Now call him paranoid, but when Coach called Ellis back—and only Ellis—and began to whisper quietly with him for a good minute or two Nick couldn't help but feel suspicious. It didn't help that when Ellis finally returned to his side he refused to make eye-contact.

Nick frowned. "What was that about?"

"Nothin'." Still no eye-contact and now the young man had turned a fierce shade of red.

"You're a terrible liar," Nick said flatly, eyes narrowing.

"…I… I ain't… Hey, le's go outside! Maybe it stopped rainin'." Ellis took off in the direction of the deck but Nick simply stood rooted in spot, eyes still narrowed. Ellis continued for another few steps until he finally stopped, realizing that Nick wasn't going to follow him. The southerner sighed loudly, head lowering but he still did not turn around to look at the older man.

"Ellis. What did you do?"

"…I… I might of told… Coach…" He mumbled under his breath.

Nick tilted his head slightly, "What? I can't hear you."

Ellis felt his heart pounding. A part of him knew that if he told Nick the truth the other man would probably beat him senseless. Nick didn't need to know right now. Not yet. So, Ellis fibbed; "Coach wanted ta make sure tha' I was doin' okay stayin' with ya still… Took some convincin' but… le's jus' say tha' he ain't worried no more." Well, he never said anything about being a good liar. Nick, at least, seemed to buy the fib.

The conman sighed quietly. "What exactly did you tell him?"

"Everythin'…"

Nick pursed his lips together in a silent 'oh'. Then he shrugged. "Well, whatever. I don't care."

Ellis let out a sigh of relief, but then jerked in surprise as Nick's arms came up around him from behind. Ellis blinked over his shoulder at the other. Nick was smirking.

"So, you want to go outside to see if it's raining…? Okay, fine… But if we get wet again, you better not ruin any more of my shirts." He nipped at the younger man's cheek before letting go. Ellis grinned and hurriedly followed after.

A little to their disappointment it had stopped raining—although it was overcast and humid. Standing outside in the dense muggy air was almost not worth it—but at the same time, it was nice not being cooped up inside with the majority of the masses that all seemed hallow-eyed and gloomy.

Nick sighed. "God, I could use a cigarette." He glanced around, trying to find someone to con a cigarette or two off, but it appeared that no one on deck was blessed with any. He sighed again. "I should start playing the piano or something in exchange for smokes. Do you think they'd pay me in cigarettes?"

"I think fer the most part they ain't got much money…"

"Well, exactly. I wouldn't do it for free so getting cigarettes out of it would be a fair exchange."

Ellis rolled his eyes, "Man, ya still get yer head all obsessed with them material things, dontcha? Haven'tcha learned nothin'? Learn ta be grateful fer whatcha have."

"Sure. But I want cigarettes."

"Butcha don' need 'em."

Nick let out a huff of annoyance, glaring out at the ocean. Well, sure, he didn't need them per se, but the conman would pay to see anyone else try to cope with going from smoking a pack a day to having not one damn cigarette for weeks a time. He wanted a cigarette and there was no and, if's or but's about it. He would get one eventually… somehow.

"Hey… Nick?" Nick's slightly annoyed gaze turned to the southerner. Ellis was looking suddenly very, very very guilty. "Promise not ta get mad… okay?"

"…" Nick shifted his front towards the mechanic and eyed him. "What is it?"

"Ya promise?"

"No."

Ellis made a face, gripping the railing in his hands. He wasn't good at lying—and whenever had lied he had never been able to live with himself until he had ultimately confessed. His mother had quickly instilled that virtue in him at an early age and it had stuck with him all throughout his life.

He could still remember at fifteen when he had worried himself sick one time after lying to his mother about going to Keith's house—but the two had actually ended up going to the next city down to party. It hadn't even been the booze that had made him puke that night—but the guilt. He had felt so awful that eventually Keith had just let him call home. He had sobbed out his confession over the phone to his mother about where he really was. She hadn't really been mad, but that didn't change the fact that he had been grounded for a good month… Yeah, Ellis didn't handle guilt very well and he took the punishment without any complaint.

"Coach-wanted-ta-make-sure-yer-sister-knew-ya-was-okay-an'-so-I-gave-him-her-name-an'-location-an'-stuff."

Nick blinked once and then leaned forward, eyes narrowed dangerously. "What did you just say?"

Ellis fumbled for words, backing away and trying very hard to not look Nick in the face. The conman did not look happy. At all.

"I asked you a question, Ellis. What did you just say?"

"…Told… Coach… 'bout yer sister…" Nick let out an annoyed breath before shoving himself away from the railing. He stared at the mechanic in open disbelief. "I-I though' it'd be a good thing tha' she knew, ya know?" Nicks face twisted with bitterness and he gave the mechanic one last scowl before storming away. "Nick? Nick! Hey, come on, I'm sorry—Nick? Please, don' be mad, okay? I'm sorry. Maybe if I can find Coach real quick he mighta not told the military ta give her a notice… Nick? I'm sorry! Nick! Wait, come on, man!"

Although the guilt of lying had left a bad taste in his mouth and left him feeling queasy and dishonest, the thought that Nick was now furious with him made the mechanic absolutely distraught. And so he did the only thing he could possibly do in such a situation. He began to cry.

Nick made it perhaps four more angry strides before he noticed that Ellis' apologies had turned into choking sobs. He stopped, lifting his gaze to the sky and muttered a few curses before slowly turning back. Son of a bitch. He let out a hissing sigh between his teeth before returning to the mechanics side.

"N-Nick, I'm sorry, okay? I'm—" Ellis hiccupped, tears now wetting his flushed cheeks—"I di'n't mean ta make ya—" his voice choked and he tried again, "make ya mad."

Nick drew the younger man into a tight embrace and the mechanic fell apart quickly, burying his face into Nick's chest and continued his mantra of apologies in between his guilt-ridden sobs. Although Nick was pretty pissed off, the truth was it wasn't worth staying pissed off over. Especially not if it meant condemning Ellis to a bawling wreck. It just wasn't worth staying upset.

"Hey… are you done yet?" Nick asked quietly, trying to sound disinterested. Ellis sniffled loudly, eyes rising tentatively. Nick reluctantly met those worried blues. He felt his heart squeeze painfully. "…I'm not mad, all right…? Just don't be doing that shit. I thought I made it pretty clear of what I intended to do about that whole mess."

Even so… Even so he was oddly relieved… Like a weight had been lifted… Maybe he should thank the kid? Nah.

"…Ya sure ya ain't mad? I mean… I can… I'll go an' make thing's righ'… Okay? I'll find Coach an'—an'—"

"Relax. It's fine." He released the southerner, but Ellis still clung to him tightly. It was after a moment that Nick returned his arms back around the other. Ellis' fingers dug into his back and Nick winced slightly. "Hey… calm down, all right? Everything's fine."

Ellis pressed is face back into the others chest. "I'm sorry," came another muffled apology.

Nick felt himself starting to grin a little. "This cryin' shit AIN'T gonna work forever, kid. You get this one time that I'll let it work. Got it?"

"Yeah…" Ellis let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, I got it… sorry, man… I jus'… I don' wan' ya ta be mad at me..."

"Do you want me to be mad?"

"No!"

"Then let it go." He released the mechanic again and very reluctantly Ellis' grip loosened. The younger man smiled embarrassedly. Nick could only shake his head slightly and smirk. God damn kid had really rooted himself in deep, hadn't he?

Nick decided he was all right with this growing prospect.

A/N: I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter yet. I feel like I've been lacking a lot these last few, and I apologize for that. Tryin' to work back into conflict/emotion invoking shit. Bare with me. D':

I rocked out to Nick singing while writing this entire chapter. Which, of course, kept making me laugh. Hearing him singing "chit-chat" over and over just made me bust out laughing for a good minute. And gawd the notes he hits in the song "Friends of Mine" makes me lawl so hard! 'Maybe it's not that prettttty, it's just a place in tiiime. Those days are gone foreveeeer and so are those friends of miiiiineeee~" LOL

Ellis strikes me as someone that can't handle lying to people he cares about—especially when he knows that they trust him fully. I don't think there's a worse feeling in the world than guilt. e_e I just think him crying would inadvertently guilt-trip Nick… and I don't think he likes feeling guilty XD

Also, thank you again for following this story along with me. I am so grateful to receive such nice comments. It makes me happy to know that there are people following their journey :'D. Thank you!