The Kings of National City

Case In Point

This morning Chris was terrifyingly silent. He stayed behind at the hospital last night with Nick. I was having too much anxiety being there and needed to come back to the house for my medicine. Chris came home early and refused to acknowledge me. He was still upset with me but I wasn't entirely sure what the reason was. I couldn't help anything that happened leading Nick to this point. He might just be mad at himself for not being there and he was taking it out on me. We were getting ready to go get Nick from the hospital and bring him back home. They called Chris and told him all of Nick's imaging tests were perfect. I'm not sure what Chris said but no cops were called or involved so he was able to lie his way around authority.

"Let's go!" I slipped on some black and gold sneakers. I didn't care too much about what I was seen wearing and dressed down.

"Coming!" I grabbed a zip hoodie off my small dresser and ran out to the garage. The car ride was just more silence from Chris. It wasn't until we were in the room with Nick that Chris started speaking again.

"Ready to come home?" He flopped on the bed and Nick shuttered a little.

"Very." He stuck his hand out to emphasize his emotions.

"Let's go then." Chris shot back up. "I know Elmer wants to come over and see you. I was thinking about just having a welcome home party."

"Is that really necessary?" I rolled my eyes. Maybe Chris was just irritated with me because I challenged every dumb idea he had.

"Nick was shot and almost died; he deserves a party." Chris' intentions were there but not entirely thought out.

"Something small wouldn't hurt." Nick smiled softly at me. I knew then he was just doing the big brother thing by keeping Chris happy.

"Yeah!" He rejoiced in his win and shook Nick a little. His face contorted with the onset of pain.

"A party is fine but being touched isn't." He smacked Chris off of him.

"Got it." The nurse came in with a wheelchair.

"No." Nick said. His face was completely flat. He looked between all of us and said 'no' one more time. 

The nurse smiled softly and said, "I know it's annoying but it's protocol and we can't have you walk out. You have to be wheeled to the car. If you fell and got hurt again you could sue us." Nick sighed heavily and stood up from the bed his face was like a stone as if he was trying to prove he wasn't in any pain.

"See, I'm fine." He said.

"I think we could just forget about protocol just this one time." Chris advocated for him. She thought.

"I guess since there are three of you; the two of you," she pointed between Chris and I, "could help him walk out." She again smiled signaling she was on our side. We each shuffled to be underneath one of Nick's arms. It was a little awkward but we made it work and carefully started walking him down the hall. Once outside he shoved us out from underneath him and walked to the car the rest of the way by himself. 

On the car ride back to the house, Chris was thumbing away on his phone, inviting everyone to the welcome home party. I stared out the window in silence. I didn't want to be around people right now. With the current events that happened I was starting to question my loyalty to the gang. I didn't like that Chris and Nick often put themselves in this kind of danger. And for what? It felt like we gave everything up for Elmer's gang "project" only to receive very little in return. Our house was shitty and falling apart we didn't see profits often just enough to survive and live off of and now one of us almost lost our life entirely. It didn't seem worth it anymore. At least, not to me.

I consistently play that drop repeatedly in my head wondering what happened. I still feel like the first shot was fired from our side but that wouldn't make sense unless we truly did short them. And if that was the case, then Elmer was putting all of us in danger and lying to our faces about it. I don't want to be involved with someone like that. When we pulled up to the house Chris was immediately trying to help Nick. Nick was shutting down every attempt. I stayed in the background just watching everything happen. I was stuck in my head. I was stuck in my thoughts.

"So what time is everybody coming over?" Nick asked. I assume he was wondering because he wanted to try and rest before he was the center of attention.

"I told everybody to meet at Elmer's around 10:00. I wanted to try and give you time to rest." Chris was finally sounding considerate. "Oh, and we're having it at Elmer's instead of here because it's a little bit nicer and Elmer feels bad. He wants to contribute." Chris interjected before turning the corner out of the room. He came back with a water for Nick.

My phone started ringing in my pocket I took it out and looked at it. 2:30. It was my alarm to go and see her. I looked up to see both of them staring at me.

"It's almost 3:00," I whispered more to myself. I immediately regretted it because their faces changed to curiosity.

"So when do we get to know what your three o'clock plans are?" Nick asked. 

"Never," I replied.

"You know sooner or later you're just going to have to tell us otherwise we're just going to follow you to see what you do." Chris was always the person to take it too far. Nothing could be a joke for long with him. It was very contrast to who he used to be before all of this. He used to be loving and kind; everything was a joke to him. And now he's serious, and focused, and nothing is fun anymore. I secretly missed the old Chris.

"I guess one day you're just going to have to follow me and find out." I was still playing coy because I did not ever want them to know where I went or why I went there. I went into my bedroom to change into something a little less comfy and a little more casual. 

Once I was dressed I walked out into the living room Nick was asleep on the couch. Chris was playing Rocket League on the TV. 

"He's fine. I just gave him a sleeping pill so he didn't risk opening up his stitches."

"Can I ask you something?" I asked Chris. He paused the game, sat down the controller, and looked at me. His eyes stared right at me but I could tell he didn't see me.

"Why are you mad?" His face changed a little to show he was thinking about my question. I felt like if he had to think about his answer then it was probably a stupid reason.

"Honestly, Matt I'm not mad. I'm frustrated. Everything we do is dangerous. Everything we do puts us in harm's way and I'm frustrated because you just seem like you don't get it. You don't take it seriously or care. I can't tell which but I feel like you don't take it seriously enough and don't realize that there could be consequences around the corner because of it. I know you are not like Nick and I. Not in the slightest, but you could at least try a little harder and I can't help but feel if you had tried a little harder Nick wouldn't have gotten shot that night."

I was speechless I was well aware that I was not of the same caliber as Nick or Chris but what I wasn't aware of was that it bothered him. I didn't realize that he cared so much about me laying low and hanging back instead of being involved in everything.

"I have to go." I couldn't address what he just unloaded on me.

"Case in point." He mumbled grabbing the controller. I grabbed the car keys and drove back into town. At Grinds it was the same routine I was comfortable with. We both order. She was on her computer and phone by herself and I was watching her. You would think since I have spoken to her twice now I would be able to talk to her with ease but it actually made it worse. I wondered if she thought about 'the guy from the party' or ' the guy from the coffee shop'. She was always in her little world typing away so she didn't notice or recognize me today after running into me yesterday. She didn't stay as long today. She packed up and I watched her get into an Uber. I sighed dreading going home. I was glad Nick was back but I couldn't face Chris after what he said to me.