Chapter six - Here we go again

If you think about it, all the people we met so far had one thing in common- they only lived from day to day, going nowhere. 
Le realized that and wanted to make a change... we will see, shall we? Some time has passed...

"Hey guys, time to go to bed!"

And high time, Kay has already fallen asleep while watching TV

... while Jay is totally focused on surfing the net, like most evenings

"Guys I am serious, it´s way past seven and I really need to get going. So, please? Kaine, get up, if you fall asleep on the sofa you can move on to your bed as well"

"But I am just in the middle of a conversation here Seam, just five minutes?!"

"Nope, trust me, it´s always five more minutes. Say goodbye for tonight, put the blame on me - and get ready for bed, ´kayes?"

"Yeah, right..." 
"You only win because you are bigger than us, yanno!" 
And they actually do as they are told. Grumpily, cussing, but still -wow. 

Watching Kaine brush his teeth always makes me wonder why Mom constantly yells at him. He never gives ME the lip, that´s for sure

"Eh, Jay... this is my bed, yanno?" 
"Yeah I know... can I sleep here tonight, Seam? Kay took mine..."

"Sure, no prob... hey, what happened to your hair?! Jay?" 
Gee. He has already fallen asleep...

As I switch of the lights, Kay is making little noises  from above to draw my attention, then whispers under his breath  
"Ssss, Seam! It was Mom. She cut his hair, said he looked all girly with the long hair"

"She what?"

"Yeah. She... also said, you will be running away and leave us behind... Seam, are you leaving for real?"

"No way bro´, I´ll never leave you guys with Mom.  She´s talking crap to scare you, just as always. Don´t you listen to that bull, right? Now sleep tight and don´t you worry no more"

With a relieved sigh, he rolls over 
"´kayes..."

The bitch. I can´t believe she does all that. Why the hell does she all that?! No way I will have her make the twins believe I will abandon them... anyway. Time to go

"Now where do you think YOU are going, Mister? Seems like you forgot that I grounded you yesterday, again I might add?"

"Yeah, whatever. Call the cops if you have to" 
"But..."
"And don´t you dare go out, too, you have minor children to take care of, yanno, Mom?"

"How dare you speak in that..."  
*SLAM*

"What the hell?!"

 

Bwah, high time... yeah, strange, but coming here most every night has become one habit lately

I know Sheila is not happy that the bar is so quiet in the afternoon, but I couldn´t think of a better place to do my homework. Hey, sometimes she even feeds me for free! Ok she always pretends that Nick is paying for that, but I know better

It´s kind of sick to feel so at home at some bar... Sheila is taking some risk here, the cops don´t like finding minors in bars after curfew, not at all...

"Hey Seam" 
"Hi Nick! How are things?"

"Eh... been better... Homework?" 
"Yeah..."

"Evenin´ Le!" 
"Good evening Sheila..."

"... and good evening to you, too, Darren! My, my. It must have been weeks since we last met- you have been working out constantly, huh?"

"Eh, hi, eh, Le- yes... didn´t think anybody would notice..."

"Well trust me, it is very noticable how much you shaped up lately. Unless you are blind, that is" 
I suppress a grin as he blushes slightly 
"Congratulations, Darren. I know you had your doubts about trying, but it was sure worth the effort"

"Dunno if I would have without you kicking my butt, though. Thanks, Le. - If you are looking for Nick and the boy, they are in the next room"

Ah, right. It´s about that time 
"Thank you Darren" 
"Welcome..."

As most of the nights now, Seam has taken a seat in the back of the room and is doing his homework and Nick is "helping"

"Good evening Gentlemen"

Seamus looks somewhat relieved 
"Le! Just in time - save me, Nick wants to help me with my school stuff!" 
"Nope, save ME, Seam wants me to... wait, did you just complain, youngster?" 
Boys...

"The world pays with ingratitude... " 
I can´t help but laugh at this

"No, seriously! I mean, he´s coming up with this school stuff, and although it´s almost thirty years that I...."

Oh, no. Please no. Not the `I am but an old man" excuse again 
"Nick, cut it out- I am here now, so I will take over. Stop the whine, will you please?"

 With a wolfish grin, he gets up and offers his seat 
"Whatever you say. Lady Le- he is all yours, I will provide you with some background music while you work" 
Seamus rolls his eyes 
"Give it up man, she looks through you like you are glass or something anyways"

I can not help but smile as I sit down. The boy has relaxed so much over the last weeks, it´s almost as if he is another person 

"Alright, what´s on schedule tonight?"

Ouf, dramatic moan ...
"An essay. I need to write 500 on my plans for the future, can you believe that?" 
Oh dear

"Well, I guess the important question is - what do you want to write, your actual plans or something that would make your teacher happy?"  
He visibly slumps 
"Ecactly..."

"I think the easy way would be to come up with some boring standard thing like ´I want to travel around the world before I start to study´ or... Seamus? Are you listening?"

Seamus can sense that something is wrong- his eyes dart towards Nick, but he is playing peacefully

Wait. Sheila?

Sheila is very obviously seeing something she doesn´t like at all

Darren has noticed the change in the atmosphere, too

"Seamus? What´s wrong? You look like you have seen a ghost?!"

"Is this about that man who just entered the bar... oh no. Wait. I know him, he has been here the first night... who IS this guy?"

"It´s Joe Carella"

Exactly, it is Joe... again

And he sure doesn´t look like he came here for a quiet drink

Now Nick has spottet him, too 
"Nick." 
"Joe. What the hell do you want?"

Carrera puts his glass down on the counter before he replies through gritted teeth 

"You know damn well what I want"

Nick rolles his eyes, obviously annoyed

"Oh God I don´t believe this... how long has it been now? Fifteen years, surely? And you are still after that third map?"

"Oh yeah, right, how could I forget? Unlike you who has moved on with his life since the days of fame and glory,  - I - am still stuck in the past..."

"Don´t push it too far, Joe. Just leave me alone, willya?"

"Or what? What will you do, beat me up? Hell Nick just GIVE me the map, it´s no use to you anyway! What´s wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with YOU, I told you a hundred times I don´t have that frigging map! Now do both of us a favor and GET LOST!"

Hm. Joe doesn´t seem to like the attention their little... discussion is drawing now...

"Turn down the volume, ok? Maybe we had a bad start. Listen I know you are completey broke. Well I am not, and I could pay you a very reasonable price for this piece of mouldy pergament. Think about it for a minute!"

"Oh, think about it? You paying me a reasonable price?  Making FAIR trade- with you? After what you did to me? Get lost Joe. Seriously. Get the eff lost. Now."  
"Don´t turn me down like that" 
"GET LOST"

Le has a strong feeling of déja vu now. Oh no. Not again.

But this time, things go differently

"YOU think you can tell ME to get lost? You thieving CRACKPOT?!! Who do you think you are?!" 
"Joe... don´t..."

"I´ll show you your place, you LOSER!"  

What on earth is going on there! 

Oh my god. He punched him, Carella punched Nick right in the face

"See? See? I told you! I told you, you, you pazzo! I am Dr. Giovanni Carella! Dottore! And you are nothing, nothing, get me? Nothing!" 
"Sweet Jesus, man, are you crazy? You knocked the guy out!"

"How dare you call him that! You framed Mom with that child support, you framed him back in Egypt, how dare you say you are better than him? I swear to God if I had one, just one thing to wish for it would be that you wouldn´t be my Dad, ´cause you are nothing but the biggest asshole I know of!"  

What?! Carella is his father?! How come nobody ever mentioned that?!

"I have no idea what you are talking about, but I don´t like your attitude, boy"

"Funny you say that mate, I feel I don´t like your attitude much, either!" 
He snorts at that 
"Ah really. And what are you... ladies going to do about this?"

Alright. This is it. He crossed the line.
"Interesting question indeed, Dr. Carella."

"Darren, would you agree that this example of the academic class has outlasted his welcome here?"

"You bet" 
With a low growl Darren steps up to the suddenly very silent man... and...

"There he goes, off like a rocket... the craphead..."

Now someone seems a bit dissapointed 

"Shame, really. Would have been a nice chance to see if all that training was any good... How is he?" he adds, nodding towards Nick

"Still out cold, I´d say... Nick? Hey Nick, are you with us?"

"What... where..." 
"Ah he is coming around" 

"Oh crap, my head... what the hell happened..."

"Carella knocked you out... or, more likely, punched you in the face, you fell and hit your head... gee Nick, are you good?" 
"Yeah I am fine..."
" I am so sorry I took his side the last time, the guy is a nutter for real..." 

"Man I am not so sure about that, you are swaying like you are drunk or something" 

"Seamus is right Nick, you don´t look so good..."

"Hey I was born fugly, it´s - eh, what..." 

"Hold still"

"I really don´t like the way this scrape looks... it certainly will not need stiching, but still. It should be cleaned out and sprayed on with some desinfectant, Nick"

"You´d better do that. I once had a, eh, kind of scrape after a bar fight that got infected, not pretty, can tell you that- eh, whatever. I think it´s  what should be done, you are right Le"

"So, what do you say? The decision is yours. Me - or a doctor at the hospital..." 

"... ok, have your way. Let´s go"

Christ. I almost told her about that guy who bit me in the butt... 

"Hey Le, can I come to the hospital, too?" 

" Of course. Given how you still stagger, Nick,  I suggest that we take my car. It´s parked over there...."

Now that´s interesting...

Crap, I have to tell her now...

"Le... wait. I can´t go to the hospital. I can´t pay for the treatment" 

I guess I should be surprised, but somehow I am not

"No problem. I... have a place nearby where we should find everything we need for your wound. Don´t worry. And Seamus, I will drive both you guys home, so no need to worry about that, either. Ok?"

"Thanks Le"  
"Nevermind"

"Ok, here we are"
I toss the keys on the desk 

"Gross! This is YOUR place?!" 

I can´t help but smile at this statement

"Not really. I used to live here, but it belongs... belonged to my Grandfather. He died a few years ago... Seamus, why don´t you take the couch? Nick, to the table, please..." 

But back to our patient... 

"How do you feel? How is your head?"
"Dizzy, hurts... guess Sheila was right, hurts more in the back than where he actually hit me"

"Le, you don´t have to do that. I had worse, I´ll be ok"
I am trying to remember if I ever heard Nick talking is such a small voice 

It´s almost like...
"Ah you are just afraid of the alcohol, admit it... hold still, you big child..." 
"No, really, I - ouch!"
He flinches - I don´t believe this, he was indeed afraid of the burn!   

Laughing inwardly, I examine the wound again
"Let´s see... very well, this is much better."

He shoots me a sheepish smile in return

"If you say so- have to take your word for it unless you have a mirror for me"

"There is a mirror in the bathroom... oh, look. Seam has fallen asleep on the sofa"

Oh dear. Poor Seamus, I had no idea how tired he was... 

We watch him snore in silence for a while

"Yeah, right... so what now, do we wake him right away or let him sleep for a bit, Heather is going to bite his head off when he gets home either way"

Perhaps... this is the moment I have been waiting for, or rather have been dreading for quiet some time now? Only one way of finding out...

"I don´t mind if he stays all night. If you both stayed all night, neither... I could make some coffee, and maybe... we could talk?"

He sure does not look to happy now

"Ok with any other chick, eh, woman I´d have some idea what kind of talking you're ´bout, but you being... eh, you- I guess you actually do want to, well, talk, right"

"Well, yes. This was the second time I was around as Carella harassed you. And... I am sorry Nick, but obviously something has happened to you. Changed you. And somehow it is all about you and him, so..."

I let my voice trail off 

"Eh, right, but... I don´t really want to talk about it... hell, I don´t even want to think about it, but... if I tell you..."

Good Lord, what is this about?!  

"... Le I really like you and I think, eh, think that you think.. that I am not so bad either.. but if I tell you... this might... change, yanno..." 

"Well there is only one way to find out, right. Try me"

Try her. And lose what little we have?

Hell with it.  She´ll find out one way or another, some day, anyway, and what then?

"Alright, but it´s a long story"