Dead End Kids

Brendon and Ryan were still asleep at ten, which normally wouldn’t have been much of a problem except that they had fallen asleep on the front porch. Druscilla’s parents had called the night before to tell their daughter they were staying in a hotel and they’d be home around ten the next day. Now they were, staring down and Brendon and Ryan and deciding whether they should laugh or be upset. “Should we wake them up?” Diane asked her husband quietly.

Jeff was fighting his losing battle of trying not to laugh. Ryan’s head had fallen onto Brendon’s shoulder and he was drooling on the younger boy’s shirt. “It’ll be more of a punishment to leave them out here.” he lied, amused. He was a bit more lax than his wife in the department of what does and what doesn’t need to be punished. Falling asleep on the front porch was pretty calm compared to the things Dru, Ryan, and Spencer normally got into.

The woman shrugged and the pair walked into the house. She went upstairs to check on the other three teenagers, quietly pushing open her daughter’s bedroom door. Druscilla was lying in between Spencer and Liz, arm slung over the girl. Spencer’s cheek was against her shoulder. The younger girl mumbled something and turned toward Druscilla.

Diane shut the door, smiling. The Green Day poster on her daughter’s door smiled back at her.

Druscilla woke up about a half hour after he parents got home. Liz was half awake, lying at the foot of the bed and reading the text of a story the older girl had taped to her wall. “The Lorax.” Dru supplied. “It’s my favorite Dr. Seuss book.”

“Shut up.” Spencer muttered, burying his head under a pillow. He was a light sleeper.

Dru shoved him. “Where’s Brendon and Ryan?” she asked Liz, who sat up and shrugged, stifling a yawn. “Well, let’s go find them.” the older girl said, giving a mock sigh. “Get up.” she said to Spencer, smacking his leg.

“Fuck you.”

Giving Liz an evil look, Druscilla straddled Spencer’s waist. “What did you want me to do, baby?” she asked in a falsetto.

“I’m up!” Spencer said, shoving her off the bed, eyes widened in horror. Liz snorted as she climbed off the bed and pulled a laughing Dru to her feet. Spencer was mumbling obscenities as they walked down the stairs. The TV in the living room was on and the door was open, revealing Druscilla’s parents.

“Hey, guys.” Dru poked her head in the room. “Do you know where Brendon and Ryan are?”

“Sleeping on the front porch.” Diane said, voice contained.

Dru grinned at Jeff trying not to laugh. “Thanks.”

“Hey, do you have any markers?” Liz asked before Druscilla went to pull open the front door.

“Why?” Spencer asked.

“Idea.” Liz said in a sing-song voice.

Five minutes later they were kneeling on the front porch, writing various things on the faces of the two sleeping boys outside. Druscilla was writing I love Justin on Brendon’s cheek while Spencer drew the oh-so-clever penis going into his mouth. Liz had already written SLUT on Ryan’s forehead and was now proclaiming his penis size on his left cheek.

“Who the hell is Justin?” Spencer asked, reading what his friend was writing.

“Timberlake, fuckface.” Druscilla replied, dotting the ‘i’ with a heart. She glanced over at Liz’s handiwork and moved her marker to Brendon’s forehead, marking him as Ryan’s bitch.

Ryan was stirring, causing Liz’s eyes to widen. He opened his eyes slowly. “What the fuck?” he yelled, seeing the raven-haired girl with a green sharpie. Brendon sat bolt upright, causing Druscilla’s red marker to make a streak down his nose. Ryan turned to look at him. He managed to stifle his laughter for about three seconds. “Oh my God, dude.”

Brendon was staring at Ryan, mouth slightly open. Liz had managed to write I have a three inch dic on Ryan’s face before he woke up, along with the word on his forehead. Then he started to giggle, stopping abruptly when he saw the marker Liz was holding. “You guys used permanent marker?!”

Ryan fell to the ground laughing.

“Dude,” Brendon said, glaring at him, “you drooled all over my shirt.”

“Sexy!” Dru shrieked, falling against Spencer in giggles.

* * *

The five teenagers were sitting in Druscilla’s garage on beanbag chairs and sleeping bags. Liz and Dru were both trying to clean off Brendon and Ryan’s faces. Brendon definitely couldn’t go home with a badly drawn picture of a dick on his cheek. “I can’t believe you used permanent marker.” the younger boy said for the third time.

“Shut up, Bren.” Liz said, rolling her eyes. For unspoken reasons she wasn’t running the washcloth over his face, but Ryan’s. He kept sticking his tongue out at her and she kept smacking him in the face with the washcloth. She was trying to figure out if she could communicate with her eyes what she hadn’t said to Brendon on the way to Starbucks.

“It’ll come off.” Druscilla promised him. “Eventually. I go to work with stuff written on my hands all the time and it only takes a few minutes to scrub it off. It’s probably just harder because water isn’t running on your face.”

“Oh, fuck it.” Ryan said. “I’ll get it off later. I want to play guitar.”

“You play guitar?” Brendon asked, interested. He turned toward the senior who was already standing up and taking the instrument out of its case.

“Yeah.” Ryan grinned. “You play?”

“Some.” Brendon said. “And piano. And some other stuff.”

“He’s a genius.” Liz said proudly.

Brendon blushed and turned back to Druscilla. She resumed wiping at his face with the washcloth. Ryan sat in the corner, absently plucking chords, not really playing anything. Brendon was watching him, trying to look casual. Liz was watching Brendon and trying to look casual. Druscilla was still cleaning Brendon’s face and Spencer was reading an old issue of Alternative Press.

They all sat there like that for awhile, no sound except for Ryan’s guitar and the occasional rustle of magazine pages.

Druscilla broke the silence. “Finally.” Brendon turned to look at her. “You’ve got your cute face back.” the girl said with a smile, tweaking his nose.

“We should probably go, Bren.” Liz said. “Before your parents call my house looking for you.”

“It’s only four.” Spencer said, pulling his cell phone out and looking at it, frowning.

Ryan had stopped plucking guitar strings. “Don’t tell me you have a five o’ clock curfew.” He, too, was frowning, but his frown was different from Spencer’s.

“I should be home for supper.” Brendon said, shifting uncomfortably before standing. Liz held her hands out and he pulled her to her feet.

“Give me your number.” Dru said, pulling out her cell phone and standing up.

“Me, too.” Spencer said, getting up and walking toward them.

Ryan said nothing, just walked over and held his cell phone out. When he took it back from Brendon, he made sure their hands touched for a moment too long. Brendon’s eyes met his and held.

Dru felt Liz move closer to her, their arms touching. The older girl faked a sneeze, causing the two boys to turn and look at her.

“Bless you.” Liz said quietly.

“Come on, Liz.” Brendon said. “Let’s go.”

“See you tomorrow?” Ryan asked.

“Monday.” Brendon replied. “Church tomorrow.”

“Yeah. See you guys Monday.” Liz said.

“See you.” Brendon echoed.

After they had left, Druscilla shoved Ryan. “What the fuck was that?” she demanded.

“What the fuck was what?” he snapped, shoving her back.

Spencer grabbed Ryan’s arm. “Don’t fucking touch her.” he said, voice low. “She’s a fuckin’ girl, man.”

The senior boy and the junior girl glared at each other, daggers in their eyes.

“You’re an asshole.” Druscilla snapped. “You’ve know him, what, all of five minutes and you’re already trying to get in his pants?”

Ryan’s eyes were on fire. “Jon not wanting you is making you paranoid.”

Druscilla sprung at him, but Spencer grabbed her around the waist. “What the fuck is your problem?” he demanded. “We all saw you staring at him, Ryan. Quit being such an asshole.” He lead Druscilla from the garage, pulling her to him when she started crying. “He’s just being a dick. Liz said Jon thought you were cute, remember?”

Druscilla nodded against his chest, putting her arms around his neck.

They both knew that wasn’t the real reason she was crying.