Sunday . October 8, 2017
I don't own Liv and Maddie! I swear I don't! ..heheh.
Chapter One
"Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring of Rooney"
It was the day of Thanksgiving and the whole Rooneys have been back together in Wisconsin for a week long holiday vacation. They had two more nights and two more days to spend time together before all the Rooney kids had to leave again for California.
All was well with the Rooney parents and all seemed well with the Rooney siblings.
Ahem- Yes.
Quote, seemed, period, unquote.
Olivia had the week off of shooting season two of Sing-It-Louder in Los Angeles. If she were still doing that play in New York, she wouldn't have gotten a few days off. She would have had to wait until the end of the play before going on any few days break. She remembered she was so worried she wouldn't be around for a second season of hers and her little cousin's show. It was a good thing how the show's next season shootings started in the fall because the play in New York was only over the summer.
Early spring, they found out Sing-It-Louder was renewed for a second season. But the order for Sing-It-Louder's number of episodes was only half as much as the first season's. And earlier that month, the cast and crew of Sing-It-Louder found out the show was canceled. There was four more weeks left of shooting starting Sunday. Which was in three days before everyone in the show and involved with the show have to start saying their goodbyes to each other. And shooting just so happen to end the day before Christmas Eve. So there was that to look forward to.
Anyways. Meanwhile, Madison had been going back and forth from Los Angles to New Orleans the past half year. The grant she received to build tiny houses for the homeless in New Orleans was only for the summer too. She would go back to see and meet people whose lives she hoped she helped even a little by building these small homes. She gave up basketball just so she could go to New Orleans because that summer was probably the only opportunity that year. To do something. For the needy. Yeah, there would probably be other years to do so. But why delay helping out? What's that about? Why wait years or even months from now to help when you have the opportunity to help many way sooner? There were people out there that needed help now and Maddie wanted to help. Rather sooner, always, than later which would probably turn out to be too late for a lot of people who needed help.
Was it mentioned that she gave up basketball? Come on, that's a huge deal. While her sister may have given up Voltage to stay home and be closer to her, Maddie couldn't even give up basketball for her sister. So doing this must be Maddie's true calling if Maddie could give up basketball easily for it. Giving up something she loved doing for most of her life for something she really felt she could do for the rest of her life, something she could not give up easily even for family, her twin, meant this was hecka important.
So all seemed well with this twin, right?
Heh.
Wells. Now here's the "seemed" part of seemed well. Another reason for going back to New Orleans even after the summer was up was because of her boyfriend, Digbert Smalls. Or. Ex-boyfriend. To be more precise. Or was that not right either?
For some reasons unknown to the doctors, it was about a month of being in Louisiana with Maddie when, out of nowhere, Diggie starts getting sick. Each day, he got sicker and worse. No one knew what was wrong with him. The docs had no clue. His family and friends back in Wisconsin hadn't even heard from him. He didn't want to tell his family he was sick. As far as everyone knew, including Maddie's family and his and her friends, he was just enjoying being away again. Exactly like he did as an exchange student back in his high school days where he would just be too busy or having too much fun to bother to video chatting with any of them.
Truth was- he didn't want Maddie to tell them. And she didn't know how to let them know what was going on with Diggie.
So then one day, late September, Diggie passed away... and only Mads, as in nobody else, knew.
Maddie was still in shock. She had yet to cry a tear for her loss in the last two months.
vibrat vibrate
vibrat vibrate
vibrat vibrate
vibrat ...
Staring at her phone until the call went to voicemail, Maddie sighed, checking the voicemail once her cell notified her that there was one. She listened...
And she cried. And cried. And.. This was the first time in several weeks she shed a tear for Diggie... And she cried.
It was Diggie's parents who left her a voice message. They said a mail arrived for them earlier that day from Diggie.. There was about a minute long pause after saying so.
At first, Maddie perked up and her breathing stopped when she heard his name, wondering how could her dead boyfriend have sent his parents a mail when he'd been gone for months. An intense feeling that maybe he was actually still alive all this time and that she hadn't just seen him die in her arms at the hospital hit her. Like, what if he faked his own death and went into hiding from a stalker or something? That could happen right? Then the feeling left Maddie just as quick, gone fast like the irrational feel arrow piercing her in through her chest and out of her back. She briefly wondered if Diggie's parents and brother had known for a while that he died and were now only playing a mean joke on her to get back at her for not telling them right away. That made her feel worse and she cried harder. Then she thought that what if they were really just playfully trying to joke with her, not knowing that Diggie was actually dead, and that made her feel even more worse and she cried even harder.
She quieted a bit and brought the phone up to her ear when she heard the soft sobbing voices of Diggie's father.
They told her that the letter mentioned first and foremost not to blame Madison Rooney for anything further Diggie was handwriting them about and they assured her that they did not blame her for anything. What happened seemed to be out of either of their control and somehow it was Diggie's wish not to tell them about it so it was Diggie's decision they were putting any feelings of disappointment towards.
Maddie heard Artie shout in the line, in the same room as his parents on the phone, but probably some feet away somewhere in the background from the sound of it to her. "Don't listen to them when they say they don't blame you, Madison!"
"Artemus!"
Hearing running footsteps in the other line, Maddie jumped at the sudden ear deafening angry noise of Artie's. "Because the fact-truth of the matter is, we all do blame you, Mads!" There was a smack, followed by a cry from Artie. "Mother!"
"Go to your room!"
Mr. and Mrs. Smalls then go on to explaining what was in the letter. "If you got this letter, it means I've been dead for at least two months. Why wait two months? I don't know. I guess that's just a little bit of my little brother Artie in me. The dramatic part-" Diggie wrote. He kept saying in the letter over and over how sorry he was over and over for not saying a word to them about him during the summer. He was sick. The doctor didn't know what was wrong with him. All of his labs would come back as normal. Completely normal. Tests would come back negative. They were at a loss. Diggie mentioned that he went to a couple different psychics. He said one of them didn't seem convincing, but that all of the others did. Those psychics would explain it in their own different ways. But Diggie understood them the same. Diggie had somehow touched something that wasn't his that no one should have ever layed their hands on and so now he was cursed.
Sighing, shaking her head at that information, Maddie closed her eyes. She leaned forward and rested her forehead on a palm. She remembered when Diggie told her about it. She didn't believe a word. Even now she didn't. But that didn't matter. The truth, or something he was told and he believed to be true, didn't matter. Even if he supposedly died because of a curse- well, that was just it, he was already dead. If there was a way to bring him back, that would be great. She didn't care if she didn't believe that it wouldn't work as long as it did. Maddie replaced the palm on her forehead with her fingers and massaged in between her brows. She had stopped listening to the rest of the voice message. She thought of hanging up, but before she could, the voicemail ended. She deleted it and tossed her phone to the full sized mattress she shared with her twin while they stayed there for the week.
She was surprised to see Liv and Joey standing in the room just staring at her with sad eyes. The first thing Maddie wanted to do was yell at them. Yell at them for this, that, and whatever. Yell at them about anything. Yet, as soon as she opened her mouth, a whine and sob escaped her instead. Forcing her lips tightly shut, Maddie tried her darnest to stifle the sounds as tears ran down her face like mini waterfalls.
Liv and Joey ran over to their distressed sis and engulfed her in their arms.
Liv cleared her throat and explained her and Joey being there. "Artie group texted me and Joey. He told us about Diggie's letter." She wanted to ask her sister why she never said anything. But she figured if she were to be in Maddie's place, she wasn't so sure she would be able to say anything either.
Parker barged in and froze, having no idea why his older sister was crying, but feeling a little awkward and out of place about this obviously sensitive moment. He sighed. Walking over to his older siblings, he joined the group hug, not saying or asking anything. He trusted that someone would tell him something eventually, if they wanted to, without him having to ask questions similar to what was wrong, what was happening, and-or what was going on.
Joseph was so confused. Why did Artie say Diggie's been dead for two months? Joey was certain him and Diggie and Josh have just facebook messaged, played games, snapchatted- Heck, even group video chatted together only last week. They would stay up and help Joey work on his stand-up comedy. Joey was still doing stand-up comedy and had even made lots of friends in college because of it. Things really were going well for him. What he just didn't understand was this whole thing about Diggie. What the heck was happening? Why was Maddie really crying?
And Parker. He was back from Bolivia, South America. The youngest Rooney sighed. How was this fourteen-year-old going to tell his family that he got a girl pregnant? The girl was still only in her first trimester of pregnancy-
Yes.
Ahem..
It's Val.
All of a sudden, Liv's phone went off and Liv singing the chorus to As Long As I Have You started playing. The four listened to the ringtone for a bit, not moving from their group hug.
Then Liv, with an arm still around Maddie, used her other hand to take out her cellphone from her dress pocket and answered it before the call went to voicemail. "Hello? ..Hey, Becky... What, really? ...Uh, sure. Why not? With Sing-It-Louder's last day of filming over a month from now. Yes, definitely. That would be great. Thank you.." Liv put away her phone and continued hugging her sister, tighter and somehow in a lesser sad mood.
"What did your agent say," Maddie asked after a moment.
"We don't have to talk about me."
"And I don't feel like talking about what happened yet," Maddie confessed.
Joey shrugged. "Well there's something I'd like to ask but there's always later." He nodded at the end. As if to say that he promised he would bring up what he would like to know later.
"I also have something I need to tell everyone," Parker voiced hesitantly. He paused. Before adding in a quieter voice, "Later."
Now curious and worried about their baby brother and what negative-seeming news he might have for them, Liv, Maddie, and Joey nodded.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Liv shared with them her good news. "Since Sing-It-Louder," she sang the title, like she did half a minute ago earlier on the phone with Becky Bicklehoff. "-won't have a third season, and the other director for Voltage was fired, Gemma was given another chance and was asked if she would like to direct Voltage's second half of season three. Gemma told them she would come back after directing the rest of Sing-It-Louder and if they would have me back too if I agree to be part of Voltage again." Olivia beamed. "Becky will tell Gemma to tell them that it'll be no problem for me shooting in L.A. since I live there now with an aunt, and that to not worry about any repeat of not wanting to leave family since my brothers and sister live with me with our aunt and cousin, too." She eeeped and bounced a little.
Maddie, Joey, and Parker's eyes all widened and their frowns turned to big grins, all really happy for their eldest sister.
"Wow, Liv!"
"Way to go, sis!"
"Woo! Voltage once again!"
Liv shook her head. "I don't know if I will be the Voltage again. Because remember? Voltage gave her powers to Garrison."
"Then Garrison will give it back," shout-insisted Joey.
"Yeah, in the first half of this season, Garrison was time traveling." Parker gasped. "Oh! Maybe the writers will have Garrison go back in time and try to save Tess - which, by the way, is the only real and only one true Voltage forever - from dying, and so creates an alternate timeline!"
Liv chuckled, "We'll see." She and Maddie locked eyes and they hugged each other again.
Joey, because he was the - insert derogatory adjective(s) - of the family.. Or in fact, of any group of friends he's ever had actually, he just had to ruin the moment. "I talked to Diggie last week," he blurted out. Making a face, he rhetorically wondered out loud, "Artie is a liar. Diggie is not dead." He looked Maddie in her narrowed incredulous and confused eyes staring unblinkingly back at him. "Right, Maddie," asked the goof bad-timingly. "Tell everyone he isn't dead. Tell them he hasn't been dead for two months. Go on, tell them."
Liv smacked a hand to her forehead at the same time Parker's eyes widened and jaw dropped.
"Diggie? Dead?" The youngest now understood why his sister was crying. But he still didn't get the what-happened-to-Diggie and how-Diggie-died part yet. Parker threw his arms around Maddie, eyes blinking rapidly as he felt them suddenly sting a little at the awful news. They stung for his sister. Poor Maddie.
Maddie still stared at Joey. And still had yet to blink. "No, Joey. I will not. I don't know what you're talking about, because Diggie is dead." A tear ran down one cheek. Finally blinking, her voice broke at what she had to say next, "I watched him die in my arms."
Joey combed a hand through his hair, his hand stopping at the back of his neck and gave it a frustrated scratch at the same time he gave a sigh of frustration.
Parker decided now was the time to do something to distract them. Things were getting way, way awkward now. He didn't want them to start fighting. But instead of not saying what he did not want to say to them just yet, without thinking, he said exactly the thing he was not ready to talk about. "I got Val pregnant."
Everyone double-took at Parker.
Parker flinched, mentally kicking himself.
"What the what now," their mom and dad barged in. The siblings didn't realize, but Mr. and Mrs. Rooney have been standing outside the bedroom door since Liv received her phone call, listening in on them from Liv's good news, to Maddie's loss, to Joey's Joey-like confusing statement, and to Parker's shocking confession.
Parker buried his face on Maddie's shoulder. He mentally kicked himself again. And mentally slapped and punched himself too. Repeatedly.
ME HERE!
I don't know... I'm not feeling the writing voice here.. Heh. But I'll be continuing it anyway. . Weeels. Thank You for reading this far. What do you think of this chapter? Let me know? Please? Heehee...