AN: Chapter four, right here, ladies and gentlemen. I am on a roll and liking this story. More feedback would be nice though!
"What the hell were you thinking! You could've been killed, Chas!"
"But I wasn't..."
"You came pretty damn close!"
"You know, if you weren't such an asshole in the first place, this never would've happened!"
"If you weren't such a naïve, annoying, self centered brat then you would've been here and safe!"
"You don't care if I'm safe! You didn't even want me here in the first place!" Chas shot back. "You're just as bad as my deadbeat parents. You only helped me to impress your Catholic friends. You don't care, you never did and you never will!"
John sneered at him. "If you're just now figuring that out, then you're stupider than I thought."
Chas just stared at John for a moment, his fists clenched and his hazel eyes dark with anger. Then he grabbed his backpack off the table and his jacket off the back of the chair and said, "Fine. You coulda said that three days ago and I would've been gone. It's not like I'm not used to being hated and kicked out. Fuck this."
The boy walked out the door and slammed it behind him, and John dropped down into a chair, burying his face in his hands. He didn't get it. He should've been relieved that the boy was gone; now the kid wouldn't bother him about always wanting to go along, always asking questions despite the smart ass answers he got, always curious to know more, up reading until midnight and sharing the information like an eager pupil...
God, he missed the kid already.
He picked up the phone and dialed Hennessy's number, sighing with relief when Father's tired voice came over the line.
"Father...I need some help."
"John?" A pause. "It's almost midnight, what's wrong?"
"Well, I tried to talk to Chas..."
An exasperated sigh. "What did you say to him?"
"Words were flying both ways, you know. This wasn't completely my fault."
"Where is he?"
"Now see, that's the thing...I don't really know."
Another pause, longer this time. "You let a sixteen year old kid run out into downtown LA in the middle of the night?"
"What was I supposed to do, Father, tie him to the table?" John snapped in reply.
"Don't argue with me, John, not right now. We have to go find him."
"Tonight?"
"Yes, tonight! God only knows what kind of trouble that boy could get into! And have you even looked outside? It's pouring rain!"
John sighed, glancing out the window. Hennessy was right; rain was coming down in sheets, already running off the canopy of the building across the street like a waterfall.
"Alright, alright. He couldn't have gone far, he left five minutes ago."
"I'll pick you up, alright?"
"Don't bother. I'll take an umbrella and find him myself."
"But John-"
"Goodbye Father," John said, hanging up the phone and grabbing his coat. He knew what he needed to do; find Chas, drag him back here, apologize, all that jazz that normal people did. All that stuff that parents did.
That thought scared him senseless. The last thing he wanted to do was consider this boy to be that much of an issue.
Just find the kid, and make sure he's okay. Like Hennessy said, he'll be gone in a couple of days, out of your life anyway, John thought, leaving his apartment and trying to figure out where the kid might've gone in weather like this.
He eventually decided to head north. Maybe Chas had gone to the highway, where he could hitchhike somewhere else. Hell, maybe he went to the homeless shelter near here. There was no way John could know for sure either way.
He aimlessly headed north, pulling his jacket tight around himself and smoking a cigarette, concern plaguing him despite his conscious insistence that Chas meant nothing to him. He was just doing this as a favor for Hennessy, nothing more.
He was just about to give up when he noticed the huddled figure underneath the overpass. At first he thought it might be just another homeless person or a drunk, but as he got closer he noticed the white and black cabbie hat, and the green worn-out jacket.
Chas was sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs, his knees pulled close to his chest and his head down. He was shivering horribly, water soaking his clothing and dripping off the soaked ends of his curly hair.
"Chas?" John asked gently as he approached the boy, and Chas jumped in surprise, his startled expression immediately turning to one of anger.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I was looking for you."
Chas seemed surprised for a moment, but then he turned away again. "Congratulations, you found me. Now beat it."
"Look, kid..." John started, only getting a harsher glare at the use of the word 'kid'. "Chas...come on back to the apartment and warm up. You've got no place to go, and you can't stay out here."
"Doin' another self serving favor to look good, right?"
John let his gaze drop to the ground, as well as his cigarette. "You know I didn't mean that."
Chas smirked and shook his head. "You and I both know that you did mean it."
John groaned with frustration, hesitating a moment before an idea sparked in his mind.
"You're coming back to that apartment, one way or another."
"You can't make me."
"Want to bet on that?"
Before Chas could move an inch John grabbed him, lifting him up and slinging him over his shoulder. Chas let out a yelp of surprise and struggled to free himself as John simply leaned over and grabbed the boy's backpack, and then started walking back toward the apartment.
"Put me down! John, come on, this isn't funny! I swear, I'll yell rape!"
"Nobody's gonna listen, kid. This is LA."
"But-"
"Just shut up already."
"You can't-"
"Yes I can."
"John! Put me down!"
"No."
AN: Hehehehe, and yes, there's more. Geez, three chapters in one day...I need a life. Well, the next update probably won't be for another day or so, tomorrow if y'all are lucky. That is, if anyone's even reading this. Review, tell me I'm not doin' this just for my own amusement...cause that would be damn pitiful.
