Page 55 of Stand By Me

What if Ben forced Mario to choose?

Suddenly, Clay's stomach felt so heavy he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand up.

"They're grown men," his mom said quietly, drawing his attention. "Hopefully, Ben remembers that."

Yeah, Clay thought, turning away again.Hopefully.

* * *

His tea was cold by the time Mario called. Clay couldn't pick up fast enough and this time, his mom didn't say anything about phones at the table. She stared at him instead, waiting.

"Hey, how did it go?"

Mario sighed, which made Clay wince.

"It wasn't pretty, but I guess it could've gone worse, too. There was a lot of shouting at the beginning, but we managed to have a normal conversation at the end there. I might have been too honest, though."

Clay frowned. "Oh?"

"I said a few things that were a long time coming and now they're finally out there."

"I hope I didn't—"

"This was between me and Ben," Mario told him. "I should've said some things a while ago and I was correcting my mistake. He left, and I think it will take him a while to digest it, but… At least he heard me out."

"Any idea where he went to?" Clay asked.

"Probably home, but I'm not sure." Mario paused, and then, "God, it was awful."

At the sound of Mario's voice on the brink of breaking, Clay stood up from the table and went outside onto the porch.

"I'm sorry," he offered quietly, resting his weight against the railing.

"I'm sorry, too," Mario whispered. "I hate fighting with him, it feels… wrong. But it needed to happen, as awful as that sounds."

"I wish—" Clay paused, not sure how to finish that. He could take the blame, like always, or he could just… "I wish I could help you feel better."

There. That felt right.

"You still at the house?" Mario asked, a shadow of a smile in his voice.

"Yeah, I wanted to be here in case… Well, in case he came back and wanted to talk." Clay shrugged. "It won't do much good, but it's all I have."

"It may work, when he's ready to see everything that you're doing. And have done." There was something soft in Mario's voice, as if he was hesitating, but then he said, "Once you leave there, my door is open."

Clay closed his eyes, wishing he was with Mario right now.

"You sure? Because it may be late—"

"We can survive a late night, old man," Mario said, and the tease made his voice sound happier. "It won't kill us."

"Okay. That's—I'd love that."

"Good." Mario was obviously smiling now. "Let me know when, okay?"

"I will."

For a while, they listened to each other breathe, not saying anything but also not wanting to get off the phone.

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