Chapter 2
The four had been
driving for a good four hours and decided it was time for a
break. Summer parked the car on a mysteriously deserted road, lit up
by the glowing lights from the only building on the street, which
looked promisingly like a cafe. They all got out of the car and stood
there silently for a while, looking at the building.
"Well
I say we go there," Seth said, yet again breaking the
silence.
"Good thinking man," Ryan replied
sarcastically, as it was obviously the only place they could
go.
"No Ryan, its 'GT' remember,
with the initial thing we did..."
"Dude that
was like 2 years ago, and I'm pretty sure you were high at
that point." Marissa and Summer looked at eachother; confused.
There was a small pause.
"We'll explain later," Ryan
said.
"Oh I don't think you need to, no one will ever
understand Seth even if they tried," Marissa said
jokingly.
"True, so true..." They all began walking to
the cafe as Seth stood there, pretending to be offended.
"Hey!
That was very hurtful right there Miss Cooper!" They all ignored
him and continued walking, yet he still stood there.
"Come on
Cohen, otherwise you'll be left in the dark on your own!" Summer
called to him.
"Hey I'm a man, I'm not afraid of the dark. Geez Summer do you not know me?" Summer ran back to Seth and grabbed his wrist.
"Just a little too well." She pulled Seth's arm and they both ran and caught up with Ryan and Marissa.
They opened the door of the building to reveal crowds and crowds of people. The air was full of smoke and there was barely a gap to walk through with the many creepy old men who were drinking and drowning their sorrows. It was more like a bar than a café, one of those places where lonely perverts went to drink because they'd wasted their lives on nothing better. The whole room went silent as everyone stared at the four of them, until someone wolf whistled and everyone began laughing.
"Well this looks promising," Seth struggled to speak amongst the loud laughter's of these animals.
"I think we should go," Ryan was indicating for them to go.
"Hell no! I've been driving for like 4 hours, a girl needs a break you know," Summer said firmly.
Ryan looked at Summer then gave in.
"Fine. But be careful, these guys are…"
"…creepy? Yeah you don't say," Marissa looked at the crowds of men with a scared face, it reminded her of the experience with Trey, and how powerless she'd felt. She swallowed bravely. Ryan saw that she was uncomfortable, so he put his hand on her back as they followed Seth and Summer. It felt nice for Marissa to know that Ryan was still there to protect her, even after shooting his brother.
They made their way through the crowds as people stared and made faces at them, inappropriate ones. One man pushed their drunken friend into Summer but she just chose to ignore it by pushing the man away and making a disgusted face.
"Cohen these people are creepy!" Summer complained to Seth.
"I know Summer, just… keep going," Seth put his hand on Summer's back and gently pushed her along until they finally found somewhere to sit.
"Right so, what are we having?" Ryan was getting ready to go and order the drinks, until Seth's phone started to ring. He picked it up and looked at the screen, then looked up at Ryan.
"It's my mom,"
"You gotta turn it off man. The more she rings the more guilty you're gonna feel,"
"But I have to tell her dude, she has a right to know…"
"Yeah! Well maybe you shouldn't of ran off in the first place, if you tell her where we are then she's gonna come after us, and that's not fair man. I wanted to leave, you didn't have to follow me, you could of just stayed with your parents and everything would be happy again…"
"Ryan! Enough," Summer interrupted sharply. There was only so much that Seth could take. There was a long pause of silence as the four of them sat there awkwardly.
"You said that everything would be happy if I hadn't ran off. Well you're wrong, 'cause you 'd still be gone… and you're as much of a Cohen as I am," Seth said calmly. Ryan looked away as if he was going to cry, he realised that he did have a family back there who cared about him, but right now he couldn't be with them.
"Look this isn't gonna help anyone; us arguing. Seth, if you turn your phone off then it'll be a lot easier for you to do this. But if you don't then… maybe it wasn't a good idea you coming after all," Marissa said. Seth looked at Marissa, then Summer, then Ryan. This was the decider point for him, if he switched it off then he would come with them, or if he kept it on then he would go home. He picked up his phone and switched off. They all looked at him.
"Well it's not gonna be the fab four without the brains," He said, and they laughed.
"Or the beauty," Marissa fluttered her eyelashes jokingly.
"Or the brawn…" Ryan said plainly, as usual.
"Or the bitch… no the boobs! That one's better," Summer said.
"I'd say both," Seth said casually.
"Cohen!" She punched his arm but he just pulled her towards him and hugged her. Ryan and Marissa laughed.
"How cheesy are we?" He muttered to her.
"Having our own little nicknames? I'd say very cheesy, and pathetic, but quite cute aswell," Marissa smiled cheekily, knowing this would cause a reaction to Ryan.
"Oh you big softy!" Ryan laughed and began tickling Marissa as she giggled and laughed.
The four of them had a drink and something to eat whilst deciding on where they were actually going to go.
"Right, I gotta pee. Anyone else? Before we leave and don't stop for like another four hours," Ryan asked.
"Just as long as I'm not driving this time, then I'm good," Summer said.
"I'll drive don't worry," Ryan made his way to the toilets. When he arrived in there it was surprisingly empty, considering the bar itself was so full. He undid his jeans and did his business as he heard a cough coming from behind him. He looked back to see an old looking man with a scruffy beard and torn clothes. Ryan nodded his head at him as if to say "hi" then turned back round to do his jeans up. He made his way to the sink as the man leapt on him and shoved him against the wall. Ryan was all ready to fight back until he noticed this man had a knife held to this throat. He could feel the man's warm breath thumping against his neck with an unbearable smell of alcohol and smoke.
"You give me everything you've got; money, valuables, ANYTHING… and you don't die. GOT IT?" The man's voice was angry and desperate. Ryan breathed slowly to stop his fear getting the best of him. He was stuck. He had no money. He had nothing.
