They were half running to the parking lot looking over their shoulders until they finally got to Marlon’s Tesla.
Hazel wiped the tears that were still wet on her face, “Did anybody see you?”
Marlon turned on the car engine and glanced at the rearview mirror, “Yeup … definitely …” he laughed lightly, “Yeah some people saw me alright.” His blue eyes met her eyes for a brief moment, he smiled before backing up his car.
“We have to go back then?” she said.
“Nope … too late for that,” he kept driving further from the school. “Anyway … obviously we need to get away from there today … get some air, sort things out,” he opened the roof window and looked at her again, “Right?”
She wasn’t sure at first, she looked back at the school that was getting smaller and smaller as they drove further away. “Where are we going?”
“Atta girl!” he shouted and tapped the steering wheel with his right palm, “Anywhere you want, baby!”
Hazel curved her lips, he was amusing her, “Why are you doing this?”
His expression turned serious, “Because you’re my friend … and you could use a friend today … that’s me,” he pointed to himself. He was smiling, “I’m sorry about the party, I thought I was doing you a favor … so you didn’t have to say ‘no’ to me, you know what I mean? And … I’m not good with rejection,” he scoffed, “So …”
She stayed quiet.
“I’m not gonna ask you about what’s going on here,” he motioned his index finger in a circle around her, “Because the last thing you need is to talk about it … and I’m not gonna pretend like I know anything about relationships, ’cause I don’t,” they laughed. “But I do know a thing or two about running from reality even if it’s just for a little while.”
They passed the sign that said they were going to take the highway out of Chestnut to Brentwood. She had never drove that far with a new friend before. “Okay, seriously, where are we going?” she was hesitant.
“I need to charge this car, and the only place I can do that around here is in Brentwood … and there’s a really cool beach there, relax … you’ll be fine,” he assured her.
It was funny how sometimes she feels apprehensive about him but he seemed to be able to assure her effortlessly. She sat back and looked out the window. There was a soothing feeling inside her though her mind went back to that brief moment her eyes met with Lee’s at the field, it didn’t feel as bad anymore. She wasn’t crying anymore.
They drove for almost two hours before they arrived at Brentwood. Marlon stopped by at a charging station and did his thing, and then they drive again for about 15 minutes to a secluded beach.
It was a quiet beach with very few people around. Hazel had never been there. The light colored sand looked clean far different from their beach at Chestnut where it’s crowded all day long with cafes in a row. The Brentwood beach had only hot dog stand, ice cream cart, and other seaside snacks booth here and there.
He parked the car facing the ocean at an open empty parking space. He closed the roof window and took something out from under his seat. A small tin box where he kept his stash of weed.
Hazel was watching him intently as he casually rolled a joint and lit it up like he’d been doing this on regular basis. He took a long drag and held it in for sometime as he offered her the lit joint. She stared at him in horror. She shook her head.
“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s creepy,” he said.
She rolled her eyes, “You’re creepy,” and looked away.
He laughed and blew the smoke out with a little cough, “It’s just pot, you’ve never smoked one before?”
“Do I look like I’ve smoked pot before?” she folded her arms in front of her.
No, of course not, she was the sweetest and most innocent girl he’d ever come across in his life. She doesn’t seem like a girl who would have access to these things in her life. “Do you want to try it?” he held the joint near her face.
She looked at it for a moment, and shrugged, “I tried smoking a cigarette once, it’s not my thing,” she declined.
“Suit yourself …” he took another drag. He was going to keep the smoke inside the car anyways, it will take an effect on her whether she realized it or not.
“Why do you like to be intoxicated so much? I heard what happened at your party … they say you passed out for having too much to drink.”
“Is that what they say?” he chuckled. “Everybody needs a little something for the pain … right?”
She looked at him, she didn’t know how to reply to that. She couldn’t relate to his pain, but she was right about him.
“The party was my dad’s way of saying ‘sorry kid, I couldn’t be there for you … but hey, have some party on my expense’,” he mimicked his dad’s voice. “I take what I can get … he does that all the time, whenever he thinks he’s failing me at something, I get to have a party … or whatever I want basically.”
“I’m sorry,” she sympathized.
“Don’t be … it’s not your fault,” he chuckled.
Marlon has a way of disguising his pain, it’s with his subtle and soothing laugh. She never really paid attention to it before, but the more she get to know him, the more she recognize it. She loves the sound of his laugh.
Maybe he was getting high, or maybe he was getting comfortable with her. He was slowly telling her about his relationship with his mostly absent dad. Though he’s the only parent that he can seem to rely on, he was almost never there. Too busy with work, being an A-list actor who constantly has a movie to make back to back is not easy.
Hazel could see that Marlon longs for a father figure in his life, a mother figure even more because of his ‘highly functioning alcoholic mother’ as he put it. He hadn’t touched the topic of his brother, not yet.
“Stop looking at me like that … I told you, it’s creepy,” he realized he’s been talking too much and Hazel was just studying him.
If only he knew how beautiful his face was. Hazel was dazzled by him. She didn’t realize she’d been staring while she listened to his story. She observed his brows, his blue eyes, his lashes brushed softly as he blinked. He looked a lot more like his dad from the side, and once she realized she was staring creepily, “I think I’m stoned,” she said.
He pressed his lips together to hold his laugh, “You think?” he noticed her eyes were heavy. The smoke must have taken effect on her. They burst out into laughter.
She rubbed her face with both hands, she could really feel it now, this was how it feels like to be high. “Oh yeah … I’m sure …” she laughed out loud, “This is all your fault.”
Marlon turned off the air conditioner and subsequently turned off the car engine. “You know what, we should take a walk and …” he reached to the back seat and grabbed a duffle bag, “I have some linens here we can just sit on by the beach … what do you say? They have sick sunset here.”
She was feeling light and easy, she would agree on almost anything at that point. Who would reject a ‘sick’ sunset, “Sure,” she said.