Disclaimer: I don't own Everwood, the town, or it's characters. I'm just a
college student.
Chapter 24 uses "The trouble with love is" by Kelly Clarkson
Chapter 24: The trouble with love is
After Ephram and Amy had served up an explanation for why they were laying around without clothes on, Andy was still very upset He sat there, face in his hands, sighing.
"So let me get this straight," he asked now looking up briefly, "I'm supposed to be proud of you because WHY again?"
"Because we didn't do anything," Ephram said, combing his hair.
"You are missing the point, you two. Not only did you come very close to a possible disaster, but your SISTER saw!" He tried explaining; Delia's distant screams could still be heard. "And she CAN'T stop screaming! So one of you, or maybe both of you, I don't know, as long as it's not me, is going to go in there, WHEN YOU'RE DRESSED, and explain to her what happened,"
"What didn't happen," Amy said. Andy looked at her with disappointed eyes; for the longest time now he had taken her under his wing, thought of her as one of his children. She understood, "Sorry. . ."
"Just, ugh, just Ephram, go in my room and get dressed. Amy, I'll leave you alone in here to change. You guys are not changing in the same room, we don't need any close calls again," he said shaking his head. Amy blushed, she hated disappointing people, and lately it was she seemed to be able to do.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````````
"Oooh oooh, ooooh yeah, mmmm...
Love can be a many splendored thing
Can't deny the joy it brings
A dozen roses, diamond rings
Dreams for sale and fairy tales
It'll make you hear a symphony
And you just want the world to see
But like a drug that makes you blind,
It'll fool ya every time"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````````
As Ephram exited the room, he kissed Amy on the cheek and grabbed his clothes, walking out into the hall in only his boxers. Andy knocked on his bedroom door and entered, despite Ephram not responding. His son was sitting on the floor, looking at pictures of when he was a baby since it had only taken a few minutes for him to throw jeans and a shirt on. Andy moved toward him and sat down beside Ephram, who was caught on a picture of his parents and him a few days after he was born.
"Mom looks so happy," he said, tearing up, he couldn't bear to look at his father, knowing he'd be just as tearful.
"She was, we both were. Ephram," he said taking in a deep breath, "having a child was the best thing that happened to your mom and I,"
Ephram turned his gaze to him now, "But . . .?"
"But we were responsible, and we were older, and we were married. You and Amy aren't any of those things right now"
"We're responsible!" He shouted defensively, "If we weren't we wouldn't have stopped,"
"Son, responsibility comes in many forms. Yes, you're an 'old soul' in many ways, more responsible than many people your age, but you're still only 16,"
"Amy and I aren't stupid, Dad," he said standing up,
"Well you almost were," he responded. "And your sister!"
"She's ten, she can figure things out,"
"No, she can't. How would you like it if you walked in on some boy and Delia lying in her bed without clothes on?"
"That's different, she's my LITTLE sister, I'm older, and she's a girl," he said, knowing immediately that that wasn't an excuse.
"And Bright is Amy's older brother," Andy said as Ephram closed his eyes. "Go back in there, get Amy, and figure out a way to fix this,"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````
"The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
The trouble with love is
It doesn't care how fast you fall
And you can't refuse the call
See, you got no say at all"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
Making sure that he was more than presentable for his girlfriend, he reentered his bedroom. Amy was sitting in tears, her face in her hands, and when she looked up, her eyes were red and swollen. He sat down, wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her closer to him. "You know I'd never hurt you, right?" he asked her slowly; she nodded, still crying into her hands. "And you know that I'd do anything to stop you from being hurt?" She nodded again. "Maybe we let things get out of hand, let them get out of control earlier . . . I wasn't as . . . responsible as I should've been. I just love you so much, and it was wrong of me to come up to you with that sort of proposition when I knew it wasn't right,"
"Well," she said speaking for the first time, "I wasn't exactly saying no, and when I did say it you stopped," He kissed her forehead. "Delia . . . I'm so embarrassed."
"Yes, the Delia situation is one we'll have to work out. You stay in here, I'm going to go in there and try to explain," he said getting up, "Dad says he won't do it because he didn't cause it."
"No, let me do it. I'm the girl," she said standing up, wiping away the streams of fierce tears that forced themselves down her cheek and onto her neck.
"I can't ask you to do that, Amy. She's my little sister, I'm the one she's going to look at and be confused about," he said squeezing his brow, then sitting back down.
"Delia is fragile. She may not seem like it because she acts like a tomboy sometimes, what with all her caps, but she's a little impressionable girl. Not that I doubt you or your father, but sometimes girls just need girl time, you understand?" she explained, the words seem to come out of the depths of her heart.
"Well, being a guy . . . not really, but you seem pretty confident and set on it," he admitted. She walked back to him, kissed him once, saying, "I love you," and then was on her way down the hall.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
"Now I was once a fool, it's true
I played the game by all the rules
But now my world's a deeper blue
I'm sadder, but I'm wiser too
I swore I'd never love again
I swore my heart would never mend
Said love wasn't worth the pain
But then I hear it call my name"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
Meanwhile Tommy Callahan was trying to call the Abbott house because Amy's phone was turned off. Not content with leaving a voice mail, in case someone else should come across it accidentally, he decided to wait till tomorrow and then call Ephram. He didn't know him well, or very long for that matter, but they had one thing in common: Amy.
It wasn't like Ephram was doing anything that urgent anyway. He was sitting there trying to imagine Amy explaining what had and hadn't happened between her Delia's brother and herself. At first he imagined it going well; then he pictured Delia pulling out her curse words again and making Ephram promise to not date Amy. The way he saw it, it could be going either way.
Amy knocked on Delia's door. The screaming had subsided, probably because she hadn't much of a voice left. A small person stood behind the barely cracked open door with a cautious look on her face. Amy tried to smile, as best she could, but it wasn't working very well. The girl in front of her had always admired her, now she figured she thought nothing but horrible things of her. She tried to speak,
"Delia, is it okay if I come in for a second?" she asked sweetly. Delia didn't know what to make of any of what was going on.
"I guess," she hesitated, opening the door slowly. She immediately sat on her bed and hugged her legs, waiting for some explanation. Amy exhaled slowly, walking back and forth, then after seeing the little girl's expression, decided to sit down next to her.
"I imagine it must be hard to only live with two boys," she started, "I know it's hard living with Bright and my Dad," she added to lighten the moment.
"It's hard to live with BRIGHT?" Delia asked, shocked.
"Believe it or not," she said smiling. Delia still had a look of wonderment as Amy continued, "sometimes girls just need time to talk to other girls alone, you know?"
"Not really, no other girls, except for Madison, ever really wanted to talk about girl stuff before,"
"You miss Madison, I can tell," Amy got a distant look in her eyes.
"Sometimes, but I know she wasn't nice to Ephram," she explained. Amy got the sense that Delia had some part of Ephram in her, a mature part.
"Well, how about you and I have some girl talk right now?" Amy suggested, and Delia still didn't know what to expect.
"Um, okay," Delia said nervously.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
"(The trouble with) The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
The trouble with love is
It doesn't care how fast you fall
And you can't refuse the call
See, you got no say at all
Every time I turn around
I think I've got it all figured out
My heart keeps callin' and I keep on fallin'
Over and over again
The sad story always ends the same
Me standin' in the pourin' rain
It seems no matter what I do
It tears my heart in two"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````
"Your Dad told you about boys and about how when you're older you'll fall in love with one, right?" she asked, biting her lip. *Am I going in the right direction with this?* she thought.
"Yes, although he always looked angry when he said it," she admitted, causing Amy to laugh.
"Well, Daddy's often have a hard time thinking about their daughters being grown up and moving away," Delia looked like she understood, "because they love their little girls so much,"
"But Dad doesn't get sad when he talks about Ephram growing up, sometimes it seems like he WANTS him to leave,"
"That's how my Dad and Bright's conversations usually go, but mom and I know differently. Guys just don't want to seem soft with each other, even dad's and son's, so they act like they expect them to move out without a problem," she said, at the end imitating a guy's voice. Delia laughed,
"I think I get it," she said.
"Good," Amy felt like she was really reaching Delia. "Now, once you're older, you'll meet a boy and you'll fall in love with him, like I did with Ephram," Delia looked ill but then smiled as she said,
"I think I already love someone," she giggled now.
"Who? Aw, a boy in your class? That's sweet!" she said teasing Delia as her cheeks turned red.
"Not really. You know him, quite well in fact," she said and giggled more violently.
"Bright?" she asked utterly disgusted. The thought of anyone in love with her brother churned her stomach but it was sweet nonetheless. "Bright's a nice guy, I guess." She said, "But you might want to start out a little more your age,"
"I guess," she said disappointed.
"When you love someone," she said, closing her eyes. She felt as though she were her mother, "sometimes you lose control of what you're doing,"
"Is this about sex?" she asked blatantly with no sign of emotion.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````
"(The trouble with love is) The trouble with love, yeah
(It can tear you up inside) It can tear you up inside
(Make your heart believe a lie) Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
(The trouble with love is)
It's in your heart
It's in your soul (doesn't care how fast you fall)
You won't get no control
(and you can't refuse the call)
See, you got no say at all"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````````
"Um." Amy said, thrown off track.
"Because I know all about that you know. Dad IS a doctor," she reminded her as if were no big deal.
"Right, how silly of me to think you didn't know," she said trying to not blush. "What you saw between Ephram and me . . ." she breathed, "wasn't sex,"
"It wasn't?" she asked relieved. Again this through Amy for a loop.
"Well, I won't lie to you, because I think you and I can be really good friends, but you have to promise to try to understand the best you can, okay?" she took Delia's hand sisterly like.
"Okay," she said nervously.
"Your brother and I . . . we're deeply in love. We had a hard, long, stressful day and after overcoming a fight we recently went through, it seemed like we were getting a little ahead of ourselves while making up," this was really embarrassing for Amy to talk about.
"So you almost did, but you didn't?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Right," she said smiling, "your brother and I are very sorry that you even had to see that much, and well, your dad thought you'd never stop screaming . . ."
"Just, don't let it happen again, okay Amy?" Delia said with a smile on her face.
"We won't," she promised. "Thanks for listening," she said as she got up to leave, "oh, and Delia?"
"Yeah?" she asked taking off her cap and looking at her hair in the mirror, causing Amy to smile.
"You can talk to me about anything, okay? I'll be there for you,"
"Yeah, you too," she said as Amy left the room.
Micah had his things packed and was sitting on the couch singing a stunning rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Tommy over and over and over again the next day. "Happy Berfday to you, Happy Berfday to you, Happy Berfday dear Daddy, Happy Berf day to you." Tommy smiled, it was his eighteenth birthday, and while he wasn't spending it like any other adult in Everwood, his son's singing made it magical. He lifted him up, spinning him around.
"When we gonna have berfday cake?" he asked, dizzily.
"Not sure yet, Micah, but we will, and it'll be the best birthday cake Daddy's ever tasted,"
"We gonna go to Amy's?" he asked as his dad gently placed him down.
"I really hope so, son," he smiled and began tickling his son once again.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````
"(The trouble with love is) Oh, yeah
(It can tear you up inside)
(Make your heart believe a lie)"
Chapter 24 uses "The trouble with love is" by Kelly Clarkson
Chapter 24: The trouble with love is
After Ephram and Amy had served up an explanation for why they were laying around without clothes on, Andy was still very upset He sat there, face in his hands, sighing.
"So let me get this straight," he asked now looking up briefly, "I'm supposed to be proud of you because WHY again?"
"Because we didn't do anything," Ephram said, combing his hair.
"You are missing the point, you two. Not only did you come very close to a possible disaster, but your SISTER saw!" He tried explaining; Delia's distant screams could still be heard. "And she CAN'T stop screaming! So one of you, or maybe both of you, I don't know, as long as it's not me, is going to go in there, WHEN YOU'RE DRESSED, and explain to her what happened,"
"What didn't happen," Amy said. Andy looked at her with disappointed eyes; for the longest time now he had taken her under his wing, thought of her as one of his children. She understood, "Sorry. . ."
"Just, ugh, just Ephram, go in my room and get dressed. Amy, I'll leave you alone in here to change. You guys are not changing in the same room, we don't need any close calls again," he said shaking his head. Amy blushed, she hated disappointing people, and lately it was she seemed to be able to do.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````````
"Oooh oooh, ooooh yeah, mmmm...
Love can be a many splendored thing
Can't deny the joy it brings
A dozen roses, diamond rings
Dreams for sale and fairy tales
It'll make you hear a symphony
And you just want the world to see
But like a drug that makes you blind,
It'll fool ya every time"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````````
As Ephram exited the room, he kissed Amy on the cheek and grabbed his clothes, walking out into the hall in only his boxers. Andy knocked on his bedroom door and entered, despite Ephram not responding. His son was sitting on the floor, looking at pictures of when he was a baby since it had only taken a few minutes for him to throw jeans and a shirt on. Andy moved toward him and sat down beside Ephram, who was caught on a picture of his parents and him a few days after he was born.
"Mom looks so happy," he said, tearing up, he couldn't bear to look at his father, knowing he'd be just as tearful.
"She was, we both were. Ephram," he said taking in a deep breath, "having a child was the best thing that happened to your mom and I,"
Ephram turned his gaze to him now, "But . . .?"
"But we were responsible, and we were older, and we were married. You and Amy aren't any of those things right now"
"We're responsible!" He shouted defensively, "If we weren't we wouldn't have stopped,"
"Son, responsibility comes in many forms. Yes, you're an 'old soul' in many ways, more responsible than many people your age, but you're still only 16,"
"Amy and I aren't stupid, Dad," he said standing up,
"Well you almost were," he responded. "And your sister!"
"She's ten, she can figure things out,"
"No, she can't. How would you like it if you walked in on some boy and Delia lying in her bed without clothes on?"
"That's different, she's my LITTLE sister, I'm older, and she's a girl," he said, knowing immediately that that wasn't an excuse.
"And Bright is Amy's older brother," Andy said as Ephram closed his eyes. "Go back in there, get Amy, and figure out a way to fix this,"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````
"The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
The trouble with love is
It doesn't care how fast you fall
And you can't refuse the call
See, you got no say at all"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
Making sure that he was more than presentable for his girlfriend, he reentered his bedroom. Amy was sitting in tears, her face in her hands, and when she looked up, her eyes were red and swollen. He sat down, wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her closer to him. "You know I'd never hurt you, right?" he asked her slowly; she nodded, still crying into her hands. "And you know that I'd do anything to stop you from being hurt?" She nodded again. "Maybe we let things get out of hand, let them get out of control earlier . . . I wasn't as . . . responsible as I should've been. I just love you so much, and it was wrong of me to come up to you with that sort of proposition when I knew it wasn't right,"
"Well," she said speaking for the first time, "I wasn't exactly saying no, and when I did say it you stopped," He kissed her forehead. "Delia . . . I'm so embarrassed."
"Yes, the Delia situation is one we'll have to work out. You stay in here, I'm going to go in there and try to explain," he said getting up, "Dad says he won't do it because he didn't cause it."
"No, let me do it. I'm the girl," she said standing up, wiping away the streams of fierce tears that forced themselves down her cheek and onto her neck.
"I can't ask you to do that, Amy. She's my little sister, I'm the one she's going to look at and be confused about," he said squeezing his brow, then sitting back down.
"Delia is fragile. She may not seem like it because she acts like a tomboy sometimes, what with all her caps, but she's a little impressionable girl. Not that I doubt you or your father, but sometimes girls just need girl time, you understand?" she explained, the words seem to come out of the depths of her heart.
"Well, being a guy . . . not really, but you seem pretty confident and set on it," he admitted. She walked back to him, kissed him once, saying, "I love you," and then was on her way down the hall.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
"Now I was once a fool, it's true
I played the game by all the rules
But now my world's a deeper blue
I'm sadder, but I'm wiser too
I swore I'd never love again
I swore my heart would never mend
Said love wasn't worth the pain
But then I hear it call my name"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
Meanwhile Tommy Callahan was trying to call the Abbott house because Amy's phone was turned off. Not content with leaving a voice mail, in case someone else should come across it accidentally, he decided to wait till tomorrow and then call Ephram. He didn't know him well, or very long for that matter, but they had one thing in common: Amy.
It wasn't like Ephram was doing anything that urgent anyway. He was sitting there trying to imagine Amy explaining what had and hadn't happened between her Delia's brother and herself. At first he imagined it going well; then he pictured Delia pulling out her curse words again and making Ephram promise to not date Amy. The way he saw it, it could be going either way.
Amy knocked on Delia's door. The screaming had subsided, probably because she hadn't much of a voice left. A small person stood behind the barely cracked open door with a cautious look on her face. Amy tried to smile, as best she could, but it wasn't working very well. The girl in front of her had always admired her, now she figured she thought nothing but horrible things of her. She tried to speak,
"Delia, is it okay if I come in for a second?" she asked sweetly. Delia didn't know what to make of any of what was going on.
"I guess," she hesitated, opening the door slowly. She immediately sat on her bed and hugged her legs, waiting for some explanation. Amy exhaled slowly, walking back and forth, then after seeing the little girl's expression, decided to sit down next to her.
"I imagine it must be hard to only live with two boys," she started, "I know it's hard living with Bright and my Dad," she added to lighten the moment.
"It's hard to live with BRIGHT?" Delia asked, shocked.
"Believe it or not," she said smiling. Delia still had a look of wonderment as Amy continued, "sometimes girls just need time to talk to other girls alone, you know?"
"Not really, no other girls, except for Madison, ever really wanted to talk about girl stuff before,"
"You miss Madison, I can tell," Amy got a distant look in her eyes.
"Sometimes, but I know she wasn't nice to Ephram," she explained. Amy got the sense that Delia had some part of Ephram in her, a mature part.
"Well, how about you and I have some girl talk right now?" Amy suggested, and Delia still didn't know what to expect.
"Um, okay," Delia said nervously.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ``````````````````````````````
"(The trouble with) The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
The trouble with love is
It doesn't care how fast you fall
And you can't refuse the call
See, you got no say at all
Every time I turn around
I think I've got it all figured out
My heart keeps callin' and I keep on fallin'
Over and over again
The sad story always ends the same
Me standin' in the pourin' rain
It seems no matter what I do
It tears my heart in two"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````
"Your Dad told you about boys and about how when you're older you'll fall in love with one, right?" she asked, biting her lip. *Am I going in the right direction with this?* she thought.
"Yes, although he always looked angry when he said it," she admitted, causing Amy to laugh.
"Well, Daddy's often have a hard time thinking about their daughters being grown up and moving away," Delia looked like she understood, "because they love their little girls so much,"
"But Dad doesn't get sad when he talks about Ephram growing up, sometimes it seems like he WANTS him to leave,"
"That's how my Dad and Bright's conversations usually go, but mom and I know differently. Guys just don't want to seem soft with each other, even dad's and son's, so they act like they expect them to move out without a problem," she said, at the end imitating a guy's voice. Delia laughed,
"I think I get it," she said.
"Good," Amy felt like she was really reaching Delia. "Now, once you're older, you'll meet a boy and you'll fall in love with him, like I did with Ephram," Delia looked ill but then smiled as she said,
"I think I already love someone," she giggled now.
"Who? Aw, a boy in your class? That's sweet!" she said teasing Delia as her cheeks turned red.
"Not really. You know him, quite well in fact," she said and giggled more violently.
"Bright?" she asked utterly disgusted. The thought of anyone in love with her brother churned her stomach but it was sweet nonetheless. "Bright's a nice guy, I guess." She said, "But you might want to start out a little more your age,"
"I guess," she said disappointed.
"When you love someone," she said, closing her eyes. She felt as though she were her mother, "sometimes you lose control of what you're doing,"
"Is this about sex?" she asked blatantly with no sign of emotion.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````
"(The trouble with love is) The trouble with love, yeah
(It can tear you up inside) It can tear you up inside
(Make your heart believe a lie) Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
(The trouble with love is)
It's in your heart
It's in your soul (doesn't care how fast you fall)
You won't get no control
(and you can't refuse the call)
See, you got no say at all"
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` `````````````````````````````````
"Um." Amy said, thrown off track.
"Because I know all about that you know. Dad IS a doctor," she reminded her as if were no big deal.
"Right, how silly of me to think you didn't know," she said trying to not blush. "What you saw between Ephram and me . . ." she breathed, "wasn't sex,"
"It wasn't?" she asked relieved. Again this through Amy for a loop.
"Well, I won't lie to you, because I think you and I can be really good friends, but you have to promise to try to understand the best you can, okay?" she took Delia's hand sisterly like.
"Okay," she said nervously.
"Your brother and I . . . we're deeply in love. We had a hard, long, stressful day and after overcoming a fight we recently went through, it seemed like we were getting a little ahead of ourselves while making up," this was really embarrassing for Amy to talk about.
"So you almost did, but you didn't?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Right," she said smiling, "your brother and I are very sorry that you even had to see that much, and well, your dad thought you'd never stop screaming . . ."
"Just, don't let it happen again, okay Amy?" Delia said with a smile on her face.
"We won't," she promised. "Thanks for listening," she said as she got up to leave, "oh, and Delia?"
"Yeah?" she asked taking off her cap and looking at her hair in the mirror, causing Amy to smile.
"You can talk to me about anything, okay? I'll be there for you,"
"Yeah, you too," she said as Amy left the room.
Micah had his things packed and was sitting on the couch singing a stunning rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Tommy over and over and over again the next day. "Happy Berfday to you, Happy Berfday to you, Happy Berfday dear Daddy, Happy Berf day to you." Tommy smiled, it was his eighteenth birthday, and while he wasn't spending it like any other adult in Everwood, his son's singing made it magical. He lifted him up, spinning him around.
"When we gonna have berfday cake?" he asked, dizzily.
"Not sure yet, Micah, but we will, and it'll be the best birthday cake Daddy's ever tasted,"
"We gonna go to Amy's?" he asked as his dad gently placed him down.
"I really hope so, son," he smiled and began tickling his son once again.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````
"(The trouble with love is) Oh, yeah
(It can tear you up inside)
(Make your heart believe a lie)"