"Zee!!"
I screamed as loud as I could and jogged towards his direction.
Cami and Carl jogged behind me.
"Hey man."
Carl greeted and gave him a bro hug.
"I'm sorry about what happened."
The thin dude smiled sadly.
"It's ok...I'm good."
He said softly.
I realized that he always spoke softly. I really hoped he was doing as good as he claimed.
"What about your mom?"
He shrugged.
"Well...she's just tryna finish up one or two around. The death hit her really darn hard and uh..."
He paused,and scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"What are you not telling us?"
Cami demanded, her voice sounding more rough than she intended.
I shot her a look to shut up,but she rolled her eyes and continued.
"So...tell us dude!"
I narrowed my eyes at her in anger.
After a long pause,Zee started.
"My mom has PTSD...She's had it for a while now,and it...it's worse now that my dad's... you know..gone."
"Does it have to do with the beatings?"
I blurted out.
His eyes widened before I realized what I had just said.
"Oh my gosh...I'm so..I'm so sorry...I didn't..I didn't..."
"It's ok... how long have you guys known"?
"Yeah!"
Cami said,and turned to face us accusingly.
"How long have you guys known,and how come I knew nothing about it?"
Carl took a deep breath.
"We've known for a while now,but the point is, why did you not say anything? Why did you just sit back and let things happen?I mean... your mom was being beat up and you were too cowardly to help her out!"
Zee glared at Carl, as he spilled out his hurtful words.
"YOU THINK I DIDN'T WANT TO?!! YOU THINK I HAD NEVER THOUGHT OF A THOUSAND TIMES WHEN I WANTED TO SAVE HER?!!"
"Zee...calm down!"
I screamed at him.
"WHY!! WHY SHOULD I CALM
DOWN HUH? WHY!!! YOU GUYS JUST FEEL THAT JUST CAUSE YOU'VE SEEN A BIT OF WHAT'S HAPPENED...YOU THINK YOU'VE SEEN IT ALL?!!!"
"Zee...I'm..I'm...so sor..."
Zee slapped out Carl's palm which he had placed on his shoulder,and pushed him with so much force that he fell.
"Ok guys... ENOUGH!!"
Cami yelled, clapping her hands to signal a stop.
But both Zee and Carl had tempers.
And now, Carl was just as pissed off as Zee was.
"YOU WANNA FIGHT HUH?!!OH C'MON BIG GUY, YOU DIDN'T PROTECT YOUR MOTHER WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SH..."
"CARL!! SHUT UP!!"
Zee was so mad at Carl's words,he jumped on him pinning him down with his legs, while delivering heavy blows to Carl's face.
"STOP IT YOU TWO GORILLAS!!!"
Cami tried to drag Zee up,but failed.
"WHY ARE YOU SO MAD HUH?!I AM THE ONE WHO'S SUPPOSED TO BE MAD! BECAUSE OF YOUR DIP SHIT DAD, MY FATHER IS IN PRISON!!"
Oh Jesus...Carl can't just shut his mouth up!
"WELL THAT DIP SHIT FATHER WAS BETTER THAN NO FATHER AT ALL....AND WHAT NOW, YOU THINK MY DAD IS SO BAD HUH? FOR ALL WE KNOW,MY DAD ISN'T THE ONE BEING CHARGED FOR MURDER!! YOUR FATHER IS A KILLER!!"
At this point,Carl managed to flip Zee over, hitting him in any available spot.
"MY FATHER IS NOT A KILLER YOU DUNG FILLED BRAIN!! YOU.DO.NOT.KNOW.ANYTHING!"
"Please guys!"
I cried.
"Stop please!! Dad needs us, and fighting won't bring Mr Thompson back, won't get dad out of prison,and won't stop Mrs Thompson's PTSD!!"
I yelled.
But these guys were hell bent on ripping each other apart.
I ran to Carl, and tried to grab his hand up,but that resulted into a big hit on my face, which Carl had mistakingly given me with his elbow.
I staggered backwards a bit.
I felt blood about to flow out of my nose.
"JESUS CHRIST!! CARL LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!"
Cami who had miraculously been able to drag Zee from Carl's grip, screamed.
I held my nose in my palms.
Darn! This hurts like hell!
Blood began to drip out of my nose.
"Holy smokes!!"
Cami screamed at the two guys who looked like they had just escaped from hell and then gotten run over by a truck.
"YOU TWO IDIOTIC EGOCENTRIC HOT HEADED BABOONS!! YOU'VE HURT RACHAEL!!"
You be behaving like kindergartens,'my daddy did this...my daddy didn't do that!
F*CKING @$$HOLES!!"
Cami hardly got mad, but when she did,it was totally scary.
Carl's eyes softened as he looked at me.
"Rachael...I'm...I'm..sor..."
"Save it!"
I pushed his hands away, and began to walk towards the cafe.
I was not pissed because he had hit me,I was pissed because dad was in trouble,and his stupid egotistical self could not just let things slide and walk away.
"I do not want to see any of your sorry, pathetic dicks inside the cafe until you settle your effing differences! Or y'all get ready to be camping out side with whatever animals that are found out here!"
Cami yelled at them before jogging after me.
***Carl's POV***
I fell back on the grass after Rachael and Cami had stormed off.
I could not just believe that I had hit my own sister because of my stupidity.
I felt Zee's shoulders brush against mine as he lowered himself to the ground, sitting next to me.
"We're both idiots."
He said with a small laugh.
I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah whatever."
He turned to face me, while I noticed how badly bruised his face was, not like mine was any better.
I really wondered how mine looked though.
There were cuts on his lips,and blood trails by his forehead, gnashes on his nose.
After a while,I heaved a sigh
"Listen.. I'm sorry ok? I shouldn't have said that."
He smiled at me,his blue eyes, burning holes through my head.
"Yeah...me too."
We stared at each other for a while,lost in each other's eyes before he broke the eye contact with a nervous cough.
"I...I...uh got some uh... medical stuff in the SUV."
I shook my head, trying to pull myself out of the trance.
"Yeah...sure!"
We walked to a small grassy area,just outside the café.
"How do you feel about a this,Carl?"
He asked as we walked towards the car.
I shrugged.
"Have you ever had a feeling that you're capable of handling certain stuff? You know...in your head,it seems so possible, you've practiced a thousand times,and then at the end,when it's the time to show it off... you...you just can't do anything?!"
He nodded in understanding and unlocked the car door.
"How'd you think I felt everytime I wanted to to help my mom?"
Oh yeah...darn I'm such an idiot.
"I'm really sorry man...I..."
"Ts'okay... really! I mean,we both said things today. So..."
He grabbed the supplies,shut the door and turned to face me squarely.
Shoot! Not this again.
"We're cool right?"
I blinked a couple of times to get my reasoning back.
"Uh... yeah... yeah.. we're cool."
He smiled widely at me.
Why are his teeth so darn white?
"C'mon..."
He nodded towards the trunk of the car.
"Come sit over here... I'll fix your face,then I can help you with instructions,so you could fix mine."
I rolled my eyes but walked,him following closely behind me.
"Seriously,you think I know nothing about first aid?"
I said in mock annoyance, while I lifted myself up the car trunk.
He raised his left brow.
"Do you?"
My eyes widened in surprise and complete annoyance.
"You know...apart from beating people up,I also know other things you know?"
Zee pffed air from his mouth.
"What do you mean beating people up??!"
He half screamed as he put a cotton wool soaked with antiseptic,on my busted lip.
Ok that hurts!
"Oh please Zee...you know that I'm good.
C'mon...I know you're kinda embarrssed but just between the two of us,you know I could have beaten you up really good!!"
He pressed the wool harder,and I let out a small shout.
Was this dude doing it on purpose?
"Well... news flash! I'm not the one crying like a Barbie girl over his busted face!"
What the..?
"That doesn't count...ouch dude,be careful ok! This is a million dollar face you're holding here!"
His face fell for a few seconds, before he burst out in laughter.
No homo...but this guy is cute!
"What's funny?"
I deadpanned.
He craddled his stomach,as he spun in laughter.
I raised a brow in confusion.
Maybe Rachael was right all those times she had told me to take a career in comedy.
"You...you..."
He was breathing really hard.
"You said... you said million dollar face huh?Then I guess mine's a billion dollar then."
I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah yeah... whatever...are you done already? Jeez you've been there for so long,I could say that you loved staring at my face."
"I can't believe someone's ego can be this big!"
I smiled softly,as he closed his lips in a thin line, while he skillfully put some plasters to a cut next to my left eye.
"How'd you learn to do this? I know I learned from being in my school's Red Cross."
He smiled sadly,as he applied a little pressure on the plaster to keep it from falling off.
"Well... when your mom is always being beaten up,you gotta learn one or two."
I didn't know what to say, so I just tore his hands off my face,and hugged him before he could be surprised.
He was unsure for a while,but slowly wrapped his arms around my body.
"You're strong Zee... you're really strong."
We stayed like that for a while, before he pulled off and smiled at me.
"Thanks."
After more poking on my face,a lot of annoying remarks,and maybe a little curse words...
"All done!"
He jumped unto the car.
"My turn!"
"Sure!"
*
*
*
"Wait a second...you mean to tell me that you also went for that Sun Alert Camp!?"
"Yup!"
Zee and I were talking about random stuff while walking back to the café.
Apparently,he had also attended a camp I attended every spring break,from age 6 till I got to 12.
"That camp sucked!"
"You can say that again!"
I cringed as I recalled a memory.
"I can't believe they used to give us pee soup with carrots!"
"You called it pee soup? Well that's even better!
My friends once described it as a mixture of chicken poop in cow pee."
I squeezed my face in disgust.
"Jeez...way to..."
I'm at a pay phone... trying to call home...
The sound of Maroon five's Payphone rang on my phone.
'Rachael'.
"Hello sister...you miss me alre..."
"GUYS YOU GOTTA COME HOME QUICK!! WE FOUND SOMETHING!!"
I quickly put the phone back into my pocket,and turned to Zee,who had already begun dashing towards the café, apparently after hearing Rachael's info.
I followed swiftly after him, praying to God that whatever Rachael saw,it better be good enough to help us.