"Alright, bitches!" Fuckbelt hollered. "Let's get this shit-show on the road!"
Scattered along the grass were our three brethren, entangled in the web of moss and dirt as if marinating. Deuce, our designated hype-man, was looking worse-for-ware-- likely out of boredom, given the long expression on his face. Ty, on the other hand, looked unbothered, for the most part.
He sat closer to the cliff than the other two, his back facing myself and Fuckbelt as we climbed through the shrubbery of the forest. We likely weren't even in view before Fuckbelt'd yelled so recklessly toward them.
"Oh, look at ya, mate!" CQ came off the grass, swinging blame. "Gone for a fockin' hour and got the guts to order us around."
Fuckbelt matched the energy, forwarding sass rather than CQ's crass form of shame.
"You know damn well that wasn't a goddamn hour, C."
I saw Ty's head pivot slightly, directed toward the commotion. I remained standing there, out of the blast radius of their nonsensical quarrelling, but I guess even that couldn't save me from the pointing of any hanged finger.
"How the fock'd you know with a face fulla ol' Wheels, there." CQ raised his hand to me. "You'd be seeing white."
"Well, if you'd rather plant ass here, more power to ya, but know I'm leaving in that van, right there."
Fuckbelt made for his van, leaving the four of us behind, but CQ wouldn't let him go without another cent or two.
"What the 'ell'd make you say that?" CQ's haphazard gaze landed on Deuce, lying behind him. "I've got Deucey here to keep me company."
I saw Deuce inch away, hoping not to join in on the babbling. Still, CQ's jokes worked in turning Fuckbelt around, though I couldn't guess as to why he'd want that.
"Because you, you British cunt, happen to be a boardless leech." He mimicked CQ's accent, butchering it but striking with even more potency.
It was evident that CQ'd received the blow.
"gasp…" CQ voiced with that exaggerated, dramatic tone. "I resent that."
The cliff was left to silence for a moment, yet thankfully, that painful pause was ruptured.
"uhhhh…" Deuce tried. "We found a solution, man."
"Great…" Fuckbelt turned. "Spit while I still have the breath."
Deuce offered both arms in presenting Ty, whose back was still facing us. He looked not far from dosing off: that must've been what I was sensing. The feeling lingered as I looked upon him, trying to keep focus on their gestures and mannerisms the same.
"Biz offered to bring the boy home." Deuce clarified. "Everyone else can head home."
Fuckbelt turned toward Ty.
"You sure, B?" He threw toward the pier. "You've only got yourself one board."
Ty didn't respond, just remained lying there with his head resting upon his palm. His body was motionless, casting a long shadow as the sun set before him. It was likely that he was already sleeping, exhausted by this day we'd had.
I could share in that feeling, yet I had so much on my mind that I'd think it hard to sleep at all, tonight.
"He's been lying there since it started getting dark." Deuce clarified. "Not much discussion happened after he agreed to take Wheels along."
Fuckbelt paused for a moment, looking along Ty's form before turning around, speaking toward us.
"Well, as much as I'd love to bare witness that cute fuckin' picture, you don't pay me enough to stick around." He said.
"An' I wouldn't pay ya a dime." CQ added.
He stopped, turning his head around to see CQ.
"One of these days, I'll kill you…" He muttered, pressing his forehead in annoyance. "If you're not in the car when I roll out, tough luck."
"Roger, boss." CQ scurried along with him.
The two of them disappeared into the van, its tinted windows clouding all activity behind that windshield. They backed out through the dirt path, kicking dust as they made their leave.
Deuce walked past me, presenting his fist for a bump. Of course, I obliged, and we dinked our knuckles together before he walked down the path, his own board under his shoulder. I watched as all trace of him was admonished from the forest before I felt I'd breathed, my eyes turning straight to Ty.
Something within me changed, and I walked toward him, whispering as I approached. It was hard to discern, but I knew something had changed when I looked at him from behind. I crept closer and closer, leading each step with the other as the feeling wouldn't subside, a trapping feeling that pushed me in as well as pulled me away.
"Hey, Ty." I whispered, hoping he might still be listening.
"What's up, Am?" He whispered back, surprising me.
"You're awake?" I gasped, puzzled.
"It'd be hard not to, with those dickheads around." He chuckled softly. "They argue like my parents."
Ty sat up from his lying position without turning around, his body still facing the orange sky ahead of us.
"Behind my back's no way to talk to a friend, Am." Ty said. "Come 'round to were I can see you-- see each other, man."
It was silent for a moment, but I wouldn't settle for some reason. I walked around him, looking into his eyes as my body blocked the setting sun's light from his eyes. I'm sure he looked up at a shadow, a faceless man shrouded in black. As looked at his eyes from above, it became apparent, that feeling I'd felt when everyone'd left.
My mask had been removed.
"W-Why did you stop me?" I asked, an anger trying to break through my voice.
I suppressed it: I knew who I was talking to, even with that mask gone. Ty wasn't someone to do something like that without a reason, but as I thought of more and more reasons that he might, I couldn't find not one to justify letting someone like that roll over us.
As I stared deeper into his nonchalant expression, I noticed that I'd held onto that feeling for so long, just waiting for a chance without outside eyes.
That, on top of being set face-to-face with myself, had put me in a mood I hadn't much felt in a long time. It wasn't a genuine anger, the kind that I might have trouble controlling. But it was a subtle anger that crept-- crawled through my voice and my movements.
It pulled the strings of my body when I thought they were my own, and though I could acknowledge their presence, I couldn't grab at those same, binding threads. It took force to halt them from grabbing at Ty, my friend.
But to be honest with myself... I knew that Ty was but a stranger to me.
We'd known each other for all four years of high-school, but that's all we were... pit friends, not real friends.
"It was for your own good." He assured me, his tone changing.
"For my own good?" I challenged. "I lost my bike because of that!"
"Y-You don't understand what would've happened to us, Amson." He tried. "It's best you--"
"I don't give a fuck, Ty." I growled. "Do you have any idea how much that bike meant to me? And for me to just throw it away, because of you--"
"Letting go of that bike saved your fucking life, Grinner!" He yelled. "Had you laid so much as a finger on that punk, if not him, someone else would've paid our dues! It'd be considered lucky if they settled on killing us!"
"B--" I peeped.
"But nothing!" He stopped me. "How can you 'but' anything when you don't know the last thing about the streets! I saved you and your family from your tantrum, and you wait three hours to tell me something? Tell me where that lands us."
He stared me in the eyes, and I in his, the subtlety of my anger whittling away by the second. He stood from his seated position, peeking down at my hand as he stood in my face.
"What're you 'bout to do with that?" He taunted, spitting in my face. "Do you wanna hit me, Amson?"
My fist balled, I grew angrier every second I looked at Ty. The sensation of fresh saliva on my brow only fueled that raging fire, and I sat there, fighting with myself.
The man I'd built for four whole years was a hypocrite of mine, doing the same thing Tyriq had done. He held my fist in place, but unlike with Ty, he was weaker, able to be overcome. Yet, he was weak as he was convincing, speaking of miracles-- that I could be someone greater than I was.
He'd done so since that night, and he's likely the only reason I'm alive right now.
He gave me the weakness to not unjam that weapon right there. He'd pulled back when my true self had truly yearned for that release of self. He was the me that spoke-- the me that felt.
Yet, in that moment, I would never listen to him.
I swung, catching air between knuckles, and there Ty stood, feet away with that dejected look on his face.
"That's a bad look for you..." Ty muttered, his eyes of pity. "But... what could I ever say to you that you haven't said to yourself?"