Thicker Than Water - 58. Chapter 58

Nobody was impressed with the melodramatics Ashley performed as an ambulance took Calvin away. Yes, he was bleeding, after being struck in the face with a large glass of water, but the way she acted, Calvin's eyeball was hanging from its socket.

“He'll be fine,” Billy sighed, as they watched the spectacle from the parking lot. “Looks like it's only a scratch above his eye.”

Once the ambulance pulled away, Billy turned to Bryan and said, “Your community service is mandatory. You will do every hour assigned to you without question or complaint. If you even think of missing a day, you will be sent to jail, where you will wait for the district attorney to file charges against you. You fucked up big time, and I can't bail you out again. Is that understood?”

“Yes Sir,” Bryan said, barely keeping himself together.

“Good. You'll need to report to the sheriff's office tomorrow after school and get your assignment. Again, I don't care what they have you do; you will do it, and you will do the best job possible. The judge, Mr. Clarke and myself will be getting daily reports of your attitude and progress. Step out of line even one time, and you're done. Got it?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Good. I have no doubt you'll be grounded, but since you fucked up, it's your responsibility to explain what you did to Kenny. Your dads can decide when that happens, but my husband and I won't be doing it for you. I also highly recommend you get into counseling and anger management, and you should take them seriously. I'll have Trevor text some people he recommends. Does that sound fair?”

“Yes Sir.”

Billy pulled Bryan into a hug and held the boy tightly. “We all fuck up, Bryan. Nobody is perfect. You're way too smart to be doing stupid shit like this. I know you're hurting, and that Calvin is a major source of that pain, but you can't take it out on others, especially physically. It's your responsibility to manage your pain in healthy, productive ways. There are too many of us who would be destroyed if you just let your life fall apart.”

Bryan held onto Billy and sobbed. He hated himself for what he did and wished he could take it all back. “I'm sorry.”

“I'm sure you are,” Billy said, pulling away, “so prove it by being the reasonable, responsible kid you want us to think you are.”

*     *     *

The drive home was deafeningly silent. Bryan quietly cried, while Caleb held his hand. Diego looked out the window, trying to think of something, anything, to say that wasn't going to start off as an insult or degrading remark. Steve just concentrated on the road and traffic around him, while wondering how he could prolong the inevitable conflict that was due to happen once they got out of the car.

Steve pulled into the driveway but left the motor running for a few minutes, hoping someone would ask to go anywhere else; however, nobody spoke, leaving only one option.

Everyone piled out of the car, with Steve helping Caleb into the house.

“Where do you think you're going?” Diego asked Bryan who was already heading towards the hall.

“My room,” Bryan replied without looking back. “I'm grounded, aren't I?”

“We still need to talk about what happened in Court.”

“Fine,” Bryan said, as he turned around and made his way to the couch. He didn't make any eye contact as he walked past the rest of his family.

Steve sat Caleb down next to Bryan and took a seat in his chair. He was glad that Diego didn't protest the decision, but he was prepared to argue that Caleb had a right to hear everything since Bryan's actions were going to impact the boy the most.

Diego sat down and took a deep breath...then he took another...then another.... “Bryan, why?”

“I don't know,” the eldest Padilla boy said sheepishly.

“Don't give me that shit. You knew exactly what you were doing, so you better come clean.”

It was Bryan's turn to take some deep breaths. “I was mad,” he said, thinking back to only a few hours prior. “The judge hated me before I even sat down, then Calvin's lawyer was trying to make it sound like it was all my fault. It was like, no matter what I said, I was going to get in trouble, so I was like eff it! If I was going to be looked at as the bad guy, I might as well earn it, right? Everyone hates me, anyway.”

“I don't hate you,” Caleb said, and wrapped his arms around his big brother, who returned the hug.

“Nobody here hates you, Bryan,” Steve said, squeezing Bryan's knee. “We all love you, even after all of this, and you should've remembered that before hitting Calvin in the face with that glass.”

“I thought it was plastic, actually,” Bryan said. “If I knew it was glass--”

“--You still probably would've thrown it,” Diego said. “I love you, but you have a bad temper, Chico; let's not pretend you would've done anything different. With that said, you're going back into therapy and getting into anger management. It's not up for debate, either. Your attitude lately has sucked, and your actions in court and at school haven't been appropriate at best.”

“Yes Sir.”

“And you're grounded until further notice. Before your dad and I discuss punishments, we're going to find out what you're doing for community service and what your schedule will be, but I wouldn't expect to go anywhere any time soon.”

“What about Kenny? Is he still allowed to come over?”

“That's a conversation for us adults and Kenny to have. He might not want to come over while you're in trouble, and if he does, we'll have to figure out how that will look and what kind of rules you'll have. There definitely won't be any overnights or dates until you're off restriction.

“So, tomorrow, you're to come home right after school, since I'll be in Court and Steve will be at work. Steve will then take you to the sheriff's office and get you sorted out, and then, we'll discuss things in greater detail when I get home.

“Do you know how lucky you are? You could be sitting in a jail cell right now, not knowing when you'll be getting out. We're not made of money, Bryan, so there would be no bail. In fact, I want you to call Uncle Luis and talk to him about what juvie is like. I'm sure you'll learn a lot from him. After that, you're to give me your phone again.” Diego looked at his co-parent and asked, “Do you have anything you'd like to add?”

Steve thought about it. A part of him wanted to lighten the mood with a joke about Bryan's potential pro-baseball career, but changed his mind. To Bryan, he said, “We love you, but you fucked up big time. You owe everyone, especially Caleb, an apology. I don't know how or when, but you're going to make this up to everyone.”

“Yes Sir,” Bryan said, as a few tears fell down his cheek. As he got up to leave, Steve pulled him into a hug and held him tight for about a minute. Diego also hugged Bryan and told him how much he loved him.

Once Bryan was out of the room, Diego moved to the couch and put his arm around Caleb, who leaned into his dad. “And now, it's your turn, Mijo.”

“What did I do?” Caleb asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

Diego hugged his son, and kissed his forehead. “It's more about what you haven't been doing that's the problem.”

“What?” Caleb said, looking at both of his fathers utterly bewildered.

“Why didn't you talk to us about being bullied at school, Buddy?” Steve asked, also moving to the couch and sitting next to his son.

Caleb dropped his head and remained silent.

“This is what we're talking about, Mijo,” Diego whispered. “You have to talk to us, please.”

Tears fell down Caleb's bruised face. “I didn't want you to be mad at me,” Caleb whispered back.

“Why would we be mad at you?”

“Because...because, I'm not brave or tough like Bryan.”

Diego cradled Caleb and kissed the top of his head. “Mijo. I would never—we would never be upset with you because of anything like that.”

“Your dad's right, Buddy. Your safety is way more important. Besides, you are brave and tough, just in different ways.”

“No I'm not,” Caleb said. “Bryan beats up bullies. He tells people when they're being jerks, like he did to Calvin. He's not afraid to get into a fight.”

“And your brother was almost put in jail for it, too,” Diego added. “Sometimes your brother acts like a bully, which isn't okay, regardless of why he's doing it or who he's doing it to. And you were very brave to tell the judge how Calvin made you feel, and you are tough for having the strength to get up on that stand and tell everyone how you feel and how Calvin made you feel.”

“It's not the same,” Caleb said, wiping his face clean.

“You're right,” Steve said. “It's not the same, but there's different kinds of bravery and toughness. You don't need to be like Bryan. You just need to be like you.”

“I don't want to be like me. Nobody likes me because I'm not like Bryan.”

“That's not true. You have friends who like you, and you have family who loves you, especially your dad and I. I know we love you just as you are. As much as we love Bryan, too, we don't want you to be like him. We just want you to be you.”

“But I don't want to be like me. I want to be anyone but me.”

“Why's that, Mijo? Why don't you want to be you?”

“Because I'm tired of being picked on all the time,” Caleb sobbed. “Ever since Bryan went to junior high, kids have called me names, pushed me, taken my stuff!”

“Have you told a teacher or other adult?” Steve asked, trying to suppress his own growing rage.

“I used to, but it made things worse. Most of the time, the teachers would tell me to stand up for myself and not do anything to help me. And when they did say something, I'd get kicked or punched when the teacher wasn't looking.”

“Oh Mijo,” Diego said. “You should've told me when this started happening.”

“I just want it to go away,” Caleb cried.

Steve wrapped his giant arms around Caleb and Diego, as Caleb cried his heart out.

*     *     *

“Are you sure that's what you want?” Luis asked, as he accepted a cup of coffee from his older brother.

“I don't think we have much of a choice,” Diego said. “After dealing with Bryan and bullying, I think Caleb needs to learn to defend himself.”

“And you want me to teach him?”

“You're the one with the training and know-how; plus, I think it would mean a lot to Caleb knowing his favorite uncle has his back.”

Luis smiled and said, “I'm his favorite, because the others are hardly around.”

“Maybe, but you'll need to clear that up with him.”

“What about Bryan?”

“I don't think he needs any more pointers.”

“I meant about his legal situation.”

Diego nodded. “We'll have to see what the sheriff's office has to say.”

“That's fair. He was pretty upset when he called.”

“Good. I hope he's beginning to understand how much he fucked everything up.”

“I think he does. We talked about the judge and what losing Caleb could mean. I honestly don't think he thought any of it through.”

“That's been his problem. He's not thinking of the consequences before reacting.”

“I think he gets that from you,” Luis said, with a smile.

“Now, we know that's bullshit. He probably gets it from the rest of the family, especially you.”

“No way. I was already in juvie and rehab twice by the time I was his age.”

“Exactly. The last thing I want is for him to--”

“--End up like me?”

Diego felt like shit for thinking the words, but it was too late to take it back. “Yes and no.”

“I take no offense to it. I was going through a lot of shit back then that I didn't know how to deal with aside from acting out. Even when we didn't get along, I knew deep down, like deep, deep, deep, deep down, that you still kinda sorta liked me.” Diego punched Luis's arm, causing them both to laugh. “Anyway,” Luis continued, “I needed to go through all of that before I could turn my life around.

“You've raised two amazing kids, Diego. Bryan and Caleb wouldn't be where they are today if it wasn't for you. They probably would've ended up in the foster care system with some pedophile or something, provided they were even kept together. You saved their lives when you could've washed your hands of the whole affair.

“Of course, I'll train Caleb in self-defense, but only when he's better. You and my brother-in-law better go to the school and have a conversation with them about the bullying going on, too.”

“We're going to do it when we feel comfortable with Caleb going back there. They've stonewalled us so far, but Billy's looking into what he can do for us, legally.”

“Charlie and I could go talk to the principal if you want?”

Diego laughed. “Honestly, that's the last thing we need, but I'll keep the offer on the table.”

“That's on you. Well, I'm going to say goodnight to the boys and get going. Tomorrow is going to be a long one.”

After Luis checked on his nephews, hugging them both, then the brothers hugged before Luis drove home.