he did. Luke wasn't one for chatting all day on the phone. Wherever he was, he had probably made new friends.

Good for him, I suppose, but bad for us. Does he not worry that we'll never know what happened to him? Just that he stood up one day and vanished on the spot?

It wasn't like he had been generous enough to leave a trail of clues for them to follow or anything. They had dug through the box, examining everything they had to the best of their abilities. This phone number, and the address scrawled underneath it, were all they had to go off of.

Ryan was frustrated, to say the least. This was too much for him to handle at the moment. Too much for one day. All he wanted to do now was go home, curl up next to Buddy and forget about this mess for a few hours.

"BUT BRYCE! HE'S OUT THERE, MY BEST FRIEND IS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE AND I WANT TO FIND HIM!" Ryan jumps at the sound of Jonathan's voice.

He quickly stands up and runs towards the source. Seeing his two friends standing in the front yard, screaming at each other, Ryan found himself panicking as he ran up to them.

"Guys?! Guys! What's going on?" Ryan quickly pushes himself in between the two, ignoring the noticeable height differences between them and himself.

It always bothered Ryan a bit how, despite being the oldest out of his friends, he was usually one of the shortest. But that wasn't going to stop him from settling whatever these guys had going on.

"Bryce doesn't fuckin' care about Luke, that's what!" Jon pointed at Bryce, looking like he was about to explode from anger.

Bryce just backed up, shaking his head rapidly. "No, no, that's not what I meant at all! He's not listening to me when I say that you can't just drive out to some address that you find written on some paper! What- what if you end up at some murderer's house? You'll die!"

"Well, Luke could be dying too, for all we know! Are we really just gonna sit around and let him just disappear like this?! He's my best friend! He's basically my brother at this point! We can't leave him like this!" Jon stomped a foot on the ground, glaring at the two. "You know what? Fuck this. Fuck you guys. I'm- I don't need this shit right now. I'm leaving."

Before Ryan could protest, Jonathan had already gotten into his car and was beginning to drive off. Looking over at Bryce, Ryan felt himself panic as he saw the look on Bryce's face.

"Bryce? Bryce, come on. It- it's okay," Ryan reached over to the taller and began to pull him back inside. He sat Bryce down on the couch, shut the front door, then sat down next to him.

"What even happened? Can you at least tell me that?" Ryan, as much as he hated to admit it, still had no idea what was going on between them. How had they managed to start a fight so fast, anyways?

Bryce shifted slightly, curling up into a little ball with his knees brought up to his chest.

"I... I said some things I really shouldn't have. I, uh, I kind of said that... that.." Bryce fell silent, peeking at Ryan through his hair that had fallen in front of his face. "I told Jon that we shouldn't go after Luke. At least... Not right now, I mean. Not like this. I told him that we should wait, wait until we know what we're doing rather than just run after him. And.. And he got mad. Told me that I didn't care, and that if I was a better cousin I would've gone with Jon. But.. I don't know. "

"It's okay. He... Jonathan overreacts sometimes. Honestly? I think Jon had something going on with him." Ryan laughed weakly, stretching his legs out.

Bryce chuckled quietly. "I just.. I hope Jon calms down. He knows what I meant... Right?"