The Old Tuck Shop

TWENTY-SIX

I grabbed my backpack, waved to Cal and left. It was only around 7:30 in the morning and the streets were pretty bare. Of course, a few people were jogging, or walking their dogs, or going to work even though it was a Saturday. I started to think about when Josh and I used to walk to school together. School. Something that I hadn't thought about since leaving home. Josh and Poppy are on break right now, but I haven't thought about what I would do when they go back to school. I mean, do I just wait around Cal's for weeks until they come back? For now, I just have to wait and see what happens.

I continued walking down the street until I arrived at Josh's house, without realising how early it was and that he would probably be asleep. Nevertheless, I still knocked on the door. To my surprise, he answered, fully clothed, with a toothbrush in his hand.

"Finn?" he asked, probably wondering what the hell I was doing at his front door at 7:45 in the morning.

"Hey, dude. So I was wondering if you're doing anything today? Instead of just hanging around Cal's today- he gave me the day off work, which is pretty neat," I answered.

"Fair enough... I'm going to meet some friends today- the ones in my friend group. You're perfectly welcome to come. I've told them about you and stuff so they'll be fine."

"Um... yeah? Sure. Yeah. That sounds super cool." I grinned.

"My Mam is making breakfast if you want to join us?" he asked.

"I just had an egg and bacon, but I could sure do with a slice of toast," I chuckled, walking into the house.

We ate our food, and walked down to the bandstand in the middle of town, and waited for Josh's friends to arrive. As I waited, I became more and more anxious. I barely knew anything about his friends. All Josh said that they're cool guys and 'typical emos' so I didn't know what to expect.

"Don't look so nervous," he chuckled.

"I'm not nervous. I'm just anxious," I replied.

He scrunched up his face. "You do know they mean the same thing."

I puffed. "You know what I mean. I just want them to like me."

He rolled his eyes. "You've gone soft Green."

"So anyway, I've been meaning to ask, how does a boy such as yourself manage to find themselves in a group of 'emos'? What happened when I was gone?" I laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean you went from being at the top of the food chain right down to the bottom. Metaphorically of course."

"Of course," he replied.

"No but seriously, what happened to the rest of our gang? Abe? Jack?" I asked, genuinely interested.

"We just drifted once we got to secondary school, you know? And then I met these guys and they're been amazing."

"Fair enough," I responded.

"Speaking of which, here comes one of them."

In front of me was a guy with long, black hair that had been dip-dyed blonde at the ends; most of his hair wasn't visible since he wore a scruffy, black beanie. He wore a blue and purple striped shirt that hung over his grey, ripped jeans which were too long for him; there were marks at the bottom where he had stepped on them. Music was blasting out of his headphones, and he was carrying a guitar case on his back. At least I'm not the only one who can play.

"What up retard," he said, pointing at Josh.

"Faggot," Josh replied.

"Dude. You're gonna break your ears listening to your music that loud," Josh added, grabbing his headphones and turning the volume down.

The guy made a puppy dog face and then turned to me as if he had only now noticed me. "You must be Finn. I like your hoodie. Going for the homeless style- I like it," he snorted.

Josh handed his headphones back to him angrily, probably because he pointed out the fact that I was homeless, which technically wasn't true anymore.

"Josh it's okay." I chuckled. "And I like your style. Going for the cliché emo look I see."

He snorted. "Josh I like this dude. You're staying at Mr Callaghan's yeah?" he asked.

"Yup," I replied.

He whispered. "Bruh. Do you think you can smuggle me some sweets?" He then snorted. I laughed.

"I am retarded." He added.

"Yeah, no shit," Josh muttered under his breath.

"Bruh. What did you just say?" he said.

Josh rolled his eyes. "Nothing that you haven't heard already."

"That's what I thought," the guy replied.

"I'm Blaidd by the way. Sorry, I didn't mention it before," he said.

What a strange name. I had never heard of anyone called Blaidd before.

"Blaidd?" I asked.

"Technically it's Bleddyn but no one could say that in school so I thought when I was younger fuck it let's change it." He put on his headphones and turned up the volume.

"Fair enough," I chuckled.

"You're gonna bust your eardrums listening to it that loud," Josh said, again.

"Sorry, Mom," Blaidd replied in an American accent and stuck his tongue out.

"My point exactly," Josh said to himself.

"Oh, where the hell is Charlie?" Josh puffed, throwing his arms in the air.

"He's always late. He's probably having a shit or something," Blaidd replied, chuckling.

Josh ignored him and rang Charlie. He answered and told us to just meet him at his house.

"So, Finn? Do you play any instruments or something?" Blaidd asked as we walked up to Charlie's.

"I guess I play a little guitar. I'm not good though," I answered.

"Cool," Blaidd said, chucking a chewing gum into his mouth.

"That's bullshit," Josh said. "You're so good at guitar dude."

Blaidd's eyes widened. "Josh, why didn't you tell us earlier? Bruh. He should join our band-"

"Not," Josh interrupted.

"Band?" I asked, feeling offended that Josh immediately didn't even let me consider joining.

"What the hell? Why not? From what you say he's sick at guitar." Blaidd puffed at Josh and then turned to me. "We're gonna make a band at one point and it would be cool if you joined."

"Ah, okay," I replied, unsure how to react.

Josh stopped. "Yeah, we're gonna make a band at some point. We have done nothing with the whole band idea yet."

Blaidd rolled his eyes at Josh. "Well when we do make a band at some point you are gonna be a part of it... unless you're shit and Josh is just trying to boost your self-esteem." We both laughed and arrived at Charlie's.