No Marley in this chapter, much, just Lark and Ryder.

Ryder is pissed off in this chapter at the start. So warning: Lots of big boy swearing.

Fun fact:
Apparently Jenna had stated in interviews in the past that Tina is adopted, but RIB never let that storyline happened until that one time when Tina was applying to college and that brief life was said.

Wow, bad move RIB. Tina being adopted would of been a good storyline for her and Rachel to bond in earlier seasons.

70. Cousins.

Lark POV

This sucks. This really sucks. No, not just because my phone's been turned off for the past few days for an overdue bill. It's because of her That I'm depressed as hell.

This was a perfect way to end my week. A funeral. A fucking funeral.

There was going to be a funeral back in Lima. But for now we had one already with candles and some pictures of her. It really sucked.

I ended up taking a bus home. I got a ride with a bunch of Woodstock Wannabe Hippies who were passing in New York to get to Canada. They were pretty nice and let me smoke on their bus, but I had to decline all the weed and beer bottles they offered every few hours. I wasn't in the mood for that stuff. One of them, April, asked what was wrong. I told her. She was pretty high so I don't think she believed me.

They dropped me off near the airport, the same one Marley and I had a cigarette and smoked before going inside.

Damn.

I decided to have another quick cigarette before I went back home. I sat on a bench and lit up a cigarette and began smoking it. Memories of her came to me. She was my best friend. We've been friends for months and it's horrible as to what happened now. I remember all the talks we had, the conversations, the times we got high and drunk and the couple of times we had sex. Yep, we had sex a few times. It was pretty good but weird at the same time...not very comfortable.

Stupid.

Ryder POV

I got off the bus and grabbed my suitcase from the bottom part of the bus. Son of a bitch was getting his ass kicked. She would just get a stern talking too, but he was getting his motherfucker ass kicked.

I walked away from the bus and towards the inside of the airport to find a phone and call for a cab, when the sight of someone with blond hair sitting on a bench caught me.

That son of a bitch.

Lark POV

Hey...is that Ryder? Oh, it's Ryder. What's he doing here? He seems pissed...oh Shit, he better not mess with me today. I'm not in the damn mood to deal with him right now.

Ryder POV

Son of a bitch is dead.

Lark POV

Don't mess with me Ry, not today.

Nobody POV

Ryder started to walk over towards Lark. Lark stood up, finished his cigarette, and began walking over to Ryder. When they were both close to one another Ryder threw his bag down. Lark said, "Hey Ryder. What are you—"

Ryder threw the punch first, knocking Lark to the ground. Before Lark could make another move, Ryder pounced on him and began throwing slaps and punches into Lark's face. Screaming 'Son of a bitch!' and 'Asshole!' to him. He grabbed Lark's shirt collar and began bashing his head up and down on the ground. Lark gained the strength to push Ryder off of him and pin him against the ground.

"Ryder I'm not in the mood for this fighting shit!" He yelled.

"You no good, God Damn, son of a bitch, motherfucking asshole, son of a bitch, drunk druggie alcoholic asshole!" Ryder screamed at the top of his lungs. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

"You think I care if you like me or not!? I don't care if you like me or not! But don't mess with me today Ryder!" Lark yelled. He then looked more at Ryder's face. "Ry, did you lose weight?"

Ryder used his strength to turn Lark over and pinned him down this time. "You son of a bitch! You just had to do it!"

"What the hell did I do now!?"

"You just had to drag Marley down the hill, didn't you!? She was a perfectly normal girl who was already in a shit struggle with her weight because of a stupid bitch at our school tricking her into thinking she had to lose weight and showed her how to stuck her fingers down her throat. Then everyone including some adopted Korean-American teenage senior girl made Marley feel like complete shit when we lost at Sectional's first and then her boyfriend with a dumb ass last name breaks up with her because he hates weak chicks and her home life goes down when her Mom loses one of her jobs! Then you pop around and make things worse by letting her join you on your adventures of breaking the law and being a wild drunk!"

"Huh?" Lark asked. That was a lot of information.

Ryder slapped him across the face. "You brought Marley down hill!"

"Dude!"

"Don't 'Dude!' me asshole!" Ryder slapped him in the face again. "If I had a knife on me and there weren't any witnesses around I"d fucking stab you right now!"

"Get off of me Ryder! I'm not in the mood for this!" Lark yelled as he pushed Ryder off of him. "I'm not in the mood!"

"Oh what!? You need some crack or weed and a bottle of beer to get in the mood!?" Ryder asked. "You can't even fight without breaking the law."

"Not even close you idiot." Lark said. "I've had a miserable week."

"Oh what did Marley and you drink twenty-four seven?"

"Maybe a few times and some other things, but she said y'all broke up so it didn't matter." Lark said.

Ryder's eyes went big. Did...Did he mean...what he meant. "Dude...did you guys...have sex?"

"I walk talking about the 'candy' mostly, but that too. But y'all broke up after the school year ended."

Ryder lost it.

Ryder lunged after Lark again and began pounding him. Calling him every insult word he knew in his head and giving Lark rosy red cheeks from the slaps and then grabbing his blond hair into his hand and bashed his head several times into the ground.

Lark, pissed off now, threw Ryder off of him and pinned him down stronger than before. "Listen here Ryder, I am not in the mood to deal with you right now. I'll take the shit later. I just had a fucking funeral for someone and I have to go to another funeral in a couple of days!"

"Who died, your drug dealer?"

Lark slapped Ryder. "Listen to me Ryder, I'm not in the mood."

"So your drug dealer did die."

"No idiot, someone you and I know."

Ryder's face went pale white. "Marley?"

"No, my friend Zandra."

Zandra? Zandra who? "Zandra?"

"Zandra McPherson. Purple streaks with a gray beanie with dark gray shirts with a black sweater and jeans. You know Alexandra McPherson. Hangs with Stoner Brett and them?"

"Oh, Alex?" Ryder asked her. "We had a class together once but then she skipped the rest of the year."

"Sounds like her."

Ryder nodded. Then it hit him. She died? She...no...Alex/Zandra was the exact same age as him and Marley and some other friends. "What?"

Lark released Ryder and sat on the ground. "She'd dead."

"But...she's so young. She's my age," Ryder pointed out. "How did that happen?"

Lark sighed. He felt a lump in his throat. "She just...she went over the limit with the drugs and drinking. One day she's alive and happy, but drunk and high and doing some weird shit and I'm sitting there watching her doing it. I went to bed and that was it. The next morning I woke up and I found her on the kitchen floor with no heart beating and her mouth was opened and this foamy like stuff was coming out of her mouth. I called 9-1-1 but she was already gone."

Ryder looked at Lark. He saw how miserable his cousin was and couldn't imagine what it must of felt like to find your best friend lifeless on the ground, when just mere hours ago they were alive and very well happy with themselves and their lives. That's horrible.

It took Ryder a minute before putting his hand on his cousins kneecap. "Sorry for being an ass."

Lark sighed. "No worries." He said with little emotion in his voice. "So, you're looking for Marley?"

"Yes. I need to talk to her." Ryder said.

"She's probably back at the apartment," Lark said as he got up. "Come on, I'll take you there," He said grabbing Ryder's hands and pulling him up.

"Thanks." Ryder said.

"No problem." Lark said. He picked up Ryder's suitecase and then his own. "So little cousin, where've you been all this time?"

"Lark it's a freaking long ass story." Ryder said. "Lark?"

"Yeah?"

"You're still a fucking ass for bringing Marley down hill."

Lark laughed. "When am I not an ass?"

Oh the cousins made up!

What will happen now?