Humphrey's POV
My phone rang, waking me up. I tried to ignore it but once it stopped it simply rang again. Yeah, this was someone I knew. I turned over and grabbed it to look at who was calling me. Fucking Rick. I swiped answer and put it to my ear.
"What?" I asked angrily but tiedly. It was silent for a moment until I heard anything on the other line.
"Wanna hang out?" Rick asked. I groaned and turned over again as I continued holding the phone to my ear. "Is that a no?"
"And do what?" I asked.
"I don't know, Angel is going over to Shaky's so that leaves just you and me" Rick explained. I groaned again.
"When would you want to hang out?" I asked.
"Uhhh, how about now?" Rick suggested.
"Now huh? It's early" I whined.
"It's one o'clock," Rick replied. I sighed.
"Fine, how fast can you get here?" I asked.
"I mean there is no rush, I can be there in like five seconds" Rick said. He was right, I needed something to do today. When Lilly told me she was going to her grandparents yesterday I was a bit sad. That was a whole day of not being with her. But here Rick was making me an offer.
"Alright just get here, we'll talk about what to do" I said.
"Sounds good, I'll be right there" Rick said and then hung up. I closed my phone and sat up, wiping the tiredness from my eyes. All of a sudden my door swung open, scaring the hell out of me. "I'm here" Rick nounced as he walked into my room. I simply stared at him, once I snapped out of it I groaned.
"Why are you in my house? How are you in my house?" I asked. Rick sat on my bed as he answered.
"I was in the neighborhood and your mom let me in," Rick answered.
What were you doing in the neighborhood?" I asked.
"I came to see you, honestly I thought you would be up" Rick said. I yawned and stretched, lifting the covers off of me.
"You said Angel is over Shaky's? What are they doing?" I questioned. Rick chuckled as he continued sitting on my bed, meanwhile I put on some pants. Normally I slept in a T-shirt and boxers and last night was no exception. I just needed some pants.
"Probably fucking between Dexter episodes, I messaged Kate but I think I should let her enjoy her grandparents" Rick explained.
"Hm" I hummed in response as I put on deodorant. "No idea if you want to hang out here or actually go somewhere" I said.
"Up to you" Rick said. I turned to him to see that he was doing something on his phone. Maybe he was texting Kate or Angel. I walked past him to go to the bathroom which was right next to my room. Rick simply stayed sat while I did my morning things. It was only about three minutes until I came back out.
"Any ideas?" I asked. Rick finished up doing whatever he was doing on his phone and then put it down.
"Alright how about this. I've been teaching Kate how to shoot and she's gonna start coming with us to airsoft games, so let me ask you this, how rusty are you?" Rick asked.
"I wouldn't know until I played," I answered.
"Want to go over to the airsoft place? Play a couple of rounds?" Rick asked.
"Sure, I didn't know Kate was into that stuff" I said as I began rummaging through my closet.
"Neither did I, but she ran into me shooting bottles the other day and wanted to join us after I told her about it. I'll have to get her a gun" Rick said. I picked up my M4 with my red dot and flicked it on to see if it worked. It did. Since we were going to the actual airsoft place I would use this, normally though I simply used a sniper and a pistol as a secondary.
"Get her a gun? Rick, it was just christmas" I said.
"So what? I can never get enough for or of Kate" Rick replied. Ugh if I heard that before I started dating Lilly I would have been soul crushed. Still though I couldn't help but feel at least a little jealous.
"Any ideas? I feel like an M4 is the perfect starter gun" I said.
"Yeah that's why you have it, no but an M4 is cool and all but I want to see what they have for her, see if they have something that would look good on her" Rick explained.
"You mean like gear?" I asked.
"Gear, guns, everything. Don't worry I brought my guns as well, they're in my truck" Rick said. I grabbed my ammo pouches and such and made sure my gun was loaded. I then turned to Rick and stood back up.
"Alright, did you want to take the same car?" I asked.
"Yeah, no point in taking separate ones. Want me to drive?" Rick asked. I walked over to the door.
"Sure," I said. Rick finally got to his feet and followed me out of my room. We descended the stairs where I placed my gun by the door and started to search for my mom. "I'm gonna say hi to my mom real quick and then we'll get going, sound good?" I asked.
"Yeah," Rick said as he followed me. I poked my head into the living room but she wasn't there. My next stop was the kitchen. I checked but she wasn't there either. However the door leading from the kitchen to the backyard was open, leaving the screen door to actually block the kitchen off from the outside world. I stepped outside and sure enough there was my mom sitting in a lawn chair smoking a cigarette.
"Hey mom" I greeted. She turned to me and Rick as we stepped outside.
"Hey, what are you two up to?" she asked.
"We were gonna head down to the airsoft arena, that okay?" I asked. Mom took another puff as I talked and started to nod in response.
"Yeah, I don't care," she said.
"Alright, want me to bring back something to eat later?" I asked.
"If you want, it's still early though. I'll message you" mom said.
"Alright, I love you" I said. Mom smiled.
"I love you too, be safe you two" she said as me and Rick turned to head back inside.
"Always" Rick called as I followed him in. It was cold out there. I'm not sure when the rest of us were gonna play airsoft, but I was thinking about where we would play. Normally we played in abandoned places. Our favorite being an old saw mill. It was huge and had plenty of options in terms of playstyle. Plus it reminded Lilly of rust and I knew how much she loved modern warfare two. I grabbed my green jacket since it went well with my jeans and white shirt, and picked my gun back up. Me and Rick then went back outside. I locked up and then made my way over to his truck. Once we were inside Rick did the usual process of turning it on and blasting the heat. I set my gun between my legs and prepared for the ride.
"So no idea of what gun to get Kate" I said.
"I have an idea," Rick said as he backed up. The ride was about twenty minutes and consisted of just me playing music from my phone. When connecting the bluetooth I noticed that Kate now had her phone saved in the there were five names on the saved phones. Kates, mine, Ricks, Angel, and Lilly. I guess Shaky never really rides with anyone. We normally take our own cars. When we arrived at the place Rick did the usual task of parking. Once we found a spot I stepped out and scanned the parking lot to see how many cars were there so I could get a feel for how many players there would be. The parking lot was more like a gravel path that could fit a-hundred cars if you tried hard enough. Looking at it though there were only about twenty. This included workers as well so teams were most likely gonna be small. Rick took his AK and gun belt out of the back seat. He then rested the rifle against the truck and put on the gun belt. While he did this I double checked to make sure that my gun was loaded.. After that we geared up and headed in, only carrying our primary weapons and letting our gear carry the rest.
"Did you want to look at the guns now?" I asked. Rick held the door open as he thought. Once we stepped inside he answered.
"Sure, that way if I need to think about something I'll have time during the game" Rick said as he approached the counter. The guy behind it saw us approaching and walked over to his proper spot to greet us.
"Hey, welcome to quick shot, you guys want to look at some guns? Maybe buy into a game?" the worker asked us. This place didn't have name tags so we couldn't tell his name, but he seemed like a chill dude. Rick started scanning the wall and after a few seconds laid his eyes on one.
"Can I see that AUG?" he asked. The worker turned and picked it up off the wall and then handed it to Rick. he carefully accepted it and started toying with it. Looking through the scope and checking the reload.
"You really think that would be good for her?" I asked. Rick held the gun out a bit to better look at it.
"Eh, not really" he said as he handed the gun back to the guy.
"So you're looking for a gift? Is it her first time playing or does she just need a gun?" the worker asked.
"First time, I wanted to get her a gun that would look good on her," Rick explained. He says that like it's something to wear.
"Well if she's just starting then maybe do an M4?" the worker suggested. Rick gritted his teeth as if to give another eh sound but then another gun caught his eye.
"Let me see that one," he said, pointing to a galil. The worker once again took it off the wall and handed it to him. He once again checked the sight and magazine.
"It's better than the AUG" I said. Rick turned to me and smiled.
"It would look good with her, right?" Rick asked. He then put it on the counter. "How much?"
"Well this is a fully or semi automatic rifle depending on what you're doing, it's extremely accurate and is fully metal. So the asking price is gonna be steep" the worker warned.
"Rick, I think she'll be happy if you get her anything" I said.
"I know, but she deserves something as good as everyone's," Rick replied.
"This gun is five-hundred dollars," the worker said.
"Rick man come on, it was just christmas. You've spent enough" I said, trying to persuade him to get something cheaper.
"I have a lot of money Humphrey, I've been doing nothing but saving for the past couple of years, I'm getting Kate this gun" Rick said. I shrugged and started looking at weapons myself. It was a habit.
"Alright, I'll check you out over here" the worker said. Him and Rick then went further down to the corner of the counter. I just stayed studying the different side arms and pocket knives. There was a 1911 there but I already had a nice silver one. It was actually in my holster right now. It reminded me a lot of the one from black ops one and just like in the game it was extremely smooth. I turned my head to see the bb jars and wondered if Rick would remember to buy bbs with the gun. Probably.
"Hey Humphrey, I got us passes, you ready?" Rick asked. I turned to him.
"You bought me a pass?" I asked.
"Yeah" he answered.
"Rick, keep this up and you're not gonna have anything left" I said. Just then I saw the worker put the gun back on the wall. "You're not buying it?" I asked.
"I bought it, I'm just gonna pick it up when we're done" Rick explained.
"Ah" I said. Rick and I then went into the back to get ready for our game that was about to start. As I suspected there were only about ten other people which was fine. We split up into teams of five. Me and Rick were on the same team thankfully and together along with our other teammates, we proceeded to have some fun and terminate the other players. What a blast.
Kate's POV
After opening our gifts and thanking our grandparents for everything, I laid down on one of the couches while my Granddad sat in his chair and together we watched some TV. It was some old gunslinger flick that honestly bored the hell out of me, but I wasn't really paying attention. If I wasn't on my phone I was thinking about my family back at home. Humphrey, Angel, Shaky… Rick. I missed him so much. I hated being away from him. I must have looked down earlier because I was sitting on the back porch earlier where supposedly mom and dad were fighting last time we were here and I was just pondering. Mom had stepped outside to smoke and eyed me from the side as she took out a cigarette.
"Hey" she greeted. I looked up and gave a small smile.
"Hey" I said. She lit her cigarette and took a puff.
"What's wrong?" she asked as she stood beside me.
"I don't know… I guess I just miss Rick is all" I explained.
"Kate, you'll see him tomorrow, I think you should just spend time with your grandparents for now, they're doing a lot for you and your sister" mom said.
"I know, I do feel bad," I replied. My grandparents loved me so much, and I kept thinking about the conversation that me and Angel had the other day. She was totally spot on with what she was saying. And it's not like I didn't love my grandparents. I really did, but being away from Rick really hurt.
"It's pretty cold out here, is that sweatshirt enough?" mom asked. I shrugged.
"I'm fine, but I'm gonna go inside anyway" I said, standing up. Mom nodded as she took another puff.
"Your Grandmother and I are gonna start making dinner soon" mom said.
"Sweet," I said. I then stepped inside where I saw my grandmother preparing everything.
"Oh hey Kate" she said, turning to me.
"Hi Grandma," I said. Instead of turning to the hall where the living room was, I stepped into the kitchen and approached her. "Do you want help?" I asked.
"Well your mother is gonna help me, but you can help if you want" she said.
"Alright, what do you want me to do?" I asked.
"Just set the table please? I already have everything else" grandma instructed. I nodded and began reaching for the plates. "So your mother tells me that you finally have a boyfriend, and it's the boy that saved you that day" grandma said. I put the plates on the counter for now and started grabbing cups.
"Yeah, I really love him," I said.
"Oh that's great, when can we meet him?" she asked. Huh, I hadn't thought about that.
"How about next time we come over?" I suggested.
"That sounds great, when we met your sister's boyfriend he was so sweet, tell me about yours" grandma asked as she started to get to work on the cooking. It looked like she was making some type of meat loaf. That sounded good.
"Well, his names Rick, he has a sister who is the sweetest and funniest thing you'll ever meet, he's kind, caring, and he always puts his family before anything else" I explained.
"That's good, that's what you want in a man, does he spoil you?" grandma asked. I set the plates on the table next to the kitchen in the dining room. From here I could still see mom smoking since the sliding doors were right next to the table. I then turned to go back and grab the cups, while also answering the question.
"If only you could see how much he got me for Christmas, yes he spoils me" I said. Grandma turned and pinched my cheek.
"Sounds like I have some competition then,'' she said. I giggled. She went back to preparing the food while I placed the cups. While I set a cup on each placemat I started to think about when I was a pup, how me and Lilly would stay over for the weekend and just get spoiled to the absolute worst degree. We were never truly bad though, and even to this day we never took anything for granted. At least not that I noticed, that's why Angel's talk kind of opened my eyes. But still… After that I went back to the kitchen and hopped up on the counter, taking a seat.
"Want to see him?" I asked. Grandma turned to me.
"I would love to," she said. I took my phone from my pocket and simply tapped it since the background picture was still me and Rick on the ferris wheel. I handed Grandma my phone and she held it closely to her face,
"He's very handsome, you two look so cute together" she then handed my back my phone. I slid it back in my pocket and looked back up to see that she was still staring at me.
"What?" I asked.
"It seems like you and Lilly were just born, time really flies," Grandma said. She turned back to the food, giving me a bit of a guilty feeling. Time really does fly, and I was missing it with my grandparents, I really needed to spend more time with them. They were in their eighties and not getting any younger, before I knew it they would be…
"I love you Grandma, you know that right?" I asked. Grandma turned to me again.
"Of course I do, I know you love me, why would you ask me something like that?" she asked.
"I just… don't feel like I'm around as much as I should be" I explained. Grandma then approached me and put her hands on my cheeks.
"Kate, I understand. You want to go out and live your young life, and I want you to do that as well, don't worry about me and your grandfather, we know that you love us, as much as we would love to see you, we know that it's a long drive and that there's not much going for you here. So believe me, your visits are more than enough" she explained. I smiled and held onto her wrist.
"I'll still try to at least talk with you more" I said. Grandma nodded and turned back to the food once again. Just then my mom entered the house. I turned to her as she walked through the dining room and into the kitchen.
"What are you guys talking about?" mom asked with a smile.
"Not much," I said.
"Kate, sweetie, why don't you go into the living room and keep your Grandfather company, we'll call you when supper is ready" Grandma said.
"Alright" I said, hopping off of the counter and giving Grandma a kiss. I was seventeen but I still could never get enough of Grandma's kisses. I didn't care what anybody said. As I walked down the hall I caught a glimpse of Lilly playing on her new nintendo switch in the guest bedroom. Good thing she was having fun with her new present. Once I made it to the living room I laid on the couch as Grandpa was watching TV in his chair, and here we are. I'm glad I had that conversation with my Grandma. I didn't have to come over here, I could just call. Sure it wouldn't be the same as visiting, and I would definitely be sure to do that, but I think she would love to hear from me. Sadly she still used a landline so I couldn't see her, but I don't think she cared. My eyes darted to the TV and I sighed once I saw that the movie was still going. I pulled out my phone and messaged Rick. "hey" I typed. I then placed my phone on my chest and waited for a response. I didn't get one so he must have been doing something. Maybe him and Humphrey were hanging out because earlier Lilly had messaged Humphrey to ask for his gamertag on his switch so that she could add him, but like Rick he didn't answer. Even Though there was no notification I still checked my phone to see if I had gotten a text. Everytime though was a disappointment. Eventually I just gave up and decided to shut my eyes for a minute. We had to get up early because of the drive here and I was limping all day because of it. Thanks to this though it didn't seem like long until I was woken up by mom calling me and Lilly for dinner. I sat up and stretched.
"You coming Grandpa?" I asked. He was still sitting in his chair, watching this boring movie that seemed to have no end.
"Tell the others I'll be right there" he said.
"Alright" I said as I got up and made my way to the dining room. Mom was still grabbing soda cans and such once I entered, and Lilly had finally put down the switch. "Need help mom?" I asked. She handed me four cans of soda.
"Can you give these out?" she asked. I took them and did as was asked. As I did it mom placed the others and then took her seat.
"Where's your Grandfather?" Grandma asked.
"TV" I laughed. Grandma rolled her eyes and began picking out her portions.
"You better not get like that," mom said to dad.
"I barely watch TV Eve" Dad said as he popped open his soda. I laughed as I picked out my rations. This was great, it had been so long since I had dinner at Grandmas, and just like all the other times it was a pleasure just to be here. Angel was right.
