After spending the evening at Stella’s throwing the ball around with DJ I can see what a great kid he is, but I know he’s holding back. I guess it’s to be expected. Maybe if I tell him about my dad it would be helpful in getting him to open up some. For now, I have to deal with Billy and the guys. Tonight we’re having a guys’ night. I promised Rick we would plan something that didn’t revolve around alcohol, and that’s what we’re doing. Billy wasn’t too thrilled that we weren’t going to the bar, but we told him we wanted to change it up when in reality we’re going to try to talk to him about getting help and moving on. He needs to do something positive with his life or he’s never going to see that there’s life outside of his loss.
I walk into Anthony’s where we’re starting the night with some dinner. Then we’re heading to the pool hall for a couple rounds of pool. We all agreed that we’re not going to drink to see what Billy does. I have a feeling he’ll order a beer at the pool hall, but we’re going to talk with him to see if we can get him to back off a bit.
The hostess informs me that Rick is already here. She leads me to the table.
“What’s up, bro?” Rick and I shake hands.
“Jack just sent me a text. He’s on his way here.”
“Cool. I’m not going to lie, I’m not sure this is going to go over well.” I have a feeling he’s going to freak out on us.
“We have to take it one day at a time, and we need to make him believe that too. He’s our boy, and he needs our help. I have no doubt in my mind that if it were him driving that night he would be dead. He’s lucky you hooked him up, and it appears it worked out okay for you too.” He gives me a dirty grin.
I can’t help but smile. “Things are going pretty well. We’re taking it slow.” I shake my head. “I already screwed up this week.” I tell him about Tuesday night and how I thought it was going to end in disaster, but we ended up okay. As I’m finishing the story Jack shows up, but Billy still isn’t here. We decide to order some appetizers while we wait for him to arrive.
When the waitress walks away to put in our order, Jack says, “I hope he doesn’t blow us off. I have a feeling he knows what we were up to.”
“Why do you say that?” Rick asks.
Jack shrugs. “He was weird at work today. He kept grumbling about how we weren’t going to our normal spot. He thinks this is Trystan’s fault. He said that you getting pulled over is messing everything up.”
“Oh man. He’s going to walk in here with a chip on his shoulder. This isn’t going to be good.”
“Everyone, just relax. If we play it cool then he will be cool,” Rick encourages. When the appetizers arrive and he’s still not here, we start to get a little nervous and now realize we have to come up with another plan.
“What do we do?” I ask the guys.
“Well, let’s be real. It’s Friday night. If he’s not here, we all know where he is. Let’s finish dinner then we’ll go looking for him,” Rick suggests.
“Isn’t that only going to piss him off more?” Jack asks.
Rick shakes his head. “I don’t really care. He’s our boy, and we have to help him. Caleb was in town last week. He told me he saw him walking home from the bar. Well, he said it was more of a stumble. That’s not good.”
“At least he didn’t drive.”
More food is delivered. We ask the waitress to deliver the check, and we all hurry to eat. It’s starting to get late because this place is packed. We need to get over to the bar before he’s too far gone or things will only be worse. As soon as we’re done eating Rick pays the bill, and we all rush off to our cars. I decide to send Stella a quick text, letting her know that I may not get to call her tonight and I fill her in on the situation. We’ve been talking almost every night, and I don’t want her to think I’m blowing her off. Things are going good, and I want to keep it that way. As soon as I get a response that says Talk to you tomorrow, I take off and shoot over to the bar. When I pull up, the guys are in the parking lot waiting for me.
“What the hell took you so long?” Jack busts my balls.
“Sorry, I wanted to let Stella know that I may not get to call her tonight.” I lock my Corvette, and the three of us walk into the bar together.
The place is busy as usual for a Friday night, but we easily spot Billy. He’s in the same seat he’s always in and, from the looks of it, he’s already half in the bag. I tap Rick on the arm and nod in Billy’s direction. When we get over to him, he doesn’t even bother looking up at us. He just stares into his glass. “Don’t bother,” he mumbles.
“Don’t bother what? Joining you? Or asking why you didn’t show up? Or maybe you don’t want us to bother giving you shit about the fact you’re drunk on your ass yet again.” Jack lays into him.
“Fuck you. You’re not my father.”
“No, but I’m your friend, and I’m tired of seeing you put yourself through this all the time. Every weekend is the same shit, and it’s time for it to stop.”
“Yeah, come on, man, let’s get out of here,” I try to encourage.
He narrows his eyes at me. “Fuck you too. This is all your fault. If you had just let me be that Friday night.”
I cut him off. “If I had let you be, then you’d probably be dead right now.”
“Good,” he shouts, sending spit flying from his drunken mouth. He pushes the stool back, sending it to the floor and he nearly tumbles.
“Hey!” the bartender shouts. “No fighting in my bar. You guys take it outside.” It pisses me off because the asshole knows we’re friends. We’re in here all the time with him.
“How did you get here, Billy?” Rick asks him.
“I drove. How the fuck do you think I got here,” he growls and points a finger my way. “Unlike this asshole, I can control my vehicle.”
I shake my head because I’m getting pissed and I’m about to lose it on him, but Rick steps in front of me and stops us from getting out of control. “Okay, here’s how this is going to go down. I’m driving you home, and the boys are meeting me at your place. You can get your car tomorrow.”
“I don’t need your help.”
Rick chuckles, “Oh, you do.” He takes his arm and the three of us head out into the parking lot. “You think I don’t notice your drinking during the day. I know you sneak shots here and there, and I’m done. It’s time for you to pull your shit together because if this doesn’t stop, you’re out a job too.” His eyes go wide. “Yeah, I know. You thought you were slick and no one knew. We all know what you’re up to.” Rick opens the car door for him, and he climbs inside. “See you guys over there.”
We both nod and climb into our vehicles to follow him over. After Billy lost his family in the fire, he went into an instant depression, moved into an apartment, and abandoned the house.
When I pull up to the building, Rick is helping a half passed out Billy from the car. Jack and I hurry over to help get him inside, but what we discover shocks us. His apartment is trashed, and I mean trashed. There’s pizza boxes, paper plates, and liquor bottles everywhere. How did we not see this was getting so bad. The table is lined with newspapers and flyers, the counters lined with boxes and empty bottles of Jack Daniels. “Just go,” he slurs, stumbling into his place.
Rick shakes his head. “I don’t think so. We’ve been boys all our lives. I can’t believe I let you get this bad. I failed you, but that stops now.”
“You can’t fix me. I’m empty.” He slumps onto the small spot left empty on the couch. It’s clearly the only spot he sits in because everything else is covered in trash.
Jack is in the kitchen looking through the cabinets. “Jesus, there’s not one piece of food in this house.”
“Just leave me alone.” This time it comes out in more of a whine.
“Listen, dude. You can blame me all day long, but we’re not leaving. Look around, man. Look how you’re living. Do you really think that Susie would want you to live like this? Live your life blaming yourself for them being gone. You can’t bring them back.” That’s when it hits me. I need Stella. She knows what he’s feeling—she’s the only one who knows what he’s going through. “We’re going to help you through this, and soon you’ll see there’s more to life than what you’re living.”
I walk over to Jack and Rick, who are busy in the kitchen collecting stuff. “What’s the plan?” Rick asks tying off the first trash bag.
“I’m going to talk to Stella and see if she can help us. Her husband was murdered. If anyone knows what he’s going through it’s her.”
“Do you think she’ll help?” Rick asks.
“I know she will.”
“Okay, talk to her after the fundraiser and get back to me. I’m going to spend the night and see if I can get him to sober up.