Wish you were Sober || Boat Boys

13: Knees Weak

Joel stared at the Prince's Party Plaza, taking a couple deep breaths. He had gotten a call this morning from the manager of this place. They finally opened Jimmy's work locker and they needed him to come clear the items out for a new worker, in case there was anything of Jimmy's that was of value.

It would only be quick, just pop his head in, avoid any eye-contact with families and unnecessary workers. Joel pushed through the revolving glass door and was met with 3 things: The scent of sweat and pizza, neon coloured walls, and a platinum blonde.

Joel swears he's seen this guy before, he seems oddly familiar. Maybe back in high school he's seen him in passing? Maybe. Something about this man screamed at Joel to remember, but alas... nothing. He was too caught up in this to realize he was just standing by the entrance, silently staring.

"Uhm... hello?" The tall man waved, his work apron was tied around his waist improperly. His voice wasn't as low and creepy as Joel imagined. "Hi! Your manager called me to come take a friend's stuff out of their locker." Joel internally congratulated himself for forming a coherent sentence.

He looked to the worker's name tag: Etho. It's fucking Etho. "Hold on a second, I'll have to call my manager." Etho was a platinum blonde, no yellow hue in his hair. He also had deep blue eyes, they were less... intimidating? As when Joel had busted into his house on a rainy night to interrogate him that one time.

Crazy how that works, huh.

He looks different than when Joel last saw him, he basically didn't even recognize him! He had his hair half tied up and he had a black mask on, it was quite hard to tell it was the same guy. Etho got off the phone, "Turn left, walk straight down the hall to the last one on the right. Here you go, Jimmy's keys should be hung next to the door."

"You have 45 minutes." Damn, he didn't think he'd have to speedrun taking his friend's stuff. Knowing Jimmy, his locker would be filled with utter junk.

"Martyn, it's not Etho. I've already asked the officers." Joel pleaded with his older brother, who rolled his eyes. "You don't know him as well as I do. We go way back, he's always been a creep. Especially with Cleo." Joel didn't realize nor know that Martyn had some weird sort of connection to Etho.

What's even stranger is that his older brother was just outside of Prince's Party Plaza, waiting for him. Joel was pretty sure he hadn't told anyone he's here. Let alone Martyn. "Who's Cleo again?" Joel asked dumbly, trying to get his brother to stall and not stomp into Prince's Party Plaza.

"One of my friends. The ginger? You've met her before! She set your paper house on fire, remember?" Oh. That was Cleo. Joel has a vivid memory of one of the older kids ruining his 7th grade art project. He was quite upset when she lit it and he had to explain it to his teacher.

"I—why are you here?" He asked, leaning on his car. Martyn quieted down, "I got my older brother tingles. And they're telling me..." He walked towards Joel, hand pointing to his chest, "You're in love." Joel blinked, what was this? They weren't grade school boys anymore, what are 'older brother tingles' even supposed to be?!

"What? Martyn, if you've come here to play some dumb little prank—" Joel started, sliding to the side so he wasn't trapped between his car and Martyn. "You have a crush on Agent Ender, no?" That was... that was creepily right. Joel hadn't told anyone, had he? How would Martyn even know? He wasn't at the Society.

Joel sputtered, "Huh? No I... I don't." Great. He internally smacked himself in the face, that was truly convincing and real smooth. "I was visiting your home because I was nearby and needed some coffee, by the way your coffee machine sucks, and found this on your bedroom walls." Martyn pulled out the largest fucking Agent Ender poster with hearts drawn everywhere.