It was a quiet, late afternoon when Jessica walked slowly down the
path. She clutched a flower tightly in her fist. She hated this place,
hated that she had to come here when she was only seventeen. Hated that the
guy that was her soul mate, had to spend his life here. She hadn't been
here in a while. Between the earthquake and her crazy drama of a life,
she had put off her visit. As she walked the narrow paths, she thought
about how simple things used to be. Back when Elizabeth and Todd were
acting out the role of a boring married couple, when her and Lila wasted
away their weekends at the mall and the beach. When everyone was
friends with everyone else. She was jolted from her thoughts when she reached
a small, simple headstone. She kneeled down and lightly placed her
fingers on the cool marble. "Hello, Sam," she said between tears. She
lightly traced the letters that spelled out the name of Sam Woodruff, her
dead boyfriend. She placed the single yellow rose at the front of
the headstone. Sam had always brought her yellow roses because they
had reminded him of her hair.
"I've missed you so much," she said softly. "I've needed you so much,
baby. You always knew how to make me feel better and happier."
She sat quietly for a few minutes. "You would be so disappointed in
me…you always hated it when I went around spreading gossip and being a
snob. But I was always so much better when you were around. I've been
horrible. But, Liz and I are working things out…I'm trying to be better for
you," she said quietly.
"I've met someone, his name is Jeremy Aames. You'd like him. He's a
really nice guy. He's kind of like you, actually," she said smiling
slightly. "But I really blew things with him. He won't even look at me."
Jessica started cry. "I love him Sam. But I wish you were here loving
me…everything is so different and I hate it. Why did you have to leave
me all by myself?"
Jessica sat there sobbing. A little while later she wiped her eyes.
"Goodbye, Sam," she said softly. "I will always love you, but I have to
go." She stood up and brushed herself off. She wouldn't be visiting
Sam for a while. For too long this place had been a refuge, and Sam had
been a safety net, protecting her from getting too close or hurt. She
needed to put things in the past. This was the present, and tomorrow was
something exciting. Maybe Jeremy and her would never get back together,
but that was okay. Jessica knew she would survive. Crying had let
everything out, and she felt better.
She walked quickly back to the jeep. She had to swing by Andy's to pick
up Tia, who, to Jessica, seemed to live there. Then they were going to
head over to Lila's for a sleepover. Jessica couldn't think of a better
way to spend a Saturday night.
Jessica smiled, reapplied her lipstick, and started the jeep.

Why do I torture myself like this? Elizabeth wondered, burying her
face in the pillow on the couch. It was the night that she had set Conner
free. She was allowing him to move on with his life, which was which
she needed to do, big time. However, she had come home and cried for
about an hour. Then she had put her pajamas on and come downstairs to watch
Dirty Dancing. She was to the part when Patrick Swazye had been fired,
and was telling Jennifer Grey that it could never work between the two
of them, that they were too different. Liz had dissolved into tears
because she had done the same thing to Conner. And Elizabeth knew that
there was no group dance waiting for the two of them at the end.
"Patrick Swazye is quite the stud, isn't he," Mrs. Wakefield said
softly, sitting next to Elizabeth.
"Mom!" Elizabeth said, laughing through her tears.
"What? He's older than me," she said pausing the movie.
"But it's still gross," Elizabeth said. "He's so young in this," she
said waving her hand. She fell silent. Things had been so tense between
her and her parents. They hadn't known what to say to her, and she had
refused to tell them what happened.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" Mrs. Wakefield said.
"Oh, mom," Elizabeth said, crawling into her mother's arms. She started
to cry, and Mrs. Wakefield wrapped her arms around her daughter.
"What's wrong?" she asked gently.
"Everything…I've messed things up so bad." Elizabeth cried.
"You know you can tell me anything Liz. I love you no matter what
happens. You can't get rid of me, no matter how hard you try," she said
soothingly.
Elizabeth sat up and rested her head on her mom's shoulder. "There's so
much to tell…"
"I'm willing to listen."
"You know Conner?"
"That cute musician that stayed with us?" she said smiling.
"Yeah," Elizabeth said, blushing a little.
"Did you two like each other?"
"Yeah, but it was a little bit more messed up than that. Jessica and
him were actually seeing each other."
Mrs. Wakefield raised her eyebrows. "Really? Jess doesn't usually fall
for guys like him."
"I know, but I had a crush on Conner as well, and it turns out he
wasn't serious about Jessica…"
"But he liked you, not her?" Mrs. Wakefield said, smoothing down Liz's
hair.
"Yeah, we started seeing each other, behind Jessica's back, and of
course she found and flipped."
"You know that you should have talked with her first," Mrs. Wakefield
said gently.
"Yeah, I wish I had. But that's not the worst. Conner wouldn't have
anything to do with me, everyone at school found out, and they started
calling me these awful names, and no one would have anything to do with
me."
"Even Maria and Enid?"
"Even them. It got to be that school was comparable to daily torture
and I couldn't take it anymore,"
"So you ran away, she said. Elizabeth nodded. "Oh sweetie," she said as
Elizabeth started crying again. "You know you could have come to your
father and me…"
"What could you have done? You guys always told me to fight my own
battles. But things are getting better. Jess told people that the stuff
wasn't true, and people are being friendly again."
"And Conner?" Mrs. Wakefield prodded gently.
"I've been kind of blowing him off," Elizabeth admitted. "I told him
this afternoon that things were done between us. He'd been acting nice to
me, and I didn't want him to feel like he owed me anything."
"Do you think he might still like you?"
"No," Elizabeth said firmly. He was the one who broke up with me."
Mrs. Wakefield ran her fingers through her daughter's hair. "It's okay
if you still like him."
Elizabeth felt a fresh wave of tears come on. "I love him," she blurted
out. "But I can't force him to be with me if he doesn't want to."
"You're really serious about this boy?"
Elizabeth nodded.
"Were you this serious about him when he was living here?" her mom
asked.
Again, she nodded.
"Did you two…sleep together?" Mrs. Wakefield said closing her eyes.
Elizabeth didn't answer she just looked down.
"Oh, baby," she said. "Were you careful?"
"Yes," Elizabeth lied.
"You know what you did was wrong, and that I'm very disappointed in
you. I figured you would use better judgment."
"I'm so sorry," Elizabeth said quietly. "It was a mistake and we only
did it the once."
"Believe me, I understand sweetie. I've met guys like Conner McDermott
before."
Elizabeth started to cry again. "Please don't me angry with me, mommy,"
she cried, as she buried her head in her mom's lap.
Mrs. Wakefield hugged her daughter and tried to soothe her. She glanced
down at Elizabeth helplessly.

Conner slammed the door to the Mustang. After sitting in the school
parking lot for an hour after the stupid carnival, he decided to go back
to Andy's. His mood sank even further when he saw the jeep in the
driveway. He knew it was Jessica's because Elizabeth had never even talked to
Andy before. He stormed in the house hoping to retreat to Andy's room
before he was noticed.
"Hey Conner," Andy called from the kitchen. Busted.
"Hey," Conner grunted towards Andy. He reminded himself to hurt Andy
later because sitting at the kitchen table were both Jessica and Tia.
"Hey," Jessica said quietly.
"So, how did it go? You and Liz back together?" Andy said smiling.
"No," Conner snapped.
He noted the look of relief on Tia's face, and the look of
disappointment on Jessica's.
He stalked to the fridge and pulled out and apple, and bit into it,
hard.
"So, you going to Lila's party next weekend?" Jessica asked Andy.
"I'm coming with Angel," Tia cut in.
"I'm going with Cherie," Andy supplied.
Jess and Tia looked at him, stupefied. "Really?" Jessica finally
asked.
"Hey, we red heads have to stick together," Andy joked. "Plus, I think
she wanted to make Conner jealous," he said shooting Conner a look.
"Why doesn't she go with Evan?" Tia said.
"Hey!" Andy said offended. "Evan already has a date," he said shooting
Jess a look.
"No way!" Tia exclaimed.
"Hey, I figured with Jeremy still mad, I might as well ask someone
else."
"Yeah, have to work your way through all my friends," Conner said
snidely.
Jessica flashed with anger, but didn't say anything.
"Cherie's lame," Conner continued. "If I wanted her, I would have had
her ages ago."
"Do you think maybe she likes me?" Andy said hopefully. "I
haven't been on a date in months."
"A year," Tia supplied. "No. Cherie will make out with anyone.
She's a slut…like Liz."
Conner slammed his fist down. "Shut up!!"
"Sorry," Tia said quietly "But it's true. She seduced you, and now
she's in trouble."
Andy's eyes widened. "You...and Liz?"
"Damn you, Tia. She lost the baby."
"Wait" Andy interjected. "Liz is, was, pregnant?"
Tia paled. Conner ran his hands through his hair. "I'm outta here."
He marched off down the hall.
"Conner stop." It was Jessica.
He stopped. "What the hell do you want?"
"Listen, I'm sorry about things with you and Liz. I really am. I'll
talk to Tia…about, you know."
"Okay." Conner shoved his hands in his pocket.
"I want us to be friends. I don't still want you or anything, and I
think you and Liz need to be together."
Conner left out a short laugh. "She wants nothing to do with me."
"That's not true. She loves you Conner. You'd have to be blind not to
notice."
Conner was quiet.
"You'd also have to be blind not to notice that you love her."
Conner looked at her startled. It was true. He was madly in love with
Elizabeth Wakefield. It took Jessica to make him realize that.
"Don't let her go," Jessica said quietly.
"You know, you're aren't that bad, Wakefield."
Jessica gave a small laugh. "Who would have thought it?"