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Getting in the car, we head off to find some form of fast food to pick up. I still want to go by the school, just look at it for a moment.

Turning to him, I watch his jaw flex, his complexion concentrated on the road. Something about him feels so off-putting right now and I don't need to wait long to notice what it's about.

His hand comes to mine, softly running his thumb over my bandaged knuckles before raising our hands to his face, pressing a soft, sort of protective kiss on them. Marshall is quite an emotion-fueled guy. He often lets anger spearhead his behavior, acting rashly or in an overly explosive fashion.

I don't understand how society has morphed into a weird form of logic towards the categorization of emotions. Anger is a powerful emotion, much more than sadness, at least in my eyes, yet somehow if it's shown in a man, it's practically written off. It's seen as normal, typical, and understandable.

I just see it as it is...

Marshall is an emotional boy... I choose boy as a descriptor considering that Marshall is quite immature, though just enough that it isn't hindering... I consider jealousy a childish emotion. I consider being obsessively possessive to be childish... but I find it all so... attractive in him.

Marshall is so hard not to like... it's quite strange. Only when he does something objectively bad, I can feel mad at him. Otherwise, all of his behaviors are just... adorable...

Besides, I clearly have zero right to judge his bursts of anger.

"How 'bout we get Taco Bell and eat it at the football field..? For nostalgia's sake..." he suggests, getting an eager nod out of me, intrigued by the idea.

There are certain moments in life that you feel you want to experience, even if there's nothing particularly special about the act of doing them.

When I moved to New York, I was so excited to study my homework in a coffee shop. Something about sitting in that dynamic, the noise, the smells, the energy... the act of doing a regular thing in a different, semi-foreign area seemed so enticing to me. Shocker, I enjoyed every second of it.

"You still obsessed with Taco Bell...?" I inquire, watching him purse his lips, corners turned up softly to indicate that I was correct but he felt maybe... bested by me.

"Yeah, I know... typical" he scoffs, grin fully showing, indicating he didn't take the implications too seriously.

"Not really, somethings just stay the same..." I shrug, not really caring what his favorite fast-food chain was, though I find Taco Bell to be the worst of them all, next to McDonald's. It just seems like everything is frozen processed crap.

I've always loved pizza from Dominos... a random favorite of mine, though I barely ever have it, at least not anymore.

One time at lunch with the guys, they got on the topic of fast food, needless to say, I decided never to be caught in one of those places ever again, at least not on Wall Street. Adams... being his usual, insanely bigoted and critical self... why do I hang out with him again...? Whatever. He stated, "only fucking bums, working dead-end jobs, whose lives aren't worth shit, eat at those places."

I didn't choose to be the voice of reason this time, possible criticizing words ripped from my throat when the others agreed with him.

I mean... what did I expect? They're all from rich families for one thing and we eat at restaurants where the bill accumulates to around five hundred to maybe even seven hundred dollars...

I pick and choose my battles to have, and if the cards are stacked against me, I'm not choosing to fight this one.

***

Emotional Boys 2000 Where stories live. Discover now