Carry On

7: "Apology Accepted? II"

Summary: Sal's so-called best friends genuinely apologize to him for their reckless and immature actions once again. Naturally, he's a bit skeptical.

Brian and Sal finally made it to the door of the conference room. Brian opened the door and the two of them entered the room. Once inside, Sal was surprised to all the IJ crew members in the conference room as well as Brian closed the door behind them. Sal's eyes scanned the room to see a nervous Murr, Joe, Jiggy, Casey, and Chase sitting before him, staring intently at him with the rest of the crew standing behind them, mirroring their nervous expressions and staring intently at him as well.

"What could this be about?" Sal thought interrogatively in bemusement.

Brian then grabbed a chair for Sal and placed it down beside him while saying, "There you go, buddy. Have a seat."

Sal conceded by silently sitting down in the chair with his arms crossed and his right leg folded over his left leg. Brian then sat down next to Murr, staring intently at Sal just like the others.

There was a brief awkward silence until Brian broke it by asking suddenly, trying not to sound so nervous, "So Sal, ...how are you doing today?"

"...Fine, I guess," Sal answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"Cool, that's cool... Um..., we're glad that you're fine... You look fine, so I guess everything's–."

"Q, not tryna sound rude or anything, but can you just cut to the chase to why you'd bring me here," Sal interjected more curtly than he intended with a slight impatient look; the curtly tone in his voice made everyone slightly flinch.

Brian, Murr, Joe, Casey, Jiggy, and Chase exchanged pointed looks before nervously looking back at Sal.

Brian closed his eyes and sighed deeply before opening his eyes and explaining with a remorseful look, "Look Sal. The reason why I'd bring you here and with everyone here as well is because we wanna apologize to you."

Sal did his infamous raised eyebrow at Brian's explanation. Bemused, Sal prompted, "For what?"

Joe averted his eyes away from Sal to the floor, nervously twiddling his index fingers while stammering, "...For the... "Water Soaked"... punishment..."

He looked back at Sal again as he, Brian, Murr, Casey, Jiggy, and Chase, along with the rest of the crew studied Sal's facial expression and worried about his reaction for bringing up that punishment again. They all were expecting Sal would get angry and annoyed just like the other day at the park, but to their surprise, that didn't happen. Sal didn't seem to react not even the slightest for mentioning the subject again. He wasn't angry, upset nor annoyed; hell, he didn't display any signs of emotions on his face. He was just staring at them with a deadpan expression, not even saying a word.

They all were having a hard time trying to decipher Sal's unreadable expression, especially Joe; considering the fact that Joe is very observant by easily able to read people's emotions, but for some reason, Sal's unemotional expression proved to be difficult to read by the self-proclaimed observant, fearless, impeccable Italian.

What felt like an eternity, Sal finally spoke up by simply saying in a flat tone, "...Oh..."

This prompted Brian to speak remorsefully, "Look Sal. We're really truly sorry again for making that challenge a punishment without your knowledge and consent."

"Oh great, here we go again," Sal's thought deadpanned matter-of-factly, "They're gonna once again end this so-called apology with that same, lame ass excuse they always resort to every single time. Just what I need."