Hands of a Killer

[Austin’s POV]

“You know, I feel really bad about this.” I trailed off, watching the laces of my Converse.
“Come on mate!” Danny laughed, his voice sounding like a drunken slur. “Ashby doesn’t mind!”
“But…”
“Hey, he offered to watch Kenadee.” Danny reminded me. “You were going to stay with him.”
“Yeah, but he’d do anything to make me happy.” I mumbled, taking out my phone.
“I miss you.” I texted him.
After a second, I received a picture message back.
There was a child’s drawing of an orange cat wearing a crown. “Kena drew a picture of me.”
“It looks just like you.” I replied, smiling.
“Meow! I miss you too!” Alan sent back. Before I could reply, Danny had taken my phone.
“Carlile! You’re spending time with friends, mate! Stop moping over your boyfriend.” Danny grumbled.
“I’m not moping.”
“Leave him alone, Worsnop.” Mitch spoke up. “He actually loves Alan, okay? At least he has someone.”
“What does that mean, Lucker?” Danny demanded.
“You’re only love is a fucking bottle of alcohol. There’s more to life, Danny. You should find someone.”
“You’re one to talk, you alcoholic cunt.” Danny grumbled, finishing the bottle of vodka.
“Guys.” I mumbled. “Don’t start.”
Sometimes I feel the only reason they insist I come along, is so they don’t kill each other.
Never put two opinionated alcoholics in the same room.
There’s been a time when Danny almost punched Mitch, pinning him down on the floor.
Of course, he denies that ever happened.
He was too drunk.
“I didn’t start anything.” Danny defended himself. “It’s this arsehole, who’s being full of himself.”
“Hey!” Mitch yelled.
“Whatever, I need another drink.” Danny mumbled, speeding up a little as he spotted Chili’s.
“Don’t listen to him.” I suggested, holding onto Mitch’s shoulder. “He’s just drunk.”
“I know.”
Eventually, we caught up with Danny and entered Chili’s.
Thankfully there wasn’t too many people here, and we were seated fairly quickly.
When our orders were placed, I glanced at Mitch.
“Yes?”
“Thanks Mitch. For putting up with our shit and for taking us out for lunch.” I smiled.
“It’s not a problem.” He shrugged. “You guys are my best friends.”
“You know, this is my tour.” Danny complained.
“Yeah, and we’re really fucking happy you chose us to support the tour Danny.” Mitch complimented.
“Thanks.”
“Now if only you would stop drinking so much…”
“You can’t complain about that.” Danny retorted, downing his cocktail in answer.
“At least…don’t drink in front of Kena, please.” Mitch pleaded.
“Fine.”
Mitch’s phone started going off, and he put a pause to the conversation as he answered it.
“Hello?”
There was a look of confusion in his eyes before he relaxed them and smiled brightly.
“Hey, Jolie!”
He stood up, motioning that he’d be right back and walked out of the restaurant.
He cherished his conversations with Jolie.
“Finally, he’s gone.” Danny grumbled, signaling the server down. He ordered a beer.
“What’s your problem with Mitch?” I asked.
“Nothing.” Danny shrugged. “I just wanted another drink, and he wouldn’t let me get one.”
“That’s because he’s trying to keep your drunken ass from dying of alcohol poisoning.” I pointed out.
“Whatever. He can’t tell me what to do.”
“Seriously, Danny! You need to stop being to rude towards Mitch! He’s one of our best fucking friends! The past week, you’ve been drinking too much! It’s affecting your head.”
“Oh, hush Carlile.” Danny narrowed his eyes. “Mitch thinks he’s some big shot because his band is bigger. What the fuck ever.”
“If we’re talking about rock star-syndrome, I think you’re referring to yourself.” I snapped.
“Fuck it.”
He stood up, dropping his napkin to the ground.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Bathroom.”
He seemed pissed, as he walked off towards the bathrooms. They were placed near the front entrance.
For a minute I thought he was going to leave.
Pulling out my phone, I texted Alan but he didn’t answer this time. He was busy with Kenadee.
At least someone was having fun.
Scrolling through Twitter, I found Alan had just posted a picture of himself and Kenadee.
Retweeting it, I commented with a smile.
After a while, there was nothing to scroll through on Twitter. Glancing at the time, I sighed.
Danny’s been gone for almost fifteen minutes.
“Great.”
I was about to get up and look for him when he walked off, his skin looking a bite pale.
He seemed tired, as if he’d been running.
His hair was a disheveled mess.
“H-Hey.” He choked out, sitting down.
“Are you okay?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah.”
His hands were shaking, but I let it slide. He seemed slightly on-edge but it was Danny.
Our food came, and we started eating.
We were pulling random conversations, trying to think of something to fill the time and silence with.
“Where’s Mitch?” I finally asked, looking at his untouched plate of food.
“I, I don’t know.”
Pulling out my phone, I called him but it went straight to voicemail.
“He must still be on the phone with Jolie.” I shrugged, turning back to the plate in front of me.
“Yeah.”
When we were both finished, Mitch still hadn’t shown up.
He had been gone for over an hour and there was only so much we could wait for.
Signaling a server, I asked for a To-Go box for Mitch’s food and asked for the check.
As he left, I made Danny fork over half the bill.
“Fucking Lucker.” He grumbled, pulling out a twenty. “This was probably his plan. Invite us for lunch and make us pay.”
“Let’s go look for him.” I sighed, calling him again.