Trapped with a Way Out

by Jeffery Martinez

  When rain began to trickle down and the boy coughed again as others ducked under ledges to avoid the cold water, no observer would have thought of them as scattering children caught in the rain. They had too much purpose and responsibility to be seen as children, but they were not adults, they were not individuals, apart from their families. Vincent was caught somewhere within this picture, as a shadow slipping off into a building. And the rain continued to drizzle down from the grey, moving sky.

  His thought's roamed, and his feelings remained numbed. He was always taunted, made fun of, hated, despised. Rodriguez…it didn't matter if the boy also did so, if he despised him and told others about his warped personality, his strangeness. A drop of water rolled down from his temple, sliding along his jaw line. He tried to listen to the other voices talking around him, but his thoughts were much louder than the other teenagers. They were loud, but they said nothing. It irked him, but he could do nothing against them and their emptiness.

  Vincentimir stared at the weighed down arms, brimming with an assortment of packages, both unwrapped and wrapped, and baggies filled with green and red candies, decorated with the holiday in mind. The red eyes continued to track the progress of the football player as he trudged through a deep puddle of murky, brown water, the dirt swirling about his shoes as he moved through it like he was breaking through a solid cloud. The sky was damp with a spraying drizzle, but the dark clouds suggested that another thunderstorm was on its way so all athletic practices had once again been cancelled and almost the entire school was trying to squeeze its way out of the parking lot at the same time, so Rodriguez was stranded on an island of grass for a minute as a backed up line of cars were exploiting a break in traffic that had occurred farther up, where the parking lot became the main road. Rodriguez finally reached his car, giving a heavy sigh of relief and a crooked, proud grin as he accomplished the feat. Vincent was still staring at his arms, blinking owlishly.

  He gazed at the sugary foods, at a loss for words for a moment. Then he licked his lips and cocked his head to the side, stuck between anger and easy humor. He snorted, amused now as he saw Rodriguez juggle with his load as he struggled to get his keys out of pocket, almost dropping an arm-full of packages. A single box bounced onto the wet concrete, its glistening red wrapping paper instantly being stained by the black grim. Vincent scooped it up with a wry grin. "Did you rob 7Eleven or Santa Claus himself?" He laughed at the odd look he received from Rodriguez and tossed the present from one hand to the other, enjoying his lightened mood.

  "No…" Rodriguez mumbled as he shoved his key into his car door, turning the key to unlock it. He was going to add to what he had said when he realized that he had a button that could unlock his car doors along with the trunk, so he fussed with his load to get to the button. He let the presents spill out of his arms into the trunk of his car, selected two packages after a second thought, and then slammed the trunk shut. He was going to the driver's seat when Vincent spoke again and he stopped to watch the boy.

  "Then where'd all this crap come from, Rodriguez? Did it just fall from the sky or did you get hungry, fatty?" He sniggered, circling around the back of the car while Rodriguez stood still, following him with a frown.

  "I am not fat. And…" He smiled slightly and opened his door as Vincent opened the passenger's side. "…girls enjoy giving me presents."

  Vincent paused, losing some of his humor as he gave a partial scowl to the other teen and flopped into the seat. "Oh, shut up, fat ass. Girls give you food because they think you like it so much, considering how fat your ass is…"

  "They give it to me because they're friendly. If you try being nicer to people, maybe they'll give you candy too." He laughed at the growl he received and he pulled out of the parking spot and waited in a line to enter another even longer line that lead to the main road. "Calling people fat does not constitute as being nice."

  Vincent was quiet as they inched long, frowning with crossed arms as he thought the whole thing over. "Getting candy doesn't sound too bad. Maybe I should try this 'nice' act, sometime." He shrugged carelessly and turned his eyes to his side window, noting a few girls who were dashing between the cars, trying to get across. Then a mixture of students joined in, all scrambling to get to their cars as the rain drops matured, growing heavier and more frequent as time went by.

  "Here." Rodriguez had one hand on the wheel while the other dangled a bag of M&M's in Vincent's face, jostling it so that the colored candies would clink together. "Candy."

  Vincent glared at the bag, swiping at it so that it would swing wildly and hit Rodriguez's hand. "Not from you. Who wants candy from a fat ass?" He chuckled at the angered look Rodriguez threw at him. They were still stuck in the school traffic, but they could see the first stop sign in the distance.

  Rodriguez threw the bag into a cup holder that was situated between the passenger and driver seats, muttering something about an ungrateful runt. His hand rustled around in a different package and removed a few pistachios that easily left their shells and were soon being chewed into oblivion. Vincent noticed and waited until they got to the stop sign before snatching up a few without Rodriguez noticing. As they reached the second stop sign, Vincent munched on a nut thoughtfully, finding that he enjoyed the salty, somewhat sweet, taste. He continued to steal pistachios as the car drove along and the rain hit the windshield as the moving arms of the wipers pushed the water aside so Rodriguez could see where they were driving.

  When they could see the black gate that opened to let them into Rodriguez's driveway, the tan hand shifted through the shells that were left in the bag, and he looked down, confused when he found that they were all gone. Vincent smirked by his side.

  "Damn, you at them all already."

  "No…" The doubtful hand drooped as the green eyes stared at the bag and then had to returned to where they were driving. He pulled into the garage. "I didn't even eat that many…I didn't think." Vincent chuckled good humouredly.

  "Here, why don't I you out." He dropped a large handful of empty shells into the bag, surprising Rodriguez who looked at the other boy's shell occupied lap with a growl.

  "You thief! You ate all of my pistachios! And you were trying to make me think I…"

  "Oh, well, considering that you are such a nice person…so nice that you deserve all of these gifts, I assumed that you would gladly share them with me." He sniggered at the stubborn snubbed glower, and got out of the car with a stretching smile. He coughed into his arm when his irritated throat lashed out at him, punishing the boy for the humor. Vincent continued to laugh anyway when Rodriguez had to take the shell filled bag along with the M&M's out of the car. The blonde teen threw the useless bag away and took his backpack and a few of the gifts from the trunk. He glanced at the amused red eyed boy, his mouth twitching at the hoarseness in the coughs.

  "Hey you. Help me out here and take up a few of these, you nut stealing…nut." He scowled and moved to the side, leaving an empty space where Vincent could move to gather up the remaining packages and bags. Vincent scooped them up with his own scowl.

  "Damn, just how many of these things did you get? And, for that matter, how many girls gave you all of this? I mean." He looked at his arms and then Rodriguez as the other walked away. He hissed a curse. "Shit. Just look at 'em all. Shit, Rodriguez. How nice are you?" Rodriguez laughed out something that Vincent didn't catch, but he didn't care enough to ask Rodriguez to repeat himself as he followed the teen into the house, he just glowered at the gifts in his hand, revisited by his confusion and disbelief from before. "I mean…what do you have to do? Carry their books or bags? Tell them they smell like flowers when they smell like crap? What did you do, Rodriguez? There has to be a master plan that led up to this."

  "No plan." Rodriguez unloaded his gifts onto a counter and Vincent did the same. When Vincent saw that Rodriguez was sorting them, creating a food pile and a pile of wrapped or boxed gifts, he did the same. "I'm just nice to everybody, Vincent. I have a lot of friends, and a l
ot of friends that are…girls, I guess." He lifted up a tiny teddy bear keychain, turning it in his hands. "And girls have this thing where they like to give guy friends presents if they don't have boyfriends to give presents to. Well," He smirked and set the teddy bear on top of a neat stack of boxes, as if seating it on a royal throne. "…I'm not complaining. I like free stuff."

  Vincent muttered something and then sneered at the mini mountain of candy. "You're friends want to fatten you up."

  The bag of M&M's flew at Vincent's face and smacked him on the cheek. He cursed, glaring daggers into Rodriguez before he bent down to pick it up. Rodriguez laughed darkly. "You're the one that needs to fatten up, runt. Eat the candy."

  "Stuff it." A pale hand chucked the M&M's at Rodriguez but the football jock dodged and threw another bag of candy in return. This continued for a little while, until they realized that they were bashing up the gifts. Then the two gave up and set to storing the candy in the cupboard, hiding them in the back of the shelves. Rodriguez settled onto a stool when they were done, and pulled a wrapped box towards himself. He tore off the wrapping while Vincent gravitated closer to see what was underneath it.

  "Do these girls like you or something?"

  Rodriguez was on his third box and soon he had it opened and was bolding a pair of cheap (Christmas) ear phones. He looked up, past the present. "Not like that…at least, not most of them, or not that I know of. They're just friends that I've known since middle school, elementary school even." He let the ear phones hang off of the bear key chain and he picked up the fourth and final wrapped gift.

  Vincent watched in silence as the gift was revealed and the wrapping paper was crumbled up into a ball and thrown in the garbage. He wetted his lips before he spoke, his chest jerking with an abrupt cough he chose to ignore. "Not…" Cough. "Not many kids from my middle school…went to the same high school." He coughed into his fist and Rodriguez offered him a glass of water. He growled at it, but a hand forced it into Vincent's gut, spilling some on his borrowed sweat shirt. "Fine." He hissed, his throat itching with the moving air, and he gulped down some water.

  "What about those guys you hang out with at lunch? You were with them today, too, weren't you? I was…kinda dragged off, so I couldn't check."

  Vincent sneered at the glass of water he moved around on the smooth surface of the counter. "They come to me. I don't go to them…they aren't my friends. And they're annoying as Hell. My…friends…don't go to our school or they don't bother showing up for classes." His features quieted and the glass was stilled, though a pale finger drew lines in the condensing water on the outside of the glass. "They're…different, but I've known them forever, so I get along with them."

  Rodriguez watched, listening to the words with rising unease. He shifted his weight from one foot to another and cleared his throat as he leaned back on a counter by a stainless steel sink. "Are they…delinquents?"

  Vincent's eyes widened and a laugh burst from his lips before he could stop himself, and the humor continued, making his tone unpleasant when he answered the question. "Are they delinquents? You mean, do they do drugs, drink, vandalize public and private property, steal, and all the rest?" He laughed again, though it sounded more like a cackle in Rodriguez's ears, and the green eyes narrowed as they darkened.

  "Do you do those things with them?" Vincent's laughter died and he turned to the quiet, passively aggressive voice, and leaned his weight on his elbow on the counter, remaining on his stool as he looked at the tan face.

  "Some of it Rodriguez, but…before you freak out and turn me over to your mom," Vincent lifted his hands and pulled back his sleeves, then pulled on his eye lids, showing the clear whites of his eyes. "…I'm drug free and I don't deal. I drink, when someone else provides it, but I've never been drunk. Does that make it any better?" He shrugged, asking himself the question as he read it in Rodriguez's narrowed eyes. "Hell no. But that's what I've grown up with, Rodriguez. Same with the 'delinquents' I call my friends. It's not all our fault, you know. It's just how we were brought up, or mostly that's the case. My uncle got me to develop a taste for cheap wine and small quantities of beer…but I can't handle anything stronger, he never let me experiment with anything stronger. Guys make fun of me, but why should I care? I don't give them a reason to disrespect me, other than not showing off in that regard, so I'm let alone, mostly."

  They were left in a tense silence. Vincent thrummed his fingers on the counter, biting the side of his mouth as his foot tapped quietly on the tile floor. Rodriguez took a breath and opened his mouth when the silence was broken by a cough. "Why are you called First?"

  Vincent's neck jerked, forcing him to look Rodriguez in the eyes for a moment. The red gaze dulled, and then sparked as his lips twisted into a leer. "Curious now, are we?"

  "Concerned, actually." Rodriguez replied in a cold monotone, crossing his arms to show that he was ready to wait for his answer.

  Vincent paused, watching the intent eyes. Then he grinned without real amusement or pleasure behind the expression. "I bite." The green eyes widened, disgust and shock coming with his knowledge behind the scar on his mother's hand. He would have gotten angry, if not for the somewhat pained look his glower drew from Vincent. The black head of hair shook, and Vincent sighed, burying his hand in his hair. "I get in a lot of fights, and I'm expected to take part in organized fights…and I tend to bite, just in reflex sometimes. I bite, I hiss…I do…abnormal things, and I scare people. Plus…I have, you know…red eyes." He leaned away from his hand, and put it on the counter as he glanced at the emotionless face by the sink. "It's not something I asked for…but I have a sense of…of some kind of pride for it. But you wouldn't understand, Rodriguez, and you shouldn't. It's…a survival thing… Actually, I don't know what it is, but I don't mind the name. People respect it, and I don't get much respect in…life, Rodriguez. People look at me and they move away. They cringe. They hurry past me on the sidewalk so as to not get too close." His hands were in his lap now, but he was still looking calmly into Rodriguez's unresponsive face. "I like the fighting. I like thrill…almost as much as the piano. Though, you'll probably just say that it's insane…fighting has its own skills and stuff." He paused for a moment. "It always reminds me of 'the survival of the fittest', Darwin's thing. But you can't explain it… You have to… It's something you have to experience in order to get, Rodriguez." Vincent's eyes widened for a moment, and he looked away with an awkward laugh. "Well, damn. This has nothing to do with your question, now, does it?" He chuckled and slouched as he sat on the stool, catching his head on the counter with his hand and he sighed. "Can we just forget this and move on? Hm? I want to go see if my shoes are dry. Your shoes are too big and they're starting to give me blisters. 'kay? Shoes, Rodriguez. I want to get my shoes and my other clothes. I got to go check up on some stuff. I have to go home and see if anyone's broken in and stolen everything or not. I'll walk after you give me back my stuff…"

  "Shut up, Vincent."

  The red eyes rose as the teen sat up stiffly and watched Rodriguez leave the sink. "Let's get your stuff and then we can figure out how we're going to either eat all of the candy before my sister get's home, or how we're going to hide it from her."

  Vincent was quiet, unable to make himself move on command, but he got up when Rodriguez left the kitchen and yelled at him to 'come get his own stuff'. Trying to forget about the uncomfortable discussion they had just had, Vincent smirked emptily as he walked with Rodriguez to the laundry room. "Is your sister fat too?"

  "I am not fat." Rodriguez shot back, and then grumbled. "My sister isn't fat either." He continued to walk, but his foot halted in the mid step after another moment. His eyes swung to Vincent who stopped by his side, looking the other teen over with a small, growing grin. He started to walk again while Vincent's mouth creased with a tight frown.

  "What the hell was that? Did you have a brain fart for what, Rodriguez?"

  Ignoring the crude question, Rodriguez smiled. "Do you want to go
to a party tonight?"

  "A what?"

  "A party. There's a Christmas party that I'm supposed to go to tonight…do you want to come?"

  They had reached the laundry room now, and Rodriguez went to the drier to remove the clothes while Vincent slowly walked to the sink where his shoes had been set to dry. He picked them up and weighed them in his hands for a bit, then clapped the shoes together, facing the wall. "I don't mingle well with your crowd Rodriguez."

  "So you're just going to let that scare you away from going?" Rodriguez smiled slyly as he pulled the clothes from the dryer. Vincent had stopped clapping the shoes and was staring at the wall. Slowly, his eyes narrowed and his mouth scowled as his hands smacked the hole littered converse together.

  "I guess so."

  Rodriguez gave a false sigh and stood up. He closed the door of the drier with his foot and turned to leave while Vincent followed. "Then I'm not going either."

  "What?"

  Rodriguez fixed his grip on the pile of clothes in his arms, frowning when his glasses began to slide down his nose. He jerked his head futilely to fix them. "I'm not going to the party if you aren't…though I've been looking forward to it and all."

  "Shut up." Vincent growled, tempted to throw the shoes at the blonde head. "Don't guilt me with your stupidity. Go if you want to, stupid bastard fat ass. Go."

  "No."

  "Damn you! Go to your stupid goddamn party!"

  "You need to stop using that word, or else one of these days I'm going to beat the snot out of you Vincent, but no. I'm not going unless you go, you runty coward."

  The argument continued up the stairs and into Rodriguez's room, enduring a full half hour until Vincent conceded. They were going to go to the 'stupid goddamn party', after all.