Anti-Hero

We sat at Taco Time for what seemed like forever and wondered about what our fate would be. Would mom come with a fleet of police cars or just herself? I hoped for the police cars, as they would keep her from slapping the ever-loving crap out of me. Christy and Becky would receive the patented Linda Moone evil-eye glare several times form the rear view mirror until we reached their homes. Mom would either tell them goodnight or she wouldn’t say a word as they got out; assuming she would stop the car to even allow them to get out in one piece.

“Where the hell have you been?”
My face fell to the table as it was Alex who had arrived.
“In town,” I mumbled.
“Doing what?”
“My new job,” I said as I lifted my head off of the table, readying for the fight that was going to occur.
“Great, you can pay me back for coming to pick you up.”
“Aren’t you here to get Alexis anyway?” I asked as we got up from the booth.
“Nope. She says she has a date. I don’t want to know which girl asked her out. So, let’s get going.”

We drove most of the way back got Reardan in silence. I didn’t want to explain where I went; Christy was asleep while Becky stared out the window and, occasionally at me through the rear view mirror. Alex had smoked through two cigarettes during the trip as he kept the speedometer on the lower side of 60 miles per hour.
We dropped Becky and Christy off at their respective houses and I told each of them I’d call them later on. Alex turned out off the trailer park area and turned to head west, even though the way to our house was the east.
“Where are we going?”
“Davenport. Going to see an old friend.”
“Now?”
“Yeah.”
“What about mom?”
“Mom, who didn’t know you were staying at Christy’s now knows you’ve been at Christy’s helping her grandfather with some crappy project that you promised your best friend you’d do. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“What gives?”
“What? I can’t be nice once in a while?”
“Usually means you want something.”
Maybe I just want to be on friendly terms with my family?” Alex had another cigarette in his hand and a quasi-happy expression that I could faintly see in the street lights before we left Reardan and into the darkness of US Highway 2. Davenport was about thirteen miles away and Alex usually floored it but once again he drove with caution.

“Are you high right now?”
“Yep,”
“Sad, for a moment I thought you turned a new leaf.”
“Actually, I have. I have a new set of plants. The guy I got them from said they were grown by some surfer dude in California.”
“Are they in trunk?
“Yep.”
“Shit, Alex. You should have just left me at Christy’s.”
“No, because then I’d have to go back, stand outside, and wait for you to answer the damn door. Sorry, not doing that. We’re driving normally. No reason to pull us over.”
“The tail light is out.”
“Still not worried.”
“You said the cardiac converter was cracked.”
“Catalytic converter. It’s just the car being a little loud. Again, as long as we don’t do anything stupid, no one will pull us over.”
If I had a dollar for every time Alex said that and then he got pulled over, I could afford to buy front row tickets to see Garth Brooks.

I held my breath during the first half of the stretch to Davenport due to the cigarette smoke in the car; not about the chance of a red and blue light flashing up behind us. Then I rolled down the window in order to get some fresh air. The cold air blasted my face and it felt relaxing, even with the slight chill to my right arm. I closed my eyes and allowed the sound of the wind to drown out my inner thoughts of what I was going to do with my life or more like, to silence the bitch voice in my brain that continued to berate me. Funny thing was, it sounded a lot like Josh’s mom.

We arrived in Davenport fifteen minutes later without any signs of police lights but it wasn’t over as we still had to get wherever we were going. Alex took a few local streets and zig-zagged through town until we pulled up in from the of Davenport Medical Center, a small, regional hospital-the same one Alex had gone to years before when he burned his arm. He parked the car, got out and retrieved a backpack from the trunk. I sat in the car until he was a few feet away. He motioned for me to come with him and I decided to get out. I mean, it was a hospital. If he did something stupid and was on the verge of death, we were in the right place.
We walked into the emergency department and Alex stopped and looked around. I stood a few feet away from and wished I had a book because, knowing Alex, I had a feeling this was going to be a longer than just a simple visit. He walked to a young-looking nurse sitting at a desk at the front of the department.
“Hello, Diane.”
“Alex., how are you doing?”
“Great. I’m great.”
“Who is that? Your sister?”
“Yeah, my youngest.”
“Cherry?”
I would have to ask Alex about how much she knew about our family; right after punching him in the face.
“Nice to finally meet you.”
“Thank you.” I replied through a Oscar-winning fake smile.
“How late are you working tonight, Diane?”
“Until two.”
“They got you on the late shift?”
She nodded in replied as Alex lowered the backpack.
“Well, you left this in the car, so I thought I’d bring it back to you.”
He handed it over to her like it was normal for a seventeen year-old to hand over a backpack fill of pot to an older woman.
“Like I said, I’m off at two.”
“I’ll come back by and pick you up.”
“You better.”

Alex smiled and waved to her as he stepped back. It was a fascinating scene to watch as Alex didn’t say one sarcastic barb, no mention of any f-bombs. It was like Wesley’s mind was inside my brother’s body. It was something I could used to and if it was because of the pot, he needed to smoke more of that strain.

We left the hospital without a word until Alex pulled out of the parking lot.
“When did you meet her?”
“Who?”
“The nurse you seem to know on a first-name basis.”
“Diane?” Alex asked with a mock innocence to his voice.
“Duh.”
“She took care of my arm when it got burned back then.”
“Before or after she called you stupid for burning your arm?”
“She only said that a few months later. It’s an inside joke for us now.”
“How old is she?”
“I never ask a lady that question.”
“Does mom know?”
“Nope. Better stay that way too.”
“My lips are sealed.” I replied.
I had no reason to tattle to mom and if I did, he could throw out that I went to Spokane on my own. Of course, me going to the city and coming back in one piece was a hell of lot less than Alex pot-partying with some woman who was, maybe, twice his age or younger.

“Are you dating?”
“I would not even consider using such a non-descriptive word to describe our relationship. We;’re not dating or seeing each other. No, it’s on a more personal level.”
“Sex?”
“A gentlemen does not discuss his sex life.”
“Yet, you talk about Alexis’?”
“More like a lack thereof.”
“That’s kind of mean.”
“Remember who we’re talking about,” Alex replied as he lit a cigarette. “I didn’t fire the first shot, that was her.”
‘But you continue the war?”
“Oh, hell yeah. I am not going to lose the war. It will continue until we’re dead, or until she’s married with six kids or so.”
Alex accelerated to sixty-five miles an hour as soon as we left Davenport. Granted, the backpack was no longer there, but it was like our car had a sign on it that read “Pull me over, pig. Yeah, you, officer donut breath.” I clenched up a bit as I really didn’t want to hear the tirade that would happen once we got home with a ticket from the Lincoln County Sheriff department.

We arrived home without any issues except for Alex swerving into the on-coming lane while driving through the canyon. Tragically, he was going to be the only person in my family who would be willing to teach me how to drive and I would probably spend three to four years—behind bars—unlearned everything he taught me. There was another car in the driveway, one that I didn’t recognize but Alex did.
“Wesley. Hmm, the date must have ended early. What a shock.”
Alex killed the car and opened the door, only to close it again as Alexis ran out of the house and up to the car.

She slammed her fists on the hood.
“Hey, what did the car do to you?”
“Where is it, asshole?
“What?”
“What? What? My money, Alex!”
“What money?”
“You smoked it already, right?”
“Yeah, that's an airtight case.”
“Get out of the damn car!”
“No. Because you look like you want to kick the shit out of me.”
“I do!”
“I haven’t been in your room since, like three weeks ago when you took the Zelda game.”
“Because you play that damn thing twenty-four seven!”
Alex was sure that, one day, he could complete “A Link to the Past” in one settings with no continues.
“Well, I got the game back and so I don’t need to go to your room.”
“Where is my fifty dollars!”
“I dob’t have it, bitch! But, you know what?” Alex opened the door and took out his wallet. “ I will give you. Sixty bucks. If you. Will get. Out of my. Fucking. Face.”
He held the bills out with his ring and middle finger. Alexis took the money and Alex extended his middle finger.
“Go ask Wednesday where your money went.”
“Don’t try and blame her.”
“Oh, I will and I do,” Alex replied as he closed the door. I could see Wesley looking out the living room window.
“Fine, go on and play innocent, go on.”
“I don't care.”
“You're so apathetic and full of shit!” Alexis yelled as she stormed back to the house.
“Like I said.”