Of Rage And Love

"Back so soon?" Ronnie called as he saw Jimmy. "I don't know what you said to her, but if you came to have another little chat with M-J you're outta luck. She left not long after you did."

"It's you I wanted to talk to actually, Ron."

"Oh. What have I done?"

"What? No, nothing!" Jimmy corrected him hastily. "I need a favour."

"This conversation has yet to fill me with confidence, Jimmy." Ronnie admitted.

"Why does everyone think I'm up to something today?" Jimmy exclaimed in despair.

"Hate to break it to you, J, but it's not just today." There was a pause as Jimmy glared at him. "I'm kidding."

"I should hope so."

"What's this favour, then?" Ronnie brought the conversation back to the original topic.

"Have you finished the car yet?"

"Pretty much... Why?" There was suspicion in the older boy's voice now.

"Can I have a look at it?" Jimmy questioned innocently.

"Now why would you wanna do that?" Ronnie frowns.

"Because you've been working on it for the best part of a year and you said the other day that it's nearly done?"

"You've never shown any interest before, though."

"Yes I have!"

"Shrugging and saying 'whatever' every time it's mentioned is not showing an interest, man." Ronnie tried to hide a smirk.

Jimmy opened his mouth to speak, but realised that he had no comeback for that. He settled for just glaring at Ronnie. The other boy stopped hiding his smirk, and put an arm around Jimmy's shoulders.

"Now, tell me the real reason you wanna see the car."

"I..." Jimmy muttered. "Need to borrow it."

"Oh, what was that?" Ronnie was starting to enjoy this. "Borrow it? Whatever for?"

"Ronnie I know you're not an idiot. You've heard me talk about leaving more than anyone else apart from Tun and Chris."

"You're right, I suppose." Ronnie smiled. "You're really doing it, then?"

"That's the plan..."

"That's insane." For once, this statement was a serious one.

"How so?"

"You know what I mean, Jimmy."

"Ronnie..."

"Jimmy," Ronnie sighed. "You're all so young - and I know that makes me sound old as hell even though I'm not that much older than you, and it probably makes you feel physically ill, but... Chris is fifteen."

Jimmy chose to ignore the fact that Ronnie was talking about all three of them, too. "Believe me, Ronnie, if we could talk Chris out of coming with us we would."

Ronnie sighed again. "Alright, yeah... Okay, I'll show you the car, but you know I'm not happy about it." As they started to walk, he muttered to himself. "Wow, I sound like my Grandpa."

"You're the best, y'know?" Jimmy grinned at him.

"Tell me about it."

"Don't go getting an ego on me now, Ron."

"Man, relax, my ego is in perfect shape. It's the perfect size."

Jimmy raised an eyebrow. "...Of course it is."

"Alright, let me show you that car now." Ronnie laughed quietly.

"That's the most sense you've made in the past five minutes."

"You hurt me, J. So much."

"Get some backbone, Ronnie." Jimmy nudged him with his elbow as they reached the dead-end of the underpass. "Is that the car?" Jimmy's eyes were drawn to the tarpaulin-covered shape against the wall.

"Yup, that's the one." Ronnie strode forward to pull the tarpaulin off the car.

It was a 1968 Mercury Monterey convertible that Ronnie had gotten from his uncle's garage. This uncle was also the reason that Ronnie himself knew so much about cars. When Ronnie had gotten it it had been silver - and that was only on the patches that weren't covered with rust. Now the rust was still there in places (as were numerous dents that were too sever to buff away), but the body was a dusty green and the silver trim had been polished so that you could see your face in it.

Jimmy might not have been interested while the hard work was being done, but he was more than impressed now.

"It might not look like it, but she runs like a dream." Ronnie added.

"It - she? It's a girl? - looks... Pretty damn cool. Especially considering that it was a rusted pile of crap when you brought it here."

"Yeah, she's a girl. And thanks, man." Ronnie was beaming with pride.

"Do you... Do you want me to pay you?"

"Pay me? No, just... Get her back safe and sound, alright? And don't let anyone touch her okay? If you have any problems then call me, but you won't need to."

"...Get her back?" Jimmy had decided that it was probably best not to remind Ronnie that he and Tunny didn't have full licenses yet - although, at least that was more than Chris had.

"When you get back. You're just borrowing her." The look in Ronnie's eyes told Jimmy not to argue. "I don't care when, just, come back some day. Even if it's just for a visit, yeah?"

"...Okay. Maybe we'll come kidnap you."

"Maybe." Ronnie laughed.

"I can feel the enthusiasm, dude."

"Now don't go sarcastic on me, that's my thing."

"Don't you worry. I'll be out of your hair by three, then you can have the sarcasm back."

"You're so funny. You're the funniest guy I've ever met, Jimmy." Ronnie deadpanned.

"I get it, I get it, you're the sarcastic one. Sheesh."

Ronnie, despite what was probably the more intelligent part of his brain warning him against it, pulled Jimmy into a fully-blown hug. Not even the 'man-hug' style they were used to exchanging on very rare occasions, but a real and sincere one.

"Can you promise me one thing?"

Jimmy was slightly taken aback, but he eventually hugged him back. "That depends what it is."

Ronnie let him go. "I know I should say 'stay out of trouble', but that's not likely to happen until hell can fly and pigs have frozen over or whatever... Promise me you won't lose the wit or the humour, okay? Don't become one of those grumpy, depressed guys that got old way too early, alright? I've seen it happen before and I don't wanna see it happen again with you."

"So what you're trying to say is, 'don't let the City make you bitter?"

"Exactly."

"I promise. Cross my heart, and all that jazz."

"That's my boy." Ronnie laughed fondly.

"So... Any rules? Don't crash, don't let it get stolen? Don't let Christian drive?"

"Hmm, nope, I think you just about summed it up there. Here you go." He handed Jimmy the keys, but looked somewhat anxious.

"Why do you look so worried?"

"I have a sneaking feeling that the first thing you're gonna do is back her right into the lamppost over there." He indicated the offending object.

Jimmy hadn't noticed it, and paled slightly at the thought of having to reverse. "Um."

"...Do you want me to back it out for you? Oh and by the way, maybe we'd better add another rule to that list? Let Tunny drive; He's the most responsible."

"That's... Probably a good idea." Jimmy admitted. "But do you have to ruin all my fun? Tunny'll stick to the limit and then it'll take us twice as long to get there!"

Ronnie started to laugh yet again. "Not my problem."

"It's your car, I guess." Jimmy sighed.

"Damn straight!"

Jimmy gave up pretending to be annoyed and laughed. "Man, you should come with us..."

Ronnie's smile faded as he thought about this proposition. He sighed. "Maybe I should. Haven't got a lot back here. Would you really want me there, though?"

"I reckon Tunny'd like another responsible guy around. Plus, you could keep an eye on your car."

They were silent as Ronnie considered everything.

"You know what?" He said at last. "I'm in."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, man. If you want me, I'm there."

"Fuck yeah!" Jimmy broke into a grin. "Um, the other two have their bags and stuff ready but I've gotta go and deal with that. There's someone I need to go and see, too. I told 'em to meet me at the 7/11 at three..."

Ronnie looked at his watch. "Guess we have some packing to do then, eh?"

"Oh, hell yeah."

"Tell you what, I'll drop you off back at yours and I'll leave the car? It's not that far to walk back to my place, and then when you're done you can drive to mine and pick me up? You can manage a couple of blocks without trashing her, can't you?"

"I think I can manage that, yeah." Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"Can I have my keys back then, Jimmy?"