Chapter Seven: Spit and revenge
Twenty minutes later the guys figured out I was dug in. I could hear them talking on the other side, but frankly I didn’t care what they were saying. Actually I could guess what they were saying, “Nick’s such a baby, Nick’s pouting, We should get him out of there before his Mom comes, We could dump his body in the waste management shoot.”
“Nick?” A soft knock at the door. “Nick? You in there?” Kevin is so mentally sharp. I’ll bet he even knows the speed of dark. “Nick?” That’s my name, don’t wear it out. “What ya doing in there?” What the h...e...double knives does he think I’m doing in here? I could hear AJ laughing. At least I knew what he thought I was doing in here. “Come on out, OK?”
I have no intention of acknowledgeing that statement. Or question. Darn, I have a grammar test Friday.
“Nick? I’m sorry.” I never thought I would say this, but I am SO tired of hearing Kevin say he’s sorry.
“Nick?” Maybe he thought I was drowning myself in the tub. Not likely. I hadn’t drained it after my bath, no way I’m sticking my head in that toxic waste.
“Come on Nick. So I told AJ. It’s not like it has never happened to the rest of us!” Not in front of me it hasn’t. “AJ even got a “happy” on stage the other night!” Thanks for sharing.
“NICK! Damn it, what’s the big deal?”
“With Nick noth...uh! What the f...”
“Shut up AJ so help me. Nick, your Mom will be here any minute. What do you think she’ll think of this?” I have no idea what she’ll think of this. Frankly I couldn’t care less. I did care that AJ had made, or had attempted to make, another lame joke and Kevin had given him the ammo. As far as I was concerned they were both in for it, as soon as I figure out what “it” was.
I guess we could have kept this exchange up for some time but my meds were wearing off. My entire face was throbbing, my head was hurting and I really needed to lay down. So...
“OK. I’ll come
out.” But first, a little revenge. I thought of
gum, big sticks of chewing gum. This helped me work up a
good mouth of spit. Spit is very important when AJ has offended
thee. I licked my right hand, really sloppy, wet
licks. Then I opened the door with my left. Fate was
on my side. Kevin was to my left, AJ to my right.
Fate had the
foresight to have AJ in a sleeveless shirt.
“Nick, thank...” Kevin made a move to take my arm, I guess to lead me to the bed. As he did I went to my right and faked loosing my balance. AJ, ever the defender of the weak, moved in to help. I let him have it. My big, wet, sloppy spit hand, right on his forearm. It took a few seconds for the sensation to register, but when it did the impact was more than I had hoped for.
“Nick?” Very soft. Too soft. Better make a break for it now. I turned back to Kevin as AJ built up steam. Kevin would protect me, I hoped. “NICK! You little shit!” AJ lunged at me. Lord, move Nick, move!
“AJ!” Kevin, thank the Lord, pushed me behind his back. “What are you doing?”
“That little bastard SPIT on me! It’s spit! SPIT!” AJ hates spit. It grosses him out. “I’m gonna..”
“Your ‘gonna’ so nothing. You made the lame joke, now live with it.” Kevin’s tolerance for revenge was high. Working with the four of us it had to be. “Now calm down.”
“But he spit on ME!” My goodness. I had spit on the great and mighty AJ. “All I did was make a little joke.” Um...Aje, that’s the point.
That’s when I noticed Brian and Howie sitting on the bed. Howie looked amused by the entire scene. Brian looked in turn guilty when he glanced at me and mad when he glanced at AJ. Damn, damn, damn.
“You told Brian and Howie!” I know AJ had done it. First, AJ tells everyone everything. Second, Brian was looking at him, not Kevin. AJ had the good grace to look ashamed, even as he was trying to sneak around Kevin for one good punch.
“Stop it, AJ. Sit down. We have to talk.” Oh, h...e...double ‘l’s. We were going to get a lecture. Watch them blame this on me. “Let me get Nick his medication.” Thank you, a whole lot.
AJ settled in the chair, after a quick trip to the bathroom to wash off the spit. Howie took another chair while Brian sat on the other bed. I was starting to feel really bad so I decided to curl up in mine while I waited for Kevin. That’s what I intended, my knees had other plans. Halfway to the bed they gave out, and I would have hit the floor face down, by now a familiar if somewhat dangerous position, if AJ had not seen it coming and made a grab for me. He didn’t completely stop my decent, but he did keep me from another emergency room visit. As it was he grabbed my arm, turning me as I fell. I landed on my butt, which has adequate padding.
“Kevin! Nick almost passed out.” I did not. I saw and felt everything. I’m just tired. Kevin was in no mood to debate the issue, and I was in no condition, so I allowed Kevin and AJ to help me to my bed. Suddenly all four guys were fussing over me, tucking me in, getting me a sprite, giving me my pills. If there had been a diaper nearby I would have been in real trouble. I should have been grateful that they cared. I should have thanked them for all their support. I shouldn’t have opened my mouth.
“Go away.” I sounded just like a five year old. Damn. I was trying for Garbo. “I wanna be alone.”
Kevin sighed. “Fine. Your Mom will be here in a minute with some breakfast for you. We’ll be in Brian’s room if you need us.” He ushered the other guys out. AJ hung back a bit, and looked over his shoulder. I thought he wanted to apologize. No such look, he just shot me the finger.
I rolled over on my right side. I tried to fall back to sleep, that seemed like the only thing to do. Then it occurred to me, AJ was mad. Now I realize that AJ being mad at me was nothing new, but the fact that he had ammo, humiliating ammo, and a conscious with more holes in it than Swiss cheese, was quite disturbing. This morning he had told Howie and Brian, this afternoon, the world.
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