Why?

27

"How are you doing?" Mark asks as he walks out to the balcony where I'm sitting.

"I'm fine why do you ask?" I say as he sits next to me.

"You just seem upset that's all."

"Nope, I'm fine." Somewhat of a white lie but that never hurt anybody.

"Where's your boyfriend?" He asks.

"He went into work early today, to make up for when he was late."

"Oh, so that's why you're down here." He states.

"What do you mean?"

"You only come down when he's not home."

"I'm not really supposed to be down here, especially when he's not home."

"He shouldn't tell you not to come downstairs."

"He says he's just trying to protect me."

"You don't believe that for a second right?"

"No."

"How is he gonna try and protect you from us, when he can't even protect you from himself?"

"I don't know, he basically implied that he doesn't want anyone taking advantage of me."

"What about when he takes advantage of you? Who's going to protect you from him?"

I start to speak but find no rebuttal to his statement.

"You have to see that he takes advantage of you in more ways then one."

"He-"

"I don't want to hear it. He takes advantage of you, he makes you do everything for him, he takes advantage of you for money, sex, he just wants things from you." He explains trying to be nice but every word hurt more and more.

"He just needs to get on his feet."

"You've paid his rent multiple times since you moved in and he never pays you back, he forces you to have sex with him, he-"

"Just stop." I say with tears starting to stream down my cheeks.

He looks at me not realizing how much it was hurting me to hear these things.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you or overstep."

"It's ok." I pause. "I know that it seems like he only wants to take things from me, that he only wants me for sex, but I don't want to believe it. I don't want to think that... that's all I have to offer is just stuff to take from me."

"It's not, he just doesn't see it."

"I don't really want to talk about this."

"I'm sorry if I over stepped." He says empathetically.

"You didn't, I just don't want to talk about it."

"Ok, then we'll talk about something else." He pauses. "How's work?"

"It's ok, you?"

"Can't really complain."

"Hey I just got something you wanna see?" I ask.

"Sure."

I go upstairs, grab a bag, and return out to the balcony shortly.

"A bottle of bubbles?" He asks confused.

"And this." I say as I pull a vape out of the bag.

"Ok." He says still confused.

"I saw that if you blow the vape cloud into the bubble it makes a cloudy bubble." I try to explain it so it doesn't sound dumb.

"Oh." He says starting to understand. "Well let's see."

I quickly open the lid of the bubbles, and grab the vape. I get the bubble wand ready and take a hit off the vape, blowing into the bubble wand. The white bubble got bigger and bigger until it pulled away from the wand and fell slowly to the floor. It bounced a few times before it popped, releasing the cloud inside.

"That was awesome!" I say, grabbing the wand again.

"It was really cool."

I blow another cloud into the bubble wand and watch as the bubble slowly sinks to the floor and sits on the ground. It slowly gets smaller until it finally pops and we watch the smoke dissipate.

"That's really cool." Mark says before he pauses. "What kind of juice do you have in there?"

"Strawberry lemonade, 3 nic."

"Nice."

I take another hit and blow it in his direction jokingly.

"Smells really good." He says moving closer to me.

"Yeah it's probably one of my favorites."

I take another hit and when I go to blow it out, he quickly moves closer and presses his lips softly to mine sucking in the cloud. My eyes widen and I pull away.

"I'm sorry." He says once he realizes my reaction.

"I'm with-"

"I know, I shouldn't have done that. I'm so sorry. I've just wanted to so bad, and I know that's no excuse you were just right there and I don't know what came over me."

"You don't need to explain." I tell him with a smile.

"That bubble thing is cool though." He says trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah it is. I can't believe it actually worked."

"Do you want to get something to drink?" He asks after a moment of silence.

"That sounds great."

"Charlie!" He yells.

"Charlie!" I join in as we laugh.

As we start walking down the street, we engage in some small conversation but we mostly just enjoy the walk. I wait outside of Charlie's while he goes in to buy the alcohol. A few minutes later he returns with a bag.

"I got you some vodka and a Mikes." He informs me as we start our walk back to the apartment.

As soon as we get back, I open the bottle of vodka and grab some juice to mix it with. I mix my first drink and we go back out to the balcony. Shortly after my first drink I decide to bring the whole bottle out on the balcony with us, and we drink for a few hours.

"I like hanging out with you." I say as I lay my head on his lap. "I'm glad you live here."

"Me too." He tells me as he starts playing with my hair.

I lay across his lap slowly drifting away as he runs his hands through my hair. The only thing I feel is safe calm and happy for once in my life; the last thing I feel before everything fades away.