The Bad Boys and the Fighter

16

COLE

We had arrived at a nice sized house on a beach in Montauk, New York. The cold wind nipped at us as we made the walk from the car to the large house.

I approached Ariel who stood in the entry hallway looking at pictures of a happy family. In one picture, a girl with blonde hair around four stood in a white dress next to her twin brother. In another, the young family was lined up against a row of rose bushes. The father had an arm wrapped around his wife's waist and his other hand gripped his daughters. Their son was taller than his sister and held her hand.

"What happened to them?" Ariel asked Elijah as he walked in with Tyler.

He kept walking. "That's a story for another time."

I kissed the top of Ariel's head and led her away. "C'mon, lets go find a room."

Days passed slowly. We spent most of our time watching movies, playing poker, and cooking. The boys and I were becoming slightly stir crazy, but I could tell Ariel was feeling it worse.

My eyes drifted to a picture on the wall. It was of the twins, but this time they seemed to be around our age. They both donned dark brown hair. The girl was in a floral dress with a slit running up the leg and the boy wore khakis and a slightly unbuttoned white dress shirt. The sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows. They were on the beach outside of the house. The boy's arm was back, like he was about to throw something while the girl seemed to dodge whatever he was going to throw to the left.

My attention was directed back to Ariel. I watched as she made her fourth pie in past two days. Her actions were quick and her posture was rigid. Her gorgeous hair that we were forced to die black sat on top of her head in a messy bun.

I stood up from the stool and walked over to where she stood, taking the metal bowl of pie filling from her trembling hands. I set it to the side and enveloped her petite hands in mine. Her entire body was shaking.

She glanced up at me, her eyes begging me to do something. I embraced her in a hug and rocked us back and forth for a few minutes. Ariel pulled away, an unrecognizable emotion in her eyes.

"I'm tired of hiding, Cole," she told me.

"I know," I whispered, kissing the top of her head. "Elijah and the rest will catch him, you know that."

She didn't argue, but I could tell she wasn't very convinced. I heard footsteps on the wooden staircase so I glanced over and saw Jeremiah walk down the stairs with a giant medicine ball raised over his head while Carlos followed suit, carrying some weights and bands.

Ariel broke away and walked towards my friends, clearly interested in their actions. "Are you two working out?"

"And watching Oceans 11," Jeremiah replied as he set the medicine ball down next to the couch. "You want in?"

She nodded. "There's nothing better to do, anyway."

I watched for a few moments before I headed up to Tyler's room. I entered and saw him laying on his bed and throwing a ball up at the ceiling.

He glanced over at me, but kept throwing the small ball up in the air. "How's Ariel holding up?" He asked.

"Not well. The isolation's getting to her," I responded as I sat in a chair in the corner of the room.

He chuckled. "It's getting to us all. I can't even imagine what Autumn's thinking right now."

I leaned back in the chair. "You'll get back to her soon, I promise."

He rolled his eyes at me. "You're clueless."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I scoffed.

"You're an arms dealer only because your parents weren't paying any attention to you. Do you realize how stupid that is? You could've emerged from the ashes, like a Phoenix, but you're probably going to be dead before you're twenty - five."

I arched a brow. "Oh really? Why is that?"

"Because you're a fuckin' kid, man! You're impulsive, stupid, and eighteen years old. You literally supply weapons to gangs run by men in their twenties who would kill you without even thinking twice! One wrong move, and you're gone. You could be a billionaire Cole, but you may never know because you were upset because your parents forgot your jazz band recital.

"My parents forgot my birthday when I was fourteen. Instead of becoming affiliated with gangs and weapon deals, I got a full ride to Harvard Medical School for Neuroscience."

"Neuroscience? Really?"

He looked me dead in the eyes. "Yes. I want to save lives. I want to be known for my work in the medical field. I want to retire in the Hamptons when I'm fifty - five after decades of helping people and write about my most interesting cases. I want to raise kids with my wife and be a better dad than mine was. I'm not going to be that dead beat guy that people talk about at high-school reunions. That's not who I want to be, and I know that's not who you want to be, either."

I was seeing a different side of Tyler. He was more serious and ambitious than I gave him credit for. Maybe he was right. I could be someone, but the first step of becoming that someone starts with destroying my mistakes.

"Maybe you're right."

"I am," he replied. "I would've stepped out of your destructive path if I didn't care for Ariel and believe you had potential."

I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Would you be able to help me with my physics homework?"

"Your girlfriends really smart. Why don't you ask her?"

"She's baking."

He sat up, his eyes glowing with excitement. "Is it a pie?"