The 3rd day - Afternoon

Truth be told, I was so weirded out by the whole encounter that I had to get away from both of them.

I made up my excuses, and ran away feeling more lost than ever.

Ginger was Bi? Blessing was a liar?

Whoever said small towns never change?

I decided my best bet was to keep filling out this list. With the double feature of Blessing and Ginger, getting heating in my house by the end of the night suddenly seemed within my reach. Blair the fucking bitch had practically ran me over trying to get away from me yesterday, so I thought my safest bed was Marshall.

I recognized him by scent alone when I got to his house.

"Hey stoner." I said, making my way around their cute little house, and into the back yard. There was Marshall on the back porch wearing a blanket, and smoking a fat doobie.

He grinned, his face a little fuller than I remember and nodded my way. He even lifted up the blanket in a welcoming gesture, or to let out a fart, hard to say. "Hey stranger, you just missed Kate." His voice was warm and welcoming, and I found myself hoping Marshall wasn't the gamemaster. I didn't want it to be any of my friends, but for some reason I thought it being him would hurt me the most.

"Yeah, she invited me to go shoe shopping."

He chuckled. "She's obsessed." Then he tilted his head. This guy was cherubic. I never thought I'd live to see the day where I got to use that word, but there it is, in black and white. Cherubic. No seriously, blue eyes, blonde curly hair. Even the weight gained from Kate's cooking packed onto his cheeks. Making him look like a chubby baby, bless his soul. "You're not here for her?"

"No buddy boy." I dropped myself down beside him, and pulled the blanket over me. I snuggled in close to him, and it felt good. Like I was back with my big brother, still smoking the same weed, probably from the same dealer. After all that had changed... this was nice. "I'm here for you."

"Uh oh." He sighed, and handed me a joint. "We're going to need this." Another one couldn't hurt, so I took it and let him light it for me.

"You're a real gentleman, Kate doesn't let you smoke in the house?"

"Fuck no." He laughed. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't let her know I smoke out here either."

"Oh she's got you real whipped huh?"

He clearly didn't like that and gave a huffy little snort. "You're a girl, are you supposed to say that?"

"It's fine I'm a lesbian." I said, which really was my excuse for most things. "Your secret is safe with me, but I need you to tell me about the app."

He sighed and took a long drag on his blunt. "You're in on it too?"

"Not really?" I said, hating the very idea. "But I know you got Kate pulled into it, and I need to know what you know."

He shrugged. "I probably know as much as you do."

"You'd be surprised by how ignorant I am."

He smiled at that, and shook his head, leaning back for a nice dramatic exhale into the biting air. "I missed you." He let that hang there for a long time, so long I almost thought he was waiting for something on my end. "Yeah I don't really know. Eric got me into it, sent me the link. You know he said it was helping him do better at his job." He chuckled, and then half under his breath "Better in bed, you know I thought 'why the hell not?'."

"Eric?" A pulse of something gross shot through me, more memories of that lobotomized lovemaking from the other night. "He acted like he hated you when we last talked."

Marshall chuckled. "Who knows with that guy? Apparently I'm not being a very good client for him?"

"Huh?"

"You know, it's like a multilevel marketing thing. If I get points he gets points, but uh," Another chuckle. "I haven't been getting him many points. Think he's sore about it."

"So you're not using the app?" The magical life changing app that got me a house?

"Naw, too fucking weird."

"I hear that."

"First they had me taking walks every day, and that was fine. I was losing about a pound a day? That was cool, but then I did it enough that..." He blushed and tried to hide it by taking another drag. "You know the app is fucking weird right?"

"Yeah I know." I said softly, what was he about to say?

"Well I do it enough that I get a reward." He groans. "Suddenly I'm getting turned on by the walks." He blushed, and I cackled. "I'm serious, I come home and I'm rocking hardwood, and Kate wasn't having any complaints but, it got worse."

"Worse?"

He shook his head miserably. "I'm hard right now just thinking about it."

"It?" Even as I questioned him I looked at his lap and kind of scooted away.

"A walk dude, aren't you paying attention? I'm rock hard thinking about running around the park, get it?"

I laughed again. "Seriously?"

"Yeah seriously. Fucking weird, so I stopped. It's been trying to get me to wear a collar for a week now."

"A collar? What is it trying to turn you into a dog or something."

"You laugh." He sighed. "But I got a trait that makes me pretty good at Doggystyle."

"Yeah I heard that last night." I sighed, this was so fucking weird. "Do you really thing it's trying to turn you into a..."

"What do you mean last night?" Marshall asked, his face no longer that of a happy, embarrassed stoner.

"Oh um." I scooted away a little further. "Last night I heard you and Kate..."

"Mother fucker." He was up on his feet, and the blanket was on the snowy ground. "I knew it, I knew it." His face was red, and he didn't look so angelic anymore.

"That wasn't you... was it?"

He was swiping at the air, his anger so palpable he need to fight shadows to quell it. "I work the night shift! I gotta go Alice, good seeing you again." Though his tone let me know it was anything but.

"I'm sorry I..."

He threw open the back door, then closed is shut behind him, the whole neighborhood could hear the slam.

"Fuck." I bit my lip, and placed the blunt between my teeth.

So Kate really was cheating on Marshall, and I'd been right to hate her when I did.

Add that to the list of changes. Ginger was Bi, Blessing was a liar, and Kate was a cheater. At least Marshall seemed the same, except for a certain fondness for cardio... and a broken heart.

I looked at the app, that was one home wrecked and one less person on my list.

All that was left was Blair, and at least I could count on her to be the bitch she'd always been.

Who Should Alice Spend Time With Next?

Eric

Kate

Marshall

Blair

Blessing

Ginger