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Blake
When Mason asked to hang out I was flattered that he was willing to pull himself away from his other half. A rare occurance. But he seemed to be getting attached to the pool table at my house.
"So, I talked to Kieran, he said I can tell you about what happened." Mason interrupted the comfortable quiet.
"Really?" I was honestly surprised, it was hard to guess what Kieran thought of me. He'd only really been threatening when I picked Cella up for our first date, and I could kind of understand why. I wasn't a big fan of him either, how I saw it, he was complicating the lives of the two people I cared about; but somehow they both loved him and I wanted to be let in on the big secret that was Kieran's good side.
"Yeah. I don't know where to start." He sighed heavily.
"So Kieran has, like, an insane brother. He wanted us to keep our relationship a secret for life because of him. But we couldn't really keep that up. We actually got together after the Halloween party-"
he paused to grin at my snicker,
"We lasted a few months of keeping a secret. But when we gave that up, Kieran's brother tried to intimidate him into breaking up with me. I guess he threatened to hurt me and- he like, broke Kieran's wrist."
"Wait. What the fuck?" This was taking an unexpected turn, yet Mason was completely chill, like he was telling me the details of a game he watched on tv.
"Yeah. He wanted to breakup after that, I promised him it would be fine. But it wasn't, a couple weeks later his brother caught us, just walking together, holding hands. He beat both of us up that time."
I stared at him in disbelief. "How? Two of you? You're a big guy Mason, and Kieran looks like he can handle himself too. What kind of dude is this?"
He took an exaggerated deep breath and raised his eyebrows, "A dude with a pipe."
"What the fuck Mason!"
"Yeah..." For the first time a shadow crossed his eyes, "So, that's why we broke up. Kieran was terrified that his brother would kill me if he caught us again."
"That's messed up shit! Crazy messed up shit. So wait, he did hurt you again though? How did that happen?"
"Well, he texted me that he was ready to work it out, and when we met with him it turned out he just wanted to fight again, only this time when he started losing he pulled a gun. Kieran went ballistic, it was crazy. He was like- a fucking ninja. Tackled him, dodging like- duck n' roll style. Pinned him down, kicking and screaming, twisted his arm until it broke! He got the gun away from the brother and then that was it," he shrugged,"He's going to prison now." Mason folded his arms smiling happily like this was some run of the mill cute couple origin story.
What a maniac he was.
I had no idea what I expected this story to be, whatever theory I'd had was punted out of head. I couldn't really wrap my mind around Mason's words. Finally I said,
"Mason. This is like a scary movie. I kinda thought Kieran was just a poser. He's like... A gangster?"
Mason laughed lightly, "Nah, he's definitely a poser."
"Not when you have a brother who tries to kill your boyfriend! That's real shit! He's on rights to to be dark and troubled... What did his parents do?"
"Oh well, his mom isn't in the picture. His dad acted like he couldn't do anything about the brother. That sucked."
"I feel like you're really under reacting."
"Well, the only thing I care about is that I have Kieran back."
Seriously a maniac.
"Jeez, I hope he's worth it. What's he like? He's Cella's bestfriend and I've never seen him acting friendly, I can't understand how he manages to make friends?"
"I know. But once you get to see his friendly side, that off-putting tough act becomes really amusing to watch."
"Well, I'll probably never see it."
"I wouldn't be so sure. Kieran told me he's relieved that Cella's so happy with you. Actually he's probably just as curious to know what she sees in you."
I smiled at the thought, "That's funny."
Kieran
Summer break was going well for me, Marcella decided to go back to her parent's house for most of it, she missed them and her sister I guess. Mason was more than happy to take her place and spend the summer with me. He complained so much about my extra shifts at the bar that I took it as an invitation to bully him about getting a job himself. He got fired from his first two bussing jobs, and ended up in a warehouse. I thought it was good for him.
Mason had invited Blake and Cella to come over and hang out tonight. I was just finishing ordering pizzas when I got a text from him,
-working late had an accident-
-How late, what kind of accident?-
-forklift kind-
-Did you hurt anyone?-
-just some pallets nbd-
Dammit Mason.
An hour later I found myself watching our guests eat pizza without him while Marcella talked about how great her sister was. When she finally took a break from bragging about Deborah's degree and her expensive travels, Blake looked at me,
"Hard to imagine being close with your sibling right?" I raised my eyebrows at his boldness.
"Yeah. We haven't talked much since his death."
Blake choked on his sip of beer, "What?"
I was confused at his surprise and unwilling to help him out. He tried again,
"When did that happen?" I looked at Marcella whose face was frozen in apprehension, then back at Blake,
"Um... I thought Mason told you?"
"Mason told me your brother went to prison!"
"Oh." We stared at each other awkwardly. After a long silence he said,
"So. You killed him then? When he pulled a gun on Mason?" Disoriented by Mason's lies I lost my composure,
"Pulled a gun!? He didn't have a gun, he had a knife! He stabbed the shit out of Mason!"
"What!?" We were both speechless.
He went back to eating his pizza eventually, lost in thought. Marcella didn't try to speak for a long time either. I got too uncomfortable so I started tidying up the kitchen.
"You know," I noticed that Blake's courage had come back with my back being turned,
"you're like a roller-coaster. Such highs and lows of intimidation you have." I smiled.
"Let's see if I'm able to adequately intimidate Mason for this when he gets back."