A lightning flashed in the street, followed by the screech of a thunder, but the words spoken by Nicola couldn’t be drowned by Mother Nature; Lena slowly turned away from Nicola and looked at Ryan, he stood there just a few feet away with the gun trembling in his hand as he aimed it at Nicola.
Junior stood in his place, his arms stiff next to his body and his eyes locked over Nicola’s face, but he wasn’t looking at Nicola anymore, he was trying to make sense of the words spoken by Lena’s boyfriend, and as they slowly dug a painful hole in his heart and soul, Junior turned to look at Ryan.
“How do you know that?” whispered Ryan “You…
But he couldn’t finish his sentence, Nicola who had been staring at Ryan, held his gaze as Ryan tried to get a hold of himself, he lowered the gun a few inches and then turned to look at Lena and Junior.
But it was a dumb question for someone who had been observing closely, like Nicola had. Nicola had seen the way Ryan’s eyes softened when he looked at Junior and the way he seemed less aggressive when it was Junior the one talking; Nicola had seen the anger in his eyes when Junior had protected Lena from the knife.
It had all unfolded before them, but only Nicola had been looking.
“Is it true?” asked Lena, she reached for Nicola’s hand and he took her hand gently, he didn’t have the strength to pull her closer or to hold her hand reassuringly, but if they were to die there, at least she had to know that this wasn’t because she had done something wrong.
Ryan looked at Lena, his eyes no longer confused, they had a new fire inside, now that the secret was out, everything had to sail smoothing.
Right?
Ryan rubbed his eyebrow with the wrist of the hand he was using to hold the gun and then aimed the gun at the root of all his troubles; his hand was now firm and the gun aimed at Lena was making Lena more eerie and nervous, she looked at the gun and then back up at Ryan.
“Ryan, please put that down” whispered Lena, “Please” she raised her hands up to her chest, in a defensive mode, but she knew her hands raised up to her chest would never protect her from a bullet.
“Please, Ryan” whispered Junior, “Put it down” Junior raised his hand and directed it towards Ryan’s raised arm, he placed it over his wrist and gently pushed it down.
Ryan allowed Junior to manipulate his hand down, but just for a few inches, he turned to look at Junior and then pulled his hand away from Junior’s hold.
“Don’t do that” said Ryan, he frowned “You know she did this, to all of you”
“Yes” said Junior “She did, but you are scaring all of us with that thing” Junior continued “You are making us nervous”
“This makes you nervous?” asked Ryan, he narrowed his eyes again “I’ll put it down, but not all the way”
“You don’t have to put the thing away” Junior said, trying to side with Ryan, maybe that way things could work for them and they could end up talking Ryan into letting Nicola go. “Just don’t aim it at anyone, please, yes?”
Ryan looked down at the gun in his hand and then back at Junior “Ok,” he held the gun and again turned to look at Lena.
“You did this” explained Ryan, almost as if Lena and him were the only two people in the kitchen.
“Ryan we’ve been friends for years” begged Lena, her hands still up to her chest, her body not daring to move, she could hear Nicola panting next to her “We’ve been friends for years, why are you doing this? Why all the photos and all the messages? Why are you doing this?”
“And you were a really good friend” Ryan said, a smile appeared over his lips for a few seconds as he remembered all the good times that he had passed with Lena “But then you ruined everything”
“I don’t understand” whispered Junior “If you liked her you could have told me” he turned to look at Ryan “You are one of my best friends, you could have told me”
Ryan looked at Junior and confusion settled over his face, hadn’t Nicola been clear enough?
“This was never about Lena being with you” Ryan whispered, Lena glanced at Nicola, Nicola looked at her and gave her a weak smile, he was dying and Lena could see it. “This was about you being with her, she doesn’t deserve you”
Junior looked at his friend and his lips gently parted as he realized what Nicola had said, this was never to get Lena away from Junior, this had been to get Junior away from Lena. His left hand instinctively passed over his face, like it usually did when Junior was nervous, he took a deep breath and closed his mouth so tight his lips turned into a thin line.
___________//____________
Lena had tuned out Ryan and Junior, not willingly, her mind simply started to work as she began to put the messages and the phots together with the “wrong” things she had done to Junior; she didn’t notice that her breathing had accelerated and that her hands were sweating.
“I slapped Junior and I got the first text” thought Lena, she bit her lower lip “Then Nicola came to town and he said he liked my new friend”
Of course Ryan had been thrilled to see Nicola, it was a way of getting Lena away from Junior, and everyone had known that.
She had gotten a message encouraging her to “keep it up” with a photo of her and Nicola kissing, a gift for being good and staying away from Junior.
Lena tried to put things together, her conduct towards Junior and the messages she had gotten, but she didn’t know that some of the messages with threats she had gotten, had been when Junior had been doing something to get back with her.
“Why did he send then, the photos of me and Nicola half naked?” she thought, then her heart stopped and she tuned in back into the conversation between Ryan and Junior and asked loud enough for the boys to hear “You put a camera in Junior’s room?”
Junior, who had been in midsentence, stopped and turned to look at Lena, a frown over his face, Ryan had turned to look at her as well, irritated to the point of murder that she had dared interrupt them.
Junior looked at Lena with his big eyes and narrowed them, what was she talking about? Lena looked at Junior and dropped her hands to the side of her body.
“You sent me photos of Junior and me, in his room” she barked “You took those photos with a camera you put there, didn’t you?”
Junior’s eyes grew and he turned to look at Ryan, suddenly remembering the photos that Lena had for a moment, accused him of taking “You did”
Ryan turned to look at Junior, his face falling apart for a moment “I had too” he finally managed to say.
“What?” asked Lena “Why did you do that?”
“TO SHOW THEM TO YOUR MOTHER!” screamed Ryan, the gun rose again and was aimed at Lena once more “So she would keep you away from Junior”
“If you wanted him so badly for yourself then why the hell did you take him on a date with Linda?!” snapped Lena, she had come to the realization that no matter what Junior told Ryan, he was going to kill her. “Why go out with Laurel?”
“I liked Laurel” snapped Ryan “Keep her out of this” his face got red from anger as Lena dared to involve Laurel in this “I still like her” he glanced at Nicola, who had been awfully quiet and then back at Lena. “Linda was just something to get you away from him, I knew she would go prancing around that ice cream shop for you to see she had been with Junior, but he would never stay with her, no would in their right mind would”
While Ryan barked and argued with Lena, Junior felt someone look at him, he slowly turned his head and his eyes met Nicola’s, the dying young man, signaled Ryan with his eyes and then looked at Junior again.
“No” mouthed Junior.
“Gun” mouthed Nicola.
Junior looked at Ryan’s gun and then back at Nicola “What?” he mouthed back.
“Down” Nicola mouthed, he was losing his strength just by mouthing at Junior “Tackle” he mouthed and then after a deep breath “Soon”
Junior looked at Nicola, he knew that it meant they had to turn against Ryan, or Nicola would probably die in the kitchen of the Severide home “Ok” mouthed Junior.
“My lead” mouthed Nicola, Junior narrowed his eyes, not only had Nicola figured out what was going on with Ryan, he had also designed a plan to get Ryan out of the way; but in Nicola’s behalf, his life did depend on this.
“YOU ARE INSANE!” Lena’s scream broke Junior’s and Nicola’s conversation, they turned to look at Lena, the fear she had been feeling had been suddenly replaced with fury. Maybe it had been the fact that her boyfriend was bleeding to death in her kitchen, or maybe it was because her first love had been stabbed brutally on the back or the fact that she knew she was going to die, or all of it, but Lena was suddenly ready to scream back at Ryan.
“YOU THINK THIS IS THE WAY TO GET SOMEONE TO LIKE YOU?!” she roared, she took a step forward, Ryan didn’t move but the gun in his hand did tremble. “ARE YOU GOING TO USE THAT THING NOW OR ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP PLAYING WITH IT?!” another step forward.
Nicola saw the grip of the gun shake, he looked at Junior, who had his eyes over Lena and Ryan and then coughed as loud as he could, he actually felt his lungs burn as he leaned over the kitchen island coughing nonstop.
Ryan and Lena turned to look at Nicola, the argument over now that it seemed that Nicola was just a step away from dying; Lena went pale and turned her body to help Nicola.
“Step away from him” said Ryan, he clicked the gun and Lena took a few steps away from Nicola, she didn’t care anymore if Ryan shot her but she didn’t want Nicola getting shot again.
When Ryan had decided that Lena was far enough from Nicola, he leaned to look at Nicola, he raised his head and their eyes met.
“I need to lay down” whispered Nicola “Please, Ryan, let me lay down”
Ryan looked at Nicola, he glanced rapidly at the pool of blood under the young man and took a deep breath, he knew he had to let Nicola die and then proceed to kill Lena, but at least he could help Nicola lie down and die in a more comfortable position.
“Ok” whispered Ryan “I’ll help you”
“Thank you” whispered Nicola, he rapidly glance at Junior and he understood Nicola’s plan was now in motion.
“Let’s do this” thought Junior.