Chapter 20: Antarctica
Nick's P.O.V
I had some time to kill before visiting hours began at the hospital, and I vaguely remembered Les saying something bout meeting up with Ray at the. So I figured I'd drop by and see if they were still there. I walked in to an almost silent restaurant, with all eyes on the table occupied by my sister, Abby, and Ray.
Ray looked like he was gonna strangle someone, Les looked dazed, and Abby was looking over her shoulder, but was as still as a statue. JT was no where to be seen. I found myself worrying more about Abby than my sister, even though I barely knew her.
I walked up, "Hey guys, how goes it?"
Leslie jumped at the sound of my voice, then blushed; Ray gave me a look that said, 'I'll tell ya later;' and Abby remained unmoving.
Looking at Ray, I nodded to her,
"What's up with Abby?"
He looked over, realizing for the first time, the state Abby was in.
"Christ, Abby?"
She didn't respond, and Leslie scooted out of the booth so Ray could slide in and take care of Abby. Leslie reached up to hug me, which kind of scared me, cause she wasn't normally all clingy like that, before asking,
"Nick, could you go find JT? He and Ray went to the restroom about 20 minutes ago, but he never came back."
"Yeah, I'll be right back, than you guys can fill up both in on what just happened."
"Mm, yeah…" she said, her eyes focused on Abby, and I could tell she wanted to help, her "maternal" instincts were itching to take over.
"Let Ray handle it for now, Les."
She rolled her eyes at me, and smiled briefly.
"Leslie, any idea what she's staring at?" Ray asked.
I looked in the general direction she was staring at, and I immediately saw who she was looking at. He looked almost exactly like the guy from the fair, only younger, and his face didn't look as much like a pit bull as the guy from the fair.
"Nope, no idea; I think she might've been looking for JT, but I'm not sure."
The other guy evidently broke eye contact, cause Abby suddenly slumped downing, taking a shaky breath, and leaning against Ray.
"Hey, what was that all about babe?" he asked softly, gently pushing her bangs out of her eyes.
She just shook her head, and scooted closer to Ray; I headed off to find JT.
Madi's P.O.V
The old gang with the exception of Abby trooped in my room around noon, but there was something going on, I could tell immediately.
Ray looked extremely pissed off, Abby seemed strangely vulnerable, and her eyes were hooded, like she was trying to hide something, the walls were back up, I could tell. It was like she was trying to protect herself from something…or someone.
Leslie looked dazed, JT was just as mellow as ever, and Nick was…well, Nick was Nick.
We all hung out for awhile, before Nick said he was thirsty, and was going to get a drink; did anyone want anything?
He asked Abby to come with him, saying something about Les, Ray and I needing to catch up, or something. I noticed when they left how close to Nick Abby was staying,
'Something happened this morning, I wish I knew what.' I thought, worried. This wasn't the Abby I'd met yesterday.
Nick's P.O.V
We walked out the door, but instead of heading to the vending machines like I'd said, I pulled her into a waiting area.
"Hey, what was up at the diner?"
"Nothing." She said, fiddling with a flower shaped necklace, made of some kind of shell; abalone, maybe?
"I saw who you were looking at."
She looked startled, a deer in the head lights kinda look.
"W-w-what are you talking about? I wasn't staring at anyone."
"I saw the guy, who is he? He looks an awful lot like the guy from the fair."
"It's Richard's brother, Greg." She said finally, apparently figuring out that I wasn't gonna give in until she told me who it was at the restaurant.
"Oh…"
She suddenly looked up at me with an intensity that made me kind of nervous.
"Don't tell Ray." She pleaded, eyes huge, "He has enough to worry about with Madi and Chris."
'Why would anyone want to hurt her?' I thought to myself.
"It'll be ok Abby. We'll all keep an eye on you, me and JT; we just gotta make sure you're never alone, except like in the bathroom and shit." I added, and that got a small smile out of her. "Nothing will happen as long as one of us is there with you."
"Thanks." She whispered, barely audible.
I grinned down at her, "Now c'mon Abalone, we better get back before they start thinking we eloped to Antarctica or something."
She cracked up.
"Abalone, I like it…" she said, looking up at me, then got this puzzled look on her face, "Wait a minute, who'd want to elope to Antarctica?"
"I really don't know, wanna try it?"
She laughed again, and as we walked back into Madi's room,
"But seriously! Who would want to elope to Antarctica!"
All eyes were on us, as we walked in the door,
"Could someone please tell me!"
"You, Abby." JT deadpanned. "You would elope to Antarctica."
She thought about it for a minute,
"You know, you're probably right." She said, completely serious.
c'mon hit the button!