Ch 3: Fight

"Fucking dumb asses", I paused and groaned. "I bet those are my dumb asses". I picked up my pace and sprinted up the stairs into my apartment. I peaked in and could hear the arguing. "Hey! Cut it out guys. Its late and I don't want to get my neighbors pissed at me", I hissed as I walked into the living room. I was shocked to see Thomas and Don at each other's throats, Don up against the wall and Thomas's hand around the base of his neck with half of a green broken bottle raised in the air. Don's face was red and contorted, Thomas had what looked looked like the beginning of a black eye forming and his face was covered with sweat, his white shirt with amber booze and the veins in his arm bulging with rage. His half empty pack of cigarettes laid smashed at Don's feet, and glass glittered light from the street lamp on the patio.

"Jesus! What the fuck!" It was then that I noticed Zach standing on the other side of Thomas, one arm around his torso, trying to herd him back. I made my way over while Thomas spewed spit and spite upwards at Don's angry face, both drunk and intelligible. I reached for the bottle as Thomas attempted to bring it down, cutting my hand in the process. Zach took the opportunity to push Thomas back while I recoiled. Don dropped forward slightly, heaving and breathing hard, and without missing a beat rushed towards Thomas in a tackle. I reached for Don, grabbing him by his collar and the back of his shirt, throwing him back against the wall and pinning him with my arm under his chin.

"Both of you! Calm the fuck down! Do you hear me?" I yelled. "Take Tom to one of the guys room, NOW", I ordered Zach as he dragged an irrational Thomas to one of the back rooms and slammed a door. Don lunged forward after them and I pushed him back into the wall, my height being one of my advantages in the situation, the other being his own drunken instability. I could hear feet shuffling behind me, and turned to see Jo and Laura peeking out behind the hallway. "Go back to the bedroom guys, I got it covered", I swatted them away with my other hand and turned my attention back to the 'Lizard Man' as Laura called him. He was trying to push back against my arm weakly and I rolled my eyes, finally letting him fall forward. I got down on the ground as he tried to lift himself "Stay the fuck down. You're gonna lay here and sleep this shit off. I don't give a shit what you and our resident ass-hole back there were going at it about- you're done, you hear that? The only reason I'm not kicking your ass out right now is cause Zach would kill me if I let you drive like this", I yelled as I slapped the back of his head. I got up and grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it at him on the floor and threw him a heavy blanket. "Sleep. Now.", I yelled one more time for good measure as he looked up at me blankly. I turned around to look at the other two guys who were passed out, wondering at how they could sleep through such a racket.

I wondered to myself where Leslie was and wandered to the bedrooms. I cracked open the door to see Zach and Thomas talking expressively with their hands, Zach catching my eye briefly. I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders and he had an exasperated look on his face as he went back to reasoning with Thomas. I turned toward the next door and opened it a little, seeing part of Leslie's braids spilling out from under the the blanket on the bed. I turned around to see Jo standing behind me and motioned for her to go in with Leslie. I shook my head as I whispered, "You can sleep in George's room tonight,"I paused. "Any idea what set them off?". She brushed past me, slurring slightly, "No clue, probably Don being a jerk again". She slid into the bedroom and I closed the door after her.

Trotting back to the kitchen and glaring at Don on the ground, I opened the freezer and grabbed bag of frozen peas, heading back to the room where I could hear the two men talking. I opened the door and tossed the peas on the bed where Thomas was sitting, pointing to his eye. He looked at me with a grimace and gave me a weak thumbs up.