“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 myunit, 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 mydoor, 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.
