Instead of helping the others unpack the lunch and set up, AJ wandered off by himself, standing next to the edge of the creek that flowed through the edge of the park. With a shrug of indifference, AJ drew in a deep breath of niccotine as he tried to console himself with his security blanket of the tobacco smoke.
A few moments had passed before AJ realized that someone was standing next to him.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
"Christ - D - why the hell do you sneak up on people?" AJ rasped as tossed the cigarette butt into the creek.
"I didn't sneak up on you, I've been standing next to you for almost five minutes," Howie defended.
Drawing a fresh cigarette from the pack, AJ scowled. "Yeah..yeah."
The two were silent for a few moments before Howie finally spoke. "What are you thinking about?"
"Stuff."
Howie nodded wordlessly and then directed his attention to the other side of the park where Nick had been joined by Brian on the wooden pirate ship. He shook his head, laughing. "Would you look at those two!"
AJ glanced over toward the play area and then quickly directed his attention back toward picking off invisible lint on his tee shirt.
"We should go join them.....that looks like fun," Howie continued.
"Go on, no one's stopping you," AJ muttered.
Howie's expression softened as he looked at the younger Latino. "Jay....you gotta stop doing this to yourself."
AJ forced a chuckle. "Stop doing what? I'm not doing anything."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"
"Just drop it.....okay? You guys seem to be so hell bent on analyzing me for every freakin thing that happens and I'm getting sick of it!"
"You can't keep blaming yourself," Howie pressed.
"Blaming myself for what?"
"For what happened to Nick----"
AJ rolled his eyes as he laughed bitterly. "So here we go again......I'm out here smoking a cigarette by myself and you automatically think I am standing here thinking that it's all my fault and I'm wallowing in self pity!"
"What else are we suppose to think?" Howie asked.
AJ shrugged his shoulders as he took a deep drag from the cigarette.
Howie stepped in front of the tattooed rebel. "Jay.....remember what I said about taking this one day at a time?"
AJ nodded. "Yeah...but it's kinda hard to do that."
Howie sighed. "I know......we all want Nick to get better instantly but this will take time and remember the docs said that he may never be 100% of what he used to be. We have to accept this and just take it one day at a time."
"But still.....if I had stayed with him instead of just dumping the whiskey down the drain, he would be the same Nick---"
"AJ would you just listen to what I'm telling you! Nick was an adult and made his own choices but unfortunately for him it was the wrong choices. What happened to him was an accident! It wasn't deliberate and there was nothing you could have done to stop him from mixing those medications with the alcohol that was in his system.....how do you know that he wouldn't have done that to himself with you laying in the room? You can't second guess yourself! Nick would probably be blaming himself too if the tables were turned but you know what? You gotta just start taking this one day at a time and pray that things will get better for Nick."
AJ stared at Brian and Nick playing on the pirate ship. "I just want him to be better."
"I know...."
Drawing a last drag from the cigarette, AJ flicked the butt into the creek with his thumb and index finger.
"Jay you shouldn't do that!" Howie admonished.
"Shut the fuck up," AJ growled. "That's Kevin's platform to complain about the environment."
"Yeah but still---"
"Let's go over and kick some pirate ass," AJ rasped as he started off in the direction of the play area.
"I'm right behind ya," Howie called out as he ran to catch up.
"Halt! Who goes there?" Nick sternly cried out from the side of the ship.
"Permission to come aboard?" Howie playfully asked.
Nick peered over the edge. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"Cap'an AJ and his first mate Howie," AJ called out.
"First mate? I wanna be the captain!" Howie whined.
"You'd be more like Cap'n Crunch," AJ snarled.
"Ahoy there!"
Howie and AJ directed their gaze to the crows nest ontop of the play ship. "Rok, I thought you were scared of heights!" AJ rasped.
"I am," Brian admitted. "It's not that high up," he added.
"Silence! you do not have permission to speak, mate," Nick barked.
Brian saluted Nick, masking a look of stern expression on his face. "Permission to speak?"
"NO!"
AJ laughed at Nick's response.
Nick directed his attention back to AJ, pointed a tree branch at him. "I will shoot you you for that!"
AJ cocked his head to one side. "Pirates didn't use guns, dumbass!"
"Do too," Nick argued.
"Do not!" AJ countered.
"Do too--"
"Guys.....guys! It's Nick's game and if he says pirates have guns then for the love of God, let him have a gun!" Howie stated.
Nick gestured with the stick at Howie. "He can come aboard," then he pointed at AJ. "you can't."
"Try and stop me you little freak," AJ challenged as he took a step forward.
"I'll shoot you if you take another step!" Nick threatened.
"GUYS.....LUNCH IS READY!" Kevin called out from the picnic area.
Nick wasted no time as he climbed onto of the edge of the ship and jumped landing feet first in the sandy ground below, running full speed toward the picnic area.
"Well there's one thing that hasn't changed," AJ pointed out as he waited for Brian to climb off the ship.
"What's that?" Howie asked.
"That kid never misses a meal."
"Here Nick you need to wash your hands before you touch anything," Kevin reminded as he handed a bottle of antibacterial hand wash to the young man.
Nick balked at the bottle. "I don't need to, my hands aren't dirty."
"Yes they are, you've been playing on that ship and you need to wash your hands."
Flipping the top of the lid off Nick, sniffed the contents. "This smells yucky."
"Would you just wash your hands!"
"But it smells," he protested.
Kevin handed a napkin to the young man. "So wipe your hands off afterwards."
"Nick pass that bottle to me when you get done," Howie asked.
Nick handed the bottle over to the Latino.
"You wash your hands first," Kevin reminded.
"It smells!"
"Nick you need to wash the germies off your hands," Howie stated. "See, just a little squirt and rub your hands together and it's done. No big deal."
"Then how come he didn't wash his hands before eating?" Nick scowled as he pointed at AJ holding a chicken leg in his hand.
"Because AJ is a dumbass," Brian replied. "Bone, wash your hands before you touch anything else!"
AJ glared at Brian. "Why? My hands aren't dirty."
Kevin leveled a dark stare at the rebel. "Set a good example!"
AJ tossed the drumstick onto the paper plate. "Okay okay...."
Nick watched as AJ squirted a small amount of the colorless liquid into the palm of his hand and rubbed them together. He couldn't help but take notice of the young blonde studying his movements and then tossed the bottle to the young man. "See Kaos, just a little squirt and you're done."
Finally, Nick obediently opened his hands and waited as Howie squirted a small amount into the open palm. After he was finished washing his hands, he sat patiently as the others were filling their plates.
Brian noticed Nick sitting there not making a move toward the food. "Aren't you gonna eat? I thought you were hungry."
"No one fixed my plate," Nick quietly said.
"This ain't a restaurant boy, just fix yourself stuff," AJ replied.
"I've never done that," Nick answered sheepishly.
"It's okay Nicky you can do that yourself, just grab a plate and dig in," Kevin urged.
"Yeah it's okay Nick," Brian coaxed.
"Now I see why he hasn't progressed," AJ added with a mouthful of food.
Brian looked over at the rebel questioningly. "How so?"
"Well they don't let him fix his own plate...."
"He's in a facility, I'm sure their meals aren't set up like a buffet line," Kevin pointed out as he watched Nick help himself to a small scoop of mashed potatoes. "Nick you can take more than that."
Nick hesitated for a moment and then quickly took a hearty scoop of the potatoes. Soon he was moving toward the salads and then helped himself to two large pieces of chicken.
"Now that's the Kaos I know and love," AJ smiled as he watched Nick sit down with his plate.
The picinic was eaten in silence as everyone helped themselves to seconds and thirds.
AJ groaned as he pushed the plate away, patting his stomach. "Boy that was good."
Nick burped loudly.
"And the manners that Kaos had is still there too I see," AJ commented with a grin.
"Did you have enough to eat little man?" Kevin asked.
Nick nodded. "It was good."
"We should have brought a clean shirt along with us," Kevin decided as he took notice of the spilled gravy on the front of the blonde's tee shirt.
"Here Nicky....wipe your shirt off with this," Howie commented as he handed a wet nap to the young man.
Nick obediently wiped the shirt and quickly threw the towelette down, looking up at Kevin. "Can I go back and play now?"
"You just finished eating, don't you think you need to let your food settle, you'll get a cramp," the Kentuckian replied.
"Dude, thats for swimming," AJ rasped.
"So are you going to go with him?"
"Kaos doesn't need anyone to tag along right now," AJ replied as he drew a cigarette out of a pack.
"C'mon AJ......I'll let you on the ship," Nick begged.
"Go on.....I'll catch up after I have my smoke," AJ said.
Nick then looked at Brian. "Will you go with me?"
Brian groaned. "Nick I'm so full I don't think I can budge."
"No one wants to play," Nick pouted.
"Go ahead, we'll be over there in a little bit," Howie encouraged with a smile. Without hesitating, Nick ran off toward the ship with the rest of his band brothers watching him from the picnic table.
"It's your turn to go play pirates Kevin," AJ pointed out as he exhaled a cloud of cigarrette smoke.
"If I go, we all go," Kevin replied. "I need to clean this up before we do anything."
"You are acting like D," AJ laughed as he watched the older man clear the table.
Howie narrowed his eyes at the rebel. "So what's wrong with cleaning up after dinner?"
AJ shook his head and laughed. His laughter was cut short when he heard the sound of a car pulling into the parking lot. "Shit.......we got company."
Brian's eyes followed AJ's. "So? It's a public place and I'm sure they'll leave us alone."
"I'm not worried about us," AJ rasped as he watched the group of young girls exit the car.
