2011 Submissions:
Against the Sunrise
by Diamond
Chapter Two
Isaac sat across from Taylor and Wyatt at a booth in Red Robin, picking at his enormous hamburger. He didn't feel much like eating. He hadn't even wanted to go out in the first place, but they were relentless in their attempts to engage him in social activities, and Isaac was too tired to put up much of a fight.
"You have some mustard right here," Wyatt told Taylor, licking the edge of his napkin and dabbing it against the corner of his mouth. He smiled impishly and caught Taylor's chin in his hands, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.
Isaac rolled his eyes and looked down, dragging a French fry through a runny pool of ketchup. He still wasn't used to the fact that his brother and best friend were dating. In fact, Isaac still wasn't used to the idea of either of them liking men in general. It wasn't that he had a problem with that - to each his own, Isaac always said, and fully believed in it. It was that both Taylor and Wyatt had been serial womanizers for most of their lives. Until they fell for each other.
He couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when things between Wyatt and his brother had changed from friendship into romance, but it had happened during the weeks following Zac's accident. Maybe Zac falling into that coma was a wake-up call of sorts, an alarming reminder to seize the day and pursue what you truly wanted, even if it went against what most people in your life expected of you. Isaac had yet to figure out what that was, so maybe the bitter knot he felt when he saw Taylor and Wyatt so happy together was made up of equal parts confusion and envy.
Taylor and Wyatt were still testing the waters of their budding relationship and hadn't gone completely public with the news. Isaac knew that Taylor was hesitant to tell their parents, who were old-fashioned and conservative about most things. But their mom and dad were so consumed by the aftermath of Zac's accident and caring for their four other children who still lived at home, that a photo of Taylor and Wyatt in bed could have made newspaper headlines and they probably wouldn't have noticed.
Not that Isaac wanted to picture them in bed together. He shook his head to dispel the thought, sucking down a large gulp of his chocolate milkshake.
His eyes widened in surprise when he felt something hit him square in the face. He looked down to find a balled-up napkin sitting in his basket of mostly-untouched food. When he raised his eyes, Taylor was staring at him with a lopsided grin on his face, but his blue eyes were filled with serious concern.
"What's up with you, man?" Taylor asked as he reached across the table and retrieved the napkin. "You've been acting...spacier than usual lately."
"Nothing," Isaac shrugged.
"How's the job hunt going?" Wyatt asked.
Isaac sighed inwardly. He knew his best friend was just trying to steer the conversation away from dangerous territory, but he'd hit a sore subject. Ever since Zac's accident, Isaac and Taylor hadn't felt like playing music anymore. Their band was something the three brothers had created together, and continuing with one of them missing just felt insensitive and wrong.
Wyatt was the manager of a home goods store and had offered them jobs once they established their band's hiatus. Taylor took him up on it and was now a customer service representative at Wyatt's store. That sort of job suited Taylor well - he was always a people person, and the general public gravitated to him effortlessly, in a way that most people had to work for. But Isaac wasn't cut out for retail. In fact, he had no clue what type of job he even saw himself pursuing. He told his family that he'd applied for several different jobs in the area, when in reality he hadn't put in a single application anywhere. It was just another lie to throw on the growing pile of messy confusion that his life had become.
"I haven't heard back from anywhere yet," Isaac said. "But you know how those things go. It might take weeks, even months, to find anything."
He was surprised at how easy it was for the lie to escape his lips. His fingers found their way into the pocket of his jeans, where they brushed against the ring he'd found that afternoon. Zac's ring. A chill ran down his spine and he knew it wasn't from the milkshake.
"Can I get you anything else?"
The waitress appeared by their table, and Isaac looked around to find that he was the only one who hadn't yet finished his food. Wyatt had cleaned his plate in record time, as usual, and Taylor had also done a considerable amount of damage to his oversized meal.
"Yeah," Taylor said. "Three shots of Grand Marnier, please. Oh, and three Blue Moons."
She confirmed his order before clearing their plates away.
"Seriously, Tay?" Isaac raised an eyebrow at his brother. "This is a family restaurant, not a dive bar."
"I know, but I'm in the mood for a drink, and you look like you could use one," he said.
Ike shook his head and sucked down some more of his milkshake. Alcohol never played a large role in their lives before Zac's accident, but it had made a noticeable appearance since he was hospitalized. Zac didn't drink; he didn't enjoy the taste or the way it made him feel. Isaac was starting to think that Taylor enjoyed the feeling a little too much.
The waitress returned with their shots and their pints of beer. Taylor and Wyatt quickly raised the small cups of amber liquid to their lips and knocked them back. Isaac drank his a few moments later, closing his eyes and steeling himself against the slow burn spreading through his insides.
As his brother and his best friend talked and drank, Ike's thoughts drifted while his eyes roamed the restaurant. Zac loved Red Robin and always insisted on having his birthday dinners there. But he'd spent his last birthday confined to a hospital bed. In a way, it seemed so wrong to be there without him. But so much about life felt wrong these days. Even just walking, talking, laughing, singing - all of the little daily motions that everyone takes for granted - were stolen from him. It hurt Isaac's heart to think about all of the things Zac didn't do, couldn't do anymore.
Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye" was just barely audible over all of the restaurant's noise. Isaac almost laughed at the sheer irony of the situation, although it was far from funny. Here he was, in one of Zac's favorite places, listening to one of his favorite songs, without him. Isaac sang along to the familiar tune and glanced across the table, where Taylor and Wyatt were doing the same.
Well, this is our last embrace
Must I dream and always see your face?
Why can't we overcome this wall?
Baby, maybe it's just because I didn't know you at all
When the waitress came over to check on them, Isaac ordered another round of shots, taking everyone by surprise. The three of them lifted their glasses in unison this time, the second drink sliding down much more easily than the first. First there was pain, and then there was numbness.
Well, the bells out in the church tower chime
Burning clues into this heart of mine
Thinking so hard on her soft eyes, and the memories
Offer signs that it's over, it's over
Isaac finally started to understand why Taylor enjoyed drinking so much. It was almost addicting, the way the alcohol masked his thoughts, taking the edge off. He liked the haze that settled into his mind and his heart. He liked the way it made him stop feeling.
Back