Ricky

Metting With...

         “Ricky, you okay? You’re really quiet,” Blayze commented, making his brother jump. Ricky sighed shakily, trying to calm himself.
         “Yeah, I’m okay. I think. I mean, today has been really crazy and everything,” Ricky added quickly. He didn’t want Blayze worrying about him, but something in Ricky’s voice must’ve tipped his brother off.
         “Ricky. I can tell that something’s wrong. Just tell me what it is,” Blayze commanded. Ricky turned and looked at his brother, watching the concern in Blayze’s eyes flirt with the annoyance that was creeping in.
         “If you really wanna know, Drake’s dead, Rob’s on the run and you were just in jail. One out of three is better, but that’s probably the only one that will get better,” Ricky explained his eyes tearing and his voice shaking. The day had been the longest that Ricky had felt and it wasn’t even over yet. Ricky glanced over at Blayze and saw the sadness and questioning that must’ve taken over Blayze. The last thing Blayze had seen at the hospital was Drake going home with his parents and Ricky going to talk to his worst enemy.
         “Drake’s dead? What happened?” Blayze questioned, his voice somewhat sad and not quite believing. Ricky didn’t blame him because it had to take a minute for the news to really hit home and then the tears would start flowing.
         “It’s a long story, Blayze. I’ll try to explain it later, but I don’t completely get it myself. Right now, though, I just wanna chill for a little while,” Ricky informed his older brother. Blayze nodded, then he started the Mustang. Ricky noticed that Blayze was moving somewhat robotically, without any real feeling in his movements. Ricky simply leaned back, closed his eyes, and felt the vibrations of the engine run through his seat, helping him relax. While Ricky’s eyes were closed, he saw bits of his day flash onto the back of his eyelids. He watched a gun fire in Viper’s hand, a two of spades landing on a body, the police lights flashing, the hatred in Rob’s eyes, but then it all faded and a new scene came up, one that Ricky hadn’t seen yet. Blayze was standing on the very end of a dock, dangerously close to the edge. At the other end of the dock, standing near shore, was Rob, with a gun in his hand, pointing it directly at Blayze. Suddenly, Ricky noticed a two of spades tattoo on Rob’s neck that he didn’t see before. As Ricky turned to see if the tattoo was really there, he saw Deuce, Viper and Killer standing behind Rob, simply watching Rob threaten Blayze with the gun. Ricky looked back at Blayze and saw shark fins in the water behind his brother. Ricky screamed to Blayze, but no sound came out. Rob moved his gun down, so he wasn’t aiming at Blayze’s head. Ricky slid his eyes down and saw that is brother’s arm was cut, dripping into the water. Rob pulled the trigger and the bullet struck near Blayze’s feet with the instinct to move forcing Ricky’s brother into the water, in between the shark fins. Ricky lunged forward and hit his head on the dashboard.
         “Whoa, there, Ricky, you all right? That looked like it hurt,” Blayze commented with a slight grin. Ricky groaned and leaned back in his seat, holding his head where it had slammed into the hard plastic dash.
         “I’m all right. That did hurt, though,” Ricky informed his brother, who simply laughed. Ricky couldn’t help but smile, through the pain. He knew that he’d laugh if Blayze did the same thing.
         “Of course it hurt. That dash is hard, kid,” Blayze warned his brother, a little late. At that, Ricky hit Blayze on the arm gently, shaking his head. Blayze just laughed and Ricky stared out his window, thinking about his dream, hoping it would fade soon.
         "Blayze, where we headed?” Ricky asked when he realized that he didn’t recognize the sights flying past. Blayze glanced over at his little brother.
         “We’re going down to the police station. They told me that they wanted to talk to you about Rob or something. It shouldn’t take too long,” he explained, turning his full attention back to the road. Oddly, it seemed to Ricky that Blayze was pointedly avoiding the gaze from the passenger seat. That didn’t make sense, though. The two brothers were on the same side. Ricky decided that he was just imagining things.
         “Blayze, Viper got Rob on tape confessing to killing Drake’s mom. That’s why Rob’s on the run. Deuce said that Drake and his mom getting killed will be all over the news. Do you think the media will help? I mean, Rob’s just… very unpredictable. Maybe he’d kill again if he got recognized or something. Ya know what, just forget it. I don’t even know what I’m saying. I just wanna go to sleep, but that dream-,” Ricky stopped himself. He was talking quickly and obviously unsure of himself, but he knew that he couldn’t tell Blayze about the dream. Blayze looked over at his brother, concerned, but Ricky avoided the gaze. He felt like he was doing to Blayze what Blayze had been doing to him.
         “Ricky, I know this has been a really long day, but please. You know I don’t like when you keep things from me. I can see the guilt in your eyes, kid. Otherwise, I’d drop it. What was the dream that busted your head?” Ricky’s brother questioned, somewhat forcefully. The fact that the question sounded like a command annoyed Ricky, so he snapped back.
         “Well, you aren’t the only one who hates secrets. I hate when you try to make me tell you something when I get the feeling that you’re keeping your own secret. Just drop it, Blayze. Man,” Ricky breathed, going back to staring out his window. There was an uneasy silence in the car for a moment, but Ricky’s bitter words echoed inside his head. He simply sighed, then turned towards his big brother. He didn’t want to, but Ricky knew that he had to. Blayze was the only person that Ricky ever apologized to.
         “I’m sorry, Blayze. I just- I snapped. It’s been a hectic day.” Ricky explained, even though Blayze’s day had also been out of the ordinary. Blayze sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
         “I know little brother. I didn’t mean to push you or anything. We can keep our little secrets,” Blayze told Ricky, admitting that he was keeping something from his little brother. Ricky wasn’t sure if Blazye knew what he had just done, but he didn’t mention it.
         “Are we there yet?” Ricky asked in an annoying voice, making Blayze grin, but Ricky’s brother didn’t give him an answer. They soon pulled into a parking lot, which just about answered Ricky’s question, except he didn’t see the police station. He only saw a warehouse and a fancy car. It had color-changing paint and obviously didn’t fit in with the raggedy warehouse and the dilapidated concrete parking lot.
         “Uh, Blayze? What are we doing here? This ain't the police station. I hope you knew that,” Ricky added, glancing at his older brother, not sure what exactly was going on. Blayze glanced over at Ricky quickly, but didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled up next to the color-changing Ferrari and put the Mustang in park. The brothers sat there silently for a minute, until Blayze sighed and broke the quiet.
         “OK, Ricky, he promised he wouldn’t hurt you. That’s the only reason I agreed to bring you here. He just wants to talk to you,” the older Claver explained, but the way that Blayze didn’t mention the guy’s name made Ricky nervous.
         “Who?” Ricky asked gently. Blayze turned off the Mustang, then stepped out, ignoring his brother’s question. It seemed that he was doing that more lately. Ricky noticed, but he followed Blayze out of the car anyway. As Ricky stepped out, he looked over the expensive car next to him. The windows were tinted, so he couldn’t see in, but right then, Ricky’s love of cars was taking over. When he was done checking out the Ferrari, Ricky slipped up the front of his brothers Mustang and joined Blayze in sitting on the hood. Again, Blayze was avoiding Ricky’s gaze, watching the Ferrari’s back doors instead of his brothers’ green eyes. Ricky gave up and just laid back on the hood, watching the light gray clouds speed by above him and just feeling the cool breeze sweep through the parking lot. Ricky heard a car door open, then close, and watched his brother slide off the hood and towards the other car.
         “You promised you wouldn’t hurt him. You better keep to that,” Blayze told somebody, but Ricky used all his willpower and didn’t look at his brother. The other person didn’t answer, that Ricky could hear, but he saw two figures approaching him out of the corner of his eye.