I slide through the doorway just as grandpa and Jen are waking up. Grandpa gets one look at my laughing smile and the CD player in my hand that’s blasting the music loud enough for him hear.
“What’d you do?” he says mocking a concerned parental tone, not really working with the amused grin he’s got on his face though.
“Helping Jet wake up Ghoul,” I say placidly, heightening the irony with my wicked grin.
“I remember when we used an amp to wake him up one time,” he laughs as he pulls himself up in the pull out bunk he sleeps in, I walk over to give him a hand. He puts his arm around my shoulders and I put mine around his waist to give him some support. He grabs hold of his wheelchair and pushes himself off the bed, I move quickly to adjust him over the seat before his momentum starts heading down. He lands in the seat perfectly, he adjusts his legs on the rest before he heads over to see how the others are doing.
While he’s doing that, I go to see how Jen’s doing.
“Get a good night sleep?” I say kneeling down to get eye level with her.
“Yep,” she says as she stretches out, then she looks at me with worried eyes. “Why were you and your dad yelling?”
I frown, “You heard that too?”
“Yes, but why were you yelling?” she asks again, wanting an answer.
“Slight disagreement in traveling issues,” I mumble standing back up.
“Sounded like a lot more than that,” she says quietly behind me, afraid that I’ll snap if she presses further.
“I wanted him to train me, he said he would, but I’d have to leave with them,” I say quietly.
“So,” Jen says, slurring her words with yawning.
“He said I couldn’t take you with me,” I say looking over my shoulder at her.
She looks hurt when she asks, “Why not?”
“Didn’t want you getting dragged into the mess my training was gonna be for,” I say looking away, not wanting her to see me get upset.
“So, I’m strong, I can keep up…but I still don’t really see why you were yelling at him, he’s your dad after all,” Jen says coming to stand next to me.
I look away, then tell her the rest, “He said you’d be like dad, then he said some…unflattering things about him.” I sniffle a bit and wipe my eyes before I face her again.
“Oh,” Jen says looking down.
“It’s alright Jen,” I whisper.
She looks up at me and smiles, happy to hear her real name for once. I smile back then look up at the sound of footsteps coming this way. There’re two thumps from outside, then we hear the wood panel being moved as someone comes in from the back.
“…Look I don’t wanna be talking about this Mikey,” we hear someone mumble as they walk through the hallway.
“You’re gonna have to sometime G,” Kobra murmurs as he and…dad, file in from the hallway. “She’s your d—oh, hey kids,” as soon as Kobra notices that Jen and I are in the room, he immediately changes his furious mood for a more cheerful one.
“Hi!” Jen says brightly as she waves to Kobra and dad, who staring at me, not with fear but slight understanding.
Kobra gives a slight wave in return, dad just looks at Jen sadly, then starts for the diner, Kobra following close behind.
“They were talking about you weren’t they?” Jen murmurs, staring after them.
“I guess so,” I know what I have to do, I’m not gonna like it, but he ain’t gonna like it either. I look down at Jen, “I gotta go, grandpa has to start soon and I have to go get him,” I pat her on the back before I walk over to the doorway and into the diner.
Grandpa’s handing out cans of food for the guys, and they’re all opening them up and digging around behind the counter for spoons. I head over to grandpa who’s sitting by the rundown cash register and he smiles warmly when he sees me coming.
“You have to start the radio soon,” I mumble, so none of the guys will hear.
He looks at me closely, then nods, understanding, “Well boys I gotta get the radio up in runnin’, thanks for stopping by.” Leaving me alone with them, he knows that I intend to stay, but not before I settle things first. He must have seen a lot of this with mom and dad, I guess that’s how he knew I was doing the same.
Jet sees grandpa leave, and catches a glimpse of my face, obviously he remembers too, because he suddenly puts down his can of food and turns to me.
“You mind if we check out the car?” he says leaning his hands on the counter and looking at me curiously. “Ghoul’s missed that thing like it was his car, and he can’t bring himself to ask,” he ducks to avoid the spoon Ghoul throws at the back of his head. It misses and sails towards me, lucky me that I move in time to catch it.
Putting down the spoon I answer, “Sure, just don’t high-jack it from me alright,” I say smiling with my joke. Jet nods and turns back to Ghoul.
“C’mon, you know you wanna see that thing,” he says taking Ghoul’s can of food out of his hands.
Ghoul groans before getting up to follow, “Fine, but only because I love that car and you took my food and I want it back.”
“You know what?” Kobra says putting his food on the counter, talking to know one in particular. “I think I’ll go check out the car too, I remember what you said about jumping the canyon, and I wanna make sure you didn’t damage that thing,” he says giving me a teasing look.
Once they’ve all filed out the door, there’s only me behind the counter, and my dad sitting in a booth close to the recording studio. I bite my lip as I realize that maybe this is a bad idea. What if it all just leads to another bad fight with him? I don’t want to make things any worse than they already are, but before I can open my mouth to say anything, he sighs and looks up to me.
“You’re staying here,” he says flatly, but meaning it.
Like an idiot I say, “What?”
He frowns and looks back down at his unopened can of food, “You’re gonna stay here and learn a few things for yourself, and help out that kid too.” He looks back up to me with a hardened face, showing his authority over me.
I bristle and spit out my next words, “I wasn’t planning on leaving without her.” I lay my last words thick with venom, “You made it clear that she wasn’t going, and I made my point in saying I’d stay with her.”
He rises out of his seat fast staring me down with cold eyes, anger that I’m standing up to him like this.
I smirk, “I’ve never been good when it came to taking orders.” I turn away and walk out to the back, I keep walking, heading for the hall, heading for the roof, to get away from it all, but not before I hear the crashing noises that mean he’s thrown something.
I slide the panel out of my way and practically fly up the ladder, wanting to get away before I break down. I’m already half blind with the on coming tears when I plop down against the duct.
How could he do this to me? I was willing to make peace, but instead he shuts me out like the emotionless shell I now know he’s become. I don’t know what mom saw in him, he’s a jerk, he doesn’t even want me, he’s just gonna leave me behind. I knew this would happen, I knew! But I went anyway to apologize like some stupid person, and now I was burned badly with the rejection.
Part 39: http://www.mychemicalromance.com/blog/zone-specter/danger-days-part-39
