Chapter 3: Like Opening the Wound
As their shift came to a close, Rhuben and Riley taught Cody the close down procedures for the restaurant. Since it was his first day, Cody mostly watched Riley and Rhuben, as well as washed the dishes. "Got all that Cody?" Rhuben asked him as she finished up the last few things.
"Yea," Cody replied dully, before returning to the sink, where his pile of dishes still sat, air drying.
"Those should be pretty much dry by now," Riley called over. "So you can put them back in the cooler for the morning shift."
Cody nodded as he picked up a pile of dishes and made his way over to the cooler. Using one hand to hold the pile against his body, he opened the door with the other hand and foot. After taking another moment to make sure he had a firm grip on everything, he walked into the cooler, put the dishes back on their respective shelves, shut the cooler behind him and walked back to the sink to pick up another load.
"What some help?" Riley asked him. She was done with her work for the night and moved around helping Rhuben, the other employees, and Jeremy finish putting everything else away.
"I got it," Cody called back with a slight tone of annoyance in his voice. He was growing more and more irritated at everyone constantly trying to do everything for him and not letting him do anything on his own. "I can handle this," Cody finished after grabbing a few dishes.
"Ok," Riley replied with a sigh.
"What's wrong with the new kid?" One of the other employees asked Riley.
Riley shook her head. "Nothing, probably just worn out. I dunno."
The other employee nodded before hanging up his apron and walking out for the night.
Cody carried his last load of dishes back to cooler before reaching to open the door. As he did so, a few plates began to slip. Bending in that direction Cody attempted to cradle the slipping dishes as he reached one handed to open the heavy door again. As Cody opened the door, the dishes continued to slip, causing him to divert his attention again. The awkward bent over position he was in as he held the dishes with his chin and arm made his attempt to open the door a difficult task. Straining slightly, and growing frustrated, Cody pulled hard on the door.
Suddenly pain tore through Cody's abdomen. He lost his grip on the door as well as a few dishes, as he hunched over in pain. A second later, the free dishes fell to the floor and shattered on impact with a loud noise that caught everyone's attention.
Teeth clenched, Cody looked down at the broken dishes as pain continued to burn through his mid-section. A slight pain also began to form in his chest. "Son of bitch!" Cody muttered to himself. He set the other dishes down as he began to clean up the mess, holding his abdomen the whole time.
"Cody you ok?" Jeremy asked as he arrived on the scene. Riley and Rhuben followed and arrived soon afterwards, along with several other employees.
"Fine," Cody said in a low cool voice. Riley and Rhuben saw his hand and realized what had probably happened.
"We'll get this," Riley said, motioning to Rhuben. Each of the girls began to help Cody clean up. He shot them both a look, but each of the girls ignored it.
"Ok, let me know if you need anything," Jeremy replied. "Cody, how about you clock out and head home? You've ha d a pretty full first day."
"Sorry about the dishes," Cody muttered.
Jeremy shook his head. "Everyone breaks at least one their first day." He then noticed Cody was still holding his mid-section. "You ok?" Jeremy asked.
"Just a cramp," Cody shot back.
"Ok," Jeremy replied. "We'll see you tomorrow." He helped Cody up. Although Cody tried to hide it, he wasn't happy that Jeremy had done so. A moment later, Jeremy headed back over to his office, leaving the twin girls and Cody to finish cleaning.
"I think he's right," Riley said to Cody. "You should probably clock out. Wait for Rhuben and me in the dining room."
"I can do this," Cody snapped. "I don't need your help." He clenched his teeth as the pain continued to flow through him.
"Obviously," Rhuben said, rolling her eyes. "Riley and I will finish this up."
Cody's eyes hopped between them and over towards Jeremy's office. Finally he nodded slowly and headed out to the dining room, and sat down angrily. Once seated, Cody lifted up his shirt a little and glanced at the bullet wound that was causing his pain. He growled under his breath.
Riley and Rhuben watched him as he left. "He's gotta learn to take it easy," Rhuben said.
"Or at least know when to ask for help," Riley replied shaking her head. A few moments later, the two girls were finished, so they clocked out and met Cody in the dining room.
"Feeling better?" Rhuben asked Cody.
"What?" Cody replied with an eye roll. "Look, I didn't need any help." Cody said as the three of them walked out into the night air and over to the bus stop.
"Cody look," Rhuben said, now trying to hold onto her temper. "You can't do everything. I don't care what you've been able to do, even you need help sometimes."
"The sooner you learn that," Riley said. "The better off you'll be. Or at least the longer you'll be alive, take your pick."
"Thanks," Cody said sarcastically. "But I think I can watch out for myself."
"No you can't." Rhuben snapped.
"Both of us know exactly what happened in there," Riley said. "So just get over yourself already."
"Yea?" Cody said, scruffing his breath. "And what's that?"
"In case you forgot," Rhuben said. "You just got out of the hospital two weeks ago. You should know it's going to be awhile before you recover from those!" She motioned at Cody's chest and abdomen.
"From what?" Cody said. "It's not the first time I've been hurt. Just ignore it and move on."
"Cody!" Rhuben snapped. "You got shot! Twice! You can't seem to get how lucky you were and how lucky you are that you're not dead right now!"
"Sure," Cody replied. "I'll log that away."
"Face it," Riley said. "You're still hurt. And you're going to be like that for awhile, so you might as well get used to it." She glared at him for the next few seconds as the bus pulled up. Now in silence, the three teens walked up onto the bus and sat down.
The bus ride home was a quiet one. Soon the bus pulled up to their stop, and the three teenagers walked off. Riley and Rhuben began to head towards their apartment, but Cody turned in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" Rhuben asked.
"For a walk," Cody responded. "I'll be back soon."
Rhuben opened her mouth to protest, but Riley put her hand on Rhuben's shoulder. "Let him go," she muttered. "He'll be back soon."
Rhuben nodded as she joined her sister. A moment later, the twins headed up to their room.
Cody kicked at the ground as he walked. "They think they know everything about me. I don't need their help, I can watch out for myself." He constantly mumbled under his breath. The pain in him had begun to die down, but was still a reminder that despite how independent he thought he was, he was still just as vulnerable as anyone else, especially with the physical state he was in. He knew he hadn't fully recovered yet, but wasn't ready to admit it, not even to himself.
Staring up at the night sky, Cody began to think about how unfair he had been to Rhuben and Riley when they tried to help him. "I guess they were just trying to help," Cody said to himself. "But still, I can take care of myself , can't they see that?" He sighed loudly to himself as he turned around to go back.
As Cody crossed an alleyway, he suddenly felt himself get thrust into the brick wall that made up the side of the alley. Cody flung his hands out to catch himself, but his face still hit. A half second later, Cody tasted blood forming in his mouth as his mouth also impacted the wall. "Big mistake," Cody muttered in a barely audible voice.
"Give me your money! Now!" Cody heard a gruff voice come from behind him.
Cody felt himself get pushed against the wall again. Using his hands, he bounced off it and at the same time, kicked both feet backwards, knocking away whoever was behind him.
After catching himself, Cody twisted around to see who had attacked him. Both quick motions caused pain to once again rip through his mid-section. Clenching his teeth and holding himself, Cody looked up, trying to hide his pain. He saw he had knocked his attacker over with his unexpected move. Cody smiled slightly as his attacker charged him again. Since it was dark out, Cody couldn't get a good look at whoever it was. What he could tell was it was a male, probably in his early thirties, with a dirty brown coat and oily jeans.
Trying to ignore the pain, Cody ducked down under the mugger's attack, wound up, and gave his attacker a full upper cut. Now knowing that his victim wasn't going to give in as easily as he thought, the mugger, quickly scrambled to his feet and took off, holding his mouth the whole time.
Breathing somewhat heavily, Cody groaned in pain. He lightly tapped his hand to his mouth. He narrowed his eyes as he pulled bloody fingers away from his mouth before wiping the blood on off on his pants. Still holding his burning chest and mid-section, Cody walked back to Riley and Rhuben's apartment.
Once he got back, Cody walked through the living room to the bathroom and began to wash up. Riley and Rhuben both saw this and quickly went to check on him. "You ok?" Rhuben asked.
"Fine," Cody replied, washing some blood off his lip. "Just someone tried to mug me. Didn't work out too well for him though."
"You see who it was?" Riley asked.
Cody shook his head. "Too dark, he ran away before I could get a good look at him," Cody replied, pain from his mid-section filled his voice as he put the toilet cover down and sat on top of it. As Cody wiped his mouth again he looked at the twins. "Look, about earlier," Cody continued in a slow voice. "I-I'm sorry." His eyes hopped back and forth between the two girls.
"It's fine," Rhuben said. "Let's get you cleaned up."
"Ok," Cody replied cracking a small smile. "Appreciate it."
The girls both nodded.
After finishing with his face and checking his hands, Cody slowly got up before heading back out to the living room where the two girls had been eating TV dinners when he walked in. Feeling somewhat hungry himself, Cody made one for himself before plopping himself on the floor with it. Although his pain was beginning to subside again, it still made eating difficult.
"Also," Cody said, looking back at the girls. "I'll be more careful."
"That I'd like to see," Rhuben said, smiling.
"So Jeremy said everyone breaks something their first day," Cody continued. "What happened with you two?"
"Um…" Riley said, a grin forming. "Let's just say we're lucky to still have that job."
"Yea, I think we hold the record," Rhuben said. "But you come close I think. You're the only one I know of to break a full serving platter also."
"Rub it in," Cody replied, his answer ending in a yawn. After he finished eating, he cleaned his dishes, took a hot shower, and went to bed. For awhile, Cody stared at the ceiling thinking to himself. He knew how much he hated being helped, but also knew that Riley and Rhuben meant well and he couldn't keep taking his anger out on them. Earlier had shown him how vulnerable he was for the time being and whether or not he liked it, he would need help.
This fact caused another cycle of thoughts to haunt Cody's mind. Visions of the days when he had relied on Zack began to fill his mind. He remembered the night he had lost his home and everything had happened in the days following. Then he remembered why Zack wasn't with him anymore. However along with all that, he also remembered his promise…he wouldn't give in again.
Cody soon yawned as fatigue from the day filled him. He rolled over and closed his eyes. Sleep however didn't come easy as Cody tossed and turned through most of the night…visions of Zack and memories of the night he died haunting his sleep…
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