ᴇᴍᴇʀᴀʟᴅ ᴘᴀʀᴋ.

XI

"Here." Alex picked a pistol off a nearby gun rack and shoved it into Mari's hands. "See if you remember some shit..."

"Is it loaded?" Mari asked, examining the gun's magazine.

"Yeah, because I would definitely shove an empty gun into your hand like a dumbass." Alex rolled her eyes while Mari deadpanned her. "Ask stupid questions, get stupid answers."

"All you had to say was yes..." Mari lined herself up with a target meters across from her, raising the pistol so it met the head.

Without thinking, she pulled the trigger four times, and all four bullets ripped through the target paper, opening a decent-sized hole in the head.

Mari lowers the gun slightly, aiming for the chest – again, another four shots through the center. "Hand me another one." She turned her head to Alex.

Alex tossed another pistol off the rack to Mari and watched as she quickly checked the magazine, switched the safety off, and took aim at the target again, all in a matter of seconds.

Round after round, each bullet Mari fired littered the target with holes, some clumped up and some of them spraying all over the torso.

Alex continued to watch with her arms crossed, and when she looked over at Mari, she gripped the inside of her jacket pocket at the darkness behind her eyes.

Mari finally lowered her arms and sighed, oblivious to Alex's eyes trained on her as she went to take the target down.

She finally noticed Alex's stare when she turned around. "What?"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've been practicing..." Alex trailed off.

"I haven't." Mari rolled up the target paper. "Haven't touched a gun in years..."

Alex shook her head. "Didn't show just now...Crazy, especially since we didn't live around any gun ranges back in Boulder..."

Mari's eyes narrowed at the girl as if she was anticipating the next sentence to come from her mouth. But Alex just shrugged, pulling out her phone. "Whatever. I'm telling L you got a new nickname..."

"Shouldn't that be something to talk to me about?" Mari raised an eyebrow.

"Uhh..." Alex hummed, stroking her chin to give off the impression she was thinking, but her face quickly shifted to match the look Mari gave her. "No."

Mari scoffed loudly, almost obnoxiously, which made Alex glare at her. "The fuck are you getting annoyed for? What did you think I would do, give L your old alias?"

"Knowing you, probably..." Mari shifted her weight to one of her legs.

"It hasn't even been that long, but you already think I done went stupid..." Alex stifled a few laughs. "I mean, not unless you want me to give her your old alias..."

"Why the fuck would you do that?"

"Why're you questioning how I do my shit now?" Alex tilted her head, her stare hardening. "Shut the fuck up."

"Wow..." Mari unloaded the magazines from the pistols, allowing the cartridges to slip to the ground before she discarded the guns, meeting Alex face to face. "You really fucking hate me, don't you, Alex?"

"Well, let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?" Alex snarled cynically. "You've stolen from me, almost had me shot more times than I've ever carpet-munched, had me thrown in juvie for some shit that you did, and – this is the icing on the cake – you walked my best friend into a drive-by and got him fucking killed! So, to answer your question, yes. Yes, I fucking hate you, Mari."