The bullet fires out of the gun and – completely misses me, because 80 pounds of dog just slammed into me. I think it shot a bird's nest, but right now there were other things I had to care about.
Chase – Chase, not a ghost but here in the flesh and bone – was panting, having just stopped me from taking my own life. "Have you come to rub it in my face, Chase? You got your girl. I've got nothing." I say bitterly. "Just leave me, would you?"
"Marshall…" Chase is panting, after having run for at least a mile. "Marshall…don't you ever…think that I don't love you. I told you…Skye I don't care about…she's pretty…pretty annoying. I like you."
"You do?" First I'm confused, then I'm angry. "You did, and you did nothing?! I was trying to make a move for months, and you always act so disinterested, and…and…shit, Chase, what the hell? This is so ridiculously sudden, and you…Ryder…Skye…what the fuck?!"
Chase just sat quietly throughout my rant, flinching a little at me swearing at him. "Look, Marshall, I'm sorry. Truth is, I did love you, but I thought I had a thing with Skye. Now that it didn't work out, I'm with you."
"Oh yeah, I'm like litter, aren't I? Skye didn't work out, backup plan Marshall. That's all I am to you? Someone to come running to when your love doesn't work out? Well, fuck you, Chase. F-U-C-K you! I might as well just kill myself in front of you." I pick up the gun and try to shoot myself again, but Chase wrestles it away from me and breaks it in half. Woah.
"Dammit, Marshall! You never listen!" Now Chase is angry. "I'm sorry that I ignored you for so long. I'm sorry that I didn't realize Skye wasn't the person for me. But I never neglected you. You were always in the corner of my eye, and I thought that you, as my best friend, would know that. I'm always there for you – we've been through so much, and I'd never throw it all away for Skye. You're mine – wait, why do you smell?"
"Because another dog peed on me to mark his territory, Genghis Khan. No – you're worse than Genghis Khan. At least Genghis didn't break the hearts of his women."
"You just called yourself a woman. My woman, specifically."
"Oh, go jump off a cliff or something."
"Look, what would it do to convince you that I do love you?"
"At least six months of dating. And a romantic dinner."
"You want to start now?" I roll my eyes.
"Better late than never, I guess."
Then Chase kissed me, long and hard. I wasn't into it at first but his passion caused me to forget everything that happened and I kissed him right back. I hope he's not lying and he really does care for me, but it's going to take a long time before I can trust him again. We break away the kiss, gasping.
"I should have done that a long time ago. You're beautiful."
"And you're hard, Chase." Chase blushes and tries to cover his erection.
From the author: Well, that's the ending, folks. The whole thing's kind of skidded off from my original plan of a series of chapters focusing on a different naughty activity, but I'm still happy with the result. I hope the whole love scene doesn't seem too tacky.