Violent Ends

If he wasn't drowning his sorrows in alcohol and drugs, he was releasing his anger at the beer pong table. That day wasn't any different and his friends weren't shocked at his steady shooting even after drinking twice as much as the people around him. They were mostly just glad that he was covering up his rage with exhilarating shouts instead of violent brawls that always ended in his unfortunate victim ending up bruised and bloody. There were only two ways that Nick Walter was brought down from his aggravated high, one made him see nothing but red, the red of his enemies' blood, and the other just made him see the red of the solo cups filled with beer ready to be conquered by his excellent aim.

Throwing the ball that landed in the last cup with a plop as some of the beer spilled out of it, the room erupted into cheers and Nick's was the loudest as he exchanged a high five with Nate Jensen who had known him since middle school.

"That's what I'm talkin' about, baby!" Nick yelled, a loud whoop leaving his mouth.

"Man, you're giving Ty over there a run for his money!" Nate nodded at Nick's opponent, Tyler Davis, who held up his middle finger before drinking from the glass that Nick had scored.

Nick mockingly put his hand on his heart, "Aw, did I hurt your feelings, sweetheart? I promise to go easy on you next time, a'ight?"

"Next time?" Tyler smirked, walking around the table before getting closer to Nick, a mocking glint in his eyes, "I'm heading off to Columbia in a week. You know, gonna be in college, actually making something of myself."

His pointed words strike a chord in Nick, immediately dropping the grin from his face. His vibrant blue eyes now dangerously dark, he steps forward towards Tyler, his voice holding a threat.

"You wanna speak plainly, buttercup?"

Nate interrupted before Tyler could speak, putting a hand on Nick's shoulder, "Hey, there's no need for this man, let's just leave."

"No, man," Nick shrugged off his friend's hand, "Let's hear what the little guy has to say."

It was clear that Nick couldn't be talked out of doing something he had set his mind to and he had now clearly set his mind to deal with Tyler, who had no idea what he was getting himself into. Nick's violent outbursts were no secret to the population of Parlis Bay but it seemed that Tyler had a death wish before he could even make it to college. Rubbing a hand over his face in frustration, Nate backed away a couple of steps but was still close enough to interfere if Nick went too far.

"Speak, Davis," Nick ordered him, as if he was a dog, making Tyler clench his jaw.

Nick was towering over Tyler by now, making him have to look up at him to glare but he still managed to find the courage to open his mouth to speak again before a girl ran up to them, calling out Nick's name.

"Nick! It's Sarah!"

He rolled his eyes in annoyance, finally breaking eye contact with Tyler, and turned to the girl.

"What?" He snapped making the girl flinch at the angry look in his eyes.

She pointed a thumb behind her, stuttering her words "S-Sarah and Heidi, they're really drunk. You need to take them home."

Pushing away his irritation at having to walk away, he nodded, beginning to follow after the girl before Tyler made his next stupid decision of the night and grabbed him by his arm to pull him back.

"Where you going- "He wasn't able to finish as Nick jerked back and, grabbing the younger boy's head from the back, slammed it against the beer pong table. A few people gasped as Tyler struggled to get out from under Nick's grip as he leaned down towards him.

"Don't ever touch me again, you hear me?" His voice was dangerously low as he almost whispered into Tyler's ear. Not getting a response, he began to twist one of Tyler's arms making him yell out in pain and Nate scrambled to pull Nick away from him.

"Just let him go, dude! He's just an idiot."

But Nick was too strong and too much in rage to listen to reason as he twisted further and yelled over Tyler's pained cries, "No! He needs to understand!" and he leaned back down to Tyler, "Tell me you understand, Tyler?"

Tyler gritted his teeth in pain before nodding at which Nick finally let go of him and backed away. Without taking another look at anyone else, he nodded at the girl who scrambled in the direction of the staircase as he followed her.

Sarah didn't usually get drunk, or at least when she did, Nick wasn't around to witness it since Sean or Madison were always the ones to take care of her and Heidi so seeing his own sister slumped upside down on a table with her best friend perched upon the table in a yoga position wasn't a sight that he was used to.

"Sarah?"

Her eyes still half-closed, Heidi answered for him, her face lighting up, "Nick!"

Giggling, she jumped off the table and ran into his arms, hugging him tightly, before he even had the chance to push her off.

"What are you?" Not used to this level of affection from the youngest Pierce, he looked at her in confusion, "Are you two drunk?"

She pushed off from him at the question, "No! I'm totally sober, see!" At this, she ran off to the other side of the room and started spinning as if that could prove her point.

Running a hand over his face in frustration, "Seriously? Screw my life. How did you- Stop moving around, Heidi!"

He snapped at her as she ran by him towards the other end of the room and spinning there.

"I don't wanna! I'm a bird!"

Ignoring her, he kneeled down towards Sarah and began to lift her off the table, "How did you guys get here?"

"Cab," Sarah finally mumbled out after he had made her sit upright on the edge.

"Give me your phone, I'm calling her sister."

Shaking his head in annoyance, he took the phone from Sarah after she unlocked it and immediately lied back down on the table. He ignored Heidi's loud cheers as she continued to run around the room. His mind was fixated on the encounter that he was now forced to have with the person that he had been trying to get off his mind all day, and not in the cute romantic way either. More like wanting to ship them off to a deserted island kind of way.

As he finally found her contact, he contemplated for a second before calling it. She picked up on the second ring and the sound of her voice made him even more ticked off.

"Hey, Sarah, I've been meaning to call you. Are you and Heidi at your place?"

He paused before answering, "Sarah isn't here."

"Nick? Where's Sarah?" Her confusion was evident in her voice.

"She and your sister are at a party at Martha Jacobsen's, remember her from high school?"

She didn't answer his question as her voice grew loud, "They-what? They didn't tell me they were going there."

"Yeah, and they're also really drunk. I can't just book them a cab; our parents can't find out about this."

"Then why don't you drive them?"

He felt his anger rise at that and he wanted to hit something, "Are you kidding me? I'm at a fucking party, Madison. I'm not sober. "

Practically feeling her eye roll through the phone, she spoke, "Curb the attitude, I'll be there in ten minutes."

True to her word, she was outside Martha's house in no more than ten minutes, and without exchanging many words between them, she helped Nick carry two very drunk Heidi and Sarah to the back seat of her car.

After finally getting the energetic Heidi inside, she strapped on both of their seatbelts before closing the door and going over to Nick. It was quite evident from both their faces that the earlier conversation from that morning was not forgotten by either of them and at the moment, they were even more pissed off from the situation at hand. Madison, as usual, looked like she wanted to be the bigger person and opened her mouth to speak before she was interrupted by Sarah who had rolled her window down and was looking at them with hooded eyes.

"I want ice cream."

Heidi joined in with her yelling, "Ice cream! Yes! Let's go get ice cream, Mads!"

"Let's get you both to bed first."

Sarah groaned, rolling the window back up while Heidi's loud disappointment could still be heard as Madison turned to Nick.

"I'm gonna guess I can't take Sarah back to yours?"

He shook his head, "No, everyone's home."

"Well, same here," she said. When he didn't answer, she added with a huff, "I can't just smuggle two really drunk teenagers inside my house."

"Not my problem," he shook his head again, turning to walk away before she grabbed onto his wrist, making him pause.

"They were here under your watch, Nick."

"Oh yeah?" He raised his voice, putting his hand over hers and pulling it off his arm, "And I didn't watch them."

Dropping her hand, he walked away, while mockingly saying "I'm sure that valedictorian brain of yours can figure out a way."

"You're the one who called my valedictorian brain for help!" Was the last thing he heard her say before he went back inside the house.

The house was deadly silent by the time Nick was dropped off home by Nate. Almost two hours had passed since he had handed over Sarah and Heidi to Madison and now he wondered if he should've gone with them. The thought was quickly dismissed as the image of the oldest Pierce girl taking care of him flashed in his mind, making him cringe. Putting one shaky foot infront of the other, he had somehow managed to stumble through the front door and up the staircase without making any noise but now that he had reached the first floor landing, he could see the light shining from the crack at the bottom of Michael's office's door.

Nick paused, his shoulders going rigid as he waited with baited breath, his ears straining to hear any sort of movement from inside the room. When nothing happened for a few minutes, he decided to just take the few steps towards his own bedroom. Treading lightly, he reached his door, his right hand on the door handle and he was just about to turn it when the office door opened and his father stood there, the soft light from his office illuminating the dark hallway making Nick squint at the sudden brightness.

"You're home," Michael said, his tone tinged with surprise.

Nick didn't know how to answer him so he just nodded, still tightly holding on to his door handle.

"Where's your sister?"

"Sleeping over at Heidi's," Nick murmured in reply making Michael nod in relief.

Taking a deep breath, he ran his eyes over his son's figure, taking in the messy state of his clothes, the sweat that was lining his face, and the stench of alcohol that he had unsuccessfully tried to cover up. His gaze lingered on the bandage on Nick's hand, who quickly moved it behind his back, so he didn't even bother to ask about the injury.

Nick met his father's gaze as it returned to his eyes after looking all over him and he lowered his head in shame, knowing that Michael wasn't an idiot and that he knew that Nick had wasted another day doing absolutely nothing productive.

Michael's voice made him look back up, "You know, I only do this because I love you, right?"

He nodded again, "Yeah, Dad. I love you too."

"You need to show me that, Nick," Michael said, his eyes filled with desperation, "You need to show me that you care because I can't just go on on nothing."

Nick's brow furrowed at his father's choice of words but he nodded nonetheless, "Yeah, of course."

"Yeah? Good, I'm glad you understand," Michael sighed in relief as if his job was done, "Head off to bed, son. Good night."

"Good night."

Nick watched his father disappear back into his office and the hallway was dark again. When he got inside his shower, the strong stream of hot water sobered him up enough to think over his father's words. They seemed familiar to him, unlike what he had been saying to Nick before. As he lathered the shampoo in his hair, he came to the realization that those weren't Michaels' words at all, they were Madisons. He grit his teeth in anger as he was reminded of their conversation from that morning and the same words echoed in his ears. It seemed that the golden girl still hadn't learned how to mind her own business and he needed to give her another talking to.