Just Friends [ m. arguello ]

16) Heights

xvi : Heights

TW: Attempted Suicide

"What are you doing?" "Leave me alone," he responded, eyes glued to the ground as he took a shaky step forward. Avery nodded and lifted herself onto the building's edge. Marcus glanced over at her. 

"What are you doing?" 

The girl had tears in her eyes as she stepped towards him and spoke with a shaky voice. "What you do I do." "No-" He shook his head with a stern look, "You're terrified of heights, get down." "Only if you do." Marcus scoffed. "Why are you so stubborn, Martinez?" "Don't know." 

The girl shrugged as she tried walking closer to the boy. He noticed when she spared a glance over the side and her breath hitched. 

He wondered if she was about to cry because of him or the height they were at. 

A selfish part of him hoped it was because of him. 

The logical part knew it was because of the heights. 

She knew it was both.

"Get down," he glared. She grabbed ahold of his hand and shook her head no again. "Avery, I'm not joking with you-" "Neither am I," she fired back, "It's either I jump with you or we both get down and walk away from the ledge." 

After a moment of looking between the cars passing down below and the girl with pleading eyes he stepped down from the ledge. Avery seemed to calm down by tenfold at the sight of him standing away from the area. 

As the boy wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her away from the ledge she hugged him. Marcus froze at the contact, eyes widening as he slowly moved his arms so he could hug her back. 

He thought she would be upset at him. That's what she does after he gets into fights so wouldn't it be that way for this? 

"I care about you," she mumbled against his chest as the boy nodded in understanding. "I care about you too," he whispered. 

The two stood like that for a moment, just wrapped in each other's arms as they stood far away from the building's ledge. 

It was comfortable and quiet. 

However it was when they got downstairs that things got awkward. Marcus was staring down at his feet while Avery focused on the passing cars. 

"I'm sorry." He felt as though he had to apologize for something. Avery shook her head no, "I'm sorry for making it seem like I don't care." 

The two fell silent again. 

After a second Avery broke it. "I think I have a few dollars left," she had decided to change subjects, hoping to not make him feel bad by talking about it any longer. "We could get milkshakes." He lightly smiled at the idea, "That sounds good." 

Avery chuckled, "And you took that one guy's wallet, so maybe we could get some fries or something with it." Marcus laughed, "I learned from the best." That caused the girl to put her hand over her heart and gasp. "Little ole' me? Oh! You flatter me, Arguello!" 

He rolled his eyes yet didn't stop smiling, instead he pointed at the end of the street and towards the diner that the duo had deemed their hangout spot. "I bet twenty dollars I'll make it to the building first." Avery scoffed, "Never gonna happen, Arguello." He grinned and got in a running position. However before he could begin the race a motorcycle pulled up beside them.

"I'm sorry. Am I disrupting a personal moment?" They both watched as Saya took off her helmet and continued talking, "I would let you do whatever you were doing, but Lin says I've got to bring you back." "Yeah, well Lins gonna be disappointed," Marcus bit back. 

Avery looked at the girl before back at Marcus, a sigh escaping her lips causing the boy to turn his attention back to her. "We should go," she quietly admitted. The two stepped away from where Saya sat to talk. 

"What do you mean? That place is for psychos." "So are the streets," she pointed out. "Yeah, well I'd take my chances with them rather than-" "And they've got food and a roof," Avery added. She spared a glance over at Saya who was intently watching them. "Let's make a deal."

Marcus raised an eyebrow, "A deal?" "If anything goes wrong we'll leave immediately. No questions asked. Promise." He sighed and raked his hand through his hair. After a tense moment he huffed. "Fine. But anything goes wrong we're out of there." She grinned, "As fast as lightning." The teen chuckled at her statement before turning to Saya and nodding. 

"Fine." The girl hummed and passed them both helmets. 

"Hop on."