Don't Go Away

The movie was some romantic comedy. It wasn’t something Marshal would normally watch, but he enjoyed it. There was one scary part in the movie and Winston grabbed onto Marshal's arm. When the part was over, Winston let go with his left hand but didn’t move his right hand. Not that Marshal minded.

When the movie was over, they stayed until the credits were over.

"Do you want to walk around the mall for a bit?" Winston asked.

"Sure," Marshal smiled and they both walked across the street.

Marshal liked hanging out with Winston. Winston liked trying on cloths. But only if they were black. They spent a lot of time at Hot Topic, and Winston ended up buying $200 of cloths. Marshal had never really been into shopping, but Winston insisted on buying him cloths, so Winston spent $100 on him.

"You know, I really appreciate you buying me cloths, but I think this is a little much. There’s no way I could repay you," Marshal frowned. He wasn’t that rich. His dad didn’t work and his mom was working two jobs. Marshal had to take his job at the restaurant to help pay whatever was left, and he got to keep the rest.

"Don’t worry about it. Its nothing," Winston said and started walking down the strip.

"$300 is nothing to you?" Marshal asked in disbelief.

"Oh, Marshal, I'm sorry, I didn’t... I'm sorry if that offended you in any way. I didn’t realize..." he stumbled for words, not knowing what to say.

"No, Winston, its fine. I know I'm not the richest person, and to go out and spend $100 on a friend is not something I would ever think about doing," Marshal shrugged.

"I'm sorry. I'll try being more frugal with my money around you," Winston said and rubbed Marshal's arm. Marshal didn’t know what to saw so he nodded. They continued through the mall.

Marshal said he wanted to get home before dinner, so they walked back to the movie theater's parking lot.

"Where's your car?" Marshal asked.

"I'm taking the bus. I cant drive," Winston said.

"Why don’t I give you a ride," It was more of a statement then a question.

"No, I couldn’t."

"If I can accept $100 of cloths from you, I think you can accept a fucking ride from me," Marshal smirked as Winston's face dropped.

"Okay. Fine," he said and Marshal led him to his car. Winston gave him directions as Marshal drove across town, "Are you busy tomorrow?"

"What day is tomorrow?"

"Thursday," Winston said is a sing-song voice.

“I don’t have work, so definitely. What do you want to do?” a smile crept onto Marshal’s face. After the day he had, he loved hanging out with Winston. For once he actually forgot that he thought he was in love with Chance.

“You pick. I picked the movie,” Winston stated.

“You know where Winds End Park is?” Marshal asked after a minute.

“Of course.”

“Well, how about we meet up there at 2 tomorrow,” Marshal suggested.

“Alright,” Winston grinned at Marshal, “My house is right there.” Marshal followed his finger to the large 2 story house on the left. It was made from bricks and the trim was white. The lawn was perfectly cut and he saw a small boy on the porch, eating a popsicle. He pulled in the driveway and put the car in park.

“Is that your brother?” Marshal nodded at the small boy. He didn’t look that much like Winston, but there was something that didn’t look right.

“My half brother, Bailey,” Winston said, putting his hand on the door.

“Oh. Uhm, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” Marshal said. Winston smiled his cute smile and nodded.

“I cant wait. Bye Marshal.”

“See ya, Winston,” Winston got out of the car and Marshal started his way home.

When Marshal got to his house, he snuck by his dad that was sleeping on the couch, and up to his room. He started putting his new cloths away. Winston had bought him 1 pair of pants and 4 shirts. When he finished, he collapsed on his bed as his phone rang.

“Hello?” he answered quickly.

“Hey Mars. How are you?” Chance’s sweet, husky voice met Marshal’s ears.

“Hey Chance. I’m good. You?” Marshal put his free hand behind his head and stretched out on his bed.

“I’m fantastic. Guess what I bought today?” Marshal could hear the smile in his voice as he asked what he had bought, “The new Black Ops. Want to come over tomorrow and play?”

“I’d love to, but I have plans.” Marshal frowned.

“What? Meeting that guy again?” Chance snickered.

“No, I met a girl named Wi-Whitney. We’re going on a date,” Marshal said.

“Oh. Hey, why don’t you come over tonight and we play all night? I’ll see if Taylor and Tiger want to come too,” Chance suggested.

“Okay. I’ll be over by 9 then,” Marshal smiled.

“Great. Talk to you soon bro.”

“Later,” Marshal hung up and tossed his phone on the floor. It was now about 6:30 so he had some time to kill before he had to go. He got up and started packing cloths into his backpack. He packed his new blue skinny jeans and a red shirt that Winston said looked cute on him. He didn’t bother packing pajamas because he’d either fall asleep in what he was wearing or he would just strip into boxers.

As he zipped his bag, his door opened and Anne Belle walked in, holding her rat dog. It wasn’t really a rat dog, it was a black Yorkie named, Puddles. Marshal and Chance bought it for her for her 8th birthday and she cherished the thing deeply.

“Will you watch Puddles while I clean my room please?” she asked, handing the dog over to Marshal.

“Okay, but I’m leaving at 8:30 so you better be done,” Marshal said. Anne Belle rolled her eyes and left. Marshal said and held Puddles like the celebrities do as he walked down the hall and got the baby cage from the hall closet and set it up in his room and set Puddles in the middle of it. He went back to his sister’s room and grabbed some of his toys and went back and threw them in the cage. Puddles growled at him and went to crew on his bone.

Marshal hung out in his room listening to music until 8:30 rolled around. He grabbed the dog and walked to Anne Belle’s room. He dumped the dog and his toys in his room and walked out the front door. He got into his old Jeep and drove across town to Chance’s house.

When he got to his best friend’s house he grabbed his bag and went up to the door and knocked. Chance’s voice echoed through the door telling him to come it. He walked in and walked down the hall to the living room. He saw Chance, Taylor and Tiger sitting on the floor among blankets and pillows in front of the TV. Taylor and Tiger were cousins so they looked similar. They both had hazel eyes and Tiger had a Moon Child piercing and black hair, whereas Taylor had snakebites and white hair.

“Hey Marshal!” they all yelled. Marshal smiled and mumbled back a reply. Chance got up and stuck the game in the console as Taylor offered Marshal some chips. There was 4 bags of chips and Marshal noticed there was beer and vodka as well as other alcohol under the coffee table. Tiger had an older brother that bought them alcohol whenever they wanted it. Marshal usually didn’t like to get drunk, but he wondered what it would be like to play Black Ops drunk.

“When can we crack into those?” he asked, gesturing to the table. Chance had a mischievous smile on and said they could start about midnight when his mom was in bed. They played until 1am when Taylor decided it was time to get tipsy. They started drinking in small amounts, but by 3am, Taylor was out. Not to long later, Tiger was out. Chance passed out at 5, and Marshal, not being as wasted, hid all the bottles he could find under the table and took a few more shots of vodka before going to bed.