Clyde

It was hard to untangle the mess of emotions that ran through me as I walked away from Mark. I felt like the day had been gradually snowballing into something terrible as time passed. First, the shopping centers had been a bust. Then, we hadn’t had any luck at the grocery lot. Now, Mark was insisting that the neighborhood we’d walked to wasn’t a good target.

He’s just scared. That’s what I told myself, but even I was having a hard time convincing myself. All I could think of was a mere day ago, when I’d been ready to leave Clyde behind at the mall. What kind of friend—what kind of person am I, if I’m so negative but won’t let him be?

I shoved all the uncertain second thoughts from my mind. It was too late; we were already here, and I wanted to get a closer look at the mansion. All I could think of was the possibility of what lay inside. I had no doubt there was enough in the house for me to help my mom, and then some.

As I walked closer to the place, I wondered if Mark was right behind me or if he was still up on the hill. If maybe he’d left. It doesn’t matter. Don’t think about him. But I cared, and I had to fight the urge to look over my shoulder.

I’d told Mark the truth. I told him what no one else knew and he hadn’t run to Link with it, as far as I knew. He hadn’t even told the twins. Mark had listened to me and then offered to help. Now more than ever, I felt like I could lean on him. Like he was strong enough to support both of us while I was steadily losing control over what felt like my entire life.

“Blind spots,” I muttered to myself. “Focus. Blind spots.”

I wasn’t as good as Mark or even Eugene at finding blind spots, but I knew the basic idea. I tried to keep my head down as I moved around the mansion, hoping if I was picked up on camera, I’d look like any other curious neighbor.

When I got closer to the fence, I felt a sudden hand on my shoulder. My first instinct was to run, but then I considered that a fight might be better. We were in a secluded area. Maybe—

“What the fuck, Clyde?” Mark hissed, clearly tense. He started to pull me away from the fence, but I planted my feet.

“Are you going to help or not?” I stared at him and tried to figure out what he was thinking. I wouldn’t lie; a large part of me was relieved that he’d followed me. I wanted him there. “Look. I think there’s a blind spot on the corner—”

“Have you lost your damn mind? It’s the middle of the day.” Mark spoke in urgent tones, his words ground out under his breath. I kept walking and let him stalk after me. “We’re trespassing. It’s broad fucking daylight—”

“So, shut up and help. We’ll get out of here faster.”

I was pretty sure Mark threw his hands up in frustration at my response. I could only catch glimpses of him from the corner of my eye. Instead of indulging the argument, I kept walking toward the mansion.

The front of the mansion had a patio with arches; closer to the side, I could see a giant pool. It glittered electric blue-green. It looked well-kept and I wondered if there were people that came by the keep the mansion clean and beautiful. That would add another layer of complications, I knew. It would be much harder to hit the place if there were people coming in and out. Especially if those people stood to lose their jobs if the person inside suspected them of stealing.

They’ll be fine. Mom needs this. I bet this guy could buy five new houses if he wanted, anyway. I hated that I had to tell myself things to make it seem all right, but I was steadily growing more desperate. I needed a lot of money, fast.

“Clyde. Jesus Christ. Clyde,” Mark repeated, his voice rising a little.

I was never able to reply. I heard a door open and then instinct drove me forward, along the wall of the house. Mark was hot on my heels. He didn’t say anything, but I could practically hear the curses running through his mind. There were honestly a few running through mine, too.

When I got to the corner of the house, I crouched and peered around the side. I could see a door and three people emerging from the mansion, walking in the direction of the pool. This was bad. Mark and I weren’t in a great place and I didn’t trust that these people wouldn’t come around and see us. We had to leave, now.

The second I turned to Mark, I knew we were on the same page. He was already turning toward the woods in the distance, past the fence and next to the hill we’d climbed over. It was our best escape route back to civilization. It also wouldn’t do anything to hide our retreat.

Too bad. Too late. I was hit by a crushing feeling of guilt. This was my fault. I should have waited to see more, or at least been smarter about it. I couldn’t think about it now, though. We had to go.

I started to run. Sprinting was the best option we had, to at least get out of eyesight in time. Mark was right beside me. We didn’t get five feet before I heard someone yell. Fuck. My heart was pounding in my ears and I had tunnel vision. All I could see was the edge of the woods in the distance, so close yet so far. Would we even make it?

I opened my mouth to shout something. I didn’t know what. Adrenaline had long since taken over. Before I could yell, Mark’s hand was suddenly on my wrist. His hand felt hot and I distantly wondered if it was the running, or if he was just warm. Mark pulled me sharply toward the hill and then I realized he was going to use it as cover while we kept running into the woods.

Why didn’t I think of that? I knew I was frantic, but I hadn’t realized how bad it was. I felt like an idiot. What would I have done if Mark wasn’t there?

We were among the trees a minute later. Mark was still holding my wrist; he ducked through some trees and bumped his shoulder against some branches. One of them hit my face and I laughed breathlessly. Everything about our escape was absurd. I saw Mark glance back. He had the look he always did when he was trying to be serious, but I could tell adrenaline and relief was making him smile.

We were safe. Or, as safe as we could be, with police crawling around nearby. Mark pulled me to a stop. He turned to look back toward the mansion, chest rising quickly while he looked for anyone who might be following. I was suddenly aware of how close we were—how I could smell Mark’s shampoo and feel the heat of his body next to mine.

“Do you see anything?” I kept my voice low, but I didn’t think it mattered. We were pretty far from the mansion. I was still distracted by Mark, but I tried to concentrate on getting out.

“This was such a stupid idea,” Mark whispered fiercely. “I can’t believe you. You couldn’t just wait? You couldn’t just—”

“Hey. We made it.”

“That doesn’t make it okay! What if we hadn’t?”

Suddenly, I realized that Mark wasn’t just angry at me. I saw the way his hand clenched on the trunk of the tree he stood behind. He was scared, I realized. Any other day, I would have chalked it up to fear of being arrested, but Mark didn’t seem to care much about himself. After all, he’d come with me and stayed after I made a stupid decision.

Mark was worried about me. Sure, he was pissed at the mistakes I’d made, but he had stuck around. He didn’t do it just because of the crew, either. This wasn’t a heist for Link.

“We did make it.” I could hear myself talking, but the revelation had clouded my mind. I was more in tune with the way Mark’s hair was messy at his forehead than the possibility of being caught. “They probably think we’re neighborhood kids.”

“Probably isn’t safe. We need to get the hell out of here.” Mark shook his head. He pushed some of his hair away from his forehead, sighing. He caught my eye and immediately looked away, but we couldn’t see anything from where we were.

He was avoiding my eyes. Why? Because he really did hate me, or because he felt the same?

“We’re safe. No one’s coming,” I pointed out. Why was I suddenly so aware of Mark next to me? I could still feel his hand on my wrist. All these phantom touches were starting to pile up. My mind was wandering into dangerous territory.

“You don’t know that. God, I can’t believe you. Did you seriously think you could just waltz up to the gate? What were you planning on doing? Going in through the back door? If you’d been just a minute later, those people would have caught you. What then?”

I couldn’t answer. I still couldn’t get over what was running through my mind. When I opened my mouth, what came out wasn’t a plan or even a defense. I didn’t know what it was. I just said, “You came back.”

There was a flicker of confusion in Mark’s eyes. It disappeared quickly and then his jaw clenched. He wasn’t looking at me anymore. He was looking away, like he had to force himself to not say or do something. “Yeah,” Mark muttered. “Guess I’m fucking stupid, too. But it saved your ass, didn’t it?”

“You didn’t have to come back.” I knew how dangerous it was to push when someone didn’t want to budge. I pushed anyway. I knew I was close to the truth and at the moment, Mark’s defenses were down. We were both a mess of adrenaline and tension.

“Are you serious, right now? What kind of asshole do you think I am? I said I was going to help. Not that you’re making it easy, with the running around and trespassing. If you’d been caught—”

I never got to hear what he would do. I didn’t need to. I knew enough. I definitely knew enough to lean in and shut him up with a kiss. It wasn’t meant to just make him stop talking, though. I felt like I’d been waiting for this—working up to it for days, now. Maybe even longer.

Mark made a surprised noise. I felt it vibrate against my lips and I pressed closer to him. I could hear the rustle of leaves underfoot when Mark’s back hit the tree behind him. Despite his surprise, his lips parted quickly. I wanted to laugh. And he said he didn’t do guys. The way Mark was responding to me told a different story.

I could have stayed there for hours. I wanted to. With Mark’s breath hot against my mouth, nothing else was important. I wasn’t worried or scared about getting caught. I just felt the rush of the kiss and I knew I wanted more. Maybe this was a bad idea. Mark probably was. But he definitely didn’t taste like one.