She walked down the street, warm air blowing in her face. She made it to the corner and stared at the lamppost- there was a picture of Spencer on it.

She got a weird feeling in her chest, that feeling you get when you suddenly realise you're going to die someday, and then you mentally freak out- that's how Jessica felt, except it wasn't her, it was her brother.

She closed her eyes, and ripped the flyer off the lamppost, crumpled it, and stuffed it in her pocket.

Her mother was the one that put them up, those stupid flyers with the words "have you seen me," tears filled her eyes.

No, she thought.

Her brother was not going to become another kid in the newspaper, or on the back of a milk carton that seemed to never be found, but he'd come back safely.

He'd come back through that door, and then she'd punch him in the arm, and he'd be confused, but she'd do it again, and again, and then she'd probably insult him, and then she'd smile, and then he'd get it. He'd get it without her even having to say it, and everything would go back to normal.

She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, and made her way to a place she'd been going to a lot lately.

She knocked on the door, annoyed for some reason, and stood. She was contemplating leaving, her body was ready to take off in the opposite direction, but she couldn't bring herself to.

Things were bad at home, things were worse at school, but she couldn't just sit around doing nothing.

"Jess?" a voice said from the door.

She looked up to see Rajeev.

Oh great. She always hated when he answered the door.

She stared at him with her eyes squinted, and he stared at her with his lips pouted, and they kinda just stared at each other for a small period of time- they always did that.

"Look," he started, "I could stand here all day and do this, I really could."

They'd done it before.

"But I don't think either of us are in the mood for this, so why don't we call a truce for now?"

He stuck his hand out hopefully.

He was right though, why make things worse than they had to be?

So, she gave a small smile, and bumped a fist at his hand instead.

…

"So," Spencer started, "what's up with you and snakes?"

He and Billy were sitting in a park, and the sun was going down.

"Wha ooo ya ean?" the boy asked, he'd just shoved some food in his mouth, you could say the two of them were having a picnic dinner, there was just no blanket. Or basket. Or little cut up pieces of fruit.

Spencer scoffed in amusement, "I mean: you call your truck 'Viper' and you call yourself 'The Cobra'; if you didn't know those are both kinda snake-ie."

"Ohhh!" Billy yelled, he sounded like Spencer had just revealed the answer to a really easy riddle, or something.

"Well, when I was a kid I had this pet snake- he was a viper- and after getting him I kinda became interested in snakes-so I started doin' some research on snakes- y'know to make sure he had a good, healthy life- and then I stumble across a Cobra," he stopped here to take a sip of soda.

"And you were taken away by its beauty, so you decided to call yourself that?" Spencer guessed.

"Nope," Billy shook his head, "I guess I got kinda obsessed with the things, so my friends started calling me 'Cobra Boy', and then when I got into music & stuff I definitely needed a stage name- the best rock stars always have a stage name- but 'Cobra Boy' just wasn't gonna cut it, it was deffo not cool, so I just went with 'The Cobra' instead."

Spencer smiled.

"It's not funny!" Billy yelled.

"I wasn't laughing," Spencer explained, even though now he was laughing.

"You are!" Billy yelled again, pointing.

"That wasn't it," Spencer said, slinging himself backwards into the grass, it looked like it hurt, but he wasn't phased at all.

"I like learning things about you," he said. "I guess it made me happy."

Billy's heart jumped, he didn't know what to say.

Suddenly, Spencer sat up. "Do you think they're looking for me?" he asked, as if the thought had just popped into his head, but it probably hadn't.

Billy began to feel lots of things inside his body, why'd he have to change the subject so suddenly? They could've just continued to talk about his reasons for doing things.

"Of course not," he heard Spencer say as he laid back down, an arm under his head.

"I mean they haven't even called," he muttered.

By this time Billy figured the words were no longer aimed at him, and more of a way for Spencer to get things off of his mind.

But maybe Billy needed to get some things off his mind too.

Should I tell him, He thought. He thought long and hard,and eventually came up with the answer 'no'. He'd surely lose Spencer if he did, right?. And- and it's definitely their fault Spencer left, right? And they should've taken better care of him, yeah? And sure it was sorta terrible of him to block all their numbers (mind you it was a tedious mission) but if they really cared they'd surely find a way, somehow, to get in contact with him, right? They just weren't trying hard enough, they never were, and that's why they lost him in the first place, but Billy- he was gonna do things right.

"Billy," he heard faintly. He jumped slightly, and focused his attention on Spencer.

"It's getting kinda late, let's go back to the truck."

He nodded, gathered his trash, and they two of them made their way back to their less than humble abode.

…

They'd bought lots of blankets- not to sleep under, but on, as sleeping on the hard floor of any type of vehicle for almost two months was bad on the back.

There were also a ton of pillows- it's what they spent most of their money on (besides gas)- Billy was kind of a cuddler, he usually cuddled his guitar, but that had to change for multiple reasons.

1. Spencer moved around in his sleep- a lot- so on more than one occasion he'd woken up with the feeling of his arm, leg, or something being hit on the guitar.

2. When Billy slept with the thing he usually slept with the strings facing outward, so when Spencer would hit said body part on the guitar it would usually be on the strings, which caused a very rude awakening.

3. Spencer just found it kinda strange, not to mention dangerous, to be sleeping with a giant, wooden instrument in the bed.

(4. There were also those rare occasions when Spencer would wake up in Billy arms, and because of how god awfully awkward that was he didn't want it ever happening again, but we won't talk about that one)

So eventually they just stockpiled pillows, it wasn't like they costed too much, so why not? You can never have too many pillows, right?

The other majority of their money was spent on food (kinda obvious) Spencer didn't eat much, but Billy was used to eating a whole lot, and since they didn't have a refrigerator (or a the money for one) they ate out (which was rare) or they only bought small amounts (i.e. half a sandwich, and a drink for Spencer, and that plus more for Billy). Of course they needed to buy food every day, multiple times a day, and yea that added up.

And at the end of the day they had a nice little life together. Spencer worked part time at a handful of stores around the town, and since Billy couldn't drive he'd also gotten a job at some of those places. On weekends Billy would go out and play for profit, and in their free time they'd usually spend out in parks, and doing other non money spending things- together- and they were okay, even if only temporarily.

Sorry this is 85 years late, hope u enjoy :)