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~~~~
He heard Mark's footsteps in the corridor outside, long before he saw him. But that was all that Garrison
needed to hear to know that Mark was in a foul mood. There was something about the heaviness of his step.
That of course
meant that Mark and Randy had had one of their arguments. Or to be more specific, Randy had wound Mark up to beyond breaking
point and Mark had retaliated. Which happened quite often and always ended up with Mark feeling guilty and stomping back to
his hotel room. Garrison knew he ought to know the drill by now, but he couldn't stand to see it, he was Mark's friend. Not
one of his better friends, they were all on Smackdown, but he was the best friend available.
Not that Randy hadn't
used that against Mark. Randy decided to out Mark to Garrison, expecting him to be shocked and disgusted. Garrison knew he
had a reputation for being a little old fashioned but he wasn't that bad. He hadn't risen to the bait and was fairly sure
that Randy hated him for it. The feeling was entirely mutual.
Mark came in. Garrison was about to say something but
Mark stopped him. "Don't even bother."
"I might not have been going to say something about him."
"Of course you were,
you always do."
"That's because he always hurts you. I'm sick of you walking around with a face like a wet weekend."
"You
don't know anything."
"I know you'd be better off without him."
The pause hung heavy in the air. Garrison was worried
that he'd gone too far.
Mark struck back. "When I start taking relationship advice from boys I'll tell you about it."
That
was a hit. Mark knew how Garrison felt about being the younger, greener one. It wasn't as though he could help it. "You know
what they say, 'out of the mouths of babes and young ones'. And somehow I'm the one in a stable relationship."
"I don't
know if it's reached Texas yet, but not all of us want a white picket-fence lifestyle."
"It's got nothing to do with lifestyle,
it's Randy that's the problem."
Well, that was saying it. Normally Garrison shut up and went bright red when Mark suggested,
however subtly, that he was a homophobe. He wasn't, but it was a hard thing to refute in between his reputation and that everything
he normally thought of saying would just have dug him further into a hole.
"I've got no problem with him. He likes
me, and I like him."
"Yeah, I know. That's the worst of it." With that, Garrison tore off into the bathroom. He slammed
the door and jumped into the shower.
All of which meant he didn't hear Mark's whispered reply. "No, the worst of it
is, I know you're right."
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