70

** Bustling street at night***
” Well, this sure was one hell of a day”, Jeremy said with a pleasant sigh of satisfaction as we walked along the sidewalk.
” I know right? I had a lot of fun though”, I said to him. ” I really didn’t know that you had this many sides to you”, I said.
” Then you’ll be happy to know that there’s a whole lot more where those came from”, he said with a chuckle.
” Can I ask you something?”, I requested.
” Yeah sure, anything”, he said.
” Uhhm, about your family, where are they? and why don’t you stay with them?”, I asked him. We kept walking and there was an awkward silence between us as he kept looking at the ground, kicking a little pebble as he walked. ” Maybe I pried a little too much”, I thought.
” You know what? You don’t have to answer that. Maybe I was being to nosy”, I said.
” Pfft”, he mocked, ” don’t be silly. I’m your boyfriend so there’s nothing wrong if you’re curious about my family. I’m curious about yours too”, he said.
” Oh, I thought maybe what I said was sensitive so…”,
” Nah, it’s alright”, he said.
” Then why were you so quiet when I asked?”, I asked.
” Well, I was thinking of how and where to start actually. It’s a really long story”, he said.
” I’m all ears whenever you’re ready”, I said.
” Wow, you still wanna hear it?”, he asked with a chuckle, ” I thought you didn’t like long stories”, he added.
” Yeah I don’t, but I’m willing to listen if it’s about you since I already know how interesting you are”, I said.
” Humph”, he sighed, ” alright, let’s take a seat over there”, he said pointing at a road bench around the corner. So we walked over and sat down on it.
” You ready?”, he asked as though he was about to perform some kind of stunt.
” Yup, all ears”, I replied.
” Okay, so it all started about two years ago……
______________________________________________
*** Two years ago***
” Riiiiiiinng!!”, the school bell rang as school dismissed. ” Urrghh finally!”, I exclaimed as I picked up my bag. I left the class along with the rest of class. I began to walk through the hallway and stopped at my locker to get one of my books. I opened the locker and took out the textbook, and then…
” Boo!”, some kid in a mask yelled at me just when I was about to close the locker.
” Whoa!”, I exclaimed as the book fell out of my hands. Then he laughed and took the mask off.
” Ha ha”, I said sarcastically, ” very funny”, I said with a nonchalant face. It turns out it was my brother David.
” Man, I scared you stiff bro”, he mocked. I simply shook my head and bent down to pick my textbook.
” Enough fooling around Dave. Dad’s probably waiting for us already”, I said.
” Yeah yeah, you’re the one who’s wasting our time now with all that talking”, he jested. I shut my locker and walked away.
” Hey man! Wait up”, he said as he walked fast to catch up.
* A few hours later***
We finally showed up at Dad’s bar. We did it everyday, right after school to help out our Dad with the customers. It was sorta like a part-time job, except we weren’t being paid.
” Finally. I was beginning to get worried you guys wouldn’t show up”, Dad said as we walked in.
” It is all Dave’s fault”, I reported, ” he wouldn’t do the dishes on time even though we got home pretty early”, I explained.
” Hey man, ever heard of the bro code? No snitching bruh”, David said, ” plus I had to do my homework”, he added.
” You liar! what homework? You didn’t do nothing but lay down on the couch watching TV”, I said.
” Man, no snitching!”, he retorted. We were about to get into a brawl when Dad intervened.
” Stop it! The both of you”, he said, ” now go put on your aprons, we’ve got customers to serve”, he ordered. Grumbling, we went to get our aprons and began to help out at the bar until nightfall.
* Four hours later****
” Alright boys, you guys have done enough for today”, Dad said, ” I want you guys to head home and help your mom out and then get some sleep. In the meantime, I’ll finish up here”, he said. This was the norm here. We would help Dad out at the bar till early nightfall, usually around seven o’clock and then head back home to help Mom out. But we had overstayed today, up till almost ten o’clock. We began to get ready to leave the bar when a group of guys barged in. They were about twelve of them.
” These guys probably just want trouble”, Dad muttered to us in a low voice. The customers fixed their eyes on the guys as they walked up to the bartender counter, where we were. There was tension in the atmosphere as the bar fell unusually quiet.
” How can I help you guys?”, Dad asked them. Then a blonde guy with ocean blue eyes stepped up and punched Dad in the face, knocking him to floor. I wanted to react, but Dave held my hand, gesturing with his eyes that I shouldn’t. I was boiling in anger.
” How dare he?!”, I thought as I glared at him.
” Oh, what have we here?”, the blonde guy said as he locked eyes with me. I couldn’t stop my glare even though I knew I was in trouble. He strutted slowly towards me, like a predator closing in on a kill.
” Please don’t touch him”, my Dad said as he grabbed one of the blonde guy’s legs with his face to the ground. The guy looked down at my Dad and smirked.
” How pathetic”, he mocked and then used his other leg to kick my dad in the face. That busted my dad open, his mouth and nose bleeding. Then the blonde guy looked at me again, now noticing that I was no longer glaring at him but rather staring at my dad who lay on the floor with a bloodied face.
” Hey there little guy”, the blonde guy said to me, ” You aren’t glaring any more, what happened?”, he scoffed, “Scared now that you see your dad on the floor?!”, he yelled at me as he wrapped his palm around my neck in a chokehold. I struggled and gasped for breath as the chokehold tightened. ” Urrghh”, my dad groaned as he got up on his feet.
” Oh you think you’re so tough, don’t you?”, the blonde guy asked him. My dad didn’t respond but dug his hand into his pocket and brought out roll of cash tied with a rubber band.
” Here’s the money you requested for”, my dad said as he put the roll on the table, ” now leave my son”, he demanded. Then the blonde guy tossed me away and I fell to the floor as I tried to take deep breaths. Dave quickly tried to help me up.
” You okay, bro?”, Dave asked as he helped me up. ” Yeah, I’m okay”, I said as I got to my feet. The blonde guy strutted towards my dad.
” So you had the money all along and still stressed me to come here?!”, he yelled at Dad.
” I don’t run my business with air, you know?”, Dad said as he wiped the blood of his nose. There was a stoic look on his face.
” You better behave or someone will get hurt one of these days, are we clear?”, the blonde guy asked as he stared my dad in the eye. My dad hesitated to answer as he glared at the guy.
” I don’t suppose you’re mute now”, he said.
” I understand, now please leave. You’re upsetting my customers”, Dad said as he gestured with his hand to the door.
” Pffft”, the guy scoffed,” let’s go boys! What a dump!”, he mocked as he and his gang walked away. I glared at them as they left. ” I’m gonna kill him”, I muttered as the door swung shut.
” What’s that?”, David asked.
” That blonde dude. I’m gonna make sure he regrets this. I swear it”, I said with great determination.
Business resumed as normal, and after a few more hours, we closed the shop and got into dad’s car.
There was silence as Dad turned on the ignition. I was still furious, annoyed that that blonde jerk had disrupted business and infuriated that he had laid his filthy hands on my Dad. The night was enveloped by a dead silence as we drove home.
” Not a word of what happened when we get home, okay boys?”, Dad said to us, ” I wouldn’t want your mom and sister to get worried”, he explained.
” Who were those guys, Dad?”, I asked as I tried to hold back my anger from bursting out.
” They’re a new gang in the neighborhood”, he said, ” they demanded that I pay them for doing business on their turf, but I refused and that’s why they showed up again”, he explained.
” Their name”, I said.
” What’s that?”, Dad asked.
” Their name. I want the name of the gang”, I said.
” Now look son, I know you’re angry about what happened back there but I don’t want you getting involved with any gangs, is that clear?”, he asked. I stayed quiet.
” I’m talking to you, Jerry”, he said to me.
” I got it”, I said reluctantly, though I had no plans of letting that asshole off the hook. And so we drove into the night.
______________________________________________”
” Geez, that’s rough”, Janet said. ” So did you actually get him in the end? the blonde guy, I mean”, she asked.
” Oh yeah, I did. And that was where all my problems began “, I replied.
” Damn. So what happened next?”, she asked as she looked at me with utmost interest.
” Well, a week later…….
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*** In my room***
“… ven! Ninety- eight! ninety- nine! one hundred!”, I groaned as I fell flat on the floor. ” Hmph! Hmph! Hmph!”, I inhaled and exhaled heavily.
” You finna kill yourself bro. This is like the fourth set of push-ups you’ve done this morning “, David said to me as he lay there on his bed, playing a video game on his phone. I turned around, and now laying on my back, I stared at him on the top bunk.
” Doesn’t the fact that someone beat Dad up bother you?”, I asked him, perplexed by how relaxed he was.
” Yeah it got me upset, that’s for sure. But hey, that was a week ago and Dad seems to have gotten over it already”, he said, ” besides, you heard what Dad said, ~’ have nothing to do with them’ ~”, he said in a caricature voice mimicking Dad.
” It’s not funny Dave. I’m not gonna sit down and let Dad be humiliated like that”, I said.
” Suit yourself. Dad’s fine and I think it’s best if we don’t stir up any further trouble”, he advised.
” But who’s to say that they won’t come back some other time?”, I pondered within myself. I was gonna get revenge and of that, I was sure.
________________________________________________________”
” Hold up! So your brother didn’t help out? for real?”, Janet asked in an annoyed tone. ” I oughta go have a talk with him”, she said, which made me smile as I watched her rant. ” What’s so funny?”, she asked me, now annoyed at me.
” It’s nothing. I’m just happy that you’re angry because you care about me”, I said with a warm smile.
” As if!”, she retorted, ” I just love a good story”, she said with a pouty face, which I found cute. ” Anyway, I’d still like to talk some sense into your brother”, she said. I smiled and looked up at the stars.
” I’d love to talk to him right now, more than anything in the world”, I said as I stared at the night sky studded with stars.
” Pfft. Then call him, duh!”, she said sarcastically.
” I wish I could but I won’t be able to reach him now”, I said.
” Well, you can try some other time. Anyway, what happened next?”, she asked.
” It’s quite crazy though”, I said with a chuckle, ” but I went to find him, and what I did next was unbelie……….
( Third person POV)
And so they talked endlessly into the night, under the starry night sky, with the moonlight illuminating them, the centre of their own little chattery world……