september

Like every morning for the past few weeks, Gwen was greeted with Duncan's truck parked in her front yard. She could feel her mom's usual stare from the kitchen window as she approached the vehicle. Duncan threw open the passenger door from inside, and she grabbed the handle bar in order to pull herself into the seat.

"Morning Sunshine."

She only yawned in response, and Duncan's beast of a car left her house with a giant puff of black smoke. The punk music blasting from the speakers woke Gwen up slightly, but still, she laid her head against the window, smiling ever so slightly at Duncan's voice that was singing along to the music.

Their car rides were always a comfortable silence, the only noises were from the music or Duncan's fingers drumming on the steering wheel or every so often, Gwen's humming when she thought he wasn't listening. Both of them were not morning people, so it was nice that she wasn't forced to talk about what she looked forward to for the day, like she would be if her mom took her to school instead.

Once he was parked, Gwen climbed out of the car, grabbing her backpack before Duncan locked the car, following her towards the school empty handed. They got into the building, and Gwen stopped by her locker with Duncan leaning on the wall beside it, as she gathered her books for the day.

"What are you doing after school?"

Gwen glanced over at Duncan, who was flipping his phone up in the air before catching it, repeating the action as he waited for Gwen's answer.

"I have a feeling that it's whatever you usually have planned."

Duncan mischievously smiled at her, "You're exactly right sweetheart."

Just as Gwen shut her locker, Bridgette and Geoff walked over to them, waving. "Hey guys!"

"Hi," Gwen simply said, cringing at how happy and bright the couple always looked. It was 7am, but Bridgette would be adorning a wide smile and bright eyes while Geoff's happy-go-lucky attitude radiated off of his consistent relaxed pose. They looked like a real life version of Barbie and Ken.

"My dudes, you brahs still free next weekend, right?"

"What's next weekend?" Gwen asked Geoff, noticing that Duncan wasn't going to bother to ask.

"My first football game of the season, duh!"

Gwen nodded, remembering the jock mentioning that earlier in the week. "Oh yeah."

"Y'all better at least be at the party if you're not going to the game because we are so winning and we have to cel-ah-brate!"

"With the biggest party to kick off the year," Bridge said excitedly, holding onto Geoff's arm and jumping up and down. It was also her first season as cheerleader captain, and as much as Gwen was happy for her friend (really, she was… just ignore the scowl on her face), it was way too early to be that jumpy.

"We'll be there," Gwen said, kicking Duncan's leg, making him stand up from his leaning stance on the lockers.

"Yeah, whatever."

Either the couple was used to the punk-goth duo's lack of energy in the mornings or they just didn't care, they continued their talk about the party while Duncan gave Gwen a knowing look.

"Since when did you care for parties?"

Gwen scoffed, shaking her head. "Since you left and the only thing I could do to have fun over the summer was go to their pool parties and spend way too much time under the sun."

Duncan smirked, snaking a hand around her waist and pulling her closer to him, "Damn, you wore a bikini and didn't send me any pictures?"

Pushing his arm down, Gwen smirked back, walking away from the couple, who went from talking to making out, and said, "Last time I checked, you don't get internet privileges in jail."

"Ouch, so that was what stopped me from seeing that killer bod of yours? Maybe I should stay out of trouble if it means I get to see your hot ass naked."

"Maybe you should," Gwen winked playfully. The warning bell signaled that it was time for them to separate, and since Duncan wanted to keep up his side of the deal that Gwen would only hang out with him after school if he went to class, he saluted the goth as a goodbye.

"See ya later Pasty."

Gwen cursed herself for blushing, but luckily, she had turned away just in time for him to not see. As she sat in the back of the classroom waiting for their teacher to begin class, she thought about the past month since school started, and memories of her and Duncan rekindling their friendship and making up for lost time flooded her mind.

Between Duncan taking her to and from school, their late nights watching all the new zombie slayer movies that came out over the summer, and smoking way too much weed, they were back to their old ways of a free, no boundary-style friendship, but Gwen would be in denial if she said that it was the same as it was last year.

Last year, they were able to mess around and there wouldn't be anything weird or awkward with their flirtatious ways. But now, it seemed like Gwen was more easily flustered whenever he touched her, or he would look at her for a little too long with a look in his eyes that she could no longer read. And she always was able to know what he was thinking.

Gwen wasn't sure if she was a different person or if juvie had changed him, but she couldn't ignore the feeling inside of her whenever she was around him, nor did she like what the feeling implied.

How Gwen ended up in a basement of a drug dealer's home was not to be questioned, but her anxiety for being in a new, potentially dangerous place heightened as she awkwardly stood by the door, watching Duncan talk to a large, buff guy with an arm full of tattoos, as another man, smaller but with as much tattoos as the first, watched her.

She shifted on the weights of her platform combat boots, nervously wringing her fingers together as it seemed like Duncan was finally wrapping up his conversation. The two shook hands, and Duncan walked over to her, throwing an arm protectively around her shoulders and leading her out once he caught the second guy eyeing her a little too closely.

"Sorry 'bout that," Duncan mumbled once they got inside his truck, pulling away from the house. "Didn't mean to drag you along, but dealers aren't usually awake when I leave to pick you up in the morning."

"It's fine," Gwen said, giggling. Today's adventure was no different from their usual hangouts, despite the pit stop, so she waited to see where Duncan would take her now since he was keen on discovering new hideouts where they can smoke freely. She wasn't sure if he was being adventurous or if he was just being extra careful with the cops.

They parked in the secluded area of a park that seemed abandoned as the trees hid the entryway into the lot, and Duncan made sure it stayed that way by driving onto the curb and over the grass. The truck came to a halt once it was under the shade behind the trees, and the punk slightly cracked the windows before shutting off the car entirely. The engine simmered to a low hum, the automobile noise immediately being replaced by the whistling of the wind that rustled the leaves that were slowly turning orange, signaling the new season.

Duncan grabbed the brown baggie he had just acquired, and as if he had done it since he was born, he quickly loaded the bong with the pre-grinded marijuana and pressed it as tightly as he could into the bowl, before cupping his mouth on the glass and taking a deep breath, igniting the weed with his zippo.

When he handed it over to Gwen, she took in the rest of the smoke that he left behind in the chamber, and Duncan lit the bowl some more, allowing her to capture another breathful of the toxins. She couldn't help but cough, as her lungs were a lot smaller compared to Duncan's.

"Too much to handle?" he laughed as Gwen searched for her water bottle that rolled underneath the car seat.

"Shut up," Gwen said in between coughs, uncapping the bottle and drinking the cool liquid as Duncan finished her hit and then took another one.

"You're kinda sexy when you cough."

"What kind of a compliment is that?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow, but she was hoping that the smoke hotboxed in the car was hiding the redness in her cheeks.

Duncan shrugged, pulling his seat back so that he was almost laying down, and he looked up at Gwen and grinned. "I guess anything you do is sexy."

After taking another huge rip from the bong, and another series of coughing fits, Gwen pushed her chair down to lay beside Duncan, happy that the stupid butterflies in her stomach due to his previous statement was gone and her loopiness had instead switched to a gray fuzz in her brain. She smoked with Duncan at least once a week, but she tended to avoid bongs since it was hard to control how much she took. Yet here she was after two rips, laying next to him, legs up on the dash, and smoke filtering out of the vehicle through the windows.

"So, other than Barbie and Ken's pool parties, how'd you survive the summer without me?"

"LeShawna, Bridge, and I actually hung out more," Gwen said, thinking back at the fond memories with just the girls. She was usually with Duncan during any break, especially since LeShawna and Bridge were in relationships anyways, but they knew how lonely Gwen would be with Duncan being gone, so they would always have girls' night out or invite her out with Geoff and Harold. "Third wheeling ain't so bad. Sometimes, they feel bad enough to comp my meal."

Duncan chuckled, laying back down after taking another hit, blowing the smoke away from the goth's face. "Sounds lame."

"You act like I can't have fun without you," Gwen smiled and looked over to Duncan, who was already looking at her.

"Sweetheart, I know you can't have fun without me."

"Don't be so cocky, Juvie. At least I was able to do whatever I wanted and eat whatever I wanted in the outside world. I bet you were going crazy without your usual bacon double cheeseburger from McDonald's."

Duncan frowned at the memory of the jail cafeteria food served by Chef Hatchet. In their earlier hangouts when they got McDonald's to satisfy Duncan's cravings, he had already spilled his guts to Gwen about how he had actually spilled his guts after eating Hatchet's so-called food.

"I can still feel the food moving inside me sometimes."

"Gross," Gwen fake-retched as she stuck a finger in her mouth, sitting up slightly to take the bong from Duncan's lap and taking another hit. She was reaching her tipping point already, but it felt nice to be smoked out, especially when Duncan moved closer to the middle console and his arm brushed against hers when she laid back down.

"Was that all you did?"

"I hung out with Dylan a lot."

Dylan was her little brother. He was only ten when their dad left, so now going through his teenager phase without a father figure had been obviously hard on him and their mom, who didn't know how to handle his rambunctious nature. Gwen helped her mom as much as she could, and by "helped," she meant making sure Dylan stayed out of trouble by picking him up at his friend's house, telling their mom that they weren't out getting drunk or high and that his friend's parents couldn't take him home since it was late.

"How's the little rat?"

"Missed you buying weed for him, that's for sure."

She never said she was a good influence on him.

They each took another hit from the bong, the weed already almost out in the bowl. Gwen stifled a cough as she leaned back into the chair. The peeling leather was picking at her fishnets, so she pulled her legs up until her feet were on the seat. The goth watched as Duncan leaned over to put the bong down on the floor of the passenger side, his mohawk tickling her legs as he got back up.

It was like he was moving in slow motion, his eyes trailing up the white skin of her legs as he got back into his seat, adjusting his body so that he wasn't fully into it but using his elbow to lean over the middle console, facing her.

Gwen thought she was just high out of her mind, or the smoke was playing tricks on her, but as she met Duncan's teal eyes, they were getting closer and closer to her until his breath hit her face. The punk's eyes flickered between hers to her lips, and just as Duncan's fingers wrapped around her neck and his thumb caressed her cheek and their lips were about to meet, a blaring horn caused them to jump up from their lying position.

"OWNERS OF THE RED TRUCK. PLEASE LEAVE THE VICINITY OF THE PARK. I REPEAT, PLEASE LEAVE THE VICINITY OF THE PARK. YOU ARE TRESPASSING."

Duncan popped up in his seat, starting the engine of the truck immediately just as Gwen sat up herself, straightening out her short hair that had nestled into a tangled mess on top of her head. She didn't dare to look over at Duncan as he quickly drove out from the hideout before the park ranger could catch that they were doing more than just trespassing, and the vehicle bounced along the dirt road leading them out into the main road.

The silence, on top of Gwen's hazy train of thoughts due to the weed, made her anxiety bounce off the walls, and she clutched her skirt tightly in her fists. Was that all in her imagination? Did she fall asleep and that was just a weed-induced dream? She wasn't actually about to kiss Duncan, right?

She didn't realize that she was hyperventilating until Duncan reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it in his, and that was when she finally looked up to meet his smile.

"Sunshine, don't look so scared. I would never let you get in trouble," Duncan winked at her nonchalantly, and she nervously laughed, nodding her head.

"I know."

But Gwen could care less about getting in trouble. All she could think about was how much she had wanted to kiss her best friend.