seventy five

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Marie pulls into the driveway of her home as Zack pulls up along the curb, the woman noticing through the rearview mirror and raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"You said that's Tyler's brother?" Marie asks Brendon as he eagerly unbuckles his seatbelt and flings his car door open, "He followed us here."

"I know, I'm about to go say hi!" he says before jumping out of his seat, abandoning the medium frosty he begged his aunt for.

"Brendon, don't forget your frosty 'cause I'm not grabbing it for you!" Marie shouts at him as she gathers her things and gets out, leaving Tyler sitting alone in the back seat like a fucking weirdo. He takes in a deep breath to calm his nerves before finally letting himself out. He sees Brendon tightly fling his arms around Zack's waist as he wipes his face across the older man's shoulder, who looks pleadingly to Marie as she approaches them.

"He doesn't want to see you, carry your ass inside," Marie scolds him for being annoying as she pries the offending boy away from Zack, "I'm Marie, Brendon's aunt."

Zack offers a kind and appreciative smile, "I'm Tyler's older brother Zack. Sorry about following you home, me and Tyler had a bad argument a little while ago and he ran out, and I haven't seen him ever since until I saw him get in your car."

"Wow, I didn't know he ran away..." Marie says as she glances at Tyler, who drops his head in shame, "I'm sure you were worried."

"No, I knew he'd run off to his friends. I just never knew where they lived," Zack says, "Tell Brendon bye, Tyler. And thank you for looking after him, Marie. I hope he hasn't been too much trouble."

"No, he's a sweet boy," Marie assures happily as she ends the conversation there to guide Tyler back into the house, where Brendon must've left to. The woman doesn't speak again until they're in the house, "Everything alright at home?"

Tyler nods, "Sorry for not being honest."

"I understand, Noodles, really," Marie assures the boy, "You're a good kid and I'm sure you didn't run away to be rebellious. My dad was a dick to me and my siblings growing up and I wished I had somewhere safe to run off to. You're welcome to come back when things get rough, or just whenever you feel like coming over."

Tyler wraps his arms tight around her in a hug and Marie squeezes him back affectionately, "Thank you so much."

"Anytime, love."

"Is Tyler leaving?" Brendon asks as he reappears from the kitchen.

"Yeah, say bye," Marie answers as she lets go, allowing Brendon to hug his friend too.

"See you later, Tyler," Brendon says as he pulls away, patting his younger friend dismissively on the back.

"Bye, guys," Tyler offers one last smile before leaving, anxiously walking towards what could be impending doom. He can see his brother watching him in the driver's seat and offers him a smile upon being caught. Maybe he's not mad because he wouldn't have smiled at him if he was-unless he's smiling at the thought of what he's gonna do to him as punishment when they get home. Tyler easily dismisses that last idea and cringes because one, his older brother can be an asshole at times but he's not a sadist, and two, the way he put it sounds so wrong and he wants to forget he even thought that.

He opens the passenger door and slides onto the seat, avoiding eye contact as he fiddles with the cup in his hands.

"Uhh..." Zacks starts as he begins driving once again, "So I owe you a huge apology for what I've said and done, none of that was right and no excuse would ever justify it."

Intimidation ♡ joshlerWhere stories live. Discover now