The Two Of Us (will be continued)

Chapter 12 (Continued)

Marshall could never exactly pinpoint the exact time things changed with his brother. Just like the reason for it, he and Chase had forgotten the exact day they had argued. The details like that; all lost.
And perhaps those details never really mattered too much in the first place.
He thought it so funny, because there they were, arguing about such silly, irrational things like immature children; immature boys. And yet they thought they were SO mature in giving each other some space to reflect on the situation properly before meeting up eventually to discuss it and just forget it and start afresh.
Now, he supposed it could've been mature, if it weren't for the ways they had used that space against one another more than for one another. But of course, one must consider that like humans, animals too can be blinded by emotion. The world as a whole. For as long as the earth shall orbit, every day will count as evidence for that grim conclusion. But seeing Chase and Zuma argue made him reflect on these things....
(Memory music again😂)***The dalmation could remember quite a few days in which he and his often loud, stubborn, prideful german shepard brother had deliberately tried to make it seem like they were both over the ordeal and the furthest thing on their minds was each other. When really, it was the complete opposite. One of those sad, lonely cases you see in some dumb old show where they're standing a few feet away from each other, not saying a single word in utter bitterness. Then one of them would slowly start to turn their head to catch a glimpse of the other but quickly turn away when the other confusedly took notice. And then that person would do the same. It was a stupid repeated process. Each turning to look and then turning away in shame, anger and forced solitariness. It made them miserable. Practically drove them insane to the point where they just wanted to tackle the other and scream, "I forgive you." But Chase, being too prideful, wouldn't give in at the end of the day and Marshall, being too protective of himself, wouldn't either.
Some days weren't too bad, perhaps. Marshall felt it probably got worse from that day when he and Rubble were playing out on the lawn, for a brief moment forgetting all his troubles, when suddenly out of nowhere he could see Chase and Zuma racing each other and looking like they were having a lot of fun together. Because from then on, Chase and Zuma began doing nearly everything together. There were even some days when Marshall would take it more to heart because sometimes he started feeling like Chase was actually trying to show him that he had found someone new to hang out with and trying to rub it in the poor dalmation's face that he had been replaced. Of course, Marshall knew now that that had been all in his head.
However, one day when the Paw Patrol had just gotten back from a mission that was fixing a powerline, the crew was chilling around as much as they could before they got another call. On the observatory floor, Chase and Zuma were laughing their heads off at some funny videos on a laptop that was set up on the floor, Marshall was pretending he wasn't noticing them as he silently chewed on a chew toy and Ryder was sitting on his green chair, reading. Having become fed up with how challenging one of his video games was, the boy had recently taken to reading and playing his guitar more. Marshall didn't know how Ryder was able to concentrate on what he was reading with Chase and Zuma's laughter surrounding him. Maybe at this point he was just used to the pups' noise. The other pups had gone off to the park and Marshall now regretted not going along since he now had to awkwardly sit with a chew toy all while Chase and Zuma were having such a great time. Ryder would occasionally glance up from his book and look at the two oddly but didn't inquire as to what they were laughing at on the computer.
"HA! Look at him!" Chase laughed, as he and Zuma watched a guy fall from a bicycle on one of those fail compilations.
"Boy, I'm suwpwised he didn't bweak anything!" Zuma laughed.
Marshall sighed quietly. He found it incredibly hard to tune out his brothers. He finally decided that maybe some music would help.
"Ryder, may we turn on some music?" He asked cheerfully, so as not to make it obvious that Chase and Zuma were getting to him.
"Sure, Marshall." The boy smiled, before going back to his book.
The dalmation walked over to the radio and switched it on. He walked back to his place on the floor and resumed chewing on that toy that he seemed to have been chewing on for the past hour. The song that came on was "How Deep Is Your Love" by thr Bee Gees.
"Great." Thought Marshall, sarcastically. "A love song. I was hoping for something louder and more upbeat." He thought.
"Nice, haven't heard this one in..golly, who knows how long." Thought Ryder.
Chase and Zuma were laughing so much they didn't even know there was music on.
Ryder was humming softly to the tune when he suddenly caught sight of Marshall laying down in a sad state. He wasn't chewing on the toy anymore. Seeing him that way made Ryder concerned.
As Marshall took another look at Chase and Zuma he began to notice his owner looking at him. And when he and Ryder locked eyes for a second the dalmation quickly turned away. And when he slowly turned to see his owner again, Ryder looked up at him at the same time and smiled slightly; almost shyly. Marshall looked looked away and just as tried not to pay attention to it. Ryder looked to the side and played with his hair a bit, also trying not to pay attention. But the two couldn't help themselves and glanced at one another once more, before quickly looking away. Marshall looked from Chase and Zuma and carefully back to Ryder, wondering if he should say anything, or just leave, or do anything else. Ryder too was wondering what to make of this. Then for a moment he thought he was hallucinating because it seemed like the room became dim with only soft, colorful lights going around on the walls and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, spinning in sync with the music.
"Wait, what? What is this?!" He almost said out loud.
But then what Chase and Zuma said next made Ryder (and Marshall) even more confused as to whether or not it was actually a hallucination.
"Huh? How'd the room get so dark? And where'd the music come from?" Asked Chase.
"Yeah, what's going on hewe?" Asked Zuma.
"That's what I'd like to know." Said Marshall, feeling kinda creeped out.
"Unless I installed a disco feature in the Lookout sometime and forgot about it, I think Robo-dog might be playing tricks on us." Thought Ryder.
Marshall couldn't take any of this. He finally opted for just hiding under his red blanket like a certain scaredy-cat that a certain blonde owned, until the song was over. Very much like Ryder decided to go back to his book, now flipping pages out of nervousness. As for Chase and Zuma, they finally brushed the whole thing off and went back to making fun of people on the computer. Even still, Marshall couldn't help but try to casually peek at Ryder from under his blanket, not knowing that Ryder was doing the same to him from behind his book.
At last the song ended and Marshall hesitantly came out of his blanket at the same pace that Ryder put his book down. They looked around and the room seemed to have gone back to normal.
"Ah, there's the sunlight." Said Chase, looking up from the computer having also taken notice.
Zuma shut off the laptop and closed the screen. "What'dya wanna do now?" He asked.
"Hmm..well, we could..go and eat spaghetti at Mr. Porter's!" Chase exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"Yeah! Gweat idea! Wrydew, is it ok?"
"It's alright with me, just don't stay out past dark."
"Sweet!" Cheered Chase, giving Zuma a high-paw.
Then the unexpected: "Hey, Mawshall, wanna come with us?"
Marshall dropped the chew toy in his mouth(that he had since picked back up)in surprise and a bit of fear. He felt like he was being put on the spot. He essentially was.
Chase definitely wasn't expecting Zuma to say that either. Nonetheless the german shepard smiled a little at the dalmation, as if indicating he was open to the idea. Maybe this was their chance to set things right.
Marshall knew he had to come up with something to get him out of going quick. He couldn't go, it'd be too awkward!
The dalmation cleared his throat. "Uh, thanks, guys. But um, I had other plans already." He lied.
Chase looked slightly disappointed but tried not to show it.
"Oh, weally? What kind of plans?" Asked Zuma like a curious little brother would.
"Shoot.." Thought Marshall. He had to lie again.
"Oh, you know, uh, Ryder was gonna take me to the movies! Uh, to see that new film what'sitcalled! Right, Ryder?!" Marshall blurted out as if his mouth had a mind of it's own.
"WAIT. WHAT?! What did I just say?!" Thought the pup, horrified.
Ryder looked up from his book in confusion and Marshall feared that he'd say something like, "Huh?" Or, "What are you talking about?" Or, "I don't remember us planning that." Then Chase and Zuma would know he lied, and it'd be all over for him.
Ryder almost did say something like that. Almost. But a lightbulb appeared in his ten-year-old mind and figured that an opportunity to spend quality time with one of his pups had arised and of course he was going to take it. Besides, it wasn't like he had anything better to do anyway. And the boy was certain there was nothing better in the world. So with that he put on a convincing smile.
"Yeah, yeah, that's right. I've been looking forward to it all week, actually."
Marshall was very surprised to see Ryder going along with the act. But he tried not to seem that way as he gave Chase and Zuma a nod.
Chase looked down and said nothing while Zuma smiled at Marshall in return.
"Oh, well that sounds weally fun."
"Yeah. It's sure gonna be a great time." Responded the dalmation, trying to keep up the act.
"In fact, we should probably leave soon before it gets too crowded. We wanna get good seats." Said Ryder, pretending to check the time on his Pup-pad and giving Marshall a little wink.
Marshall chuckled nervously. "Right you are, Ryder!"
"Well then, I guess we'll get going too. So goodbye, you guys. Have fun!" Said Zuma, making his way to the elevator.
"Yeah..have fun..." Said Chase, following. He didn't take his eyes off Marshall for a bit before turning forward with a sad sigh.
"See ya!" Smiled Marshall.
"Goodbye now!" Said Ryder with a little wave.
The elevator went down and the room was suddenly filled with an awkward silence(well, awkward for Marshall that is)as the boy and the dalmation stared at one another.
"Well?"
" 'Well' what?"
"Weren't we going to the movies?" Asked Ryder, smiling.
Marshall smiled back and cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah."
So the two went down to Ryder's ATV, all the while grateful.