LONELY TOGETHER - max mayfield

1. "The ladies say i'm a gentleman."

JAXON WAS currently quietly scurrying around his room, looking for quarters to go to the arcade. The party had invited him and now he had to pull his own weight. He was about to give up when a lightbulb flipped in his brain. He lifted his mattress and pulled out a ziplock bag of $9 in change. Jax smirked before picking up his walkie.

"-and multiply it by five." He could hear Lucas cockily reply to Dustin.

"Jax, whats the verdict?" The curly-haired boy asked.

"Ni- nine twenty-five! Just found another one." Jax exclaimed, stuffing it all into his hoodie pocket.

"Dustin, call Mike." Lucas said.

"You call Mike!"

"I have to go take a shower from doing real work, like a man! Over and out." Lucas spat back, and Jax could be heard laughing in the background.

"Yeah, Dust. I gotta go. I'll be there soon, though! Over and out." Jaxon set his walkie down and ran downstairs to slip on his shoes. His dad was watching tv with the volume so loud he probably didn't even hear his son. Carefully, Jax slipped out the door and walked over to Joyce's car who was waiting for him with Will in the front seat.

"Hi, sweetheart!" Joyce welcomed as he opened the car door.

"Hi Ms. Byers, hey Will." Jax spoke, putting on his seatbelt.

"Hey."

"I told you just to call me Joyce."

"I know, but it feels better. And plus, the ladies do say i'm a gentleman." Jax smirked to himself, rolling a quarter between his fingers.

"Oh, I bet, sweetie. I bet." Joyce laughed, and even Will cracked a smile.

"Hey- uh- Jax, how much cash did you get? I-I couldn't really find any." Will spoke, opening his pale palm to reveal 5 quarters.

"Oh, here, I probably won't use all mine anyway." Jax smiled, dropping 6 coins into the smaller boy's hand.

"Thank you! I promise, I'll pay you back." Will exclaimed.

"Oh, Jax, you didn't have to do that." Joyce cooed.

"Don't worry about it, I usually share anyway." The boy dismissed.

Joyce had pulled up at the Palace Arcade, where Mike, Lucas and Dustin were waiting for their two friends. The two boys in the car unbuckled their seatbelts and were about to exit the car when Joyce stopped Will.

"Okay, I'm going to pick you up in two hours, so that's 9 o'clock on the dot, okay?"

"Okay." Will answered, already expecting this talk.

"And if anything happens, if you need to call me just ask to use their phone and call home, okay? And don't--"

"-don't walk or bike home, I know. I know." Will finished her sentence.

"I'll make sure everything goes smoothly, Mrs. Byers." Jax spoke up.

"Thank you, and sweetie-" Joyce began.

"Mom, we have to go!"

"Have fun." She concluded.

Will and Jax got out of car, walking into the arcade. Jax turned back to wave at Joyce as she was making sure they got in okay.

"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword!" Princess Daphne spoke seductively. The party, plus Jaxon were all huddled around Dragons Lair, watching Dustin take his turn.

"Oh, Jesus, im in unchartered territory here, guys." Dustin groaned, eyes glued to the machine.

"Down! Down! Down!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" Dustin yelled.

"Right! Right! Right!"

They all chanted different instructions for Dustin, making him clearly overwhelmed.

"Okay, shut up! Shut up. Shut up!" He spammed the button until the character faded into a skeleton, revealing he had died.

"No! No! No! I hate this overpriced bullshit! Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!" Dustin raged, kicking and slamming his fist into the machine.

"You're just not nimble enough." Jax joked.

"You'll get there someday. But until then, princess Daphne is still mine!" Lucas grinned.

"Whatever, I'm still tops on Centipede and Dig Dug." Dustin reasoned.

"You sure about that?" A voice from behind them spoke. It was Keith, a staff member of the arcade. The kids thought he was gross and tried to avoid him at all costs. He was stood there, making a weird face at the boys and eating cheese puffs.

They all silently thought until Dustin ran around the machine. "You're kidding me- move! No, no, no, no, no! No!"

"751,300 points!" Will exclaimed.

"Who is MadMax?" Dustin asked.

"Someone incredible, obviously." Jax spoke.

"Better than you." Keith shrugged. Dustin flipped him off.

"Is it you?" Will asked.

Keith scoffed. "You know i despise Dig Dug."

"Then who is it?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, spill it Keith!" Jax demanded.

"If you want information, then i need something in return." Keith said, stuffing his mouth with another cheese puff. All the boys turned and looked expectantly at Mike.

"No. No, no, no. No way. You're not getting a date with her!" Mike shut down.

"Come on, just get him the date." Lucas whined.

"Im not prostituting my sister!" Mike cried.

"Its for a good cause! Plus, Steve is kind of an asshole." Jax shrugged.

"No, don't get him the date, know what? He's gonna spread his nasty ass rash to your whole family!" Dustin fought, still trying to win the argument against the older boy.

"Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious you prepubescent wastoid!" Keith stated.

"Oh, I'm a wastoid?"

"Why would she even want you? You make like what, $2.50 an hour? Jax questioned.

Will had turned from the group, walking away. No one seemed to notice until Mike tapped Jax on the shoulder and said he'd be right back. Jax left the duo arguing with Keith to go play the new Mario game that had come out that year. He currently held the high score, which no one was beating anytime soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Joyce dropped Jax off at home, which he thanked her about a hundred times for, he tip-toed through his living room to the kitchen for a bottle of water. James was passed out in his recliner, with 4 empty beer bottles on the table beside him. Jaxon threw them into the trash, before sneaking upstairs to fall asleep for the night.