Due to all the great reviews I got for the last chapter, I was inspired to write this chapter right away. :)
CHAPTER 10
Crash and Burn
When he was nine years old, Chris Halliwell had decided it would be fun to climb a tree. He'd found reaching one of the upper branches of the tall oak in the park to be easy, and he'd sat looking down on all the people playing and talking in the park.His mom was with his dad on one of the benches talking and cuddling.Every once in a while his father would say something to make his mom get a big bright smile on her face and her eyes would light up. It was fun to get a private show of how much his parents loved one another after all this time, especially when it seemed everyone else's parents were getting divorced.
Tommy Harrison's parents were divorced two years ago. Tori's mom and dad were getting divorced now, and Casey's parents were fighting so often they might as well get divorced.
Casey was actually down below writing in a notebook. Once he'd asked her what she was writing. She had answered, "Stuff people don't notice, and things I wanna remember when I'm old."
He hadn't had a clue what she meant. He figured it was a girl thing.
It was while up in his perch that he'd seen a strange boy about his age come over to Casey and sit down next to her. The other kid had black hair, which swung around in the wind like a bunch of hands waving. Chris immediately didn't like him.
He started to climb down.
The other boy picked a dandelion and handed to the young girl, who blushed and smiled sweetly.
Chris picked up the pace.
The strange boy leaned over and kissed Casey on the cheek.
Chris' foot slipped as he saw some other boy kiss his girl. He reached out to grab onto the tree branch above his head, but his fingers just grazed the leaves and before he could catch hold of another one, he was falling, his face ripped by the edges of smaller branches, his arms and legs whipped by leaves and twigs. His instinct was to orb out of the painful fall, but his mother's voice lecturing on personal gain and magical exposure stopped him from doing so.
He wound up breaking his left arm and cracking a rib. Nothing had hurt more than that cracked rib. His whole body suffered sharp pains every time he tried to move. The worst part was he could barely breathe and when a little air managed to trickle in it burned like acid was filling his chest.
Right now, staring at his best friend and former lover naked in bed with his older brother, Chris felt like he'd fallen out of that tree all over again.
Chris did the only thing he could think to do. He turned around and closed the door behind him.
Once he was out of Wyatt's room, he started toward his own, but found he couldn't get far before his chest started aching and his breath hitched. He leaned his back against the wall for support, squeezing his eyes shut.
Her hands on Wyatt. Lips moist on his brother's skin. Their bodies as one...
The witchlighter's hands balled into fists, shaking with anger and hurt. He turned around and punched the wall, immediately regretting it as his knuckles cracked open and bled from the force of the impact.
"Shit."
He put his head against the wall, closing his eyes. "Shit."
It was so familiar it broke his heart.
Chris let out a breath as he watched Casey hurry up the stairs of Greg's house to go find Sam.
He needed alcohol. Lots and lots.
Moving over into the kitchen, the young man spotted his friend Kip sitting up on one of the counters, a six pack resting next to him. The slightly younger teen took a swig from his bottle before raising it to Chris. "Hey, Chris. Christopher. Christopher. Why so glum? Come, come, talk to me chum."
Kip started laughing loudly, slapping his knee at what he deemed so very clever.
Chris rolled his eyes, popping open the freezer and grabbing the bottle of Jack Daniels. He didn't bother finding a mixer. He just twisted off the cap and took a gulp.
The other youth's eyebrows moved toward his hairline. "Easy there, Tiger. Vomiting isn't as glamorous as they make it out to be."
"How the hell did I get convinced to come to this thing?"
Kip thought about it momentarily. He suddenly grinned widely, his brown eyes shining from underneath his glasses. "Masochistic?"
"Yeah, must be."
Chris took another shot from the bottle.
"You know, that's not yours."
Chris glared at the other teen.
"But by all means," Kip amended with a wave of his hand.
"I just don't get what she see's in that jackass. He's not right for her. He's dumb and self-centered and controlling."
Kip shrugged. "Good sex?" "Do you "Well, as long as I have the inch left..." Jessica came over just then her hand extending to Kip. "I feel the need to dance." "Well, then," her boyfriend answered, "I guess we're going to dance." "What about me?" Chris asked. Jessica waved him off. "Keep your panties on. I'll dance with you next." As she dragged Kip out of the kitchen, his beer bottle still in hand, Chris shook his head muttering, "Not what I meant." Letting out a sigh, he moved into the livingroom where the furniture had been pushed to one side to make a dance floor. He leaned against the wall and took another drink from the container still clenched in his hand. His eyes trailed over the people dancing. Lots of jocks. Most of whom Chris knew through Wyatt, despite his best efforts to avoid them. Cheerleaders clearly followed wherever the athletes went. His older brother was actually dancing with one the witchlighter couldn't recognize. A group of the elite snobs of the school were dancing in a clump in the far south corner. Sara Burnheart was among them and kept eyeing him suggestively. He swallowed down vomit at the thought. His eyes suddenly landed on a couple that didn't seem to quite belong here. One was a tall, skinny guy Chris believed was in Wyatt's grade. The other was a larger sized girl who seemed to think wearing oversized clothes all in black would make her disappear. Though, he didn't know why she'd want to. From what he could tell she seemed to have a very pretty face, and while on the larger side, her curves (from what he could see of them) were well proportioned. If she dressed better, maybe pulled her wild black hair back out of her face so people could more easily see her pretty hazel eyes, he bet she'd be quite attractive.
Chris almost went over to the couple to introduce himself, but a familiar blur started running down the stairs just then, completely drawing his attention away from them.
The young man ran through the crowd to reach Casey, whose tear stained face was to the ground, causing her to almost run right into him. She looked up as his hands held her arms, and as she saw who it was, buried her face into his chest, her tears moistening his shirt. "Case, what happened?" She didn't answer, too busy sobbing in his arms. She was crying so hard her whole body was shaking. Chris wrapped an arm around her shoulder, keeping her tucked close against his side as he guided her into an unoccupied room, so they could talk. He shut and locked the door behind them as she moved into the center of the room, hugging herself. "Sam was in bed with Valerie." Her voice had been so soft Chris almost hadn't heard her. She turned to face him, swallowing down another sob. "I went to find him, and he was with her." She squeezed shut her eyes. "God, how could I have been so damn stupid?" She opened them again, disbelief evident. " Aren't women supposed to have a sixth sense about this sort of thing? See it coming? I sure didn't. Not at all. I knew he could be a jerk sometimes, but other times he was so sweet and gentle and damn it, I believed him when he told me he loved me." "Maybe he did," Chris ventured. "If you love someone, you don't hurt them like this," she argued. "I should have known. I mean, you said he was a jerk, and I didn't listen. I let him in and I . . ." "Casey?" "I gave him my virginity," she confessed. "I slept with that...that asshole. I gave him part of myself that I can never get back." She slumped onto the bed, new tears in her eyes as she buried her face in her hands. "Oh God. I can't believe I let my first be him. Chris moved to sit next to her on the bed. "You aren't stupid or dirty. You definitely aren't a slut. You loved him. You thought you could trust him. It just turns out in the end that you were wrong. It doesn't completely invalidate your feelings for him. He just wasn't worthy." She shook her head, clearly not believing him. She wiped her face dry with the palms of her hands only to start new trails down her face almost immediately after despite her fight not to cry anymore. The young man slid his hand to her cheek. "Look at me. You didn't do anything wrong here. He's the one that messed up. He's the one that couldn't see how amazing you are. I mean, here he had the most beautiful, intelligent, funny girl in the world, and he threw it away. If I had the chance to..." Chris paused, realizing that the amount of alcohol he'd had was starting to catch up with him. "If you had the chance to what?" Casey asked. Chris didn't say anything, too busy fighting the rising heat as he looked at her. She was dressed for the party. A short jean skirt that emphasized her nice round ass and her shapely legs that were covered in tall black boots. His eyes trailed upward, catching sight of her shapely chest underneath her black lacy camisole and jean jacket. Casey frowned, noticing her friend shift uncomfortably. It didn't take a genius to figure out why he was fidgeting. She looked down to find her suspicions confirmed. Her brown eyes quickly rose to his green. "Chris, you...you want
He leaned toward her, his lips capturing hers as one hand slid behind her neck while the other cupped the side of her breast. Her lips were so soft against his, and as his tongue lightly teased her upper lip, he tasted a light watermelon flavor. He explored deeper.
Then realized what he was doing and jumped back away from her. His green eyes were wide as he stared at his friend, horrified by his actions. "Oh god. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Casey, eyes shining brightly, smiled softly. "I've never been touched like that before. The kiss...god, Chris, my whole body is still tingling." "You're not pissed?" The young woman smiled softly as she scooted closer to him again. She softly pushed his bangs from his eyes her hand trailing the side of his face. "How could I be mad about you wanting me? You're you. You're my best friend. I love you." "I actually wanted to do that for a long time now," Chris confessed. "I wish you would have done it sooner," she softly replied. "Maybe then I never would have been with that ass." Her deep eyes stared into his jade as her mouth softly swept against his. One hand moved to the back of his head, her fingers running through his silky hair while the other caressed his toned arm before moving over his hard chest. She tilted her head, moving to nibble lightly on the sensitive flesh behind his ear. As he let out a light moan, she whispered with a smile on her face, "It should have been you all along." It was all the encouragement the hot blooded American male needed to slip her jacket off before gently pushing her back onto the bed. The rest of their clothes soon followed the jacket and with both passion and sweetness the two made love for the first time, Casey soothing Chris' nerves with soft murmurs as he lost his virginity to his best friend, and she fell in love with hers. When it was complete, they laid together, legs and arms entwined. She was the first to speak, a joy in her voice that Chris hadn't heard in a long while. "Wow. Just...wow." "It was okay?" Casey stared up from his chest. "I've never felt like this before, Chris. I swear. This was the most beautiful and amazing..." her voice broke with emotion. "Being connected to you...feeling you with me...one of the best moments of my life. I can't even describe it." He smiled softly down at her. "I know exactly what you mean though. I felt it too."
Now, it seemed it hadn't been that special after all.
She had just used him. He'd meant nothing to her.
"Chris?"
The young man turned around to find Casey standing behind him, tears soaking her face much like they had that night. She was wearing Wyatt's long shirt, which came down to her knees.
"Please, say something."
"There isn't anything to say," he replied cooly. "Go back to Wyatt."
The young man turned his back on her, heading to his room.
"Chris, no. Just listen to me," she begged, her hand grabbing hold of his arm as her deep brown eyes looked up into his face. Her eyes were two pools of desperation, rivulets of shame and guilt shining down each cheek. "Please, don't walk away from me."
"Why shouldn't I?" Chris snapped, jerking his arm free. "I can barely look at you right now. Is this your new coping mechanism? Fuck the nearest available guy?"She shook her head, her chin quivering as the shame and guilt rivulets became full on rivers. "No. No. That's not it. That's not true."
"Save it. I'm not stupid. I see the pattern. Sam cheats on you. Solution? Screw Chris for a couple months to get over it. Sam attacks you at school. Solution? Have sex with Wyatt."
She swallowed hard, still shaking her head. "No. It wasn't about Sam. It's never been about Sam."
"Whatever," he replied. "I'm out of here. Go cry on Wyatt's shoulder. He'll be more than happy to play the part of your next fuck puppet."
"Chris, you weren't. I loved you."
Her words went unheard as the teenager disappeared in a column of light.
She slid down the wall, her knees up to her chin as she sobbed. "I still do..."
0000
Molly walked out of her adjoining bathroom brushing her long black hair and pulling it back into a ponytail. It wasn't until she finished wrapping the hair tie around that she noticed her boyfriend sitting on the edge of her bed.
He was slouched over, head down, hands lying limp in his lap.
"Chris?"
The young man looked up, his eyes glassy. "Can I stay here tonight?"
"Chris, what's wrong? What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Maybe you should."
Chris shot her a look.
"Okay, maybe not..."
"Can I stay here or not?"
Molly sat down next to him on the bed. "I thought you were supposed to help Casey with the demon?"
"Wyatt's helping her now."
"Doesn't she need all the help she can get?"
"Not from me," he answered firmly.
The tone of his voice unnerved the future whitelighter. She'd never thought Chris could be so cold, especially toward someone he cared for so much. Whatever had happened at the manor had to have been pretty bad. She wanted to know what exactly had transpired in the short time they'd been apart, but knew her boyfriend well enough to realize he'd just get angry and pull away if she tried to pry. He had to come to her on his terms.
Chris suddenly flopped backward on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
His girlfriend laid down next to him on the bed, her head moving to rest tentatively on his chest. She smiled in relief as his arm came to wrap around her. She snuggled closer to him, her arm draping over him.
Chris just kept staring at the ceiling.
Maybe falling out of the tree had actually hurt less after all...
tbc. . .