Because If You Don't
-/-
"Orc? Hey, man, you out?"
Having successfully hawked some weed for another case of Heineken, Howard comes home and clambers up the pile of mattresses and tarps to his friend's side. Orc is slumbering heavily, a line of drool running down from the corner of his mouth to his jaw line. Howard, with great effort, pushes the mountain-like boy onto his side.
"Jeez, Orc, you're not supposed to fall asleep on your back, man. What if you puked and I wasn't here? You're out cold enough you're sleeping through that racket downstairs…"
Howard checks the tarp, as usual, but Orc's bladder and stomach seem to have held up thus far. He swings his legs over the edge of the mattresses, kicking slightly, but he doesn't drop back down to the ground yet. He looks over his shoulder at the broad, gravelly back of the kid next to him.
"You know, Orc, you should treat me better, all the things I do for you," he says, only daring to complain now that Orc's unconscious. "Because if you don't, I just might…"
Stop changing the tarps? Stop doing all the nice things he does? Spend more time away? Find new friends and protectors?
Leave?
"…I might stop bringing you so much beer," Howard concludes lamely, then jumps up off the mattresses and onto a floor slightly warped by his friend's massive girth.