Wake Up, Make Up, Come Out

Chapter 20

The wind rustled the leaves and the bushes nearby, they tilted by the great strength. It's not everyday you see an abandoned railway, you can't regularly find dismantled tracks covered in a layer of rust as if it grew another skin, a broken leaver was on the left side, it had a stick lodged into it. Chipmunks and squirrels battled on each side of the tracks, on each side of the railway was a forest. On one of the sides the dirt that led into the forest was littered cigarette butts and empty glass bottles from parties, red solo cups lodged into the dirt, the other side wasn't in as bad condition, it had burnt wood in a pile with three logs that acted as seats near it. It used to be where sorority parties took place but after the college got closed (due to a perverted teacher creeping around in the boys locker room) nobody came to this area. It was secluded, in ruins but peaceful.

Jared walked towards the to logs and took a seat on of them. He had started to come here more often now that the he couldn't go to his and Angelo's secret hideout anymore since Ruby told everyone about it. He picked up a small pebble and chucked it as far as he could. He closed his eyes, wishing that he could untangle himself from the mess he had made.

"Ow! What the fuck-" Parker got hit on the back of the head by the pebble, "first a fucking squirrel threw a nut at me and now a nut throws a pebble at me?" Parker mumbled when seeing Jared. He needed an escape from the hectic school life, home life, and love life.

Jared opened his eyes to see where the voice had come from. "Parker?" He said questioningly as he saw Parker on the other side of the railway track.

"Nah it's Barrack Obama," Parker rolled his eyes at him and jumped to his side, he sat on a log. "Whatcha doing here Jared? Gonna kiss me then bang Ruby in the locker room?" Parker asked.

Jared looked at Parker and raised an eyebrow. "I had to get away from the drama," he looked away, "plus I wouldn't do that to Isabella."

"She's not interested in me," Parker scratched the back of his head, "I mean you wouldn't hurt Isabella but you'd hurt Angelo?" Parker asked, "aren't you like, in love with Angelo? I mean it's pretty obvious."

"I keep messing up with Angelo. Isabella's a friend and that's simple but when I'm around Angelo it gets complicated." Jared sighed. "And are you blind?"

"I never said you were more than friends, I'm just saying you messed up big time with the only girl who doesn't want to get in your pants." Parker said.

"You think I don't know that?" Jared said irritated. "I know I messed up with Angelo and I don't know how to fix any of it."

"Talk to her instead of trying to get with her, every time you're with her you get too touchy, like there's plenty of time to do that when you guys are dating but now you're treating her like a sex toy," Parker explained.

Jared was surprised at the advice Parker gave. "That's actually good advice. It's surprising since you seem good in this department and you still haven't managed to ask out Isabella."

"I'm tired of chasing after girls, considering after I get them they try getting in my pants. I wanna romance her the old fashioned way, take her to fancy restaurants, go to a park at midnight, stuff like that." Parker sighed, "is that weird? Like all other guys just wanna bang and shit and I just wanna cuddle?" Parker asked.

"It just means you just genuinely care about her." Jared said shaking his head. "There's not a lot of guys who go the extra mile anymore, it doesn't make it weird."

"Such as yourself, the extra mile for you is allowing her to orgasm," Parker snickered.

"Oh shut it Sanchez." Jared rolled his eyes at Parker. "Why don't you give it a go with Isabella? You know what you want so what's stopping you?"

"Nothing is stopping me, I just wanna know if she's gonna confess to me, if she likes me that is." Parker stood up and stretched.

"So why are you here?" Jared asked out of sheer curiosity.

"Stressed as fuck, needed the scent of the woods, the smell of sweaty teenagers banging against trees and cigarettes." Parker joked.

"Mate you seem the most unproblematic person I currently know. What do you even have to be stressed about?" Jared said looking at Parker with his eyebrows raised.

"My step sister came back into town, she left to go to a boarding school and she's moved back here. She had always been the favourite out of us two...My parents don't acknowledge my existence anymore, I'm failing in most subjects, Isabella's mum hates me, most of the school wants to know about my sex life, shall I go on?" Parker asked, ending his question with a deep sigh, he walked towards the entrance of the woods. "It would be nice to run into them and never come back," he said referring to the trees. The wind beckoned him to run in, forget everything, but then Isabella's voice echoed in his head and those thoughts wavered.

"Shit dude," Jared said stretching his legs "I had no idea you had so much shit going on. Like out of all everyone, I always thought you had zero problems."

"No such thing as zero problems, even the least unproblematic person has something going on, if we didn't have problems then we wouldn't exist." Parker took out a packet of matches, "the wood doesn't seem that bad. One last campfire?" Parker asked Jared.

Jared smiled and remembered when he and Parker camped out here. "Yeah, one last campfire." 'It would have to get easier from here on out' Jared thought as he got up. 'Right?'