Externalizing [mxm]

Chapter 13

Marc sent Ariel on the task of trying to figure out which bike at the bike racks was Brendan’s. It was a long while of Marc watching people leave the school, but he was determined to see Brendan’s high school year book now. Brendan had been able to see it in Marc’s old photos, so Marc wondered if he would see the same in Brendan. And some of what he had said earlier only had Marc all the more curious.

Marc had always kept himself very well hidden with those kinds of things; even his ex-wife had never known, and they had been dating in high school.

He finally saw the student Brendan had been talking with leave, though he looked away quickly. Brendan came out shortly after, stopping when he saw Marc. “You’re still here?”

“Well I didn’t think it would take that long, I guess,” Marc admitted. “What was that about?”

“Things,” Brendan answered teasingly. “Does this mean you’re giving me a ride home?”

“What about your bike?” Marc gestured back towards the bike rack.

“I walked today,” Brendan informed.

“That wasn’t fair!” Ariel exclaimed. “I thought you had the purple bike!” It was one of the few bikes that was still left.

“You just wanted me to have the purple bike because you like purple,” Brendan countered.

“We’ll drive you,” Marc agreed, ushering Ariel towards the car.

Brendan smiled and took the front seat of the car. “What are you two doing for dinner?” he asked knowingly. “Or do I get to help on that?”

“Only if your yearbook is included in the deal,” Marc said.

“Shit,” Brendan hissed, before quickly looking over his shoulder at Ariel. “Sorry—I didn’t say that.” He turned back to Marc. “I was hoping you would forget about that.”

“We can stop by your place and grab it, then go grocery shopping for dinner, and then we’ll get home,” Marc suggested, earning another groan out of Brendan.

They swung by Brendan’s house where it was a good twenty minutes of digging around before Brendan found his yearbook. He refused to let Marc see it until later, so they stopped at the grocery store. Marc let Brendan do most of the leading through the produce department, declaring they needed to do something new again—not allowing Ariel to get her eggplant, just because it was purple.

Brendan picked out some mushrooms, which even Marc was a little skeptical to that, but Brendan promised it was all about the preparation. He bought a few other things to go with it and snuck some candy along with the load, and let Ariel pick something out for herself.

They got home and Brendan threw everything into a frying pan. Marc supervised, but after a few stings of oil on his skin, kept his distance. Brendan mixed everything in with some spinach and egg, and a number of other small chopped vegetables.