Timing Is Everything

Chapter 9

"You know that Al's mom passed away. right?" I asked
"Yeah, I heard" said Chris
"You heard? Well,Did you hear that there's a funeral I'm attending today?" I said, I was in no mood for his crap that day.
"Yeah you already said that, what's that got to do with anything?" Said Chris.
"EVERYTHING!!" I shouted "Look Chris, it's Al's mom. you understand? I know that you and Al don't know each other that well, but me and him are close and I knew his mom, she was the sweetest woman in this world. And Al is a mess right now and he needs me with him. Don't think for a moment Chris that I'm even a bit less sad than him, so.. I don't think it's right to talk to me about prom and Nora now. okay?"
"Oh.. yeah right, I'm sorry man" said Chris and hung up.

Finally! I dodged that one well.

I woke up, headed for the bathroom, took a bath, brushed my teeth, then went downstairs to have breakfast.

"Good morning, loser" said Dad
"Good morning James" I said yawning
"What did you call me?!" Said Dad glaring at me
"What?! I'm going to be a dentist too soon, so we're like colleagues right now" I said giggling
"Try that one more time and you'll not live to be one" said Dad
"Okay sir" I said saluting him.

"It's great to see you in such a good mood today. you looked dreadful last night after you came back from Al's" said mom
"Yeah yeah, I'm still feeling terrible for him, but what happened to him made me realize how lucky I am to have both of you, and I want to cherish every single moment I spend with you" I said hugging them "I love you so much"

We had breakfast, then I came up to my room to get dressed.
It wasn't a difficult choice actually, there weren't so many options anyway. I don't dress formally very often, so I had a couple of suits.
I picked up a black suit with a white shirt underneath and black classic shoes. I didn't feel like wearing ties or anything, so that was it, I was ready.

I called Joe to see if he was ready.
There was no answer for the first couple of times then he finally picked up.

"Ughh.. Yeah" said Joe almost mumbling
"JOSEF AIMES!! ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING?!!" I yelled hoping that will wake him up.
"Yeah, Joe is sleeeeeepyyyy" said Joe and kept mumbling.

Apparently that won't do it, so I hung up and I went quickly to his house where I found Sam waiting for me.

"I knew you'd come, we've been trying to wake him up for an hour" said Sam
"Looks like we'll have to do our little procedure" I said
"I know, I already filled the bucket with ice-cold water" said Sam

Sam and I were used to this situation, cause Joe always oversleeps, so it became a habit that Sam fills a bucket with water and I drop it on Joe.
I held the bucket right over Joe and then turned it upside down.

"OOOOOOHHHHHH GOD!! WHAAAAT?!!" Screamed Joe and jumping out of bed
"SAAAAAAAM!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!"

Sam has already run away after handing me the bucket, and I just stood away from joe so that I wouldn't get wet.

"Shut the hell up and quit moaning, it's me not Sam" I said
"What the hell Nick? it's freakin freezing!" Said Joe.
"We've trying to wake you up like a normal person for an hour, but apparently that wouldn't work with a pig like you. It's a good thing actually now you're up and refreshed, you don't have to take a shower anyway" I said
"Oh shit I forgot! We will be late for the funeral!" Said Joe face-palming himself.
"Genius! You figured that out by yourself?! Now get dressed we are already late and I told Al I'll go with him" I said

Sam got dressed, we looked pretty much the same. Actually all guys look the same in formal suits.

We arrived at Al's and found the hearse parking outside his house, and of course the door was opened.

"Thank god we're not late" said Joe
"Notify me if you saw Mr. Williams. okay?" I said
"Why?" Asked Joe
"I just lose it when I see him and I don't want that to happen today, especially in front of him and Al" I said
"Okay" said Joe

We entered the house and I marched straightly not looking left or right to Al's room.

"Hey Al" I said
"Hey" said Al quietly
"Sorry we're late, but I had some trouble waking up this asshole" I said
"That's fine, I'm not ready yet anyway" said Al, apparently he had some trouble with his tie.
"Do you need help with that thing?" Asked Joe
"No no.. umm I'm fine" said Al
"Okay" said Joe

We stood there for like 10 minutes waiting for him.

"C'mon Al we're late" shouted someone from downstairs.

Al said nothing and continued struggling with the tie.

"For god's sake let me do that for you" I said
"Fine" said Al.

I started to tie it, looking straight forward to the tie, avoiding any eye contact with Al's red swollen eyes.
I hoped that he'd say nothing that'll make my tears drop.

"They don't want me to be late for my own mother's funeral. right?" Said Al faking a smile

I didn't say anything, I just kept looking at the tie. And I could feel my eyes starting to be filled with tears, but I just took a deep breath and cleared my throat and just exhaled.

"After all if I'm late I wouldn't be able to see the moment when my mom's casket is being buried in the ground" Said Al now with his tears on his face.

Don't cry Nick, put yourself together you sissy.
I swore I won't cry and I won't.

"You're ready, let's go" I said after finishing the tie.
I came out of the room, but Al didn't follow me.

"C'mon man we're late" said Joe

Al just stood still staring down to the ground.
I went back to the room and put my hands on Al's shoulders, looking at him right square in the eye.
"Listen to me very carefully, Al. Nobody is gonna tell you this but me. For the next month or two everyone that you know is going to soothe you and treat you in a way you never knew before, but I'm not gonna lie to you or treat you like a toddler and tell you it's okay and all that shit. Cause it ain't okay, hell no it isn't! You lost your mom and she's not coming back, you know that. They're gonna tell you that everything will remain the same as if she was on a business trip, but no.. Everything has changed 180 degrees. All you can do is adapt to that change. However, you should know one simple fact.. that your mom is still watching over you, observing you. seeing if you'll grow to be a good man as she raised you or not. And she will know if you do something wrong, and you can only imagine how disappointed she would be if you couldn't live up to her expectations. You still have your father, the most loving and caring person you can ever ask for. You still have me.. Joe, Fred and all your friends and family, we still got your back. You are never alone Al, never" I said, then I hugged him tightly and finally let my tears fall.

I wiped my tears and took Al's arm and headed downstairs.

We got into the cars and headed to the church.