AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'll probably end up posting a lot of chapters at once, so for those of you who were anxiously awaiting my Jackass opinion, you'll have to wait until at least the next Author's Note, and of course I will deliver only by request. Also, my modem is fried, making it very hard to use the Internet at my place of residence. (Translating to: Use of public computers in my local library.) My apologies to everyone for making them wait a while for their next slash fix.

Suze came home from school and ran up the stairs to her room. She did a quick Jesse check and found he wasn't there. She threw her backpack on her bed and proceeded to take off her sneakers. She threw them next to her backpack. She stood up, planning to turn on her radio and stopped, thinking she heard a noise. Yes, she decided, she definitely heard a noise coming from her bathroom. Sort of like…crying? She knocked.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" She was answered by a muffled 'Go away'. Which, naturally being a girl, she opened the door. "Jesse?" She sputtered. He was sitting on the edge of the tub with his head in his hands, tears running down his face. His bottom lip quivered.

"I told you to leave, Susannah." He said softly.

"What happened? Who died?" She sat next to him.

"It's – it's nothing. Nothing important."

"It sure seems important."

"Well, you're wrong. It most definitely isn't."

"You know," she said in an attempt to cheer him up, "that sounds a tad surfer. Is Paul rubbing off on you?" This caused him, however, to tear up even more. "Oh my god. It's Paul, isn't it? What happened?"

"It's nothing…we just had a disagreement."

"How long have you guys been together?" She put an arm around him.

"A – about three months now." He stuttered.

"Well you have to expect a fight every now and then, don't you?"

"But we're not supposed to fight, Susannah." He looked at her. "I believe he is what is holding me back, why I was meant to linger here as long as I have. We're soul mates, querida. We can't have fights."

"Just because you're each other's destiny doesn't mean you have to be nice all the time. Fights are like spices-,"

"What kind of spices?"

"Like…like cinnamon. You know, it tastes horrible by itself but when you put it in something it tastes really good."

"I – I'm sorry but I don't understand your analogy."

"Never mind. Have you thought about-,"

"What can we fight about?" He yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "We both have a love of Tostitos, and Oscar Wilde, and that television show Buffy, and kittens, and Cher, and … and … each other." He started sobbing again.

"So what is this all about?"

"He told me that he wished he could take me out in public and I said I was sorry and then I told him that I thought it might be better if he did find someone he could take into public places and he said, No! but I ignored it because I know what's best for him and he deserves much better than the ghost of an old cowboy who was shot by his cousin's boyfriend whom he used to work with."

"So it was sort of…about you? What did he do?"

"He just sat there. He didn't act like he heard me, and then he started yelling at me…"

"What did he say?"

"He just kept telling me to get out, over and over and over and over-,"

"Ok. What if I talked to him for you?"

"No…I know this is for the best, Susannah. You mustn't interfere with destiny."

"Neither should you."

*******************

"Hey, Suze," Kelly Prescott whispered to her in the middle of English. "What did you do to Paul?"

"What?" She turned around to face her.

"Have you seen him today? He's a total wreck. He didn't even," She shivered a little, "Fix his hair." Suze's mouth gaped open. "What was it? Were you guys secretly dating, and you broke it off? Was it that?"

"No, but he was in a relationship…" She trailed off.

"What?"

"Well, the 'secret date' said he wasn't very upset."

"Guess she was wrong, huh?"

"Yeah, she was."

When class was let out half an hour later, Suze was the first one out the door. She stood in the center of the hall, looking up and down for Paul. He saw her first, however, and stopped in front of her.

"What?" He demanded. He was as bad as Kelly made it sound. Hair uncombed, eyes red, clothes wrinkled and the same as the day before.

"Hello to you to."

"I said what. Get it over with so I can get out of here."

"Oh, well, I just wanted to tell you that Jesse told me-,"

"That I'm an asshole. That I don't deserve to be in love. Is that it?" His lip quivered a little bit.

"No, actually he said that you were his destiny." He had no response to that. "He said you were the reason he's been around so long, that you're keeping him back."

"And of course it's my fault. As always."

"He said you weren't upset." She added quietly, afraid of his reaction.

"Well, I guess I have a good way of hiding it, don't I?" He said bitterly. "Is that all?"

"No, it's not." The warning bell went off.

"I'm going to be late." He moved to go past her but she grabbed his arm.

"Come. We need to talk." She dragged him to the girl's bathroom and shoved him onto a sink. He let her. "You look nice today."

"Don't I? I'm not sure you'd look this nice if CeeCee ever broke it off."

"How did you know about that?"

"How do you think, dumb ass?"

"I thought you were a stalker!"

"Now you have proof, Nancy."

"Ok, let's not argue." She took a breath. "All I want to say is that I think you should make up with Jesse."

"Oh, I should. Cause it was my fault." He snorted.

"Well, you seem to be the one that's feeling the worst. And he still wants you. So why not?"

"He could care less. I shouldn't have trusted him. No one else cares, why should he?"

"Don't say that…"

"I don't even understand why you're helping me."

"Shut up and listen, ok? I don't need to hear your whining right now. Jesse's upset. That's all I care about. Go Monty's Cliff tonight at eight."

"What?"

"Be there."

"Or what?"

"I'll kill you."

To be continued…