2.
Girls Say This Every Week
A/N: Hey. So I wrote this all the way back in May of 2017. The plot has changed a hell of a lot since then so I'm rewriting this chapter. If you wanna read it, go ahead! But I gonna change it so, so much, so it's kinda pointless.
They drove in silence, Lola resting her head on the window, Shiloh half asleep, Jason simply sitting there. Marlie bridled and sighed, turning into the police station car park. It was two in the morning, Marlie had women studies in four hours, it would take two hours to get home, and she was the only sober person. Wonderful.
From what she'd heard from Julian, the party had shut down pretty quickly. Everett hadn't failed to mention that Gabriel hadn't gotten away quick enough. The thought of that smug bastard sat in a holding cell he put himself into brought a smirk to Marlie's lips.
He hadn't always been such a dickhead, Gabriel that is. There had been one point when he was tolerable. He'd even been a friend once. Well, Shiloh's friend.
But the situation was this: it was two in the morning and Marlie hated Everett far more than she should. Jason was the only one who went with her and he paid the money - it was then that Marlie found out about his billionaire parents - and Everett walked out of the holding cell with his head hanging and tail between his legs.
"You absolute jackass." Jason muttered with a grin when Everett approached them. The boy with the shaved head and two differently coloured eyes simply looked back at him in some sort of shame.
They stopped in the car park somewhere between the station and Everett's car. Jason asked him "Which colour eye do you want me to hit?"
"Preferably the brown one." Everett muttered, meaning his right eye, and Jason, several inches taller than him, slung an arm over Everett's shoulder.
They wandered for a moment, Jason and Everett trailing behind Marlie. She considered whether or not to say something.
She didn't have to because Everett then held out a hand to Marlie and said "Keys."
Marlie sped up in her walk and Everett pulls away from Jason to follow her. "Marceline Quince you get back here and give me my car keys!"
She broke into a run and Everett sprinted after her. A laugh bubbled up inside her and somewhere behind her Everett cursed and Jason shouted in surprise. Marlie laughed and stopped at the car. Shiloh glanced at her in indifference.
Marlie turns to Everett and hollered "Just how wasted are you?!"
Everett, out of breath, slowed to a jog and shouted back "Just enough that I'm good for the breathalysers!"
He stopped and tried to catch his breath. Jason was still walking and Everett gave himself 10 seconds to breathe again.
He then straightened his back, held out his hand, and said "Marlie. Keys."
"Woof." Marlie muttered, dangling the keys just above his hand only to snatch them away as he went to grab them.
"Marceline, I swear to God."
"Oh yeah?" She grinned and gripped the keys a little tighter. "Which one?"
"Marlie, give me the damn keys!" He lunged forward with a laugh and Marlie stepped back, caught Jason in the corner of her eye, and roared with laughter when Everett yelped in surprise. "Jason--! Dude let me go!"
Jason hauled Everett over his shoulder and says "Sorry, man. You're wasted."
"You wish I was wasted!"
Marlie and Jason exchanged looks and she shrugged. Was it confusion or amusement? Neither of them really knew.
So they piled Everett into the back of the car between Lola and Shiloh where Lola had fallen asleep. Shiloh and he exchanged drunken speech for the entire two hours back.
Jason was simply thinking Jesus Christ what kind of friends does Everett have? And then Am I now a part of this?
The answer was undoubtedly yes.
"Well." Marlie said, sighing and resting a hand on the steering wheel. She looked in the rear view mirror and caught Everett's (blue) eye. He gave her a brash grin and Shiloh elbowed his side so that he yelped.
The situation was this: a group of 24 year old college students had just had quite possibly the most eventful New Year's yet. Three out of five of them were drunk out of their minds, one was the designated driver, the other was a complete stranger.
Figures.
"We're all crashing at Everett's place." Marlie said, looking at Jason. He jumped at her voice, mind obviously elsewhere.
"We are?" Everett piped up. Both Marlie and Jason ignored it.
Marlie asked Jason "Are you coming with?"
There was hardly a moment of consideration before Jason said "Sure, why not?"
So at four in the morning, Marlie pulled Everett's car into the driveway and they all staggered into his living room.
Everett stumbled towards the sofa and promptly collapsed into it, Lola followed suit, and Shiloh, not quite as drunk as them, switched on the kettle and kicked off her shoes. Marlie, for fear that they might hurt themselves in their drunken stupor, squeezed herself between Everett and Lola and let her head rest on the back of the sofa. She let out a breath and rubbed her eyes, makeup and all be damned.
Jesus Christ this is the worst night of my life.
Almost immediately Everett passed out and began to snore, Lola quickly followed and Marlie was left sat between the two of them while Shiloh and Jason caught up.
"Honestly, what did you do with your hair?" Shiloh laughed, interrupting the momentary silence. Marlie craned her head to look at them. Shiloh's slender legs dangled above the floor as she and Jason sat on the countertop, cups of tea clasped in their hands. Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she grinned.
"I got bored and bleached it." Jason ran a hand through his hair and gave a small smile. "I mean, I also cut most of it off but. . ." He shrugged and let Shiloh run another drunken hand through it. She was a lot harder to manage when she wasn't sober, a lot happier too.
Shiloh caught Marlie's eye and gestured for her to sit beside her. So Marlie did, pushing herself up from between her friends. Lola groaned in her sleep, Marlie tried to ignore her friend and slipped her shoes off of her feet. Pushing up onto the worktop, Shiloh wrapped an arm around her waist and Marlie rested her head on Shiloh's shoulder; it was one of the very few advantages to being 5'2, being able to rest your head on other people's shoulders.
Shiloh and Jason kept talking and exhaustion made Marlie spacey. She hardly paid attention to what they said but eventually a silence fell over the lot of them. In such a large house, it felt more unnerving than serene.
"So you've known Jason for how long?" Marlie mumbled, soft and gentle from sleepiness. The sudden break in silence was somewhat startling and Jason looked at Marlie as if he'd only just realised she was there.
Shiloh squeezed the arm around Marlie's waist. "Well he dropped off the face of the Earth at the start of this year so. . ." She gave Jason a look and he chuckled and drained his mug. What was in it? Marlie didn't know; she wasn't sure if she cared.
"But I don't know." Shiloh continued. "Like, three years?"
"Four." Jason corrected, setting the mug down beside him. "It's a new year."
"Alright, alright." Shiloh rolled her eyes and glanced to Lola and Everett. She then looked back to Jason and told him "Why don't you go to sleep, you look shattered."
"I'd be less shattered if Marceline hadn't almost hit you with a car." Jason shrugged, but went to get up anyway. He was a lot of things; and insomniac was not one of them. "I have class in five hours."
"Then go to sleep, you knobhead." Shiloh repeated and waved him off and Marlie let her eyes droop. Shiloh squeezed her arm around Marlie's waist again - she had a tendency to do that - and Marlie took Shiloh's hand only to scrutinize it.
"You've been chewing your nails again." Marlie grumbled as she held Shiloh's hand up in the low light. Shiloh ignored what she said, but looked at her hand as if it were the most interesting thing she'd seen yet. Then, she looked at Marlie.
"You're so squidgy when you're tired." Shiloh chuckled. Marlie took her head off of Shiloh's shoulder and gave a noise of indignation, frowning. "I mean, you're like a sleepy puppy sometimes. You're so. . . So Marlie."
Shiloh, Marlie's best friend of 15 years who'd never had a relationship longer than four months, pushed a strand of hair behind Marlie's ear. She was 24 and acted like she was still 16
"Sorry about almost killing you earlier." Marlie said and Shiloh stifled a laugh, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Honestly I don't think I would've cared that much." Marlie arched an eyebrow. "I mean, like, it would've hurt but. . ." She shrugged and Marlie chuckled.
"You're not sober are you?" Marlie asked with a grin.
"Not at all."
A little while of silence passed. The television buzzed on in the background and Marlie gazed around the room.
With Everett's parents both being CEO's of multinational companies, they were barely ever home. Though, whenever either his mother or father returned to the pigsty their son had made of the place, the ear bending and berating was endless.
Marlie found herself thinking, it must be lonely here.
"Marlie." Shiloh mumbled, resting her head atop of Marlie's. "We should date sometime."
Marlie pulled away and sighed, looking at Shiloh in something akin to disappointment. "You say this every week."
"Yeah but I'm serious." Shiloh took her hand and Marlie instinctively pulled it away.
"Yeah but you're absolutely smashed." Marlie ignored the furious blush in her cheeks and looked away. "Go to sleep."
"Alright, alright." Shiloh raised her hands in surrender and pushed herself off of the worktop. Wandering over to the pile of their sleeping friends, she threw a "love you" over her shoulder.
"Yeah, you're alright." Marlie returned, pushing the hair back behind her ear. It didn't need pushing back because it had never fallen, but Marlie felt as though she should do something.
Twisting the ring around her finger, Marlie thought. She would never say no if Shiloh actually asked; but Marlie, straight A* psychology student knew how crushes worked: whoever is the closest, the easiest to fall for, you fall for because it's the simplest thing to do.
It made it all seem so unromantic and ugly when put into perspective. And it wasn't fair that Shiloh was so easy to fall for.
Because Shiloh was so easy to fall for. She seemed to be everything that books spoke about; a dream of a girl who loved fast and loved hard.
Marlie found herself drifting, how lovely it would be to simply gaze into her eyes, to run a hand through her hair.
All of them had loved her at some point, Everett was first, then Lola, later Marlie would find that Jason had liked her too, and now it was Marlie's turn.
So she pushed it to the back of her mind and pulled the kettle off of the stove before it began to whistle and waited two hours before deciding to sleep. By then the sun was beginning to rise.
--
Lola paced as she always did when something stressful happened. She said that it was the testosterone that she had left; Marlie didn't fail to remind her that after being on estrogen for almost seven years, Lola shouldn't have had any more testosterone than Shiloh or Marlie herself.
The problem at hand was the fact that at exactly 9:34 in the morning, the police had rushed in without warning and dragged Everett away.
"So what actually happened?" Marlie asked; she was asleep when it had happened and somehow hadn't managed to wake up.
"Gabriel is dead." Lola said it so bluntly it took Marlie a moment to realise that Lola had said anything at all.
"Abernathy?"
"Who else?" Shiloh spat it like venom. Sometimes it was hard to forget that they'd been friends once. "Turned up drowned in the lake out behind campus."
And for a moment the world felt a little numb. Sure, the boy was an asshole, the pure definition of "hit me and my dad'll sue you for everything you've got," everything that everyone hated, but the boy didn't deserve to wash up on the bank with algae in his lungs.
"Well," Marlie said it because it was the only thing she could think of. "Shit."
There was silence for a while. Shiloh stared at the floor, expression blank and empty. She was grieving in her own way.
After a few seconds Shiloh got up and left the room.
"Wait." Jason said, leaning forward with a furrowed brow. "Why was Everett taken?"
"Prime suspect, clearly angry with Gabriel before his death. One of the last people to see him." Lola said without looking at him.
She finally stopped pacing and slumped down beside Marlie, who slung an arm over her shoulder.
"They think it's a murder?" Marlie frowned.
"Well, I don't think he tied his own hands and legs together before throwing himself in." Lola was bitter. She might have hated the boy - just barely tolerated him - but the death clearly left her shell shocked.
Jason shrugged and said "The things drunk people do--"
"It was a murder, Jason, and they think that Everett did it." Lola looked up at him then, eyes sharp and cold. It wasn't often that Lola was like that, so there was really no arguing. Jason sat back and Lola went to leave, saying that she needed to find Shiloh. Marlie stopped her with a simple touch of the hand.
"Lola," Marlie said it softly, resting a hand on Lola's arm. "We all need to stomach this in our own way."
"And what do you suggest?" Lola asked, relaxing to an extent.
"I. . . I don't know." Marlie pushed herself to her feet. She took Lola's hand and simply said "We're going to that diner down the road, you're coming with me and we're getting smoothies or something."
"Why?"
"Because I'm tired and sad and skipping classes today and I'm not doing it alone." Marlie said as she swiped the car keys off of the table by the front door. Lola simply shrugged and allowed herself to be pulled along.
And that was that. Nothing more to be said.