Chapter 2: Big Brothers at Nicky's
Saturday and what was she doing sitting in a garage with Pogue getting his bike fixed. She could've done the repairs herself if Pogue would just trust her a little and they wouldn't be standing here for hours. Pogue called Caleb and blabbering on about something that happened last night and then Reid came into it and then she stopped listening to the extremely boring conversation. A few minutes had passed when Pogue started yelling into the phone.
"Caleb! Come on Caleb pick up the phone! What's going on?!" This got her attention again and she waited for Pogue to start talking again. He said something about a darkling. 'OOOO a darkling!' she thought this could get interesting. Pogue hung up and she pounced on him.
"What's going on? I heard Darkling and Reid. Did Reid send Caleb a darkling?!" She said enthusiastically wanting to know what was going on.
"We don't know who did at this point. We're gonna talk to Reid tonight at Nicky's. Now what was wrong with my bike again?" He asked
"You had to get the oil changed and you had a rock lodged up in your transmission. It shoulda been done in twenty minutes. I coulda done it in less." She said crossing her arms and looking up at him with an I-told-you-so look.
"Don't look at me like that." He said not wanting to admit he was wrong. They sat there for another hour before the bike was done.
"So Nicky's huh?" She asked climbing onto the back of the bike and holding on to Pogue's middle.
"Yea. Now put on your helmet." He said thrusting it in her direction.
"You don't have to wear one." She replied like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
"I'm not you now put it on or I won't have to kill you because Caleb will." She took the helmet and put it on. They took off towards Nicky's. They were late again, more like as usual. Pogue sped all the way to their favorite hang out. They arrived in their usual way, a screeching halt which made them jerk forward and Pogue saying 'We made it alive.' Then they locked up the bike and walked into the bar. Smoke hung in a low hazy cloud that just made the place more homey to most people, it was endearing in its own way. It was crowded as usual and the buzzing conversations brought it to life. Fallon followed Pogue in and continued to walk behind him to the table where Caleb and the girls sat. She watched the jealousy and anger wash over his face at the sight of Chase. What was is about that kid that made both Parrys dislike him so much? They walked up to the table Pogue went directly for Kate and Fallon stopped next to Caleb avoiding Chase.
"Hey Fal, how are ya?" Caleb asked hitting fists with her.
"Alright even though someone made me stand in a garage for 3 hours when we didn't need to." She replied glaring at Pogue who was letting his jealous side show. Caleb nodded sympathetically then Pogue motioned for her to follow him to get dinner. He was a good older brother who made sure she had some kind of nutrition at main meal times. They walked up to the bar where Nicky stood with a bar rag slung over his shoulder.
"Can I get two burgers with fries, one with Coke the other with Dr. Pepper? Thanks." Pogue asked the large bald man. Fallon had already spotted Reid and Tyler at the pool tables and had run off to be with them. She walked up and Reid engulfed her in a hug.
"Hey girly, what's goin' on?" He said letting go of her and looking down at her.
"Nada, just got here." She said moving past Reid to Tyler who also hugged her. She saw Pogue turn to talk to her and then frantically looking around until he spotted the trio at the pool tables. He walked over to them knocking knuckles with both boys. Reid had put his arm around Pogue's neck and left it.
"Look at that." He said and all four looked. It was a girl leaning over the bar in a black skirt. Fallon shook her head as the boys threw down their bets on her underwear or lack there of. Pogue won as usual with the no panties vote. Their order was up so she followed him to grab hers. Pogue gave Nicky the money he had just won.
"Keep the change. Maybe next time guys." He said pointing back at them.
"I'm gonna go sit and watch Ty and Reid, maybe get in a game." She told him. He nodded in approval and walked back toward Caleb's table. She returned to a tall table behind the boys and sat.
"Thank god you're here." She said sitting on the tall bar stool. "Otherwise I'd be stuck with the coupley madness with as twist of Chase. So who's playin'?" She asked eating a couple fries and getting up to stand by the table and watch.
"Aaron and his latest lackey." Tyler replied standing next to her and snaking a fry from behind her.
"Hey those are mine! Get your own you mooch." She said playfully smiling. He ignored her and took some more which cause a punch in the arm. It was then his shot so he walked to the opposite side of the table and Reid walked up. He of course being the more crazy of the two took a bite of her burger. "Hey! Does anyone even care that this is my dinner?"
"I was just making sure it wasn't poisoned." Reid said with a mouth full of burger.
"Aww. How considerate of you." She shot back sarcastically.
"Just lookin' out for you, Fal." He said smiling his best innocent smile and all she could do was smile back and shake her head. Tyler and Reid were winning their game but Reid's next shot was a complicated combo shot that looked almost impossible. Of course Aaron bet him he couldn't make it and Reid did, just not without a little help.
"Hand it over." Reid said smiling triumphantly and sticking out his hand.
"No way." Aaron replied throwing his stick on the table. Reid's the aggressive type so he pushed Aaron and started a mini fight. It took them a minute but Tyler and Fallon managed to move them out back.
"He made the shot dickhead." Tyler said walking down the stairs in the back. Fallon followed and then came Reid outside.
"Well I ain't payin you shit." Aaron replied acting like a badass. Then they came out, Pogue and Caleb, to defuse the situation.
"Whats going on?" Caleb asked walking up next to Reid.
"None of your business." Aaron yelled pointing at Caleb.
"He bet me I couldn't make this combo shot and I did." Reid replied coolly.
"Well let's just forget about it." Caleb said but a fight was looming in the air and Fallon could feel it and there was no way she was getting left out so she moved forward a little but Tyler grabbed her arm and shook his head. Nicky appeared in the doorway with a baseball bat.
"Take it somewhere else ladies." He said tapping the bat in his hand.
"Whatever you say Nicky." Aaron said walking toward the doorway and making sure to hit Caleb on his way past. Caleb looked pissed, this wasn't good. He ran his fingers through his hair.
"What were you thinking?" He asked Reid through his clenched teeth.
"Come on. We were just playin' 'em." Reid said casually.
"Yea, Caleb, they were suckers for it." Tyler chipped in.
"Why don't you stop bein' such a pussy." Reid said then tried to walk past. Caleb grabbed his shoulder.
"I'm not done with you yet." He said angrily. Reid grabbed Caleb's arm and started using on him. "Reid stop." He said straining. Reid just held strong. Caleb's eyes turned black and then Reid flew back hit some stacked kegs and then the warehouse wall. Tyler stepped in front of Fallon just in case things got out of hand. Pogue inched nearer too so he might be able to step in if needed. "What is it gonna take for you to get it? It's addictive you moron. You've seen what it can do if you abuse it. If you want that, that's your business. But if you use in the open like you did tonight you risk exposing us all and that I won't let happen."
Reid got up and picked up a keg with his power. "My power is greater than yours." Caleb said.
"Not until you ascend." Reid replied angrily.
"Okay go for it tough guy." Caleb said motioning for Reid to throw it at him. Reid threw it and Caleb deflected it in to the chain link fence right next to Fallon. She had snuck out from behind Tyler to see what was going on. She hadn't been noticed until then and was immediately pulled back behind Tyler and Pogue. Caleb thrust out his hands and Reid went flying back into the stacked empty beer bottles. Tyler and Pogue shared a weary look. Caleb started to walk towards Reid as if to attack again, but Pogue quickly grabbed him trying to push him back by his chest.
"Stop it this is crazy." He exclaimed.
"Its for his own good. Keep using like you did tonight, like you did last night. When you ascend you'll be as good as dead." Caleb yelled eyes still black as night. Tyler had gone to help Reid up. He was helping Reid walk across the broken glass.
"So, I fixed her car. Big deal." He said shaking Tyler off.
"Don't play me Reid. I'm talking about later and you know it." Caleb said still struggling against Pogue.
"The hell I do." Reid said angrily walking up to Caleb and getting in his face. "I didn't use later." He brushed past between Caleb and Pogue not even bothering to look over at Fallon.
"It's not right using on each other Caleb." Tyler stated trying to be the peace maker.
"Oh tell it to Reid." Caleb replied exasperated. Tyler also passed between to two older boys but he walked over to her.
"You ok?" He asked genuinely concerned.
"Yea, I'm fine. You go help Reid." She said softly. He nodded and left. Pogue had been watching the whole time, but they hadn't noticed. Caleb ran his hands over his face.
"Reid's lying." He said riddling it out.
"How do you know?" Pogue asked questioning if Caleb knew what he was doing.
"Because it wasn't you and Tyler doesn't have the balls to lie to me and theres no way Fallon would do anything like this. Someone would have seen her." Caleb stated calmly. Then Sarah came out and started talking to Caleb and Pogue came over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye.
"Are you ok?" He asked searching for any faint sign of lying.
"Yea, Pogue, I'm fine." She said as honestly as she could. The truth was that the keg had grazed her arm which would be no big deal if Reid and Caleb both hadn't put so much power into it which had combined to make it all the stronger. It had just grazed her but because of the greatness of the power it was pretty excruciating, but she didn't want another fight this time between Pogue and Caleb, that could be dangerous. She watched as Pogue found the scuff on her leather jacket where the empty keg had hit her.
"Fallon Aera Parry take your jacket off and stop lying to me." He said relatively calmly but his tone was stern. She removed her jacket to reveal a large bruise forming on her right arm about six inches below her shoulder. It was black, blue and purple. It was a little swollen. "Shit Fal, we gotta get that checked out. Let's go." He said leading the way through the bar and out the front door. She put her jacket back on. She followed Pogue not looking around at anyone. They hastily got on the bike and sped toward the nearest emergency room.
They sat in the waiting room for quite some time. They had been silent for a while and Fallon could tell Pogue was struggling with being mad at Caleb and seeing the accident in it. He finally looked her way.
"How're you doin'?" he asked concerned look on his face.
"P I'm fine. It's just a bruise." She said reassuring him.
A doctor came out and called her name. She got up to go back and Pogue got up as well which surprised her. Pogue didn't like hospitals since their mother had gone insane and they had to put her in a mental home. She had freaked out in a hospital and really hurt herself. As they walked deeper into the hospital she could feel Pogue tensing up. The doctor put them in an examination room and Fallon sat up on the table, legs dangling over the side. Pogue just stood beside her.
"We could've avoided this." She simply stated.
"No it needs to be looked at." Pogue said sternly more out of nervousness then trying to get his point across. The doctor returned and she took off her jacket. The bruise had grown, it now took up most of her upper arm and consisted of some pretty nasty colors.
"Oh my, how did you do this?" He said glancing at Pogue in an acusing way.
"I got hit by a flying empty keg during a bar fight." She stated simply. "This is my brother, Pogue, who is making me get it checked out."
"A bar fight huh? Were you involved in it?" The doctor asked scribbling on some papers on a clipboard.
"Other getting hit by the keg no." She said looking around the room. It was pretty plain and it had that distinct hospital smell sunk into every inch of it.
"Parry, as in Demetrius and Juliana?" He asked and they both nodded. Now sympathy washed over his face. "I'm sorry about your parents."
"It's okay we have gotten back to a good place." She said in a positive tone.
"Well, let's get that arm x-rayed." He said picking up the clipboard and leading the way to the x-ray room. The x-ray went quickly and they were taken back to the waiting room.
"Do they always have to take so long?!" Pogue asked nervously.
"Pogue look at me. It's okay. We'll make it out of here okay. He'll be back with the results in a few minutes and then we can go home." Fallon tried to comfort him by rubbing his back with her good arm. The doctor came out and walked up to them.
"Good news, nothings broken. Just ice it and you'll be sore for a while, but you're going to be just fine." He said smiling.
"Thanks Doc." Fallon replied jumping up and shaking the mans hand.
"Yea thanks sir." Pogue said doing the same. They hustled out of the hospital and Pogue sighed in relief. "Let's get you home." She nodded and hopped on the back of the bike. They drove home casually. They walked in and set their jackets on the banister.
"I'm going to bed." Fallon said. Pogue leaned over and kissed her head.
"Night." He said heading toward the kitchen.
"Night." She walked up stairs and went to bed.
*6 hours later*
She shot up in bed. What the hell just happened? Someone had woken her by using. Caleb had said something about this. She got up and padded down the hall to Pogue's room. He was sitting up too.
"You feel that too?" She asked from the doorway.
"Yea, I'm calling Caleb." He said phone to his ear.
"I'm gonna go back to bed." She said turning around and walking back to her room. She had a feeling life was just about to get complicated.
