Charlie glided to Annie's door to fill Annie in. "Well, Caroline called Del to come have sex with her so she could get revenge on Richard, and I came along to make sure Richard walked in on Caroline and Del having sex, but when we got here, Richard and Caroline were together, and Del couldn't remember why we came, so I reminded him. Maybe I shouldn't have done that in front of Richard. Not sure. But now Del is about to beat up Richard and you got here just in time. Whew. That was a mouthful. And to think. All of this because Richard got his mojo on with some hootchie mama. So, should I bring back ice cream for everyone else, or just ice for you, Richard? Ha ha. Because your face will need it in a second. Okay. I gotta go."
"Wait just a minute, fly boy." Annie came storming out of her apartment and grabbed Charlie by the back of his jacket, just as he was about to enter the elevator. "Hootchie mama. Your words or Caroline's?"
Del backed away from Richard in order to turn around and look at Annie. "Okay, Annie, really. Hootchie mama?" Del chuckled. "Who do you think said that? Doesn't really sound like Caroline vocab to me."
Annie let go of Charlie's coat and turned to face Del. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Annie sighed. "Good thing. Oh, man. If Caroline had called me something like that..."
At the realization of what Annie had just given away, Richard turned to the wall and pounded his head against it repeatedly. Without even noticing Richard, Caroline stormed over to Annie, pushing Del out of the way in the process.
"What, Annie? What would you have done? Whatever it would have been, I'm sure it would have been completely justified. Because it is all my fault, right? I am completely in the wrong here and you and Richard are the innocents. Right?"
"Oh. No, it can't be." Del lost all color in his face, and sat down on the floor in complete shock. "No, it really can't be."
No one noticed Del, except Charlie, who skated over. "What can't be, Del? Did you finally realize I was telling you the truth when I said Superman and Clark Kent are really twin brothers who got in a fight over who should date Lois Lane, and now they hate each other and avoid each other, and that is why they are never seen together?"
Del looked at Charlie incredulously, the only way there is to look at Charlie. "No, numbskull. Bigger than that. I just got the weather report from Hell, and it looks like people need to cover their crops. First frost is tonight."
"Okay, Del. I know that you are saying Hell froze over. That much I get."
Del stood up and walked over to Richard, who still had his face buried in the wall. Del turned Richard around and pushed his back into the wall. "Look, I know we're not best of friends, Karinsky. You annoy me, and you talk above me and, man, you just bum me out sometimes. But...I thought you were a decent guy. How could you do this to Caroline? Her best friend, man. That's just...that's below even me!"
Richard pushed Del off of him, "Look, I know, okay? I'm a creep. The lowest of the low. But I really don't see how it is any of your business, frankly."
"Well, it is my business. Caroline is my friend. For that matter, Annie is my friend too."
"Well, that's very admirable, but I didn't exactly rape her, you know? Besides..."
Del interrupted, "I just don't see how you could do it, man. You know how Caroline feels about you. How low is that?"
"No, frankly, I don't have a clue. And I think that is what Caroline and I were just getting to the bottom of, when you arrived for the revenge sex! How low is that?"
"Guys! Stop it. Right now!" Caroline ran between Del and Richard and pushed them apart. "Okay, so the revenge sex was stupid, and I'm sorry, and I never should have even thought of that, but...I was hurt." Caroline looked down and brushed away a tear.
Richard had never been able to stand the sight of Caroline crying, and it was especially bad now, as he knew he was the cause of it. "Caroline, can we please just...please just go somewhere and talk?" Richard looked over his shoulder at the group surrounding him, then looked back at Caroline. "Alone?"
Caroline looked at Richard, and the past him into the eyes of her friends. The friends that she had been with through so much. The friends who had made her get over her homesickness when she left Peshtigo. The friends who had been there for her through thick and thin, love and loss, good times and bad. And then she looked back up at Richard, into his eyes. And in those eyes she saw pain and sadness, more than she had ever seen before. But she also saw the man who knew her better than anyone in the world. The man who made her laugh, whether he meant to or not. The man who, regardless of all that had been said and done in the last twenty-four hours, held her heart captive, and showed no signs of releasing it any time soon.
"No, Richard, I don't think we can. Not now." Caroline spoke quietly, and only Richard heard her.
Richard reached out and grabbed Caroline's hand, gently, and their fingers interwined naturally. "Caroline," Richard sighed and Caroline saw a tear form in the corner of his eye, "my heart is breaking."
Caroline raised her free hand and caressed Richard's cheek, catching on her finger the one tear that fell. "My heart isn't breaking, Richard. It's broken." She pulled back her hands and clasped them together in front of her face. She saw that Richard was about to lose control, and she knew she couldn't stand that. So, without another word, she turned, walked into her apartment and shut the door, leaving behind her best friends, and the man she loved, none of whom knew what to say or do.
TO BE CONTINUED...
I don't know where this is headed yet, so I would love some comments! Thanks!
