NEW YEAR'S EVE ━━ 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐍

𝟎𝟐𝟒 ━━ everything's up to us now

So, when Marcus texted him, asking to hang out, he was probably up to no good and EJ would've responded no immediately, if not for the fact he asked to meet him in Slices. When he walked in, the other senior was sitting at the back of the restaurant, at the corner table, exactly where he expected him to be.

He sat down, folding his arms. "What do you want?"

"You look good," Marcus smiled. "Are you doing something different with your hair? It looks good..." EJ was going to get up again, so he conceded. "Okay, okay...I'm sorry. I just want to talk."

"No, you don't..." EJ retorted. "If you did, you wouldn't have asked me to come here. How dare you ask Ricky to prom? If our friendship means anything to you..."

"It does," Marcus said. "Why do you think I asked you here?" He waited for EJ to calm down, watching him take short breaths. "Look, I don't want to fight. I've never wanted to...I've been trying to help you."

"You have a pretty fucked up understanding of help." Marcus didn't say anything for a while. He let three customers pile in, and a waiter come and ask them what they wanted.

"Chocolate milkshake, please," Marcus requested, smiling when the waiter turned to EJ, whose jaw was stiffer than rock. "Two."

Marcus still didn't get to his point until after their drinks came, and he had slurped half the milkshake down. "I don't talk to Ricky about you anymore," he said, sitting back. "Out of respect, because I know you still like him. And, I know that you made a mistake...but it wasn't your fault. And, if Ricky doesn't realize that then...he doesn't deserve you."

EJ shook his head. "I was the one who messed up."

"Maybe. But you told him the truth, and you apologized. That's all you can do..." Marcus shrugged. "At least you told him. The easy part's over. Now, here's the hard part..."

"What's that?"

"Forgiveness."

"What makes that the hard part?"

"Have you forgiven me?" EJ looked at him, thinking about an answer, and he grabbed his milkshake, taking his first sip. "Exactly. But, you two have a chance..."

"I don't know..."

"I do." Marcus reached across the table, taking his palm into his hand and enclosing it with his other. "You don't need another relationship where you're holding something in."

He hadn't held Marcus's hand in a long time or seen them so close, but his brain remembered to ignore what he noticed around his wrists━faded, and barely noticeable. They were holding hands for so long, he didn't notice when Marcus caught him staring, and pulled his hands away without a second thought.

EJ took his hands back, placing them around his drink. "Sorry..."

"Me too," Marcus sighed, and he'd reapplied a smirk when he added, "I thought at least one of us had escaped the clutches of our evil paternal figures."

"Nope." EJ groaned. "My dad cares more about who I should be than who I actually am."

"At least he cares about you at all. Some of us don't get that lucky...." EJ bowed his head when Marcus laughed at him. "Ricky's helped, though. He's a good dude."

"I know, he's not like you."

"Hey," Marcus snapped. "That was uncalled for."

"You should be used to it by now."

"I'm not," he chuckled. "But you're right━I tried to turn him against you, and it didn't work..."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I think he's changed his mind about me...he called me a liar."