Chapter 10

It all started feeling worse when Poe didn’t show up to school the next day. I wanted so badly to call or text, but I stopped myself each time I reached for the phone. Then it got around to the end of the day, and I decided something.

I didn’t need more trouble in my life, or stress that only made me doubt the choices I made. Poe had issues, and I had more than I could have counted. If he didn’t want to be my friend, then he wouldn’t be. Cathy was more than enough for me and having two whole friends sounded greedy anyway.

“Um, fuck no,” Cathy said as we walked to her car. “That’s not how friendship works. You don’t dump someone because they’re sad.”

“That’s not what I’m doing. Poe clearly has some issue, and he isn’t talking to us about it. I just got dumped by one guy, I don’t need to get attached to another so that the same thing can happen.”

We stopped, and Cathy put her hands on my shoulders. “I understand, but I’m not letting this happen. Poe is upset, and we’re going to fix it. If we can’t fix it, then we’ll make him feel better. Ride or die, bitch.”

I had a choice to make, piss off Cathy, or try one last time with Poe. I didn’t want to bother him if he wanted us to screw off, because that would have only made me decide to swear off humans. But Cathy seemed positive about this one.

“Fine,” I said. “We can see if he’ll talk to us. If he won’t, then I wash my hands of this.”

We got into the car, and Cathy headed for Poe’s house. Everything in me said that this was a bad idea, and ambushing someone would only get me yelled at. Yet, Cathy drove on, unafraid of the rejection about to come. She could have shaken it off with ease, called him a name, and then gotten over it. Me, I dwelled. I stewed. I let shit bother me until I wanted to scream. With no outlet for my rage and sadness, windshields got broken, and cars got smashed. I was a danger to society. Really.

Cathy pulled up to Poe’s house, and I felt on the verge of a heart attack. I hoped she planned on doing all the talking, because my tongue felt like a dry slab of meat.

We got out of the car, and she put her arm around my shoulders for the walk up. I was one hundred percent sure she did it so I wouldn’t run all the way back home. I could have told her that my parents expected me home, but they were out at the kids’ parent/teacher stuff. I had the rest of the afternoon to do whatever I wanted. That happened to be hurting myself by being here.

Cathy rang the bell, and I groaned to myself while we waited. Poe’s parents probably wouldn’t appreciate me throwing up on their porch, so I stared at a spot on the wall until my stomach stopped turning.

A girl pulled the door open, and she peeked her head out from around the edge. If I had to guess, I would have put her at about ten, so I knew she had to have been Malon. The girl looked adorable, with long red hair, big green eyes, and freckles on her nose.

“Hi, angel,” Cathy said with a big smile. “Is Poe home?”

From behind the girl, I heard a woman, and her tone sounded frantic. “Baby, we told you not to answer the door all alone.”

She pulled the door open, and I saw a carbon copy of the little girl in front of us. I placed the woman at about forty, but her eyes looked tired. She stared at us with concern.

“Hi,” my friend said. “I’m Catherine, and this is Clover. We’re here for Poe.”

The woman smiled, pulling her daughter back. “Oh, do you go to school with him?”

“Yeah,” I said. “We’re his friends. We got worried when he didn’t come to school today.”

When the door opened a little more, I got a better look at the girl her mother seemed to be guarding. She wore a little pink dress, with her hair in pigtails. I wouldn’t have looked at her so damn hard, but something about her skin stuck out to me. I swallowed dryly when I figured it out.

Along her arms, were thin scars that stretched at various lengths. Some looked about two inches long, but more than a few had to have been eight or so. They weren’t jagged, and the first thing that popped into my brain, was a blade. Something sharp and quick. They crisscrossed, laid parallel, and any which way they could have. She had a couple in other places too. I saw one on her leg, a long one on the side of her throat, and a short one on her forehead.

Why the hell would she have had scars like that? Not only because I couldn’t have imagined what accident did something that seemed so careful, but because flesh workers could have fixed them. If they’d found one, they could have her skin looking perfect in thirty seconds.

“Friends,” Malon’s mother repeated. “Oh, I didn’t know.”

It didn’t hurt, having Poe’s family not know we existed. It had only been a couple weeks, and I hadn’t expected he’d went on long rants about the crazy girls that followed him around.

A man approached from behind the girls, and he had to have been Poe’s father. Dark hair, blue eyes, and a hint of a smirk. “Who do we have here?”

His wife turned to him. “This is Catherine and Clover. They’re Poe’s friends.”

The man blinked but recovered from whatever threw him. “That’s great. Let them in.”

We walked into the house, and it felt like a normal home. Maybe I had been expecting something else. They had a wall of pictures, and they depicted the four Martins. I saw quite a few with Malon and Poe playing. They all looked happy, and I wished my house felt more like this.

“Have you girls known Poe for long?” his father asked us. “Sorry, but he didn’t mention you.”

Cathy put her smile back on. “Not long. A couple weeks, but we hang out a lot.”

The mom looked nervous, and it threw me enough to speak. “Um, does Poe not normally bring his friends around?” I stared at the pictures again, searching for one with another boy, or maybe a girl. I saw none. Cathy’s room had a ton of pictures of her friends, and mine had pictures of me and Peter everywhere. I really needed to burn those.

I felt the answer before the woman even spoke. Poe didn’t have friends. That begged the question, why? Why would a friendly, funny, energetic boy of eighteen, not have anyone in his life?

“No,” his mom said. “You’re the first in a while. Do you girls… What do you guys get up to?”

“Allison,” the husband whispered. “Easy.”

Allison tried smiling at us again. “Sorry to sound nosey, but, well, I’m nosey. Are you girls dating?”

“Nope,” Cathy answered. “I’m between relationships, much like my little buddy over here. Seems like a bad idea, what with graduation coming up. I can scope out babes in college.”

Malon giggled. “You’re funny.”

“Thank you, doll.” Cathy bowed. “I try.”

“Scotty,” Allison said. “I’m going to get Malon something to eat. I’ll be back in a minute.”

I hoped that Allison didn’t want her daughter away from us. Did we look all that bad? Maybe I seemed as miserable as I felt, and she didn’t think that would be good for a kid to see. I wouldn’t have blamed her, but it made me uneasy to see how quickly she wanted that little girl in the other room. Would she tell Poe to make sure we didn’t come by after this?

Scott nodded, and the two left the room. Poe’s father put his hands in his pockets and got an utterly Poe like expression on his face. “You kids excited about school ending?”

I shrugged. “Sure. Not having to go to a building full of rude people every day is going to be nice.”

He laughed. “I understand. You look like good kids.”

“Relatively,” Cathy snorted.

Scott did not laugh again. “So…what do you guys get up to in your free time?”

An odd question, but I wasn’t afraid to answer that. “Mostly stay at home. I work glass, so I like to make little figures sometimes. That, and I read.”

The man smiled, and then Cathy said, “I spend a lot of time with my needy dog. My brother too. I have a few friends of convenience, and then my lady over here.”

Scott relaxed a bit, making it all the clearer that he had been tense to start with. Same as Allison, who came back into the room then. She combed her fingers through her hair and stood by her husband.

“The girls spend a lot of time at home,” he said, and it felt pointed. “Today seems to be a special occasion.”

I smirked. “Does the pale skin make it too obvious that I don’t see the sun much?”

Allison grinned back at me. “You look beautiful, hon. Don’t worry about it.”

Scott snapped his fingers. “They’re here for our son, sweetie. We probably shouldn’t take up too much more of their time. You agree?”

She hesitated, but eventually responded. “Yeah, of course. His room is upstairs and at the very end of the hallway. I’m sure he’ll be so happy to see you.”

“Is he sick?” Cathy asked. “Not that I’m worried about germs or anything, but he’s not answering our texts. I wouldn’t want to wake him up.”

The two exchanged a look, and Allison answered. “He’s had a rough couple of days, but he could use a little company.”

We thanked them, and Cathy led me up the stairs. I saw more pictures of happier days, and a younger version of Poe. Not only that, but I saw a younger version of Malon, and she couldn’t have been much older than five. She had no scars in that picture.

When we got to Poe’s door, it had pictures taped to it. Drawings, clearly done by his little sister. A few of them were landscapes made in crayon, but my favorites were the ones of the family.

I knocked on the door, and heard Poe tell us to come in.

We found him sitting on his messy bed, knitting needles in hand, and going to town on what I assumed was my scarf. He must have thought his parents had been the ones knocking, because Poe looked surprised to see us.

I took a look around his room, and it felt so much like him. Every inch of the wall had something on it, like a poster or picture. He had little toys, clothes on the floor, and books in stacks. What concerned me, was the box in his opened closet. I saw a hundred colors, and god knew how many scarves in it. I couldn’t have imagined how much time that had taken.

“Hey,” I said to Poe. “You weren’t in school today.”

I prepared for him to tell us to get the hell out or say something equally snippy to me. He looked at the both of us and sat up in his bed. He had on jammies, with triforces on them, of course. His shirt matched, and his almost black hair looked a mess.

“Is that why you’re here?” he asked. “Did you talk to my parents?”

“Someone had to let us in,” Cathy said. “They were nice to us, don’t worry. And your little sister is a cutie.”

Poe tensed, and broke eye contact. “You really shouldn’t have come over, guys.”

I nodded, knowing he would say that. “We were worried about you.”

“Very,” Cathy added. “So, what the hell is up with you?”

I could sense Poe shutting down already, sighing, and pulling his fingers through his hair. We got no answer from him, and Cathy only had to give me a look, and then gesture to the boy for me to catch on.

We both took our shoes off, and each went to a side of the bed. Cathy and I pulled the covers up and got into bed with Poe. He tried to hide his smile and did a poor job of it. The two of us turned to face him and waited for Poe to finally say something.

“I was a jerk to you,” he said. “You shouldn’t be here trying to make me feel better. You should be off somewhere, talking about how much of a jerk I am, and getting ready to make fun of me at school tomorrow.”

“Not a chance,” Cathy said.

“We see this a couple ways,” I started. “Something is wrong in your life, and it made you a little snippy with us. We can forgive that, and as long as you don’t shut us out, then we’ll stick by you.”

Cathy nodded. “Yeah, what she said. If you’re sad, then you can be sad. If you’re happy, then be happy. Neither of us want you thinking that you have to put on a show for us or force it when you would rather sit there and be quiet. You don’t have to tell us what’s wrong, but you should be able to tell us that something is wrong.”

As a move of solidarity, we both hooked a leg around Poe, and snuggled up to his sides. We laid there, all comfy under the covers, and Poe couldn’t have gotten away.

“How are you feeling today?” I asked, testing to see if Poe was on board.

When he hesitated, it made me sure this hadn’t worked out. Then he opened his mouth, and the world didn’t seem so glum. “You ever have those days where everything feels fine, and then out of nowhere, something hits you like it had its sights set to kill?”

“Constantly,” I said, while Cathy stayed silent.

Poe looked to me. “I had a day like that this week. I tried to bounce back to normal, but my body is rejecting it entirely. I’ll probably be fine in a little while, but I don’t feel good right now.”

I put my arm around him, perfectly comfortable against the kind of bulky boy. “I know how you feel. Do you want us to go home?”

“No,” he said. “If you don’t mind being around a huge bummer, then I want you to stay.”

Cathy laughed at him. “Of course we don’t mind. I think that you forget that one third of our group is crazy, one is all fucked up over some prick, and one gets sad sometimes. None of us are really okay, so we should get to be not okay together. We’ll order a pizza, watch TV, and maybe have a three way later if we don’t eat too much.”

Poe eyed the bed. “Well, it would be a big waste of having two girls in my bed if I didn’t try anything. Surely someone would be disappointed in me.”

“Yeah, us,” Cathy said. “Start with Clover. I think she needs it more.”

Poe turned his head sharply to me. “Is that so?”

I shook my head, blushing.

He grinned at me, removing his arm from Cathy as he turned in my direction. “I think you’re lying. You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?”

“No…”

Then he attacked me, pulling the blanket over us, and sending his scarf flying. I heard a thump as Cathy hit the ground and cursed at the two of us. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to that, since Poe decided to put his hands on my sides and torture the truth out of me. I kicked but didn’t try all that hard to get way.

“Quit trying so hard,” I teased.

“I’m not trying. I am simply calling you out for being a liar.”

“Please,” Cathy said, making us stop. Poe pulled the blanket back over his head, and we saw her standing there, arms crossed. “Don’t let me get in the way of your foreplay.”

I should have realized a lot sooner that Poe laid on top of me, and my legs weren’t exactly closed… My face burned even more, and I would have squirmed out from under him if I could have.

“You’re not,” Poe promised. “You can turn around for a little while if you don’t wanna watch. You’re more than welcome to do either.” Then he growled and buried his face in my neck. Clearly it had been meant to mess with Cathy, but I didn’t mind it so much. He laid a loud kiss on my throat before he sat up next to me.

Cathy smirked, and pointed to the two of us. “Are you finished yet? Seemed short, Poe. You should work on that kind of thing.”

He lifted the blanket up for her to get back in. “Come along, you jealous little thing you. Papa has room for the both of you in his heart and in his bed.”

She scoffed, but got in. “Gross. Don’t call yourself Papa.”

“Is Daddy better?”

Cathy and I gagged, switching between that and groaning. “You’re a bad person,” I said. “And you are no longer allowed to tickle me.”

With that, he put his hand under the blanket, and felt around for my hips. When he found my left side, he proved me a liar, making me laugh uncontrollably. I’d need to punish him for it later. For now, I let myself be happy that he didn’t look so miserable.

I didn’t know how long it would last, so Cathy and I stayed cuddled up to his sides, and I hoped that Poe could find in life what I couldn’t seem to.