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THREE IN THE MOONLIGHT
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That night, Alisha knocked on his door. She spent a number of nights at his house when things got rough at home. Rich people weren't safe from everything and Alisha was a living, breathing example of that. Alisha was pretty much considered another child by his parents, so much so she even had her own room in their house. That didn't stop her from spending most of the time with Norman, though. She opened the door without waiting for an invitation, finding Norman laying on his bed with his headphones pushed in and music blasting. She laid down on the bed with him pulling out his headphones.
Norman, who had his eyes closed and hadn't seen her coming, raised an eyebrow as he opened his eyes to face her. Before he spoke, he picked up his phone and paused the music. "You're back."
"I am," she sighed, falling back on his bed to stare at the ceiling, "You know you're my safe place, Rocky. I just... didn't want to be home tonight. If that's okay with you, obviously."
He nodded, pulling her closer to him via an arm around her waist in a comforting manner. She leaned into him like she always did. They fit together like two little puzzle pieces and they could always count on each other to be there when they needed to be. "Come on, you know it's always okay with me. Do you wanna talk about it?"
The girl shook her head, a piece of dark hair falling into her face. Without thinking, Norman reached forward and tucked the piece back behind her ear. With a sigh, she spoke, "I wanna know what you did today. When I walked in your mom asked me if we all had fun today and if we liked the mango you brought. Why'd you lie and say you were with us? Who got the mango you robbed from us? You never lie to your mom."
"You're gonna be mad at me," Norman said with a pout and a groan, avoiding the girl's eyes that were boring into his soul at the moment. When she didn't say anything except stare expectantly he sighed and caved in, "I... may or may not have gone down to the Cut. To visit that Pogue I helped the other night."
"You went down to the south side and made it out alive? I don't believe you," Alisha remarked with a scoff as she lifted her gaze away from the boy and back up to the ceiling. He remembered years ago the two of them together had placed glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, but neither of them had been tall enough which resulted in her sitting upon his shoulders for most of the afternoon. They had to have been at least twelve or thirteen. Things had been so different back then. One thing that hadn't changed was the stars. "Why?"
"I felt bad. I mean, Topper did a number on him and I just... it's stupid. I wanted to make sure he was okay. You know how much I hate watching people get hurt and that doesn't exclude Pogues. Even if they're assholes," he said with a small shrug, knowing he didn't have much to say for himself. It wasn't like he and John B were friends, they were the complete opposite, really. They fucking hated each other, but for just a flash of a moment that afternoon it hadn't been that way. It had just been two boys standing in a kitchen. Not enemies, just kids.
