Late Nights and 99 proof

Chapter Eight~ RICHARD

Flashback

April 2008 

Prom Night 1:13 am 

Richard's POV:

When Jef and I finally get back out on the water, the party and the crowd is over and gone so we were in the clear.

"We can't just leave her out there man, we gotta finish this!" I do my best to keep Jef focused on the mission here. No loose ends, we can't afford to be sloppy and leave something undone. We have to finish the job so we can get the fuck outta here. 

My phone vibrates in my suit jacket pocket but I ignore it. We have to finish this.

"I know, I just-" He intertwines his fingers, pressing them against his forehead and his elbows point out in opposite directions as he paces. "What if we get caught, man? Like what if she survived and already swim back?" 

"We're not, and she didn't. That's why we have to find her body and make sure..."Reassuring him as I walk past his stagnant figure and toward the boat. Enough talking, we need to move before someone notices we aren't where we are supposed to be.

"Wait!" Jef calls after me in my stride across the sand but I ignore him, time is slipping away. "Let's talk this through man! We need a plan!"

  Jef's panicking and I knew he would but I know just the thing that'll get him back on track.   

Before I can convince myself otherwise and before his loud mouth makes another sound, I turn and charge into the opposite direction. When our toes meet, he crumbles under my stare and his eyes fall to the floor.

"We already have a plan, Jeffery. The plan was to do this ourselves and split it right down the middle but nooo, you wanted to bring the band along for the ride and now look what we're out here doing," I kinda shout but the waves crashing keeps our conversation discreet. "We're cleaning up after everyone else because no one wanted to follow the plan! My plan! We could've been halfway to Tennesse by now!"

"Okay," He exhales. "Just let me have a smoke first." He takes it upon himself to retrieve my cigarettes from my pocket, with a smirk of course and I light it for him.

We drag on the cancer stick for a few minutes and I find myself getting too caught up in the 'what ifs' so I had to finish the job before I lost my nerve. 

What if she's dead?

I step foot on the boat and I give it a roar, igniting the engine. 

Could she still be out there?

Jeffery joins me and we untie it, setting the beauty free. She glides like silk under my dress shoes and I apply some more pressure to the pedal making her part the dark water quicker. 

Could she be alive after all this time?

I really hope not. It would ruin everything.

"Over there!" Jef points to a white figure in the water further out, north of where we dropped her. We realize it was the reflection of the moon but not before we chased the thing for 20 minutes. 

"Let's just head in man, she's gone. We've been out here for hours, the suns coming up." Jef yawns dramatically. He's such a baby. 

"Fine," I mumble and turn the boat back toward the docking station. 

I beat myself up because I knew in the first pace I should have done this alone. But I wanted and needed help so I brought along Jef, and now look! We got Ryan freaking out and possibly could talk to the cops. Vivian made it clear after she got her cut, we'd see no more of her. And Jef is redeeming himself as untrustworthy, too. 

Jef offers me a ride and I almost take it. But my unexplainable need to walk when I'm frustrated compels me to stride home alone with only my thoughts to comfort me in the long way home. The suit jacket keeps me warm enough to take my time toward to the bus station but as I get inside the warm building, the janitor explains the last bus leaving the station for the night, left ten minutes ago.

It may seem like It's much easier for me out of everyone else to hold my shit together but I've had a few months of practice. Don't get me wrong though, lying hasn't always been my friend. I've gotten caught up here and there but nothing like this lie has ever consumed me. I've never taken anyone's life to secure my future. 

Until tonight. 

I never would have imagined I'd live a life like mine and if someone would have said I'd be hacking the Danky's finances and dumping every penny they've ever earned into an account I arranged to sit with little activity for a few months until we're in the clear, I would have laughed in their face. 

"Food's in the frig," My mother says as I come the door behind her. She sits with her cigar lit, letting the smoke dance in the air above her head. "How was the party?" She smashes it in into the ashtray on the coffee table in front of her. 

"Thanks, ma" I wash my hands and pull the perfectly plated food from the frig and into the oven. "It was good, everybody got drunk so we all went home early,"

"Early? Baby, it's six in the morning," She chuckles and I enjoy the sound. "Did you get lucky tonight?"

"Lucky?" I pretend I don't know what she means but she knows that I understand her. 

"Vagina, Richard, did you get some tonight?" She comes into the kitchen with me and I set the temperature to four-fifty.

"Why are we discussing my sex life?" 

"I didn't know you had a sex life,"

"No, ma I didn't have sex tonight," 

"So where were you?" She crosses her arms, letting me know she's the authority figure. 

"With Jef," What? It isn't a lie if it's partially true. Right?

She laughs lighting another stick. "I take it he didn't get any either," I join her in laughter and I as I pass her she smacks my ass. If you haven't guessed it already, my mother is super inappropriate but there's nothing off limits with us, even my sex life, and I wouldn't have it any other way. We communicate well with each other despite the daily inappropriate topics. My mother is brilliant, she was just never given the chance to shine. 

That's what this money is for primarily, so she can stop working for that shitty gas station and start her own restaurant like she always wanted. 

I go to my room until my food's done and when I wake up to my mother knocking with my plate, I realize I drifted off to sleep.