"...Okie dokie. Yes sir, well, I know that, but... Uh huh. Right. Well alright. Right. Okie dokie...bye."

Roy hung up the telephone, his brow creased in frustration. He rubbed his face with a groan as Dade offered him a beer. Roy shook his head and Dade raised an eyebrow.

It was only a matter of days before both Dade and Whit were shipped off to boot camp. Whit, of course, wasn't looking forward to it. Dade's eyes were eager, his patriotism something Roy was never interested in touching.

"Trench motherfucking WARFARE," Dade called it. Whatever.

Yet as enthusiastic as his best friend seemed, Roy couldn't help but imagine this was Dade's way of getting out of Chickasha the way Roy did. Dade's great escape would be a little more honorable, but possibly just as crippling.

Roy had called Dave to ask for the contact information of the centenarian he was assigned to interview but was met with a frustrating answer from another employee; that Dave wasn't there, and Roy would have to pick up the assignment in person while Dave was there; which Roy knew was bullshit. The conversation didn't get anywhere.

Roy stubbornly decided he would go back to the office in person on his day off, find the address of the centenarian, and go balls deep in the article for the following workday.

"You'll look after Kenzie for a bit, right?" Roy grabbed his car keys and chuckled. "I don't want her to cry if I'm not here on my day off."

Dade stood up and saluted Roy. "You have my word."

"And please don't drink too much. It's nine in the morning."

Roy quietly opened the bedroom door. MacKenzie's chest slowly rose up and down. He debated on giving her a kiss, but he didn't want to wake her. Instead he waved Dade off and headed to the paper.

Sure enough, Dave's car wasn't there, but Roy knew damn well the rule was bullshit, and at least someone had to be on staff, so he headed inside anyway.

Roy nearly rolled into a guy setting the coffee machine, a man he hadn't really bothered to pay attention to since working there.

"Hey, I came to pick up somethin' from Dave-"

"I knew you'd show up here by yourself," he shot back.

Roy raised an eyebrow.

The man adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses and cleared his throat. "Not eligible for the draft, Roy?"

"Uh, n-no. No I'm not. Excuse me."

Roy was taken back as he went to go check the list of deadlines. The man stood in front of him.

"Yeah me either. Wanted to be a pilot but my vision ain't 20/20. I got in a fight last year that totally fucked up my depth perception."

"That's too bad. Can I please-"

"Actually, I don't think I ever introduced myself, Roy."

Come to think of it, he did look rather familiar. His hair was blonde and eyes blue. His thumbs were in his pockets and glasses utterly thick.

Suddenly Roy's nose ached.

"William," Roy blurted out.

William crossed his arms, smirking. "I've seen you every day in this office and not once have we been alone together, and not once have you even looked up at me."

"I-I guess I never..." Roy fumbled over his words.

"You guess you'd never run into the guy you knocked out with a baseball bat, right."

Roy looked up at Dahlia's ex-fiancé awkwardly, cornered between the bulletin board, William, and the reception desk. He felt like he was hiding in her closet again, trying so desperately not to make a noise and be discovered, yet here he was, literally walking right into the same situation.

Without looking behind him, William unpinned a notice addressed to Roy with the Centenarian's name and telephone number and studied it."

"Give me that," Roy said.

"I just think it's so funny how you're back here in this fucking wheat town."

"Yeah I sure am, can you please-"

Roy was sweating. First of all, what the fuck?

"You've got balls. I just, wow. I couldn't see three feet in front of me for a week. Do you think I wanted to be stuck here sucking Dave's dick while I could've been...uh. You know what? You don't deserve to hear me talk."

Roy gulped, anxiety rising in his chest. He couldn't bring himself to say anything.

"I found out about Dahlia's accident because I was reported to write about it."

"I know how much you hurt her," Roy said quietly. "I saw what you did to her."

Anger began to bubble inside Roy's chest as he remembered the bruises Dahlia had come home with.

"I think myself and a lot of people agree that the most beautiful woman in Oklahoma would still be wearing flowers in her hair if you hadn't come along."

Roy shook his head desperately, fists clenched tight. "William, it was really nothing-"

"It was my LIFE," he spat. And without warning, kicked Roy backwards onto the floor with a thud and violently grabbed him by the neck.

"You...bitch!" Roy gasped as William began squeezing. "If you kill me God's gonna get you."

He clawed at William's hands and face, the pressure and panic building in his chest. He tried to curse him but nothing besides a wheezy whimper came out. His body thrashed under William, and William took advantage of Roy's inability to deliver a kick to the groin. If there was any time that Roy longed to move his legs the most, it was now.