Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 39th cycle. Now cycle 40!
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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 41 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days, and also doubles, starting in cycle 41, tomorrow!
This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: The Ties That Bind, chapter 14.
"Haven't Forgotten You"
Karofsky & Santana
Sequel to "We can only go so far"
Some days he would come to see just how much his life had changed. This usually came on the heels of any kind of little thing, a reminder. These were by no means moments he regretted, quite the opposite. His new life may not have been perfect, but it was so far above his old life…
Then one night the reminder that came wasn't so much about him, but there were things he'd left behind, people both good and bad… and Santana was one of them. For the things she'd ended up doing for him, in the long run, he'd probably be forever grateful, connected, indebted in a way.
He'd been trying to concentrate on this book he had to read, for class… It was not going too well, but he tried. It might have been a good idea for him to sit anywhere except the living room, where his parents watched television, but to him it made sense. In his room it was too quiet, too easy to let his mind wander, but here he had to focus harder to block out the rest, so he paid more attention to the text. It worked for him… most times. That night his levels of quickly taking a glimpse at the screen were hitting new highs.
If it hadn't been for him noticing both his parents had stepped out during commercials, he might have missed it. But then his eyes flicked sideways and he saw it, saw her. He couldn't look away, his face suddenly so very stern as he moved past having recognized her face toward actually listening to what was being said.
If it hadn't been that he knew her he probably wouldn't have given it too much thought. Sure, he would have felt bad for the girl, but he would have felt bad for the girl, but he would have gotten back to his homework. He supposed that was how it was… that you didn't know what these things were really like until they involved you somehow.
The next thing he knew he had gotten up, leaving his book behind and heading up to his room. The door closed, he sat at his desk and called her up from contacts. The phone rang so long he wasn't sure if she was ignoring calls, couldn't hear her phone, or… He didn't want to go and think the worse, but with what he'd just seen he couldn't exactly ignore the possibility as 'not something she would do.' But then there was a click, and her voice.
"Dave Karofsky…" she greeted him. "Gotta say, not who I expected to hear from."
"How are you?" he asked.
"I am excellent," she sounded almost too cheerful… covering. "But what else do you expect?" He thought he heard… cars?
"Are you outside or something?"
"Just came out here to check out the stars, you know?" 'Or to isolate myself from anyone hearing this,' he completed in his head, imagining this was why it had taken so long to answer.
"Santana, I saw this commercial on TV just now, I don't know if you've seen it…"
"Yeah…" Her voice dropped all its 'sweetness' in a flash. "I saw it," she confirmed. "So it's out there now…" she spoke, not so much to him in particular.
"What the hell happened?" he asked.
"Oldest story in the book, someone had to open their big mouth in the wrong place, at the wrong time, because we all know the best place to tell someone to 'just come out' is in the halls of McKinley High. Went right into the wrong ear and on to the screens of Lima, Ohio."
"Who?" he asked.
"Not going to tell you that. While I can appreciate the pounding you're probably thinking of giving him, believe me, I'm touched… it wouldn't fix anything, and you'd get in trouble, and then I'd only feel worse than I already do." She was silent, then, "Hang on." Sounds got muffled, but he could still hear her talking; someone was there, her mother or father, probably. Even through the hollow sounds he could tell she'd flipped her tone back to 'normal.' A few seconds later, she returned. "Hey."
"Was that your mother?"
"Yeah," she confirmed.
"Have you told them anything?" She let out a stifled laugh.
"What do you think?"
"Aren't they going to see that ad? Or someone else will…"
"Don't you think I know that?" she snapped, then paused. "Sorry, I… You're being nice here, I shouldn't crap on that."
"It's okay," he promised.
"I thought about telling them, when I came home, just do it myself so it'd come from me and no one else."
"Yeah," he agreed.
"You know the crazy thing is before this happened, I… I was going to do it. Took so long but I was getting there, I… I froze. I saw them and I couldn't do it. One stupid commercial and it just went away," she sounded halfway between angry and sad.
"You'll get it back," he told her.
"Well just to be on the safe side I may have compromised the TVs and phones. At least it bought me tonight." He laughed, and she did, too.
"That thing won't stay on the air, no way. Maybe you'll catch a break and it won't get to them…"
"Yeah, and Coach Sylvester's going to start wearing Schuester's vests," he could practically see her shake her head in disbelief.
"Sorry this happened to you," he spoke honestly, and he heard her breathe out.
"Never pictured myself getting comforted by you…"
"Yeah, probably not," he smiled.
"There may be hope for you yet…"
"The feeling's mutual," he replied. "What are you going to do? Now, I mean…"
"I don't know, sleep? Normally I'd go out, plot out my revenge or something. But I need to stay here, in case…" she paused and here he sensed nothing but fear.
"Are you sure you can't give me any names, I'll only rough them up around the edges…" he 'begged,' getting her to at least chuckle.
"Again, thank you but no," she replied.
"If there's anything I can do, let me now. If that's not what ex-beards are for…"
"Ah, the good old days…"
"The new ones aren't that bad," he informed her and heard something like a small hum.
"So why did you call me tonight?"
"I guess I thought if the roles were reversed… I'd want someone to check in with me…"
"Worried about me?"
"Should I be?" he dared ask. She paused.
"Not even a little bit."
THE END
A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!