I own nothing

I know it's starting off slow but it'll pick up…

----

Theresa wiped down the counter. She'd had so little morning sickness that she wondered if the doctors knew what they were saying when they claimed she was pregnant. Granted, it had been a few months since her last period but she'd never really been regular and as for the test, one out of the three she'd taken had resulted in a minus sign. But her mother had said she'd experienced lower back pain in her two pregnancies and as she rubbed the small of her back, she knew she couldn't deny having the same symptom.

She was refilling her coffee pot when she saw a familiar skinny boy walk into the café. She'd known she'd be risking running into a member of Ryan's old clan when she accepted the catering job in Newport, but it didn't matter that much to her – she figured earning money for diapers and any other things the baby might need outweighed avoiding uncomfortable situations. Besides, since she'd learned she was pregnant, she'd had far less time for bullshit and melodrama.

"Theresa, as you can see, the customer at Table 8 is waiting. In case you were unaware, this is not a buffet, so we don't expect our customers to serve themselves," the assistant manager grunted. Theresa couldn't help feeling sorry for the hateful woman because she felt that if she wasn't so ugly, and her chest not so flat, she'd have been able to find a man to help diffuse all that tension. About once a day, she thought of buying her a dildo but wasn't quite sure how the gift would be perceived.

"Welcome," she sang, handing Seth the menu. She held out the coffee pot, "Would you like some coffee?"

He looked a little shocked when he recognized her but after regaining his composure, he nodded then stuck his cup out at her. She filled it.

"How's your mother?" She pulled out her order book and looked down at him.

"She's fine," he replied. His eyes were moving from side to side in discomfort and she felt a twinge of guilt for rattling him that way.

"It's been a while. What would you like?" she asked kindly.

He looked at the menu, perused the four cardboard pages, then looked up at her. "What do you suggest?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what you like… how about grilled cheese sandwiches?"

He thought for a moment. "That sounds fine. What kind of cheese, though?"

What the hell? "American. Grade A, D or whatever the highest grade for cheese is. How about some fries with that?"

---

When she saw that he was done with his meal, she went back to him.

"Will that be all?" She didn't mean to be impatient but she'd already calculated that she wouldn't be getting more than a two dollar tip from him and for a smile and a sway of her hips, she was sure the gentlemen at Table 12 would fork over at least ten dollars.

He studied the pastry counter. "What kind of pie do you have?"

She scratched the side of her head. "Seth, from what I remember, your folks keep a lot of pie at home. What's going on?" Seriously, why was he even there? Why would anyone spend money on a solo lunch at a diner when there was plenty of free food at home?

"How is this your business?" he snapped. "I thought your job was to serve me, not grill me."

She rolled her eyes. "Excuse me for being friendly."

"Oh, you want to be a friend to me, just like you were to Ryan?"

She grimaced. As if she wasn't already feeling bad about that enough. "Isn't that rich coming for you? What would you know about being a friend to Ryan? When was the last time you even spoke to him? At least I'm there when he needs me."

----

"Michael Ashton, please call 2132, Michael Ashton, 2132," a voice boomed over the paging system.

Ryan waited for a few seconds before he tapped the guy seating a few feet from him. "Dude, you're being paged in Quality Control,"

The chubby man turned the soldering machine off, removed his goggles and looked at him. "No, that's not me, it's my Dad."

"Your Dad?"

"Yeah, we've got the same name."

"So how call you tell they were paging him?"

"Because they call him Mike Ashton and me Michael Ashton."

That was the thing about Vector Technologies –it was just one big happy family. Almost everyone he'd met had at least two other relatives working at the company. It was only about 80 years old but there were some people whose families had been with it since its inception. They all spoke about how they loved the company because they got to work a lot of overtime and earn a time and a half for the additional hours most of them incurred working twelve hours days -including weekends.

Eighty hours a week. He understood that as an adult, he needed to work as many hours as possible but the entire thing was far too daunting. He was on a three month probationary period where his work was being evaluated and if he passed at the end, he'd be a full fledged member of the union. He'd be entitled to one paid week off in the current year, two weeks off in three years and three weeks off after working at the plant for eight years. Eight fucking years of making parts for transistors. Who knew he'd miss finding matrices and inverse correlations?

---

Seth could not have been more annoyed at Theresa. What gave her the right to judge him like that? Why did she think she could act so superior? She hadn't been the one who'd been left behind, no, she'd been the chosen one. So what the hell made her think she could understand where he was coming from? And why would she care, anyway? Her life hadn't changed one bit. Just like before, she was scouring Newport, looking for jobs and in fact, if anything, her life had changed for the better because now, Ryan would also be a source of income for her. No wonder she had the guts to talk – she'd scored a sweet deal.

He put the receiver to his ear and dialed a number. After listening to all that trash, he needed someone on his side. What was wrong with everyone anyway? Why did they all act like he didn't have a right to act the way he did? He'd been hurt too, dammit! His fucking best friend had left him and they were all acting like he was overreacting. He'd begged him to stay, even planned to sell his boat for him, yet they were acting like he was selfish. What was their problem? Why couldn't they all understand him?

"Hello?" her unmistakable voice said. He smiled. Finally, he'd get to tell his side of the story to someone he was sure would understand him.

---

"I see," she said.

"And now I have to take some karate classes so I can kick some ass!" he said after recounting the entire ordeal to her. He hadn't meant to but he'd embellished it a little here and there -just to give it a little drama- but he was sure she got the gist of it.

"So, Ryan's gone back to Chino because of his pregnant ex-girlfriend," Anna summarized in a bored voice.

"Yes."

"And you needed some time to get away because you felt your life was falling apart."

"Exactly! I knew you'd understand me."

"And now, everyone's mad because even though you're safe now, they had no clue where you were for a few days."

"Yes. But as you said, I am fine now, so they shouldn't be mad." At times like this, he missed his old friend. She didn't even have to see him to understand where he was coming from. He wondered what in the California water made people so damn blind.

"And you're not talking to Ryan anymore." Was that sleep he heard in her voice?

"Why should I? He didn't care enough to stay... after all we've been through."

"I see."

He waited for her to continue, but nothing came. "Is that all you're going to say?"

"What more do you want?"

"You know, you always know the right thing to say…"

"Uhm, o.k…"

"So say something," he implored.

"Confidence, Cohen."

"What?" Huh?

"That's the best I can do, Seth." Seth heard a tap run in the background. At least he hoped it was a tap – she'd better not be peeing!

"What do you mean?"

"You're an ass! That's what I mean. You're a stupid, selfish, ass! How old are you?"

What the fuck, why was she screaming at him? What happened to understanding? "Anna, hang on…"

"Just answer me. How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"How old is Ryan?"

"The same."

"You're seventeen, he's seventeen. Both of your parents love you, you live with them in a big house with maids, taking Judo –"

"Karate," he sighed. What was wrong with everyone? Karate was Karate, Judo – Judo, Taekwondo – Taekwondo. Karate however, was not Judo. What was confusing in that?

"Oh, sorry… Karate classes during the summer, chilling without a care in the world. He, on the other hand, is living with his ex-girlfriend's mother, his dad is in jail, his mother is wherever, he has to leave school and work because he's got a baby on the way and I'm supposed to sympathize with you because he didn't stay in Newport to play WWF Smackdown with you? This is why you called me?"

I couldn't believe that even she was turning on me. "Anna --"

"Seth, what time is it?" she growled.

"It's 11:45."

"That's right, 11:45 in California."

"But where am I? Seth, please tell me where I am."

"Pittsburgh."

"You gat that right. Not Pittsburgh, Arizona or even Pittsburgh, Texas, but fucking Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Seth, you woke me up at 2:45 in the fucking morning to complain about some shit that I know you're smart enough to figure out. Why oh why you feel you are entitled to anything baffles me. Why you think it makes more sense for him to abandon his kid for you is mindboggling. Tell me, are you in love with him? Is that what this is about?"

"Of course not, yuck, he's a great guy and all but… hell no!"

"Then shut the hell up!" she screamed before hanging up.