STALEMATE [MAFIA] [MXM] ✓

28: FAR FROM OVER

Salem practically lives out of his car for the next several days. He does stop by his house every once in a while to take a shower or eat. Sometimes he even takes a nap, when he thinks he can get away with it.

Jack tries to contact him multiple times, through both messages and calling. Salem refuses to answer, however, and before he knows it he's sinking into a deep depression.

Due to hardly being home, he's not had time to take his medicine. He hates being off-meds, it is absolutely horrible for his mental health, but every time he goes home he's always in such a hurry. Even if he did remember to take them, it wouldn't be consistent.

Salem is attempting to fall asleep in his driver's seat, parked at a local fast food place, and it's about 10 pm. This is when his phone rings.

Salem huffs, not in the mood to be awake. He feels around for his phone and, when that fails, gets up to search for it. He finds it lodged in the crevice between his cup holder and seat. Upon seeing the contact name, he feels shocked. Wow, he hasn't talked to this guy in an while.

"Remi?" Is the way Salem greets him, tone of voice betraying his confusion. He hears some shuffling on the other line, as well as something mumbled. A second later and Remi's voice rings clear through the line;

"Salem? You busy?"

Salem is unsure how to answer that. If he says yes, then he may regret it, because what if Atlas is in trouble? What if he needs help? Then again, if he says no, Remi might try to talk him into something stupid. Something that, Salem reminds himself, he already agreed to.

"Why?" He settles on.

"Because I'm not," Remi says, and Salem frowns. What? Where is this going? Salem doesn't know how to answer, so he settles on just giving a response to the previous question.

"I'm not either."

"Okay," Now Remi sounds excited, and Salem finds himself growing nervous. "Okay. I'm going to send you an address. Meet us there."

This clears absolutely nothing up. "Why? Who else is with you?"

"Luca." Remi answers easily, and Salem's eyes widen. "It's a restaurant. Meet us there asap."

That's when Remi hangs up, and Salem is left sitting there in confusion. He's going to be honest, this is not how he expected to spend his Friday evening. He figured he'd sleep and be sad, as per his new routine, but now... now he's going to meet up with Remi. He's going to meet Luca.

Another Di Angelo family member. Salem can't believe it. He's pretty sure that times where he meets Atlas' family will be few and far between, so he should bask in this. He doesn't waste any time, plugging the address into his GPS and heading there immediately.

He can only assume that Luca will look similar to the other two, but aside from that, he has no idea what to expect personality wise. Salem is going to a restaurant with Atlas' brothers, and he wonders if Atlas is aware of this.

When Salem finally reaches the restaurant, he takes note that it's not very crowded. They are coming here at a sort of awkward time, though. 10 pm? The dinner rush is over. Salem spots Remi seated in the bar area of the restaurant, at a booth, and there's (predictably) a guy next to him.

Luca is smaller than Remi and Atlas, but bigger than Salem. He fits the Di Angelo brother aesthetic, the dark hair and piercings and tattoos. However, he's not as muscular as the other two. His face is also clearly more aged.

Salem finally reaches them, and takes a seat across the booth. Remi looks up at his appearance and grins, Luca unfazed. Salem takes note that there are already drinks on the table. He can't tell what they are, but judging by the glasses and amount of ice contained, they're alcoholic. Salem doesn't touch anything.