The Secrets of Smosh (Maricorn)

Chapter 27 David

I had to leave, I couldn't afford a different plane ticket home. "You'll come home soon, don't worry, you can do this! Suzuki can do this! I'll take care of everything with your mom, you'll be fine," I said again and again to her. I feel like I said it for myself as well.

I don't know who these people were that went on the trip with us, but damn, they some cool bitches. I honestly thought Josh was kind of a loser, but everyone else was really kinda amazing to hang out with. They all congratulated me and didn't judge at all. Then again, I'm sure Anthony and Kalel did it on the third night in. Anyway, I feel like I made my first real friends. (Real friends meaning I didn't want to make out with any of them.) I got through the week with them, I tried to enjoy my week with them, and at last they dragged me to the airport with them. I can't do this. Our flight had started to board. I watched my teacher get on. I turned around and exited the gate. "Hey!" I heard someone call behind me. I started moving a little faster to put some distance between us. I see it ahead, the security checkpoint. Matt and Anthony were chasing me. I turned and looked at them before I confidently strode through the checkpoint. They just gaped their mouths at what I had done. "What are you doing man? You can't come back in! What the hell are you thinking!!" screamed Anthony, attracting some looks from the TSA. Then he did something equally unthinkable, he went through as well. Matt just stood on the other side looking skeptical. "I have a plane to catch you guys," he said audibly. Good, he needs to go home, Anthony needs to go home. "No, you gotta go back through before somebody notices. Don't stay and ruin your life, just go home," I reasoned with him. It was to no use, I was stuck with this kid I barely knew till Mari and the baby got better.

I asked Ian, who had become my best friend over the course of the trip to tell my grandparents what happened. (And what happened is that Mari got sick and I stayed to be with her, that's exactly what happened.) For the next week, we resided in the hospital, me and Anthony watching my baby girl try to survive her first weeks of life in our world. Suzuki Ari Takahashi. I repeated the name in my head, each time sounding more beautiful than the last. Mari was finally released, fully nourished back to health. "You ready?" I asked her. "Yeah, let's go," she replied submissively. We walked out of the hospital room with all her things. We stopped at the nursery and watched our baby girl struggle to breathe. Mari started crying. "It's all my fault! I wasn't eating at all! How could I have not noticed that I was late or that my mood was changing or fucking anything! I was starving my own baby inside of me!" She sobbed. "I was killing her!!" There's nothing that I could say. Words can't heal everything. I pulled Mari into a tight embrace and cradled her head into my shoulder. Sometimes silence is the best remedy.

We walked out into the bright sunlight of the Peruvian sun. In that moment, despite my life being a total mess, I felt free. I was here in Peru with my beautiful girlfriend with no parental supervision. "So what do you want to do? You missed out on a lot of stuff. We could hike up to Machu Picchu," I suggested. She turned to face me with this "really nigga" face. "Well considering I had a baby last week, that sounds like a great idea. After that, let's climb Mount Everest!" She said sarcastically. "That's in Pakistan," I informed her. She smacked me with the back of her hand. "Honestly, I just want to go home," she sighed. "Well home right now is a very low end motel me and Anthony are trying to pay for. You brought some money too right? It's running out fast," he added. "Yeah, I got some, I brought my debit card so I have a lot of money on hand," I answered. "We can stay as long as it takes."

When we arrived "home", Anthony was sprawled on the couch with stuffing coming out of it. I didn't question his presence, I knew someone would stay behind with David. "And she's alive," Anthony mused. "In the flesh, and also very tired," she replied weakly. I lead her to the main and only bedroom. The bed was decent with newer looking covers and pillows. The place wasn't dumpy, it just wasn't the nicest place on the block. I closed the door behind us and walked right up to her and kissed her full lips. The kiss let everything inside that had been eating me for days dissipate, the fear for Suzuki's life, for Mari's, and the worry for our parents back home. My sisters unfortunate fate. Everything could just be let go of when I have her alone with me. We laid down on the bed simultaneously. In sync. She rested her delicate head on my arm, her hair flowing over the pillows and fell asleep instantly. I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulled her close and followed suit.