Alan and Marie: Chapter 4

The next two weeks went by smoothly. Almost every afternoon the two would go places together, usually with friends. They would "bump into" each other at the mall, the bookstore, and the movies. During trips to other schools for football games they would always talk. It was easy to do this because Renee, Marie, Lynn and Alan were always together at those functions. As one would expect, however, being so close to one another all the time did nothing to quench the attraction that still existed between the two.

One evening after a home game everyone went over to Eddie’s, as usual. Marie was flirting with Alan heavily that night, because neither William nor Lynn was there. In the midst of everyone talking and laughing, several new guests arrived. One of these guests was a slender boy who had been hit with every branch of the Ugly Tree. He more closely resembled a rat than a human being. His name was Steve Smith, and he had been driving the car the day Alan's brother Aaron was killed.

Marie didn’t make the connection at first. All she noticed was Alan’s mood deteriorate. He became silent, and sat staring off into the distance. She asked him, "Are you okay, Alan?"

He said, "I think I need to go home. Do you want me to drop you off?"

"Yeah that’s fine. I need to be getting home, anyway."

Once in the car Marie asked him, "What happened back there? Did I go too far?"

Alan shook his head and said, "No. It’s Steve." Marie looked over and saw tears in his eyes.

He choked out, "I hate him."

The rest of the car ride to Marie’s house was silent. When he pulled up to the curb, she hugged him. She stroked his hair and said, "I wish there was something I could do to help." He looked up at her then, with tear-stained eyes. She kissed him, against her better judgment. He returned the kiss, to her surprise, but broke it off quickly. "You need to go inside."

"Yeah."

"I’ll see you Monday at school, alright?"

"Okay, Alan. Good night."

She slunk out of the car and went inside. She felt so sad for him, but the tingle on her lips was nevertheless still there, like last time. The inexplicable sensation lasted through brushing her teeth before bed, and through her goodnight conversation with William. Aside from the sorrow she felt in her heart for him, there was something else, something deeper. She couldn’t describe just what it was. She just knew it was different.

The next day she had an outing planned with William. The homecoming dance was fast approaching, and he needed a decent outfit. The problem arose because he had somehow managed to work in a professional sales environment with only a pair of brown shoes, and no black shoes, and with only gray dress pants. William was a freshman in college, and had put on more than his "freshman fifteen." Marie was not happy with his loss of interest in his weight, but said nothing. Any time she said anything to him, about pretty much any topic, he got upset. Things as simple as planning dinner could offend him.

They arrived at the local mall, and went to all the places William wanted to go. They went to the novelty gift store, the video game store, the store which sold obscure movies and CDs, and the store that sold even more obscure and more expensive Japanese pop culture items and food. All the while Marie wanted to go into the larger department stores and look at clothes or any store and look at clothes. Of course, by the time William was finished searching for whatever video game he was going to play next, he was hungry. They then went to the same restaurant they always went to in the mall, ordered the same thing, sat in the same booth.

"I want to go in Gadzooks to look at shoes, ok?"

Will rolled his eyes. "Okay. I’ll be sitting on the bench outside of there when you get out."

Marie didn’t even look up from her chicken lo mein. She forked at a noodle which was slightly greasier than she cared for and said, "That’s really fucked up."

"What? You know I don’t like shopping for clothes."

"Well, you know I don’t like shopping for video games, but you drag me into Babbage’s every time we come here."

Will let out a heavy sigh. "Fine, I’ll go in Gadzooks with you."

"No, never mind, let’s just go home. My head hurts anyway."

The two finished eating in silence, and then got into Will’s car. As he drove off he said, "Why do you always want to come to the mall if you don’t like going in the stores I go into?"

Marie snapped.

"It isn’t about you going into stores I don’t like or about me going into stores you don’t like. It’s about how I go - it seems like every week - to this damn mall with you, and we only go in the places you want to go. I make as valiant an effort as I can to pretend to be interested in the stuff you’re looking at, but I don’t care about Reservoir Dogs action figures.

Then I suggest going into a clothing store, because we need to look for something not only for me for Homecoming but you as well, since you don’t have anything that both matches your shoes and fits, and you act like it’s fucking torture! The whole purpose behind coming to the mall today was to look at clothes. You looked at the shirts in Macy’s where we walked in and that was it! Now we have to come back to the damn mall next weekend too and go through the same bullshit because you’d rather drag me into a place that sells five dollar pocky than get something you need for an event you’re going to with me!"

Will was in tears. "You know I don’t want to go to the Homecoming dance. I don’t want to have to go back to do anything high school related. Why are you fussing at me about this when you know how I feel about it?"

"Fine, I’ll take someone else."

Marie was fuming. If steam actually came out of people’s ears, she couldn’t think of a more appropriate time for it to happen. She knew what she said would set him off, and get him as mad as she was. He started bawling.

"Why don’t we just break up then?"

"I don’t want to break up I just want you to stop being so selfish!"

"How am I being selfish? Tell me!"

"Oh God just shut up before you wreck the car. Take me home."

"You don’t want to go back to my place?"

"No. I want to go home."

She slammed the car door and walked inside her house without even saying goodbye to him. She ran in and called Alan. He sounded happy to hear her voice, a stark contrast to how he felt the day before.

"Alan, I need to see you."

"I don’t know if I can tonight. I’m going to the movies with Lynn in like an hour."

"After the movie. Come pick me up. You’ll have to sneak me out."

She gave quick instructions to Alan on how he should do it, and at midnight Marie was counting to one thousand, having just heard her parents start snoring. Then she called Eddie’s house, where Alan had gone after dropping off Lynn. She whispered to Alan when he got on the phone, "Come get me."

Five minutes later he pulled up, headlights off. Marie silently climbed out her window, as she had done so many times before, and expertly replaced the screen. She hopped in the passenger seat. Alan smiled shyly at her and said, "Hey." She grinned and said, "The road loops around so you don’t have to back up."

They began driving and Marie explained, "Will and I got into a fight today over the most ridiculous things. It just seems like we do the same things over and over and if I try to change it up he gets upset and thinks I don’t appreciate him. It’s so messed up, Alan." She recanted the events from earlier in the day at the mall, and after a brief pause Alan said, "Why don’t you break up with him?"

Marie stopped and thought about this. Her reply came, "I don’t know. I mean, I still love him, he’s just, difficult sometimes."

Alan said, "I think he’s worried he’s going to lose you."

Marie laughed and said, "To whom? The good ones are already taken."

Even though it was dark, she could see him blush.