"All units, all units. We have a reported 417 near the gas station off of Rodney Street. Be on the lookout for any suspicious behavior"
"What's the difference between men and women?" Rick asked Shane.
They were cruising down the street in their squad car, looking to find their first lawbreaker of the day. It was a beautiful day outside and Rick couldn't even imagine someone wanted to commit a crime on a day like this, but stranger things had happened.
"That a trick question?" Shane asked. He had been Ricks partner for the last fifteen years, his best friend for the last thirty. They had first met when Rick had talked to a girl Shane had a thing for at recess. Shane gave him a black eye, so Rick gave him one back.
"Don't think, that I'm gonna apologize." Shane had said the day afterwards in the lunch line. "Wasn't expecting you too." Rick said.
Since then, for some strange reason they had been inseparable. In high school, Rick had been every teachers favorite student, and constantly been cautioned to stay away from the big bad thug, Shane Walsh. Rick had only rolled his eyes at them.
"An honest question." Rick stated, turning left at an intersection.
"Well to answer that question, I feel I must relate to you the story of Becky." Shane said referencing one of his numerous hookups over the years.
Rick rolled his eyes. This should be good.
"There was a time, when it had been mine and Becky's two month anniversary, and naturally she had wanted to celebrate it. In her defense this had been the longest time I had been with one women in years, so I guess the world should've celebrated."
"Day came where we supposed to come out to dinner. Nothing special, just the Applebee's on 35th St. She tells me "pick me up around 7", so of course when 7 rolls around, there I am. Sitting in her driveway with the car running. I call her, and she tells me she'll be out in 5. Of course I'm a little pissed. She told me 7, so naturally I assume we'd jet around 7. But being the good boytoy, I waited in the car for her."
"Now lemme ask you: How long do you think I waited?" Shane asked his partner, as they pulled into a BP parking lot. "I'm gonna give it a safe bet and sayyyyy eight minutes." Rick said, even though he knew he was likely wrong.
"Close but not even." Shane said shaking his head. "I waited in that car twenty-three damm minutes, before she came out and joined me."
"Now Becky was one of those green types, you know what I mean? She was always saying, we should switch to solar powered cars, to conserve our oil. Smart plan I have to agree with her there."
"But what I really wanted to say to her was, "Well bitch maybe if you knew how to tell time we wouldn't be in a gasoline crisis right now."
" I take it you did not?" Rick said and this time it was him shaking his head. His partner was known to operate without a filter on his words.
"I went and asked her very politely if she knew the difference between five minutes and twenty-three? I informed her about all the exhaust fumes I had pumped into our atmosphere while keeping the car running in her drive way."
"Ok you're doing good so far. You have the politeness down, hard to root against you." Rick said, even though he knew it was about to get so much worse.
"She starts going off on me. "You sound like my damm father. Always complaining about the damm gasoline and the time." Now at this moment I tried to assess the situation with her. She was telling me she had been hearing this all her life… yet she was still stupid to read a clock."
"Ok now you lost my support." Rick said again shaking his head. "I take it she did not appreciate this?"
"Well partner, "Shane grinned, " You know that cut beneath my eye about six months ago, that I saw was from a bar fight. Well let's just say the bar was the car, and her slapping me with her long ass nails was the fight."
"So?" Rick said still waiting on his original question to be answered
"So Rick, the difference between men and women, is quite frankly: Men know how to read a damm clock." Shane finished.
Rick burst out laughing, temporally brought out of his funk he had been mired in for the past few days.
"Why you askin man? What's the deal?" Shane asked, after things got quiet again.
"Well-" Rick started, but stopped. "What is it buddy?" Shane asked. If something was up with his best friend, he had a right to know.
Rick sighed. "Couple days ago, I found a strange phone on the kitchen counter. I thought one of Carl's friends might have left it there by accident, but when I asked Laurie about it, she got all red-faced and changed the subject. That got me curious, so I called the phone company and gave them the serial number on the back of the phone. Turns out it's registered to a Laurie Peterson."
"Maybe it's an old phone of hers? Why else would it be under her maiden name?" Shane said, knowing what was going through his friends mind right now.
"If it was an old phone, why was it sitting on the counter? If it was an old phone, why was it an iPhone, and not a flip phone? I tell you Shane, I think she might be-." Rick said, but his partner interrupted him
"Now just stop yourself there. Laurie would never do that to you." Shane said quickly, trying to kill his friend's suspicions.
"I mean I know we've been going through a rough patch lately, but-"
They were interrupted by the sound of Shane's cell phone ringing. Shane rejected the call immediately, and set the phone in the drink holder.
"She would never do it man. The connection I see between you and that woman, it's like nothing I've se-" Shane said but again they were interrupted by the phone ringing again.
"I'm gonna go in and get a Redbull so you can answer that. Who knows maybe it's Becky wanting to come back for round two." Rick said, offering a weak smile as he got out of the car.
"What the hell-" He heard Shane shout into the phone as he walked inside the gas station.
"How's it going today Rick." A tall dark-skinned man said from behind the counter. "Just fine Darnell." Rick said smiling at the man. He had been coming into this gas station for the last few years and gotten to know the workers here pretty well. It being in the neighborhood it was, he tried to stop by every time he was in the area.
"Let me guess. You're here for a nice big Twinkie to start your day off, cause you missed breakfast?" Darnell said.
"Close but so far away. I'm just in for my usual wings." He said referencing the Redbull commercial that was playing constantly.
"Cut fresh from griffin's just this morning." Darnell joked. "Aisle Three." Rick walked to the back of the store, and picked up a Redbull from the refrigerator.
What if Laurie wasn't cheating on him? Maybe Shane was right. There were so many possibilities about what might be going on.
When he got home that night, he and Laurie would have to sit down and have a talk.
Suddenly, Rick heard the door to the store slam open. "Hands where I can fuckin see him!" Somebody yelled out.
Rick crouched down behind the rack that divided the aisles, and quickly drew his Colt Python from his holster. Not being able to peek over the top, under threat of exposing himself, he started to creep towards the front of the store. Poking his head out slightly, he saw a man turned away from him wearing a red hoodie, holding a gun on Darnell who had his hands up. "Just take it easy man." Darnell said softly.
"Shut your goddamm mouth!" The man yelled out, cocking the pistol that he held. "All the money from the register now! Do it before I get trigger happy!"
"Put the gun down now." Rick said loudly, pointing his Colt at the man. He ducked back behind cover, as the man whirled around and shot a round in his direction. "Drop your weapon! Or else I'll put a hole in this son of a bitch's skull."
"And what then?" Rick called out. "Not only would you have robbery on your hands, but murder. You'd go to jail for the rest of your life son."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, now won't we?" The man yelled out.
"Just think about what you're doing! You don't have to do this." Rick called, quietly loading a round into his gun. He didn't want to have to shoot this man, but he would do what he had to.
"Yeah. Yeah I do." The man said almost in-audibly.
Was that regret Rick heard in his voice? Where there was regret, there was a chance. "You haven't killed anybody yet. All this is an attempted robbery. Don't make it a homicide."
The man didn't say anything. "I'm going come out now. My gun's going to be lowered. Let's try to talk this through." Rick said. He slowly moved out from behind cover, his gun at ease. In front of him, a light skinned male pointed a small pistol at him. "Let's just talk this out man." Rick said holding his gun, and made sure the man saw his finger was off the trigger.
"It's too late. If I don't do this, he'll kill me." The man said, the gun shaking in his head.
"Who? Who will kill you?" Rick asked, trying to keep him talking. No matter what the man said, it was never too late for a second chance.
"I'm in deep man, I need this money." The man said ignoring Rick's question.
"I can help you, if you just turn yourself in. Became a state witness. You can help us put whosever doing this to you, away for life." Rick tried to reason with the man. He was losing control of the situation fast. He had to end this. Now.
The man frantically shook his head. "You don't know how connected he is. The mayor, the governor. Anybody who's anybody belongs to him."
The man aimed his gun at Rick's chest. His eyes were alight with remorse.
"For what it's worth I'm sorry." He said.
So this is how it would end? Shot dead by some crazy robber in a gas station. Some men would be begging to the Lord above, asking for forgiveness for all the sins they had committed in life, but Rick?
Rick's only thoughts were of his family.
Suddenly a shot rang out, and the man fell to the ground, his gun flashing. Rick felt the hot metal, lodge in the center of his chest.
"RICK!" A voice called out as he fell to the side knocking a display that had snacks in it, to the ground.
"Just hang on buddy. I'm gonna get you patched up." Shane said, appearing at his side, holding his head up from the ground. "Call 911!" Shane yelled behind him. "Just stay with me buddy." Shane whispered to his friend as Ricks eyes fluttered. Tears started to fall freely down Shane's face. "Oh no no no man. Don't do this to me. You ain't got my permission to die."
"Stay with me man." Shane croaked out, as Rick's eyes slowly closed.
A/N: As a huge fan of the Walking Dead, I can't even describe how much I'm looking forward to this series
#IAmNegan