Externalizing [mxm]

Chapter 16

Marc stepped into the school and stomped the snow off from his shoes. He got his visitors pass and stopped by Brendan’s class for a moment. He wasn’t as early as he usually was because he had hit traffic on his way over. “I’m still giving you a ride today,” Marc reminded him. He wasn’t letting Brendan walk home. It was still snowing and it was cold.

“Okay,” Brendan agreed without much protest. He probably didn’t want to face the snow either. “My bike is at your place, though,” he added on.

“We’ll figure it out on a day when it’s not snowing and you can actually ride it,” Marc said as the bell rang. “I’m going to go get Ariel, meet you at the car.”

Marc met Ariel outside of her class and made sure that she was properly bundled up. Her winter coat from the year before didn’t fit quite right anymore, so he knew they would be getting a new one soon. He didn’t understand why kids had to grow so much, but then a bunch of three feet tall people would be weird too.

He got Ariel into the car and started it so that the heat would kick in. There was a flurry of students and parents all meeting up and leaving, and it wasn’t until twenty minutes later that Brendan actually showed up. He half ran, half slid his way to the car with his arms tightly crossed over his chest. “Definitely regretting not having a better jacket,” he announced as he slammed the car door after him.

Marc chuckled and checked to make sure everyone was buckled in properly. “Blueberry is going to give me so much crap for not coming home last night,” Brendan muttered, rubbing his hands together.

Marc just nodded. Would Blueberry think something had actually happened? He gave Brendan a side-long glance, but tried to keep his eyes on the road for the most part. He pulled up to where he thought the curb was, buried under snow, in front of Brendan’s house. They all cringed as he ended up jumping the curb slightly anyways.

“Thanks for the ride,” Brendan said, ready to make a break from the car and too his house.

“Hold on, I’m coming,” Marc said, stepping out of the car as well. A foot went out from under him, but he caught himself on the car before he went down.

Brendan smirked at him from the other side and closed his side of the car. Marc did the same and joined Brendan up on the sidewalk for a moment. “So,” Marc began, staring at the house instead of Brendan.

“So?” Brendan echoed lightly.

“This Saturday, we should go out,” Marc put it out there, hesitating. Was that clear enough?

“Out like what?” Brendan asked. He was going to make Marc say it.

Marc huffed and finally met Brendan’s eyes. “You know like what. Or are teachers not allowed to do that with parents?” Marc realized quickly.

Brendan chuckled. “No, we can. It happens. But just to be clear, you’re talking like a date, right?”

Marc nodded stiffly, not quite able to face the excited smile that spread on Brendan’s face. Marc dipped his face down into his coat under the pretense of being cold. “Let’s talk about this another time when I’m not freezing my ass off, though,” Brendan said quickly. “But otherwise, yes. Just… either call me, or we’ll talk tomorrow.”