Jokes and payback.
"Chris?!"
Chris glanced up and saw Teddy standing on the sidewalk in front of him. Chris was on the way to Jillian's house to baby-sit. He had been worried he would miss Teddy seeing as they were supposed to meet up at his house, so had given Ashley a message to give him.
"Hey man," Chris said smiling a little awkwardly.
Teddy frowned slightly. "Where you going Chambers? I thought we were going to meet at your house."
"Change of plan," Chris said. "I have to um… baby-sit." He blushed slightly.
"Baby-sit??" Teddy asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, just for a while."
"Whose kid?"
"Um it's Eyeball's daughter."
"Eyeball has a daughter? Holy crap!"
"Yeah," Chris said and started walking.
Teddy fell into step beside him.
"Smoke?" Teddy asked, pulling his pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
Chris accepted one gladly and for a few minutes the two just walked along smoking.
"So no shit, you're actually baby-sitting?" Teddy was still incredulous.
"No shit," Chris replied. "It's just for a little while, we can go find Gordie after."
"Hey I ran into Vern about an hour ago, he said he and Gordie are going to a party tonight. I'm supposed to go too."
"Okay, I guess we can check it out."
"So how long will you be baby-sitting?"
"Probably till about nine, I guess…"
They had reached the Mackenzie's house. Chris paused before heading up the path.
"You coming in or what?"
"You mean baby-sit with you?" Teddy asked. A pained look crossed his face.
Chris rolled his eyes and took a drag on his cigarette.
"Isn't that kind of gay?" Teddy asked as he stubbed out his cigarette. Behind his glasses his eyes were a little wild.
Chris smirked a little. "Why? You worried your secret will come out?"
"Fuck you man, I've got a girlfriend."
"I'm sure you do," Chris said smoothly in a tone that implied that actually he was sure Teddy didn't.
Teddy of course rose to the bait. "What are you trying to say Chambers?"
"Just that if you weren't worried about your secret getting out, you wouldn't be so worried about doing a little baby-sitting."
"Fuck you Chambers you hermaphrodite. I don't exactly see you out with a lot of girls."
"That's cause your mother doesn't want to go *public* about our relationship yet," Chris said and he was really grinning now.
"Oh no you fucking didn't!" Teddy cried but he was grinning despite himself. Deep down inside himself he recognised that he missed Chris and Gordie. No one had ever replaced them.
Chris stubbed out his cigarette. "I'm going in now, tell your mom I'll see her later." He winked and then turned and walked coolly down the path.
"Crazy bastard," Teddy muttered to himself but he too found himself following down the path and when Jillian opened the door she found she had two babysitters that night.
Gordie and Vern were walking to Main Street to grab a bite to eat when a car suddenly cruised along the sidewalk next to them and stopped.
"Lachance!"
Gordie watched with growing unease as the doors popped open and Ace, Eyeball and Vince climbed out. Vince and Eyeball hung back, leaning against the car but Ace strode forwards.
Next to Gordie, Vern was all tensed up, his eyes flickering from face to face.
"Time to pay up you little bitch," Ace said softly.
Gordie could smell the liquor on Ace's breath and he winced despite himself.
"Ten dollars Lachance, remember?" Eyeball called from his position against the car.
"Shit," Gordie whispered to himself and dug his hands into
his pockets. He knew it was fruitless though, at most he had six dollars and
probably not even that.
"I know you have that ten dollars Lachance, cause I'd hate to have to get mad," Ace
whispered and he smirked.
"Course I have it," Gordie said and surprisingly his voice sounded more confident than he felt.
Gordie took the money out of his pocket and counted it. Four crumpled dollar bills, a half-dollar, five quarters and a dime. He checked his pockets again, but that was all he had.
Ace's eyes skimmed over the money in Gordie's hands.
"Five dollars eighty-five, hmmm seems a little shy of ten dollars to me. What do you boys say?" He directed his question towards Eyeball and Vince.
Gordie turned desperate eyes on Vern.
"I don't have much," Vern whispered apologetically and began to empty out his own pockets.
Gordie watched with a mixture of hope and yet the inevitable feeling that they were going to come short of the ten dollars.
Vern finally came upon a dollar bill and two quarters. Gordie felt his heart sink.
"Hang on," Vern said. "I may have more." He patted all of his pockets and came up with twelve pennies.
Gordie took the money off Vern and tipped it all onto Ace's hands. He felt all the hope disappear and he braced himself for the attack.
"Hmm you didn't meet our agreement," Ace said in a thoughtful tone. He turned and gave the money to Vince.
"Sorry Lachance," Ace said and if Gordie hadn't known him better he would swear that Ace actually sounded sorry.
Vern backed up a couple of steps, Gordie closed his eyes and then it came. Ace drove his fist into Gordie's stomach. Gordie bent over double, he felt like he was about to throw up, the second time in two days.
Ace stepped back away from Vern and Gordie.
"Bye girls," Eyeball said and climbed back into the car.
Vince nodded curtly and walked around to the other side to get in.
"You'd better give me the rest of the money tomorrow or you're fucking dead, you dig me Lachance?" Ace said.
Gordie looked up, his arms were wrapped tightly around his stomach and his eyes were welling up. He felt like he was about to pass out.
"I got it Ace," he snapped.
Ave nodded and sauntered back to the driver's seat. As he walked off Gordie stood up straight and flicked the car off with both hands. Eyeball noticed and his eyes widened in surprise.
"Fuck you, you fucking bastards!!" Gordie screamed as the car drove off. Luckily the sound of the engine mostly drowned out his words. Unluckily Mrs Lachance happened at that moment to turn onto the street along with some of her friends from church.
"Gordon?" Mrs Lachance said in shock, her face was bright red. The other women shook their heads in great disapproval.
"Hey momma," Gordie said quietly wishing the ground to open up and swallow him up.
Next to him Vern was struggling to keep from laughing. The whole situation was so ridiculous.
"Hi Mrs Lachance," Vern said and a laugh escaped his lips.
Gordie shot Vern a death look. "Where you headed mom?"
"We're going to sell stuff at the church," Mrs Lachance said stiffly.
Gordie nodded. "Have fun." Then as if sensing it was probably impossible to make the situation worse, he decided to just go for it. "Say, could I borrow some money for dinner?"
