The well kept 2 story came into view and almost immediately, Lisette was having second –and third, thoughts about even coming here and meeting Morgan's family. But she just wanted them to know that Morgan was a good guy, that he'd probably saved her life just by being a friend.
Falling in love with him had been an unexpected bonus.
A sigh escaped her lips as she parked the Maxima at the curb and got out, shaking hands smoothing down the front of her holey jeans as she took a long look at the house Morgan Corinthos had grown up in. "I have to do this." she reminded herself before solemnly trudging up the walkway leading to the front door.
She'd raised her hand to knock but the door was opened and suddenly, seeing Morgan's mother standing there on the other side had Lisette frozen in fear. "I… I shouldn't have come here, this was a bad idea, I'm so sorry." Lisette stammered before turning quickly, practically dropping the contents of the messenger bag in the process and not even bothering to stop or pick them up as she bolted down the walkway.
Carly eyed the girl as she jogged away and then her eyes settled on a journal and the picture sticking out of it. She bent and picked it up and sucked in a breath. It was a picture of Morgan with a group of other kids, the girl who'd just fled her porch being one of them… And Carly couldn't help but notice how close the girl stood to Morgan or the way she looked up at him while he was busy making a goofy face at the camera. She picked up the well worn book next and read the page it had fallen open to.
The letter and the scribbling and lyrics written on that page had the tears coming before she even realized it. And when Jax made his way over, she jammed her hand into her eye and held out the book to him, explained quietly, "I think the girl who just rang our doorbell came looking for Morgan.."
Jax sighed, pulling Carly into a hug as she started to sob.
They made their way over to the couch in the den and sat, quietly going through the journal.. After about an hour, Jax spoke up quietly..
"I don't think she came to find Morgan.. I think, Carly, she came to give us this.. Read this." and he held out the letter he'd found folded into the back of the journal.
Mr and Mrs. Corinthos,
You guys don't know me, but I know you.. I know all about you.. Morgan, he told me all about you guys when we were room mates at Vanderbilt. Shit.. Look, I'm not good at this stuff, okay? But when I found out he was gone.. I had to reach out, I had to let you guys know that your son is my hero. He saved my life.. If it weren't for Morgan, I'm pretty sure I would have jumped the night we met.
I'm telling you this not because I want anything or anything like that. I have no agenda, I just… I don't have anyone left I can tell anything to.. I lost touch with Morgan after he left Vanderbilt, he quit talking to me.. I wish I could have done something to stop it from happening, but I… I didn't want to force myself on him, y'know? I knew he'd never feel the same way about me as I did about him. I wasn't going to force my feelings on him.
It's hard to sit on the knowledge that you've fallen in love with your best friend when you know he's gone and he's never coming back.. So I guess that's why I'm doing this.. I wanted you to have the journal and the mixed cds he made me, and the letters he did write before he found his own happiness and life got in the way. I wanted you guys to know that he loved you too.. And you probably need this stuff more than me, I'm… The memories hurt me too much.
He'd want you guys happy and I hope with all my heart that this journal and the other stuff I give you to remind you of him makes you happy.
- L.
P.S. Don't try to find me and thank me or anything.. You won't be able to. Just take this for what it is and don't dig.
At the end of the letter, Carly got a chill and she looked at Jax and then asked quietly, "Is it just me or does the end of this letter read like this girl is either into something way over her head or she has something to hide?"
"I felt it too, but… Maybe we should just do as she asks." Jax sighed and Carly bit her lip. "L.. Why not just give her name?"
"To keep anyone from looking into her?" Jax groaned inwardly, he could sense it now, Carly was going to dig around until she had answers. To change the subject, he asked calmly, "Do you think he felt anything for her?"
"I don't know.. There's one picture in there where he's staring at her like I saw him looking at Kiki after she first came to town, but this girl, she had no clue he was watching her, I think she was painting something on another girl's face." Carly dug through the pictures and found it. "I think that maybe we should take at least one of these to him.. He'd want to know someone loved him like I've always known he deserved to be loved."
She stood and grabbed her keys and Jax nodded in agreement as he followed her out of the door. Once they were in the car, Carly dug through the pocket in the journal's cover and pulled out a heavily Sharpie'd burnt cd and slipped it into the player on her convertible, settling on a rock song called Through the Glass and she and Jax stared at each other as they listened to the words.
"I didn't even know my own son liked this kind of music." Carly was starting to tear up again and Jax hand found her hand over the console, giving it a gentle squeeze. "He knew you loved him." Jax told her quietly as Carly dried her eyes and took a deep breath. "I hope so. I really hope so."
Lisette's eyes darted around the crowded bar as if she were sizing up the place, looking for any and all emergency exits. She felt relieved, she knew that even if she hadn't had the courage to stay, to talk to his mother, the woman at least had more memories of her son now.
… it wouldn't have been a good idea to stay anyway, you know Luken and his right hand nimrod will just find you again.. you were an idiot to think you'd get away from everything… you were an idiot not to listen to Morgan in the first place until it was too late… her mind was arguing back and as her eyes continued to dart around the crowded bar, she bumped right into someone.
When he turned, she gaped a few seconds because she instantly recognized him to be Morgan's older brother Michael.
Michael steadied the curvy brunette and he eyed her with a raised brow. "Are you okay? You look like you wanna faint."
"I..I'm fine." Lisette stepped back and Michael found himself wondering what had her as spooked as she obviously was. He eyed the beer stain on her thin white t shirt and apologized, handing her his jacket. Politely, she shook her head.
"It's fine, really." Lisette's eyes were darting around and when she saw no sign of Luken or one of his idiots hiding in the bar, she took a deep breath to relax a little. Michael noticed the odd behavior but he said nothing. Instead, he asked with a smile, "What's your name? I'm Michael."
"It's L."
"That's interesting.." Michael waved a bartender down for another beer and Lisette shoved a badly wadded 20 dollar bill into the man's hand and ordered six tequila shots. Michael eyed her and she shrugged, muttered something about life being too short and how she'd had an emotionally draining day.
"What happened?" he slid onto the bar stool next to her, turning so that he was looking at her.. And upon closer look, he couldn't help but notice the resemblance to his uncle Jason's wife, Sam.. It was almost weird, she could almost pass for a younger Sam.
… or that other woman…. The dancer… Alicia Montinegro… Or the dead rockstar's wife… Michael thought to himself as he sipped his beer.
Lisette slammed down a tequila shot and winced at the burn as she told Michael quietly, "I finally told the man I love that I'm in love with him… And it was too little, too late?" and Michael winced.
"Ouch.. If you wanna talk to someone.."
"It wasn't anything like what you're thinking, okay? It's too late because he's dead." Lisette slammed down another shot and Michael sat there, processing what she said. "And he was from here?" Michael asked, getting the sneaking suspicion that he knew exactly where this was heading.
"Mhmm.. Your brother, actually… He saved my life.. And we got to be friends… And he helped give me strength to do something I never thought I'd do and… at least I got to tell him? Even if it was just his headstone when I stopped in the graveyard earlier." her voice cracked despite the concentrated effort she put into keeping it from doing so.
"Is everything okay?" Michael asked, eyeing her in concern as she looked towards the door and all the color drained from her face. He looked over to find Sam and Jason walking in with Lucas and his husband Brad.
"She's… she died.. My uncle, he took me to her funeral.." and Lisette stood, bolting for the door as her stomach churned. Once she was outside the bar and in the alley, she doubled over, vomiting until she dry heaved.
She jumped a little when she felt the hair being moved out of her face and she grimaced as she looked up, her eyes meeting the eyes of Morgan's brother, Michael, who was watching her in concern. He held out his button up shirt and she shook her head, instead choosing to shed the Guns N Roses t shirt she wore and wipe her mouth with it instead. "I'm fine, okay? I just… You have to leave me alone. I need to go.. Never should have come here."
Before Michael could ask her why, she was gone, disappearing into the darkness.
:: NOTES ::
So.. this is weird, but it came to me earlier and I went with it. I'm not sure if I'll pair her with Michael or Morgan just yet.. Honestly, I don't even know where the hell this is going after this chapter... I mean I somewhat have an idea but.. I'm not quite sure yet.
So.. Think I should pair her with Michael or Morgan, people? I have a cool idea to bring Morgan back, sort of.. And I do miss him soooo much, plus, he got the shit end of the stick with love? I mean, same could be said for Michael but at least Michael's actually been in relationships. All Morgan's just kind of... Imploded?
And no.. She is not Sam's kid. I'm kind of leaning towards Caleb and Livvie or Tess, Livvie's counterpart, to be honest. If you want to see more, let me know?