Any Time At All

Chapter Six

Months after Thanksgiving, freshman year is almost over. You and Steve have been dating for about eight months. Over time, Steve is becoming a little more distant than he was back in November. Ever since he started hanging out with Tommy, he was around him more often than you. It's like he is becoming another person entirely.

When he is around them, he gets snarky, persistently obnoxious, and it seems like he always has something to prove. You decided a while ago not to hang around Steve when he is with Tommy and his other friends. You don't like this side of him. Deep down, you know he is a good person with a giant heart. When the two of you are alone, he treats you like royalty. He puts you on the highest horse. You treasure him like no one else.

"(Y/N)!" Steve brings you back to reality. You sit in your last period class. You got little to no sleep last night and have been dozing off all day. "Hey, are you alright?" He touches your arm from the desk next to you. You didn't realize the bell had rung and so you sit their tired and confused. "The bell rang, come on, let's go home," you get up and follow him out of the classroom and into the parking lot.

"Harrington!" Tommy yells from behind you. Your eyes roll to the back of your head. Steve turns around while you face the road still, refusing to look at that poor excuse of a person. Steve walks over to Tommy, meeting him half way.

You start to walk home on your own without Steve even noticing. After a minutes, he looks behind him and shouts your name. "Let her go, man. She'll be fine," he shoves it off and puts an arm around Steve. All Steve does is watch you leave with a sorrowful face. He quickly changes his face and joins his friends once again.

You were hoping that Steve would follow you but you understand that he has other friends that he wants to be with also. You just don't feel the need to have to tolerate their shit.

You walk home in silence, enjoying the warm and comforting rays of the sun on your skin. You reach your house and start your homework. The english teacher has been bugging you about submitting your essay about social status in the school for an award. You decide, now that you have some time on your hands, you can review it and then maybe send it to the address previously given to you.

Nobody knows about your submission and you plan to keep it that way just in case you don't win anything. Relaxing on the couch, the sun creeps in through the window making the fabric warm. This makes you feel happy and more productive.

In the next two hours, you have successfully reviewed your essay and have completed all of your homework. You thought to yourself, maybe I'll call Steve and see what he's up to.

Going over to the telephone in the kitchen, you dial his number and it rings and rings and rings. There's no answer. He must still be with Tommy. In fact, he was with Tommy and five other guys just messing around

A bunch of the guys and are messing around in a dark alley way and drinking alcohol from brown paper bags. Steve just stands there laughing with them. Tommy goes up to Steve and pushes a drink to his chest. "Come on Harrington, take a swig," the smell from the liquor is strong and makes Steve scrunch up his nose. "Don't be a puss. Drink! Drink! Drink!" Tommy chants and the rest of the group joins in. Finally, Steve grabs the alcohol and takes a long, miserable chug. He leaves the poison in his mouth for a second and tries to swallow it but chokes and spits most of hit out. Everyone laughs at him and hands Steve a beer because he can't handle the hard stuff.

You are sitting in your room, it's eleven o'clock at night. You haven't spoken to Steve in a while. You feel worried and not because you are constantly wanting to be near him but because he's with Tommy and God knows what could happen to him.

You stare at the phone. One last call before bed won't hurt. The phone rings. Steve is just getting in his house. He opens the door and hears his phone, "yeah, yeah, I hear you," he slurs.