Time Capsule
Chapter 8: Second Chances
Lor swung the door open and peered around for her distressed friend. Tish was easily spotted a few feet away, sitting on the curb of the sidewalk. One hand grasped her face to hold back the sobbing, the other clenched tightly to hold back the bleeding. Lor let out a concerned sigh and stepped toward her.
"You look like a total mess, you know that?" Lor stated as she slumped down beside her.
"Just leave me alone!" Tish sobbed as she shifted away from her.
Lor ignored her comment and opened up the first aid kit. "Well, if you're going to go running off anywhere, you should at least let me patch you up before that gets any worse."
"I don't need your help."
"Yeah, I know, because I'm not your mother." This statement caused Tish to look at her with contempt. Even though Lor didn't see this as she was lost in thought for a moment. "But unless you plan on walking around and literally painting the town red, you might want me to take a look at that."
"No," Tish pouted.
"Tish, you're the last person I'd expect to act like a baby. Now I am not leaving your side until I make sure you're alright. That's what friends do."
Tish sighed at her then reluctantly gave Lor her hand, Lor took it and inhaled through her teeth, as if to imply that she knew it must really hurt. "Geez girl, I didn't know you had it in you to shatter a glass with your bare hand."
Lor looked to her friend in hopes of getting some life out of her. But Tish only responded by turning her head away. Undaunted, Lor focused her attention on the first aid kit sitting opened on the other side of her. Shifting through the contents, she clearly voiced an "Uh-oh."
"What?" Tish sniffed, "No Band-Aids?"
"No, but you're still not going to like it. All we have in here for antiseptic is peroxide."
Tish spun her head back to Lor, "What? Isn't that the stuff that stings?"
"Of course it is, but it has to be done."
Tish cringed considerably as the dampened cloth came closer to her open hand. Lor stopped and sighed at her. "Okay look, the street is empty. If you want, you can totally scream out as many profanities as you like when this hits you."
"That won't be necessary." Tish rolled her eyes.
"Okay, I'm just putting it out there. Here we go, on three… THREE!"
Lor plunged the dampened cloth onto Tish's palm, holding her tightly by the wrist as the girl fought and recoiled. "MOTHER FU… What the hell Lor? That doesn't sting at all."
"Yeah, I know," Lor grinned as she continued to clean Tish's wound, "But I knew that would get you out of your mood."
"Do you really have to treat me like a child?" Tish asked with disdain.
"Oh buck up, you're lucky you don't need stitches," She commented as she began wrapping a bandage around Tish's hand. "Unfortunately, you got it in a real awkward spot, so you're going to have to be careful for the next few days or you'll end up opening it up again."
Tish took her hand back and stood up, brushing the dirt from the back of her dress. "Thank you," she said firmly, "I'm sorry, but I think I'll be heading in for the evening." She began to walk away but then noticed that Lor was following her like a shadow. "What? Why are you following me? My hand is all wrapped up now."
"I told you, I'm not leaving your side until I make sure that you're alright. And that includes emotional wounds."
"Don't play psychoanalyst with me," Tish sneered, "I am fully capable of handling my own problems."
"Yeah right," Lor mocked, "You handled it really well back there."
Tish crossed her arms and looked at Lor with contempt, "Back off alright. What can you possibly say to help me?"
"Well, off the top of my head… nothing," Lor sighed, "I don't even know you anymore. You've become like a stranger to me. Here I am, hoping to return to a place I once called home, to people I once called friends, but nothing is what it used to be. And you're the worst Tish. You're nothing like what I remember. What happened to you? What happened to the girl who was my closest friend, who was once like a sister to me?"
"Stop it alright," Tish spat, she tried to hide it but Lor could see her eyes starting to water. "Do you want to know what my problem is? I was the one who went to a big fancy university, I was the one who spent my life studying and preparing to make something of myself, I was the one who left everything behind to head off to bigger and better places! And do you know what I find when I come back here?"
"Everyone is happier with their lives than you are," Lor answered sympathetically.
Tish leaned against a lamp post, letting her aggression wane. "You know that when I left here, I wanted to be a theatrical actress… no, it was more than that. I've had that dream ever since I was twelve. I spent four years of my life studying English Literature and Theatrical Arts in University, and do you know what I do for a living now?"
Lor averted her gaze, ashamed that she didn't even know that much about her life long friend.
"I'm a high school English teacher," Tish revealed.
"So you just gave up then?"
"Eventually," Tish said in self defeat, "It's not like I didn't try, I auditioned for a lot of roles. I got shot down a lot, but I was expecting that at first. So I took up this teaching thing to hold me over until something came up while I kept on perusing my dream. After a lot of rejections, and a few small roles that didn't pan out for me… I just got tired of it all. And here I am today, a mere shell of my former self."
"You always were a melodramatic one," Lor slapped her forehead. "C'mon, Tish, it's not that bad."
"I ought to know," Tish protested, "It's my life."
"You're just obsessing over regret. Now that you're older and wiser and have more scars, you wish you had done some things differently. Last I checked that's nothing to be ashamed of."
"I didn't even try to keep contact with you guys," Tish shook her head. "I shut Tino out, and I never tried to look up you or Carver. Maybe I shouldn't have left. Maybe I should've stayed and gone to community college."
"We all have our roles to play," Lor offered, "Me, I'm the clown."
"Oh come on, Lor. I wouldn't call you a clown. Or even a fool! You're just, well, free-spirited."
"Yeah, you pick that kind of thing up when you spend as much time traveling as I did. Come on, Tish. Come back to the party."
"Why, so I can make a bigger fool of myself?"
"It's a little late for that," Lor chuckled, "I don't think you have enough material to make yourself a fool twice in one night."
"Why do you care if I come back?"
"Because I can't have a good time without you, Tish. Come on, you're my friend. I know it's been a long time, but... I thought we were the kind of friends who wouldn't see each other for years and be like nothing's changed. Aren't we?"
"I... I don't know, Lor. So much has changed, everywhere I look it's all different. I don't think I can go back and be the girl I once was."
"It's all in your head, Tish. But you'll always be my friend."
"Ok, ok! If you're going to get this mushy on me, I'd better go back in before I make you cry or something!"
Back inside the pub, Carver was still sitting at the table with Tino, giving him a lecture. "All I'm saying man, is that she probably has a lot of self-esteem issues, and all that I've gotten out of her since I picked her up at the airport was lies. So maybe you could just try not to take whatever she says to heart."
"Yeah, well, don't expect me to sit back and take it if she's going to be serving up crap like this the whole time she's here."
"Hopefully you won't have to," Tish said with a slight smile as she approached the table with Lor. "I came back to… apologize. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting and for what I've said tonight. And if you're not too mad at me… I'd like to sit down and try this again."
She looked towards Tino for an answer, Tino stared back at her. After a moment of contemplation, he asked "Your not going to make a scene again, are you?"
"I promise," Tish answered with shame.
Tino pulled out the chair next to him, "Alright, but we're getting off the subject of what we do for a living." Carver gave Tino a slightly surprised look, amazed that he didn't want to know what Tish was keeping from them.
Tish thanked him and sat down. An awkward silence loomed over them for a short while until Tino eventually spoke up "You know what I remember? That arcade we used to hang out at when we were kids. What was it called? Oh yeah, Funville. What ever happened to that place?"
Lor leaned back in her chair, "You're sitting in it."
"What?" Tino said, looking at his surroundings, certain that it bore no resemblance their noisy childhood hangout. "It got turned into a pub?"
"Weird, huh," Tish commented, "It almost seems like it grew up with us."
"Makes sense though," Carver said, "With portable games and the internet being so main stream, kids just aren't interested in those big clunky arcade games of yesteryear. And Besides, I've got more games in my cell phone now than the entire building ever had."
Still swiveling his head around, Tino caught a welcoming sight and turned back to Carver with a raised eyebrow. "I bet you don't have a full sized pool table in that cell phone of yours."
"Pool?" Carver responded, "Honestly, I haven't played that game since college. I don't know if I'll be very good."
"Good," Lor smiled while rubbing her hands together, "Nothing has changed then. Same pairing as always? Boys versus girls!"
Carver hoisted himself up, "You don't know how lucky you are Tish. Alright Tino, are you ready to be massacred?"
Lor broke the ice, and skillfully sunk a ball. From that point on she was queen of the table until Tish missed a shot giving the guys a hope in hell. Carver looked upon his discouraging situation, "Wow Lor… you have… gotten better. Much, much better," He said through an awkward smile, "Did you enter like, professional competitions or something?"
"Not professional ones per say," She answered modestly, "Among other things, this is what I did to keep cash in my pocket while traveling around Europe. I was a bit of a pool shark."
"What do you mean by 'other things'?" Carver asked in a disciplinary tone.
"Farm work and kitchen help!" Lor retorted, "I don't know what you were thinking of but I have my dignity! Geez, you're just like my fa…" she cut herself off, "Never mind, it's your guy's shot."
"Okay, Okay, I didn't mean anything by it," Carver defended before turning his attention over to Tino, "Well, since this is officially our first shot, will you take the honors?"
"You say it like we have a chance." Tino chuckled as he lined up the small window of hope that he was left with. Miraculously, he actually managed to put one in out of sheer luck. "Ha, I guess we're not completely hopeless after all."
"Good for you," Lor humored, "You made it so that the game wouldn't be completely one-sided. Now it's your turn Carve."
Carver took his shot and grumbled as he not only missed his target completely, but also lined the cue ball right up to make things far too easy for Lor.
"You guys are no challenge at all," Lor whined as she continued her play, "So what are we going to do after this game?"
Carver glanced over at Tish and Tino standing beside each other like two awkward kids at their junior prom. A grin spread across his face before he looked at Lor and very subtly nudged his head towards the two former lovers. "Gee, it's getting late and I promised Moira I'd give her a call once I got back to the hotel."
"But, you carry a cell phone with…" She was cut off when Carver cleared his throat rather loudly and began to hint towards Tino and Tish with more effort. "… Oooooh, Yeah. Um, I just remembered that I forgot to do laundry today. Yeah, can't show up for work tomorrow with dirty clothes."
"You guys are leaving already?" Tino asked.
"Oh don't worry," Carver assured, "Tish and I will be here for the whole week, just like you. We'll all see each other tomorrow, alright?"
"Uh, sure, okay. Say hi to Moira for me."
"And if I can ever convince you to another game of pool sometime, I'll let you play with a handicap," Lor offered while she finished up the last of the game and placed her cue stick back on the rack, "Okay you guys, later days."
Carver pulled Tino over to the other side of the table and whispered, "Hey Tino, why don't you walk Tish home?"
"What? Why?"
"For the sake of being a gentleman, you insensitive jerk," Carver pressured him, "It's dark outside and the poor girl is injured. Are you really just going to leave her to walk home alone?"
"Well, no," Tino shrugged, glancing slightly over to Tish.
"Good, then it's settled, have fun," Carver said before making his exit.
Tino stood there dumbfounded until Tish walked up to him, "So what's going on?"
Tino rubbed the back of his head, "Apparently, I'm being a gentleman."
Tish looked at him cock-eyed as he turned to her and half mockingly said, "Shall I walk you home, milady?"
He tried to slip his hand under hers but she recoiled and gave him a raised eyebrow, "This… isn't going to get weird, is it?"
"Weird? What's weird? I'm just an old friend, offering his company on your way home."
Tish looked at him for a moment then gave a warm smile and offered him her good hand in a elegant fashion, "Sure, but just as old friends. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Can we really do that? Just pretend there was nothing more between us?"
"I don't think either of us want this to get complicated. At the very least, we can try." Tish said as she motioned for the front door.
Tino held the door open for Tish as she stepped through. Before following after her, he took another look at the room which was once a staple of his childhood. In a deep breathe, he sighed, "Yeah, I guess I could try."
Author's notes:
Aww,
doesn't that feel good. I think we all needed a break from all the
high strung angst in this story for a bit. That and I didn't want
Tish singing the same tune for the whole story. But fear not, Time
Capsule is far from over, I have a whole bunch of things planned that
shall be… interesting. Tino and Tish are not the only ones
with problems that need to be worked out (not that their problems are
resolved by any means). But I shall not spoil anything nor shall I
make any promises, as much of this story I'm just making up as I go
along. Well, I'd like to give thanks for Malachite for co-writing,
Attic Man for proof-reading, and Shinji Langley for the plot insight.
Okay Later days.
