At last, he saw his familiar car pull up. Anthony bolted up out off the bench, and had to keep himself from running to greet the. He had to keep things subtle. Luckily, he getting quite familiar with Charlie and his personality, as certain memories and habits seem to be sneaking into his mind.
"Hey!"
"Hey Charlie."
"Hi, kid."
"Kid." That's what Anthony ways calls his boy and all of his friends. Hearing it coming out of your mouth with your voice sounded s bit differently than he used to hear himself sound. He sounds MUCH more like Vin than he realized. But hearing that word referring to him coming from what was supposed to be his mouth, was somewhat troubling. It was somehow degrading, but he knew it was meant good-naturedly. It was degrading, because he wasn't supposed to just be some kid.
Charlie got back behind the wheel of Anthony's car. Gino got shotgun. Anthony was now, for the very first time, stuck having to not just ride as a passenger of his own car, but in the BACKSEAT of his own car! Again, it was degrading.
But no matter! He will be out of this mess soon enough. He hoped.
As they got buckled in, he casually asked the Salvatore's in the front seats, both "father" and son:
"Hey, I was just, uh, wondering. I think I dropped that medallion in Vin's SUV when we went to the movies last night. Would it be possible to run to his place real quick so I can find it?"
"Oh. I'm sorry, but my brother is out of town now."
Those words made his heart....or rather, Charlie's heart....leap up to his throat.
Charlie continued, "he's heading to New Jersey to help my dad with something. He had already left at 6 AM this morning...."
The rest of what Charlie was saying sorta drowned out as Anthony's heart seemed to stop, and his thin pale limbs went limp.
"Of course! I forgot he was going out of town today," Anthony thought. "Now what? I had a chance to retrieve it, but now it's useless. If the medallion was even in that vehicle...."
A little spark of hope went into his mind, as he redirected his thoughts to;
"Maybe it is at my place....eeeerrr....Charlie's place.....afterall! I just have to quickly run in and look for it. I still have time! And mom's house is only maybe 2 or 3 miles away. It would take less than an hour to walk to her place, and there's still about three hours to go."
As he was formulating his plan, they had arrived at his "new" house.
"Alright, Charlie-boy. Take care, now!"
"Thanks!" He enthusiastically shouted. Perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. Gino said "oookkkkaaaayyy," and his dad chuckled a bit. It was out of character. But nevermind! He had a mission to complete!
He ran up the front steps to his hour, opened the door, ran inside, closed the door, and immediately went about ransacking the place.