A/N: I need one more vote on my poll before I close it xD

Chapter Twenty-One

Guilt Tripped

Something wasn't quite right here. Reese could see that easily because he had a good eye, but it was obvious that something was wrong. Even Tommy had noticed it, and he generally didn't notice anything that didn't have fluttering eyelashes or a skirt. Tommy had abandoned the drive for the middle of the road, and was now weaving lazily on the bicycle, watching Reese warily. Taylor had also abandoned his side to perch herself on a wall across the street, where she watched Tommy like a hungry vulture.

Gary looked terrible. He was pale, his eyes were slightly bloodshot and he was twitching like he had a low electric current running through the top half of his body. His eyes were darting back and forth from Reese to the house, then back to Reese, like he was half expecting Elliott to pop her head out of the window and prove that his son was lying to him.

'Out then huh?' he asked, flicking his nose jerkily with his thumb. 'Yeah I guessed so. Suppose the draw of all that green was too much for her.'

Reese narrowed one eye at his father. He was acting like a junkie from Blue Skies; shifting from foot to foot and compulsively rubbing his arm or the back of his neck. But Reese knew that Gary wasn't acting like this because of drugs, it was because of the lack of drugs.

'That's the thing about your mom, kid,' Gary half chuckled, starting to pace and then stopping abruptly. 'She's easily influenced. Stick a bag of crap in a wig in front of her and tell her she wants it, and after a while she'll be convinced she does. And if it's a persuasive guy like Cole Oakley... well, she doesn't have a chance in hell. He could probably convince her to jump off a bridge with an umbrella.'

Reese frowned. 'Don't be ragging on my mom.'

Gary chuckled and shook his head. 'I'm not, Reese, I'm not. I'm telling you the truth. Jeez you know that better than anyone. '

He reached out to prod Reese in his shoulder, but the teen took a step back. Tommy slowed down, head lifting up, and watched like he was expecting a fight to break out. Even Taylor had given up watching him and was now curiously peering at the two dark haired males on the drive. Gary smirked at Reese's reaction to him and glanced towards the house again. Instantly his smirk vanished and was replaced by a worried, exhausted look.

'She's gone out with Cole Oakley then, huh?' he mused aloud. 'Figures.' He cocked an eyebrow at Reese. 'They gone to the Vale?'

Reese shrugged, not liking the weird gleam in his father's eye. 'I don't know,' he lied. 'They were in the car so they could have gone to the next town over or something.'

Gary laughed and glanced around at the other teenagers. 'Like you and your little cronies weren't getting ready to head down to the Vale and crash their little date. You got your smarts from me, Reese, so don't try to pull one on me. I would have done the exact same thing... Well, I would have gotten someone else to do the exact same thing.'

'What do you care anyway?' Reese asked, suddenly annoyed by his father's behaviour and the fact his lie had been called out. It didn't seem to matter that it wasn't long ago when he was adamant at putting an end to Elliott and Cole's date. Since Gary had turned up and been so much of an asshole about it, he realised he wanted to defend them. 'So what if mom's off out with some guy? It's not like you're married or something. She didn't turn up at your place and start spouting crap when you were seeing that skanky tramp from New Coventry.'

Gary's eyes darkened. That was a topic that had generally gone ignored until now. A few months ago Reese had seen him out in a bar in New Coventry with some slut, the bar of them drunk off their faces and all over each other. The slut was a well known tramp, one of the Lombardi clan. Not all of them had been as lucky as Lola Lombardi – she had bagged herself a 94 year old millionaire in LA. But whether Gary had just picked her up for the night or it had been a regular thing, Reese didn't know. And frankly, he didn't care.

'You need to let it go, man,' Reese went on, shaking his head. 'It's pretty pathetic really. You were dating at school. That was like... half your life ago, and you still come sniffing around here like some great big loser and whining when she goes out with someone.' Now it was his turn to chuckle, and it sounded unsettlingly like Gary's. 'You're like, what, thirty? And you still can't just go ahead and tell her? Not that she'd care the way you look now. When was the last time you took your meds, huh dad?'

Gary was scowling deeply, his frame now rigid instead of jerky. After a moment of clenching and unclenching his jaw, he managed to force a smirk and a thin laugh. 'Since when did you become such a smart-ass?'

'I guess it's just another wonderful personality trait I got from you.' Reese replied. 'You better not hang around waiting for her to come back. It's got screw all to do with you where she is or who she's with, so if you try and make her feel bad about it I'll kick your ass.'

Gary laughed loudly. 'You'll what?' he asked, cupping his hand around his ear. 'Jeez, Reese. You're starting to sound like Jimmy frigging Hopkins.'

Reese drew his eyebrows together sharply. 'Yeah, well I guess you pick up stuff like that from someone who was your dad for ten years. At least Jimmy was a good parent.'

Head shot. Gary was silenced. He stared incredulously at Reese for a long moment. Tommy had come to a stop in the middle of the road, gawping at them. Taylor was grinning broadly, eyes gleaming and probably wishing for a fight.

After what seemed like forever to Reese, Gary blinked. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Then his eyebrows came together and he shook his head, waving a dismissive hand. 'Whatever.' He muttered, and then turned and stalked away down the street.

Reese watched after him, feeling strangely anxious. He had been in arguments before, but never with his dad. The guy had such an intense stare; you could never figure out whether he was going to laugh at you or try and pop your eyes out. He felt bad for saying that about Jimmy; Reese was well aware that Gary was still raw about the fact that Jimmy Hopkins had practically raised his kid, but... well... he had been a jerk. Something needed to be said to knock him off his high horse.

'Dude. That was intense.' Tommy commented, coming up beside Reese on the bike. 'I thought you two were gonna start brawling or something. Just so you know, I would have totally been right there beside you if it had.'

Reese eyed him. 'Yeah, whatever Tommy.' He turned around and picked up his bike from where he had put it down on the drive. 'Come on. It's getting late and I want to get down to the Vale.'

Tommy grinned. 'Awesome. Oh man, I can't wait to get down there. What should we do, huh? I think we should get some crabs and shit and dump them in his fancy car. Maybe put one in the glove box for when the posing loser goes to get his sunglasses out.'

Reese shot him an irritated look. He was in a bad mood now, and Tommy wasn't the best person to have around when you're in a bad mood. 'Why the hell would he be wearing sunglasses? It's dark.'

Tommy paused and considered this. 'Well... we could always just pay a tramp to puke in it. I've seen this guy in Blue Skies, right, he can barf on demand. Seriously, go down and offer him a dollar and he'll spew right there in front of you.' He chuckled and shook his head. 'Awesome...' His expression suddenly changed to one of discomfort and he glanced around.

Taylor had rejoined them. 'You should have totally fought with your dad,' she smirked at Reese. 'Maybe ripped each other's shirts off or something. Rub some baby oil on or something.'

'If you're coming then I want you to be quiet.' Reese told her. 'Get on the bike and shut the hell up.'

'Ooh, dominating.' Taylor giggled, stepping onto the stunt pegs on the back of Reese's BMX. 'I like the more submissive kind.' She reached out and ruffled Tommy's hair, making him recoil and almost fall off his bike.

'Let's get going already,' Tommy frowned, cycling ahead. 'I've got a million and one ideas of how we can trash this date.'

Reese shook his head as he got his foot on the pedal. 'We're not trashing it anymore, Tommy.'

Tommy turned and gaped at him. 'What? Why the hell not?'

Reese started pedalling with Taylor gripping onto his shoulders. 'We're gonna make sure nothing goes wrong. Got that? This date is gonna go perfectly.' He began to pedal towards the Vale with his passenger standing on the back. Tommy stared after them, jaw open, then finally muttered a curse and followed.