Bora Bora Bora

3: The things we patch up

Nicky's POV (back to present)

Lorna and I are sitting together in the TV room, flipping through the channels. Plenty of folks are upstairs at Visitation, getting precious prison-quality time with their loving families. But neither of us has had a visitor in months.

"Wait! Leave that on!" she says.

"Looking for Nemo? Are you shitting me?" I say through a mouthful of cheese puffs.

"What? I love that movie...it's so cute, with the little orange fish with the little fin and everything..."

"Uh-uh. No way. Walt Disney traumatized me enough when I was a child. In fact, I think he's the reason I started doing drugs. Well that, and my stone cold absent mother."

She gives me a kind little smile and brushes her shoulder against mine. "I still think Looking for Nemo is great."

"A family is brutally attacked by a serial killer. Only the father and one of the kids, survive the attack. The kid is left permanently disabled. Years later, in a tragic turn of events, he gets kidnapped and his father crosses the ocean to rescue him, with a mentally unstable woman as his only help," I say.

"Oh, that sounds good! What movie is that?" Piper asks across the room.

"Looking-for-fucking-Nemo," I say and change the channel. "That's it! Harry fucking Potter! That's the shit!"

I turn up the volume and lean back in my chair. With the corner of my eye I see Gina walking by the window, staring at me. Uncomfortable, I take my feet down from the table.

"Psss" I hiss at Lorna, and point my head at my stalker.

"I think she wants some of those cheese puffs you got," she gestures at me "maybe just, give her a few."

"Oh yeah, that must be it. She's after my puffs"

"Mmmh" she nods.

I hate feeling stared at. Specially now. Now that I have this...thing.
This thing Boo and I are hiding.

Lorna Morello, you have a visitor. Please report to visitation, Morello.

"That's you, kid" I say.

She stands up, looking nervous. "That's weird, I'm not expecting anybody...maybe it's my sister. Geez I hope there's nothing wrong, how do I look?"

I look at her, pretending I have to check.

"Fucking hot"

Fucking beautiful.

She touches my shoulder and hurries to Visitation.

Gina slides off behind the wall, going on full spy mode, I suppose.

"Stooooop" I groan, "Man, at least get in here where I can see you.

She walks into the TV room, crossed armed and serious. Those shiny squirrel eyes looking right through me are freaking me out, but I pretend it's just annoying.

"You need to take it to Red."

Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckmymomma fuckmybuddy fuckmybrothers fuckmefuckmefuckme fuck.

My heart freezes for a second, but my face and my voice and my cool,i-don't-give-a-shit-bout-nothin half smile have learned how to keep up their act in spite of anything.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

2 seconds after saying it, I realize it's not gonna work. Not on Gina. Not this time. So I turn to a junkie's absolute last resource: the truth.