Dangerous

Hiking

Me and Mark had agreed to go and hang out together. I pulled up in my car to see him waiting outside the entrance to the hiking trail.

"What took you so long?"

"My mom kept asking questions. I told her I was going out with Michelle. And then I had to call her and let her know in case my mom tried to confirm it."

"Geez. She seems a bit paranoid."

"Eh, it's not too bad. It's usually not a problem."

"You're 18, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well you're an adult, Lindsey. You can do whatever the hell you want!"

He threw his arms up in the air with a smirk on his face, obviously trying to be dramatic.

"Easy for you to say, Mr. Doesn't take nothing from nobody."

He chuckled a little at the name.

"That's me. Mr. No mother fucking bullshit!"

"Well someone's got a dirty mouth."

He started wiggling his eyebrows.

"In more ways than one."

"Ew! Gross!"

"Hey! Suck a dick!"

We were both laughing now.

"Same to you!"

"Already done!"

"Really?!"

"What? You gotta problem with it?"

"No, I just didn't think you were serious."

"Shit happens. What can I say?"

"Well you can start with the story of how you ended up blowing another dude."

We kept laughing as I realized we had walked quite a ways.

"Simple. Some shit head was shitting on him for being gay among other things. So I said that I'll make sure he gets better action than that asshole. And I'm happy to say I fulfilled that promise. So I guess you could say it was a favor to a friend."

He winked as I scrunched my face up.

"Where's the bleach?"

He burst out laughing and soon I joined him.

"Well, I will say, if I had some weirdly ironic and somewhat racist booze right now, I'd make a toast to Mr. Potato Head. My brief gay lover!"

"Stop it!"

"Never!"

"Whatever. I will say that you are surprisingly chill and fun to be around."

"No, I'm constantly high as a rocket and do nothing but badass things, obviously!"

"As if!"

"I wish that was my life. That'd be cool."

"To each their own I suppose."

I paused for a second.

"So, just to get things ironically straight, are you gay or something?"

"Bi, actually, but y'know."

"And you two aren't...?"

"No, we're not together."

"So you just did that for fun or something?"

"Yeah, a bit. Sex is meaningless anyways."

"What? It's about love, Mark. Your partner handling..."

"Can you please stop?"

I quickly shut my mouth.
Who spat in his cereal?

"Sorry..."

"It's fine. To each their own, but for me...it's meaningless."

"Oh."

"Anyways, different subject..."

~~~

"Yo! Over here!"

On our hike, we had found a giant rock in a clearing. I walked around the rock to see him start climbing on top of it.

"What are you doing?"

"Climbing. Come on."

He motioned for me to follow as he made his way up the rock and on top of it.

"What if I fall?"

He reached down and held out his hand.

"I've got you."

I took a deep breath before grabbing his hand as he helped pull me up.

"See? It wasn't so bad."

"Yeah, I guess not. The view is pretty though."

"Yeah, it is."

"Just asking but do you usually do stuff like this?"

"I don't really hang out with anybody, no."

"I meant hiking but okay."

We both laughed a little.

"But since you brought it up, why don't you hang out with anybody?"

"Because nobody really likes me, I guess."

"Well I will say you can be a bit intimidating."

"Yeah, I know..."

"Why do you act like that, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I don't know. I guess it's more a defensive thing."

"Well for someone who people seem to think is a jerk, you're pretty cool and mature. More than you can say for most of the boys in this town."

"Well, some things happen that make you have to grow up pretty fast, I guess."

"Yeah..."

~~~

"So Mr. Tough Guy, did you have fun?"

"Yes, I did actually. I've...never been hiking before."

"What?! You should've told me! I wouldn't taken you to a much cooler place!"

"Why? It was amazing as is."

"Well, next time you can pick something out."

"Deal. Well, I've gotta go before my step-dad notices I left."

"Well, okay then. See ya around."

"See ya around."

He smiled before putting on his helmet and goggles and getting on his bike. Then he was gone.

As I got in my car, I couldn't help but think...

What's going on with his family?