Golden Calf, Part Thirteen

17 May 2005

Bob was standing in front of his open closet in a pair of boxers, comparing two shirts on hangers, when his phone rang. ​Glancing over and seeing it was Lori, he paused and glanced to the shirts and back to the phone, before setting the shirts down on the bed with a sigh and answering. He answered, expecting to hear from Lori about something Mark had said the night before, but was met instead with Matteson's voice. He put his hand to his other ear to block out the sound of the shower running in the attached restroom, and asked what was going on. After a few moments, his face went pale, and he nearly fell into sitting on the bed.

"...how?" he asked. He sat in silence, listening for a bit. The shower turned off.  "Do we know about the services yet?" He nodded as Matteson explained, then thanked him and hung up. He was sitting on his bed, holding his phone with his back to the restroom door, when the door opened. Charles walked out, wearing a towel tied around his waist.

"Okay, so, I know I said I'd tell my family this weekend, and I'm sorry, but-"

"Charles." Charles stopped and watched as Bob set the phone down and turned around. He was crying.

"Hey!" Charles said, rushing over to sit beside him. "Hey, what's going on?"

"It's Mark. He...he..." Bob trailed off and wrapped his arms around Charles, crying into his shoulder. Charles hesitated for a moment, then reached around and slowly patted Bob's back.

"Take your time, okay? Just let it out for now, you can tell me the details later."

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