Echo of the Past

09. Marcin

"Yes ma'am!" they shouted simultaneously, starting to roll up the cables. Marcin, using the guitarist's inattention, approached his crouching form and pressed the sole of his boot into his black tee, leaving behind a brown stamp of dirt.

"Now at least you've got an interesting print on it," Marcin smirked triumphantly, satisfied with his artwork.

"You damn faggot!" The guitarist jumped to his feet and made for the already running, grinning offender.

Firyal rolled her eyes.

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"So, tell us something about your lover boy," the guitarist started again, giving Marcin a good shove with his elbow.

"Are you writing a book? Or are you just jealous?" Marcin responded, with a mean smile.

"Whoa Jake, we didn't know that side of you," the freckled guy said, taking a mouthful of his beer.

"And whose side are you on?" The guitarist pointed at the drummer with his beer bottle menacingly.

"I always support the one with the better arguments."

"And you think that..."

"Zbychu, you do realize how ambiguous that sounded?" Firka interrupted the guitarist, speaking almost into the bottle's neck. She held it close to her mouth and smiled delicately.

They looked at her. After mulling this thought over, all four of them laughed loudly.

They were sprawled across a couple of old sofas they'd found in the local scrapyard. Drinking beer, just as they always did after band practice.

"Putting the 'better arguments' discussion aside, I'm curious too," the drummer said, turning to Marcin. "You could share some details with us."

The guitarist nodded enthusiastically, urging him to talk.

"Hey..." Marcin looked from one to the other, clearly shocked. "I really don't know what's gotten into your heads today. You never ask me about things like this. Why the sudden interest?"

"Because normally you spill everything without us even having to ask."

"That's right. And you stopped seeing that Filip of yours recently; you seemed so sad. Not really talkative. You weren't up for band practice either. So we started to worry," the drummer said.

Marcin's face said something along the lines of: "I have absolutely no clue what's going on here, and what the hell happened to my friends?"

"Is it still the Filip problem? Or is it the love you feel for Winter that won't let you sleep?" the guitarist said, smiling mischievously.

"Bugger off, I saw him," Marcin answered, almost hissing. He didn't like this topic. He saw Winter on their three-day trip to the band review, end of story. Jake didn't have to believe him.

"Yeah, yeah, love does strange things to us," the guitarist said skeptically, raising his eyebrows.

"Marcin, tell them, will you? Otherwise they won't stop pestering you. And you risk having a hole drilled in your stomach," Firka said, observing their conversation.

"Besides his stomach, Jake could probably drill another hole," the drummer barked out through a laugh.

"Your jokes are cheap..." the guitarist said, looking at him with disgust.

Marcin was amused by his friends' behavior.

He was in the mood for some banter. For some revenge on his friends, who seemed to be enjoying themselves at his expense.