CSI: NEW YORK – The College Years
Chapter 2: "Special Bonds and Broken Hearts"
...
"Oh my God Jess, are you going to be in there all day?" Stella Bonasera huffed as she slumped her back up against the bathroom door, waiting for her roommate to emerge.
"Hey, we can't all be effortlessly beautiful like you" the voice from inside the bathroom began, and Stella couldn't help but smirk. "For some of us, this takes time. Besides, I've gotta look hot for your brother tonight, right?" she teased; now causing Stella's smirk to quickly turn to a frown as she rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, now you really need to let me in so I can throw up..."
Both girls giggled uncontrollably as the dark haired and brown eyed Jessica Angell stepped out of the bathroom.
They had met back in high school and quickly became inseparable. Their mutual love for sports and staying active is what initially brought them together as they became teammates on the school track team; but it was their similar personalities and sense of humour that transpired it into a friendship.
"There, all yours!"
"Finally!" Stella huffed in response as she went to walk past her but Jess quickly grabbed her arm and turned her back to face her.
"Hey, what happened to your head?" Jess asked, noticing the slight bump on Stella's forehead.
"Ugh, some klutz ran into me this morning. Literally." Stella sighed with a shake of her head. "It's nothing, I'm fine"
"You mean there's someone else out there as crazy as you who gets up at 6am to go running? Damn Stell, I hope you got a number at least"
"Very funny" Stella scoffed as she finally entered the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
"You know, you could come out with us..." Jessica began, yelling loud enough for her voice to be heard through the door. "I'll bet Don has some cute friends for you"
"Yeah, meat head football players? No thanks!" she quickly called back.
"You know Stella, not all of them are like... I mean, they're not all... Some guys just..." Jessica's voice continually trailed off as she tried to come up with some reassuring comfort to offer Stella.
"Not all guys are what? Like Frankie?" Stella finished Jessica's thought as she emerged from the bathroom and pushed past Jess, wandering into her bedroom and slumping down on the bed, clutching a pillow.
"You know, you were way too good for that clown anyway" Jessica begins as she flops herself down beside Stella on the bed. "He's not even worth you spending time regretting him"
"Can't help it" Stella huffed. "All that time wasted... Why was I so stupid...? Ugh, I don't even want to think about it. Thanks for trying to get me to come out Jess, but the last thing I need is to meet another cute and charming quarterback with a God complex"
"Hmmmm..." Jess offered, along with a heavy sigh. "What about his friend Danny? He's cute and, well, not a quarterback at least..."
Stella just looked at Jess with a crinkled brow "yeah, not really my type"
"Yeah, I know. Heaven forbid you go for somebody cute and funny that can show you a good time. You've always gotta go for the dark and mysterious type, right?"
"And handsome, don't forget handsome" Stella smirked.
"Right, handsome, of course. Top of the priority list" Jess giggled with a roll of her eyes.
"And not mysterious... I prefer to use the term interesting"
"Well, a lot of good 'interesting' has got you so far" Jess began before quickly stopping herself. "I mean... I'm sorry Stell, I didn't mean to sound... well I just thought you could use some fun, that's all"
"Ugh, I think I'm just going to swear off men for a while" Stella huffed again, before pulling the pillow over her face.
A sudden knock came to the door and Jess instantly shot up from the bed and smiled, then quickly looked back to Stella.
"Stella..."
"Go Jess. I'm fine" she assured her, with her voice muffled through the pillow.
"Are you sure"
"Yes, go and have fun" she demanded, finally sitting up right. "And no, I don't want any details when you get home!" she teased as she playfully swatted Jess in the arm with the pillow.
"Okay, okay!" Jess laughed as she scurried out of the bedroom and to the front door. She stopped to run her fingers through her long brown hair and took a quick breath before reaching for the handle.
"Well hey there handsome" Jess beamed as she opened the door, revealing Don, flashing his million dollar smile that caused her to melt every time she saw it.
"Hey yourself" Is all Don managed to get out before giving into the temptation to taste Jess' lips. "mmmm, strawberry lip gloss?" he asked in a husky tone as he finally pulled apart from her.
"Um, ew you guys!" Stella's voice called out from the bedroom, and Don's face instantly cringed.
"Oh, uh, sorry Stell... Didn't see ya there..." Don called back and Jess swatted his arm, and tried to keep her laughter contained.
Don wandered into Stella's room and frowned as he saw her lying on the bed with the pillow covering her face again.
"Hey, why don't you come to dinner with us? I promise we won't be gross" Don chuckled and then gently tugged the pillow out of her grasp.
"Stella! What happened?" Don quickly gasped as he noticed her forehead. It was only a tiny bump, but Don was instantly concerned nonetheless. He sat down at the edge of the bed to take a closer look, causing Stella to smirk.
"I'm fine, relax!"
"You sure? You want me to go beat somebody up for you? Cuz I'll do it"
"Yeah, I know you will. Really Don, I'm fine, it was just an accident I had when I went running this morning"
Don let out a heavy sigh before responding; "Stell you know I don't like you going out running so early in the morning, there's not many people around at that time and... well you just never know"
"Well if you'd rather, I could go back to running at night"
"You know what, mornings good actually" Don chuckled as he patted Stella's hand. "Just promise me you'll be careful"
"Yes brother!" Stella quickly assured him in a mocking tone.
"So, what do you say? You wanna come?" Don asked again and Stella just shook her head.
"Already tried" Jess piped up and Don noticed her leaning on the doorframe.
"You sure?" Don asked again re-focussing on Stella.
"I'm sure, I'm kinda tired anyway. You guys have fun"
"Alright. Love you" Don simply stated.
"Love you" Stella quickly replied.
"Alright, I guess we better get outta here huh?" Don asked Jess as he stood up from the bed and made his way over to her.
"Night sis" he called out as they made their way out of the bedroom. He looked back and saw Stella offer a quick wave.
"Night. Behave yourselves!" she lightly warned as she called back.
"Don't I always?" Don asked, and not able to hold back his laughter he quickly grabbed Jessica's hand and led her out of the dorm.
Stella couldn't help but let out a smile as she could still hear Jess and Don laughing as they made their way down the hallway; she was glad to see her brother and best friend happy together. It wasn't until this summer that Don had finally worked up the courage to finally ask Jessica out, despite Stella's constant attempts to convince Don he had nothing to worry about.
As unlucky in love as she had been, Stella had no reason otherwise to complain about life recently. It's true her childhood had been far from an ideal upbringing; her father walking out on her mother before she was born and her mother dying when she was just a young child; causing her to grow up in an orphanage. However she was fortunate enough to have one person looking out for her, Professor Papakota; a frequent volunteer visitor at the orphanage who eventually revealed to Stella that he had known her mother. Stella's quest for knowledge regarding her parents eventually led her, with the help of the Professor, to the Flack family where Stella learned of her half brother; Don.
Stella's father had also abandoned all responsibilities to Don and his mother upon hearing the news that she was pregnant with him. Neither Stella or Don had ever met their biological father, but thankfully found each other at the age of 14. The Flack family graciously accepted Stella into their family as one of their own and her and Don quickly formed what is now an unbreakable bond. Don making it his own personal mission to protect Stella from anything and everyone; not that she did, or would ever ask him to; it was just in his instincts to do so.
Unfortunately Don learned there was one thing he couldn't protect her from; a broken heart. He had never seen his sister happier than when she had first met the attractive and charming Frankie Mala. He had transferred to their high school during senior year, and played on the football team with Don. There was something about Frankie that Don just couldn't trust; almost seemed as if he was always putting on an act. Whatever it was, Don couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about him he didn't like. However, Frankie had won Stella over; and without having a concrete reason to disapprove of their dating, Don instead decided to just stay out of it and let Stella do what made her happy. Unfortunately happiness had just recently turned into heartbreak for Stella and Don has yet to forgive himself for not trusting his initial gut instincts.
Stella's phone began buzzing across her night stand and she quickly grabbed for it then rolled her eyes when she began reading the message.
Stella, looks like we'll be playing you guys on Saturday... I can't wait to see you, I think we should talk. I know I screwed up but... Dinner? Please? xo Frankie.
"Yeah right" Stella huffed as she hit the 'power off' button on her phone before tossing it back up onto the night stand.
She rolled over and looked at her clock, it was only late afternoon but she honestly felt like just curling up into the blankets and going to bed, so that's exactly what she did.
...
"Hey, big Mac! Wait up!" Danny called as he ran to catch up with Mac outside of the locker room.
"What's up, what are you sayin tonight?" Danny began as he caught up. "Don's whipped so he had to go see his girl, but me and the boys were gonna go grab a bite, then hit up this party. You in?"
Mac pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and let out a sigh as he read the display, 'No missed alerts'
"I don't think so, but thanks anyway" Mac eventually answered without looking up from the phone.
"What, don't tell me you got a girl too?"
"No. Well... no. But... it's just complicated" Mac finished with a heavy sigh as he finally focussed his attention back to Danny.
"Man, I thought Don had it bad. Well if you change your mind, give me a call alright?"
"Alright" Mac agreed, with no real intentions of following through.
Danny gave Mac a quick slap to the shoulder before running off to catch up with the rest of his teammates who were headed in the opposite direction from Mac.
Mac made his way back to the dorm and was exhausted from the day by the time he reached his door. He pushed himself inside and offered Adam a confused glance as he entered the living room and saw him sitting in the middle of the floor completely surrounded by comic books.
"Oh, uh hey Mac... Don't worry, I'll get these all put away I just have to put them in order first"
"Right..." Mac simply states, then looks to the empty duffel bag on the floor. "Hey, is that why that bag I carried weighed a ton? It was really just full of comic books?"
"Um... Maybe?" Adam replied sheepishly, to which Mac just rolled his eyes and let out a slight chuckle.
"Didn't think you'd be back so soon..." Adam began again as he tried to quickly clear some space so there was at least enough room for Mac to get by. "Don't you football guys usually go to parties or something?"
"Well I'm not big on parties I guess. Only go to the after-parties, after a big win"
"Hey, maybe you could get me in to one some time?" Adam asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
"Get you in? It's not like you need an invitation Adam" Mac replied with an arched brow.
"Yeah..." Adam began with a scoff, but when he realized Mac was being serious he continued in a more genuine tone. "You've never been unpopular have you? Guys like me don't get into parties that guys like you go to. Guys like me get phone calls at 4 in the morning from girls who normally wouldn't give me the time of day, other than to ask me if they can copy my homework, to come to the party just to drive them home because they've had too much to drink" Adam trailed off before finishing his thought and continued on cleaning up his mess.
"Sorry" Mac mumbled as he knelt down to help Adam pick up the books. "There's a game on Saturday. Why don't you come watch and you can come with me to the party afterwards"
Adam nodded with a smile that quickly turned into a chuckle.
"What? What's so funny?" Mac inquired and Adam quickly shook his head.
"You"
"Me?"
"Yeah. Why are you so nice to me?" Adam asked with sincerity in his tone once again.
"Um, because I don't have any reason not to be?" Mac began confused. " Why wouldn't I be nice to you?"
"I don't know, ask my entire high school alumni, I'm sure they could tell you why" Adam huffed as he continued to sort through the comics, refusing to look at Mac.
"Adam, what did I tell you this morning? This is the beginning, time to leave the past behind you right?"
"You're right. Thanks Mac" Adam finally looked up towards Mac and rewarded him with a slight smile.
"No problem" Mac replied with a warm smile then stood up and placed the large stack of comics he had picked up onto the coffee table.
Mac left the room and wandered into his nearby bedroom and grabbed his phone out of his pocket before slumping himself down onto the edge of the bed.
It rang several times before he finally heard it pick up, but he then quickly frowned as he realized it was just the answering machine.
"Hey, you've reached Claire and I can't get to the phone so leave me a message!"
"Claire, uh, it's me..." Mac began, then cleared his throat. "I just... just wanted to see how you were doing and... I guess I haven't heard from you in a while so I just thought I'd... Um, never mind, I guess I'll talk to you another time. Good night."
Mac hung up the phone then dropped himself backwards onto the bed and let out a heavy sigh.
"Get a hold of yourself Taylor!" he scolded himself inwardly.
He eventually pushed himself up off the bed and wandered back out into the main room, towards the kitchen in search of something to eat. When he emerged from his room Adam was staring at him with a humoured expression.
"Now what?" Mac inquired as he noticed Adam.
"I thought we were leaving the past behind us?" Adam asked in a slightly mocking tone and Mac quickly arched his brow.
"Sorry" Adam continued. "These walls, they're paper thin. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or anything. Who's Claire anyway?"
"She's..." Mac began but quickly sighed and shook his head. "Not important" he eventually finished.
"Come on Mac, you can tell me. I told you all about me"
"Really Adam, it's nothing. Hey, are you hungry?"
Adam finally giving up, realizing he would probably never get much of anything from his so far mysterious roommate, nodded his head.
"Well there's not much here" Mac huffed as he closed the refrigerator door. "Let's just go out and grab something"
Adam looked up to Mac, then back down to his array of comic books still mostly sprawled out across the floor.
"They're not going anywhere Adam, they'll be here when we get back. Come on" Mac chuckled as he watched a hesitant Adam finally push himself up off the floor.
...
**So? What are your thoughts so far? Make me a happy writer and click that green button! You know you wanna! Up next, it's game day! We'll meet Frankie, Lindsay and Kendall all in the next chapter! Stay tuned!**
