Give Them Hell

An Old Ridge Runner

Nikki

Mack, Dallas, and Dakota are just sitting around the kitchen table, they're looking at nothing. It's about two o'clock in the morning and we got back from the hospital about an hour ago. CC went to go out June to bed and I just stand in the doorway watching them.

"Are they okay?" CC asks as walks up beside me.

"I don't know, they have just been sitting there." I say.

Warren was the only real father that these three had growing up, he loved them unconditionally. Dallas and Mackenzie had a real shit dad and Dakota's father died a long time ago but from my understanding he was a shit father too. Dallas, Dakota, and Mackenzie only have each other now family wise.

I walk into the kitchen and sit down beside my girlfriend. Instantly Dallas grabs my hand without even looking over to me, that kinda worries me. I squeeze her hand and kiss her knuckles but she doesn't react. I want more than anything for Dallas to say literally anything. She could tell me that she fucked David Lee Roth and is pregnant with his child and I wouldn't care, I just want her to say something.

CC sits down across from me and beside Dakota, he too grabs his girlfriend's hand but like Dallas, Dakota doesn't react in the slightest. CC looks worried about the mother of his child but I can't say that I blame him. The blond New Yorker sighs and looks around.

"So why are there mason jars filled with water on the shelf over there?" CC asks.

Dallas, Dakota, and Mackenzie all look to where he was talking about. The Andrews children smirk almost maniacally which makes me smile. Dakota's face drops into worry.

"I don't know, why don't you try it and see if it's city water or well." Mack offers and CC stands up.

"Bab--ouch!" Dakota starts but gets cut off by my girlfriend kicking her. "Dallas Marianne." She hisses.

"Dakota Elizabeth." My girlfriend hisses back and I smile.

CC takes the jar off the shelf (I'm surprised that he can reach it, to be completely honest). Anyways he takes this giant gulp of seemingly unknown and suspicious liquid, he'd be the easier person on this planet to poison. He instantly spits whatever he drank and Dallas and Mackenzie are dying of laughter.

"CC, it's moonshine. Gramps was an old ridge runner." Dakota explains. "He always kept some around the house."

"Oh my god, you guy are real rednecks, huh? Like the Dukes of Hazzard or something." CC kinda laughs.

"Gramps was born in nineteen hundred, our great grandfather was a ridge runner and Gramps was a ridge runner until the prohibition ended in nineteen thirty three." Mack explains. "Old habits die hard."

"December fifth, nineteen thirty three. That's when Christmas officially started in our family." Dallas smiles. "Every fall he'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line make enough to sell and buy Christmas presents."

"So you guys drink this stuff?" CC wonders and they all nod.

"Baby, it's in our blood." Dakota says simply.

"Prove it." CC states. "If I can't drink it, you guys sure as hell cant."

"Okay, but what are we betting?" Dallas asks and crosses her arms.

"There's my girl." I laugh and wrap my arm around her shoulders.

"If I win...I want to know about the night you lost your virginity." CC says and my girlfriend smirks.

"When I win you're going to run naked as a J bird around NC State campus." Dallas challenges.

To no one's surprise at all three of the North Carolina natives down the moonshine like its no big deal. So CC has to run around NC State campus naked and we're on our way there now. When Dallas parks the truck she looks to the backseat were CC and Dakota sit.

"I hate you." CC mumbles and my girlfriend smiles.

"No one is around, it's three o'clock in the morning." I say and he sighs.

"I lied, I hate myself." He says and starts to get undressed.

CC undresses completely and I can feel my girlfriend's cousin checking out her boyfriend. He stands outside the the truck and tries his best to cover himself. I laugh and look out the window at him.

"Hey CC, Dallas was fourteen, in the backseat of my old piece of shit car, and it was her idea." I laugh and my girlfriend hits my arm gently. "That's how she lost her virginity, she would've told you if you asked properly."

"Thanks for that." My girlfriend mutters and I laugh. "Hurry up before I call campus security."

"I'm going." CC says and awkwardly crosses himself. "NYU, bitches!!" He yells before running onto the campus.

"You living with him." Dallas laughs.

"Yeah but I kinda want to scare him." Dakota admits. "Is it too late to call campus security?"

"I love the way you think." I admit.

"Never too late." My girlfriend laughs and starts to drive.

Dallas parks in front of what I guess is the security office. I watch as my girlfriend flicks on her high beams and lays on the horn until people starts to move around. At which point we very quickly drive away and off school property.

"I'm never sure if you're a genius or a psychopath." Dakota tells her cousin and my girlfriend smiles.

"No get mind has ever existed without a touch of madness." Dallas quotes. "Aristotle said it, maybe I should drop you off at the history department." She laughs.

We sit on the edge of the property until a little blond Q-tip runs and jumps into the box. He looks up in the back window with wide eyes.

"Fucking drive! There's security on my ass!" He says and we laugh.

Dallas

I lay down in bed beside Nikki and he smiles. I kiss his lips but he pulls back, I frown and sit back on my knees. Nikki kinda studies me for a minute and I drop my gaze to my  hands.

"Why aren't you talking about what happened earlier?" He wonders.

"You really want to talk about CC buck naked?" I wonder and he laughs.

"That's not what I mean, I mean your gramps." Nikki explains and I look down.

Nothing seems real, drinking moonshine and all that shit at NC State took my mind off it. I don't know what to think or anything, I miss my gramps more than anything. They want Dakota, Mackenzie, and I to all talk at the funeral tomorrow and I don't even know what to say.

"It doesn't seem real." I say quietly and get under the covers.

I roll over on my side so Nikki doesn't see me cry. I'm not quiet sure why I'm trying to protect him but it must be innate with me. Nikki's arms wrap around me and he kisses my shoulder.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. I'm going to be right there with you." He promises me. "I love you."

"I love you too." I say as I roll over in his grasp.

Tomorrow is going to be a hellacious experience that quite frankly I'm not ready for.