Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is a one-shot. Thanks to my muse, a little fishy that I got from Chinsky today, and it makes fishy noises too!! All I had to do was look at it, cuz it's just so darn adorable!! The inspiration for this fic came after reading chapter 9 of Power to the Pout, by mistressplant. The way Katie was acting towards Freddy pissed me off. So I wrote this. Flamers are accepted. If you're a Katie fan, then I'm sorry, but I just can't please everyone, can I?
Thanks to Chinsky and Augur-cursed for helping me edit/make it better. Sorry for saddening you Chinsker.
This song is I Will Remember You, by Sarah Maclaghlin. (I can't spell her last name...so yeah.)
I will remember you
Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
Freddy just stood there. He couldn't feel anything. Everyone was pushing past him, anxious to get away from the sea of emotions that were surrounding them. He didn't see them, and he didn't hear them as they expressed how sorry they were. He wasn't even sure he was sorry.
Remember the good times that we had
Let them slip away from us when things got bad
Clearly I first saw you smiling in the sun
Wanna feel your warmth upon me
I want to be the one
He'd called Katie on her cell phone, and she'd answered. "Hey," he had said. "What are you up to? Do you want to go to the movies or something?"
"Hey Freddy. I'm actually busy today. Maybe tomorrow?" she'd responded, giggling slightly. Freddy himself couldn't see what was so funny...but then again he wasn't with her.
"Yeah, sure." He dejectedly moved to hang up the phone when something stopped him.
"No that was just Freddy. No one important." He heard her say. He put the phone back up to his ear, and heard a male voice in the background. A distinct male voice...one that he knew very well.
"Well, then, shall we get back to what we were doing?" the male voice said, in a way that Freddy could only call seductively.
"Yeah." He heard Katie respond. "I think we definitely shall." All sorts of moans, bed creaks, giggles and kiss noises followed this. Freddy dropped the phone back onto the cradle and grabbed the keys to his white mustang.
I will remember you
Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
Freddy pulled into Katie's driveway, and spotted the car that confirmed his worst fears. After banging on the door and no one answering, he found it unlocked and walked in. He heard low voices talking upstairs, and walked up. He followed the sound of the voices, and they lead him to Katie's bedroom door. He creaked the door open, and was rooted to his spot.
His worst fears...his worst nightmares were confirmed. Mentally he went over the list of things he'd done in this life that caused him to merit something as awful as this as he stared at the two figures on the bed. Katie was cheating on him. As if that wasn't bad enough...Katie was cheating on him with Zack...his best friend and his girlfriend. Katie's shirt was pushed halfway up her stomach, Zack's hands roaming further and further up, and his pants were unbuttoned and pushed down. The picture pierced through Freddy's heart, and nearly choked him.
I'm so tired that I can't sleep
Standing on the edge of something much too deep
It's funny how I feel so much yet cannot say a word
We are screaming inside oh we can't be heard
He cleared his throat causing the two people he'd most cared about to look up from each other's bodies. Katie at least had the decency to act surprised, even though her hands stayed on Zack, who just looked smug.
"Freddy, hi." Katie said. "What...um...what are you doing here? I said was busy today, didn't I?"
"Obviously." Freddy said curtly. He couldn't think of anything else to say. It was as if when his heart went on lockdown so did his brain. So he just turned on his heel and walked out.
"Freddy, I..." Katie began, getting up after him.
"Katie, just let him go honey." Zack said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back onto the bed with him.
"I'll be right back baby I promise." She said, kissing him hard on the mouth once before she left. "Just wait here for me." She hurried out after Freddy.
"Freddy stop!" he turned around and she saw the pain in his eyes. "Freddy I'm sorry." She said.
"Sorry for what?" he snapped. "Sorry for cheating on me? Or sorry that you got caught? Sorry that I loved you? Sorry that I thought you loved me? Enlighten me Katie."
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry that my heart belongs to Zack. I do love you Freddy...but not in that way anymore."
"What did I do Katie? I gave you everything I had. Every frickin thing! What more did you want? I would have given it to you! Don't you know that? I would have goddamn gave it to you!"
"I know." She said. "But Zack can give me more. Don't you understand? He has so much to offer me. And you?" she was getting angry now. He had no right to come in her house and yell at her like this. "You couldn't give me anything. Not like he can."
Freddy stared at her, pained. "Katie..." he began, not looking like he had the strength to finish. But Katie just couldn't bring herself to care. She was done with him, and that included his little pout fests too.
His expression hardened. "Fine. You left your bass at the practice hall right?" he asked with a wicked expression.
"Freddy Jones you go near my bass and Zack will kill you!" she screamed.
"Oh gotta have him fight your battles then?" he said as he left. She heard his tires squeal and she grabbed her keys, started the car and sped after him.
I will remember you
Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
All she did was ran a red light. Freddy didn't think of it as the only thing she did wrong, because she did many things wrong that night. They both did. But all she did was ran a red light. Millions of people run red lights, and Katie had to be the one to get hit.
A large truck, carrying gallons of oil was driving on the road at that time. The only difference was that his light was green.
He plowed right into Katie's car. Freddy, upon hearing the sickening crash, pulled into a parking lot and jumped out of his car. He ran across the road, skillfully avoiding cars to where the accident had taken place. Someone was already out of their car, and was calling 911. The oil truck's driver seat was empty and the door was open. A man had pulled Katie out of the car and was trying to do CPR on the ground. Something was leaking out the truck. Upon further inspection, someone cried out that it was oil. But no one paid much attention to that person.
"I'm sorry man!" the driver of the truck said to Freddy. "She didn't swerve! She ran the red light! You saw it right?" he said, frantically pointing to another man who had stopped. The man nodded, and the driver of the truck, whose nametag said Bomoe, looked relieved as others nodded as well, proving his innocence.
"Get away from her!" he yelled. "Katie?" Freddy said quietly, kneeling down next to her. "Katie, wake up." He whispered urgently. "Katie! Katie, wake up. Please wake up. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
Katie opened her eyes. She tried to say something, but failed. Opening her mouth again, she twisted the knife in Freddy's heart. "Tell..." she had to stop to take a breath. She seemed to not be able to fill her lungs. She tried again. "Tell...Z...Z...Zack." She said, and then her eyes closed. Freddy shook her.
"No. Katie. Don't go...wake up." He cried, shaking her. The ambulance had arrived.
"Let her go son," the EMT said, "She's gone."
"No." Freddy said fervently.
"She's gone." The EMT said more firmly, managing to get her out of Freddy's grasp.
"NO!" Freddy yelled, running after the EMT, beating on his back with his fists. Another EMT came by, and subdued his fists, sticking him with a needle. Everything after that was a blur. He remembered the fire though. The leaking oil got into Katie's car and set it on fire. He remembered his parents coming to get him, and throwing everything breakable in his room. He remembered Allie, his 10-year old sister coming in to see what all the noise was.
"Freddy...what's with all the pandemonium in here??" she exclaimed, as the ashtray Freddy made in art when he was 7 just barely missed her head. She looked at him, her blue eyes wide. "What's wrong?"
"Zack and Katie...she's gone Allie! She's gone! I loved her...God she's gone."
"Freddy what happened? And coherently please."
"Katie was in an accident. Oh Allie it's all my fault...I should've...I should have listened to her! But..." he stopped. "But why'd she cheat on me. Why'd she goddamn cheat on me...and Zack!"
Allie's eyes grew wider. "She cheated on you with Zack?" Allie may have only been 10 but she knew that this was forbidden in the laws of friendship.
"We always promised never to let girls get in between us." Freddy said, to nothing. His voice was dead. "He didn't keep his promise. He lied to me...they both did...what did I do wrong Allie? Wasn't I good enough? To both of them?"
He couldn't take it anymore. He finally broke down and cried. Allie came and kneeled next to him and wrapped her small arms around his neck, as he cried in her shoulder.
"Freddy you didn't do anything wrong. Nothing. I saw you with Katie. You loved her. I thought you two would get married! And Zack was your best friend...a stupid best friend...I always thought you could do better...but he was your best friend nonetheless! You two were like..." she searched for the names of two best friends to supply her brother with. "Like Lenny and George, from Of Mice and Men...except George ended up shooting Lenny in the end...so that's not the best example..." Freddy was looking at her now, confusedly trying to follow what she was saying. But his head was swimming.
She'd slept on the futon that night, to be near him if he had nightmares. The two were always close and it was times like this that Freddy was overcome with love for her.
The next morning, Freddy was empty. He couldn't cry. He wasn't even sad at this point. His parents and Allie all told him that there was no shame in crying. But he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He was furious at Katie for doing something so stupid; two stupid things...cheating on him, and running a red light. He didn't know what to do. He wasn't sad anymore. He was furious at Zack, at Katie and at the truck driver. But most of all he was furious with himself for not seeing the signs when they were right in front of his eyes. Katie was always making excuses lately, for not being able to spend time with him, and so was Zack. They say that love makes you blind, and Freddy had been so blind, he'd been unable to put two and two together.
So afraid to love you more afraid to lose
Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose
Where once there was a darkness, a deep and endless night
You gave me everything you had oh you gave me life
He stood at Katie's grave, surrounded by people who were hurrying to their cars. He stared at her name, etched in the granite. It seemed so impersonal. He stared at the flower in his hand, that he was meant to throw into the hole above her casket. But instead...he pocketed it. He'd bring it with him. He crushed it in his hand and immediately knew it was a mistake. He opened his fist and there were spots of blood, from the thorns. It was a beautiful flower...Katie's favorite kind. Roses. The rose he held in his hand was beautiful. The most beautiful flower he'd ever seen in his life. But he would keep it, and put it in his wallet, as a reminder that even the most beautiful flowers have thorns.
I will remember you
Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
Freddy took one last look at Katie's grave, and walked away. Once he was in his car, he turned it on and let it idle for a few minutes. He couldn't stay here...it was too full of memories. He looked in the backseat, where he had put some clothes, and his most prized possessions. He'd left a note for Allie and his parents. He knew they'd understand. He'd be back someday...and he'd call as soon as he was far enough away. He pulled out of the parking lot, and just drove. He didn't know where he was going or when he would stop, but he knew it was imperative that he kept driving.
Weep not for the memories
What he didn't know was that a dark hair figure with dark eyes was watching him as he pulled out of the parking lot. Zack stepped out of the shadows and watched his once best friend pull out of the parking lot and his heart broke.
Weep not for the memories
So guys there it is. I don't know if you like it or not, but I had to write it. It was just suddenly there, staring in my face. So...if you like it or not...review either way please.