Color

Hundred Twelve

It was fairly quiet in the house for a few days, although everything still felt very tense. 

Scott had elected to keep to himself, not wanting to be involved in any of it. 

He mostly kept busy, cooking meals for the others and helping Mitch focus on his classes. More than that though, he was at work. 

Avi had taken notice of it; the fact that Kirstie and Scott didn't spend time together anymore, since she'd picked up smoking. 

That Scott seemed to keep his head down in the hallway, not wanting to see anything going wrong. 

Avi made sure to pay attention to him though, not wanting him to work himself into the ground in an effort to distract himself. 

Scott seemed to keep it together for the most part, and Avi almost felt silly for worrying about him. 

That is, until Scott was late to meet him in the parking lot after their shifts. 

Scott had told him he'd forgotten something inside, and for Avi to just meet him at the car. 

Avi didn't like it, but he chose not to worry. He got into the car and texted Alex that he was on his way home.

Scott had just rushed into the break room to grab his phone out of his locker, slamming the door to the locker just as it began to ring. 

He figured it was Avi, so he answered without looking, heading out of the break room at the same time. "I'm almost there, give me a--"

"Hey, Scott."

Scott froze mid stride, completely stuck. "What the fuck..? Dad?"

"I really wasn't gone that long, you shouldn't have forgotten me already."

"What? No. I blocked the prison number, you can't be calling me." Scott was still trying to understand.

"Yeah maybe, but it looks like the home number still goes through."

"Home..? You're out? How is that possible? You're supposed to be in there for--"

"A couple years, yeah. But I didn't have any previous convictions, and my victim wasn't considered to be traumatized so. Slipped through."

"Literally not possible. You just have a lot of money, so you hired somebody smarter than you to solve your problems."

"I'm too exhausted to have this argument, Scott. When are you coming home?"

Scott was finally able to move again, feeling anger course through his veins. He began to stomp out of the break room, heading toward the parking lot. "Literally never. Don't you ever call this fucking number again."

His father suddenly spoke loudly. "Don't you dare hang up on me. If you don't come home, I'll be forced to come find you. I know Avi's mother knows where you are."

Scott exhaled loudly. "Dude, are you kidding me? Can't you just leave me the fuck alone?"

"You know damn well you're the only family I've got left. I'm not gonna let you slip away just like everyone else did."

"Don't try to be noble right now, you kicked the shit out of me when I was growing up. You can fuck right off." 

Scott immediately hung up, too angry to even think. He marched out of the building and walked toward Avi's car. 

Avi got out of the car, having seen the look on his face. (He knew that look all too well.)

Avi closed his car door. "Dude, are you okay?"

"I fucking hate my life. What the fuck did I ever do?"

Avi closed his eyes. "If you need something to hit, go ahead, I'm ready." He was mostly just trying to be a comedic relief, but he should've known Scott was too pissed to take a joke. 

With his eyes closed, Avi didn't exactly see it, but he heard the shatter of glass. 

"Oh shit." Scott said loudly. "Sorry."

Avi's eyes opening resulted in the sight of a broken headlight, and a splash of blood on the concrete of the parking lot. "Damn, dude. You get dumped or something?"

*

Walking into the house, Scott found Kirstie sitting on the porch with a cigarette in her hand. 

Avi tried to slow him down, anxious about Scott wanting some kind of escape from how upset he was. 

Scott seemed too angry to want a smoke though, because he reached down to pluck the cigarette from her hand, and stomp on it in front of her. 

Kirstie looked up at him. "Woah, what the--?"

"It's literally not worth it, Kirstie. You're better than that." He walked away, and then snapped at her. "Fuckin' dumb."

Avi followed him quickly, trying to get in the way of any possible damage. 

Avi closed the front door behind the both of them. "Allie, I need you." He said loudly. 

Alex was in the kitchen, and he giggled. "I already know that, babe." He looked up, and his smile fell at the look on Scott's face, as well as the fear written on Avi's. "Oh my God, are you okay?"

**