43 Days

(6) MALACHI: JUNE 10TH, 2020

MALACHI: JUNE 10TH, 2020

When Malachi said he hated thrifting, he wasn't kidding.

          The dressing rooms were small and made him feel stuffed up, it was either too cold or too hot, and the first time he went thrifting he was pretty sure he and his friends were being followed around the store.

            Honestly — who the fuck would steal from a thrift store?

             But Leo and Enzo wanted him to go, so he guessed he could give it a second chance. As soon as they entered the store, Leo was grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the men's section, Enzo in tow. He sighed quietly as Leo started searching through the clothes with a certain passion that he'd never used for school projects.

"You like this?" Leo asked, taking a shirt from the rack and holding it up to show him. Malachi frowned. It was a button up, one side had horizontal stripes of black and white, and the other side was plain black. He wasn't a big fan of patterns.

"Not really," Malachi answered honestly.

"Too bad." Leo shoved the shirt against his chest. Malachi sighed.

"What's the point in asking if I like it if you don't give a fuck?"

Leo shrugged. "Wanted to appear considerate." He shoved it against Malachi's chest a little harder that time, making him exhale heavily and take it reluctantly. "I get to choose your style now, motherfucker."

"Shouldn't I get to choose my style? Since, you know, it's my fucking — "

Enzo slapped a hand over Malachi's mouth. "Don't question the intellectual, Mal."

"I hate you both," Malachi mumbled against Enzo's palm. He waited for him to remove his hand, but when he didn't, Malachi smacked his wrist, forcing him to pull away. "Stop touching me for so long."

"Yeah!" Leo exclaimed, turning to face his friends with a grin. A mischievous one, and Malachi knew immediately what was coming. "Touch me for that long instead."

There it is.

"Not in public, babe, people are watching." Leo nodded solemnly, and Malachi was really beginning to regret ever mentioning the idea of a road trip.

As Leo walked down the aisles, he carelessly tossed random items of clothing into Malachi's arms, occasionally missing and hitting Enzo in the face instead. Malachi wasn't sure if it was an accident or not — either way, there was too much. The store would probably close before he was able to try half of it all on.

"Pants time!" Leo stated energetically, shoving at their backs to get them to start moving in the direction he wanted to go in. Malachi hated shopping for pants. His legs were weirdly shaped, so they never fit right. He ended up wearing baggy jeans or sweatpants, sometimes basketball shorts instead. Maybe that's why Leo says I have a straight man's sense of style. Now that he thought about it, it made sense.