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Ray Toro isn't one to say no to a good time. Given that he didn’t have class in the morning or that Pete was the person behind the ‘good time’.
Being roommates with Frank, thankfully, brought many pros.
He was way too organized for the normal 20 year old, he was pretty quiet, and he always had weed. Always.
Even if he was fresh to Seattle, he knew where to go to get more bud for his dwindling stash he smuggled with him. Frank was also really generous with said weed. So, Ray may have started some kind of routine with Frank.
Every Thursday night, they would order from the good pho place down the street, find some good 80s b-roll slashers, and settle in with the glass bong Frank had gotten at a smoke shop a few miles downtown.
“I don’t know, Toro.” Frank let out an uneven breath that almost qualified as a wheeze, “ I think if Transformers were like, real. We would be in so much shit.”
Frank took another hit, dragging out the smoke easily before passing it blindly to his side.
“Yeah, but then there would be fuckin’ robots everywhere.” Ray said, pointing his lighter at Frank’s unfocused face, “I can deal with more shit. If there are cool fuckin’ robots included.”
The room was layered in a haze, it was way too cold to put their windows down, unless they wanted Frank to be sick for the next three weeks. The added smoke gave the grainy TV screen a better atmosphere to show off the truly terrible special effects of whatever movie Ray found. The gore was almost a neon pink color, it was kinda stylistic but definitely didn’t work.
Ray took a small hit, letting the smoke out slow.
“You know what else is fuckin’ cool, this girl in my Musical History class.” He nodded his head as he talked, still using his lighter as an extra finger to poke towards Franks faded face. “She’s starting some, like radio thing? Just for campus but she wanted some people to help her out. Like a co-host or some shit.”
Frank nodded, not really getting anything out of the conversation, nothing that he could fully think through. His brain just focused on the fluorescent pink that covered the floor of the main girls kitchen, it pooled up into a puddle in the center of the frame.
“She really digs the same stuff you do.” Ray continued, taking a handful of the definitely stale chips in front of them, “Imma tell her you're interested. I know you will be.”
Franks eyes drooped as he looked towards Ray, his hair was a little frizzier than usual and made him look like he just got electrocuted, Frank tried to hold in his laugh, only making his weak lungs wheeze in protest as he let out a rough giggle. The cough that was let out after it only made him laugh more at Rays wide, confused eyes.
“Sorry dude, you just- you look like fuckin Doc Brown.” He said, laughing even harder. His ribs hurt from trying to hold it back when Ray started laughing along, the two crumbling into a fit of giggles on the shitty mattresses they had pushed together.
“What about Dinobots…” Ray asked after he caught his breath and moved closer to Frank, “ That would be a lot fucking cooler than like-” he took another hit from the still lit bong in Franks hands ”more fuckin’ cars everywhere, ya know?’
Frank looked at his roommate, messed up hair, jostled shirt showing a bit of his stomach, his pokemon pajama pants tied in a triple knot and faded from use, his poor excuses for smoke rings floating above his smiling face, glowing in the pink blood splattered light.
Frank broke his own spell and sputtered out a laugh, “You just want dinosaur robots to be everywhere then?”
Ray stopped blowing out a ring to smile, “ Yeah, who wouldn't?”
The movie ended right after midnight playing a synth track loud enough to bust the already broken speakers and rolling the sparse credits over a still image of the final girl. The smoke still drifted around their poorly ventilated room, moving in waves over their bodies as they molded into their pillows. The tape clicked to an end pushing a calm silence, breaking the smog with the sharp blue of the paused screen. The blue formed around the action figures on Rays bookshelf, floating over the miniature robots and Star Wars characters he deemed important enough to take across the country, the posters on his side of the room shined, glossy in some places but ripped in others, these were straight from his room at home, tape residue still on some parts rejecting the light.
“Why didn’t you bring a Han figure?” Frank blurted out, looking at the collection of aliens and two different Leias and small army of Padmes. Ray turned over to look like he didn't notice them before, looking over the painted faces of the plastic people.
“ Honestly, I just think Leia and Padmé are badass, and like, Han has like two outfits, but Padmé? Endless cool shit.” He fiddled with the knotted string of his pants, fraying them even more “Why did you only bring two pairs of jeans?”
Frank looked down at his jeans, covered in marker, duct tape, paint, years of dirt stains and rips that get sewn back up every few days. Honestly he does’t have an answer, he has a drawer back at home with shorts and jeans that are new, unused almost, but the only pairs he brought were the ones he needed. Just like how Ray only brought the things that made it feel like home. And he meant to say something like that, but in the smoke filled room with the haze over his thoughts he cant seem to think of anything but dinosaurs and how beautiful Ray looks in a halo of blue surrounded by the things he loves.
“Fuckin’ gay.” He whispered to himself.
“What?”
“ Not you.”
Ray laughs into his blankets that he has slowly been moving into.
The next Thursday started off the same as any Thursday.Take out. Newly rented (three days late) movie. Franks forever dirty bong. And their beds pushed together facing the small set up on Ray’s side of the room. The blankets wrapped around their waists and their four collective pillows ( three are Frank’s) cushioning the wall behind them. The movie starts slow letting the two talk about their day, complaining about the guy that lived next door who listens to the worst music every hour of the day and spilled beer in the hallway and never cleaned it up.
“Did you know they blew up a real bridge for that shot?” Ray spoke over Frank’s story about his music theory professor’s newest assignment, “ The town was about to demolish it and the crew asked to film before it went” he showed the sound with his hands “boom..”
Frank made a face before lighting the bowl, close to the edge of the metal and inhaled far too long for a person with his lungs, the packed bowl filled with an orange glow, not bright but enough to see in the dark of the room.
“That’s pretty cool” he exhaled, morphing his voice through the smoke “Did you know-“ he started before taking another hit.
“If you fucking say anything about the bike camera, which I told you last time we watched this, I’m switching rooms.” Ray faked anger but watched Frank grin as he blew smoke into his face.
“Did you know they used a bike-“ he was cut off by Ray’s elbow hitting his arm. The two laughed as the first girl was possessed on screen, the effects transforming her face, sharp and eyes a milky white. The music picked up but they just laughed harder when Ray couldn’t stop laughing into the mouth of the bright pink bong in his hands, the water sputtering with his breathing.
“Fuck you!” Ray yelled, wiping the moisture from his face. Frank turned to him in feux shock.
“Fuck me? You were the one who elbowed me!” he laughed, pushing Ray’s shoulder lightly.
“Yeah.” He used his sleeve to clean his face, “ but I’m the one with bong water in my mouth.”
“It’s not that bad, you’re just a baby.” Frank smirked at Ray’s sour face as he tried to forget the taste of the stale water. “Its like a rite of passage for a stoner. You’re first taste of bong water.” he cooed
“I’m not a stoner?” Ray laughed, handing the bong to Frank.
Frank’s eyebrows raised, “ You just handed me, an innocent kid, a bong.” he said, turning his nose up, the light from the TV catching on his piercings. “I’m just trying to enjoy this amazing movie, did you know they used a bike to get that shot?”
“You are an asshole, man.”
“Do you think we could watch the second one tonight?” Ray asked, already putting the tape in.
Frank was already a bowl in, eyes heavy as he thought.
“I guess. Not like we have ever seen it before. That would be crazy…” he took another hit.
“Okay. Fuck you it’s better than the first one and you know it.”
Frank rolled his eyes as the FBI pirating warnings flashed across the screen. He would never admit it but it really was better than the first one. The first few minutes quickly recapped the last movie, cutting the cast down, morphing the two hour movie into a 15 minute wait to see what happens next.
“Dude, I personally will never get tired of watching the sweat fall out of his ear in that one shot. It‘s gnarly as fuck.”