The Fast Times

The drive home was quiet. Pete had been lost in his head, thinking over and over again about Nancy and her smile. From across the room she looked happier from what he had remembered, and that imagine was burned in his head. The awkward situation they had had with her didn't stay locked into his memory, only her smile. He seemed to forget everything else...except for the name Holly.

Her name turned in his head, trying to figure out what she could possibly look like. He wondered if she looked like Nancy, or if she resembled her father. The moment he thought that, Pete wondered if she was his; Dale thought the same.

At home, Hilary was the one to initiate telling her father, he had just gotten home as well, about having seen Nancy. Pete didn't want to hear anymore, he went upstairs, hiding away, wanting to think of something else...but it was useless.

He sat on his bed, seeing his home phone on his desk. He got up, grabbed it and went to his backpack on the first double bed. Even though he hadn't kept in constant contact with his friends, he knew what they were up to. Pete had called the tattoo shop where Andy was tattooing, and said he'd be home soon and wanted to touch up the tattoo on his upper back. Andy had agreed, hastily, and said nothing of it; he didn't want to piss Rae off and upset Nancy.

Pete found the number of the shop and called; after a few rings, a female voice picked up, "Sorry Mom tattoos, this is Rae."

Pete was speechless for a moment, but swallowed and spoke, "I needa talk to Andy."

"Who's this?" She asked casually.

"Uh...um, Eddie...I have appointment tomorrow. I wanna see if I can come in earlier."

"Hold on a sec."

Pete sighed, waiting; after a moment, Andy picked up, "Hello?" He sounded highly confused.

"It's me Pete," Pete said quickly. "When are you free?"

Andy exhaled, "Uh...tonight?"

"I dunno...maybe," he mumbled.

Andy was quiet for a few seconds, "Come by at like 11, I'll be done by then."

"Thanks man."

"No problem."

"Wait! Will Rae be there?"

"Nah," he said quickly.

"Alright."

They hung up; Pete fell back against the second bed, shutting his eyes.

Downstairs, Peter had told his daughter to stop talking about Nancy; not in a harsh way; he said, "Let's spare Pete's feelings, alright? Maybe this is hurting him."

Peter was lying. He didn't care what Pete was feeling towards or about Nancy. He just wanted to stop hearing about her.

Dale had gone to the kitchen to tidy up; which she did when her mind was frazzled and she was upset. She put away dishes and remembered to take some beef out to defrost for dinner the following night. She grabbed the dish towel and began to wipe down the counter when she encountered the mail, she pulled the pile of letters under her arm, and continued on as usual.

Dale dumped the dish towel in the sink and looked at the mail; bill, bill, letter from a pen pal for Hilary, bill, letter for Pete, and lastly another bill. She went to the living room, handing the bills to Peter and the pen pal letter to Hilary before making her way upstairs to give Pete his letter.

She knocked on the door, "Honey?"

Pete sat up, "Yeah?"

Dale entered and smiled at him, "You've got a letter."

Pete hummed, "Just put it on my desk. Who's it from?"

Dale looked, it was blank, "No idea, it's blank."

Pete just nudged his head, "I'll check it later."

She set the letter on his desk and then went over, sitting across from him on the first bed, "How're you feeling?"

"A little tired," he murmured. "I'm gonna go see a friend tonight."

"Who?"

"Andy," he told her.

Dale exhaled, "Don't stay out too late."

"I'm only gonna be out for a little while. Can I borrow the car?"

"Sure. Hey, you wanna talk about tonight?" She asked this gingerly, cautiously.

"About Nancy," he stated.

"If she calls, I want to see her and her daughter."

"Why?" He asked angrily.

"Because that could be my granddaughter," she said. "Don't you wonder?"

"I don't think about someone who almost ruined my life," he muttered, lying effortlessly.

"What if Holly is your daughter? How will you feel?"

"I'd feel..." He trailed, looking down, "I don't know. She chose to leave, she chose to lie to us, why should I feel any different than I do now? She ran away, if it's my kid, then I'd still hate her for lying."

"That's not fair, you shouldn't be mad. I'm not mad and I did a lot for her," Dale stood, "I want to see her, I want to know if that's my grand baby or not."

Pete looked up, "And if it's not? How will ya feel?"

"I'd feel sorry, but I won't be angry. I'll still help her if she needs anything."

Pete shook his head, "You're too nice."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do, be angry? I can't waste time being mad at someone who did no harm to me...Nancy was just doing what she thought was best for you, and for herself...she didn't want to hold you back."

Pete wanted to yell. He hated that his mother defended her, but chose not to snap. He simply fell back on the bed and shut his eyes. Dale sighed, "Don't stay out too late, okay?"

"Okay, ma."

Dale left the room, heading back downstairs, feeling sorry for the anger she knew Pete was dealing with.


Rae left the tattoo shop, not questioning Andy about his weird phone call. He often received weird phone calls, so it was nothing new. She had kissed him and headed down the block to the apartment complex; she buzzed her way in and jogged up the stairs and used her key to unlock the door.

She heard the TV going, and shut the door behind her, "Cy?" She called.

Nancy came out of the kitchen with a piece of birthday cake on a plastic plate, "You're home early," she stated with some frosting in her mouth.

Rae smiled, "I'm on a break, I'll be there till 2."

The two went to the living room and plopped on the couch; "Geez, don't you guys ever close?"

"Only when we have to," Rae answered cheekily. "Holly asleep?"

Nancy hummed, eating cake, swallowing before answering, "We're going to Target tomorrow, you need anything?"

"Uh...are you taking the subway or a cab?"

"I'm taking my car."

"We really need dish soap and laundry detergent. I'll take some laundry downstairs after I get some sleep, so just leave whatever you and the munchkin need washed in the hall."

"Sure thing."

Nancy debated about whether or not telling Rae about seeing Pete. The two never talked about him, the only time was when Pete cussed her out; Rae vowed to kick him in the balls the next time she saw him.

"Guess who I saw tonight," Nancy started.

Rae looked over, "Who?"

"Pete and his family."

Her eyes widened, "What? What did that asshole say?"

"Nothing. I could barely look at them...I didn't really say anything before I hightailed it outta there. Dave let me off early because it's Holly's birthday."

Rae tweaked her lips, "Pete's a jerk. He should at least acknowledge that you tried to tell him about her. Hell, you even paid his dad back! I still think that was dumb for you to do. We could've gotten a bigger place."

"Yeah, I know. There was a lot I could've done with 10 grand, but I couldn't handle that cloud over my head anymore."

"You're too good of a person, you know that?" Rae smiled.

"How come I don't feel that way, then?" Nancy confessed softly. "I feel like I've messed up my life and ruined people's lives when all I tried to do was make it better."

"You didn't ruin anyone's life, Cy," Rae took the plate of cake away from her and set it on the coffee table, "you did the best, and you're still doing the best. Holly's life isn't messed up, she knows you're doing great! And she has Patrick and Andy as surrogate dad's, they're great uncles. She's got me and Sabrina to guide her too; Holly isn't missing anything she never had."

Nancy felt only a bit better, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"If you wanna contact Pete, tell him more about Holliday, then you should. If not, he knows she exists, you aren't hiding, if he wants he can find you and come see her. You won't hold her hostage, would you?"

Nancy scoffed, "Yeah right."

"Of course not. Has Holliday ever asked about her daddy?"

Nancy shook her head; never has Holliday asked about having a daddy. Nancy can't ever recalled Holliday ever saying the word "daddy" before. Still, she's not a stupid little girl, she would notice she didn't have a daddy like other little girls; but Holliday never questioned Nancy about it.

"She never has," Nancy murmured, still thinking. "I feel terrible."

"Hey, Cy, maybe you should talk to her about it? Ask her, you know, if she wonders about having a dad."

Nancy agreed, "I will. I just don't wanna tell her Pete is around and probably get her hopes up."

"Break it to her gently."

"I will," she murmured.


Pete arrived at Sorry Mom! tattoo shop; he saw Andy following a guy with a taped up arm out; "Hey Hurley," he greeted.

Andy nodded his way, "Hey."

Pete waited while Andy talked for a moment with his client before he left. He turned back to Pete, "What's up? What do you want me to fix?"

Pete lifted his shirt and turned around, "More black and gray," he said, "fix those shitty lines."

Andy patted his back, "Okay. I think I still got the design. Follow me."

Andy led the way to his station beyond the front desk; Pete looked over at the designs and drawings Andy had done in the last year. His eyes stopped over at where his inks were, a picture of a little girl with a bright smile and curly brown hair was posing for whoever took the picture, holding up a caricature of herself. There was something about her that was familiar to him; the girl looked to be 2-3 years old, maybe older, he couldn't tell; "Who's the little girl?" Pete asked dumbly.

Andy looked over; he was stumped, not sure what to say; "Uh, a friend's kid. Sit down, take off your shirt."

Pete immediately knew then who it was; he forced himself to stop looking and not say a word, though his eyes ached to look, and his mouth burned to ask about her. The little girl's smile was familiar to him, he knew that smile anywhere...Hilary, he said to himself. His chest ached right then, still, he forced it away, sitting down on the chair, straddling it.

"How long are you in town?" Andy asked as he began to clean off Pete's back.

"Till the end of August," he answered, his mind still burning with the imagine of his daughter. "Where's Stumph?"

"He's probably sleep, he's in school, they're taking extra classes and shit like that."

"They?"

"Him and Sabrina."

"I almost forgot. They're still together?"

Andy hummed, "Just like me and Rae."

There was short awkward silence; both choosing not to bring up Nancy. Andy got up and retrieved his tattoo gun, cleaning and changing the needles. Pete sat uncomfortably, thinking, "How's...Nancy?" He finally asked.

"She's okay. She's got 2 jobs, and she goes to school, she's doing pretty good."

"What about her kid?" He muttered the words.

Andy paused, testing his machine, "Uh...she's a cool kid. We all take turns watching her while Cy works."

"What about her dad?" He asked dreadfully.

Andy rolled his eyes, gladly, since that Pete couldn't see him, "He doesn't come around. Holly doesn't ask about him, Cy doesn't talk about him, and she's a happy kid. She's got me and Patrick anyway."

That stung, Pete couldn't tell if Andy was trying to make a point or just talking. Either way, it hurt and Pete didn't know how to respond.

"Alright, I'm gonna get started," Andy said once he was finished setting up and drawing over the blown out lines on Pete back.

Pete hummed over the sound of the buzzing, leaning his head forward. He grunted as the needles dug into his back. He shut his eyes tight, biting down on his lip, forcing himself to deal with the pain.

Andy worked mindlessly, cleaning up the mess a previous artist made of Pete's shoulders. He was deep in, going on and on until the power shut off for a second and turned back on. Andy looked up, seeing Rae with her hand on the light switch; a switch that shuts off the lights and his machine.

"What the hell is he doing here?" She asked angrily.

Andy blinked, unsure of what to say. His mind was slow to catch up after being in the zone. Pete had groaned, "Calm down, I'm a paying customer."

"You're Eddie?" She spat.

Pete rolled his eyes, "Yes, Rae."

Rae was close to smacking him; "You're a prick, you know that! I have a fuckin' bone to pick with you! How dare you cuss my best friend out when she tried to reach out so you could meet your daughter?"

"That's not my kid!" Pete yelled.

"She looks just like you, you stupid asshole!" Rae snapped back at him. "All Cy was tryna do was get you to see her, but you went on a goddamn rager like you're so high and freakin' mighty!"

Pete rolled his eyes again, "I'm outta here," he turned to Andy, "thanks man."

He reached into his wallet to pay, but Rae slapped it out of his hand, "We don't take deadbeat daddy's money here. Maybe you can use that money and buy your daughter a birthday present, it was yesterday."

Pete sighed, pulling his shirt back on, grabbing his wallet and left. Andy was still speechless; the bell on the door rang after Pete, causing Andy to snap out of it; "Why'd you do that?"

"Why did you let him in here?" Rae snapped at him now. "I told you what he said to Nancy!"

Andy sighed, "I don't know...I'm sorry, I just..." He was lost again. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinkin'...I was--he was just a customer."

"We don't take deadbeats," Rae said softer.

"Are ya mad at me?" He asked.

Rae sighed, "No," she sat in the chair, "I just hate Pete and the way he made Cy cry...and the fact she told him about his dad and still paid him back!"

"Yeah...I'm sorry. I wasn't even thinking about it."

Rae kissed his cheek, "It's okay. Let's close early; Jerry is opening tomorrow at 11."

"I have to come in at 3," Andy said.

"Then let's go to my place and get some rest."

Andy smiled and agreed, standing and cleaning up before leaving with Rae.