Creek-Shots! | Craig of the Creek one shots

On the bridge under the full moon - Rayford & Julien (OCs)

In the distance, standing out against the past-scorched forest, is a bridge.

On that bridge, there's a mop of fiery red hair that Rayford could recognize even if he wasn't at their usual meeting place.

"You brought the stuff?" Julien asks when he approaches.

Rayford drops his backpack onto the old wood. Half of the planks are rotted out, and they all have a thin layer of ash coating them, but the bridge is strong enough to hold them two, and it can handle the surprisingly heavy bag that Rayford carries everywhere. "Why do you bother asking at this point?" He says, unzipping the bag and grabbing what Julien was asking for off of the top.

"And you bought the stuff?"

"I'll say it again," he says, handing over a box of Choco-Rolls and a can of Nevada Lemon-aid. "Why do you bother asking?"

Julien grabs the food and drink, not wasting any time opening the box. "Audrey's gonna kill you if she finds out, you know. She'll sick her dad on you."

Rayford scoffs. "Mister Robinson? I could take him."

Julien rolls his eyes, and releases a Choco-Roll from its cellophane prison. "You think you can take anyone, Farmboy."

"Is that my new nickname?"

"If you want it to be," he says before taking a bite of the roll, chewing it up, and saying without swallowing " Farmboy ."

Rayford groans, and Julien breaks out into a chorus of "Farmboy"s at different intensities and volumes, his mouth still full of processed chocolate cake.

"Cut it out, Jul."

He swallows. "You're no fun. Thanks for the food, though. It's still hell at my place." He always says that, and it's sadly always true. If it's not his parents being dysfunctional, it's whatever new fad they're indulging in to fix themselves up. It gets on Rayford's nerves just hearing Julien talk about it, and he can't imagine how it actually feels to live it. The worst thing his parents ever did was regret moving to Kentucky to own horse stables, and moving back to the Maryland suburbs after their kid thought it was his home for good. The least he could do is provide Julien snacks in times of need. "Their 'health food' phase has been killing me. I'm a growing boy, they know I need sugar to live."

That doesn't mean that all Rayford provided Julien was snacks. He wanted to be at least more than a deliveryman to him, and would settle for a "Friend" status. "You know what else I got for ya?"

"You stole, you mean."

Rayford ignores the comment as he digs a hand into his backpack. "Here." He pulls out the deck of cards tied together with one of his hair bands.

He can see Juliens eyes light up from behind his glasses. "Wait, wait, wait! " He snatches the cards from Rayford's hand. "Where did you get these?"

"Found them." He stole them, but Julien doesn't need to know that. He took a different route home from school, something he did often to fight against the wanderlust he inherited from exploring their acres of land back in Kentucky (okay, maybe Julien had a point calling him Farmboy). Some lady was asleep on her porch and left them out in front of her. He knew Julien ate that stuff up, so he may have snatched them right from under her snoring nose. Audrey is the least of his worries when he might have been cursed for taking these.

"Oh my- these aren't Rider-Waite. I've never even seen this art before." There are stars in his eyes as he looks up, and he's practically glowing with joy. "Are these custom?"