All around the world

4. Alone

"I-", Zeke said and nibbled on his bottom lip.

Charlie just shrugged his shoulders and said "i don't force you or anything."

Zeke sighed.

"I'll finish my school diploma and follow you then, okay?"

"But I'm not waiting as long. My dad is gonna kill me when he finds me."
"If he finds you. You can hide here."

"No, that's stupid. This would be the first place he'd look."

Fair point.

"Look, you can do whatever you want but- I'm going. And I'm not coming back."

Charles packed up his jacket from the floor and struggled putting it on because the zipper was broken.

"Charles. Char, wait."

Zeke left his room and came back with a good, expensive jacket of his.

"Take this one. It was my grandpa's, but it's nice and warm. Just take good care of it, please."
He zipped him up and put Charles' bag around his own shoulder.
"I'll get you to the train station. Let's go."

Standing in Zeke's garage, him trying to get his old scooter to work, Charlie sat on a wooden stool and looked around.

"I've just now realized, I've never actually been in your garage", he said.

"Well congrats."

"No, I mean, we've been friends for so long and I've never seen your garage."

"No one's ever seen my garage. It's old, rusty and disgusting. You're not special."

Charlie smiled.

"Here it goes, hop on."

Zeke held a helmet out for Charles but he shook his head.

"Whatever. You ready?"
"Just get me out of this shithole", he said and seated himself behind Ezekiel.
"Yes, your honor", Zeke chuckled and drove onto the road, a loud crackle and brown smoke leaving a trail.

"Where you heading?", Zeke asked as they arrived at Denver's biggest train station. Trains coming and going in every direction.

"I don't know. Something big. New York maybe."

"New York it is then. I'll join as soon as I'm done."
"Okay. Thank you."

A train arriving right in front of them, Zeke set Charlie's bag on the ground and already wanted to turn around, to make this short and painless.

But Charlie held him back and pulled him into a deep hug.

"Thank you, Zeke."
"No problem. Don't forget, in seven weeks, I'll see you there, now get in before I'm going to regret it."

"Good luck with your finals!", Charlie said just before the closing door shut him off.

"If the tickets get checked, hide in the restroom! Take care!"

Then the train left, as quick as it came.
For a moment, Zeke didn't breathe. He didn't see nor hear anything anymore.
Only ten minutes later, he understood what had happened. Charlie had left.

He was alone.
For the first time in his life, he felt lonely.
Numb.
Whenever something bad had happened, Charlie was always there.
Whether he was stoned or drunk or down, but he was always there.
Always.

How was he going to find anything in New York? What was his plan? He just left without anything, no money, no clue on how to make it.

Zeke wished he could turn back time and make a plan with him, rules, ideas on how to make a living.
Too late.

'Just turn around, get home, sleep, go to school, finish your graduation and follow', he thought to himself.

Not that Charlie was at school every day, but the hours after school will be weird without him.

Zeke got on his scooter and left the train station with the same crackle and smoke that they came with.

The whole way home, he tried to think about something else. But his mind went black.
There was nothing but the images of the past days, Char's tear stains on his pillow and shirt, their hug, the screaming of Char's dad, his knocking and hammering on Zeke's door and ... Charles' mom.

Before he recognized his home, he already stepped off the old scooter and pushed it back inside, closing the garage door behind it, caught up in his thoughts.

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I really liked this chapter. The writing went quicker then I thought.
Even though it's a sad chapter in my opinion, the content has potential, because i think it shows how comfortable Charlie and Zeke are with each other and how important their role is for the other person.

Maybe i'll try to show Charlies perspective  in the next chapter, we'll see.

*sighs, opens spotify, starts playing adele "turning tables"*