"It's none of your concern Tony, just leave me alone and go home, these streets are dangerous." Hs doesn't budge though, he just looks at me, it almost looks like he's hurt. His grip around my arm hasn't loosened, it's almost like he's determined to get answers just so his friend gets hurt.
"Pierre, you're smart, and you're beautiful and you can be anything you want, why are you doing this?" He says, almost like he feels sorry for me, his voice shaky, his lips quake as he says those words. I know that look all too well, when you're trying to hold back your tears so you can maintain that strong person persona, but it looks like he's losing. I feel bad, so instead of being stubborn like I normally would, I look to him, "look, let's go to McDonald's, grab a drink and I'll explain, ok?" he nods, gives me his hoodie and we walk off to McDonald's.
"never thought I'd be walking over to McDonald's at 1 A.M with a girl I'm not having sex with or dating" he says with a chuckle, typical of Tony, always trying to have a laugh out of every situation. I don't respond to him, instead I chuckle a little too, and walk with him, his arm wrapped tight around my shoulder, me in his hoodie, and my head resting on his shoulder, never thought this would be me.
"After you, mademoiselle" he says pointing to the door, I hesitate before trying to push the door open, he laughs, rather louder than I'd prefer "it says pull you dimwit" he continues laughing, hysterically, there are tears in his eyes now. "you're an asshole, Tony" I say, laughing along with him, and he pulls the door open for me, leading way for me to enter. We make our orders, and then go take a seat in a booth far from the door, but also from the toilet.
"Talk to me, Pierre, what's happening? Or was this a trick for me to take you out on a date" he smirks, his ego is way too big. "This isn't a date" I say jokingly, throwing a ketchup packet at him, he laughs, I like this, for a while, before he looks at me, his look pierces through me, it serves as a reminder that I need to talk to someone about the 'work' that I do.
"it's been hard, at home, money's been tight, and I just saw an opportunity, the money's really good, too" I almost start to tear up, but luckily our food is brought by our waitress, "enjoy your meal" she says, walking away, saved by food, once again. "Pierre, I know we haven't been the best of pals, ever, but Toby, me, your friends, we're here, you don't have to do all that, ok" he says, putting his hand over mine, and for once I feel protected, I feel loved, almost.
We continue eating, a few jokes are thrown around, fries are thrown too, but we leave, rather late. "It's 3 A.M" Tony reads the time from his watch, "you know that's the time that demons come out right" he says, making scary faces trying to scare me, I laugh "well that's why you're out here I guess" I say, we stop at my apartment building, and he hugs me, before looking at me seriously, "look, Dom, I hope this wasn't a one time thing, I know Toby can be annoying at times, but we really want to be friends with you, please don't shut us out" he rests his arm on my shoulder, I look at him, and sarcastically say "you're gonna make me cry" I jokingly wipe tears off my face, and we both break out in laughter.
He walks away, but as I hug myself, I remember, "HEY, TONY!" he looks back at me, "what about your hoodie?" he runs back to me, and then plants a kiss on my cheek and says "keep it, you look better in it anyway"
I blush, and finally, we both head home, I sit for a while, looking up at the ceiling, thinking about today, the party, the club, McDonald's, all of it, I had a relatively good day.