Rich Bitch // malum & lashton

one

“If you were a girl, I bet you’d be one of those over-dramatic, fucking hilarious ones.” The blonde boy always had a habit of changing subject whenever he wanted, because he often got bored.

“If you were a girl, you’d try and do the Miley Cyrus thing.”

“What? Twerk?” Images of Luke trying to twerk came into Michael’s mind and he shook his head, trying to get them as far away from his brain as possible.

“No! I mean, you’d look like Miley.”

“I wanna be Oprah Winfrey.” Luke mumbled.

“So does everyone.”

Michael joined hands with his friend. They were both comfortable with holding hands and cuddling, and they were aware that that wasn’t what boys usually did, but they needed each other. Everybody thought they were together, but they both just needed attention and the only person who gave it to them was each other. They knew it would never go anywhere, since they both had crushes on other people.

Finally, the sunset came and they watched it together, Luke rocking the skateboard back and forth slowly and Michael ignoring it. Then, Michael realised something. He got up, quickly scrambling to his feet.

“What? What? What?” Luke said, worrying at how fast his friend was being.

“I gotta go, Luke.” Then, the shorter boy ran off. The boy with long legs caught up quickly and they both ran together. It took them a while, but they made it to the poor boy’s house, seeing his mother arguing with the landlord. The landlord, Mr Garrison, stood there in a suit, an impatient look on his face, obviously never having any money troubles.

Michael stepped in front of his mother, protecting her and preventing her from another argument. He glared at the man. “Hey, please shut up, we don’t want the whole neighbourhood to know we’re struggling. Don’t shout at my mother’s face like that, just because she’s poor doesn’t mean she’s lost all rights as a human being. Tomorrow, my jobs are paying me and we’ll have the money by the end of the week. You can go now.”

Once he left, Ms Clifford gave her son a tired look, “You lied to him, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did,” he leant over and whispered, not wanting Luke to hear. “But I just needed him to stop harassing you. Take the money out of my account, mum, I don’t need it.”

“It was for Uni . . .” she said in a small voice, knowing that somewhere deep down her son was never going to University, because it was far too expensive, and he just didn’t have the grades.

“Uni doesn’t matter.” Michael waved his hand in dismissal. “Use it. I’ll earn it back.” He straightened up, giving her a brief hug, telling her to eat the last food left in the fridge, even though he bought it for himself. Then he told her he’d be back after his midnight shift.

Luke and Michael walked to the skate-park again, sitting on the top of the ramp and talking about random stuff. Stars littered the sky, making the older boy wonder what actually happens to them once they stopped glowing. He didn’t care about the answer, because he’d feel stupid for not knowing it if someone told him.

“Michael,” the blonde said, “You know, I could help you with your money problems.”

“Luke, don’t. You don’t need to make it your problem. It’s mine, and I’ll deal with it.”

“You know, I’m just trying to help.” He said hesitantly.

“Well, maybe you should stop trying.” The guy snapped, and then sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Sorry, ‘m just sick of all this bullshit.” His voice was softer and had more sadness to it.