disclaimer: nothing is mine.
It seems like it's only them on the road, really.
Everyone else seems to have quieted down. The others' conversations are reduced to muffled babbling floating along down the road.
"It's so fuckin' quiet. I don't like it." Parker looks around warily,
Abraham sighs, rubbing his arms to keep the cold out. Their sweatshirts had long since stopped working. "I don't either. And it's getting dark, too."
"Like I couldn't fuckin' see that. You cold?"
"A little bit."
"Here. I've got another jacket on under it. These goddamn things don't seem to work no matter how many of them I layer." Parker hands Abraham a jacket, which he gladly takes. Of all the people in the whole stupid thing to walk next to, Abraham's frankly glad he chose Parker.
Sure, Parker is usually angry and always complaining about the weather, but he's a good guy to be around. He's sorta sweet, under all that exterior. At least that was what Abraham could figure out from walking with him for a couple days.
"What're you thinkin' about?"
Abraham shrugs. "The usual."
Parker laughs. "I've known you for three goddamn days. You can't expect me to know what 'the usual' is. Girlfriend? Parents?"
"C'mon, you know that I'm not thinking about my damn parents. Nobody does, not in something like this. And my girlfriend? Man, we broke up before this whole thing. She thought I was making a stupid choice because I could've backed out."
Parker seems to be listening really attentively to his talking. "Yeah. Go on. Tell me about your stupid-ass life. I like to hear it."
"Well, my girlfriend thought I was making a dumb choice 'cause, you know, I could have pretty easily just backed out. She yelled at me like all of the sudden our whole relationship was just out the window. She'd just thought it was a joke, you know. Like I wouldn't actually enter. It was just a joke to start out with. Another fucking joke." Abraham looks down, sighing again. "I'm sick of jokes, you know. Why can't we all be serious with each other?"
"Ah, c'mon, Abe, where's the fun in that?" Parker shoves him playfully and it gets a smile out of the other boy.
"You're right, I guess. I just wish I was...more than funny. I mean, there are more parts of my personality than fucking jokes."
"Damn right. Only a fuckin' idiot wouldn't be able to tell that you're a pretty deep guy, Abe."
Abraham persists. He doesn't even know why, he knows Parker wants to make him feel better but he's fucking dispelling everything he says. "Name one trait I have that's not funny."
"You're sure as hell really fucking stupid."
"How do you mean?"
"God, I mean, if you think all there is to you is the fact that you're funny every once in awhile, then you've got to be pretty fucking stupid, Abe. Listen here, you motherfucker, at the risk of sounding like somebody from a stupid friendship book, you're determined, you're kind, you're fucking great. I'm no good at this, but that's all there really is to it."
There are a few minutes of silence as Abraham tries to process this. Parker's way of comforting him certainly isn't the way he's used to, that's for sure. But it was sweet. In an angry, swearing Collie Parker way.
"Thanks, Parker."
"Huh? What're you thanking me for? I just fucking told you that you're great. And you are. That's just a thing that's true, it's not like you have to thank me." Parker puts a hand on his shoulder. "But in all seriousness, yeah, you're fucking welcome."
"Honestly, I mean...hell, you're better than my girlfriend was."
"Did you just ask me to be your girlfriend?" Parker laughs loudly, causing a few of the other Walkers to look up at them.
"Sure, if that's how you want to take it." Abraham grins at him, and Parker slings an arm around his shoulder.
"Fine, if that's what you want, I'll be your fuckin' Long Walk girlfriend and cheer for you on the side of the road."
Suddenly Abraham feels something rise in his throat as he realizes that both of them are probably going to die somewhere along this road. He might have to live to see Parker dying. Parker might see him die.
"Yeah, sure. Cheer for me and blow me kisses on the side of the road. My girlfriend definitely wouldn't have done that."
Parker rolls his eyes and leans over to peck Abraham on the cheek. There's a moment of awkward silence between the two.
"I didn't expect you to take that seriously."
Parker bursts out laughing, and Abraham that, for the moment, death isn't the most important thing for him to be thinking about.
sometimes i think about the fact that i could be working on a history project and instead i'm writing fluffy long walk fanfics