advent
title. advent
pairing. n/a
rating. g
summary. boyish summer and running away. hw do you know what you know? where does your experience come from?
author's note. i wish i knew someone named "ace." even better if that person was a complete failure, because how ironic is that?
word count. 00690
It's the advent of summer when Gage decides that the best course of action is to run away. He'd like to run away and never return. He'd like to run away from the anger and frustration and sadness. He isn't sure where to go or how long he can run, but he's decided that that is what he is going to do.
He is, then, offended, when Ace admonishes him, says, "Stupid," and gives him a Look. Gage is offended because even though Ace is older than him, one or two years, Ace is not known for being an intellectually inspiring figure. Ace is known for being the embodiment of boyish immaturity, for being the kid who, when they are all bored, makes the incredibly dumb suggestion that ends up getting them all into trouble.
"Stupid?" Gage asks, but also knows in the back of his mind that his plan is sophomoric and more-than-likely never coming to fruition. Maybe that is why he told Ace about it. Maybe he just wanted Ace to confirm that he was, indeed, a total idiot. "How is it stupid?" He asks, curious.
"Because you'll be okay in about forty-five minutes," Ace declares, pats Gage's head and musses wavy light brown hair. "In about forty- five minutes, you'll forget what's made you angry and sad and frustrated, and you'll be better-than-ever. And then, if by that point you've run away, you'll just run right back home."
"Huh?" Gage isn't used to Ace acting like he like he knows something, acting like he has something called perception and something called experience.
"Teenage angst," Ace declares. "You act impulsively. And you'll regret it later."
Ace speaks like he's an old man, an old man who has already experienced being a teenager and an old man who thinks he knows everything. This is not the Ace that Gage knows. "You act impulsively," Gage says.
"But not like that," Ace says. "I'm impulsive in a boyish way. In a save-the-world kind of way. Not the I-hate-my-life kind of way."
"I'm running away," Gage says. "Want to come?"
"If we stay out past dark, will I have to hold your hand and walk you home?" Ace jokes, and just tilts his head in amusement when Gage takes off running from his from porch, bright orange knapsack slung over both shoulders and bouncing off his bony back.
---
Gage wonders how Ace finds him three hours later sitting on the curb in front of a McDonald's.
"Are you ready to come back?" Ace asks, and Gage doesn't look at him, continues poking at the dirt in the cracks of the sidewalk with a stick.
"I didn't ask you to come and get me," Gage says, waves his cell phone around. Ace notices that the screen says "14 missed calls". They are from Gage's mother because he said he would be home at 9pm. Except now it is 11.
"Your mom did," Ace says, and sits beside Gage. "Your mom wanted me to find you and bring you back home. I didn't tell her that you ran away," he says.
"She probably knows," Gage says sullenly, and Ace can't deny that.
"We can tell her that you got kidnapped by some bullies. And I came and beat them all up! I'm like a savior--"
"How old are you?" Gage asks. "Five?"
"Sixteen," Ace says. "I am sixteen turning seventeen in several months. And when I'm seventeen and you run away, I can drive around and look for you instead of taking my time on foot."
"Sorry," Gage says, and then, "You don't act like it. Sixteen."
"What does a sixteen-year-old act like, anyway? More mature than me?" Ace asks curiously. "How would you know, anyway? You're just fourteen. A baby." He pauses. "But if it's maturity, I'm not immature, per-say. I just have an active imagination," Ace replies. "I can pretend anything and therefore, become anything. I'm kind of like Superman."
"I always preferred Spiderman." A smile spreads across Gage's face and Ace has to squint to see it in the artificial light of the fast-food restaurant.
2007.06.10