I apologise now incase my French and Spanish are incorect, furthermore there is more slight R'ish content - hell from now on just assume to be R like content.
Enjoy, Circus.
The Homecoming
I'd been listening to Seth panicking about his mother's cooking since he'd woken me up at seven, when Sandy and Kirsten has got up it had only got worse. Seth had followed her round all morning talking about odering in, calling caterers in, even suggesting flying out to see The Nanna. Once Kirsten had stepped into the kitchen, his fears of a bad Thanksgiving had gone into overdrive.
"Mom, no recipes!" Seth pleaded, running round the island putting himself between his mother and the food. "Put them away."
"This is Alex's first thanksgiving in the house and we're gonna make this meal as a family."
"Ah-ha okay seriously where's Rosa?" he asked following her round the small space.
"That's a good point." I asked him, sitting on the counter top opposite. "I mean I haven't seen her since my mom was here."
"No Rosa, just us." Kirsten told him clearly not listening to me but motioning for me to get down nonetheless, "I, for one, am ready for this challenge."
"Dad the take out menus!" Seth asked Sandy, almost praying to him.
"Sandy!" Kirsten scolded him when he went over to the draw and handed Seth and I a menu.
"You sure you wanna do this honey?" he sighed, taking them back.
"Mom no," Seth's desperation was evident in his voice, "we're not ruining thanksgiving."
"Who said we are?" Kirsten looked at him shocked, one hand on her hip the other brandishing a wooden spoon.
"I wait for this event every year mom, please Thanksgiving is my favourite it's my favourite holiday, everyone knows this." He gestured round the room.
"Don't look at me," I told him, retreating to the corner, "my mom would have been drunk by this point."
"All the more reason to make this special..." she looked around the kitchen uncertainly, "are there pans, are there any pans anywhere?"
"Not inspiring a lot of confidence darling!" Sandy smiled.
"Do you know what I dream about when I dream about thanksgiving, which is often." Seth turned very serious. "I dream about eating so much deliciousness that all the blood rushes to my stomach and I pass out at the table." He hit his fist on the counter dramatically. "Please don't deny me that!"
"That was a speech that would make George Foreman jealous." I laughed at him.
"I was going to be the front man for his campaign but he said my skin tones were all wrong." He smiled back.
"Damn, that pesky white skin of yours." I sighed.
"Shall we start with the turkey," Kirsten said, oblivious to the conversation around her. "...uh...um" she put down the pan she'd found "do I...uh?" she picked up the turkey by its legs and lifted it, confusion seeping from her.
"Aw that's just how she held you as a baby." Sandy pointed to Seth, who simply glared back at him.
"Sandy! Um, I guess we should just um start...basting?" Kirsten stared down at the turkey whilst Seth looked at Sandy for help.
"I'll tell you what, I'll baste." Sandy told her.
"That's a good idea." Seth let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, are you-are you sure?"
"Oh I love to baste you know that!" he told Kirsten, pushing her away. He made a grab for the baster but Seth beat him to it.
"Hey Alex you want to start a family?" he waved it in front of me.
"Gimme that!" Sandy snatched it back and hit him with it. "No! No children!" he told me pointing it at me.
"Why are you telling me?" I held my hands up completely confused, I pointed at Seth "He's the one that brought it up!"
"Okay well next up is cranberries." Kirsten continued ignoring us.
"Uh I got it, big fan of the cranberry!" I grabbed the cranberries from her, sensing that Seth was about to have another panic attack.
"Well then, I'll peel the potatoes."
"No I've got it! There's few things as therapeutic," Seth bumped his mother out of the way, "as peeling a potato, I'm sorry."
"So, what am I suppose to do?" she asked suddenly very lost.
"Set the table!" Sandy offered.
"Yeah setting the table's important." I chimed in preparing the jelly.
She went over to the silverware drawer, glaring at each on of us in tern before getting distracted by the ringing phone.
"How bout I get the phone?" Kirsten offered.
"Or you can answer the phone," Seth told her, pointing the peeler at it, "its not gonna answer itself."
"You own the phone!" Sandy told her while she picked it up.
"Hello?...Yeah I'll accept the charges...Uh, yeah she's uh she's right here, hol-hold on a second," she covered the mouth piece with her hand and went to pass it to me. "Uh, Alex it's your brother." I shook my head at her, waving my hands trying to tell her no but she simply continued to hold it out to me.
"Hey." I sighed reluctantly, putting down the spoon and walking out of the kitchen and sitting down on the stairs.
"How you doing?" his voice sounded husky from the other end.
"Good you?"
"You know how jail is. Am I gunna get a visit from my kid sister?"
"What today?" I asked him, dropping my head into one of my hands, "Its… its thanksgiving Trey."
"I haven't seen you in ages Al."
"No, yeah I know its been a long time its just..."
"Come on man! It's the holidays. I wanna see my family."
"Wasn't Mom gunna visit?"
"Sorry are you talking bout someone else's mom?" he tried to laugh but his voice cracked and he ended up simply coughing.
"Okay." I sighed again.
"I wanna see my brat of a sis."
"I wanna see you too." I told him, my hand rubbing my temple feeling a headache coming on.
"Its been too long."
"Its been… too long." I repeated quietly.
"I'm gunna say bye and I'll see you later."
"You too, bye." I pressed the red button and simply stared down at the phone cupped in my hands.
I was happy, I was settled, I was doing well and for the first time had a future ahead of me. Yet with one phone call I saw it all vanish before I even came close to touching it. With one phone call I felt myself being dragged back, kicking and screaming into my old life, where all that lay ahead of me was a prison sentence.
I slowly pushed myself up from the stairs and walked back into the kitchen. I put the phone back in its charger, before turning to the others.
"So the cranberries…" I rubbed my hands together and headed over to the stove.
"Whoa." Seth put a hand on my chest and pushed me back, "Not so fast, you can't just walk in here and act all nonchalant and hope that we simply ignore that fact that your brother just called you."
"I think that was Seth's way of asking 'How's Trey?'" Sandy smiled at me, still holding the turkey.
"Okay," I nodded, still slightly in shock. "...he was hoping I could visit him." Seth looked up at me. "Holidays." I shrugged, "You know. He doesn't wanna be alone."
"Oh, can you blame him?" Sandy looked at me with sympathy covered all over his face, only I couldn't work out who it was for.
"So are you uh...are you gonna go?" Kirsten asked timidly.
"Well it's only an hour away. Um I could help out here, go down, be back by dinner."
"Well great, that'll be great... get to see your brother." Sandy tried to smile at me.
"Oh yeah." I popped a cranberry in my mouth as I rolled my eyes at him, "I mean he was the one who taught me to steal cars, get arrested…"
"See, Al, I knew that's all you did in Chino!" Seth smiled weakly at me.
"I'll go start on the corn outside." Sandy said, breaking the silence.
"I'll help."
"By helping Mom, do you mean standing back and letting Dad do all the work?"
"And here was me thinking the woman's place was in the kitchen." She sighed, pooring a glass of wine.
"You got to get hip to the twenty first century Mom." Kirsten simply looked at me dispondently before following Sandy out to the barbecue.
"'You got to get hip'?" I raised my eyebrow at him. "When did you turn ghetto?"
"Bout the same time you moved in." he shrugged and looked through the cupboards. "Hey where's the stuffing mix."
"I'm not ghetto and maybe Kirsten was gunna make her own."
"You came from an inner city. Trust me you're more ghetto than the whole of Newport put together." He pulled his head out one of the cupboards. "Hang on… people actually make stuffing."
"What'd you think?"
"I didn't... so you should probably be heading out soon." He told me, looking through the recipe book.
"Uh, I got to finish the stuffing, then there's the gravy and the candied yams…" I counted all the food items off on my fingers.
"Yeah and if you find enough cooking to last three to five years then Trey'll be out."
"He's just gonna want something from me a favour," I sighed, "money."
"Hey maybe not though. Maybe he just wants to see his family on Thanksgiving." Seth shrugged.
"That's like saying you want to join the water polo team."
"Hey, now that's an idea! Maybe that way they'd stop peeing in my shoes." He went over to the sink and started washing the starch off the potatoes. "How am I to know? We never talk about him."
"Well there's not all that much to talk about."
"Well... he's your brother," I looked at him, "but if you want I'll-I'll go with you I'd like to meet him."
"He'd pee in your shoes."
"Well legally, Alex, he's my brother too now, so he probably wouldn't."
"If he's your brother he's even more likely to pee in your shoes. And anyway someone's gonna have to keep your mom away from the food," I pointed out of the window to Kirsten at the grill.
"I'm on it." He told me before walking to the open door. "MOM! Come on, your uncomfortably close to the corn right now, please can we back up a little bit."
"…besides you've got Anna coming over." I laughed when he returned to the potatoes.
"Yes I do." He smiled.
We dropped back into silence as both prepared the vegetables for dinner. The door bell ringing pulled me out of thoughts of my old life and making me jump as a consequence. I pointed the knife I was welding at him.
"See I knew there was a reason I had to stay in the county." I told him, dropping the knife and heading out to the door.
"Happy thanksgiving." Kirsten smiled at Jimmy and Marissa.
"Hi." Marissa smiled back her, as Kirsten pulled her close for a hug. "Hey," she walked over to me whilst the adults were still saying hello, "just wanted to stop by before I went to my mom's see if you wanted to talk." She smiled seductively at me.
"Yeah," I smiled back, taking her hand and leading her through the house, "talk." I nodded.
"Hey Seth." Marissa smiled at Seth as we passed him, still with his potatoes.
"Don't make too much noise." He called out to us as we made our way into the pool house.
As soon as I'd shut my door her lips were upon mine and her body pressed up against mine, forcing me against the cold glass of my wall. I leant into the kiss and moved her back towards my bed, until we both toppled onto it, neither of us breaking the kiss.
Her hands were roaming along my back, trying to undo my bra, whilst one of mine was on the inside of her thigh playing with the hem of her panties. She pulled my top up as I pulled her underwear down. Both of us desperately searching for more and more contact between us.
As clothes got shed and bodies explored I quickly forgot about my brother and home. I forgot about my past life as I simply laid with her, kissing her, touching her, feeling her next to me. As we rolled over I caught a glimpse of my watch and was instantly brought back into the real world.
"I got to go." I told Marissa getting out of bed and reaching for my bra.
"Oh okay," Marissa said, sitting up holding the sheet to cover her chest. "If you can leave the five hundred on the table."
"What?" I turned round to face her.
"Since when you fuck and run?" she asked me, deliberately moving my shirt out of reach.
"I got to go and see my brother." I told her, leaning over my bed and kissing her whilst grabbing my shirt out of her hand. "I'll be back by eight." I smiled, getting up before she could grab my shirt back and finished dressing.
"I thought he was in-"
"He is." I cut into her sentence to stop her trying to figure out how to end it. "He wants me to drive across and see him."
"You want company?" She asked me getting up and starting to dress herself.
"You don't want to come with me." I told her, as I pulled on my pants.
"No, I do." She said, straightening out the dress she'd just put back on. "I'd like to see where you came from."
"Where I come from there are no mansions and infinity pools. There are no private schools and the gated communities are the prisons." I sighed, walking over to her. "Besides, you have dinner at your mom's."
"Well I'll bail on her." She shrugged, "I've always wanted to see what poor people look like in there natural habitat." She smiled at me.
"Was that some of that inappropriate humour you do?" she simply nodded. "Fine, you can come. But if you don't have fun that's not my fault." I warned her. "I'm just going to check in on Seth, meet you by one of the cars?"
"I'll take my dad's." She told me kissing me on the cheek and leading me back into the main house.
I watched her as she grabbed her dad's jacket and went through his pockets until she found the keys, before I ran up the stairs to Seth's room.
"Hey man," I smiled at him once I'd pushed open his door. "I got to hit the road. What are you doing?" I asked him watching him rummage through his comics. "You getting ready for Anna or something?"
"No," he said getting up and passing me the new Titans, "thought you might want to take him this."
"He was always more into Sin City."
"With car theft and prostitutes?" Seth frowned at me.
"Yeah that's probably not the most suitable thing I could take him." I conceded taking the Titans. "Hey," I smiled pointing to an after-shave bottle I'd just spotted on his chest of draws, "since when did you start wearing cologne?" I asked him spraying it on my arm to smell it.
"I'm sorry for trying to step it up a notch." He told me, snatching back his bottle.
"And this has nothing to do with Anna coming over?" I asked him.
"What...?" he turned defensive. "Uh...no why would you I mean why would you even wear you-I-I-I-I Anna are you totally uh uh I don't even I don't. I couldn't. No." he shook his head furiously.
"You like her." I laughed, poking him in the ribs.
"No. What makes you even think that?" he asked batting my hand away.
"What's the problem? She's cool. Plus she's like, oh my god, like totally into you." I flicked my hair around.
"Okay I blame Marissa for that one." He pointed at me. "I need to ask your advice on something but you have to promise me, okay, you have to promise me that you will not tell anybody. Okay?"
"You're going to tell me anyway, whether I promise or not." I told him, sitting down on his bed and flicking through the comic.
"Good point. The other night on my grandfather's yacht Summer attacked me with her lips."
"Funny how she always does that when there are no witnesses!" I sighed, not looking up from the comic.
"And she swore if I told anyone she would kill me, and she's got a interesting take on romance."
"Just pray you don't get a valentines from her."
"For someone who doesn't do holidays you're really planning ahead."
"I have to get going, Marissa's waiting." I told him standing again.
"Can we focus on me for like two minutes please?" Seth pleaded at me.
"I'm so sorry for wanting to head out and see my incarcerated brother." I told him, hitting him with the comic and making my way out to the car.
"Anna kissed me too." Seth called out after me.
"No fucking way?" I laughed, spinning round quickly.
"Seriously for the first sixteen years of my life I had no women, now I have two."
"Oh man, I feel so bad for you." I laughed.
"Oh, hey thanks buddy."
"No seriously man tough, tough problem to have." I kept laughing.
"I liked it so much better when you had no sense of humour."
"Hey," I pointed the rolled up comic at him, "I've always had a sense of humour."
"Well you hid it well, behind the mood swings and the brooding."
"And I'm going again." I told him, going back downstairs to be met by Sandy panicking, checking I had my cell with me and Kirsten presenting me with a pie.
When I finally got out of the house I found Marissa sitting in her dad's car flicking through the radio stations.
"Sorry I took so long." I sighed, slipping into the seat besides her. "Seth is having women issues."
"Wait," she smiled at me as she pulled out of the drive, "our Seth?"
"And there you were thinking we wouldn't have anything to talk about on the drive."
"I cannot believe you made me listen to Tori Amos the entire ride over." Marissa sighed, holding the door to the visitor's centre open for me. "I mean she is so depressing."
"When we go visit a sibling of yours in jail, you get to pick the music." I told her, kissing her on the cheek as I passed her into the building. I walked up to the front desk and tried to pull the guards attention away from the USA Today he was holding. "Hello?" he looked over at me, "We're here to see Trey Atwood."
"You got to sign in and leave all sharp objects at the gate." He pushed a clipboard towards me, going back to his paper. I signed mine and Marissa's names on the sheet and pushed it back to him. "A guard will search you over there." He pointed to a guard of each sex by a steel door and slid over a couple of 'visitor' tags, still not looking up.
"I forgot how much fun this is." Marissa whispered in my ear as she clipped on her tag.
"Well I haven't done this since I was seven." I sighed, walking over to the female guard to be searched.
She pointed us down a corridor and a series of locked doors until we finally got to the visitors pen. It was a caged enclosure filled with inmates and their families, all being watched by guards with guns in towers.
I walked over to Trey at a table on his own, he looked so small in his bright orange jumpsuit. He picked his head up when my shadow finally fell on him and I saw how his face was covered in bruises. He suddenly looked even smaller.
"Hey little sister." He stood up and tried to smile, but the cut on his lip meant that he simply grimaced instead. He tried to pull me into a hug but I took a stoop back and folded my arms.
"This is Marissa." I told him, nodding over to her standing nervously on the edge.
"You always said it wasn't a phase."
"Uh, you know what you guys talk I'll uh I'll just be over here." She pointed and sat down at the table next to us, leaving me with him. He sat back down, watched me drop the pie and the comic, before gesturing me to do the same.
"Look at you girl." He tried to smile at me once more, watching me remaining standing over him.
"What do you want?"
"Don't say it like that man, can't a guy just see his sister on Thanksgiving?"
"Yeah 'cause we're all bout the family!" I rolled my eyes at him.
"Hey forget about it alright… I didn't wanna have to call you but," he sighed, "I'm in trouble...when we got arrested I owed some people a lot of money - money that I lost; like six grand."
"How the hell did you lose six grand?" I spat at him, banging my fists on the table and leaning over him. "You're in fucking jail."
"You're an Atwood sis, you know our luck...the people that I owe it to...they got friends in here who like to remind me about it...its only gonna get worse."
"Hence that lovely beat up look you got your self." I rolled my eyes at him again. "I don't have that kind of money."
"I'm not asking you for the money."
"So what are you asking me for?"
"I need you to drop of a car at this garage and then the debts cleared."
"I'm not steeling a car for you." I told him, dropping my voice as a guard walked past. "Despite the fun I had doing it the first time.
"Look you don't have to steel a car." I simply glared at him. "Arturo's got one at his place. You just have to move it."
"And if I don't?"
"Next time you see me I'm in a coffin."
I pushed the pie at him and left, I pulled Marissa up as I passed and walked back through the gate I'd only just gone in. I picked up our stuff and headed back into the car, once Marissa had done her belt I sped off, wordlessly.
"You can't tell me where we're going?" she asked five minutes into the silent journey.
"Bus station, you're going home."
"What? Alex!"
"I have to pick up a stolen car okay, that I have to drop off at some chop shop to pay back a debt." I banged my palms on the wheel.
"A stolen car?" she sounded shocked.
"Now you know why you're not coming."
"But if you get caught then y-"
"He's my brother...if I don't do this...I've got no choice okay." I sighed out, well aware of the risks.
"Me either," she looked at me, "I'm not leaving you."
"Told you this trip wasn't going to be any fun." I sighed at her before pointing the car in the direction of my old neighbourhood.
I parked the car in front of my old house, the windows now boarded up and the front yard used as a dumping ground for the local's crap.
"Home, sweet, home." I pointed across at my old front room. "Later, if you want, you can see my old bedroom." I told her, unbuckling and jumping out onto the curb. "If it hasn't been invaded by squatters." I muttered walking up the Gonzalez's drive, knowing that Marissa was following, I rubbed my temple before rapping on the door.
"Alexandra Atwood!" Theresa smiled at me pulling back the door, before promptly slapping me. "Jodie?!"
"Ow," I told her rubbing my cheek. "It was nothing, we were nothing and she'd broken up with whatshisface."
"Usted siempre hace este." She sighed at me.
"Je le déteste quand vous parlez l'Espagnol, vous savez que je ne peux pas parler l'Espagnol." I replied.
"Why must you do that?" Theresa asked me.
"'cause it pisses you off, just like you know it pisses me off when you speak Spanish at me." I told her.
"What's going on?" Marissa asked me, stepping forward and looking between us.
"You speak Spanish?" I asked her, she simply nodded. "Then you tell me." I sighed, my hand back at my temple the headache I feared would come having arrived. "Is Arturo in?" I asked Theresa.
"You're just gonna ask for my stupid brother, your not even gonna tell me where the hell you been for the last five months." Theresa's hand was on her hip.
I scratched my head. "Err…Juvie, Newport, Juvie again," I rubbed my eyes suddenly feeling very tired, "and then, uh, Newport again. Now is he in?"
"What were you doing in Juvie?"
"That would be why I'm here." I told her.
"Who's this?" she asked me looking across at Marissa for the first time.
"Hi," Marissa held out her hand, which Theresa shook, "I'm Marissa Cooper."
"So this is your new girlfriend?" Theresa asked me, her hand still on her hip and her eyebrow in the air.
"Oh so you two were-"
"No, this isn't uncomfortable at all." I sighed cutting into Marissa's sentence.
"Off and on," Theresa answered, ignoring me "...we grew up together, I was the girl next door."
"So am I." Marissa smiled at me.
"Yeah. So Arturo?" I questioned Theresa again, trying to once again steer us all back to the reason for me being back in Chino.
"Yeah he's here." She walked away from the door and into the house.
"Don't look at me like that," I begged Marissa, watching her fake smile grow in size, "you were the one who wanted to come."
"Uh-huh." She continued smiling and followed Theresa inside.
"Mom, look who I found!" Theresa smiled at her mother once we were all in the kitchen.
"Oh Alex," Theresa's mum hugged me and laughed happily. "Where have you been? I haven't seen your mom in a while."
"Me neither." I smiled at her walking further into the kitchen. "Mmm, I missed your cooking Mrs G it smells good."
"You always were a sweet thing when you wanted feeding. How's your brother?"
"Trouble."
"So you here for the car?" Arturo asked me coming in through the back wiping his hands.
"Hey man." I nodded across at him, watching him walk through the room towards me.
"Hey man. How you doing?" he asked hugging me.
"Good." I nodded. "This is Marissa by the way."
"Hey." He smiled at her shaking her hand.
"Hi."
"Her girlfriend." Theresa told him, sitting down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar.
"Thanks for that!" I smiled at Theresa.
"Come on, man, lets go," he motioned out to the back with his head, "might take us a minute to get the engine going."
"Yeah." I turned to Marissa "You, uh, you wanna come?"
"You go, I'll hang out here." She smiled looking around the small kitchen.
"I was worried you would say that." I muttered following Arturo out into the yard.
"This cars hot man," he whistled as he pulled of the cover to reveal a 1952 DeSoto convertible, "Gattas will be psyched. Your brother must owe him a lot of money," I simply looked at him. "That dude's crazier then your brother is."
"Preaching to the converted man."
"So why you back here doing Trey's bitch work?" I didn't answer him, I didn't know what to say. "Look Trey was my best friend, but the guy's trouble." He got in the passenger side.
"I've noticed."
"You don't have to do this, you could just go back to your new life, what's Trey gonna do?"
"Lets just get this thing running." I hopped in and took the keys from him and listened to the engine rattle.
"Pop the hood." Arturo told me getting back out and lifting the bonnet.
I sat there as he tinkered with the car, turning the engine off and on as he commanded, wishing so much that I could just be back in the pool house with Marissa, getting ready to eat dinner with the Cohen's. Wanting so much to just be home. I stopped thinking and stared back into the real world when the engine started running smoothly and Arturo had dropped the hood back down. He looked at me his eyes telling me nothing more than he'd been saying earlier, I simply sighed and stepped back out onto his driveway.
"Thanks man. I'll go get Marissa." I smiled weakly and walked back into his house. "So the cars ready to go." I told her as my trousers started ringing, I pulled out my cell and saw the house number calling me, "Hello?"
"Man its me," Seth said, his voice filled with panic from the other end. "Listen now, uh, despite what the penthouse letters might suggest two girls and one guy, uh, its not really all its cracked up to be."
"Yeah I know what you mean," I looked over to Marissa and Theresa sitting at the bench laughing together, "but, uh, can I call you back when Marissa and I are on the road?"
"Marissa's with you?"
"Yup."
"Uh, just her mom's here looking for her but just call me, call me back okay."
"Have fun with Julie Cooper." I told him before hanging up on him. I returned my cell to my pocket and walked over to the girls. "So we better be heading out, Mrs G, thanks for occupying Marissa for me." I smiled at her.
"No problem Alex." She hugged me goodbye, "Don't wait so long to come back okay?"
"And miss more of your cooking?" I laughed at her.
"Good bye." Marissa shook her hand and followed me and Theresa back out through the front door.
"So, I'll see you again sometime." I smiled at Theresa when I was back in her front yard.
"Mhmm," she nodded. "Good luck."
"You too." I looked at Marissa standing on the street then back at Theresa. "Look I'm sorry bout how I left things."
"Yeah. This place isn't as fun as it use to be." I smiled at her and watched as she waved at Marissa.
"You mean with me no longer cheating on you with Jodie?" I laughed at her.
"You want another slap?"
I hugged her goodbye, watched her go inside and walked towards the car, with Marissa in toe.
"So how come you didn't tell me there was a Theresa."
"Wasn't all that much to tell really." I smiled at her handing her the keys to the range rover. "You know your mom's totally spazzing back home."
She merely shrugged, "So what we got to do now?"
I kept an eye on my speed and on the rear view mirror making sure that Marissa was still following me. Whenever I hit a red light she would sit behind me and pull faces, letting me know that I wasn't alone in all of this.
As we drove through shabbier and shabbier neighbourhoods I began to regret dragging Marissa into everything, thinking that my initial plan of leaving her out of my past life would have been the better one. However, as I drove along in a stolen car, the stereo pumping, knowing that she was behind me kept me going.
I waved my arm, signalling for her to pull over once I'd reached the address of the shop that Arturo had given me. I pulled in and waited for one of the mechanics to notice me. A Hispanic came out of the main garage wiping his hands of with a dirty rag.
"You Alex?" I simply nodded at him. "This is a hot ride I'll tell you that, hard to believe your brother could pull it off cause, uh, he's such a stupid son-of-a-bitch."
"Yeah," I got out of the car, "well, what'd you think?"
"What? Huh? What?" he asked hitting my arm. "What do I think about what?"
"We good? You take the car Trey's off the hook?"
"Oh, is that the deal?" he asked me, looking me up and down.
"That's what he told me. I'm just following orders here."
"Huh? You fellas hear that?" I turned round to see where he was looking to see even more angry guys, all clad in wife beaters, approach. "I've been waiting six months for this alright and there's something called interest."
"I don't have anything."
He pushed me against the chain rail fence behind me. "Yeah? Well interest needs to be paid." He told me hitting me in the face. "Alright?"
I heard a car horn, I looked down the drive to see Marissa in the range rover. "You're all with the questions aren't you!" I said hitting him so I could get past. I ran towards the car as Marissa opened the passenger door for me, with the angry mechanics following me. "Go!" I yelled jumping into the car, slamming the door after me. The car screeched as she sped away, putting distance between us and the guys.
"Now where?" she asked me, speeding down the road to put more and more distance between the shop and us.
"Back to Trey." I sighed, leaning back and staring out of the window.
She parked the car and we walked back into the jail, we'd left only three hours before. The shift had changed and a nicer guard signed us in and told us where to go, not that we needed either instructions or directions. I walked back into the pen and left Marissa standing by the fence as I went over to Trey.
"Car's delivered, debts paid but I am never doing anything for you again. You understand?" I told him simply.
"I'm sorry man."
"No you're not." I told him, dropping three quarters of a pack of Cherokee Red, the ones Mom always smoked, on the table and leaving him.
I turned round and Marissa followed me out. We collected our stuff and I got into the driver's seat. I didn't say anything until we were well away from the jail and onto a main road.
"So that was Chino." I smiled weakly at her.
"I guess," she sighed out, "I never realised when you left, you left people behind."
"I never wanna do that again."
"You won't have to," she laughed, "Snoopy."
"So Theresa told you huh?"
"Never knew you were a fan of the musical." She smiled at me.
"I was the only one who could fit into the costume."
"Sure." She told me in a voice that let me know she didn't believe me. "You know we're going to be having a conversation about the fact you cheated on her right?"
"Knew I didn't want you coming to Chino with me."
The sun had set by the time we pulled back into my drive. I looked around and found the house in darkness.
"Uh," I motioned towards the house and Marissa just shrugged. We stepped out and walked into the main hall, Julie running out of the kitchen just as soon as the door had slammed behind us.
"Oh thank G-d." Julie said pulling Marissa into the kitchen, upon seeing us. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to Chino with her?" she asked her, whilst glaring at me.
"Mom don't. I thought you were happy for us?" Julie turned round and looked at Mr Nichol for help. "Oh!" Marissa said slowly, realisation dawning, "that was just when you wanted to pretend we were still happy families when you were secretly shagging Caleb."
"Chinese anyone?" Mr Nichol jumped up from the counter offering us a container of rice.
"Where's Kirsten and Sandy?" I asked taking it from him.
"Drunk, passed out on the bed and next to her watching the football." He said handing Marissa more food.
"Wow it really is Thanksgiving." I smiled at her grabbing chopsticks. "And Seth?"
"Moping in his room because the girls left."
"Cool." I nodded at him, grabbing some more cartoons of food and heading upstairs, Marissa following me with cans of drink. "Hey," I smiled at him, having pushed open his door with my shoulder and finding him on the floor with a toy horse, "what you doing?" I frowned at him, joining him on the floor.
"Not lying with Captain Oats." He got up trying to the horse from view of Marissa.
"Uh, why are you on the floor?" she asked.
"I figured I'd end up here anyway so I might as well cut out the middle man."
"When the girls leave then?" Marissa smiled at him, passing him some noodles.
"When they saw each other." He sighed, dipping into the Pad Tai.
"What?" I laughed opening a can of Diet Coke.
"Never mind." He sighed, "So you going to tell me about that nice shiner you got going on there?"
"It was Chino, couldn't leave without getting hit."
"So home was fun, huh?" he asked taking the cartoon of Moo Shoo pork from me.
"You tell me, I was steeling cars." I told him, leaving us silently eating.
"Hey so, Seth," Marissa smiled after a while, turning to me and grabbing my chin and squeezing the sides of my mouth, "did you know that Alex did musicals?"
"Alex that's extremely minty of you," they laughed together. "I didn't even know they had musicals in Chino, I didn't know they had dancing or even laughter."
"Oh well that's cause no one lived there as funny as you." I said poking him with one of my chop sticks.
"Hey so we finally agree I'm the funny one, well look at that, looks like we all learned some valuable lessons this thanksgiving...it's uh it's heart warming."
There will be more angst next time folks (getting bored of all the fun and happiness). R&R, thank you. Circus.
