#Louie's based off Joe Pesci

[vitalpen]

Been a rough week and I wanna write

So here, enjoy this story that I’m literally writing for the first time in this post, giving myself like an hour tops and then posting it no matter where it stop.

Artie hadn’t been seen in three days.  It didn’t look good for anyone when an enforcer was gone for that long.  Boss was uderstandably annoyed, but Artie “Bronze” Meddler was a good man with strong loyalties, he wouldn’t just go AWOL without a real good reason.  So Louie was sent to find him.  Louie wasn’t the biggest guy around, in fact he barely broke five feet.  But he was tenacious and no afraid to stab a son of a bitch if he got mouthy.  Above all, the people up top trusted him.  Artie trusted him.

So when his rhythmic knock on the door was immediately greeted with a “come in”, something felt off.  He was about to consider the idea that artie was dead, when a the deep voice came slowly through the door, “Whossere?”

“Artie, it’s Lou, Boss is ready start sendin’ out posses, where you been?”

The voice was strained, “Look, I know I got a lot to explain, but a lot of shit went down last week.  I had to some stuff to take care of.”

“What stuff?”  Lou asked, unsatisfied with the explanation.

No answer.

“What stuff, Artie?”  He pressed.  “And will you let me in so I’m not talkin’ through the door?”

““O... okay.  But you gotta promise to listen to me before you go sayin’ anything.”

That raised alarms, but they weren’t getting anywhere like this.  “Alright, fine.”

The locks on the door were undone and Art slowlly pulled the door open.

The first thing Louie noticed was Art.  He looked like hell.  He had bags under his eyes , his clothes were disheveled, he his face had multiple cuts and bruises.  The second thing he noticed was Art’s place.  It was clean, or the floors and tables were cleared at least.  It was the neatest he’d ever seen it.   The thing and final thing was the little girl bundled up in a blanket on his couch.

He squinted at the little girl, then looked back at Artie, then back at the girl, then back at Artie.  “Holy shit!”  It was the only response that felt right.

“Hey, don’t swear in front of her!”  Artie snapped.

“Artie,” Lou began, ignoring the scolding.

“Now, Lou, you said you would listen,” the big man reminded him.

“Artie, what the fuck is this!?”

“Hey, I said no swearing in front of the kid!”

“Why is there even a kid to be in front of!?”

“That’s why I wanted you to listen,” Art tried to explain.  On the couch, the little girl shifted uncomfortably, pulling her legs into her arms underneath the blanket.

“Do you have any idea how this looks?!”  Artie didn’t get the chance to answer, “The answer’s bad, Art; real bad!”

“There ain’t nothin’ bad here.  If you just let me explain-”

“You have a small child in the home of a known mob enforcer.  The cops are gonna get Christmas early if they find out about this.  Kidnapping is the best thing they can pin on you, especially with your history-”

“LOUIE!” The boom of the big man’s voice rose far above anything Louie could manage.  The little girl’s hand shot from the folds of her cover to her ears, cringing.  The two men held each other’s gaze for a moment.  “Can I talk now?”

“Fine,” Louie replied without breaking the glare.

“Alright, first things first,” Artie turned back to the kid and put on a softer face.  “Hey, kiddo, you alright?”

She nodded, but the expression contradicted.

“I’m sorry.  I’ll warn you next time.”

She nodded more vigorously in agreement.

With that, Artie turned back to Louie.

“I didn’t kidnap her, she’s not a...” he paused, looked back at the girl, and leaned in close to Louie, speaking in low tone, “p-r-o-s-t-i-t-u-t-e.”

Louie rolled his eyes as Artie straightened.

“I’m just taking care of her,” he concluded.

“Just taking care of her, huh?”  Lou raised an unconvinced eyebrow at him.

“Yeah,” Art broke eye contact and headed for the couch, sitting on the opposite side of the kid.  Louie took the easy chair just next to it.

“So where’d she come from?”

Artie looked over at the girl, who was enraptured in the TV.  “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Probably not, try me anyway.”

Artie shook his head.

“C’mon, have I ever not heard you out?  Ever?”

The bigger man sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose  “Remember that meteor shower a few nights back?”

The look Louie gave him was nearly enough to make Artie laugh.  The little man didn’t answer for a minute.  He finally took a good look to focus on the girl.  The bridge of her nose was more prnounced than any other he’d ever seen.  Her eyebrows both curled up on the outside edges.

“Art.”

“Yeah Lou?”

“I need a favor.”

“What’s that Lou?”  There was no grin on Artie’s face, but he had the half closed eyes and pursed lips that said “go ahead, give me the chance to be condescending.”

“I need you to not tell me that kid is a space alien.”

Art rubbed the back of his head.  “That’s gonna be tough Lou, cuz I think she’s a space alien.”