Falling Out of Time

Mark | Dealing with Enemies

Dealing with Enemies

"It's gonna be fifty," Darren said bluntly, snapping his gum. He leaned lazily against the back wall of the school, checking the perimeter periodically.

"Fifty?" Mark jumped at Amber's outburst beside him. He didn't need to look at her to know she was fuming. "Have you lost your mind?"

"No, but I'm about to lose my patience. Do you want it or not?" Darren seemed bored by the whole encounter, as if he were selling candy bars instead of an eighth bag of weed.

"This is bullshit," Chloe butted in, cocking her hip. "My sister says she gets it for thirty."

"Yet you're here buying from me instead of her, so I'm guessing she's not sharing her resources." He smirked as Amber and Chloe exchanged a look. "These are my prices. Take 'em or leave 'em."

Mark silently hoped they would leave them. This wasn't any of their first time smoking pot, just the first time buying from Darren. Mark still felt that no high was worth dealing with the prick, even if the weed did help him forget his problems for a while.

He stuffed his hands deeper into the pockets of his zip-up hoodie and tucked his chin against the collar. The school's brick exterior helped block some of the crisp October air, but Mark's teeth chattered anyway. Whether that was from the cold or standing too close to Darren, he couldn't tell. It had been years since the last time Darren targeted him, but Mark still found his palms sweating nonetheless.

Without much choice, the three of them pooled their money, just scraping together the fifty they needed. Mark handed over his only ten begrudgingly. He was really regretting this now, especially since his money could be going towards something more important — like dinner tonight.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Darren said, letting his hand linger as he handed over the merchandise. When Amber snatched hers away, he shot her an arrogant smile. "I look forward to your patronage in the future."

With the transaction complete, Amber swiveled on her heel and stormed away, muttering something about self control under her breath. Chloe wasn't far behind, though she took time to throw the middle finger over her shoulder as she went.

Before Mark could follow, a hand on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.

"Hang on there, Mark." Darren turned him around until they were face to face. He flinched — partly out of fear that Darren would fall back into old habits, but mostly out of habit from home.

"Relax, I'm not gonna fuckin' hit you," Darren said, rolling his eyes as if the idea was unheard of. "I just wanted to say that we're cool, you and me. I shouldn't have taken my own shit out on you back in the day, so... sorry or whatever."

A meteor could've struck and Mark would've been less stunned. It was the first time in years they'd had any interaction, and this was certainly the last thing he expected to hear him say. Now that Darren had said it though, Mark didn't know how to respond. For a split second, he thought about telling Darren off. He imagined how good it would feel to release some of his pent up aggression, and to take it out on Darren of all people seemed too good to pass up.

But Mark knew it would be a temporary fix to a problem with no solution in sight. Screaming at Darren wouldn't change Mark's circumstances, and the relief of letting out his anger would only last until his foot crossed the threshold of his front door.

Caught up in his own thoughts, Mark forgot to respond. Instead, he stared wordlessly at Darren until he began shifting uncomfortably.

"Alright, that doesn't mean I wanna be your friend or anything. Do me a favor and follow your girlfriend's lead, will ya? You're scaring away business."

Darren gestured with a nod towards a group of juniors hanging near the other end of the lot. If they were going for nonchalant, they were failing miserably. Mark thought about pointing that out, along with correcting him on the whole "girlfriend" thing, but the cold glint in Darren's look suggested his nice streak had reached its end.

Feeling more confused than he had in his life, Mark shuffled off, Darren's makeshift apology hanging over him the whole way to the log.

He only knew one thing for sure: Amber was never going to believe this.