It was approaching three in the morning. Kathy sighed and pushed her hair off her forehead. She was going to drop Amna and Carly off at their apartment, then head over to the one that she and Drew would temporarily be staying in. She glanced over at Carly, who was in the passanger seat. The ride home had been uncomfortably silent. Nobody could think of what to say. Amna had tried once or twice to tell Carly that Brendon and Mariana really had broken up, but Carly was too depressed to hear. Her ears didn't absorb a thing that her friends had been telling her. She wanted, more than anything, to be alone.
"Kathy?" Amna asked, reading Carly's thoughts. "Why don't you drop me off here tonight?"
They were in the middle of a very busy town, crammed with resteraunts, hotels, and apartments.
Kathy stared back at her and blinked.
The car swerved, and all three girls yelped. Kathy and Amna broke into a fit of giggles, while Carly held her stomach.
"Yes, Kathy, just drop me off. I'll find a place."
Kathy glanced in the rearview mirror, and Amna cast her a meaningful look, nodding at Carly slightly. Kathy got the message, and slowed to a stop on the side of the street.
"Call me, okay?" she asked as Amna climbed out of the car.
"I will, promise," Amna grinned. She added, more quietly, "Just give Carly some space tonight."
At this point, several cars were also wanting to park, and they were honking their horns insanely.
Kathy threw a nervous glance over her shoulder, quicklky nodded at Amna in agreement, and sped off.
Amna barely had time to slam the door behind her, then sighed in relief and shook her heads, making up another equation in her head.
Kathy + British roads + Driving = Nightmare.
She smiled to herself as she pulled her blackberry out of her pocket and Googled for hotels in the area. She would have to tell her professors about that one. It was much better than the ones she had to solve and study, anyway.
She proceeded to walk straight into a heavy metal telephone pole, turning the heads of some late night shoppers leaving the nearby clothing store. Grimcing, she glanced down at her blackberry, glad to see there were only a few minor scratches. She had dropped her previous one in the Erie Canal, and her parents would probably murder her if she broke a second one.
As she continued down the street, obsorbed in the virtual world of hotels, she managed to crash into various other things, as well as trip over her high heels…
And get knocked on the head with one rather large rainbow umbrella.
"AMNA DEAREST!"
Suddenly she was plowed over by DoE hugtackling her. The umbrella stuck her in the face a few times, causing her to wince.
This was just not her night.
"Hey, DoE," she replied in a suffocated voice.
DoE didn't seem to notice.
"I was just at Ronan's," DoE explained, picking up her umbrella. Happily, she didn't seem to be drunk.
Amna smiled. "That's great," she said. "Tell me all about it. You know, actually, I could use a roommate…"
"Of course I'll room with you!" DoE said, holding the umbrella over their heads despite the fact it showed absolutely no signs of raining. "This will be fun!"
"Great!" Amna exclaimed. She glanced back down at her search results. "But first we have to find a hotel that's not totally dingy."
"How about that one?" DoE asked, pointing to the hotel right in front of them.
Amna's eyes shot up quickly, only to see a big flashing sign reading "The Lilac Garden."
No duh.
"Uh, great!" she said, smiling sheepishly. "I…had this planned out, of course."
DoE giggled and followed Amna up the steps.
The sight that greeted them was semi-horrifying, and both girls let out a rather abrupt gasp, and DoE quickly closed her umbrella.
The clerk was sobbing his eyes out, wailing something about pineapples.
They quickly glanced at each other, then backed out silently and let the door slam behind them.
"I think I'm scarred for life," Amna muttered.
"Pineapples…now who else has an obession with pineapples…" DoE wondered out loud.
Her companion shrugged, then whipped out her blackberry again.
"Um, looks like we're going to need a Plan B," she sighed.
*~*
Staring down at them from a rather tiny and stuffy room, a young woman pushed her hair back behind her ear. Her vision was blurred immediately and she hung her head down and buried it into her arms, closing her eyes and letting the tears flow. Everything was so wrong. Finley had been a traitor. He had not loved her. Mr. Baylor had been right all along, as it turned out. She remembered the way he had been greeting Kathy into the family. The more she thought about it, the sadder she became. He had just been her scapegoat, because she had been so absorbed in Finley. What had caused his sudden change? Everything had gone alright up until…she wiped away her tears. She had just gone too far. He hadn't truly loved her, and he had his limit on what he had been willing to play up to. And once she crossed that line, the truth was exposed.
But how could all of those words…the way he had looked at her…how could it all have been fake? It had seemed like a dream, too good to be true…but she knew she had lived those moments. They had been real, in their own way. But she supposed that she had been viewing the wrong part as true…it wasn't his love, it had been the part about things being too good to be true. He was too good to be true…he was false. Lies, all of his words, they had been lies. He hadn't meant a word he had said…
But had she?
Her words from earlier came back to her hauntingly…
"I hate you, Finley Baylor!"
She hadn't meant a word of that. She loved him. It had been him that didn't love her. They had both been right and wrong that night, they had both told the truth, and they had both lied. But in the end, it all wound up in a mess. Nothing could make her believe that this could have a happy end. Happy endings belonged in fairytales. The time had come for her to accept that she was living in the real world.
With that thought, she flung herself down her bed and began to cry softly again. And through the sound of her quick, stuttered breathing and sobs, she swore she could hear the walls of her world crashing down around her.
*~*
After dropping Carly off, Kathy was climbing the metal steps to her apartment. She sighed again and brushed off her brown leather jacket. It had been such a long, disastrous night. Mr. Baylor had dragged Drew off for somewhat unexplained reasons, with Drew protesting and Mr. Baylor muttering something about Finley. She thought of Rae and hoped that everything was okay, but she could tell that something was terribly wrong. She glanced down at her cell phone and contemplated calling her, but then decided against it. It was three thirty in the morning, and she had probably been asleep for hours by then.
By then, she reached the top level of the apartments. She fumbled for the key and double checked the double, and began to reach for the doorknob…
It flew open right as her hand touched it.
Pulling back her hand she loudly screamed and backed up, crashing into the wall.
Drew blinked at her.
"Um…are you okay?" he asked, looking a bit amused. He was still in his tux from the wedding.
Kathy gave a huge fake grin.
"I meant to do that," she said quickly.
He banged his forehead on the door.
"You scared me," she accused, giggling.
"Sorry. It's my father, I thought it was him." Drew looked at her sheepishly.
Kathy frowned.
"What did he drag you off about, anyway?"
Drew shook his head and dragged her into the apartment.
After shutting the door (and locking it for good measure), he turned to look at her and sighed.
"He wanted to spy on Finley. I didn't know that at first, he told me he was 'worried about Finley's health.'" He rolled his eyes.
Kathy nodded. "Listening," she said, taking off her coat.
He led her over to a couch, and pulled her into his lap.
"Well, he was in a hotel room, with Rae. They had been married, you know."
Kathy bit her lip nervously.
"What happened?"
Drew glanced at Kathy again, her eyes huge.
"Let's just say it started something like…this…"
He pushed her over backward on the couch, and she let out a squeal. Leaning over her, he kissed her passionately. He crunched up her hair and ran his hands down her neck. As they continued to kiss, he began to kiss down her shoulder, pulling down her sleeve. She reached for his shirt buttons. They continued to kiss. Kathy closed her eyes not wanting the moment to end. Drew's arms wrapped tightly around her bare shoulders…
When they had finally pulled away reluctantly, Kathy leaned her head on his shoulder. He kissed her neck and buried his head in her hair.
"What did happen with Rae and Finley?" Kathy finally asked softly.
Drew breathed hard into her hair and reluctantly pulled away resting his chin on her head. "Well, Rae had…" he just nodded downward.
Kathy took the hint and make a sound of understanding.
"But…you remember…Finely couldn't…" Drew felt a little awkward, talking about somebody else's business.
Kathy frowned.
"Couldn't what?"
"He has AIDS, Kathy."
Then it hit her. Her stomach felt sick.
"So he had…"
"Yes."
"Poor Rae…what did she do?"
"She…left."
Kathy gasped in sharply.
"She what?"
"Left…she thought he didn't love her. Which is of course not true, she means everything to him…and now my father thinks that they aren't responsible, and that she had been playing games with him, and all that…"
"Never!" Kathy cried. "Finley is her world…"
"I know," Drew said miserably. "He should have told her, from the start…"
"I've got to tell her…"
At that exact moment, Hilary Duff's "Dignity" began blaring from Kathy's cell phone.
Sighing, Kathy left Drew's side and rushed over to it…sure enough, it was from Rachel Meade.
"Rae?" she said weakly into the phone.
"Oh, Kaffy…I…I'm so sorry to bother you this late…"
She could hear Rae gulping on the other line.
"No, Rae, it's fine…Drew told me everything. I don't think I was going to get much sleep tonight, anyhow," she said, glancing over at Drew.
"Kaffy, I really need to talk to you…"
"Not here, Rae. I'll go to your hotel…where are you staying?"
"The Lilac Garden…trust me, once you get inside, you can't miss it," Rae answered dryly.
"Do I want to know?"
"No."
Kathy smiled at the fact that Rae's voice tone was at least somewhat back to normal.
"I'll be right there, Rae, I promise. Just…keep me on the line, okay? I think I'm going to get lost on these British roads…"
"Kaffy deary, that's an understatement."
Kathy quickly set down the phone and dressed. She quickly explained the situation to Drew, kissed him goodbye, and rushed off his car.
*~*
"And now you're going to take a left…"
"Uh, okay, I'm turning onto 5th Street…"
"Other left."
"OH."
After a few more twists and turns, Kathy finally arrived at Rae's hotel.
"There, I can see your car from here."
"Uh, what's so special about this place again?" Kathy asked.
At that point, there was a wail in the background.
"Um…"
"Yup, you heard it. Just wait, it gets worse."
"I'm not afraid."
"MY PINEAPPLE….MY…MY PINEAPPLE!" an odd male voice wailed.
"Okay, now, I'm afraid," Kathy said quickly.
For the first time in a long time, Rae began to laugh lightly. But it still wasn't the same, and Kathy desperately missed the old Rae.
"I'll be fine, Kaffy," Rae's voice came suddenly.
Kathy smiled slightly. Good old telepathy.
She entered the room, and found an strange looking singing lightly.
"This isn't the guy who was sobbing, was it?" she whispered to Rae.
"That would be the one."
"I'm…REALLY afraid…"
"HUH?!" The guy looked up suddenly at Kathy. She glanced at his nametag, which read "Bertha."
She began to laugh out loud into the phone but caught herself.
"Yes, deary, you did read that right."
"Now this is just…"
"Do you need a room, missy?" Bertha asked, giving her a toothy grin.
"Um, no, I'm just here to see my friend, uhm…"
"Rachel Pineapple," Rae whispered to her.
"Rachel Pineapple," Kathy said to Bertha setting the phone on her shoulder while she spoke.
At that, Bertha's face twisted up and he broke into fresh sobs again.
"Is this guy for real?" Kathy wondered.
"Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought, too."
Kathy flashed Bertha a killer smile.
"Thank you SO MUCH," she yelled over the sobbing.
She then took off up the stairs, eager to get away from Bertha Freak of Nature.
*~*