It's all in the past
Chapter 6: Just got paid
A/N: Sorry for taking so long. I figured Warrick's past would have to do with his gambling addiction. I'm not sure how he got addicted to gambling so I'm making it up. Sorry if it doesn't make much sense. I have a migraine and a roommate who doesn't understand what a migraine is because she refuses to turn down her LOUD music! Sorry for the rant.
Warrick could feel his friends' gazes on him but he refused to look at them while he told his story. After hearing his friends' stories he never felt more proud of them, especially now that he knew what they'd gone through. He closed his eyes for a moment before he decided where to begin his story.
"When I was nineteen I got into the wrong crowd. My older brother was apart of it so naturally I had always wanted to be a part of it too, follow in his footsteps kind of thing I guess. I can still remember the pride in his eyes when I passed all their initiation tests and became an official member of the gang. It was one of the few times I would see such pride for me in his eyes.
"I really shouldn't call it a gang because we didn't do gang- like things. We just hung out, drank alcohol, and did some illegal gambling. Some of the guys were more into it than others. My brother was one of the worst of everyone in the group so I kept getting in deeper to try to please him.
"I also got involved with one of the new girl members of the group. My brother and her sister were dating and decided that we'd hit it off. We did get along pretty good but it was more of a brother/sister relationship than anything else. But we didn't have enough courage to tell our siblings so we pretended that we had fallen completely in love. I guess I did love her but it was in the same way that I love you guys. As a part of my family.
"Once, when Autumn and I were pretending to be on a date, our headquarters, for lack of a better word, was raided. Most of our members were caught and put in jail for a few days to 'smarten them up', as my brother put it. My mom had to come and bail him out, as did all the others' parents. Nobody was too pleased but that didn't stop us. The moment everyone was out of jail we were back in business.
"It was not even a month later when my brother, Baeley, and Autumn's sister, Alia, announced that they were engaged to be married. They had set a date for a few months from then. Everything seemed to be moving so fast, too fast. The world seemed to be spinning two times faster than the speed I was moving but there was nothing I could do.
"I found out months later that the only reason they decided to get married was that Alia was pregnant and Baeley was the father. They wanted to get married before they revealed that they'd had sex outside marriage, as that was still heavily frowned upon by our neighborhood back then.
"But that's a totally different story for another time. It really all started when Baeley found the perfect ring that he knew Alia would love. The only problem was it was way out of his price range, as in a thousand dollars over his price range. But he was determined to get her that ring. He made it his goal in life.
"He started hanging around casinos and race tracks so he could gamble. He was good at it, I'll admit that. I always got dragged into going with him, probably more since I was dating her little sister than since I was his little brother but I didn't care. I helped him slowly earn money and slowly we became addicts. We usually ended up losing more money than we made but we kept at it relentlessly.
"The wedding day was getting closer and closer but out minds were only on one thing: money. I know Baeley snuck out of the house one night, I assumed it was to go to some late night casino. The next thing I know the doorbell's ringing and the police are at our front door. They said Baeley was caught breaking into the jewelry store and they had found several items in his pockets, including the ring he wanted for Alia.
"That was a huge wake up call for everybody. Alia went to go see him at the jail only to find out that he'd hung himself. My brother, the one person who I wanted to be exactly like, was dead. I shut myself down and got myself heavily into debt. I felt the only way to keep Baeley's memory alive was to do the one thing I knew he loved, gambling. I spent my entire day and night at casinos, from the moment I woke up to the moment where I was on the verge of sleep. I was spinning out of control.
"Autumn and Alia found me one night and talked me into leaving before I wanted to. They took me to a small café and refused to let me go back to the casino. They asked me to look at what I was doing to myself and told me I was making my parents worry. They both said a lot of things that made a lot of sense. After I talked to them I went home and talked to my parents. I vowed to give up gambling for good and only remember the good times with Baeley, not the gang times or the bad times."
Warrick finally looked up to see the reactions on his friends' faces. He knew he shouldn't be as worried as he was; no one had made anyone else feel like their past made them less of a person but there was still that fear. He grinned slightly, mostly out of relief, when all of his friends' looks were supportive and not looks of horror and disappointment. They were a family.
A/N: Do you guys want their best times now or should I just end it here?
A/N: Sorry for taking so long. I figured Warrick's past would have to do with his gambling addiction. I'm not sure how he got addicted to gambling so I'm making it up. Sorry if it doesn't make much sense. I have a migraine and a roommate who doesn't understand what a migraine is because she refuses to turn down her LOUD music! Sorry for the rant.
Warrick could feel his friends' gazes on him but he refused to look at them while he told his story. After hearing his friends' stories he never felt more proud of them, especially now that he knew what they'd gone through. He closed his eyes for a moment before he decided where to begin his story.
"When I was nineteen I got into the wrong crowd. My older brother was apart of it so naturally I had always wanted to be a part of it too, follow in his footsteps kind of thing I guess. I can still remember the pride in his eyes when I passed all their initiation tests and became an official member of the gang. It was one of the few times I would see such pride for me in his eyes.
"I really shouldn't call it a gang because we didn't do gang- like things. We just hung out, drank alcohol, and did some illegal gambling. Some of the guys were more into it than others. My brother was one of the worst of everyone in the group so I kept getting in deeper to try to please him.
"I also got involved with one of the new girl members of the group. My brother and her sister were dating and decided that we'd hit it off. We did get along pretty good but it was more of a brother/sister relationship than anything else. But we didn't have enough courage to tell our siblings so we pretended that we had fallen completely in love. I guess I did love her but it was in the same way that I love you guys. As a part of my family.
"Once, when Autumn and I were pretending to be on a date, our headquarters, for lack of a better word, was raided. Most of our members were caught and put in jail for a few days to 'smarten them up', as my brother put it. My mom had to come and bail him out, as did all the others' parents. Nobody was too pleased but that didn't stop us. The moment everyone was out of jail we were back in business.
"It was not even a month later when my brother, Baeley, and Autumn's sister, Alia, announced that they were engaged to be married. They had set a date for a few months from then. Everything seemed to be moving so fast, too fast. The world seemed to be spinning two times faster than the speed I was moving but there was nothing I could do.
"I found out months later that the only reason they decided to get married was that Alia was pregnant and Baeley was the father. They wanted to get married before they revealed that they'd had sex outside marriage, as that was still heavily frowned upon by our neighborhood back then.
"But that's a totally different story for another time. It really all started when Baeley found the perfect ring that he knew Alia would love. The only problem was it was way out of his price range, as in a thousand dollars over his price range. But he was determined to get her that ring. He made it his goal in life.
"He started hanging around casinos and race tracks so he could gamble. He was good at it, I'll admit that. I always got dragged into going with him, probably more since I was dating her little sister than since I was his little brother but I didn't care. I helped him slowly earn money and slowly we became addicts. We usually ended up losing more money than we made but we kept at it relentlessly.
"The wedding day was getting closer and closer but out minds were only on one thing: money. I know Baeley snuck out of the house one night, I assumed it was to go to some late night casino. The next thing I know the doorbell's ringing and the police are at our front door. They said Baeley was caught breaking into the jewelry store and they had found several items in his pockets, including the ring he wanted for Alia.
"That was a huge wake up call for everybody. Alia went to go see him at the jail only to find out that he'd hung himself. My brother, the one person who I wanted to be exactly like, was dead. I shut myself down and got myself heavily into debt. I felt the only way to keep Baeley's memory alive was to do the one thing I knew he loved, gambling. I spent my entire day and night at casinos, from the moment I woke up to the moment where I was on the verge of sleep. I was spinning out of control.
"Autumn and Alia found me one night and talked me into leaving before I wanted to. They took me to a small café and refused to let me go back to the casino. They asked me to look at what I was doing to myself and told me I was making my parents worry. They both said a lot of things that made a lot of sense. After I talked to them I went home and talked to my parents. I vowed to give up gambling for good and only remember the good times with Baeley, not the gang times or the bad times."
Warrick finally looked up to see the reactions on his friends' faces. He knew he shouldn't be as worried as he was; no one had made anyone else feel like their past made them less of a person but there was still that fear. He grinned slightly, mostly out of relief, when all of his friends' looks were supportive and not looks of horror and disappointment. They were a family.
A/N: Do you guys want their best times now or should I just end it here?