Chapter 7
seven
Lost But Not Found
Jim
How the fuck did this kid get so drunk?
I swear I turned my back to pee for no more than ninety seconds, I may not have washed my hands, and when I came back, he was a goner. I only saw him drink two beers in the last hour. With Charlie wasted and David concussed, the two of them were being a handful together.
We have got to go before Marty gets pissed.
I walked over to the bar and looked at the clock that’s sitting on top and saw that it was fifteen till nine. David and I had been here since 5:00pm, having walked here straight from shift. We still haven’t eaten yet.
Shit! Maybe that’s why Charlie was in the state he’s in.
“Time to go Tweedledee and Tweedledum,” sneaking a peek at Marty to see if he’d caught these two acting the fool, but he was helping Will and John.
“Oh, come on Jim. Don’t be a party pooper,” looking at me with his hazel eyes, noticing the one pupil on the side he got punched is larger than the other, barely showing any color.
“Pal, mate, chum– you look like shit. You have a massive bruise on the side of your head, your eyes are doing something really weird that’s freaking me out, and Charlie seems like he should have been cut off the second he walked in the door. So, I think it’s time to go.”
“I’s reelly sorry again. It’s… my fault yous gots hit,” Charlie slurred.
“Buddy,” then he paused to burp, “don’t worry about it,” David said, turning back to me. “Can we at least finish this round we got?”
“No! Charlie can barely talk as is. He has to be able to walk home, you goof. Let’s go,” but they both just stared at me. “Now!”
I threw a few bills on the bar to pay up and extra for a tip while they both got up without more of a fight, with Charlie tripping over his own feet and almost falling on his face, but I caught him under his arm in time.
I straightened him up and guided him towards the door.
David was walking okay but I have a feeling he’s not going to be feeling so great tomorrow when the alcohol wore off and the punch set in.
Charlie probably won’t be much better. He’s walking crooked and continuing to trip over his own feet.
Great.
Getting outside and walking down Bigham Street away from the tavern, we turned right onto Virginia Avenue, helping Charlie along the way since he was having issues walking on the cobblestone street.
How did I end up in this situation?
Then the hair on the back of my neck stood on end giving me this feeling like we had eyes on us.
I look around at our quiet surroundings.
I didn’t notice anyone. It’s technically still early for a Friday night so people were still at the bars trying to drink away their week before going home to their spouses.
David went to turn down Sulgrave Road, the upper section of the Village, when I stopped him, “Come stay at my place in the spare room for the night. Probably better not to scare your parents with what you look like this late.” That would be the last thing they needed right before they went to bed.
“Sure, okay.” Walking the rest of the block, then turned left down Olympia Road toward my place when I realized I had no idea where Charlie lives.
Shit.
“Hey buddy, where are we taking you? Are you and Mike in the Village?” I grabbed his shoulder again to steady him.
He had been quiet this whole time with a harsh concentrated look on his face.
Like he’s trying to process the world around him with new eyes and new information.
He looked actually kind of cute in this state which was the last thing I needed to be thinking about.
“Yep,” popping the P, then tripping again.
By then we had gotten to where my place was, so I stopped them. “Charlie, this is where I live. Where are you located?”
“I’s think… I’s am that way,” continuing to point in the direction we were going.
“David, here’s my key. Let yourself in and go find the bed. I’ll be back after I drop the kid off,” handing it to him and motioning him toward my unit on the end.
“Hey,” Charlie said, with a scowl on his face, “I’m not a kid,” raising his voice.
“Shhh! Quiet. People could be sleeping. And yeah, okay,” raising my hands to appease him.
David snatched the key from my left hand that I was holding up and looked at Charlie, who was starting to look a little green now with a pissed off expression.
“Have a good night, Charlie. See you around, yeah,” before turning to walk up the path, and onto my little patio area that’s empty.
I always thought it was stupid they gave some of us one when we couldn’t afford to put furniture out there to sit on.
“Thanks fors the beers and the sssshot, David.” Charlie yelled out to him before he walked inside, forgetting we needed to be quiet and providing the proof of why he’s so inebriated.
Jesus.
“Buddy! That was supposed to be a secret,” he exclaimed back with an exhale, then walked in the door before I had the chance to berate him for the stupidity of giving Charlie anything more than what he already drank.
“Come on, let's get you home,” I motioned for him to continue down Olympia Road. Once we got to the lower section of the Village, Charlie stopped and looked at a set of dirty brick units, like he’s pondering how he got here. “You okay?”
“Ummm, yeah?” Starting to walk down the path, in between two of the buildings.
I closely followed, grabbing his shoulder again when he tripped on a crack in the walkway.
I pulled him back up with too much force, making him lean back into me.
The feeling of his back and butt pressed up against my chest and groin is the closest I had been to another guy in a while.
“Ooopss, sooorry,” he stated, after taking a moment to get himself balanced back up right again, with a slight blush on his cheeks.
After walking the path between the two unit buildings, we got to the end, Charlie stopping in the junction, and looked around. Then it hit me. “You have no idea where you are and which unit is yours, do you?”
“They allls loook the sssame to me in the dark,” he drunkingly whimpered, seeing the worry in his eyes when he looked at me.
“I’s know I’m in an end unit but…” fading off, while looking around at the four end units in this junction with more of them a ways in each direction.
He was becoming more adorable which isn’t helping my thought process.
Again… how did I end up in this situation, caring for this kid – sorry, man – and wandering around in the quiet night.
I’m totally blaming David and I swear he’s going to never hear the end of it from me, even though he saved me from getting clocked in the back of the head.
I couldn’t believe I was even thinking about what I was going to suggest, leaning my head back on my shoulders and looking up into the dark yet bright starry sky.
When I looked back down to Charlie, his blue eyes, still shining even in the dark, gleaming back at me.
Shit.
Then a tear fell down his cheek. “I’m s.s.sorry. I don’t know… where I am,” he hiccuped when he took a breath.
“Okay, calm down. This isn’t a problem. I’m not going to abandon you in the middle of the Village. I was just about to take you back to my place.” His dad was going to be so pissed in the morning when he found Charlie not there.
Continuing to freak out and clearly thinking the same thing as I was, “My dad’s going to p.p.panic when… he notices I’m not th.there.”
Exhaling and motioning for him to follow me back down the path to the road that takes us back to my unit, thinking about how to handle this situation.
“It will be fine,” not believing it myself but trying to be confident about it.
“I’ll set an alarm to get you back before he notices.
Hopefully in the morning with your head on straight, you’ll know where to go. ”
As we walked in silence up to the street, I got the feeling that we were being watched. I had that sensation of a vibrating tingle on the back of my neck, like a warning bell. I had never felt paranoid before, looking around to see if I noticed anything, but something didn’t feel right.
That’s when I noticed Charlie’s hands were fidgeting.
Without thinking, I took his left hand into mine and squeezed it.
He immediately stiffened up in panic and looked me straight in the eyes while continuing our walk, his face wet but not actively crying anymore.
Whatever he was seeing in my gaze and after I squeezed again, he lost all the tension he was holding in his thin frame.
He then tripped and landed splat, sprawled out on his front, his hand slipping out of mine in the process.
This is not how I thought I was going to end my day.
Charlie groaned, “Ouch,” before pushing himself up on his hands and knees, pausing there like he was thinking about just laying back down and staying put.
“Okay,” I told him, grabbing him under one of his armpits, pulling him up.
“Up you go.” Once balanced upright and on his feet again, I took a quick look to make sure he wasn’t injured. “Are you okay? Anything hurt?”
“Just my pride,” drawing out the ‘I’ and looking at the ground to avoid looking at me, clearly embarrassed.
Still holding on to him but loosening my grip, I let my hand slip to his bicep before moving it to the middle of his back. I guided him up the path to my door, liking the way his back felt in my touch, his small frame fragile in my strong grasp.
I let us inside, straight into the elongated kitchen with a black and white tiled floor.
Along the wall we were facing was the stove, tan metal cabinets that used to be white, but now in a permanent dirty state, a scratched up brown laminate countertop with a big white sink, and a metal backsplash.
The icebox was to the right of the door we had come in through, with another small set of cabinets on the other side of it.
To the left was a small table, only big enough for two chairs.
Directly in front of us was the door that opened to the living room and the stairs that went up to the bedrooms.
Charlie was looking at the clean space that I tended to keep immaculate. He still hadn’t looked at me since he fell. “Are you hungry? I have makings for a sandwich. You should probably eat something,” I inquired and suggested knowing regardless, he would probably be feeling it tomorrow.
I walked to the cabinet to the right of the sink and pulled down two cups and filled them with water. After handing one to Charlie, who still wouldn’t look at me, I touched his chin and guided it up with my index finger and saw the fear in his eyes that shouldn’t belong there.
Trying to convey as many positive thoughts as possible to get him to relax a little, his head just shook back and forth in a ‘no’ gesture.
I nodded back, “Drink that at least. It will help.”
He downed his glass, so I filled it back up and silently guided him into the living space where he suddenly stopped and said, “You don’t have a couch!”, with panic in his voice.
“No, I don’t,” I stated calmly, walking toward the stairs and motioned for him to follow but he was frozen where he was standing.
After saying his name twice, he finally looked up at me where I had stopped four steps up.
His breathing was rapid and unsteady, and he was looking a bit green again.
“What’s wrong? It looks like you’re about to throw up and pass out on me at the same time. ”
He backed up against the wall next to the kitchen door, like he was hoping to blend in or disappear. “I shouldn’t be here,” he said to the thin air in front of him. Then he looked up at me while hunching over, looking like he was attempting to try to make himself as small as possible.
I studied him, trying to make sense of what he just said and how he was acting, when it clicked. “Are you afraid of being around me? Of being here?” The energy he was giving off, as well as Mike’s overprotective intentions, started to piece together what I needed to know.
And if I’m correct, this whole mess just got way more complicated.