Fic: Club My Diamond Heart of Spades [4/?]
Keith felt like a fucking therapist with his best friend bemoaning his life away on the ratty old couch that was located in his trailer. Normally he would take whatever Ellis was talking about and store it away for future teasing purposes. This time, however, was slightly different. The way his best friend talked about this Nick guy almost seemed like he admired him but was too embarrassed to admit to it. In his denial Ellis had somewhere along the line decided to become a human pendulum.
“…an then we was runnin’ from them thugs, right, and hid in some back alley way. Thought I was gunna die, tell you what! Nick was cool as could be ‘bout the whole thing, though.” Ellis said, still yammering on about the last adventure that had transpired between them.
Ellis, as it turned out, was paying for a shiny new car by helping this conman win some money on the riverboats. He had asked him if he was alright with it, considering his earlier argument about using cards to swindle people out of their money, but Ellis had found a way around that. He was just taking money from the other people that were cheating to. He found the scoundrels and took what he could from them, even turning a game where a hard-earning folk got the spoils that round. He felt that he could cheat a crook, as proven previously with Nick, without much turmoil to his morals.
“…so when we were there all nice’n’tight there he looked at me all weird and then tried to pull back some, but ya know he couldn’t. Said somethin’ about us not havin’ a moment…” He got this look on his face and Keith forced himself pay attention to the next part “…but, I don’t know what he was meanin’ ‘bout that…” He looked up, catching his friend’s eye. “Keith, I’m confused.”
He couldn’t stop himself from what came out of his mouth. “El, how is that different from any other time in your life? You’ve been confused since the day you’ve been born, boy. Asked me questions fer years! ‘Keith, do them girls have cooties?’ ‘KEITH! Why do they care ‘bout kissin’?’ ‘KEITH!!! Why am I attracted ta my middle school science teacher Mr. Appleshlipz?!’”
“The one with the lisp?”
“Yeah, the weird guy that…”
“Hey! He wasn’t that bad, an the lisp was kinda cute.”
“Well we answered that one, now didn’t we!” Keith said, throwing his hands up in order to add dramatic emphasis. He wasn’t sure that it worked.
“Aw shut up, I don’t even wanna hear it from ya.” Ellis said, getting that disgruntled look that wanted to be a glare so badly but failed somewhere short of a puppy’s pouting. “But, uh, can ya answer me somethin’?”
The older one rolled his eyes, “Sure.”
“What did Nick mean by a ‘moment’?”
There was a silence with a thick air and an inaudible, ‘you really are an idiot, aren’t you?’ “Really, Ellis? You can’t tell what he was sayin’? Shit, man, I could almost smack you.”
“But he sounded so weird! I mean who da hell tells ya that you aren’t gunna have a moment. Last I checked almost getting yourself killed is a moment!” Ellis went back to pacing back and forth, trying to find words to explain but falling short somewhere.
Ranting wasn’t constructed for the Southern way of life, mostly due to the fact they drew out their words and any kind of rant that would take someone up north fifteen minutes became a half-hour in Savannah. Ellis, however, had somehow heard about it and perfected it to an art. There were a few moments, however, where the Georgian blood slowed him the fuck down as he went on- creating bouts of silence from the kid. Keith had half a mind to be impressed; it was unfortunate the other half was just annoyed.
“Alright, so what your sayin’ is you don’t understand what this guy was wantin’ from ya, right? I know you don’t got much knowledge ‘bout this stuff, El, so I guess I’ll have to tell you. Now it can only be speculation-”
He was cut off when Dave walked into the room and raised his brow in question. “First of all, if you starting talking about birds and bees then I think I’m going to hurl on the both of ya. Second, don’t assume or you’ll seem like an ass. Third, where the fuckin’ hell did ya even learn the word speculation?”
Keith rolled his eyes and shifted on the couch so he could get a bit more comfortable. “Ya know, I ain’t dumb and I do listen to ya from time ta time, Dave. You use them fancier words all the time- spend enough time ‘round you and you tend to use ‘em yourself. Simple as that. Also, it ain’t assumption if I met the guy and observed it all myself, also from what El has been tellin’ me I kinda got a hype…highpo… hippo… hippososis.” He beamed, getting the word from the recesses of his mind from what he recalled from High School science. Dave wasn’t impressed.
“It’s called a hypothesis, there ain’t anything called a hippososis as far as I know.” The crest fallen look that adorned the other hicks face was enough to have his backtracking a little bit. “But I love you anyway, and maybe if ya petition for it you could get it in the dictionary.”
“Just you watch, It’ll happen.” He turned back to Ellis at that point, who was fidgeting and still lost in his own little world of problems. “Now, back ta the boy wonder over here. You want my advice, Ellis? ‘Cause you may or may not like what I have to tell ya.”
“Just go fer it, this mess can’t get any worse.” Ellis groaned and flopped down on the couch next to his best friend.
“Alright well I was thinkin’ and my hypothesis,” he sent a pointed look to his lover, who just shook his head in amusement, “is that Nick is sweet on ya, Ellis.”
This had the other two men’s attention rather quickly, and although one was only in mild interest the other had an automatic reaction. Ellis sprang up from his chair and started to pace again, trying to form a few words but not knowing what to say in this situation at all. “But… how can that be? I mean he ain’t even… an you should see them chicks fight over ‘em an… he always has one on ‘is arm and brags!” His mind once again went into overload and Keith was kind of glad ranting and the South was like oil an’ water.
Dave thought about Nick for a moment. He had only met him once, but it was still enough to get a fairly decent first impression. “Ya know, he does seem he would lean that way an’ all.” Ellis and Keith turned their attention to the dark haired male as he spoke. “Think ‘bout it for a moment. He was wearin’ a suit, he nails looked fuckin’ manicured, and he even bothered to style his hair! Plus, no man is that irresistible to women, even if he is loaded, ‘less he ain’t batting for their team. Hell the moment I decided to switch sides is when all them girls came out of the dark to try an change my mind.”
Keith eyed him suspiciously. “They better well not have!”
Dave smirked and looked over at the red-head, “Nah, they didn’t. Though I did get a few real good home cooked meals out’a’em.”
Keith shook his head at that, “You sneaky bastard.” He was trying to act mad but the gigantic grin across his face was giving him away. He looked almost proud of Dave. Confusing? Yes. But he had stopped trying to figure Keith out almost the same instance that they had meet.
“Not for nothing, but can we get back da the fact you just said Nick was sweet on me? Last I checked the word sweet ain’t even in his vocabulary! I mean think ‘bout it for a moment, ‘ight? This is Nick we’re talkin’ about and he is havin’ me con these men, right? I mean sure it’s for a beauty, but I think he just wants the money.” Both of the other men turned to Ellis, there was a surprising lack of vigor in the younger man’s statement. Keith picked this up right away and grinned at Ellis.
“Now don’t go soundin’ so disappointed, El!” He snickered and got a glare for his efforts. Dave punched him in the arm before he could say something else that was incredibly stupid and out-of-sorts with something akin to sympathy.
“What I think Keith was tryin’ to say is, do you want him ta like you, Ellis?” He was genuinely curious, especially sense the kid had been weird about the whole Nick topic since he had met the guy.
“I uh… you know just…” he stammered and it was a bigger ‘yes’ than Dave had ever seen from his friend. He just wasn’t that ready to admit it to himself. Ellis straightened up and looked at the other two, “Nice ta me, yeah. But it ain’t the way your suggesting! I mean, Nick makes fun’a me all the time- even when I’m winnin’! So ‘course I’d like him to be nice to me an’ all. Not have something like you guys. I support the two’a’you but I just don’t think it’s for me… or at least not fer me’an’him.”
The older males stared him down like the liar he was and he finally cracked.
“Fine! Yeah! I’d be nice to have somethin’ like you guys and hell I even considered Nick fer it, alright? I don’t know why, he’s a down right bastard and who I shouldn’t even consider, but that is just it! I think I like ‘em because he’s different and not someone I ever seen ‘fore.” He slumped back onto the couch; looking so much like a kicked puppy it wasn’t even funny. “What am I gunna do, guys?”
There was a silence and Keith looked over at his lover grinning like a mad man, “Notice how it all comes full circle an’ he asks us what to do?”
“Don’t even start with me, Keith.” Dave said, eyeing him suspiciously before going back to addressing Ellis. “El, whatever you choose ya do it alone, I ain’t getting involved in matters of the heart. Also, whatever you do, don’t ya dare listen to this idiot.”
“I’m hurt, Dave, really and truly I am.” Keith protested; hand over his heart as if an arrow had pierced it.
“Worse things have happened.” Dave shrugged and made to leave the room that the two friends were still sitting in. He sighed, catching Keith’s glance before he moved out of the room. Why did he have a feeling that despite his protests he was going to get dragged into this middle of this anyway? Well he knew Keith had a plan, the look in his eyes told of a million different times he had come up with something that generally got himself landed in the hospital.
Thank goodness for health insurance and the fact Dave insisted he bought it, even with the little money that the shop was running on. Then again one of the guys that had a stack of IOUs was the local doctor. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the money to pay them, like most of the people who came in, he just knew the trade off was decent. He got his car worked on; all he had to do was deal with Keith. Somehow Dave figured they were getting the better end of the deal.
He moved his way into the small kitchen and started to heat up some leftover fried chicken that his Ma had insisted he take home with him last time he came for dinner. Sometimes he felt guilty not telling her that his roommate and employee was really his lover, but at the same time he didn’t want to pay the med bill for the heart attack that would occur shortly after.
When he was finally sitting at the table eating his food arms wrapped around his frame firmly. “I’m not helpin’ and you ain’t getting any of my chicken. There is more than enough in the fridge, you can get your own.”
“Come on Dave, please? The kid really likes ‘em and all I want is ta make him happy, come on!” Keith pouted, resting his chin the crook of Dave’s neck.
“Nope, if yer gunna try it, then do it on your own.” He responded flatly, trying not to get goaded into whatever ridiculous scheme the redhead might have in mind. Keith’s schemes rarely turned out well, and the little shit knew it too, so he always tried to get Dave in on whatever it was. Why? Dave’s plans worked.
Keith pulled completely back and smirked widely. “Should I sleep on the couch tonight? I mean the thing really is comfortable.”
Damn it all, he just knew that he was going to get in involved despite his better judgment!
---Part V