Author's Note: Thanks for reviewing guys, just on the Littles News front...I've decided to go ahead with two more stories. One set in freshman year of college, the other starting in the summer of 2008, going to the summer of 2009. There's too much ground to cover to not do a full story before it. So, as long as you guys keep reading, I'll keep writing!
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 51: Test Run
"Come on," Angela said, pulling Elena's comforter off of her. Elena twitched and covered her eyes, curling up in a ball.
"What?" She mumbled, "Angie, we're on vacation, no school." She pulled a pillow over her face.
"Um, of course we don't have school," Angela laughed, "And it's like 2:30 in the afternoon, why are you even still asleep?"
"What?" Elena sat up and rubbed her face. "Two thirty? But I drove Dean to the airport at 5."
"Three days ago," Angela nodded and sat down. Elena stared at her. "Are you OK?"
"Um, yeah," Elena said, "I slept for three days?"
"I guess so," Angela said. "Your dad called Tommy, he's worried about you."
"Then why isn't Tommy here?" Elena grumbled. She didn't even bother asking why her father wasn't the one trying to wake her up.
"He's on Eva duty," Angela said. Elena nodded. "Lena, what's going on with you?"
"I guess I was just exhausted," Elena stood up. Angela nodded. "What's up?"
"I thought we could go shopping," Angela said. Elena looked at her. "I need a prom dress."
"Isn't Tammy making you one?" Elena said distractedly looking at herself in the mirror, still feeling groggy. She needed to get Angela talking. She had huge bags under her eyes. Three days? Thank god it was break at the very least, and that Dean was in Chicago, but she'd have to explain why.
"She doesn't really have time," Angela said, "And I mean, I'd never fit into a sample." Elena nodded. "Lena, we're all worried about you."
"Angie," She laughed, "I'm fine. I guess I was sick or something, who knows? But if I've slept for three days I really need a shower." Angela nodded. "But let's definitely go shopping. It'll be fun."
"Why are you staying with your dad for break anyway?" Angela shouted as Elena walked into her bathroom.
"Uh, my mom's in Portland?" Elena said. "She met some guy while she was at Promises. They're auras align or something, I didn't ask questions."
"That's good if your mom met someone," Angela said. Elena popped her head out. "It is good right?"
"I guess," Elena shrugged, "She always meets people, it rarely lasts. Much like her sobriety." She moved back into the bathroom and shut the door. She popped three pills in her mouth. If she'd skipped one night and then slept for three days, clearly she needed to up the dose. She imagined there were several panicked messages from Dean waiting for her whenever she decided to retrieve her cell phone. She turned on the water and showered off washing her hair. She finished and started drying off. "So just prom dresses?" She shouted.
"Um," Angela said, looking at herself in the mirror. "I don't know, I'm thinking about changing my hair, going more blonde." Elena frowned and walked out wearing a towel, Angela sat down losing her breath. It was completely impossible to deny how beautiful her friend was.
"Why would you want to go blonde?" Elena asked. Angela shrugged, primping in the mirror. "This wouldn't have anything to do with Nick and the fact that he's been with that weird lacrosse girl who's also a redhead would it?"
"It has nothing to do with Nick," Angela said, "I just want a change. I can always grow it out if it looks stupid." Elena nodded. "Lena, I really don't want to push it, but I am worried about you."
"I am fine," Elena laughed again. Angela nodded.
"Hey," Jimmy walked in the house, where Tommy was sitting on the couch holding Eva. "Where's Angie? I thought she like moved in."
"She went to go check on Elena," Tommy shrugged.
"Check on her?" Jimmy said.
"Yeah, her dad called here," Tommy said, "She hadn't left her room in three days or something, he thought she might have snuck out and come here. I said I hadn't seen her since we got out of school. And apparently she like slept the entire time."
"Three days?" Jimmy said. "Is she sick?"
"That's what I figured," Tommy shrugged, "It's not like Mr. Cole would notice if she was." Jimmy nodded. But Ellie sleeping for three days meant something different to him than it did to the others. He remembered when they were little when Ellie and Biff would come over and end up staying with them for days, because Annemarie was "sick." Or as he now knew, on a downswing. He made a mental note to pay close attention to Ellie from now on. Tommy's cell phone rang. "Hey Brad."
"I did a bad thing," Brad said on the other end. Tommy groaned.
"I'm not spending my spring break doing this again," Tommy said, "What'd you do?"
"You remember me telling you about Kyla?" He asked.
"Sure."
"I kind of, had sex with her," Brad mumbled.
"So, did you break up with Gabrielle?" Tommy said.
"Uh," Brad said, "That's the bad thing."
"God, Brad," Tommy said. "What is wrong with you people?" He hung up.
"Tommy!" Brad said on the other end. "Shit." He dialed again. This time Tommy didn't pick up. He got off the train at Grand Central and smiled as he walked up into the terminal and saw Gabrielle. "Hey you," He walked over and kissed her.
"Hi," She smiled, "Oh I'm so glad you're here, I missed you so much!" They kissed again.
"I missed you too," He said. And he wasn't lying, he had missed her. I didn't even realize how much.
"Are we done being weird with each other," She said softly. He smiled and nodded. "Good," She kissed him again. "I love you so much Brad, and I really am so sorry about what happened at Christmas."
"Yeah, I'm sorry too," He said, "About a lot of things." She smiled. "Listen, um, like right after I get back to Minnesota it's prom and," She squealed and kissed him. "So you'll come back with me."
"Of course," She said, "We don't have a prom, everyone's too busy trying to get into summer stocks to care about things like that." He hugged her close. He had briefly considering confessing, but what was the point? It's not like it would happen again, he'd probably never even see Kyla again, and it would just hurt her. "Come on, I'm starving." She pulled him away. He laughed.
"OK, here's what I don't get," Charlie said, his arm around Connie, she looked at him. "When they asked him to join their stupid little secret society, why didn't he just say no? Why did he have to like still be involved and like take them down from the inside?"
"Because then it wouldn't be a movie," Connie laughed, "Then it would be that kid from Dawson's Creek goes to fancy college and has a normal existence." He laughed and kissed her. "Mm, you're the one who wanted to see The Skulls, I wanted to see Erin Brokovitch." He laughed. "I have to get to work." She'd been waiting tables, putting every paycheck and tip into a bank account. They'd accumulated enough to live for two whole weeks once they got to New York. He nodded. "I'll call you later OK?"
"OK," He kissed her again. "I'll see you." She nodded and walked away happily. They would make this work. They had to. She stopped and tried to duck away when she saw someone coming.
"Connie?" Linda walked over.
"Hey," Connie smiled. "Hi Linda, how are you?"
"Um, I'm good," Linda said. "How are you?"
"Good," She said, "I'm just on my way to work, you just missed Charlie."
"It's probably better," Linda mumbled. "I'm sure he told you," Connie nodded. "I'm sorry, I mean it's your guys life, and I think it's good." Connie smiled. "The wedding's soon right?"
"About a week after graduation." Connie nodded. "It's coming up fast." Linda nodded. "I'll pass along the apology."
"OK," Linda said. "Good to see you."
"You too," Connie walked away, taking a deep breath.
Charlie kept walking and stopped seeing Guy. They hadn't talked at all since the season ended and before that the talking had only been hockey related.
"Guy," Charlie said as he started walking away, "Man, come on. We've known each other too long for things to keep going like this. Not to mention it's hurting her." Guy nodded, still not sure this was going to end well. "I'm sorry, about how things worked out I am."
"Wow," Guy nodded, tired of biting his tongue, Charlie looked at him, "Here I thought Charlie Conway couldn't get more patronizing, but here you are." Charlie sighed and looked down. "I hook up with your fiancée, and you apologize to me."
"Look Guy," He started.
"Don't," He said, "And by the way, it can't be hurting her too much since she's the one who asked me to stay away."
"You know why she did that," Charlie said. "Come on, you know her better than anyone." Guy nodded. "Better than me even, and I admit that. It's going to kill her if you two don't make things right."
"There'll be plenty of time for that," Guy mumbled. Charlie looked at him. "I'm going to NYU, and before you say anything, let her know that I'm not going to get in either of your way, I'll stay away from both of you, the same as I have been. But I'm also not going to go to another school. So, whenever Connie's ready to make things right, I'll be around, but the ball's in her court now."
"So how is it?" Fulton asked, Tammy smiled and unzipped a garment bag. They were using the first week of break, while he was in Chicago as a test run.
"It's pretty cool," She said, "Dave showed us what he's thinking, it's pretty neat stuff. Janet's coming here to try everything on so I can make everything fit her perfectly." He laughed. "How's it out there?"
"Weird," He admitted. "I mean, Portman's family is great, don't get me wrong, but he really is like a totally different guy here. A lot less wound up. The kid's awesome though."
"Yeah?" Tammy said plopping on the bed. "You'll make a good dad someday." He laughed.
"Not anytime soon," He said. She laughed. "This doesn't suck so bad, huh?"
"It's been two days," She reminded him. "We're going to have to do this for weeks, sometimes months."
"Good point," He said, "How's the financing going?"
"I begged, they looked at Tom's tax return and they laughed." She sighed. "I think loans are all I have left, which sucks."
"Or, and I know this is crazy," Fulton said, "Ask Tom for the money. You know it's the best way to do it, Tam. Maybe it could be a loan. It would be better than getting a loan from a bank or the government, there's no way he'd charge you interest."
"I hate asking him for things," Tammy sighed, "He's done enough. And money makes everything so complicated."
"He's your stepfather," Fulton reminded her.
"And he's got three kids of his own, all of whom are going to be in college next year, and one whom is going to law school after that," Tammy said. "Even with the kind of money he has that's a huge burden."
"What did your dad say?" He asked.
"'I told you that if you wanted to go to a regular school I would pay, but I'm not paying for art school, its impractical,'" She snorted. "I'm sure his new baby will want to study like Native American artifacts and he'll pay for it to."
"Your half brother's name is Anthony," Fulton said.
"I'm going to hang up on you now," She said. He sighed. "I actually do have to go though, I love you."
"I love you too." He said. "Call me later?"
"OK," Tammy said and hung up. She sighed and looked at the dresses. Maybe she'd luck out and make some huge deal for the company and she could pay for Parsons herself.
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