He wasn't sure if the door could have been slammed any harder.
If there was one thing that Roger was sure of, it was that Maurice was beyond pissed. No, it was more like he was a volcano just waiting to erupt, like those kinds of catastrophic accidents that you see on TV, only ten times worse. This was surprising in itself, considering that the only times Roger had seen Maurice mad was...well, actually, he couldn't think of a single time he was. The only memory the boy could remember was that Maurice was always happy-go-lucky, smiling all the time as though his life depended on his happiness and nothing else.
It certainly didn't seem like it today, though.
He could hear the car start up from outside, and Roger practically dragged himself out of the sheets. Shirtless and hair ruffled, he didn't even bother to put on some form of clothing, only hold up a towel to his lower area, before moving towards the door and watching from the window as the red vehicle sped out from the driveway. Roger wasn't even certain if a car would get out any faster than the way Maurice's did.
"The hell...?" He groaned, dragging his hand over his face and not really sure if he should reach for his cellphone. Like Hell he was going to, since he didn't get a good explanation as to why Maurice acted so differently, or why he left so abruptly. Was it something that the boy had said? Well, that didn't really seem understandable, considering that Roger couldn't even remember saying anything that could have set him off so badly. Or, at least, anything that was different that how Roger normally acted.
Sighing, the boy walked over towards the coach and turned on the television to blank out his thoughts. Once he sat on the cushions and let his thoughts trail off to the sound of the morning news, he let his eyes glance over the broken pieces of beer bottles and scratched up picture frames. He knew that he was hit pretty hard the night before, but did that really matter to the other boy? If there was anything that Maurice should have been used to, it would have to be the fact that Roger got drunk – often. They've already been together for some time now – practically over two years – so Roger knew that it would have to have been pretty serious in order for Maurice to just walk out on him.
"Why am I still thinking about this? God, Roger...he's probably just acting overly dramatic as usual." The boy told himself, letting his head rest back and letting his eyes shut. Sleep would come, and it would help him get rid of all these unwanted thoughts
The only thing was that he couldn't sleep, even if he tried.
The phone was the first thing he could see as he stepped away from the shower later on that evening.
It remained shut off, without one message showing up on the main screen. That meant that Maurice didn't even bother messaging him or calling him, for whatever reason it could possibly be. Roger slung his wet towel into the laundry basket and reached outwards the for the device, looking through his inbox and only seeing the messages he had seen before. There wasn't even a trace of a new message from Maurice anywhere, as though he was actively ignoring him on purpose. There wasn't even any missed calls.
Roger, clearly frustrated, wasn't sure how to feel about this. He only knew that this wasn't like Maurice at all. Typically, the boy would instantly apologize if he even suspected he did something wrong. Then he would make a huge scene about how he wished Roger would forgive him, and how he would never do something that reckless (even if it wasn't that bad) ever again. Roger found these little sessions really annoying, but as annoying as they were, he always found himself forgiving the little goof and going back to the way things were. Now it didn't even seem as though Maurice wanted to contact him at all.
Roger quickly found himself dialing the first numbers of Maurice's cell phone number without even realizing it, and once the numbers were showing themselves on the screen, he stopped himself and wondered if he really should call. A part of him, a good chunk of him rather, wanted to snap the phone shut and just throw it against the wall and never bother with it again. The other part however wanted to call him, wanted to know if everything was going to be okay.
The boy simply allowed his pride to cave in this time, and he closed the phone and just threw it on the bed without going near it again. He fell onto the bed, exhausted and letting his dripping hair start to soak his own mattress. Whether the other boy had realized it or not, waiting patiently was not one of Roger's strong points, and Roger was getting more and more angry just thinking about it.
It was almost like a shot of lightning at how fast the next phone call vibrated. Roger shot upwards, reaching for the phone and quickly opening it to find that someone was, in fact, calling him.
"Maurice?" Roger secretly hoped, taking a glance towards the caller I.D to find that it was not, in fact, the other boy, but another boy that Roger wasn't expecting. The boy sighed, accepting the call and lying back down on his bed.
"...yes, Jack?"
"Roger...you should call me more often. You have no idea how bored I was today."
"You're right...no idea." Roger groaned, pressing his fingertips against his forehead as a way to cool himself down. Jack could practically hear the anger through the speaker of his phone.
"...you alright? You sound like you're wanting to kick a guy right up his -"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just a little ticked off, don't mind me. Why did you call me, anyway?"
Roger heard as Jack seemingly got up and walked outside, shutting the door behind him to avoid any noise from inside.
"I already told you, didn't I? You should really pay more attention...I was just bored. We should do something this weekend, though. It's been awhile since we actually got together and did something."
That idea actually sounded pretty good to the other boy, and Roger was already well aware that the two of them haven't really done anything in the longest time. They were always busy doing something else, whether it be finals for school, or just working in general.
"Good idea. Got any plans where we might be going?"
"We should go to the movies, or we could just hang out...you want to, tonight?"
Roger checked his clock to find that even though it was already eight they could still check out a night film if they wanted to. Besides, the boy needed to get these things out of his mind, and a movie seemed to be the perfect remedy for that.
"Sign me up."
Jack seemed to like to park in the most awkward of places.
Roger watched as the blue Ford car drove dangerously close to their mailbox, titled to the side with Jack's head out the front window.
"Special delivery, sweetness." He teased, watching as Roger rolled his eyes and climbed into shotgun.
"Next time, would it really hurt for you to park normally?"
"Normally? I don't know the word," Jack smirked and waved it off before starting up the car and driving back onto the highway. Roger smiled to himself knowing that he and Jack were actually going to do something together so that he could relieve himself of the stress that was on him. Besides, hanging out with the redhead seemed to make him comfortable – not that he'd actually think of anything more than friendship, though.
"Hopefully you won't be as pissed as you were earlier today, though – you sounded like you wanted to rip someone's head off!" Jack laughed, turning on the radio and watched as Roger glanced out the window.
"Let's just say that Maurice walked out this morning for a reason that is completely beyond me...and he hasn't contacted me since then."
Jack found himself turning down the radio a little bit, looking towards his friend, confused.
"Maurice? Leaving you? That's...quite the shock, isn't it?"
"The thing is, I don't even know why he would he would walk out or anything! He just got his shit, got into his car and drove off!" Roger was getting angrier the more that he thought about it.
"You and Maurice are pretty tight though – I'm sure that you guys will get back together. Let's just not worry about it, right? Forget I even brought it up," Jack suggested, and Roger smiled towards his friend in full agreement.
"Good idea."
By the time they got into their seats, the theater wasn't even half way fulled. It almost seemed as though Jack and Roger were the only two people in the room, and Roger was comfortable with that as long as the two of them didn't feel too congested. Jack pressed his soda against his lips and checked his watch.
"Damn...we got here fifteen minutes early." He groaned, watching as Roger laughed in response.
"Well, it's not my fault someone likes to drive like a maniac on the highway..."
"Hey! I thought we were going to be late...besides, Ralph doesn't have a problem with my driving. He loves it."
"Ralph loves it," Roger mimicked, smirking and trying to copycat Jack's voice. "God, the more you walk about him the more I just want to throw up..."
"Glad to know you appreciate my interests, Roger." Jack snapped, laughing alongside him and not even caring if anyone else in the theater could hear them. The two of them sat in silence afterwards as they waited for the movie to start playing, and after the commercials flashed on and off, the movie began.
The movie was actually pretty good as they watched it – a thriller, which was Roger's favorite kind of film. However, before too long, the boy had actually ran out of his soda, and he got up.
"I'm going to go get a refill...you want anything?" Roger asked, and Jack simply glanced up and shook his head before the other boy walked out.
Roger walked into the main lobby of the theater, seeing the concession stand and seeing the same guy work at the front. He seemed to be the only person out there, surprisingly, and right before Roger would go up there and ask for his refill, he noticed someone walk up there right before him.
This person in particular was someone that Roger wanted to see least.
Dressed up in casual clothing, with his hair actually fixed for once, Maurice gave off a heart-warming smile towards the person working up front, and he leaned against the counter to seemingly talk to the guy. Roger felt his heart thump uneasily in his chest at the sight, and he quickly maneuvered at the fear of being seen. However, he actually hid somewhere pretty close to where the other two boys were, and he could perfectly hear their conversation.
Maurice actually leaned in closer towards the other guy and smiled wider, his cup dangling in one hand and his car keys dangling in the other.
"...are you sure it wouldn't be too troubling to go out later? I mean I can pay my part..."
The cashier simply smiled and shook his head, laughing. He had black hair, from what Roger saw, and his brown eyes seemed to just flash at you. For someone that Roger barely knew, the boy would actually call the guy attractive.
"Don't worry about it, Maurry. It's all on me. Besides," the boy whispered, moving inwards and looking Maurice up and down, "...you said you needed time to just get away, right?"
Roger looked almost with complete disgust at this scene. What the hell kind of nickname is Maurry, anyway? He looks like he's getting an awfully close distance to him. Why does this make me...angry? He thought to himself, rolling his eyes before carefully moving away from their conversation and heading towards the restroom.
"Shut up, Dylan...we're in public!" Maurice laughed, pushing the other boy slightly away. "Well, get my a Sprite please...and I will be right back. I am going to check out some of these posters." He said, and Roger sighed before eventually getting into the room.
The one thing that Roger refused to believe was that Maurice actually found someone new. In the short timespan of one day, it was hard for practically anyone to forget about someone and just move on. However, considering the fact that this guy called Maurice by a horribly ridiculous nickname, Roger could honestly guess that these two had a thing going on for each other...
He quickly shook his head before splashing water over his face. He knew that Jack would probably wonder what was holding him, and Roger was still thirtsy for a refill, but his stomach felt too woozy for him to even think about going back into the theater. He let the water continued to run as he looked into the mirror, the bags of his eyes reminding him of last night, with him drinking too much again, but the boy simply shook it off as he reached for a paper towel.
He was almost scared to death to know that someone actually reached it before him.
"Hello, Roger." The voice seemed to hiss, being completely familiar but at the same so hauntingly different. The black haired boy raised his eyes to find that Maurice was practically standing over him, handing him a paper towel and leaning against the side of the wall.
"Maurice!" Roger exclaimed, glancing around the room to make nobody else was there. "What are you doing here?"
"To watch a movie?" The other boy sarcastically replied, putting the straw of his Sprite into his mouth and taking a sip. Roger simply looked back with a baffled expression, not giving off any emotion that he might have missed him just a little bit.
"Well...obviously, but I mean..."
"I wasn't expecting you here," Maurice continued for him, his eyes remaining stuck onto the ground from the awkward atmosphere. "It is a Saturday night...and this is the theater you and I usually go to...but..."
Roger watched as Maurice clutched his soda a little too harshly, nonetheless he continued.
"I honestly wanted to get away from it...and everything."
"Away from what?" Roger found himself yelling, even though he didn't mean his voice to go out of control like that. "Away from you just getting up and leaving for no damn reason?"
Maurice's eyes widened, such as it would be for a deer to meet up with the headlights. This was clearly not the kind of approach Roger was used to receiving.
"No damn reason? Are you really that dense?" Maurice found himself yelling now as well, not really caring if people were to come in there or not. "Why don't you actually think about the way we've been, Roger, then you can tell me if it really is for no damn reason!" The boy rolled his eyes and walked away, clearly not wanting to pick too much of a fight. Roger wasn't really surprised because of the fact that Maurice wanted to walk away, it was more for the fact that Maurice would actually raise his voice like that towards him. Normally, the boy didn't want any kind of conflict to happen between the two, but now...
"You know what? Fine! Go hang out with your prissy little boyfriend and don't come near me again, Maurry!" Roger roared back, flipping off his middle finger and walking away, not even bothering to refill his soda. He saw from the corner of his eye at the sadness that obviously written on Maurice's face, and even Roger had to admit to himself that he did take it too far, yet he couldn't go back now. Maurice had already returned towards the concession stand, and Roger was already back into his own theater. Jack glanced upwards and smiled.
"Took you long enough...hey, you alright? You look horrible...and I am meaning this the nicest way possible." Jack took one of his napkins and handed it towards his friend, who just sighed and sat back down.
"Yeah...I was just preoccupied."
(A/N): Yeah so originally this was going to be a oneshot as I have always done, but this story was really fun to write so I am going to make more chapters of it. I know in the past I haven't been very good with updates for stories, but this time I will really try to make more chapters in decent amounts of time. Thanks for understanding.
By the way, I know Maurice was a little OOC for this particular chapter, but that's just because of the situation. Thanks for understanding about that as well.
Reviews are the driving force of my stories - they would be greatly appreciated. And thanks for all the reviews on my other stuff, like my individual oneshots and Tune of the Trumpet.
Thanks for reading!
- LustForTheLetters.