We Come Alive 5

Drive By

Two weeks later, all was starting to become normal again at Grand Ridge. Mateo, like he would any other day, arrived to work around an hour later than some of his co-workers would. He dropped his stuff off in his office, noticing Victor and Sam in their offices, and then went down to the conference room.

Since Hurst took his old office, Ricky now worked in the conference room. On his walk, Mateo noticed the infirmary was empty since Danny was teaching a gym class at this time.

Mateo smiled when he walked into the conference room and it was dead silent in there. The chairs were slightly moved so Ricky had an easy path to the table in the middle of the room, but he nearly laughed seeing Ricky sleeping facedown on the table.

"Barnes!" Mateo shouted.

Ricky jolted up from his position and looked around. He glanced back at Mateo and scoffed. "What?" He asked in a groggy voice and rubbing his eyes.

Mateo walked a few yards closer. "You not getting enough sleep?"

Ricky shook his head. "I'm fine. Just tired."

"No shit, Sherlock." Mateo chuckled. "What you been doing that you can barely keep your eyes open? Usually you're on top of this type of stuff. Is it you trying to get your girl back?" He joked.

Ricky sarcastically laughed at Mateo, simultaneously rubbing his eyes of sleep. "I'm just exhausted. I'm worn out. It's just...from working full time, helping Baylor study all night and get his gpa up and get into college, and being there for Clover all the time...I'm just mentally and physically exhausted. I feel like I'm in high school again. Just the repetition of it is what gets you, you know? Having no time to yourself but everyone expecting you to give it your all. Wake up every morning to know you have to do all that you have to do then do it again, and again, and again, and again for what feels like forever."

Mateo nodded his head understanding what Ricky meant. "How about you take the day off. Go home, get some rest. I'll handle your work load for today. I'll take care of your meetings and even take your place at the baseball practice tonight."

"Nah, I'm fine." Ricky refused. "I need the paycheck. Got bills to pay."

Mateo padded the doorframe and walked off. He walked to his office and started to unload his bag of the files he needed to make copies of and file in the filing cabinets. When he was about to go to the school to meet with the secretary in the front office, he stopped and went back to the conference room. He smirked seeing Ricky knocked out on the table again.

"Barnes!" Mateo's voice boomed through the entire building. Ricky jolted up again and slid his hood off. "Get out! Paid vacation day. You got thirty seconds to go take a nap in the infirmary or you're docked a weeks pay."

"Yes, sir." Ricky yawned, getting up and leaving the room with his keys, just leaving his work on the table.

Mateo chuckled to himself when he saw Ricky flop down on the examination table in the infirmary and fall asleep. The elder man turned off the lights and closed the door with just a small crack of the door open. Mateo walked off with the image of Ricky sleeping on the table stuck in his mind.

"They never grow up."

~**~

Late in the afternoon, baseball practice had just ended and Baylor was grabbing his bags from the locker room. He was one of the last boys to leave, so he was pleasantly surprised to see his friend waiting from him in the hallway outside the locker room.

Clover looked up from her new phone and smiled widely. "Hey!" She beamed. "Wanna hang out? Grab something to eat?"

Baylor took Clover's phone from her hands and looked it over. "Nice of your buddy to get you a new phone. I guess Ricky ain't as bad as he seems." He admitted, giving the phone back and holding the door open from her when they walked out to the parking lot. "But no, I can't hang out today. My brother needs my help with some shit."