Borderline

Chapter 6

It was Tuesday.

Which meant I had to work my booth.

I sat on my stool behind the table with my head resting on my hand. Business was slow today, as usual.

It had been two days since I'd seen Eli. He didn't come looking for me after I had left, thankfully.

My brain snapped to attention when I heard a knock on my table. I looked up to see Joshua standing there.

"Hey, asshat. What do you want?"

"You didn't bring me anything yesterday. Usually you have stuff on Mondays."

I shrugged. "So? I had a long day on Sunday. Wasn't feeling up to it."

Joshua's eyes widened. "'Wasn't feeling up to it'? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I motioned to a chair behind my table. "Sit down and I'll tell you."

He sat down and I proceeded to tell him all about the boy who basically kidnapped me. When I had finished, Joshua just sat there with a stupid smirk on his face.

"What?"

He put his hand on my shoulder and stared into my eyes. "You're an idiot."

"Excuse me?"

"You should have stayed there, Ryder. It's not everyday that one of us street rats gets invited to sleep in a nice warm bed. You should have taken advantage of it."

I brushed his hand away. "No way! I'm not staying in some strange place. Especially not with..." I hesitated.

Joshua sensed my discomfort and continued for me. "Not with Carter still after you?"

I nodded.

Nothing scared me. Not heights, not the dark, not even dying. But Carter was the exception to that rule. I shuddered at the thought of what he might do to me if he ever caught me. Most likely eternal torture in some form.

It hadn't always been like this. Back when my parents were still alive, Carter and I had been nearly inseparable. We were best friends in every sense of the phrase.

Then my parents died and I moved onto the streets. That's when it all started going south.

It was okay at first, but after a while I became an embarrassment to him. We had a fight, and I never saw him again.

Well, that's not exactly true.

I saw him one last time: at his brother's funeral. He didn't know I was there, though. That's probably a good thing.

Why does he want to catch me?

Because I'm the one who put a bullet in his brother's brain.

***

I hadn't realized I was staring into space until Joshua shook my shoulders. I snapped my eyes to him.

"You alright?"

I hesitated, then nodded slowly. "Yeah...I'll be fine."

"Good, cause it looks like you have a customer." He pointed behind me.

What I saw when I turned around was the very last thing I had expected.

Eli.

Eli's eyes widened when he realized who I was. "Ryder?!"

I didn't say anything. I just stared at him.

I saw Eli's lips break into a smile. "I never thought I'd see you here! So, do you work here? That's pretty cool." Eli rambled on some more, but I just looked at Joshua.

"Help," I mouthed at him.

He nodded before snapping his fingers.

"Hey, kid!"

Eli immediately turned to him. "Yeah?"

"What's your name?" A look of confusion crossed my face and I looked at Joshua. What the hell are you doing?

"My name's Eli. What's yours?"

"Joshua." He stuck out his hand, and Eli took it in a firm handshake. "Ryder was just telling me all about your little encounter a few days ago."

Joshua looked over at me with a devious smirk on his face and winked at me.

Realization hit me and I glared at him. You little shit!

I had to think fast. I didn't want Eli anywhere near me.

"Eli," I said, standing up. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I glared daggers at Joshua, who just stood there with his stupid smile. "Alone."

I walked behind the back of my booth, Eli at my heels. I stopped and I felt him hit my back. I whipped around and grabbed his collar.

"You listen to me, Eli. I told you not to come looking for me. I told you to never try to associate yourself with me again. So just leave me the hell alone."

Eli's eyes were wide in terror. I released his collar and continued to speak with my arms crossed over my chest. "I want you to go back out there and make up some sort of excuse to leave, then do just that."

I marched myself back around to the other side of the tent and sat back down on my stool. Joshua cast a glance my way, but I ignored him.

Eli came back around shortly after, his hands folded behind his back. "Uh...I..."

I rolled my eyes, then shot Eli a look that said "I'll stake care of this".

I grabbed Joshua's hand and rested my head on his shoulder. "Eli, don't you have somewhere else to be?"

Joshua was looking at me with a confused expression, but eventually he caught on and played along. He brought his hand around my shoulder and moved it up and down my arm.

"Y-Yeah. S-See ya later, Ryder." You better not.

After Eli had gone, Joshua and I immediately dropped the act.

"I take it you don't like him?"

"What gave you that idea?" I snapped. "Because it obviously wasn't the fact that I asked you to help me and you didn't, you asshole."

Joshua laughed at me, which only served to make me more pissed off. "Sorry, Ryder. It's just too fun to mess with you!" He pushed me playfully, and I just sat there with a tight-lipped frown.

Joshua stopped laughing and moved in front of me. I looked away.

"Ryder..." He drew out my name in a singsong voice. "Come on, you're not really mad at me, are you?" He out his hands on my shoulders.

I sighed. "...No..."

He wrapped me in a hug, but I made no move to return the affection.

"Hey, Ryder?"

"What?" I said, still a little mad.

"You know I love you, right?"

I waited for a second before answering. "Yeah..." My body betrayed me and I felt my arms wrap around the body of my best friend. "I know."

"This wasn't a big deal, right?"

"...Right..."

We stayed like that, just hugging, for God knows how long. It might have been awkward to some people, but to us it was normal.

Joshua was my comfort. He was all I had left.

I hated to think what would have happened if he had never found me.