BRUTAL 2
chapter three
suzie
ADRIAN FELT BEADS OF SWEAT DRIPPING DOWN HIS FOREHEAD AS HE TRUDGED UP AN OBNOXIOUSLY STEEP HILL. He was exhausted.
"Aren't we high enough?" Lucas asked. Adrian gripped the strap of the bag he was holding to keep it from falling off his shoulder. He was kind of embarrassed by the fact that the bag was almost as tall as him.
"Cerebro works best at a hundred meters." Adrian scoffed and rolled his eyes, looking back towards Mike, who was walking by himself. He pursed his lips before stopping, waiting for him to catch up.
"What's wrong?" Mike looked at the boy with an obviously fake smile. "Nothing."
"Micheal." He glared at him, crossing his arms. "Okay. Fine."
"It's just... this summer all I've wanted to do was spend time with you and only you. But you always want to go hang out with the rest of our friends." Adrian sighed.
"Mike... we've already been through this. We can hang out tomorrow, okay? I promised." Adrian looked forward to make sure no one was looking before quickly giving Mike a peck on the cheek.
"Now come on." Mike smiled softly and the two of them jogged up the hill to catch up to the others.
Adrian licked his lips as he squinted his eyes to somewhat shield them from the beaming sun. "Why is it so hot?" Adrian wiped his forehead and unbuttoned his sleeves, rolling them up.
He sighed in relief as they neared the top and almost collapsed onto the ground. "Made it." Dustin dropped his back onto the ground.
"Yeah, only took five hours," Max complained. Everyone dropped the bags they were carrying and wiped their faces. "Why couldn't we just play D&D?"
"I'm so thirsty," Lucas mumbled as he unscrewed the lid of his canteen, downing all the water that was in it.
"Did you seriously just drink the rest of our water?" Max asked, annoyed. Adrian pulled his backpack off of his back and unzipped it, pulling out a water bottle.
He tossed it to Max who smiled gratefully at him. She unscrewed the bottle and drank some.
And then the work began.
The seven of them worked together to piece together Dustin's radio tower. Although Adrian wasn't much help because he had no idea where anything went at all.
And his scrawny body didn't help him either.
He screwed together two metal pipes, repeating the process over and over, handing them to Dustin and he put them where they were supposed to go.
Dustin also wrapped some tinfoil around some metal wires. Lucas, Max, Mike, and Will wrapped metal spiral things, that looked like Slinky's in Adrian's opinion, around some other metal wires.
They used duct tape to secure the placement of all the pieces and finally, they were done.
The seven of them pushed the tower up and made sure it was level before walking off and sitting down, waiting for Suzie to speak.
"Pretty impressive, right?" Dustin asked. "Yeah," Will mumbled.
"Now, you ready to meet my love?" Adrian's nose scrunched in disgust and he turned to Mike. "Don't ever call me that or I'll cut your tongue out." He whispered into his ear.
Mike laughed, shaking his head. "Don't worry. I would never."
"Suzie, this is Dustin. Do you copy, Over?" Adrian yawned, looking towards the setting sun with a small smile.
"One sec. She's probably... She's still there. Dustin swallowed thickly before turning the mic on again.
"Suzie... this is Dustin. Do you copy? Over."
Nothing but the hiss of static.
Adrian groaned, placing his bag down before using it as a pillow. "I'm sure she's there. It's just you know, maybe she's, like, busy or-."
Adrian rolled his eyes. "Yeah," Lucas reassured. "It's around dinnertime. Here." Dustin shrugged but continued to try and contact his girlfriend.
Adrian believed Dustin. He did. But was it worth it to come all the way out here just for nothing to happen? No, it wasn't. He was starting to get annoyed at the boy, even though it wasn't his fault that Suzie wasn't answering.
He knew it wasn't his fault. But that's just how he acted.
🚬
The sky was now dark. Everyone had ended up laying down and Mike and Adrian took it as their chance to hold hands. Nobody could see them, so why not?
Adrian decided that after this night he never wanted to hear the words: "Suzie, this is Dustin. Do you copy? Over." Ever again. He was exhausted and just wanted to go home and sleep.
He would've left but he didn't want to leave Mike behind, who was slowly falling asleep.
"Forget it." He sat up and turned towards the curly-headed boy.
"Dustin. I have to get home. I'm sorry, I wish I could stay, but I really need to get home."
Dustin looked at him with saddened features. "Really?" Adrian bit his lip and nodded, giving Dustin a faux sad smile.
Dustin rolled his eyes. "Fine. Go." Adrian nodded and got up, grabbing his bag and swinging it over his shoulder.
"Yeah. I second that." Mike stated, also pushing himself off the ground.
"We'll see you tomorrow. Alright?" Dustin sighed with a nod, watching as the two walked off, chatting distinctively.
Adrian smiled when he saw his bike and he basically ran to it, hopping onto it.
"Hey... do you mind if I spend the night?" Mike asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I don't mind." Adrian gave him a reassuring smile. "Oh, good. I wouldn't felt really embarrassed if you had said no."
"And why's that?" Adrian tilted his head. Mike looked down at Adrian's puppy-like eyes and nearly melted at the sight.
"Because then I wouldn't be able to see you."
Adrian snorted in laughter. "Oh, so it was just an excuse for you to see me, huh?" Mike chuckled.
"Come on." Adrian smiled and the two took off.
"Do you need to stop by your place?" Mike shook his head.
"No. I already know I have some clothes at your house. Which, by the way, you stole from me." Adrian sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
"Me? Steal? Psh. What games are you playing?" Mike laughed.
And so the two rode off, the light of the moon shining down on them.
wow- the ending is the most CLICHE thing i've ever written 🧿👄🧿