AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just to clear up any confusion, Chapter 2 does not take place the next day, it's just a little later that day- 'cause when you're sick, you nap throughout the day! LOL. Okay,

Also, to my, um, two whole readers…(lol) …ShalBrenFan (Izzy) and Ghostwriter…I LOVE the praise, thank you for reading and reviewing!! Maybe next time you would like to give some criticism, or, even if you have any ideas for this story, you can let me know those too, ok? I would love to have some more input. And now, on to Chapter Two!

CHAPTER 2

Scott had the most peaceful sleep ever. That's why he was surprised to wake up and find Elaine sitting next to his bed. Her jerked up, pulling the covers higher around him. He couldn't imagine why he had been able to sleep with her in the room.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked, his voice hoarse. It hurt to talk.

"I was watching you sleep", Elaine said casually.

"Well, that's uh…that's creepy." Scott told her. "Can you go away now?"

"No," Elaine said, "Unless you need something."

Scott eyed her. "I don't need anything from you." He hoped he had made that clear.

Elaine laughed. "You're so sick."

"And that's funny? Wow, you're more twisted than I thought."

"No, it's not funny that you're sick, it's just funny the way you're acting." Elaine explained, examining her manicured nails.

"I'm not acting, I'm pissed at you, and you know why. And for the record, you're the one who's sick. Now get out of my room." Scott stared at her with hard eyes.

Elaine looked surprised, and a little hurt. "Why are you mad at me?" she asked.

Scott's jaw dropped open. "Are you kidding me? Are you fuckin' kidding me?!"

Elaine gave him a disapproving look. "Scotty, don't use that kind of language. And you have no reason to be mad at me, so just calm down." Then she looked concerned. "It's probably the fever talking."

She reached forward to feel his head, but Scott jerked away from her.

Elaine sat back, looking confused. "What's wrong with you today?"

Scott couldn't believe how blind she was.

"The same thing that's been wrong with me for the past few months, Elaine. Take a wild guess."

"Oh, this has to do with the divorce and how you think I took your mommy away or whatever." Elaine said, looking bored. "Haven't we done that issue to death?"

"No, Elaine, this has nothing to do with the divorce. God, you're so clueless."

Elaine pursed her lips. "Well if it has nothing to do with the divorce then why don't you just grow up and stop trying to get attention? That's all you're doing. It's like you don't want me to have your dad's attention, so you act out to keep him noticing you."

Scott couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Yeah, Elaine, you're right. I am trying to keep you away from my dad, I mean, you're so stuck on him and I just can't stand seeing the two of you together, because I want you all to myself. Is that what you want me to say? Would that make you feel better?"

Elaine looked confused. "Scott, I know you're jealous of me being married, but your father is my soul mate. What you and I do is fun and all, but it's your father I'm in love with."

"I'm gonna scream. Just get out of here."

"Don't scream, you'll hurt your throat."

"WHY DO YOU CARE?" Scott yelled. "Have you EVER cared about the way I felt? Have you ever cared about what happened to me at all? Have you even-"

Elaine interrupted, raising her voice. "Of course I care about you! How could you say that? How could you think I don't? After everything I've done for you? Don't you know I love you?"

That shocked Scott into silence. Then he said, slowly, carefully, "How could you love me?"

"What?"

"How can you sit there, and tell me you love me, after everything you put me through? How can you even pretend? Do you honestly think Icould love you back?"

Elaine froze, her eyes wide. "You do, though, don't you?"

"No! God, I hate you! You ruined my life! You ruined my family, my relationship with my dad, anything I could ever want in my future will be affected by you. I hate you for that! I hate you!"

Elaine got up and ran from the room, tears streaming down her face. In her delusional, immature mind, she had thought the boy loved her.

----------------------

Scott didn't feel the slightest bit bad about his outburst, even though he could hear Elaine crying in the next room. However, two hours later, he was hoping Elaine had calmed down enough to make him something to eat.

He wasn't disappointed. She came in shortly after, carrying atray, and set it over his lap wordlessly. Her eyes were red and puffy. She didn't look at him.

She sat down again in the chair by his bed, looking at her hands in her lap, and asked, "Do you need anything else?"

Scott said, "No, but maybe see if my dad could come home early."

Elaine sighed, "I told you, he-"

"I know, but maybe just ask him."

"You want to call him yourself and ask?" Elaine offered.

"No." Scott looked at her. "He won't care if I want him to come home. But he might drop everything and run home if you wanted him to." There was bitterness in his voice.

"Well, I don't want to ask him, because I know how important this business deal is to him, and-"

"Yeah, you wouldn't want to ruin anything, 'cuz that's just not you."

Elaine was silent.

Then she burst out, "What do you want from me, Scott? I'm trying, okay? I'm trying! I've never been a parent before, I don't-"

"Oh, you've never been a parent? Yeah, I can see how that would be confusing. Okay, well here's a tip for you: Don't have sex with your kid!"

Elaine looked down, almost embarrassed, but then she looked angry. "Hey, don't blame that on me. You wanted it."

"No. I. Did. NOT." Scott said angrily.

"Scotty, you can't deny it. I saw how you got, the way you reacted-"

"Don't talk about that!" Scott yelled. He didn't understand why his body had reacted the way it had to her; he knew he hadn't wanted what he was being given, and yet he couldn't help the way he felt while it was going on.

"But it's true. If you hadn't wanted me, Scott, there's no way you would've been able to do all that with me. Don't sit there and tell me you didn't want it."

"But I- I didn't, ok, I don't know why I-" Scott felt his eyes getting wet, and tried to keep from crying. "Look," he whispered, "I don't know. I really don't. All I know is I didn't want to do it then, and I don't want to do it anymore. ANYMORE. I mean it. Do you get that?"

Elaine looked despondent. "I thought you liked me. Why don't you?"

Scott looked incredulously at her. "I did like you. It's hard to remember now, but…in the beginning, I liked you just fine. I mean, yeah, at first I blamed you for their divorce, but I mean…you were nice to me. You were all I had. My mom was far away, and my dad was always working, and you were there, and that was nice. I could tell you were trying. But then you started all this, and I…I couldn't deal with that. I know you didn't want to be a mom, but, that was better than whatever it is you're trying to be now. I mean, God, Elaine, I don't even know what to think! I don't know what you are. You're not my step-mom, you're not my girlfriend, I just- I don't even know what this is! God, why'd you have to get me so confused?!"

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Elaine said, clearly bothered.

"How about you stop coming into my room at night? How about you let me go places after school so I'm not stuck here with you?"

"But, Scotty, I'll miss you."

"Tough."

"Remember the rules, Scotty."

"Screw the rules! I'm sick of this! I hate it, and I hate you, and sooner or later I'm gonna stop caring if my dad hates me, and I'll tell him everything. Anything's better than putting up with this day after day."

Scott started coughing, big hacking coughs that shook his body and made his chest hurt. Elaine moved to sit with him on the bed and rubbed his back. Scott didn't push her away, he was too busy trying to breathe.

When he got done coughing, he had tears in his eyes.

"Want me to bring you some ice-cream? It might help" She asked, meaning his throat.

"Ice-cream's not gonna fix this, Elaine." Scott answered, looking her in the eyes.

"Scotty-"

"Please don't."