Earthquake – Part Five

~* One Week Later *~

Louis packed his last folded shirt into his suitcase and zipped it shut.  He sighed as he looked around his temporary bedroom, which hadn't even been totally unpacked yet.  Now he was leaving again.  He and Ren had decided to go back to Michigan.  They wanted to leave behind the memories of their parents and their old house.  Well, Ren did anyway.  There was still something in California that Louis wanted.  Ren would resume going to classes at MSU and would use the insurance money left by her parents to rent an apartment for her and Louis until she could get a job.  Louis would probably find a part-time job or go to high school at some local school.  Donnie would go back to Sacramento once it was rebuilt, get a job, and live in his own place, or with one of his friends.  He was so distant from his brother and sister that it was like Ren and Louis were a duo and Donnie was an entirely separate entity.

"Hey."  Tawny stood in the doorway of Louis' room, her eyes glazed over.  "You done packing?"  She cautiously took two steps into the room, glanced around, and sniffled, one hand clasped over the other in her best stoic pose.

"Yeah."  Louis nodded and lifted his suitcase off of his bed.

"My dad's a jerk," said Tawny.  "I just wanted to let you know.  He shouldn't have done this to you guys."

"It's okay," Louis told her.  "We can't stay here forever."

"Yeah, I guess."

Louis dropped the suitcase on the floor and took a step forward, throwing his arms around Tawny.  "I love you."

"I love you too, Louis."

"Hey, what's up?"  Ren came into the room and Louis and Tawny turned to look at her.  "Louis, our flight leaves in four hours.  Are you going to be ready to go in about twenty minutes?"

"Yeah, sure.  I'll be right back."  Louis stepped out of the room and back into the living room.  The Deans were out, probably to give Louis and Ren "space."  Or maybe Mr. Dean didn't want Louis to try to reason out a way he could stay, like Tawny had been doing for him all week.

"Thank you so much," Ren told Tawny back in Louis' room, hugging her slightly.  "You have no idea how much I appreciate your parents giving us a place to stay and...and helping us out like this."

"It was no problem."  Tawny brushed a tear from her cheek.  "You guys will write, right?"

"Oh, definitely," Ren assured her.

Tawny plopped down on Louis' former bed.  "I can't believe you guys are just leaving.  It's like that time I thought you were going to D.C."

"Yeah."  A pang stung Ren's chest as she thought about how her mother had almost won that election a few years back.  She visualized Eileen Stevens for the first time since her death as a whole person.  She had been trying not to see her mother's face, but now it all came rushing back to her.  The friendly smile, the inquisitive eyebrows.  Ren clutched at her chest, unable to breathe for a second.

"Are you okay?" Tawny asked her.

"I'm fine."

"I guess I just took the fact for granted that you guys would be here, I don't know, forever."  Tawny forced a laugh.  "I guess that's pretty stupid."

"I used to think it was," Ren replied, "until I learned that sometimes hope is what gets you through life."

Tawny chuckled.  "I never imagined you'd go into After-school Special mode."

Ren smiled through tightly-closed lips.  "Well, Louis and I really should go..."

"Can I just, you know, have a few minutes with him?" Tawny asked.

"Go ahead.  I'll get our stuff together while you two say good-bye," said Ren.

Tawny set next to Louis on the living room couch.  "How you doing?"

"How do you think?"  Louis was biting his lip, his hands folded under his chin.  He turned to Tawny, his eyes filled with hurt.

"I'm sorry," Tawny said again, not really sure what she was supposed to do.

"My...my parents are dead," Louis said.  His lip trembled and a tear spilled from his eye.  He angrily wiped it away.  "You don't know what it feels like to one day have them there and then they're just...they're just gone, Tawny, they're...and my brother isn't even here anymore, and now I have to move across the country...it sucks, Tawny."

"I know," Tawny said softly as Louis buried his head in her shirt.  She patted his hair and did everything she could to not cry.  She couldn't break down in front of Louis when it was her turn to comfort him.

"I hate them!" Louis screamed, standing up.  "I hate this stupid city!  I wish I just hadn't spent the night at your house that night and I would have been dead with them.  Might as well be."  He fought to scream through his tears and his mounting anger.  Something burned in him that he had never felt before.  It was the most intense pain ever.

"Don't say that," Tawny whispered.

Ren crept out of Louis' room and stood behind the doorway to the living room, silently crying for her brother.  She wished there were something she could do for him, but if they stayed here she knew that the memories would be too much.

"No."  Louis gripped his face.  "I can't go without you, Tawny."  He stood in front of the window curtains and yanked them forcefully across the windows in anger.  "I hate this!"

Then Ren stared, shocked, at what Tawny did next.  Or at least what she thought she was doing.

"Louis."  Tawny's voice suddenly came strongly from behind him.

Louis wiped his face with his shirt and turned around slowly to find Tawny on one knee on the floor.  Slowly, he walked over to her and she reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Louis, you don't have to do this," said Tawny.

"Yes," he replied.  "I..."

Panicking, Ren grabbed the two suitcases and stepped into the room.  "Louis," she said quietly, "we have to go."

"Louis."  Tawny grasped Louis' hand more tightly.  "I love you so much.  And you have to take me seriously when I say this..."

"Louis," Ren repeated more sternly.

Louis placed his hand over Tawny's.  Surprisingly, he felt something cool and metal slipped onto his finger.

The lock clicked in the doorway and Mrs. Dean opened the door and stepped into the room behind Tawny.  Ren dashed over to her, trying to stop her from seeing the scene that was unfolding.

Louis nodded confidently at Tawny and swallowed, his eyes brimming with tears.  But this time, he wasn't so sad.

"Louis."  Tawny's eyes echoed Louis and filled with water.  "Will you marry me?"

I think I'll have one more chapter after this one...