A/N: I've come to find out that the first couple of chapters of this story are a lot shorter than my other stories are. But they just seem like the right place to stop at. So I've gotten a couple of reviews and I hope to get more (because I'm an ego maniac and need the love ;))

Chapter 01 – Not Too Late

Reid's long, pale fingers laced around the neck of the bottle, a content smirk on his face as he brought the mouth to his own and swallowed what was left of the amber liquid inside. He stared at the screen before him, and blinked his eyes, the channel changing as he did so.

The door to his dorm room flew open and his roommate walked in, the tanned boy let his backpack slide off of his shoulder and on to the ground by a huge heap of clothes, which belonged to the blonde himself.

Blue eyes met his dark ones and Tyler gave him a glare, "You shouldn't be using so much, Reid…" His voice was stern, making him sound an awful lot like the eldest member of their little clique. "You ascend in two weeks,"

The blonde didn't say anything instead he let his eyes fall in to their normal pale blue color tossing the empty bottle in to the waste basket by the door. His arm rested over the side of the bed, absentmindedly searching for something.

Tyler noticed and walked over grabbing the last bottle of Jack that was sitting by his best friend's bed. Reid's blue gaze cut up at his best friend and stared him down before opening his mouth.

"What the fuck, Ty?" Reid sat up snatching for the bottle.

"What is going on with you, Reid?" Tyler's voice was full of concern as he held the bottle away from his best friend.

"Nothing, I'm just enjoying a few drinks with myself," Reid muttered, his tone was dull, and not the usual tone for the blonde Son of Ipswich.

Tyler's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, he was beginning to notice this behavior more and more. Reid had never really been one of those generally happy kids, he always seemed to have something plaguing him, but whenever Tyler asked about it, Reid would shut him out.

Just like he was doing now.

They were best friends and did practically everything together, but it seemed as though there had been a riff in their relationship. Things seemed to only worsen as the boy's birthday neared them.

Tyler had tried to use to get in to Reid's mind, to just see what was bothering him, but Reid had it blocked off. He knew what his friends would try and do and he was keeping them from finding out the truth. He didn't want them to see what was going on in his mind.

"Reid, I know there is something wrong, why can't you tell me?" Tyler asked trying to keep his emotions at bay.

He was generally the more emotional one of the group. Maybe it was because his father was never home, and his mother raised him. Maybe it was because he was the youngest, whatever the reason he usually wore his emotions out on his sleeve.

Reid ignored him, his eyes going black as a bottle of Jack Daniels materialized in his hand. He tossed Tyler an annoyed glance and the brunette irritated walked to his desk and put the bottle down. He pulled his chair out and reached down to his backpack, pulling out his homework.

Two could play this game, Tyler decided.

Reid's attention drifted over to his best friend, a part of him wanted to tell Tyler exactly what was on his mind, but the another part of him told him that the blue eyed boy wouldn't understand. He was all alone in this feeling and the fact that his birthday was less than fourteen days away, was making matters worse.

He couldn't have Ty made at him, he knew it would eat away at the younger boy and sighed sitting up, putting his bottle off to the side, "I'm sorry man," Reid muttered.

Tyler looked up from his work, "I'm sorry, what'd you say?" Tyler asked putting the pencil behind his ear, waiting for him to say it louder.

"You're an ass," Reid mustered up a grin as Tyler shot him a guilty grin.

"Learned from the best, Mr. Garwin…" Tyler stated mockingly as he turned around to see Reid staring dully at the TV. "You wanna go to Nicky's?" He asked.

Reid looked up to meet his best friend's gaze and decided he'd amuse the younger boy for awhile, "Sure man, call up Cal and Pogo, see if they want to go…" Reid muttered rolling his tall frame out of the twin size bed.

Tyler nodded his head sending a text to both of the older Sons' inviting them to Nicky's with them. Reid grabbed a shirt from his chair and took a whiff of it, feeling that it was cleaning he pulled off his white beater tank and slipped in to the grey graphic tee.

Tyler grabbed his wallet and his keys and waited for Reid to pull on his black beanie and fingerless gloves. He remembered the first time Reid had started wearing the gloves, and why. The thought made Tyler's stomach turn, and he hoped that his best friend was better.

After the incident, as Reid referred to it, he had gotten accustomed to wearing them, and liked what they did for his character. Tyler felt the need to get down to the bottom of whatever was bothering his best friend, and he hoped that when he did find out it wasn't too late.

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