Don't Go Away

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

Even as the credits came, they didn’t leave with everyone else.

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

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

Marshal enjoyed Winston’s company, and Winston liked trying on clothes, but only if they were black. They spent a lot of time in Hot Topic, where Winston ended up buying $200 worth of clothes. Marshal was never that into shopping, but Winston insisted on spending $100 on clothes for him.

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

"Don’t worry about it. Its nothing," Winston declared 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, and put his hands in his sweatshirt pocket.

"No, Winston, its fine. I know I'm not the richest person, but 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, rubbing Marshal's arm. Marshal didn’t know what to say so he nodded and they continued to wander through the mall.

Marshal wanted to get home before dinner, so they made their back to the movie theater parking lot.

"Where's your car?" Marshal asked.

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

"Why don’t I give you a ride," he offered. Yet it was more of a statement than 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 as Marshal led him to his car. Winston gave him directions as they drove across town, "Are you busy tomorrow?"

"What day is tomorrow?"

"Thurs-day," Winston said is a sing-song voice.

“I don’t have work, so definitely. What do you want to do?” Marshal asked, feeling a smile creep onto his face. After the day they had, Marshal had been able to forget his unrequainted ‘love‘ for Chance.

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

“You know where Winds End Park is?” Marshal asked after a minute. Winston nodded and Marshal suggested, “Well, how about we meet up there at two tomorrow,”

“Alright,” Winston grinned at Marshal, “My house is right there.” pointing to the large two story house on the left. It was a brick house with white trim. The lawn was perfectly cut and there was a small boy sitting on the porch eating a popsicle. He pulled in the driveway and put the car in park.

“Is that your brother?” Marshal asked, nodding at the small boy. He looked about 12 or 13 and he had sandy brown hair that was close to a buzz. His eyes and mouth looked like Winston, but there was something about him that didn’t look like him.

“My half brother, Bailey,” Winston said, reaching for the door handle.

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

“I cant wait. Bye Marshal.” he said, getting out of the car.

When Marshal got to his house, he snuck by his dad who was sleeping on the couch, and retreated upstairs to his room. He started putting his new clothes away, which consisted of one pair of pants and four shirts. As he collapsed onto his bed, he heard his phone ring.

“Hello?” he answered quickly, not checking the caller ID

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

“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 mumbled.

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

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

Marshal hung up and tossed his phone on the floor. It was only 6:30 so he had some time to kill. He packed his new blue skinny jeans and a red shirt that Winston complimented. He didn’t bother packing pajamas because he’d either fall asleep in what he was wearing or he would just strip into boxers.

While he was zipping up 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 for her for her 8th birthday. She cherished Puddles 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 by then,” Marshal warned. Anne Belle rolled her eyes and left. Marshal held Puddles like the celebrities do as he walked down the hall to get the baby cage from the hall closet. He set it up in his room and set Puddles in the middle of it, who growled at him and went to chew on his bone.

At 8:30 he dumped Puddles Anne Belle’s room and walked out the front door into his old Jeep and drove across town to Chance’s house.

When he arrived, he could hear Chance’s voice echo through the door telling him to come into 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 both had hazel eyes, however, Tiger had dimple piercings6- and black hair, whereas Taylor had snakebites and bleach blond 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 were 4 bags of chips and Marshal noticed beer and vodka as well as other liquor hidden beneath the coffee table. Tiger had an older brother that bought them alcohol whenever they wanted it.

“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 1:00am when Taylor decided it was time to get tipsy. They started drinking in small amounts, but by 3:00am, Taylor was passed out. Not to long later, Tiger was out. Chance passed out at 5:00am, 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.