Ricky

Seeing Drake

         While Ricky was remembering all this, Blayze had pulled into the hospital parking lot and was attempting to find an available space to slip the Mustang in. When he found one, he sped up, throwing Ricky back a little, just enough to jolt him back to reality. That’s when Ricky realized how much his mind had been wandering a lot that day, more so than usual, at least. As Blayze turned off the car, Ricky sighed and ran his hand through his hair, trying to clear his mind, readying himself to see his best friend in the hospital, most likely unconscious.
         “Ricky, you ready? I know it’s gonna be hard, but I’m here, okay? He’ll be fine, little brother,” Blayze added to help Ricky out. They both knew that Drake’s parents would take their son back as soon as he was out of the hospital and the brothers weren’t really sure if they’d see Drake after that.
         “All right, then, Blayze, let’s go see the kid,” Ricky commented, reaching for his door handle and heading out into the parking lot, with Blayze following his lead. The breeze hadn’t changed since they’d left the school, still cool and brisk. Yet again, Blayze tightened his jacket closer around him, but Ricky let his jacket flair open, ignoring the chill. They reached the door and Ricky stepped to the side and turned, leaning on the brick building. Blayze reached him and simply looked at Ricky curiously.
         “Blayze, do you think Drake will be mad at me? I mean, if it wasn’t for my suggestion, Mr. Bitely wouldn’t have found that Drake was a runaway,” Ricky explained. Blayze sighed.
         “Kid, you’ve gotta stop it with the what-if’s or you’re gonna go insane. Let’s just go,” Blayze told him, gently taking his little brother’s arm, pulling Ricky off the building. Ricky let himself be pulled off, and then he nodded determinedly, walking back over to the automatic doors, which had already closed from when the two had first reached them. They slid open again, allowing the brothers to slip into the hospital waiting room almost full of people, many different types. There were small children, adults, senior citizens, older kids and they were from all different parts of town obviously, since those gang-bangers in the corner were eyeing one lady’s diamond earrings and ring, plus her ruby sapphire and black onyx necklace. Ricky laughed when he noticed that knowing full well that they wanted to snatch the jewelry, but they had to be there for another reason, so they had to let her keep her jewelry. Once one of the groups left, though, the gangsters were bound to get what they wanted.
         Blayze walked up to the receptionist while Ricky was surveying the room and Blayze asked what room Drake was in. While the dark-haired lady looked up the room number, Ricky strolled up and stood next to Blayze. He turned around, facing the people, and he leaned onto the desk, waiting.
         “Room 308.” The lady told them, breaking through the quiet whispers of the waiting families.
         “Okay. Thank you, ma’am,” Blayze added politely before he began to leave. Ricky bounced off the desk and followed his brother through the near-silent hallways, past stabbing victims, car accident victims, people with the flu, people who’d gotten in fights or got jumped and past simple hypochondriacs, down to the elevator. They got in and Ricky pressed the button to go to the third floor.
         “All right, it’s too quiet, Blayze,” Ricky told his brother, who simply smirked and shook his head.
         “What else is there to say, Ricky? I think we got everything out of our system on the way here,” Blayze commented, making Ricky try to think of things to say. They had just gotten to the third floor, so the doors slid open while Ricky was thinking.
         “Ahha! Where were you last night? I heard you come in at about three this morning,” Ricky lectured as they left the elevator. Blayze gave a smug little smile and simply shook his head, telling Ricky that Blayze was gonna stay silent. As they reached room 308, Ricky was laughing at Blayze’s silence.
         “Oh, so you’re afraid to tell your little brother where you were last night, huh?” Ricky joked, mockingly. Blayze ignored him and opened the door, strolling in. Ricky felt like annoying his big brother, so he simply kept badgering him, but Ricky closed the door behind himself.
         “Ah, c’mon, Blayze, did you get her name? Or his name?” Ricky added innocently. Blayze glared at his little brother, but someone else in the room laughed, behind Blayze, so he spun around. Ricky walked over to the bed and leaned on the rail, looking straight into his best friend’s blue eyes, which were twinkling happily. Drake’s dark blond hair was bandaged up, along with his neck.
         “Hey, Ricky, Blayze. What’s going on, guys?” Drake asked; apparently glad to have company, since the other bed was empty.
         “Nothing much, man. Mr. Bitely pulled me out of study hall and told me what happened. I wanna hear it all from you. What did happen?” Ricky asked calmly. Drake laid back and sighed, biting his lower lip, meaning that he was thinking, probably about what he wanted to tell Ricky.
         “C’mon, kid, Mr. Bitely didn’t tell me anything,” Blayze told him honestly, hoping to convince Drake to talk.
         “Fine, I’ll tell you, but you guys can’t go get even, okay? You gotta promise me, Ricky,” Drake questioned, almost begging. Yet again, suspicion floated in Ricky’s eyes momentarily, but he had to agree, for Drake, so he nodded silently.
         “Okay. Blayze, make sure he keeps that, will you?” Drake calmly asked him.
         “All right, I’ll keep an eye on him, but I ain’t gonna promise anything for me and the rest of my friends, got it?” Blayze warned him. Ricky was getting edgy again, like he did when the principal wouldn’t tell him what was going on.
         “I guess that’ll do. It was Deuce and his boys, okay? You guys know him, it’s Rebel’s brother. Ricky, you beat Rebel so bad that the brain damage killed him a month after the cops arrested you,” Drake explained, but Ricky stopped him.
         “Whoa, whoa, did Deuce tell you all this? Because I know I didn’t tell you about Rebel,” Ricky added. Drake nodded, telling Ricky that Deuce was telling his biggest secret and soon, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.
         “Yeah, he told me. Right before his boys told me to join their gang or they’d kill me. Obviously, it didn’t work out the way they planned because Blayze’s brass knuckles were on my side. Oh, yeah, Blayze, I didn’t get a chance to give them back to that kid for you,” Drake added with a smirk. Blayze laughed and shook his head while Ricky gave Drake a high-five. For a moment, everything was normal and nothing was wrong. Then the pain showed in Drake’s eyes, so Ricky decided that somebody would have to get even for the kid.
         “Oh, yeah, I have something I have to tell you, too,” Ricky remembered. Drake looked confused, but Ricky ignored it and pulled up a chair next to Drake’s bed and he sat down.
         “Okay,” he began, “Mr. Bitely called me down to tell me that you were in here, but also to ask about your parents. The hospital didn’t know who to call, so they called the principal. You never turned in the forms and I didn’t know your phone number, so I suggested asking the cops to see if they knew. To make a long story short, your parents know where you are now,” Ricky ended, now unable to meet Drake’s eyes. As Ricky explained all this, Drake’s expression had changed from confusion to calm to worry, then finally a mix of fear, confusion and giving in. Ricky chewed on his finger, which was what he did when nervous.
         “Oh. I guess I’m gonna be leaving you guys once I get out then,” Drake commented.
         “Hey, kid, why’d you run away from home?” Blayze asked, making the other two boys jump, since they’d forgotten that Blayze was even there.
         “Well, are you guys sure you wanna know?” Drake asked, stroking the two brothers’ curiosities. Ricky knew that Drake was simply messing with them, not telling them yet.
         “Well, if you don’t wanna tell us, whatever. I’m neutral on this one actually.” Ricky told him, knowing exactly how to call his best friend’s bluff. They’d done this many times since they’d become friends.
         “All right, I’ll tell you. My mom’s boyfriend and I didn’t really get along the entire time they were together, but when they got married, it got worse. My mom didn’t know how much Rob and I fought, but I didn’t last long. Rob made me leave after two days. I didn’t really want to, but he had his knife and he took out his lighter, then he blocked me into a corner. When I told him that I wasn’t gonna leave, he heated up the knife and held it to my throat. That’s what happened to my neck and that’s why I finally left. I was gonna go back, but Rob and Mom are still together, so I can’t,” Drake explained. That fit Ricky’s ideas, but it still touched the two brothers because how obvious the pain was and the fact that Drake hadn’t told anyone else about his past until now. The room was silent for a minute because no one really knew what to say, but then there was a knock at the door. All three of the boys turned and just stared at it. Finally, Blayze answered.