This is an extremely short chapter. I just wanted to get something up to assure everyone that I am still here! I'm still writing! But my computer crashed and I had to go get it fixed, which is why I wasn't able to get on and put anything up. But I'm here now, and I'll be putting up chapters regularly again, and I am so sorry about my absence. It won't happen again! So much love to my reviewers, you know who you beautiful people are, and thank you so much for being patient with me. and thank you to any new readers who don't shoot me down for the length (or lackthereof) of this chapter. xoxox, Carolyn.
You and I walk a fragile line, I have known it all this time
but I never thought I'd live to see it break
As it turned out, Mark wasn't at home. They searched all over the place, from the Ribbon to the high school, and even at the DX, but he wasn't anywhere. Freddy was getting worked up and pissed off, jumping around a little, shaking out his hands so he wouldn't clench them. "I'm gettin' real tired of that kid," he said through clenched teeth. "What the hell is he thinkin'?"
"I'm sure he's just out somewhere, his every move ain't to wreck you or nothin'," Joel defended. They were driving back over to the Ribbon in Joel's car, looking for Ruby, thinking she might have an idea of where her brother had gone off to. It wasn't very hard to find the kids these days, so they headed straight for Hogan's. At night they could be anywhere, but during the day they were either at the park, messing around in the drugstore, or having a soda at the diner.
Ruby and Sophie were in the back booth giggling about stupid things – who liked who, and what would happen if this girl married this guy, and who was rumoured to be pregnant – so Joel didn't feel bad at all about interrupting them. Sophie looked at him coolly, clearly still angry for all the fighting – and he had new bruises to show now, too – so he slid into the booth beside Ruby and let Freddy take the seat with his sister.
"You seen your brother lately?" Joel asked, putting his arm on the back of the seat. Ruby grinned shyly, and Sophie rolled her eyes. He wasn't hitting on her, but Ruby didn't seem to be able to tell.
"No I haven't," Ruby giggled, "but why don't you stick around here for a while with us?"
x x x
He hadn't spoken to his brother for a week. He hadn't been home in a week; sleeping on couches and on porches, and when he couldn't find a friend to stay with he'd curl up in an alleyway with his knife in his hand until sunrise. He couldn't look at Tim again. Tim had messed everything up before Curly even had a chance to fix it and right now he didn't think he could control himself if he saw his brother's face again.
When he'd been let out of the hospital, and Tim had given him a ride home, he'd spilled everything. Tim told Curly about the Texans, about tossing their bodies in the lake, and why he'd slept with Sophie Baker. He thought Curly would understand, see it from Tim's point of view, get what he'd had to live with since he was just a kid. But Curly didn't get it. And Tim stopped the car, and that was the last he'd seen of his brother for a week or more.
x x x
It was like nothing had ever happened. As the days wore on and Sophie hung out with her friends, forgave her brother, and began volunteering at the animal shelter, it was easy to push Curly and Tim Shepard out of her mind. She continued to go to the acting group, and practiced hard for the tryouts for Hamlet that were coming up at the beginning of July. She began eating again, just a little bit here and there, and Ruby never said anything about her eating habits. Laura still threw in snide remarks here and there, but she was just furious that James was going with Dana now and she had to take it out on someone. Joel spent most of his time with Freddy, Sophie went to a couple of movies with Mark, Ruby began going steady with Lucas, and Sophie didn't think anything about it when she missed her period near the end of June.