MARSHMALLOW FLUFF AT TEN O'CLOCK!!
After my insane bout of angst, non-con, and H/C, I NEEDED to start a fluffy cocoa butter puff story.
So here 'tis!!
Title: "Six-of-One" (Part One)
Rating: R for language
Synopsis: Since when does Zeke date Casey?
“Don’t tell me you actually buy into this ridiculous holiday,”
“Huh?”
Zeke motioned to Casey’s arm, which held a small box of chocolates. “That shit,”
“Oh,” Casey murmured, blushing a little. “Well, it’s a holiday,”
“Correction,” Zeke said, now climbing the stairs into school with Casey. “It’s a Hallmark tradition, meant to take everyone’s money away from them to boost profits.”
“You’re such a romantic, Zeke,”
“It’s my job,” Zeke returned. As they got inside the crowded hall, he shook his head. “Don’t you think it’s a little bit rude, though?”
“Rude? What do you mean?” Casey asked. They stopped at Casey’s locker, Zeke leaning on the one beside it.
“Well, Delilah will see it like that.”
“Okay… what EXACTLY do your cryptic comments mean, Mr. Tyler?” Casey asked, throwing his a cocked-eyed expression. Zeke shrugged.
“You’ve been working at that convenience store for what, two months now?”
“About that, yea,”
“And you haven’t put every paycheck in the bank to make sure Delilah’s Valentine’s present is at LEAST somewhat acceptable? She’ll probably take one look at this and throw it back,” Zeke said, raising his eyebrows. Casey stood back up with his books under one arm, the other’s hand now holding the box.
“Oh, I see.” Casey said. “So you think she’ll down my gift, huh? Well then, wait ‘til you see what ELSE is inside of it,” he told Zeke; he lifted the cover of the chocolates off, revealing the candy inside… and a small box. Zeke winced and groaned.
“Oh for… Casey, c’mon,”
“What?? It’s a holiday!”
“So you’re gonna propose? Christ, you JUST turned seventeen…”
“Oh, come off of it,” Casey snorted out. He took out the box and opened it, revealing a small silver ring. In the middle was a purple stone. “It’s just amethyst. Her birthstone,”
“I still think it’s too expensive,” Zeke muttered as they began walking down the hall. Casey shrugged.
“It was only about $40,”
“Like I’d said; too expensive. Where’d you get it, anyways? I bet I could have found one a lot cheaper,”
“The mall,”
Zeke sighed in an all-knowing way. “Casey, you got robbed,”
“Oh, so what? Geez, Zeke. I LIKE spending money on her,” Casey retorted. Zeke rolled his eyes.
“Bet she likes it too,” Zeke said. “Wonder what she got you?”
“Doesn’t matter if she didn’t. It’s kinda a girl’s holiday anyways,” Casey said. “See ya,”
“Yup,” Zeke returned, seeing Casey slink off into his homeroom. He kept walking, heading for the bathroom. He had some deals to make today, none involving anything to do with this ‘crap holiday’. The three guys waiting for him were there, eager to get their hands on his newest batch of scat. Stupid pricks; Zeke had to hold back a derisive laugh as they shelled out $15 a pop, each buying two. Ninety bucks… probably well more than half of one of Casey’s paychecks.
“We got someone else interested, they might be in soon,” one of them told Zeke. He nodded expressionless, wondering if they figured he’d give them a freebie for getting him customers. Like hell. They soon left, leaving him alone in the bathroom.
Zeke knew what a screw job he was pulling on these idiots. He felt they deserved it, but one person stuck out in his mind for whatever reason; he remembered dropping by Casey’s work just two days before to get some smokes. He hadn’t had anything to do, so he figured he’s just stick around.
Poor kid. His job wasn’t exactly hard, but the people that would come in were. Hard nosed jerk offs who deserved a good boot to the face to remind them that maybe it wasn’t their right to treat some high school kid like dirt. In the time Zeke spent there, he’d had to hold back from hurting so many; especially the two people demanding scratch tickets over and over consecutively. Looking at Casey as if it were HIM that caused them to be losing their money. Barked orders at him- “NO, not THAT ticket, the ‘Diamond Dust’ one, Jesus!” one of them had complained. Casey stuck the tickets back in the slot and got the ones the idiot had wanted. Once the customer was broke and gone, Casey told Zeke to buy the “mistakes”. “I can’t buy ‘em when I’m working, and it’s a sure win these, since they got left behind,” he’d said. Despite the fact that Zeke didn’t believe him and wasn’t really the gambling kind, he got ‘em anyways. The three ‘Royal Riches’ actually had paid off, letting Zeke leave with an extra $100 in his pocket- minus the twenty he’d given to the boy as a tip.
How much did Zeke wanna bet NOW that that tip went into Delilah’s ring? It made Zeke scowl; Casey deserved better than that. Zeke deserved better as well; those two morons must have been wrong. The bell was ringing now, and Zeke would be given a detention for not being in homeroom. Oh well. May as well seal the deal and not bother with any part of the day.
Ah, Saturday. Like it mattered to Zeke, but still; Saturday meant watching cartoons and eating crap for breakfast. He still did this ritual, had done it since he was a toddler. He saw no reason to stop it, even if others found out about it. Like they would, seeing as he was alone here in the house.
After watching cheesy Japanese style teeny bopper shows (hell, the pink one was hot!!) and eating half a box of ‘Sweet Crumbles’, Zeke realized he was smoking his last cigarette. Dang. He should have made sure he had enough last night; he didn’t like changing into normal clothes before one. Weighing possible nic-fits with getting dressed, he rested on the latter, groaning his way through getting the most comfortable clothes on.
He hated the way the cold would get worse when the sun was out full force; it didn’t make any sense. He rushed his way to the car, not willing to run back to the house to get his coat. It was only a five minute drive to the store; maybe Casey was working, and he could snag a free coffee from him. HE got it for free, and didn’t mind sharing. It was only fair. The engine roared as he turned the key, waited a minute for the old gal to warm up and drove off. He soon wished for sunglasses, but hadn’t had any at home anyways. ‘Wonder if Case gets those free too,’ he thought, thinking about the store’s rack of cheap sunglasses they sold. Not very stylish but if they kept the horrible glare coming through the windshield from boring holes into his corneas, he wouldn’t care.
He got to the plowed parking lot, edging past a particularly large snow bank that threatened the store’s entranceway. Too cold, geez… what he wouldn’t give to be in Miami right now. He parked and walked briskly up to the door, smiling as he saw Casey stocking up a rack of cigarettes. The bell rang loud as he entered, making Casey turn to look. “Oh, hey,” he said. Zeke rubbed his hands together, blowing warm air into them.
“Coffee on?”
Casey smiled. “What, you came out in the cold without a jacket so I’d feel sorry for you?” Casey jibed. Zeke ‘pffted’. “Go on, free as always,”
“I do love you, Case,”
“And I you,” Casey said, sticking his tongue out at him.
“Thanks, I use toilet paper,”
“Oooh,” Casey murmured, chuckling. “Touché,”
Zeke snorted out a laugh, getting over to the coffee bar. He began mixing his drink while glancing over his shoulder to where Casey stood on a stool, still stocking. “So, how’d Delilah like her present?”
“How’d who…?”
Okay, that was odd, Zeke thought. He frowned, turning around. He sucked the stirrer clean and walked over. “Um… Delilah; unless you’re more of a stud than anyone realized and you had TWO boxes of chocolates for TWO special ladies.”
“Oh yea. Delilah,” Casey muttered, getting down. Zeke noticed his face had gone stone-like and annoyed. “Regular order?”
Zeke nodded dumbly as Casey got his brand of cigarettes down. He took out his money, eyeing Casey strangely. “So um…”
“Remember what you said yesterday?” Casey interrupted. Zeke blinked, handing Casey his money slowly.
“Uh, no,”
“About her throwing it back?”
Oh she didn’t. Jesus, he’d been mostly JOKING… “Oh fuck, Case,” he murmured, frowning. “What, a fucking ring like that wasn’t good enough for her??”
“I need to go tie up some old papers. I’ll see you later,” Casey said, practically throwing Zeke’s change on the counter and taking off towards the back part of the store. Zeke watched him go, feeling very, very warm. He didn’t need the coffee for the heat, either.
“Oh, it was disgusting,”
Zeke sat back on the couch, listening to Stokely’s heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “Yea?”
“Fuck yea. That ice bitch may as well have ripped open Case’s ribcage and ripped his heart out- stomped all over it, right in front of the entire school.”
“Where’d it happen?” Zeke asked. “At least tell me she had the decency to…”
“Ohhh, no, Zeke. Not Miss Public. He happened to do his gift-giving during lunch, like most of the people on frikkin’ Valentine’s Day. I couldn’t believe everything, really; I’d even told BOTH of them they could come with me and Stan on our drive we’re taking tonight.”
“Drive?”
“Yea. We decided not to spend any money on each other; I’m flat broke, and Stan needs to save up for a car,”
“Good for you,” Zeke said, smiling a little. “Just enjoying yourselves then?”
“Pretty much. We’re spending the night up at his parent’s lake house.”
“Cool, cool… but uh, back to this ridiculousness…”
“Oh God, Zeke; it was RIGHT at our table. I got to watch that horrible slut laugh out, ‘You’re joking’ when he took it out from behind his back. ‘You call that a surprise?’”
“Jesus fucking…”
“Casey was just standing there looking lost. She started laughing, and the worst part? Fuckin’ GABE was standing about two feet away in the lunch line. Like THAT wasn’t a full invite to give Casey a daily dose of humiliation,” Stokely explained in a dry, angry voice. “He just strolls over and looks at Casey, sayin’ ‘Jesus Case. I think you could give a high class chick something a bit better than that’, or… whatever,”
“Isn’t Case just a magnet for fun?”
“Oh, YEA. She just picked it up, giggling like an idiot, saying to Gabe, ‘look, it’s even OPENED.’. That’s when the lid slid off and I got to see what ELSE Casey bothered spending on that bitch. Know what he got for her?”
“Yea, he told me,”
“What the fuck was it?”
Zeke frowned in confusion. “Huh…?”
“He just grabbed it up and began yelling at her. Oh for Christ’s sake, how fucking awful. He was crying, Zeke,” she said in a low voice. Zeke breathed in deep; there wasn’t much that could melt his little world of harsh cynicism, but he hated just seeing Casey the slightest bit sad. “She just sat there open mouthed, then asked ‘What is it?’ like he was gonna give it to her still.”
“Please tell me he didn’t.”
“That’s the best part. He stopped yelling and crying, then announced ‘Fuck you very much Delilah, I think I’ll just go return it,’”
Zeke had to smile at that. “Good. Good for him.”
“No shit. Still… I’m sure he’s really torn up over it,” she sighed out. “I highly doubt that he’ll want to come up to the cabin now.”
“Yea,” Zeke said. “Del really knows how to ruin things, huh?”
“She’s definitely good at it.” Stokely said with another great sigh. “I was bummed about having HER along for the ride tonight, but I knew it’d make Casey happy. He was all about taking pictures by the lake and stuff,”
“Well, nothing says he can’t go still. I say call him up; he might be home by now,”
“Oh yea, and play third wheel? Right. No matter how me and Stan try to make things comfy for him, it’ll be totally odd for him,”
Zeke nodded, yet had a huge and very odd epiphany strike him. “Well… um… what if he had someone to keep him company?”
“Like who? Whattaya mean?”
“Uh, well- I don’t have any plans tonight or tomorrow.”
A burst of laughter came from the other end of the phone, making Zeke have to draw it away from his ear. “Quiet down,” he said. As her loud laughter died down, her voice returned.
“What, you gonna ask him for a Valentine’s Day date? A DOUBLE date, no less??” she laughed out. All right; as strange as this was, Zeke was suddenly feeling awfully and ridiculously amused. Perhaps a little joking around would make Casey feel better.
“What time should we be there?” Zeke asked.
“Hah… well, we planned on taking off around two. But really, I don’t think I’ll be seeing you guys with the way Casey-“
“We’ll be there,” Zeke said, smiling wryly. “Trust me.”
“Hey Mrs. Connor; Case here?”
Mrs. Connor looked at Zeke with an odd expression. “Um… sure, Zeke; he just got home from work,”
“Oh, cool,”
“Let me… go get him…” she said, her eyes trailing to keep gazing at him as she turned away. “Casey!! Your friend Zeke is here!!” she yelled up the stairs.
“’K,” he called back. She nodded and with one more glance at Zeke walked off to the back of the house. Zeke bobbed up on the balls of his feet, waiting. Hearing the stomping of feet coming down the stairs he looked over. Casey got to the bottom of the stairs and looked in the doorway.
“Uh… Zeke?”
“Happy Val Day, Case,” Zeke said, extending the half dozen roses his way. Casey blinked, frowning with what seemed to be absolute confusion.
“Um, yea, sure but…” Casey said, looking from Zeke’s face to the roses. “Er- why?”
“Because it’s fucking Valentine’s day,” Zeke tossed off. Casey’s eyes darted from side to side before coming to rest on Zeke again.
“Well… I’m sorry to say that- I think I’m taking up your attitude this year,” Casey told him with a sad expression. “You were right. This holiday sucks,”
“Don’t go trying to take up my views of things. You’ll find yourself a very sad, sad young man,” Zeke told him sternly. He pushed the roses towards Casey again, hoping he didn’t stick him with thorns to the chest. It earned him a small smile from Casey, who sighed and took them gingerly.
“Thanks… even if it’s really… a completely ridiculous thing to do,” Casey said. “Do you wanna come in? I was just working on downloading some really cool music, wanna hear?”
“You still got your things packed?” Zeke asked, making Casey’s confused frown return.
“Packed?”
“Yea. For the lake house,”
Casey’s eyebrows rose. “Ah yea, that. Yea, I do; was going to unpack it later-“
“Get it and bring it out. We’re goin’,” Zeke told him. Now Casey’s head nearly snapped backwards with a surprised jolt.
“Huh? But…”
“Go on, get your stuff,”
“Zeke…”
“Look, Case,” Zeke started, taking a deep and dramatic breath. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and tilted his head down, wearing a cocky grin. “If you don’t know when someone is taking you out on a date, I don’t know what else to do. I would have sent a “Song-o-Gram” for you to find on your porch, but I couldn’t find my phone book,” Zeke said. Casey’s grin was growing, one eyebrow cocked with interest.
“You’re asking me out on a date, Zeke Tyler? I never knew.”
“Neither did I. I have no idea what I’m doing right now, actually. This gets to the top of my ‘what the fuck am I doing?’ list, but it’s got a certain ring to it.”
Casey’s amusement seemed to die down a bit into a fonder look. “Got a good beat and you can dance to it?”
“Uh huh. Get your shit.”