Octopus Lips

Tear Trails

      "I know so," she gave him two thumbs up.

      "What's that on your face?" I asked, breaking the flow of conversation. There was a faint purple mark on the side of his cheek, a line, following a trail where his tears might have fallen.

     Ramon's weakly happy expression instantly went cold and his hand flew up to the exact spot, "what do you mean?"

     "Have you got concealer on?" My heart hammered in my chest.

     "N-no."

     He tried to duck away from me as I licked my thumb and smeared it across his face, taking off the makeup in streaks. Ramon covered the spot his hand and turned away from me. Rosie and I stood there in shocked silence for a bit, as the cat was out of the bag, and demanded an explanation. Ramon looked up at us, his face was red with embarrassment and shame. He slowly removed his hand from his cheek and revealed what was obviously a small bruise under makeup, washed away by tears.

     "Did Johnny do that to you?" Rosie asked, her voice trembling slightly.

     Ramon's eyes widened, "Oh, No! No he wouldn't, I'm positive. Not me. He... he threatens a lot of kids but they're hollow I can tell-"

     "Ramon," I grabbed him by the shoulders, "who did this?"

     He glanced nervously at the ground and then over his shoulder, "Oh look, it's my house. It was nice walking with you two, see you tomorrow-"

      "Ramon." Rosie put her hand on his shoulder and he stopped backing away, "it's okay, you can tell us."

     He paused, caught between the sweet promise of safety and the void of solitude. I could see the prey-animal look in his eyes, like he was small bird looking past the saliva dripping off a wolf's fangs. He looked back at his house, then reached up one hand to grip his arm.

     "My mom...has lots of men over...she likes to uh... party. They drink a lot," his hand brushed against the bruise, "they get blackout drunk a lot." He paused, then added, "But I'm okay... it was only one time. She's not seeing that guy anymore."

     "Does she know?"

     He shook his head, "She can't know."

     I glanced over at Rosie, she read my mind. We couldn't leave him here now. I wasn't about to send him back into the lion's den.

     "Do you want to come over to my house and hang out?" Rosie asked.

     Ramon smiled and relaxed slightly, letting the tension out of his body, "y-yes, I would like that very much. I uh, don't know if I'll be allowed." 

     "Oh," Rosie's face fell.

     "I suppose I could..." he glanced at the house again, "Ask for forgiveness instead of permission."

     "You could do that," I raised an eyebrow.

     "Please," he begged, only half-joking.

     "You won't get in trouble?" Rosie frowned, "I don't want to put you in a worse position."

     "It'll be fine, she'll be glad I've made other friends besides Johnny."

      "Okay then," Rosie smiled.

      Rosie's house was closer to Ramon's then mind. I phoned my parents I was going over there, which was approved because I was always at Rosie's when the house was empty. The three of us bumbled through the door, took off our coats and backpacks. I plopped down on the table and pulled out school books, Rosie was chatting happily with Ramon and teaching him how to make her world-famous sugar cookies. It wasn't long before we were munching on them while working on homework together.

     "Do you have a favorite movie, Ramon?" I asked, "Rosie and I usually like to watch our favorites when we hang out."

     "Oh yeah," he laughed nervously and looked down, "I really like The Princess Bride."

     Rosie slapped her hand down on the table, "Oh my God, if I weren't gay and if you weren't gay I'd kiss you on the mouth right now."

     I snorted, "Nerds."

     "Okay just because you don't understand art, Gwen-mmf!"

      I leaned forward and kissed her, I felt her frown and smirked back, she leaned into it. Ramon blinked, and I turned back to his confused and wildly amused expression.

      "Oh right, we're dating now by the way," I realized.

     "Oh!" Rosie blinked, "I forgot we hadn't told anyone yet."

     "You are?" he gasped, "That's wonderful!"

     We talked about our relationship for a bit, the remaining cookies were divided up with popcorn, and we settled down for the night. Eventually at some point Ms. Jenkins came home, bit us all a good night, hung out for a bit while we watched our movie. That was when Rosie shifted away from me, and made sure we were touching. I couldn't help but notice that.

     When Ms. Jenkins decided to leave us alone, Rosie leaned her head back on my shoulder and that's when I decided to pull out my phone and send a very lengthy and strongly worded text message to my buddy Johnathan Laurens.

Hey, I hope you feel terrible because you genuinely suck Johnny. You don't deserve to have us as friends, but you know we're not going to drop your sorry butt because despite what you want to believe, we are still your friends. Especially Ramon, who has been by your side since basically forever, and doesn't deserve anything you said to him. You're a jerk, and you're going to apologize to him. Or I will make you sorry.

     A few minutes passed and then I got a response.

Are you trying to bully the bully, Degray

I'm helping you get your best friend back, I replied.

     He didn't answer for a very long time.

Fine, I'll do it.

:)

     A few minutes later Ramon's phone buzzed. "Looks like my mom finally found out I was gone," he laughed awkwardly, "pray for me."

     Rosie make a cross over her heart, miming solidarity. I watched Ramon's face change in the flickering light of the television from a look of nervousness to surprise. His eyebrow flew up, his whole body froze, then his hand went up to his mouth and he started scrolling. I was really hoping that meant Johnny had actually tried and texted him the book of apologies he deserved instead of something superficial. They had known each other for far too long in order for that to be okay.

     He was wiping tears from his face, "Johnny apologized... he sent something really sweet. It's been a long day I guess, I'm still processing everything."

     Rosie smiled, "That's wonderful."

      Ramon nodded, "My... my heart hurts... right in here." He tapped his sternum, "I... I love him so much."

      "Ramon!" She exclaimed, "come here."

     Rosie hugged him and I patted him on the back. We considered the night a celebration, it was a good distraction from everything that had happened. From Gordon's disappearance, to Chase blowing up in our faces. A lot of horrible things had happened, but this was good. This was our golden drop of sunlight that we could hold onto and remember the sweet taste of the moment in the bitter air that seemed to be everywhere these days. It made be believe that things were going to be okay after all.