After Susan's play Mr. Gardner kept his promise.

"Susan, think you can catch a ride home with a girlfriend or something? Gotta- er-"

"Have some 'Man-time' with me, you know?" Charlie said, finishing his sentence.

"Er- I guess..." Susan shrugged strode off.

"You did great!"

"Fabulous job out there!"

"Love you!"

"Love you!"

The two males got into Mr. Gardner's car again and as they began driving Mr. Gardner asked,

"Damn, kid. If I wanted any guy to go out with my daughter, I never thought it'd be the bad-mouthed, clumsy, drug-dealer."

"...Thanks, I think."

Mr. Gardner drummed on the steering wheel and then slammed on the breaks, "Fuck, kid!"

"What I do?"

"Fuck I'm stupid. 'Oh yeah, we can wait to go to the hospital.' You're bleeding on my seats kid."

"Oh, sorry. My bad..."

"No, I mean what the fuck, you could be fucking bleeding out in the school theatre and I'm just like sitting there... watching the play."

"It's my fault Mr. Gardner, not yours, and I think you should start driving again, that bitch in the Jeep behind us keeps honking."

Mr. Gardner started up the car but not before flipping off Jeep-bitch out the window.

By the time they got to the hospital, Charlie couldn't exactly stand up on his own.

"Jesus, you're killing me kid."

They reached the front desk and Mr. Gardner said, "This kid smacked his head on a divingboard, and then nearly drowned, I think you should fix it."

"I think so too." The nurse smirked.

"Me too!" Charlie said dazedly.

"Okay, c'mon kid, this way..."

An hour later Charlie was sitting in a chair having his hand slapped away from his new stitches that he'd been trying to fiddle with.

"Why the fuck do kids like to play with things just because they're there?" Mr. Gardner asked him.

"I dunno, it's fun."

"So why did you care whether or not I killed myself, Chuck? I was waving a gun around, I could've killed you."

"Yeah, but I think Susan would be pretty pissed if I let her dad shoot himself while I just sat there."

"And you think she'd prefer her boyfriend nearly drown in the pool?"

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Mr. Gardner. She likes you alot more than you seem to think."

"You could say that."

"I did say that. That's the thing, is that I said that. Because I could. So I did..."

"Okay, kid. You know what?"

"What?"

"Shut the fuck up."