It was only after they were safe inside the young woman’s bedroom with the door locked behind them that Mari finally let out a loud groan. “Ugh, I’m so glad to be back!” she exclaimed, dramatically throwing herself in the middle of her king-sized bed and pretending to hug it. “I should have never left you in the first place.”
Jun dramatically flipped his nonexistent girl-hair as he changed his voice into an effeminate exaggeration, “Totes! That party was such a drag! I'm just, like, so glad to be home, you know? I am so going to tweet like a biiiitch tonight!”
“Oh, shut the fuck up!” the girl said with a laugh, taking hold of the nearest decorative pillow in her line of sight and throwing it at Jun.
“Oh no! My one weakness! Frilly throw pillows!” He continued before he dropped the bullshit and slunk down on the floor, his back against the wall as he plugged in his cellphone to the nearest outlet.
“There’s more where that came from, you little bitch!” Mari cried out, grabbing one of her pillows, shooting up from the bed and running straight at Jun. Laughing loudly like the most amused child, she swung the pillow at his body, trying to hit him with the plush object as many times as she could.
“And already you are having more fun than at the party. Shocker.” Jun smirked as he smacked the pillow out of his face, sending it flying across the room.
Sol groaned, dashing off to her bed to grab two more pillows, one of which she threw at Jun while keeping the other for herself. “That all you got?!” she asked him, stepping to the middle of the room with her pillow held as if it was a club. “Fight me!”
“Do I have to? I’m not very well versed in pillow warfare. I feel outmatched.”
The short girl frowned, cupping her ear in Jun’s direction. “Oh? What’s that? Are those lame excuses I hear?” she teased.
“They are some really good excuses when I’m against a pillow warlord. Is there a way I can surrender? A treaty of pillow-ailles?”
“Nope! This is a battle to the death, James Martin Wang Jr.! Only way out of it is death!” Sol said in a dramatic voice, imitating one of those lame old gladiator movies.
“The die is cast.” Jun retorted in an overserious tone, pillow in hand.
“Alright. This battle starts in three… two… one… GO!”
The next several minutes seemed more out of elementary school to Jun, but it was a nice break from the drama and over-seriousness that he often felt consumed the people at King's Academy whether it was on school grounds or at parties like the one him and Marisol had left only a hour or so earlier. Everyone had so much stress on their shoulders, so this was like a therapy of sorts. Besides if all it took to make any friend more comfortable was a futile and stupid gesture then he would gladly do more of them as long as he was alive.
Eventually, he let out his hands as he found himself “disarmed”; a man without a pillow.
“I would really like this to be left out of my obituary when they find my pillow strangled body.”
Mari laughed, taking the few steps that separated her and Jun to deliver the last “fatal” blow. “I already have your gravestone picked out. ‘Here lies James Wang Jr.: beloved son, friend and classmate defeated by the Queen Pillow Warrior’.”
“I will be avenged.”
“That may be the case in the future, young man. But for now, peasant: you shall die at my hands.”
With that being said, Mari slowly raised her pillow and charged at Jun. She was mere seconds away from her victory when she slipped on the first decorative pillow she'd thrown at him. Letting out a shriek, Mari fell forward crashing into Jun and taking him down with her, her small figure landing right on his chest.
Jun hadn't exactly expected all of this going how it did. He wondered if it was a good idea to be stomping and making this much noise was exactly a good idea. Marisol's father in a way intimidated him in a way that no member of his own family did and his mother was probably the literal devil when she got angry. He swallowed his nerves for a minute as he looked at his friend with a look that could only be described as “this is all really your fault”.
“You didn't have to tackle me to win.” He looked back to the bedroom door. “Looks like you haven’t disturbed the goblin king quite yet, which is really good for me. I like having teeth.”
The girl snorted, making no motions to get up from her comfortable position anytime soon. “Are you kidding me? My dad sleeps like a log, and my mom wears earplugs to block out his snoring. If there's anyone that can hear us it's Marshall, and you know damn well my baby brother doesn't give a shit about my business.”
“Right. That’s good for my teeth.”
“That all you care about, Chip Skylar? Your shiny teeth and you?” she teased, poking Jun's side.
“Hey! I don't have many redeeming features, so I have to protect the ones I do have.”
Again, Marisol let out another snort. “That's a lie and you know it.”
“Is it? I’m going to have to ask you to prove such an accusation.”
The brunette rolled her green eyes. “Okay, let's see-” she began, opening up the palms of her hand to count down her list of reasons. “You're hot, you're smart, you're funny, you've got arms to die for, a smile that can cheer anyone right up, you come from a good family, and even when you get all sarcastic and exasperate me sometimes, you're still one of the sweetest, most amazing dudes I've known: and that's saying something given the company I keep.”
“Arms that failed the pillow war of 1812.” He quipped, thinking about what Marisol was saying. That earned him a laugh from his friend.
If he was being honest with himself, he was acting a little too comfortable and he wasn't sure where this was all going or that he wanted it to go anywhere. He had noticed a few changes in Marisol recently and he was pretty sure something was going on between her and another one of his friends. But he had never asked as it wasn’t his business in the first place. One of his actually redeeming traits was leaving well enough alone and not badgering people about how they lived their life. Still, he didn’t deny there was certain curiosity in his mind given a little tidbit he hadn’t shared with anyone ever for a very good reason.
“So, as much as I’d hate to complain.” Jun coughed, his anxiety taking him for a second. “But you’ve never nearly pinned me to the floor before, so, are you okay?”
“OH!” Mari exclaimed, having just realized the rather compromising position they were in. She quickly scrambled to get up, then extended a hand to Jun to help him back on his feet. “Shit, sorry about that!”
Jun laughed as he got to his feet, “It's cool, Mar. Are you feeling okay? You seem kind of all over the place tonight.”
“I- uh-” she stammered, trying to come up with a convincing enough lie but burning herself out in the process. In the end, she let out a dramatic sigh. “N- no, not really. It’s been so- um- eventful, you could say…” Marisol admitted, walking over to her bed and taking a seat in the corner of her bed.
Jun took a seat next to her, “Do you want to talk about it?”
For a moment, Marisol hesitated, debating whether she should tell yet another soul about the demons haunting her or if she should keep her mouth shut for once. But would she really be Marisol Castillo if she did the latter and censored herself? Not in the slightest. And so, after taking in a deep breath, she began to talk. Once she said the first few words, the rest of the stories came out like a flowing river. She told Jun absolutely everything: from the stupid dare she and Sonny had done at the lake that summer, to how that had ended with her losing it to him, the reason why she’d been acting so weird around him ever since, the fight and kiss with Jason, and all the way down to the conversation she’d had with Julie about the subject and the advice she’d been given.
When she was finished, she looked up at him with a hesitant expression. “You must think I’m a dumb slut now, don’t you?” she asked him in a small voice, turning her eyes to the floor now
Jun shook his head, “No, I don't.”
Jun thought about how he was going to approach answering Marisol. It seemed like everything had gone wrong in Marisol's senior year that could possibly go wrong and the school year was still in its infancy. He couldn't imagine what it'd be like to go through what she was, but the best he could do was support her and help her clear out her anxiety and obvious regrets.
“What I think is that Jason is an asshole and was obviously provoking you because that's what Jason does. As for Sonny? I know you guys have been close since pretty much ever, but I don't think he really cares about anything or anyone. I wouldn’t ever call you stupid or anything like that. We’ve been friends since elementary school and a little fling or whatever won’t change what I think.” He paused for a second. “And since when does Marisol Castillo care what other people think?”
The girl let out a shaky laugh, resting her head on Jun’s shoulder again. “I don’t give a fuck about what people think. I care about what you think.”
“You don't have to worry what I think.”
“Doesn’t mean I won’t worry, though. I can’t look at Sonny in the eyes now and Archer is pissed at me for even giving him the chance to smash in the first place. I don’t want to fuck things up with another friend. I- I can’t lose another friend now.”
“You won't. There’s nothing you can do that would make me call it quits.” He reassured, though he wasn’t sure how well it would get through to Marisol. “You could transform into Godzilla and eat half of Florida and I’d still be on Team Mari.”
The young woman laughed again, sitting up and wrapping her arms around Jun in a tight hug. “Thanks, J. You have no idea how fucking much that means to me right now. You’re fucking amazing,” she said earnestly. She was sure that he truly wouldn’t ever know just how valuable having him on her corner was to her. “It does make me wonder what I did to deserve such an honor, though. Why me?”
“A lot of reasons.” Jun remarked, in an attempt to dodge an answer. He could hear his sister screaming in his ears from across the country, telling him to man up.
Mari rolled her eyes. “Okay… Like?” she tried again, poking him in the ribs as if trying to coax an answer from him. “You gotta give me more than that, J. I listed some reasons for you earlier, so here’s how you return the favor. Consider it the price to pay for being the defeated party on our mighty pillow fight.”
“What am I being interrogated for, exactly?”
“Jun, why are you making this so damn hard?” the girl asked, feeling her impatient self starting to get frustrated already. “What’s so hard about listing reasons on why you’re so willing to be loyal for someone like me?”
“Oh, it’s not.” He took a heavy breath. “Just don’t want to make things complicated.”
At that, the brunette laughed. “Complicated? Trust me, J: there’s nothing you can do or say to make this bullshit any more complicated than it already is.”
“Okay, but remember this is your fault.”
“Yeah, yeah. Spill it, Chopsticks.”
Jun paused for a second as he realized this was his do or die moment.
I’ve pretty much been in your corner since we were in Mr. Hernandez's class. Was that social studies? I think it was social studies. Anyway, I’ve always thought you were pretty cool, even when everyone was freaked out when you punched Rebecca Morris in the face.” Jun recalled, thinking about the best way to explain why he was ‘loyal’. “You’re fun to be around, your confidence is pretty energizing, and just normally I feel like I don’t have to be anyone but me. Which as you know, is super nice, to be able to do. Shit, it’s probably why I had a crush on you in elementary school. Hard not to.”
Mari had listened to Jun's explanation with a smile on her face, laughing at his reminder of her fifth grade incident. His kind words to describe her lifted her spirits significantly. It felt good to know that although most people only saw her negative traits, the ones who mattered saw beyond that.
“Awwwwww! That is adorable!” she exclaimed, putting a hand on her heart. "See, that wasn't so hard to do, now was it?”
“I guess not.”
“Good!” she told him, standing up from her position on the bed to stand right in front of him. “Why would you even think a kiddie crush could complicate anything?”
He shook his head as he cleared his voice as he rested his hands on his legs, “Because I’m a little drunk!”
Sol rolled her eyes and giggled, cupping his face with her hands and forcing him to look her in the eyes. “Don't be stupid! Unless it's like a recent thing there's nothing to complicate.”
“Like I said, I'm not thinking clearly. I think I went beyond what I'm used to.” He chuckled, as he looked over to the power outlet his phone was charging from. He felt the need to leave before he made an idiot out of himself even more than he already had.
From her position, Marisol could sense his growing anxiousness, and followed his eyes back to the outlet powering up his phone. It was much too obvious that he wanted to bust the hell out of her house as soon as he could. “Okay, okay. I get it: you wanna leave. Let me give you some space,” she told him in a soft tone, letting go of his face and stepping out from in front of him in an attempt to give him some space. The last thing she wanted was to piss off another friend.
Jun sighed. “It’s not that I want to leave. It’s just that… I probably shouldn’t be opening my dumb mouth any further. See, this is why I stick to jokes. Everything else just sucks. No surprise there what with me being the clown prince of King’s Academy. It’s probably why Katy dumped me last year.”
At the mention of Jun’s witch of an ex, Mari bristled with annoyance. “Yeah, but Katy was a stupid cunt, and I told you from the start you were much too good for a dumbass like her,” she burst out without thinking, ever the defensive one when it came to her friends. Realizing just how aggressive that had sounded, the girl backpedaled. “What I mean is that you don’t give yourself enough credit, James Wang. You’re so much more than the class clown. I wish you could see it.”
“It’s just... Maybe my dad has a point. About how I need to focus and ‘reassess’ my ‘priorities’. Because I’m pretty sure I almost made this whole night a bigger shitshow for you.”
The green-eyed girl rolled her eyes, cupping his face again and once more forcing their eyes to meet. “J, you did nothing but help me out tonight, okay? You haven’t complicated anything or made anything worse than it is. In fact, all you’ve done is make this night worth it, and for that I thank you,” she told him softly, going off on an impulse and planting a kiss on his forehead. “Stop with the self-deprecation and the pity party and love yourself a little more, for a change.”
He chuckled, “Thanks, Mar. Sometimes I think you’re the only sane one in this group of ours.”
Marisol scoffed, and chuckled herself. “If my clinically-bipolar ass is the only sane one of The Misfits, then we really are fucked.”
“Basically.”
The girl snorted, letting go of Jun's face again. She could see the dark circles starting to form under his eyes, and the way his eyelids were struggling to stay awake. Yup, it was definitely time for darling James to make his exit. “J, why don't you head home? You look like you could use a shower and sleep in till Monday.”
“Yeah. My phone should be charged by now. I'll catch you Monday.”
Marisol was right. Between the copious amounts of alcohol, extremely awkward conversations, and genuine exhaustion, Jun had probably had his fill. He admittedly had dodged a few questions, said some things he didn't want to, but all-in-all he was pretty happy he didn't do something he'd regret in the long or short term. At the very least, he couldn't go home yet – it was still much too late and getting on his grandparents’ last nerves at whatever time it was would no doubt make him deal with a lot more stress than he wanted to deal with.
He thought to a few of his friends who had graduated from King's last year and wondered if they had a couch he could sling himself on. Perhaps calling his sister in the afternoon to get her opinion on some things would be ideal.
He looked to Marisol and gave her a wave as he made his exit.
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