Standing Disclaimer because I am extremely lazy: I don't own. Title belongs to Death Cab for Cutie.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I love them so keep the feedback coming. I love rambling reviews so feel free to do so ("stream of consciousness" as my English professor would say). Italics mean flashbacks (with shifting POVs).

: Chapter Two :

When I was crying, I kept thinking it was really just my fault. I was the one who screamed and made a brutal mess out of what was already a hopeless case. But what the hell were they thinking going ahead with it? Divorce is fun when you're seven, optimistic, and a moron. It's fun when you think Karen Two-two is an acceptable nickname. Divorce is not so fun when you're fourteen and realize that your mom wasn't who you thought she was. I should have been laughing at the whole thing. Knocking down the double-standard, right? Guys can have mistresses and so should women.

But cheating on Seth? What the hell was she thinking? No, really. What was she thinking? I was thinking, this whole time, that my mom was the most reasonable person in the world, a total square, and then she goes and does something like this. And then she turns it on him, saying that if she had enough 'attention' at home, she wouldn't have done this (which made me want to boil my brains, just hearing that, by the way). And she expects me to accept this and still be on her side?

I wanted to be. I mean, she's my mom and all, right? Of course I wanted to be on her side. But when they made me stand there, listening to them argue while Andrew was sitting upstairs in his room, trying not to hear…the whole time my mom was screaming and raving at Seth who was sitting on the couch, very quiet, with his hands on his temples, like he was trying not to implode or something. And then my mom says that she'll leave. She wants to live in a hotel until the divorce is figured out. She tells Seth that Andrew and I are going with her and at that, his head snaps up.

"You aren't serious," he said.

I personally think that it was Andrew that he was going to miss, not me, but for some reason, it kind of made me appreciative of him. Maybe it was just because I had the feeling that I wasn't going to see him around anymore.

I remember staring at both of them and suddenly sprinting up the stairs. I told Andrew that we were going to Dad's early and he seemed to spring to life. He handed me my usual duffel bag. I realized that this whole time, he hadn't been just sitting in our rooms; he had been packing. I hadn't really hugged him in a long time, ever since he entered fifth grade and became too tough for affections from anyone (except maybe Kristy, who he still adored) but I had to hug him really hard for a minute and grab his hand.


I told Seth and Mom that we were going to Dad's and I completely ignored the fact that I didn't really know how to drive. I grabbed the keys off of the counter and just left. I think both of them were in shock, or else there was no way that we could have made it further than the driveway without one of them jumping on the car hood to stop us or something. But we were off and I was scared out of my mind, my leg shaking the whole time as I pressed on the accelerator. I tried to remember everything that Kristy had said that one time she took me driving in an empty parking lot for fun.

Going a steady 25 mph the whole way, we somehow made it to the Big House. It was pretty late, maybe around midnight, and it looked like the house was sleeping except for one lighted up window, which I guessed was David Michael (he was David already, by then). I asked Andrew to try and hit his window, figuring something like a game would distract him long enough to stop silently crying. I didn't want any questions from anyone, especially not David. He'd probably laugh at both of us for taking it so hard or something.

"What the hell are you guys doing out here?"

He had let us in through the backdoor, which was a lot quieter than the front doors.

"Midnight drive," I said.

"Whoa wait a minute, you drove here!"

He was completely in shock. If it had been any other time, I would have reveled in knowing that he had stubbornly hidden the fact that he was impressed. At this point and time, though, I didn't care.

"Yeah," I said, trying to play it off. All I wanted was to be in bed where it was nice and quiet. "We decided we wanted to come a little early. I'm going to bed. Night."

He looked suspicious but followed us as we snuck up the stairs and into our respective rooms. I figured Andrew would fall asleep right away. He was already stifling yawns by pressing his fist against his mouth. By the time I was eleven, I was already a night owl but Andrew still started nodding off at ten-thirty.

Unlike Andrew, I was finding it ridiculously hard to sleep. I was sitting on the short stool right by the window, looking out to Hannah's house. I kept considering whether or not to call her. I couldn't tell whether she was sleeping or was out. To be honest, I wasn't in the mood to see her but I wasn't in the mood to be crying by myself like some sort of soap opera character either. After knocking Hannah off the list, I considered calling Kristy. I wished that she wasn't in New York, busy with school and her life and that she was here so I could crawl into her bed. It wouldn't even matter if she was asleep. I could just fall asleep next to her and she'd wake me up in the morning for maybe an early morning jog or to make pancakes. After I got her answering machine three times in a row, I gave up.

I wasn't sure when my door opened. Maybe I had been sitting, prone except for the occasional sniffle and swipe of the sleeve across my runny nose, for thirty minutes or maybe two hours. But my door opened slowly and someone padded into the room silently. For a wild minute, I wondered if maybe Kristy was home but it was nowhere near the holidays and she had already been home the weekend before last. It was too early for her to come again.

Whoever it was knelt on the ground on his knees in front of me and seemed to just watch as I cried.

"What happened?" David asked. "Was it really that bad?"

I couldn't talk but I nodded and then realized that he might not have seen that. He didn't say anything else but kept watching me cry like that and I didn't even care, that's how miserable I was. Any other time, I would have kicked him out of the room, yelled at him for even coming in without knocking or asking. I vaguely wondered how Mom and Seth were taking it. They were still probably sitting in the living room, shocked. Or maybe they went back to fighting. Obviously Andrew and I were Dad's problems now, considering they hadn't called or anything. Maybe they just had too much on their minds as it was without two kids trailing them around, wondering what was going on.

I didn't even bother wiping my eyes or my nose anymore as tears rolled down my face. I expected to hear David's usual laugh but it never came. Instead, he pulled his own sleeve over his hand and used it to carefully wipe my face under my eyes and even dabbing it a little around my nose, which, I think, was pretty generous. I know I probably wouldn't have done the same for him.

Maybe he couldn't think of something to say so he hesitantly put his arms around me and I realized I was crying into his t-shirt. We were about the same height, with me on the stool and him on his knees and he held me as I just cried until I thought my body was going to keel over from dehydration. And then I just cried some more.

I cried not really because my mom had made such a bad mistake but more because I was actually ashamed of her for the first time in my life. I cried because I knew that Andrew liked Seth and Seth liked him too and they probably wouldn't see each other so often anymore. I cried because Kristy wasn't home and I was really getting the craving for her blueberry pancakes.

Somehow David made me get up and walked me over to the bed, supporting me as though I couldn't walk properly on two legs, and I lay down, wanting my comforter to just swallow me whole. He didn't even leave after that; he stayed with me, lying next to me on the bed, occasionally brushing something wet away from my face. I finally fell asleep after what seemed like ages.

I woke up the next morning around seven, despite the fact that I had fallen asleep probably around two in the morning. David was gone and I still wanted pancakes. I quietly made enough for everyone except Elizabeth and Dad, who were already out. My pancake making skills are really nowhere near Kristy's, babysitting extraordinaire. She must have some sort of secret talent for building forts, making snacks, and learning (and remembering) about a million different card games.

My pancakes were lumpy and watery at the same time and the sides were burnt. When I was on my fifth pancake (by that time, they were starting to look a little more like proper pancakes), David stumbled into the kitchen. He ate three pancakes silently, not complaining once about how awful they were, and told me he'd take over the pancakes so I could get ready because we were leaving for school in fifteen minutes.


I won't lie; I was falling asleep in every class due to my lack of sleep for the past few days. Last period was P.E. and I wasn't in the mood to go into a sweaty changing room that smelled like sweat to shower, only to run around after some ball, getting all gross all over again. I grabbed my backpack and casually slipped out through the backdoors of the gym and was sitting on the wall at the back of the school before my gym teacher would notice.

"Hey." I looked up. It was Nick.

"What are you skipping?"

"French."

"I thought you stopped taking that."

"I will stop taking that," he corrected. "What about you?"

"Gym."

"Why the hell are you skipping gym? That's like the best part of the day besides break."

He would think so. Growing up with three older brothers and always trying to keep up with them caused Nick to have a strange obsession with sports. He played everything: football, soccer, basketball, baseball…I think he even gave a hand at tennis, when Adam went through a tennis phase and forced all of his brothers to play doubles with him. Me, on the other hand…okay, I wasn't born into it or anything but seriously, my mom married Watson when I was in second grade. I couldn't help but get a little accustomed to the lap of luxury.

"Because I'm tired so fuck off," I said, irritably. Nick held up his hands like a peace offering. He jumped onto the wall next to me and swung his long legs, kicking his heels against the bricks.

"So what's going on with the party?"

"I dunno. It's the day school ends, I think."

"End of term party? It's going to be wild." I shrugged.

"Watson and my mom don't care. Well, Watson will," I said, with a laugh. "But I don't give a shit."

"Watson's such a nice guy; I don't know why you still don't like him."

"I never said that," I argued. I felt a little irritated that Nick was kind of taking Watson's side when he hardly knew him. "I just said I don't care about what he thinks."

"It's his house," he pointed out. I was about to snap something back to him when we heard the doors open.

"Oh, hey," Nick said. It was Matt. Nick was pretty good at signing since the two families practically grew up together; Haley, Vanessa, Matt, and Nick were always good friends. Matt waved back, grinning. I, personally, never really knew what to do around Matt. He was deaf, sure, and I don't care and all but I can't exactly communicate with him now, can I? I never knew how to act with him around. I heard he can read lips well so I knew he'd know whatever I was saying and he could even talk a little, but he mainly preferred to sign, in case he said something wrong.

"Is Haley back yet?" Nick asked, with an overly hopeful look. Matt laughed and flipped him off. I grinned too. It was pretty obvious what Matt just said. For the past two years, Nick has been so in love with Haley that it's hilarious. Yeah she's hot, but last time I checked, she was going out with some guy from her college. And she was also incredibly close to Jeff, Dawn's younger brother, who had moved back to Connecticut a couple years ago, although I wasn't sure if that was platonic or romantic. Either way, she was way out of Nick's league but she was good to him. She let him trail her around at parties, made an effort to talk to him before her attention got whisked away by the older crew of Stoneybrookers.

Matt signed something to Nick who translated.

"She's going to come back next Wednesday. Hey! That's in time for your party!" I gave him a doubtful look.

"Yeah right, Nick. Like Haley would come to a high school party now that she's been to college and everything?"

"She might," Nick said, and gave me such a begging look that it was impossible not to say no. It would be like kicking a puppy into a ditch with a lion.

"Okay. Matt?" He had been looking my way so he knew his name had been called. "Do you want to ask Haley if she wants to come to my party next Friday?" He grinned.

"Okay," he said. It's always strange to hear him talk because his voice sounds so hoarse and unused. He signed something really quick to Nick.

"He says he's going to ask her to come!" he crowed, triumphantly. "And says she'll be flattered by the invite!" I laughed again. That was pretty devious of Matt. I caught his eye and he grinned at me.

"You better be there too," I said, suddenly and impulsively. Matt shrugged.

"Of course," he said, in his rough voice. I don't know why but that made me feel pretty good.


A/N: I'm going to stick the answers to questions and comments here at the end of the chapter so feel free to skip them if they don't concern you.

Jadedgurl05: I don't understand your question! Sorry!

sUmMeRiTh: for some reason, I always felt like Karen and David would hook up sooner or later; I mean, they're teens and they probably have a ton of privacy, considering they live in that gigantic house together…or maybe I'm just super twisted, haha.

Sarah: Yes! It is a reference to the song. I LOVE the song. I've had it on repeat for like the past week…

Celica06: Karen "Let's All Come In!" Brewer. Haha. I used to hate Karen too (actually, I still do but I might tweak her personality for this fic) so it's strange to be writing something that centers around her.

McKay1: I did read your review right before moving the story! Thanks for both reviews!