early edition -bennoda

chapter three

Yeah have this,
Also, yes, Chino in this story is Chino from Deftones
Also sorry if this sucks I'm tired gn
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"Are you sure this is the right place, Chez?" Brad asked, glancing over at his worried friend, who checked the paper, for the third time since they got there.

Chester checked his watch, then the paper, then glanced back up at the busy street in front of them. "It should be." He said, anxious.

It was 12:31, a minute off already, and he didnt see the lady.

They couldn't have missed her, right?

A million thoughts were spirialing through Chester's head, and the uneasiness settled in his stomach, and the uneasiness only grew when he heard his friend speak up.

"Chez." Brad said suddenly, hitting his shoulder, catching Chester off guard. "Look." He said, pointing.

A lady in a long red jacket and black hat walked down the sidewalk quickly, not paying any attention to the oncoming traffic.

"Hey!" Chester yelled as loud as he could, cupping his hands, using them as a microphone.

The lady didn't look up, only kept walking, seemingly staying in her own little world.

Chester was shaking as he glanced back at the traffic.

She wasn't watching, or listening, and the driver wasn't going to stop.

He took a breath, digging his feet into the sidewalk as his legs took him across the street, the cars not a foot from him as he turned, crashing into the lady's torso, and they both fell back on to the concrete, screaming.

It was a few seconds before Chester opened his eyes, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he glanced to his side, finding the lady laying there next to him, a shocked expression on her face as she stared back at him.

"Are you okay?" He spoke quickly, shaking as he sat up, his head pounding as if someone was taking a hammer to his head repeatedly.

She nodded, dazed, sitting up a few seconds later. "my kids-, oh my god!" She said loudly, attracting the attention of passerbys. "You just saved my life."

Chester nodded slightly, helping the woman up. "glad I could help."

He started to walk away, but the woman caught the sleeve of his jacket, pulling him back.

"Thank you, seriously. I don't know what my kids would do without me- they're nine, and six. They'd be shattered." She spoke quickly, blinking with almost every word she spoke. "They'd wake up tomorrow and I wouldn't be here."

Chester felt winded after the last comment. He wished someone cared about him that much, but he knew that was just wishful thinking, at the very most.

"Just, pay attention next time, okay?" He managed to get out almost breathlessly, and she thanked him again.

He walked back across the street, where his very cold, and very concerned friend stood.

"You scare me, sometimes, Bennington." Brad spoke when Chester got to the other side.

"I scare myself, sometimes." He answered, a joking tone to his voice, but Brad stiffened a little.

"Yeah." He responded quietly, shaking his head. He was pretty used to this type of stuff, but it still scared him.

The rest of walk was silent, Brad went back to the bar, and Chester went back home, got some stuff, and then headed back to the bar.

When he got back, Brad was mixing drinks for customers, and Rob was in the back, handling phone calls.

Chester sighed, taking a seat at a table in the very corner of the bar, scattering pens and paper across the table.

When he was younger, he always dreamed of being in a band, but it always fell through.

He refused to give up on his dreams though, partially because he was fucking stubborn, and partially because he was young, and he knew he still had a chance.

To pass the time, he wrote.

Songs and stories, mainly.

He managed to finish up some songs he was already writing, and also started on some new songs, and he was kind of, sort of, proud of them.

He never fully let himself be proud of stuff he wrote though, he was always worried about being conceited, even if he didn't talk about it.

Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, it was just about the time to get ready to head over to Chino's.

He wasn't going to go in, but he sure as hell was going to be there.

He gathered his papers up quickly, papercliping them together.

"Yo." Brad said, walking up to the table. "Its almost time to go, but there's something I need to talk to you about first."

"Then, talk." Chester said, clutching his papers to his chest protectively with a raised eyebrow.

"We need to hire more people." Brad said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, and Chester just smiled, because he already knew, and he already had it handled.

"You haven't met Dave, yet, I assume." Chester said, motioning for Brad to follow him to the back room, which he did, a confused look on his face.

Dave, (or Phoenix) was supposed to start working a couple of days before, but he ended up having family issues, so it was put off. Family first.

It was fitting, he must've gotten there when they were out.

"Hi." A man with slightly spikey ginger hair and a warm smile greeted as they entered the back room.

"Hey, Phi." Chester smiled, glancing to Brad, who had an uncertain look on his face as he scanned his eyes over the man's body.

"Phi, meet Brad. Brad, meet Phoenix."

Brad did a little sup nod, and smiled a smile so fake it was painfully obvious.

"So, you know where everything is, right?" Chester asked, trying to ignore Brad's rudeness.

Dave continued to smile anyway, nodding. "Yep, I got it. You can count on me."

"Awesome, okay, good." Chester said, nodding with each word. "Okay, I wish we could stay, but we gotta get going."

"Alrighty, have fun!" Dave said, cheerfully, completely unaware of what mission Chester and Brad were setting out on.

"Oh yeah, we will." Brad said, his voice laced with sarcasm as he turned around.

Chester shook his head at Brad as he turned around, pushing the door open, letting Brad go ahead of him into the main part of the bar.

"You disappoint me." Chester said, following Brad out of the bar.

"What?" He asked, throwing his hands up in a defensive way.

"You could've been a little nicer to him, you know." Chester said, shrugging as they walked. "You're bad at hiding emotions."

Brad scoffed, muttering a "whatever."