Insomniac

Man on the Inside

"You. Got. Shot." Charlie hissed into her phone while she paced back and forth. She had to get through the entire day until this moment where she could finally chew him out. Meanwhile, Thomas and all the others sat among the couch watching with worried eyes. "I don't give a flying fuck what it was for Zachary!"

Everyone rose their eyebrows as she continued.

"You told me that you wouldn't get hurt, you told me not to worry!"

Reaching the kitchen, she pulled open the fridge and cracked open a brand new water bottle. "well how long before they send you home?" ... "THREE WEEKS?!" Everyone jumped at her outburst. "It really takes three weeks to heal up?"

"You'd think she was his mother." Ki whispered to dylan.

Immediately in response all he got was the middle finger from charlie. Everyone else just chuckled.

"Just, get home safe. Will you?" she sounded more sincere. There was a long silence from the other end. "I need you to come home bud... Okay. I will see you there." A big smile spread across her face. "Big sign and all. Love you... bye." 

As soon as she was off the phone, she set it on the counter and leaned against it. "So I take it he's okay." Ki somewhat cooed. 

Shaking her head, Charlie turned to face them before plopping down on the couch between Dylan and Thomas. "Yeah well, he wouldn't be if he was standing two inches to his left." 

"But at least he gets to come home, right?" Kaya tried making light of the subject. 

Taking a long breath, Charlie sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe now he can actually find a steady girl friend." 

"Bad experiences? I know those." Will rolled his eyes while taking the water bottle out of her hand and taking a drink. 

She simply chuckled and laid her head on Dylan's shoulder. "No. Zach is just a pure adrenaline junky. Hasn't found a girl willing to keep up with him just yet. You know, other than his beloved cousin." 

"I take it you were the cousins that went to dances together?" Dylan chuckled. 

"No. No. Just the cousins who bailed one another out of creepy Ex's thank you very much." 

"Sounds like a close relationship." Kaya smiled. 

"Yeah, closest one I got. Wasn't the most social butterfly in high school, so he always drug me out to do shit." 

"And look at you know." Ki stood up and positioned himself to sit on her lap. He landed with a thud making her groan. "A freaking party animal." 

"Yeah well." She grunted while pushing him off. "People rub off on me. Dylan, that reminds me, Wes wanted us to run back to set real quick. He called me a little bit ago, but I was a little preoccupied pulling the mom card on my baby cousin." 

"What?" Dylan looked up from the TV confused. "Why us?" 

"Something about some surprise interview." She rose her eyebrows trying to give him a signal. Immediately, thankfully, he caught on. 

"Oh. Okay, yeah. Ugh, your car or mine?" 

"We can take the jeep. I don't know how late we will be, but do you guys need anything? You can crash here or whatever you want." She rose from her seat along side Dylan. Everyone was giving them confused looks. 

"Candy!" Ki sprawled out on the floor. 

"You don't need shit fatass. I still can't feel my legs." 

"You have given me access to you're apartment! Can't take it back!" Ki immediately rose to his feet and into her bedroom. Behind him, he slammed the door closed and the room fell into total silence. 

Then, Charlie turned towards Will and pointed directly at him. "You're in charge of him." 

"Why me?!" 

"Because you're the oldest!" 

And just like that, Dylan and Charlie were out the door and moving towards the lift. "Surprise interview?" 

"Eh." She shrugged while pressed the button for the lift. "It was the best I could come up with short notice. Think it was too out there?"

"I think they'll be occupied with Ki for the next few hours nobody will even question it." 

"You told him didn't you." The elevator door slid closed. 

Dylan shoved his hands into his pockets and let out a chuckle. "Of course I told him. We need a man on the inside, and Ki is our guy."