Continuing the adventures of Kimmie and Ryan, as started in The Chinos...
Thanks for the nice reviews, people – the more the merrier.
DISCLAIMER: We do not own anything OC related. Kimmie, on the other hand, is all ours and JBKAF Productions.
Chapter 2: Incriminating evidence.
As soon as Kimmie leaves, I lean back heavily against the bed. What the hell am I doing? One little issue, no two little issues and I let everything I've worked for spiral out of control. I got into another fight at school. I fucked Kimmie again. I'm in trouble with the Cohens again. Having a lot on my mind is not an excuse for this.
Although I don't really regret the Kimmie part. She's still limber. And we still fit together good.
My mom will be okay. Sandy asked me if I wanted him to post her bail. And I said no. She's in a cell in Reno, alone, hungover most likely, for driving drunk. Again. She shouldn't have bothered Sandy. He's not her father, he's not her guardian, and she's a grown woman. She'll be fine. She'll be pissed off, but fuck her. She hasn't called me in over a year but she'll call Sandy for money. That's bullshit.
I stand up and walk into the bathroom.
I'd brought some pot back with me when I got back from Chino. I hadn't touched it at first; I just liked having it around. That and the fact that I started smoking again while I was there...Then I started taking the occasional joint before bed. Just to stop the dreams. Lately, I've been smoking more often. During daylight hours. Nightmare prevention is one thing. I don't really want to consider what it would look like to anyone else...
Mary. I shouldn't care about her. We were only dating, nothing serious, but I'd liked her. I still like her.
But she doesn't like me anymore. Her message said that she'd found someone else. Someone more open that could listen and could let her listen, too. Apparently I was too 'emotionally unavailable' to her.
I don't want to tell Seth. I don't want to tell the Cohens. Or Summer. I roll up a quick one and step outside to light up. Kirsten's coming home to 'deal with me'. So I inhale deeply. They'll be so disappointed to hear that it didn't work out with Mary.
So much for nice girls.
I finish the joint and shred the roach in the flowerbed. I go back in the bathroom, wash my hands, brush my teeth and rinse my mouth with mouthwash.
I'm not a dopehead. But lately it feels like I'm sleepwalking through my days again.
"Ryan?"
Kirsten's home. I step out of the bathroom. "Hey."
"Hey. Sandy called me. What happened?" She asks, her face drawn with concern.
"I got into a fight."
"Oh, Ryan. Come here, sit down."
The bed's still disheveled from my encounter with Kimmie and I'm glad that she sits down on the chair across from the bed.
"What happened?"
"It was my fault."
"I didn't ask whose fault it was, I asked what happened."
Kirsten had been hesitant with me before I'd left to go to Chino. Since I've been back, she seems more comfortable in her parental role. She's accepted me as a part of her family.
"Chip. He was talking junk to me and I snapped."
"You snapped. Why?" She asks gently. "I know you've got a lot on your mind..."
"I'm sorry. It was stupid. Seth tried to stop me but..." I sigh. I can't explain it to her.
"Seth was there? Did he say something to Seth?" She asks.
"He's always got something to say. I'm supposed to walk away. I have too much to lose to lose my temper."
"Oh, Ryan..." Something I said must have set her off. She comes to my side and pulls me into an embrace. "Honey..."
I let her hug me and I pat her back but I know that it won't help. I feel like an ass for making the same stupid decisions, the same stupid mistakes.
"Ryan, I know it's hard controlling your temper when people are always teasing you and insulting you...but you have to try."
"I'm sorry."
"I know. You've been doing so well...what's wrong?" She asks, searching my face with her eyes.
"Nothing..."
"I mean, I know about your mom...is that it?"
"It's nothing, Kirsten, I just got mad..."
She's looking at me curiously.
"I promise. It's nothing."
"Okay. Come inside and let me get some ice for your face."
"If it's okay, I'd like to just go back to bed. Start over."
"Okay, Ryan. I'll come get you for lunch."
"You're not going back to work?"
She hesitates.
"Just because I got into trouble, doesn't mean that you have to stay with me. I won't go anywhere. I promise. I'm already starting my grounding."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Nothing's wrong, Kirsten, I mean, I messed up but my emotional state is intact. I swear."
"Okay. If you're sure."
I'm sure. I nod.
"Rosa's shopping but she can make you something for lunch."
"Okay."
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My house is empty. My house is always fucking empty. You wouldn't even know I had parents if there weren't pictures everywhere.
I shouldn't complain. I have all the money I could ever need and my parents love me. They're just too busy to spend time with me, with them making all the money.
And I'm seventeen, I don't want to hang out with parents anyway. But it would be nice to see them. Occasionally.
I sit down at my desk and check to see if Jay's online.
I've been with Jay since I was a freshman in high school. He's two years older than me but we're really in love. I haven't seen him in weeks but I talk to him every night and online.
He loves me. He tells me every night but I never get tired of hearing it. He's offline but there's an email from him in my inbox. I love Jay.
Kimmie. I hate to do it this way but I don't think I could tell you face to face. I'm sorry. I loved you so much; I never thought I'd love anyone else as much as I love you. But things change. I've gotten older and now I'm at college it seems like we're living in different worlds. It's not the same and you know it too. I've met someone else. I've been seeing her for a while, but I didn't think that it'd turn into anything. But it has. I think I love her. It's different than the way I felt about you, it's more real, more mature. She's also a college girl, Kimmie, and it's more of a grown-up thing. I will never forget you, but it's over between us. I know you're going to be hurt and pissed off and I wouldn't expect anything less after breaking up with you in an email but I hope that you'll give yourself some time before calling me. I'm sorry, Kimmie. I hope that someday you'll forgive me and we can still be friends. Jay
That rat bastard. I'm going to kill him.
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"Ryan? Ryan, are you in here?"
Seth. I open my eyes and see him standing by the door with Summer. This should be fun. I must've slept too long.
"Hey, man, what's going on?" Seth asks, relaxing when I sit up. He accepts my uprightness as an invitation and he leads his girlfriend inside.
"Not much." My head hurts and I feel groggy from the second spliff I smoked after Kirsten left. I have to stop getting stoned in the day.
"I can't believe Dr. Kim sent you home," Summer said, sitting beside me on the edge of the bed. "I mean, Chip was totally in all his classes."
"Dr. Kim's not a big fan of mine," I reply.
"What are you talking about?" Seth asks.
"Kimmie was in the office..." Better keep this brief.
"Oh no..." Summer shakes her head, disappointed.
"She was there for something else and the secretary was gone and she was, like, checking on me."
"Molesting you, more like it," Summer scoffs. She doesn't know the half of it.
"It was nothing but Dr. Kim didn't even wait for us to explain, she just sent us home..."
"Whoa! She sent you and Kimmie home?" says Summer and she immediately sounds suspicious. I swear she's got some sort of freak radar. That, or she can't stop thinking about my sex life. Or both. "I don't like the sound of this. Tell me you haven't been cheating on Mary."
I bite my lip. If I tell them now, it's all out in the open.
"Actually, funny you should mention Mary," I say. Seth shoots me a questioning look.
"She... Um. She kind of broke up with me." There, I've said it. The cat is out of the bag.
Summer is staring at me goggle-eyed. "What have you done, Chino?" I can tell she wants to slap me.
"Nothing," I say hurriedly. "She, uh, left me a voicemail. She's met someone else." I really don't want Summer to hit me. I feel way too fragile and bruised for that.
"She what?" Seth's voice reverberates with outrage. "How could she?"
"What a bitch!" Summer concurs. "I'm sorry, Chino, I really am." Her tone is softer now and she's looking at me with something altogether too much like pity for my liking.
"It's okay," I shrug. "I told you I'm not really cut out for dating." Summer sits next to me on the bed and pats my shoulder. I bet she'd be less friendly if she knew what had been happening there a couple of hours ago. But there's no way I'm telling her anything about that.
"Chino, what's that under your pillow?" she says suddenly, and my blood runs cold. This cannot be good. Not another condom wrapper, please god.
It's worse than that. Summer bends over me and snags the offending item. One baby blue lacy thong. Oh fuck. I'm really, really deep in the shit. Maybe they'll believe me if I say I'm a secret cross-dresser.
I hang my head in shame.
Seth raises an eyebrow. "Kimmie gave you a ride home, did she?"
I want to disappear. First though I'll have to kill both of them. Because there is absolutely no way they will let me come out of this alive.
Summer is appalled. "Bad, Chino! Bad! I mean, have you learnt nothing in the past few weeks?"
I look up at her through my bangs. I don't say anything but I think she realizes that being dumped via voicemail doesn't exactly constitute a successful relationship. She also realizes she's still holding Kimmie's panties in her hand and she drops them back on the bed, blushing.
By now Seth is trying desperately not to laugh. He's afraid of her temper, too. But I can tell he's on my side here. After all, he's a guy. He knows Kimmie is damn hot. And I think the panties are hammering the message home.
At this point, my cell rings. I pick up. It's Kimmie.
"Hey stud." She sounds a little downbeat.
"Hi." I'm trying to stay noncommittal there, because of the others watching me like a pair of hawks.
"Um, I think I forgot my panties at yours this morning," she says, sounding embarrassed. Who knew Kimmie could be embarrassed by anything?
Now if only she'd called a half-hour earlier.
Seven am in Dr Kim's office is not my idea of fun. And after the night I had, tossing and turning and never getting any sleep because of that rat bastard weasel Jay and his fucking break-up by email, it's even worse.
Thank god Ryan is already here when I open the door, because, hey, at least I can look at something nice. Damn him, even with a black eye and a swollen lip, he looks luscious. It's only seven am and my mind is already going into some dirty places. Maybe my parents are right – I am a hopeless case.
"Hey, stud. How are you this morning?"
He looks at me sideways in that sexy way of his. He's smiling, but he also looks a little sheepish.
"Okay, I guess. You?"
I shrug. I wonder if he brought my panties. I feel a little embarrassed at that. I mean, it's not the first time, but he probably already thinks of me as this total slut.
A buzzer rings and the receptionist goes into Dr Kim's office. Now's our chance.
"Do you have my..."
"Um, no," he replies. I could swear he's blushing. That's sweet. "I thought it might risk adding fuel to Dr Kim's fire."
He has a point, although by this stage Dr Kim probably expects me to go down on him in her office in mid-speech. Hmm. That's an idea.
"So does that mean I'll have to go back with you to fetch them?" I ask. I'm trying, I really am, but there's something about his hooded blue eyes and his arms and his husky voice that just gets me every time. I can't help myself.
He shakes his head, grimacing. That can't be good.
"Yesterday, Summer found them. In my bed." Huh? What was the little bitch doing in his bed?
He must have read my thoughts. "She was there with Seth. To check up on me after I got sent home."
Whatever, I don't trust that girl. I think she's secretly got the hots for Ryan and is sleeping with Seth as second best. Or maybe she's hoping for some threesome action. Whoops, my mind is going back into the bad place.
"So what does that mean?"
"Well, I'm probably under house arrest now." He laughs, finally, and his eyes twinkle. Lucky the receptionist comes back in at that point because otherwise I just might have to jump him.
"Miss Gentry, Mr. Atwood, Dr Kim has asked me to tell you to come back in fifteen minutes. She has an urgent case to deal with right now. Please don't be late." Man, she is a bitch. She makes Dr Kim look mellow. That's probably why she got her job.
I look over at Ryan. He shrugs. "Let's go get a coffee," he says. We walk out towards the student lounge. He's got his hand on my back and I can feel tingles going up my spine. Damn that boy. He makes me feel horny all the time.
On the way back, we run into trouble.
"Oh, look, the fag's got a girl with him," someone calls from behind us. Ryan stiffens but doesn't react.
I recognize Chip's voice. He's been after me for a few weeks but he's too jockish and assish for me. "Hey Kimmie, why're you walking with the queer?"
Where would anyone get the idea that Ryan is gay? His brother, maybe, but not Ryan.
"Ignore him," Ryan murmurs.
"He's scared, look at him," Chip calls.
"That's who you were fighting yesterday?" He nods silently. "He's not in trouble?"
"No. He's on the team. The coach dealt with him. I get Dr. Kim. Come on." He puts his hand on my back again and I let him guide me back to the office.
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Dr. Kim is sitting behind her desk. I sit down and Ryan takes the chair beside me. We're both sitting up straight with our hands folded on our laps. Good behavior. We're well trained in being punished, it seems.
"Why were you in my office yesterday? Kimmie?"
"Tardies."
"Ryan?"
"Fighting."
She nods. "I apologize for suspending you yesterday before..."
Ryan cracks his knuckles nervously.
"But you're both repeat offenders. Kimmie, you've been warned. Detention for two weeks. Ryan, you're suspended..."
"What?" I can't believe it.
"Kimmie," Ryan whispers, his eyes trained on me in surprise.
"Ryan has a history of fighting," Dr. Kim starts.
"But the prick that he was fighting gets off with nothing? That's not fair!" It's just too much for me to process. Jay's an ass and Chip's an ass, but Ryan's not, or I haven't seen that he is yet and he's getting punished for it."Kimmie..." Ryan hisses.
"That guy is an ass..."
"You're on thin ice, Miss Gentry..."
"Why does Ryan get treated differently?"
"Kimmie, stop it," Ryan urges.
"You've earned yourself a suspension, Miss Gentry. You're both suspended until further notice. Until I meet with your parents."
"Dr. Kim, please, Kimmie hasn't done anything wrong..."
"Mr. Atwood, you're dismissed."
TBC