[1-2] BLOCKED

[threedimensions]

Dimensions: [1-2]
Timeline: April 2012
Title: Blocked
Summary: The first time Jack agrees to hang out with some of Brandon's friends at Eddie's, Mark finally gets why Brandon likes him so much.
~2.2k



The new guy was quite a lot different than he expected— and he'd gotten nothing from him, which was so strange that he didn't know what to make of it— but it only took an hour for Mark to realize why Brandon liked him.

All he knew about Jack so far was that he was Andrew's friend, he did something having to do with PC games, and that Brandon was completely into him. And that he'd been talking to him for over a month now and Mark had only seen him once before, briefly, and hadn't spoken to him at all. Brandon had said he was mostly getting to know him by chatting online, that Jack was most comfortable talking to him that way, and almost any time Brandon could be seen staring at his phone this late spring, that was what he was doing.

He had taken both Mark and Kylen aside earlier, before Jack arrived at Eddie's, to let them know that it was a huge deal for this guy to actually come to the hangout, with its tons of noise and people. He'd wanted to know if he could count on them to steer things in a low-key direction, and although he hadn't said it, they both knew he also meant to run interference between this guy and some of their louder, more obnoxious friends.

Andrew arrived with Jack a few minutes later, and while Jack seemed to be considering the corner that they had staked out and then chose an armchair near the end of the couch that Brandon was on (instead of the spot next to him, Mark noted), Brett and Claudia came around the corner and Andrew cheerfully offered them a gazillion dollars to fuck off elsewhere. They both flipped him off but left, Andrew flopped down on the other side of the couch that Brandon was on, and Kylen lit up a joint she had been rolling as she sat in front of the coffee table that Mark had his feet up on.

"Did you listen to that album I uploaded for you?" Andrew asked Brandon, as he took the joint from Kylen as she offered it out.

"Yup," Brandon said, putting it to his lips and taking a long pull before reaching over to hand it to him. "It sucked."

Andrew hit from it himself, passed it to Mark, then hooked one leg over his other knee and folded his hands in his lap, tilting his head up to exhale at the ceiling. "I've always wondered how it felt," he said thoughtfully, "to be so utterly and completely wrong."

"You should already know that from looking in the mirror each morning."

"Fuck you and your bad music taste."

"What was it?" Kylen asked, immediately interested.

"Some indie shit," Brandon said dismissively.

"It was not some indie shit, it was—" Andrew seemed to think of something and pointed at Jack. "I got it from him, so say it's shit now," he challenged.

That was a good move, actually, Mark thought, as Brandon quickly looked at Jack and backpedaled. "Okay, that's fine, I just didn't really like it. But you're right, that doesn't mean it's bad."

Mark put one foot down so that he could lean forward and hand the joint to Jack. "Here, man," he said. He kept holding it when nothing happened, and after a second he glanced at Brandon. Brandon also looked at Jack, and then he stood up and reached out himself; Mark gave him the joint and sat back, expecting him to sit down with it and just pass Jack over, but when he sat down, he held it out, and Jack took it. Mark raised his eyebrows at Brandon, like, What, have I got cooties?

Brandon shrugged back at him a little. Don't worry about it, it said. He took the joint from Jack after he'd hit it and gave it back to Kylen, who had also been watching. She took it and then smacked his leg. "Where's the new Counting Crows album for me, dick?"

"Oh! Shit, I forgot, sorry. I haven't even listened to it yet." Brandon pulled out his phone and busied himself with it for a moment, probably setting himself a reminder.

"It's not new, it's just covers," Andrew said. "I liked it, though."

While the rest of them continued to pass the joint and talk about music, Jack retrieved a tablet from an inside pocket of his jacket—an e-reader, Mark thought, as Jack focused on it for a minute or so at a time before swiping at the screen to probably turn a page. Mark waited until they were all on the third joint and all quite high and relaxed, before he tried to feel out for Jack again; he still got nothing and he was confused. Jack hadn't said a single word yet, hadn't looked at any of them, and hadn't interacted with any of them except for Brandon when he was receiving and passing back the pot. Brandon and Andrew both seemed to be unconcerned with this behavior, so Mark didn't want to think it was a big deal when the two that knew him didn't seem to care. But he had never before met someone from whom he couldn't get anything, and he also never would have thought before that Brandon would be so interested in someone that didn't match his energy.

There was a lull, and Brandon got up to use the restroom, promising to bring back popcorn from the snack counter and his bowl from the glovebox of his car. When he was gone, Andrew threw a balled-up candy bar wrapper at Mark. "That store you work at hiring?" he asked. "I guess I need a job again."

He had gotten let go from his job doing some sort of mail sort shit when the company was bought out and received a sizeable severance check, but he'd also gone completely hog wild on video games, pot, and food lately. "Might be a good idea," Mark said mildly.

"It sucks, but rent does still exist," Kylen agreed.

"Yeah... my parents were helping me out with some, too, since Keith's still at home and they weren't making him pay them anything. But the other day my dad said something about paying for my own food and doing my own laundry eventually. Why would I want to do that? My mom does all of my laundry so perfectly. I don't know how to do laundry." He looked at Kylen. "Is laundry hard?"

"What the fuck makes you think I know?" she demanded, giving him a disgusted look. "Because I'm a chick, I spend all day slaving over the washing machine?"

"No! Because you just spent the entire day yesterday bitching about doing it!"

"Oh. I forgot you were there." She shrugged. "No, it's not hard. It's just time-consuming. I'd rather wash dishes. Which I also had to do!"

"We know," Andrew groaned. "Your mom is on double shifts for the next two weeks. You said it like seventy-eight times."

"I'm seventy-eight times pissed about it."

"Hiring for days," Mark told Andrew. "Like, early morning to afternoon."

"Aw...I don't want to have to get up early..."

"And just the front is looking for people, so you'd have to be around the public."

"That's fucking disheartening," Andrew said. "What about what you do? They don't need anyone to help with trucks and shit?"

"I don't think so, but I'll ask."

"Sweet." Andrew looked at Kylen again. "Are dishes hard? It looks gross."

Mark decided that he'd go ahead and take a piss while they hashed that out. He stood, said, "Tic-tac seat back," when Kylen's head snapped up and she eyed his empty chair, then grinned at her middle finger and headed to the restroom. He would sit on the floor if she had taken the chair when he returned, he didn't care.

He realized while washing his hands that he had a spectacular case of dry mouth, so he went up to the snack counter for a pop. Brandon was standing up there, off to the side and looking down at his phone while Eddie dug in the popcorn machine with a scoop in one hand and a large white paper bag in the other. "Sup?" Brandon said as Mark came up and waited for Eddie to notice him.

"Not a lot," Mark said. "Andrew's annoying Kylen about household chores since baby bird is getting nudged out of the nest financially."

"That's not going to go well. He told me he was almost broke again the other day while he was sniffing around for freebies."

"Probably not, yeah. Can I get a Sprite?" Mark asked, when Eddie set the popcorn on the counter and glanced at him.

"Dollar," he replied, and reached behind him to a Coke fridge.

"I got it." Brandon laid a five on the counter next to the large popcorn. "Can I change up the tunes with the change?"

That was surprising—Pearl Jam's "Vs." was currently coming through the surround speakers that were hooked all through the basement now, which was one of Brandon's favorite albums. Eddie put a can of Sprite on the counter, took the five, and nodded as he reached for the iPad that controlled the music. "All four dollars normally gets you eight songs. I'll give you ten. What do you want?"

Brandon made a face. "Do you have any of that indie shit? God, what was it called?" He took the iPad as Eddie held it out to him and started scrolling through the artists.

Mark snorted and took his pop. "Thanks man," he said, and headed back for their corner.

Surprisingly, his chair was still open, and he eased down into it, his head feeling pleasantly swimmy as he put one foot back up on the coffee table. A moment later, "W.M.A" was over, and instead of "Blood" starting, something that definitely qualified as indie shit started up and Kylen's head snapped up from the game she was playing on her phone.

"What the fuck is this crap?" she said, looking around.

Brandon came around the corner. "Oh, chill," he said, and gave her the popcorn. She made a face but then grabbed a handful and started to toss each piece up in the air and try to catch it in her mouth.

"Aw, you do love me," Andrew said. "See, this isn't that bad."

"Your face is that bad," Brandon said. "But I've made my peace with it."

"I repeat," Andrew said calmly. "You do love me."

"Not fucking likely." Brandon waved him over. "Move. I need the lamp next to you so that I can burn my screen off and pack this." He took his pipe and baggie out of his pocket.

"Sweet," Andrew said, and got up. Brandon sat down where he'd been and began attending to his bowl with a clip and his lighter while Andrew slid over to the side of the sofa nearer to Jack, who still didn't pay any attention to him until he put his elbow on the arm, his chin in his hand, and leaned over. "Whatcha doin, Jack man?"

"I am reading," Jack said, eyes still on the Kindle, and Mark glanced at Brandon in surprise—he hadn't mentioned that this guy was British. Brandon glanced over his shoulder quickly but then returned his attention to the screen he'd dug out of the bowl and lit on fire to burn off the resin.

"Is it a good book?" Kylen asked. "And by that I mean, do you like it, because trashy books can be good."

Jack didn't answer right away, and after a moment Kylen glanced at Brandon and then looked at Andrew, likely thinking—as Mark was—that he wasn't going to respond to her. Andrew was still looking at Jack, though, and a few seconds later, Jack said, "I am reading the Bible."

"Heavy," Andrew said. "Are you gonna get all religious on us now?"

Jack's eyes flicked to Andrew and back to his tablet. There was another silent pause, and again, Andrew just waited. A moment later, Jack said, slowly, "I have read The Lord Of The Rings, but I do not greet trees."

"Fair point," Andrew said, as Brandon smirked and then looked over his shoulder again at Jack. He was smiling now in a way that Mark had only seen on his face before when he was truly happy, a smile that shone through in his whole face and made his eyes light up.

Mark thought he got it, then. This guy was a reader, very intelligent from what Brandon had told him, quiet and unsocial and closed off, but he would apparently talk and interact with people that he knew—Brandon liked it when he was special to others. He could also apparently be something of a smart ass, which Brandon also liked. It was still weird as fuck that he couldn't feel anything from him, but both Brandon and Andrew seemed to think he was perfectly fine.

Besides, he said to himself as Brandon finished cleaning his screen and started packing it up. It wasn't any of his business who Brandon was seeing and why—if he liked someone, he probably had a reason. Mark was still confused, but it didn't matter; as long as his friend was happy, that was fine. Brandon finished packing the bowl and handed it off to him first, giving him a grin, and Mark grinned back at him.