Forget Me Not

chapter three: when we first met

"Things happen for no reason at all, but they create opportunities."
-when we first met

Oliver likened his friendship with Brock to that of a famous on-screen duo. He never once mentioned it to Brock for fear that he would just simply make fun of these thoughts, or worse, reaffirm them. He oftentimes tried to convince himself that he wasn't sure who the grey colored, literal ass sidekick was. But, moments occurred, moments like now, when the roles were reaffirmed.

"Just a little wiggle and a thrust should help." Brock said, his tongue trapped between his teeth as the already loud rattling noise ensued.

Oliver snorted at his wording, scuffing his toes against the patio slabs lined up dutifully like soldiers beneath their feet.

"Is this necessary?" Oliver questioned, aloud for the first time in fifteen minutes.

"There is no other way to do this." Brock reaffirmed, as he had been prone to doing to Oliver's complaints for the past fifteen minutes.

"You could just wait until she gets home and just get them then." Oliver offered rather plaintively.

"She would literally shit all over me." Brock said as his meaty fingers continued to, as gingerly as they could manage, fiddle with the bobby pin shoved lucratively in the door lock.

Oliver wondered if this was an aspect of a relationship; going to any lengths to maintain the truth from the other if it would only ultimately hurt them. If so, Oliver figured he wouldn't be very good at this aspect.

The main problem here was that Brock had left a packet of cigarettes in the pair of pants which he had discarded on Katie's basement level bedroom floor. In his haste to leave her house after their escapade, he had pulled on some previously, similarly discarded gym shorts and bolted out. Which meant his Marlboros were stuffed in his rather large back pocket.

"She probably won't even find them." Oliver attempted to argue, knowing it was a losing battle.

"She literally wears all my clothes like they're her own." Brock said before haphazardly jamming the bobby pin back into the lock in some sort of desperate action "She will notice. And then, she will neuter me."

"You ever thought about just stopping smoking?" Oliver asked, earning a particularly nasty side eye.

"The less she knows the better."

Oliver snorted, a piece of his slightly overgrown brunette hair blowing lazily up out of his face from the effort "That's a healthy relationship."

"It's a relationship nonetheless." Brock shot back, rather harshly, before the door in question suddenly pushed open.

They both startled slightly, unexpected to have actually managed it. It had been Brock's harebrained scheme to begin with, which Oliver knew would be poorly executed and likely just a waste of time. But he tagged along dutifully nonetheless, always Donkey, never the Shrek.

"I told you it'd work you son of a bitch." Brock said triumphantly, parading into Katie's basement.

Oliver vaguely felt as though this constituted as intruding (for those wondering, it did) but he pushed the thoughts from his head as Katie's parents voices drifted down the basement stairs towards them.

Brock shrugged him off before he had even opened his mouth, as though sensing Oliver's concerns "It's fine. They watch Jeopardy until like 8 PM and then they go to bed."

Oliver stood back, off to the side slightly, as Brock traipsed through the basement with an air of familiarity that gave a clue to how many times he had previously been there.