Title : Caroline and the Sham
Author : Karen Gomes (pyrie@hotmail.com)
Rating : G or PG
Type : Prose
Spoilers : Probably…
Notes : Well…here's another installment. Heh. I disclaimed everything in the second chapter, so please don't sue me! Anyway, see, there's less and less drivel. I just want to thank everyone who has sent in their comments : I really appreciate you taking your time for me! Well, on with the…uh…literary piece. Ooh ooh, and any similarities between fictitious and real people are merely stereotypical coincidences, and no harm is intended whatsoever. Thanks.
Draggingly,
Gomes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caroline and the Sham (Part 4)
Richard rushed to his window and watched as Caroline hailed a cab. She glanced back, and the two made eye-contact for a mere second, before she got into the awaiting car, driving off into New York's early morning. «She hates me. She hates me. She hates me…» Richard repeated to himself, climbing into bed to retrieve his much needed sleep.
Caroline stepped into her loft, slamming the door behind her. "He's all wrong for me!" Caroline exclaimed out loud. Looking around, she noticed that no one was there to hear her. "I need someone to talk to…" she muttered to herself. Salty purred softly, rubbing herself against Caroline's leg. "Aww Salty…I meant a person." Caroline smiled despite herself. "Thanks anyway." She petted Salty and placed her on top of the fish tank.
The weekend had come and gone, and Richard grew more and more anxious. «Not to mention terrified.» Richard thought to himself as he got dressed. «God I hate Mondays!» Richard sighed loudly as he stepped out of his apartment. It had been three days since he had seen Caroline - since she had rushed out of his apartment. "It was a moment of weakness for her. Not love. Not sincere amore. Weakness. Weakness and pity." He muttered to himself, basking in self commiseration. «Maybe today I'll get lucky…» Richard thought sarcastically as he eyed some suspicious hoodlums. A train ride later, Richard stepped into Caroline's building, alive and well. "Some people have all the luck." Richard mumbled as Annie stepped out of the elevator. "Then again…"
"Humph!" Annie stuck her nose in the air.
Richard sighed and grabbed her arm rather passively. "Okay…I guess you spoke to Caroline."
"I can't believe you could do that Richie!" Annie threw her arms up in the air.
Richard closed his eyes. "Look, it was a moment of weakness for Caroline. She was vulnerable…I…" Richard paused. "I had to say that I didn't have feelings for her - that things could never be…" Richard opened his eyes and noticed Annie's shocked expression. "…and that wasn't what she told you…" Richard said painfully.
Annie grinned and looked up at the ceiling, mouthing "thank you". She opened her mouth to speak, but what cut off by Richard.
"Not a word." He breathed. "Not ONE WORD." With that, he stepped in the elevator and pressed the button. As the doors were closing, he continued to look on the ground. The last thing he heard was Annie muttering "this is going to be good…" Richard leaned against the wall. "And the purgatories continue."
Richard stepped out of the elevator. He took a deep breath, and just stared at the door. «For whom the bell tolls, it tolls for… me!» Richard yelled at himself. He took out his keys and placed it in the keyhole. He was about to turn it when the door suddenly opened. Richard took a step back.
"Hey."
"Oh it's you." Richard took his keys out and breezed past Matt, who was standing on the other side of the door. "For a minute I was hoping that my Telekinesis Exchange Course had actually paid off." Richard muttered sarcastically, trying to hide the surprise and pain of seeing Matt in Caroline's apartment at 9:30 in the morning.
"What took you so long?" Matt asked, stepping closer to Richard.
"What do you mean?"
Matt looked at Richard's hands. "And the bagels?" Matt raised his eyebrows as Richard just stared at him blankly. "The ones Caroline sent you to get. I don't know, that's why she told me you weren't here, this early in the morning." Matt shrugged.
"Oh.." Richard thought, more to himself. "Oh!" He said, a little louder. «We're still engaged! Well, not *really* engaged, but still none the less…» Richard was snapped out of his inner discussion by Matt's voice.
"Well?" Matt asked, crossing his arms.
Richard stood there, his mouth open. "Baker's strike." He blurted out. Both men stood there with perplexed looks on their faces. «Baker's strike?» Richard mouthed to himself.
"Baker's strike?" Matt repeated in a disbelieving tone. "Ah-huh…"
"You know…bakeries across the city have stopped making…"
"…bread?" Matt finished Richard's thoughts.
Richard nodded. "A new world revolution." Richard began to exaggerate. "Bagels are going at fifteen hundred a pop, because of…rarity." Richard's brow furrowed.
"What about Baguettes?" Matt asked, leaning in.
"Gone. And Kaiser rolls, don't even think about it!" Richard held up his hands, confused at how insane this conversation was.
Once again, both men stood there in silence. Finally, Matt broke out in hysterics. "Just kidding, man! Caroline explained everything last night." Matt laughed, as he slapped Richard on the back. "Baker's strike! Too good!"
"Last night…" Richard repeated, more of a mental note to himself than a question to Matt.
"Must say, you sure had me convinced that you were madly in love with her!" Matt said, exaggerating the word 'love' by placing his hands on top of his heart.
Richard took a deep breath. "Well, I have work to do." He sat down and took the blue pen. "What about Mary-Lou?" He asked, as he slapped the pen on the desk.
"Mary-Beth." Matt stated.
"Whatever. What happened to her?"
Matt grinned. "Mary-Beth and I got a divorce a year ago, and I haven't talked to her for 363 days." Matt paused, off Richard's look. "I feel rather silly, but, the girl with me was hired." Matt looked at Richard, who had one eyebrow up. "You know…a hooker." Matt laughed uneasily. "Cost me six grand."
"You could have bought four bagels with that much money." Richard retorted softly, getting back to work.
Matt took it as a sign to leave and headed to the bottom of the stairs. "Caroline!" He bellowed. "We're going to be late!" He turned to Richard. "I'm taking her to brunch." He smiled proudly.
Richard opened his mouth with an exaggerated expression of awe, and mock clapped. "Bravo."
Caroline descended the stairs and caught Richard's eye. "Richard." She stated.
"Caroline." Richard breathed. They stared at eachother for a while, then Caroline broke their gaze. She walked up to the desks, and handed Richard some panels.
"These are today's panels. I'll be back later." She said, rather coldly.
Richard gently grabbed Caroline's arm. "You don't have to do this." Richard whispered to her.
"I don't *don't* have to do anything!" Caroline remarked, as she yanked her arm out of Richard's grasp. They both paused, trying to comprehend her last statement. Caroline shook her head and tried to glare at Richard. "You don't own me, Richard." She took a deep breath. "And I don't think you ever will!" Her voice faltered on her last announcement.
Richard sat there, his mouth open. "Fine." He said, reserved. "Even though all three of us know what a huge mistake this is." He muttered under his breath.
"Excuse me?!" Matt butted in. "Mistake?!"
Caroline gently pushed Matt back. "I'll handle this." Caroline paused. "Mistake?" She yelled. "You think it's a mistake, do you?" She asked, flailing her arms. "You know, the only mistake I made was having gone to your apartment on Thursday!" She huffed, as she grabbed her jacket and headed out the door. The door slammed with a loud *bang*, leaving Matt and Richard looking at eachother. Suddenly the door flew open, revealing Caroline. She walked back in, grabbed Matt by his arm and walked back out - slamming the door once again.
Richard just stared at the door. He felt paralyzed with pain. «I knew it was a moment of weakness.» He sighed to himself. After what seemed like a half hour of just staring at the door, Annie barged in.
"Hey Richie!" She smiled, heading straight for the fridge. "Caroline seemed really mad. What did you do to her?" Annie asked, popping the cover of a soda can.
"Other than force her to hate my guts - absolutely nothing." Richard replied, finally breaking his gaze from the door, and concentrating on the panels in front of them.
Annie sat in Caroline's chair. "She doesn't hate you, Richard. She merely strongly dislikes you…for the moment." She shrugged.
"Yeah? Then explain why cartoon Richard has mysteriously disappeared and is replaced by some big Black woman named Bula?" Richard tossed the panel over to Annie.
Annie let out a small chuckle then glanced up at Richard's irate expression. "Sorry." She apologized softly, but kept her grin. "Okay, so Caroline's a little ticked off…so what? She'll get over it, I mean, she's Caroline after all!" Annie went over to the television and turned on the Spanish channel. "Now shut-up, Paco is fighting for Maria who is still in love with Pedro's niece's sister's dog's real owner, Danté, who's really Paco's long-lost twin brother, who was switched at birth with Luis, who, all these years, has lived a lie. And what's more, Paco and Danté's real mother is Maria!" Annie sighed and moved closer to the television, completely engrossed in the soap opera.
Richard put the three panels in his portfolio, and headed for the door. He stopped and looked at the television. "Wait…what did Man-With-The-Hairy-Chest say?"
Annie didn't even look at Richard. "I have *no* idea!" She said, almost like a zombie.
Richard stared at her blankly. "I can't work under these conditions. If you see Caroline, tell her I'll drop the panels here by five, this evening, okay?" Richard didn't wait for Annie to answer as he head out the door.
"Okay, Ricardo." Annie muttered, still transfixed on the television.
Richard made it back home, still disappointed that he was physically in one piece. He stepped into his apartment, only to hear some amorous sounds coming from the apartment next door. "Yuck, even big fat man next door is getting lucky." Richard sighed and looked at his watch. "Ewwww, a nooner?" He looked at his neighbour's door, then closed his own.
When five o'clock surfaced, Richard was pacing in front of Caroline's loft. «Just go in, put the panels on the desk, and run out.» Richard went to open the door. «Yeah right, last time you go stuck on the window ledge! Remember that?! The letter? The feelings?!» "The damn cat!" Richard said aloud. He heard voices inside her loft, and quickly ran around the corner.
Caroline and Matt emerged from the loft. Matt had his arm around Caroline's waste and Caroline was nervously clutching her bag. "Matt, I don't want to go to a club. Can't we just go to Remo's?"
"Caroline! Since I'm moving here, I have to familiarize myself with all the hot spots!"
Richard cringed at his statement. «Moving here? With Caroline?» Richard leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes. He heard the elevator doors close, but still waited, leaning against the wall. He sighed loudly, got up and opened Caroline's door. Just as he was about to step in, Charlie exited the elevator.
"Hey Richard."
"Charlie." Richard stated as he closed the door. "Here." He handed him the panels and stepped into the elevator.
"Thanks man. Now I better hurry, because my friend and I are having a discussion on who would win if Spider-Man and Superman were at war." Charlie nodded in a hyperactive manner.
"Who would win?" Richard asked, immediately regretting it.
"Spider-Man of course!" Charlie yelled. "He was a scientist. He had super-human strength, could swing, could climb on walls. So what if Superman could fly!" Charlie paused. "Superman was a mama's boy! She even made his costume!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. "I mean, all Spider-Man needs to do is make Kryptonite webbing, and Superman is as dead as Micheal Jackson's career. Well, see you later, buddy!" Charlie skated off, down the stairs. "Remember, Spider-Man is the waaaaaaaay!" Was the last thing Richard heard, after some loud crashed, thuds and surprisingly high-pitched screams.
Richard smiled despite himself, as he pressed the button. «Oookay, I just laughed. Either there's something in the air, or I need to get seriously drunk.» Richard thought to himself, and then opted for the latter reason.
Richard stepped into Remo's. "Aah, Ricardo!" Remo ventured over to Richard. "Shall you be sitting with Carolina and…" Remo paused, "Matt." Remo stated in an unsuccessful American accent.
Richard looked over at the table. "What's she doing here?" Richard asked himself.
"She's having the lobster, topped off with cheese bread and wine." Remo exclaimed, peering over at their table.
Richard shot Remo and annoyed look. "Look, I'll just have a Chianti, and then I'm gone." Richard sat depressively at the bar.
Caroline had spotted Richard, or better yet, had sensed Richard before he had even entered Remo's. She picked then to talk to him….actually, she just wanted to see his reaction to the strip. She poked his shoulder lightly.
"What." Richard stated monotonously, without turning around.
"Damnit, at least look at me." Caroline started to become irate. She calmed down. "So Richard. How did you like today's strip."
Richard turned around. "It was okay. Bula really grows on you…..if she hasn't crushed you." Richard muttered the last statement.
Caroline shrugged her shoulders. "What's your problem? It's not like you *care* about anything." Caroline remarked casually, while heading back to her seat.
Richard grabbed Caroline's arm, and whirled her around so that she was facing him. "You want to know what my problem is?!" Richard started to raise his voice, winning the attention of everyone in the restaurant including Matt. "My problem is not that I don't care….it's that I care *too* much!" Richard took a deep breath. "Too much about you, Caroline. That's the only thing I care about! Why do you think I always went with you everywhere? To return something to an old couple, just because you found it in their old desk? What about the dance, when Joe didn't want to go? What about this?! You wanted to impress Matt…God knows why. Who helped you? You think it was the overtime pay? I don't care about the money, Caroline. It's you. It was always you. I'm so deeply in love with you that it hurts. That's my problem." Richard let go of Caroline's arm and sighed. His mouth was dry, his heart was pacing, his legs were wobbly. He shook his head, looked over at Caroline and walked quickly out of Remo's.
Caroline stood there in a daze. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes as she just stared blankly into space. She felt an arm caress her back. "Matt…" She whispered. Matt took her into his arms, where she sobbed silently.
Author : Karen Gomes (pyrie@hotmail.com)
Rating : G or PG
Type : Prose
Spoilers : Probably…
Notes : Well…here's another installment. Heh. I disclaimed everything in the second chapter, so please don't sue me! Anyway, see, there's less and less drivel. I just want to thank everyone who has sent in their comments : I really appreciate you taking your time for me! Well, on with the…uh…literary piece. Ooh ooh, and any similarities between fictitious and real people are merely stereotypical coincidences, and no harm is intended whatsoever. Thanks.
Draggingly,
Gomes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caroline and the Sham (Part 4)
Richard rushed to his window and watched as Caroline hailed a cab. She glanced back, and the two made eye-contact for a mere second, before she got into the awaiting car, driving off into New York's early morning. «She hates me. She hates me. She hates me…» Richard repeated to himself, climbing into bed to retrieve his much needed sleep.
Caroline stepped into her loft, slamming the door behind her. "He's all wrong for me!" Caroline exclaimed out loud. Looking around, she noticed that no one was there to hear her. "I need someone to talk to…" she muttered to herself. Salty purred softly, rubbing herself against Caroline's leg. "Aww Salty…I meant a person." Caroline smiled despite herself. "Thanks anyway." She petted Salty and placed her on top of the fish tank.
The weekend had come and gone, and Richard grew more and more anxious. «Not to mention terrified.» Richard thought to himself as he got dressed. «God I hate Mondays!» Richard sighed loudly as he stepped out of his apartment. It had been three days since he had seen Caroline - since she had rushed out of his apartment. "It was a moment of weakness for her. Not love. Not sincere amore. Weakness. Weakness and pity." He muttered to himself, basking in self commiseration. «Maybe today I'll get lucky…» Richard thought sarcastically as he eyed some suspicious hoodlums. A train ride later, Richard stepped into Caroline's building, alive and well. "Some people have all the luck." Richard mumbled as Annie stepped out of the elevator. "Then again…"
"Humph!" Annie stuck her nose in the air.
Richard sighed and grabbed her arm rather passively. "Okay…I guess you spoke to Caroline."
"I can't believe you could do that Richie!" Annie threw her arms up in the air.
Richard closed his eyes. "Look, it was a moment of weakness for Caroline. She was vulnerable…I…" Richard paused. "I had to say that I didn't have feelings for her - that things could never be…" Richard opened his eyes and noticed Annie's shocked expression. "…and that wasn't what she told you…" Richard said painfully.
Annie grinned and looked up at the ceiling, mouthing "thank you". She opened her mouth to speak, but what cut off by Richard.
"Not a word." He breathed. "Not ONE WORD." With that, he stepped in the elevator and pressed the button. As the doors were closing, he continued to look on the ground. The last thing he heard was Annie muttering "this is going to be good…" Richard leaned against the wall. "And the purgatories continue."
Richard stepped out of the elevator. He took a deep breath, and just stared at the door. «For whom the bell tolls, it tolls for… me!» Richard yelled at himself. He took out his keys and placed it in the keyhole. He was about to turn it when the door suddenly opened. Richard took a step back.
"Hey."
"Oh it's you." Richard took his keys out and breezed past Matt, who was standing on the other side of the door. "For a minute I was hoping that my Telekinesis Exchange Course had actually paid off." Richard muttered sarcastically, trying to hide the surprise and pain of seeing Matt in Caroline's apartment at 9:30 in the morning.
"What took you so long?" Matt asked, stepping closer to Richard.
"What do you mean?"
Matt looked at Richard's hands. "And the bagels?" Matt raised his eyebrows as Richard just stared at him blankly. "The ones Caroline sent you to get. I don't know, that's why she told me you weren't here, this early in the morning." Matt shrugged.
"Oh.." Richard thought, more to himself. "Oh!" He said, a little louder. «We're still engaged! Well, not *really* engaged, but still none the less…» Richard was snapped out of his inner discussion by Matt's voice.
"Well?" Matt asked, crossing his arms.
Richard stood there, his mouth open. "Baker's strike." He blurted out. Both men stood there with perplexed looks on their faces. «Baker's strike?» Richard mouthed to himself.
"Baker's strike?" Matt repeated in a disbelieving tone. "Ah-huh…"
"You know…bakeries across the city have stopped making…"
"…bread?" Matt finished Richard's thoughts.
Richard nodded. "A new world revolution." Richard began to exaggerate. "Bagels are going at fifteen hundred a pop, because of…rarity." Richard's brow furrowed.
"What about Baguettes?" Matt asked, leaning in.
"Gone. And Kaiser rolls, don't even think about it!" Richard held up his hands, confused at how insane this conversation was.
Once again, both men stood there in silence. Finally, Matt broke out in hysterics. "Just kidding, man! Caroline explained everything last night." Matt laughed, as he slapped Richard on the back. "Baker's strike! Too good!"
"Last night…" Richard repeated, more of a mental note to himself than a question to Matt.
"Must say, you sure had me convinced that you were madly in love with her!" Matt said, exaggerating the word 'love' by placing his hands on top of his heart.
Richard took a deep breath. "Well, I have work to do." He sat down and took the blue pen. "What about Mary-Lou?" He asked, as he slapped the pen on the desk.
"Mary-Beth." Matt stated.
"Whatever. What happened to her?"
Matt grinned. "Mary-Beth and I got a divorce a year ago, and I haven't talked to her for 363 days." Matt paused, off Richard's look. "I feel rather silly, but, the girl with me was hired." Matt looked at Richard, who had one eyebrow up. "You know…a hooker." Matt laughed uneasily. "Cost me six grand."
"You could have bought four bagels with that much money." Richard retorted softly, getting back to work.
Matt took it as a sign to leave and headed to the bottom of the stairs. "Caroline!" He bellowed. "We're going to be late!" He turned to Richard. "I'm taking her to brunch." He smiled proudly.
Richard opened his mouth with an exaggerated expression of awe, and mock clapped. "Bravo."
Caroline descended the stairs and caught Richard's eye. "Richard." She stated.
"Caroline." Richard breathed. They stared at eachother for a while, then Caroline broke their gaze. She walked up to the desks, and handed Richard some panels.
"These are today's panels. I'll be back later." She said, rather coldly.
Richard gently grabbed Caroline's arm. "You don't have to do this." Richard whispered to her.
"I don't *don't* have to do anything!" Caroline remarked, as she yanked her arm out of Richard's grasp. They both paused, trying to comprehend her last statement. Caroline shook her head and tried to glare at Richard. "You don't own me, Richard." She took a deep breath. "And I don't think you ever will!" Her voice faltered on her last announcement.
Richard sat there, his mouth open. "Fine." He said, reserved. "Even though all three of us know what a huge mistake this is." He muttered under his breath.
"Excuse me?!" Matt butted in. "Mistake?!"
Caroline gently pushed Matt back. "I'll handle this." Caroline paused. "Mistake?" She yelled. "You think it's a mistake, do you?" She asked, flailing her arms. "You know, the only mistake I made was having gone to your apartment on Thursday!" She huffed, as she grabbed her jacket and headed out the door. The door slammed with a loud *bang*, leaving Matt and Richard looking at eachother. Suddenly the door flew open, revealing Caroline. She walked back in, grabbed Matt by his arm and walked back out - slamming the door once again.
Richard just stared at the door. He felt paralyzed with pain. «I knew it was a moment of weakness.» He sighed to himself. After what seemed like a half hour of just staring at the door, Annie barged in.
"Hey Richie!" She smiled, heading straight for the fridge. "Caroline seemed really mad. What did you do to her?" Annie asked, popping the cover of a soda can.
"Other than force her to hate my guts - absolutely nothing." Richard replied, finally breaking his gaze from the door, and concentrating on the panels in front of them.
Annie sat in Caroline's chair. "She doesn't hate you, Richard. She merely strongly dislikes you…for the moment." She shrugged.
"Yeah? Then explain why cartoon Richard has mysteriously disappeared and is replaced by some big Black woman named Bula?" Richard tossed the panel over to Annie.
Annie let out a small chuckle then glanced up at Richard's irate expression. "Sorry." She apologized softly, but kept her grin. "Okay, so Caroline's a little ticked off…so what? She'll get over it, I mean, she's Caroline after all!" Annie went over to the television and turned on the Spanish channel. "Now shut-up, Paco is fighting for Maria who is still in love with Pedro's niece's sister's dog's real owner, Danté, who's really Paco's long-lost twin brother, who was switched at birth with Luis, who, all these years, has lived a lie. And what's more, Paco and Danté's real mother is Maria!" Annie sighed and moved closer to the television, completely engrossed in the soap opera.
Richard put the three panels in his portfolio, and headed for the door. He stopped and looked at the television. "Wait…what did Man-With-The-Hairy-Chest say?"
Annie didn't even look at Richard. "I have *no* idea!" She said, almost like a zombie.
Richard stared at her blankly. "I can't work under these conditions. If you see Caroline, tell her I'll drop the panels here by five, this evening, okay?" Richard didn't wait for Annie to answer as he head out the door.
"Okay, Ricardo." Annie muttered, still transfixed on the television.
Richard made it back home, still disappointed that he was physically in one piece. He stepped into his apartment, only to hear some amorous sounds coming from the apartment next door. "Yuck, even big fat man next door is getting lucky." Richard sighed and looked at his watch. "Ewwww, a nooner?" He looked at his neighbour's door, then closed his own.
When five o'clock surfaced, Richard was pacing in front of Caroline's loft. «Just go in, put the panels on the desk, and run out.» Richard went to open the door. «Yeah right, last time you go stuck on the window ledge! Remember that?! The letter? The feelings?!» "The damn cat!" Richard said aloud. He heard voices inside her loft, and quickly ran around the corner.
Caroline and Matt emerged from the loft. Matt had his arm around Caroline's waste and Caroline was nervously clutching her bag. "Matt, I don't want to go to a club. Can't we just go to Remo's?"
"Caroline! Since I'm moving here, I have to familiarize myself with all the hot spots!"
Richard cringed at his statement. «Moving here? With Caroline?» Richard leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes. He heard the elevator doors close, but still waited, leaning against the wall. He sighed loudly, got up and opened Caroline's door. Just as he was about to step in, Charlie exited the elevator.
"Hey Richard."
"Charlie." Richard stated as he closed the door. "Here." He handed him the panels and stepped into the elevator.
"Thanks man. Now I better hurry, because my friend and I are having a discussion on who would win if Spider-Man and Superman were at war." Charlie nodded in a hyperactive manner.
"Who would win?" Richard asked, immediately regretting it.
"Spider-Man of course!" Charlie yelled. "He was a scientist. He had super-human strength, could swing, could climb on walls. So what if Superman could fly!" Charlie paused. "Superman was a mama's boy! She even made his costume!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. "I mean, all Spider-Man needs to do is make Kryptonite webbing, and Superman is as dead as Micheal Jackson's career. Well, see you later, buddy!" Charlie skated off, down the stairs. "Remember, Spider-Man is the waaaaaaaay!" Was the last thing Richard heard, after some loud crashed, thuds and surprisingly high-pitched screams.
Richard smiled despite himself, as he pressed the button. «Oookay, I just laughed. Either there's something in the air, or I need to get seriously drunk.» Richard thought to himself, and then opted for the latter reason.
Richard stepped into Remo's. "Aah, Ricardo!" Remo ventured over to Richard. "Shall you be sitting with Carolina and…" Remo paused, "Matt." Remo stated in an unsuccessful American accent.
Richard looked over at the table. "What's she doing here?" Richard asked himself.
"She's having the lobster, topped off with cheese bread and wine." Remo exclaimed, peering over at their table.
Richard shot Remo and annoyed look. "Look, I'll just have a Chianti, and then I'm gone." Richard sat depressively at the bar.
Caroline had spotted Richard, or better yet, had sensed Richard before he had even entered Remo's. She picked then to talk to him….actually, she just wanted to see his reaction to the strip. She poked his shoulder lightly.
"What." Richard stated monotonously, without turning around.
"Damnit, at least look at me." Caroline started to become irate. She calmed down. "So Richard. How did you like today's strip."
Richard turned around. "It was okay. Bula really grows on you…..if she hasn't crushed you." Richard muttered the last statement.
Caroline shrugged her shoulders. "What's your problem? It's not like you *care* about anything." Caroline remarked casually, while heading back to her seat.
Richard grabbed Caroline's arm, and whirled her around so that she was facing him. "You want to know what my problem is?!" Richard started to raise his voice, winning the attention of everyone in the restaurant including Matt. "My problem is not that I don't care….it's that I care *too* much!" Richard took a deep breath. "Too much about you, Caroline. That's the only thing I care about! Why do you think I always went with you everywhere? To return something to an old couple, just because you found it in their old desk? What about the dance, when Joe didn't want to go? What about this?! You wanted to impress Matt…God knows why. Who helped you? You think it was the overtime pay? I don't care about the money, Caroline. It's you. It was always you. I'm so deeply in love with you that it hurts. That's my problem." Richard let go of Caroline's arm and sighed. His mouth was dry, his heart was pacing, his legs were wobbly. He shook his head, looked over at Caroline and walked quickly out of Remo's.
Caroline stood there in a daze. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes as she just stared blankly into space. She felt an arm caress her back. "Matt…" She whispered. Matt took her into his arms, where she sobbed silently.
