I didn't think going back to Irby's was a good idea, but Ace needed booze – apparently – and lots of it. I reminded him there was lots of booze up at the garage, but he waved it off without any explanation. I think he wanted to go to Irby's to pick a fight with Eyeball and assert his dominance over the place. That was 'his' hangout for his boys, and if Eyeball wasn't one of them anymore, he could fuck right off. I'm sure that's what he was thinking. But Eyeball wasn't even there.
It was just Ace and I, Jack and Fuzzy and Vince. Vince who was all done up again in a tidy black shirt and nice fitting blue jeans, all ready for his date with Natalie – which I was supposed to help with. I didn't mind so much. I still liked Natalie and couldn't blame her for all the male drama that was going on.
"What's wrong with Ace?" Vince asked me as we stared a game of pool. It was his break.
I hesitated for a long while. I didn't really want to talk about it. Ace had barely said a word to me since we had arrived back in town three hours before. He was sitting alone at the bar with a very expensive bottle of scotch in one hand and a shot glass in the other. He'd had a couple, but most of the time he just sat there, staring at the television set. And you could bet your bottom dollar he wasn't watching it.
"Cass?" Vince said, placing a hand on my shoulder. He had a genuine look of empathy which was a first for me to see.
"Sorry, Vince. It's been a hard day."
"What's going on?"
"You know Antonia?"
"Yeah..."
"Well... she's gone," I murmured. "Forever."
"Oh... shit..." He looked over his shoulder at Ace who downed another drink.
"I never knew he was in love with her. I thought she was just some beautiful infatuation that he'd gotten over. He said he didn't-" My voice broke, and I was determined to hold it together around Vince who usually teased me for every little thing.
But now, he looked at me real serious, a crease at his brow, and then he pulled me in to his chest and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. He smelt amazing. Definitely nothing like his feet. The comfort gave me that second of security, and I could feel the tears begin to leak out.
"No." I shook myself out of it and pulled away from him, taking a deep breath. "I'm OK. He'll get over it, right?"
"Course he will. And he's fallen head over fucking heels for you, and don't forget that."
I gave him a hopeful smile as I wiped at my eyes. "Really?"
"Are you kidding? Sometimes he don't fucking shut up about you. But... I gotta hand it to you, you're doin' alright."
"Thanks Vince. That's a lot coming from you."
He smirked. "Now let's finish this game and get Nat. I'm lookin' forward to a real fine night tonight." He leaned down to take another shot at one of his stripes.
"Where are you taking her?"
"Castle Lake. And instead of taking her to dinner, I got a picnic hamper. We can eat right there by the water."
"Wow, that sounds really... romantic, Vince." I was both surprised and impressed. "I've never been to the lake."
"What, Ace ain't taken you- Fuck. Slack bastard. Well, when he stops brooding, make him. It sure is a picture."
"Hey Vincey," Charlie said as Billy ruffled Vince's hair. "All nice and pretty again, I see."
"Get the fuck off," he swatted at Billy's hand. He smoothed his hair out, but he had lathered it with so much 'Groom and Clean' that it had hardly moved in the first place. "Just 'cos you ain't had a date in forever."
"So, you made it to fourth base yet?" Charlie asked.
"That ain't ever gonna happen," Billy laughed. "I bet she wears one of 'dem genuine chastity belts, you know? Iron, padlocked..."
"And if she don't, she should start," Charlie laughed back.
"Get the fuck out, you two. Come on, Cass – I forfeit. Let's get outta here and get Nat."
---
I didn't make good on Vince's forfeit. I split the cash with him – we took back our bets – and he seemed to appreciate it. We had planned to get Nat at 11, and it was just a bit before, so I figured she would be awake and getting ready. Vince waited in the backstreet behind the diner while I jumped the picket fence and went to her window. I leaned over the garden and tapped the glass and waited. And waited. I tapped it again, and it soon pulled up with a very flustered looking Natalie to greet me.
"Cass," she whispered down to me with her head out the window. "Something's come up. I can't go out tonight." She spoke very quickly like she was all in a hurry.
"Oh no... Are your parents still up?"
"No... they're not here."
"Isn't that... a good thing?"
"My brother's here." She looked over her shoulder for a few seconds, and I expected him to walk through her bedroom door and bust us. But the room stayed silent. I also noticed that she was dressed and not in her nightgown as if she had gotten ready to come out.
"What's happened?" I asked.
"Uhh... umm..." She was bobbing up and down like she needed to pee real bad, but I was pretty sure that wasn't why. "Oh boy... please... you need to go."
"What do I tell Vince? He's waiting for you! And he's gone all out for you tonight, so I need to tell him something!"
"Umm... just tell him... tell him I'll talk to him tomorrow. I'm so sorry, Cass." She shut the window down, almost catching my fingers and leaving me in complete confusion. A confusion which I had to take back with me to Vince.
"I don't know what to say," I told him apologetically. "She wouldn't tell me what was wrong."
"Well, go back and find out! I got everything set to go!" For a moment, I thought the old version of Vince who I knew and... ahem... didn't love was back in action. But on second look, he wasn't threatening me to do anything. "Look... I just like being 'round her, OK? And... I just... I mean I wanna... If she can't, you know... but I just needa check..."
"You want me to check everything's OK with you two."
"Yeah!"
The back door to Irby's opened some distance away down the backstreet, but we were so wrapped up in our little dilemma that we didn't care to look.
"She shut the window on me. I don't think she'll open it again."
"Well, you gotta try – you just gotta! Or I will."
"OK, OK! I'll try to find out what's up. Just wait here."
"What the fuck's going on?"
Vince and I jumped at the voice and turned towards Irby's to look. Ace emerged from the darkness and came to a slightly wonky stop right underneath the only streetlight there. He'd had a few drinks sure, but not enough for a guy of his stamina to be intoxicated. He seemed to have sunken into some kind of angered, mourning depression – one that I hoped wouldn't last forever.
"You," he growled, pointing a finger at Vince. "You stop messin' with my girl."
Vince's look of concern suddenly became one of alarm. "There's nothin' goin' on, Ace..."
"Don't you fucking lie to me. You've been messin' with her for weeks."
"It's OK," I said. "All of that's over now. Right Vince?"
"Yeah. Yeah..." I could hear the tenseness in Vince's voice, and I didn't blame him if he was anxious. Ace seemed so on edge. So unpredictable.
"I wanna know what's been goin' on. Now!"
"I told you," I said. "It's nothing serious-"
Ace unexpectedly lunged at Vince and grabbed him by the collar to pin him to the wall, banging the back of his head on the diner's brick exterior. "This asshole's not been treatin' you nice. I know he hasn't. So, what's the game, Vince? I think it's time you let me play." Ace shoved him against the wall again, delivering another thump to the back of Vince's head.
Vince stood there, raising the palms of both his hands in surrender. "It was just a bit of fun. I never hurt her!"
"What have you got on her, huh? Huh?" Two more head thumps.
"Look," I huffed. I was completely at a loss and so over it all that I just didn't care who knew anymore. "We had a bet OK? The night of my first boost. We bet that if I screwed it up I'd have to give him $100 and kiss his feet. It was my idea. I thought I couldn't lose. But I did. And Vince's feet stink, right? They stink like rotten eggs."
"It was... rotten eggs," Vince muttered.
"What?"
"Well... we had those eggs still, remember Ace? From months ago when we bombed Milo's junkyard that time he mouthed off at you. I uh... beat Cass back to the garage and had heaps of time before she got back too. I thought it would be funny. And it was," he said with a slight chuckle. "But she was fucking embarrassed and I-"
"You asshole!" I yelled. "And just when I thought I was starting to like you!"
"But you see the funny side, right?"
Imagining Vince rubbing disgusting eggs all over his feet sure was a funny picture, and I couldn't help crack a laugh. In some ways it was funnier than me kissing them.
"You two are just a couple of kids, aren't you?" Ace said, looking between us both.
"Let him down," I sighed. "This isn't worth losing another guy over."
"What are you talking about?" Vince asked. "What guy?"
"You didn't hear?" Ace said. He loosened up on Vince and let him go. "Eyeball's having a tanty over your bird and says he's quitin'."
"Quitin'," Vince frowned at us like he couldn't fathom the thought. And then that frown completely relaxed and he just blinked at me blankly. "Eyeball weren't in Irby's tonight."
"No. Why?"
"That pussy-stealing motherfucker!"
Vince went. Vince went with purpose. He scissor-jumped the picket fence and ran to the end of Natalie's house to her bedroom window. "Open the window, Nat! Open the damn window!" He wasn't minding the volume of his voice at all, and dogs started barking from all around the neighborhood.
Ace and I caught up just to see Nat's window open a little, and I saw her face pale white with – what looked like – fear as she whispered down at him and quietly tried to make him go away. Vince was having none of it. He stuck his hand under the window and pushed it up as far as he could reach before scaling the side of the house and scrambling up and inside.
A few mumbled yells were heard among a few much clearer "motherfuckers" before Eyeball tumbled out of the window feet first, lost his footing and went down onto his backside. He quickly got to his feet just before Vince jumped out after him and shoved him backwards against the wall.
All of the anger that was bubbling deep within Vince soon came out for us all to see. He laid into Eyeball with a viciousness that I had never imagined him capable of. And all Eyeball could do was hang on to defend himself against blow after whopping blow. Somehow, Eyeball managed to pull himself into a position to fight back, and he scored a good one on Vince's nose, but I think Vince was so livid that it was impossible for him to lose this fight. He got an arm wrapped around Eyeball's neck and pulled him into a low head-lock to hold him in place as he tried to pummel through his protective arms and get in some more blows to the nose.
By this time, Natalie had jumped down and was sobbing to herself, completely at a loss about what to do.
"Alright Vince, get off him," Ace said, stepping in.
Vince didn't seem to hear him though, and Ace had to grab him by the scruff of the neck and yank him off. Natalie ran over to Eyeball and tried to prop him up, but although he looked a mess, he could stand just fine.
"Are you happy now, Eyeball?" Ace said.
Eyeball grinned, the blood from his nose running down over his lip and all through his teeth. "Yeah," he replied, glancing at Natalie. "I'm really happy."
"I think you're stupid. You're an idiot. We're your brothers. And you're throwing us away for this dizzy bitch that you'll forget about in a week."
"It's not like that Ace. It's not like that with her. And if you was really my brother, you'd listen to that. You'd be there for me. Just like I'm always there for you. Remember? Like when we was 7 and you wanted to teach that Davis kid a lesson, and when we was 10 and I helped set you up with that Emily chick. All through high school when your old man was being a jerk and you needed somewhere to stay, I kicked Chris out and gave you his bed. When all that shit happened with Jefferson when you wouldn't let him into the gang and he tried to rip you off, I helped stop that. And that first time you wanted Cassie – who did you tell? Who sussed her out to check you were in with a shot? Me. It's always been me."
"Hey, I've been in more fights with Ace than you have," Vince cut in. "I'm always there with him. You're usually too damn drunk to fight!"
"Then you just keep on doin' that. Cos you're all he's got now. Come on, Nat. Let's get outta here."
Natalie was still at Eyeball's side and had a worried look on her face the whole time he'd been talking – or maybe it was a look of guilt. Eyeball moved to walk off with her, but she hesitated and gave Vince a sorry look before letting Eyeball lead her away.
What a hellish position to be in – I thought.
"This is bullshit," Vince said. "I gotta talk to Nat. I ain't letting him take her that easy." He went to follow them, but Ace held his arm out to block him off.
"Let him go," Ace said. "Just let him go."
"We should probably go too," I said. "I'm amazed Nat's brother hasn't come out yet."
"Where are you going? Get back in the house!" We heard the unfamiliar voice in the distance before a very audible gasp.
"Nathan... What... what are you doing out here? I thought you were asleep in bed."
"When the folks aren't home? Fuck off, it's party time! Who's this?"
"This is..."
"I'm her boyfriend, asshole – so, take a hike."
"What happened to your face?"
When we heard the voices coming from the front of the house, the three of us shot around there to see what was up. Natalie's brother was there, and it was apparent that he'd just walked up the driveway from wherever he'd been and bumped into Nat and Eyeball as they were leaving. Nathan's expression twisted – I think in revulsion - as he examined the unfriendly makeover Vince had given Eyeball.
"Well," Nathan said, and he rubbed his hands together. "This is nice, Nat – real nice. You make it too easy for me to get you grounded. Something as big as this might even earn you the cane. It's about time that bad boy saw the light of day again - huh?"
Natalie's mouth went wide open. Sometimes, she could talk like she was feeling tough, but right then, she cowered as if she wanted to roll into a tiny ball. Eyeball stepped forwards - he probably wanted to pummel the guy - but Nat held him back and muttered something to stop him.
"Guess you guys ain't goin' nowhere after all," Vince laughed.
"Who's there?" Nathan asked, looking our way. We were barely out of the bushes and it was dark, so he squinted as he tried to get a better view of us. "OK," he said sternly, "Nat, inside. The rest of you, you're all trespassing, and you got two minutes to clear outta here before I call the cops."
Suddenly, unexpectedly, Ace left our little trio and started walking towards theirs. I didn't know what he was doing, but he walked with such purpose that he'd sure made up his mind about something. He pushed in front of Eyeball to stand face to face with Nathan. He stood like a wall between them - a wall that had at least a four-inch height advantage and a very gritty smile.
"You're a little asshole, aren't ya?" he said, jabbing Nathan hard in the shoulder.
Nathan winced and stepped back, looking around in surprise and confusion; the guy who'd acted all powerful and in control just a few seconds before was now stuttering to talk.
"Yeah," Ace continued, "you're one of them bratty little asshole kids - the kind that I really love to get my meat hooks into." Ace cracked his knuckles and then jabbed Nathan in the shoulder again, even harder this time, and he let out a small 'ow' and rubbed the spot with his fingers.
"What, did that hurt? You don't know what pain is until you've met my right-hook. How 'bout I show it to you? Put one right... here." Ace gently bopped him on the nose and laughed to himself as Nathan jumped back in alarm. He had backed himself into the 6 ft wooden fence that runs up their driveway and looked to either side of him, realizing he had nowhere to escape.
Ace put his forearm up on the fence next to Nathan's head and leaned right in to stare him eye to eye. "Now," he smiled. He spoke in a much softer tone now, but it sure wasn't any less threatening. "You got two choices. Either you go inside quietly, don't go squawking to your mommy and daddy like a pussy-boy, or you keep acting like a bratty asshole kid and I kick your fucking pip-squeak ass."
Nathan's eyes went wide and he started to nod. He didn't exactly say which option he was agreeing with – he tried to stutter something, but it wasn't legible. His head just bobbed up and down like it was sitting on a spring and Ace had just tapped it.
"Don't you ever break a deal with me kid. And don't forget, I know where you live."
Ace slapped the kid upside the head and left him trembling against the wall. But the first moment he got, he bolted in doors – I doubted to call the cops. Ace looked at Eyeball and Natalie huddled together and gave Eyeball a slight nod. Eyeball did the same. Natalie mumbled something about how she should go see her brother, but Eyeball wrapped his arm around her neck and assured her he wouldn't be a bother no more.
----
That didn't go anywhere near what I planned, but sometimes the characters write the story themselves, don't they? I wonder where they'll take us next... ;) Please vote if you want to find out!