Seven

"You are a piece of human garbage," I snarled. "I hope you wake up in hell!"

Buddy laughed so hard he fell off the couch. I don't know why he would do this shit to me, but he loved to torture me with the stupidest levels in Mario Maker. They were all 'Blink and You Miss It' levels where you screw up and that's that. And he had no checkpoints either! He had to be a demon sent up to torture me through one of my favorite games.

"You're ruining Nintendo for me."

"No, I'm not," he snorted as he climbed back up. "If I don't give you some form of a challenge, you will get cocky."

"But you have to ruin my joy?" I sulked as I tossed the controller onto his lap.

"Yes," he stated. "Of course I do. That's my job."

I rolled my eyes and opened the mini fridge under the side table. I chucked a Coke at him, but he easily caught it without batting an eyelash. I was never trying hurt him. He always knew when I was going to throw something at him, since I always gave him a moment to prepare himself.

Taking back the controller and restarting the level, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Kicking our feet up on the table, he said, "There's a band I want to see at Oakdale this weekend."

"Underground?"

"Yeah. They're a folk rock band."

I groaned. Folk rock could be good. I enjoyed the occasional Mumford and Sons song, and I even enjoyed The Highwomen, but folk rock was not my favorite genre by a landslide. I enjoyed the more raging beats, the headbangers. I enjoyed watching people grow pale when they read the names of the artists I listened to. I just didn't care for folksy, southern rock. It was never something I would put on because I was in the mood for it.

"I love you, so I'll go with you. But you are buying me food," I stated, dying again. "Motherfucker!"

"Thank you," Buddy sang, as he kissed my cheek. I pushed his head away and he laughed. He tried to wrap both arms around my waist, which caused me to die the moment the level restarted.

"You are being such a dick right now," I said, trying my hardest not to laugh.

"But you said you love me."

"Cause we've been friends for so long that I don't have the energy to find someone new to replace you."

He sat up and scoffed. "Rude."

"Says the person who made the level 'For Mel, Who Will Never Beat It.' You deserved that."

Shrugging, he agreed and wrapped his arm back around my shoulder. "Why not just talk through it?"

"Fine. But what I say, you're not allowed to freak out over."

"Gee, what a great way to start the conversation," he deadpanned.

"When I went to the community center with Brody yesterday, some punks were messing with me."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I chuckled. "You'll never believe who helped scare them off."

"Who?"

"Devon Quid."

He gasped. "You're shitting me. What was he doing there?"

"His cousin owns the pretzel he was working at."

"Devon Quid has a job at a pretzel stand?"

"Yeah," I giggled. "He's actually a really sweet guy. We started talking after the punks left, and I felt so bad for him."

"What do you mean?"

"His mom chose a job over her children. He lives with his aunt and uncle who are never home. Everyone compares him to his father in jail. He's lived with people prejudging him his entire life, and when you keep hearing people say you're going to end up a bad person and never get a chance to prove yourself, you eventually end up like that."

"Is that why he punched Jett?"

"I don't think so. He told me he only fights to protect and defend. Jett must have provoked him, but I don't know how justified it was." I sighed. "Is it weird to feel bad for him?"

"Not at all. I feel bad for him too." He squeezed my shoulder. "I'm sure he'll be fine. If he comes back to school, he can graduate and move away for college. Then he can start fresh."

"That is if he can afford to move away or get accepted into a college that isn't Green Lake Community College. We're not all lucky enough to have savings."

"Or sisters who are famous YouTubers."

"Fuck. Off."

He snickered, resting his head on my shoulder. He always was the affectionate type. He enjoyed it when he could hug the people close to him, keep a hand on their back to show he cared. He was always cuddling with me, and I didn't mind it. I enjoyed snuggling. And with how close we were, it worked for us.

My phone buzzed right as I finally beat Buddy's shitty level. "Suck it," I stated, thrusting the controller into his chest and pulling out my phone.

"What's up?"

"Jeanie texted. She wants me to pick up chocolate ice cream on the way home." I groaned as I stood up and popped my back. "I should get going. I want to go to bed early tonight."

"Long day at the Clubhouse tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Darcy's coming, and we're going to work on writing some music."

"Mind if I stop by?"

I smirked. "You know you're always welcome at the Clubhouse. Once a member, always a member."

"Yeah, but I was never a member."

"Who cares? Brody loves you. He'd love to see you."

I grabbed my backpack, and Buddy walked me to the door. "Stay safe."

"I will." I hugged him, kissed his cheek, and walked down his driveway.

About halfway between our houses, there was a small convenience store I stopped at once a week, typically Sunday night. I'd buy a four-pack of Monster for the week, but on Fridays I'd buy coffee from the cafeteria.

Walking to the back aisles, I grabbed the Monster and looked for chocolate ice cream. They typically had tiny pints. That had to be enough for the night. As I brought everything to the cash register, the doors beeped as it opened. I spotted Rena walking in, sweating profusely. She dashed to the back corner and stared at the chips in the back. She stayed there the entire time I paid, not moving an inch.

Checking outside, I spotted a man across the street. An ugly feeling settled in my stomach, and as the cashier handed me my bag, I asked him if I could keep it there for a second. I walked over to the back and called out to Rena. She jumped ten feet in the air, turned to face me with tears swelling in her eyes.

"Oh, Mel," she said with a chuckle. She quickly wiped her eyes. "What- What are you doing here?"

"Buying ice cream. What's wrong?"

"I..." She couldn't speak as she cried. She covered her mouth with both her hands, and I pulled her into my chest, hugging her tight.

"Shh, it's okay, sweetheart. I'm here." Brushing hair away from her forehead, she stared at me with glossy eyes as she sobbed. "What happened?"

"Some man's been following me since I left my friend's house. I don't know what to do. My phone died as I tried to call Devon, so I ran in here. I'm trapped."

"No way, sweetheart. Grab yourself a drink or something. I'm going to call my friend, and he's going to take you home, okay?"

Nodding slowly, I held onto her until she stopped crying. She grabbed a drink after sobering up, and I quickly called Rick. He answered on the second ring. "What's up?" he whispered.

"Is Jeanie filming again? She texted me ten minutes ago to buy ice cream."

"Yeah, that was between takes. What's up? You need me to pick you up from Buddy's?"

"Actually, can you come get me at the convenience store on Golf? Quickly."

I heard his keys jingle in the background. "What's going on? Are you okay? Are you safe?"

"I'm fine, but I ran into my friend's little sister. Has a creeper who's been stalking her since she left her friend's house."

"I'll be there in two minutes," he stated, and hung up.

Rena walked over to me, holding out a blue Gatorade. I placed my hand on her back as I walked back to the cashier. By the time I finished paying for her drink, Rick pulled up. I held Rena's hand as we walked out to the car, and Rick exited, pointing out the creep. "Is that him over there?"

Rena nodded and clung back onto my side.

"Rick, don't be a fucker," I demanded.

"He's the fucker," he snarled, crossing the street.

I opened the back door and escorted Rena in. I sat beside her and watched through the back window as Rick screamed at the stalker. The stalker tried to fight back, attempting to punch Rick. He ducked out of the way, punched the creeper so hard he fell to the floor, and walked back to the car. He pulled out of the parking lot and looked at Rena through the rearview mirror. "Where do you live?"

Rena told him which way to go. When we pulled up to Devon's driveway, I saw him pacing on the front porch, his phone to his ear. The moment he saw Rena, he dropped his phone and ran to her, picking her up and squeezing her to death. "Oh, thank God you are okay." He pulled away to look in her eyes. "What happened? I've been trying to call you all night."

"My phone died," she sobbed and looked back at me. "Mel saved me."

I closed the car door and rolled down the window. He walked up to me and grabbed my hand. "Thank you so much. How did you know where she was?"

"I was already at the store. I saw her and talked to her."

"Seriously, I cannot thank you enough. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Don't worry. I'm sure she'd do the same for me if the roles were reversed."

"Absolutely," Rena stated.

"Come have dinner at my house tomorrow," he said.

"What?"

"To say thank you. My cousins will be over, and we're going to barbeque in the backyard. Let me do this to thank you."

"Trust me, Devon, you don't have to."

"I'd still like you to come over." He couldn't meet my eye. "That's what real friends do, right?"

Real friends didn't expect to be rewarded for doing nice things, but real friends did ask friends to do things, anyway. A part of it may have been because I helped his sister, but I bet another part of him wanted me to come over and introduce me to his family as one of his first real friends. Someone who wasn't afraid of him and liked the sweet person he was. I couldn't turn that down.

"Alright. I'll have to tell my sister to cook her own damn food tomorrow."

"She's more than welcome to come over, too."

"I don't know," I said as I looked at Rick. "Isn't she meeting with that Goodwill Gamer dude tomorrow?"

"Yeah. She's busy all day."

"Maybe another night you can come over to ours for dinner," I suggested.

Devon smiled widely. "We'd love to. See you tomorrow."

"Definitely."

Devon and Rena waved goodbye as Rick pulled out of their driveway. He laughed in the front seat as he said, "How's Buddy going to react?"