• “I ran into TOP one day back in high school,” Joey said, sliding his sunglasses up his nose. “Thought he was tough s**t and took a swing at me. Broke my nose.”

    He paused long enough to tap his crooked nose, Dani and Tanya exchanging a mutual shudder. The others were quietly biting their lips, realizing that once again it was story time.

    “So I called him out,” Joey continued. “I kicked his a** so badly he’s never come near me again, and he won’t admit that it happened.”

    “TOP?” asked Jen. “As in “Tower of Power” Burke up on the North End? TOP of the Giants?”

    “Yeah. The guy’s a ********’ p***y,” Joey drawled. “I took out TOP and four of his cronies with one roundhouse kick.”

    Jen bit her lip, knowing it was best to let Joey spin his story. It was the same as many of his others: Biking to Sydney in eighteen hours; going to a national karate championship after having been away from the sport for years and nearly taking a medal after two months of training; that Dani was actually in love with him but was too shy to admit it. There was a word for these stories, and anyone with an ounce of common sense knew it: Bullshit. Dani and Tanya, however, sat spellbound.

    It was locally known that one did not lightly cross paths with any of the North End Giants; the street gang had a jealously guarded reputation for not only being violent, but murderous. If shots were fired in a robbery, it was more often than not a Giant behind the trigger. If a body was found in the East River, it was whispered that they had run afoul of TOP; Adam “the Tower of Power” Burke was 6’6” and at the very heart of the gang. Joey, on the off chance his story was true, would be the only person alive who not only talked about a fight with one of the Giants, but claimed to have won.

    Whatever helped him sleep at night, Jen thought to herself. If he’s so pathetic he has to make this stuff up, let him. The only person it hurts is himself. And it was true; the only people who seemed to care or take any note of the story of out the eleven gathered around the tables in McDonalds were Joey himself, and Dani and Tanya who hung on his every word as though it was gospel.

    * * *

    “He said what?” growled TOP.

    “That he took you out, man. And four of the guys with you.”

    “Miserable little s**t,” TOP sneered. “Looks like someone needs a lesson.”

    * * *

    Another Friday night saw Joey at the local pool hall with Dani and Tanya. He had taken them for a drive in his beater of car to get ice cream and now he was attempting to impress them both with the two trick shots he knew. Dani was oblivious, preferring to discuss the latest episode of Naruto with Tanya and discuss slash pairings, and Tanya had no interest in Joey. He was just a drive around town, as far as she was concerned and he didn’t feel much differently about her. Dani didn’t go anywhere with out her, so if spending the night with Dani also meant having Tanya around, he’d do it. He hoped he could impress her by getting into Tanya’s good books. He wasn’t an anime character, so it was unlikely, but she’d use him for his unreliable car as often as it suited her.

    The girls were giggling over a particularly bad shot when a figure approached the table. Joey turned around and looks up at TOP. TOP smirked as a girl sidled up to him. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder once.

    “Beat it. This is my table.”

    Dani and Tanya huddled together, staring up at TOP. He could have been called Arian, had either of them known the name, with his shortly cropped blond hair and his blue eyes. He paid them no attention and smirked at Joey, who was slowly putting down his cue. Other members of the gang seemed to meld out of the shadows around TOP, but no one else in the bar paid any attention. It happened all the time: TOP decided he didn’t like the look of someone, and he got rid of them.

    The girls watched Joey in disbelief. “We’re not leaving, are we?” Dani asked.

    “I don’t want any trouble,” Joey said, still watching TOP.

    “But this is out table!” Tanya cried. “We paid for it!”

    “Not any more,” smiled TOP. “It’s mine now. Call it gift for me being merciful.”

    “You just don’t want Joey to kick your a** again!” Dani blurted.

    Joey froze.

    So did everyone else in the bar.

    “What did you say?” TOP asked, his voice dropping to a menacing whisper. Dani shrank back with Tanya, but held her head up defiantly.

    “You heard me. Joey told us all about how he kick your a**. And the asses of four of you other losers! Well, we’re not afraid of you and we’re not leaving!”

    Joey looked at TOP in horror, who threw back his head and laughed. The other Giants began to laugh with him, and Joey ventured a nervous giggle since the world hadn’t ended. Maybe they’d just let him go.

    “That’s ******** up s**t, man! Did you seriously tell them that?”

    Joey grinned. “No way, I’d never say anything like that!”

    TOP and the Giants continued to laugh, ignoring Tanya and Dani’s protests. Joey was beginning to relax when TOP lunged at him, uncoiling like a cat. Joey was thrown against the pool table, sending the light swinging madly and the balls scattering in all directions. Some jumped the edge of the table and went rolling unnoticed across the floor.

    “You lying piece of s**t! Do you know what I do to liars?”

    Dani and Tanya screamed and Joey spluttered. TOP’s large hand gripped him by the throat and began to squeeze. Joey gasped for air.

    “I teach them a lesson they won’t soon forget.”

    Joey couldn’t move his head, but his eyes followed in horror as TOP reached out to grasp one of the balls still on the table. He tossed it lightly in his hand, and Joey, too frightened to move, watched.

    “Whatcha gonna do now, giant killer?” TOP hissed. He then his head back and brought the ball down on Joey’s skull with the full force of his arm.

    The world went black after the first blow, blood sprayed across the wall in arcing patterns.

    His heart stopped after the fourth.