Title: The Worst Day Ever
Author: KaptainSarcasm
Fandom: The Weekenders
Notes: Mmmm… New fandom… Uncharted territory… Delicious. This is femmeslash, or two girls romantically involved, so if you aren't into that, turn back now. Lor and company are in high school in this fic, somewhere around 16 years old. And I don't own The Weekenders. As far as I know, ABC does.
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FRIDAY
Lor was having a crappy day. In fact, it was probably the worst day she had had in all her fifteen years of life. The day when she was thirteen when she had contracted a really bad stomach virus and had spent eight hours in the bathroom throwing up everything she had eaten in the past two weeks, that day paled in comparison to this day. The day where she had lost all her brother's clothing and had to work for Helpers Helping the Helpless for the rest of her weekend, that day had also not been nearly as bad as this day. At least those days she had had Tish and the rest of her friends to help her out. But not today. Today was a crappy day and she was all alone.
"It's too bad you can't go on the field trip, Lor," Tino had said, packing his sunglasses in his Carry Around The Water Park Bag.
"Yeah," agreed Carver, who was laying with his head hanging over Tino's bed, "I heard they were arranging lunch with the cast of 'Melanie's Place.'" He sat up. "I know how much you love that show."
"Not to mention the elephant rides," added Tino helpfully.
"And the hot air balloons."
"And the endless supply of chocolate."
"And the tiger show!"
"Okay!" shouted Lor, crossing her arms over her chest. "I get it. It's going to be the best trip ever and I'm a total loser for missing it. You guys go ahead and have fun with your elephants and hot air balloons and forget all about little old me."
Reaching out to put her hand on her best friend's shoulder, Tish smiled lightly at Lor. "Don't worry, girl, I won't forget you. I'll take lots of pictures and I'll get you something really nice. I'll get autographs and stuff for you. Okay?" She brushed back a strand of her friend's blonde hair, trying to soothe her.
It worked. The blonde began to blush and looked down, shrugging. "You don't have to get me anything," she muttered.
"I know I don't, silly, but I will anyway," was the reply.
That had been last night. This morning Lor had waved at her friends as they got on the bus. Tish had been the only one to wave back before she climbed on.
And now Lor was having an awful day. First period History had sucked because she had failed a huge test and was now failing the class. Second and third period she had chemistry lab (which she was terrible at without Tish) and she had dropped a glass beaker on the concrete floor and had to give the teacher her lunch money to pay for it. Then she had French and since Tish wasn't there, she simply had to sit there and listen as people whispered about her and threw spitballs and paper airplanes at her. At lunch, her table was, of course, empty, and she had no money to eat anyway, so she sat there and put her head in her arms and tried not to notice as people walked by and looked at her. English was a joke, she hadn't read the part of the book that she was supposed to have read, and there was no Tish to make fun of the teacher with, even when she dropped her chalk and bent over to pick it up and someone threw a paper wad at her butt. She sighed, thinking about the field day that she and Tish would have had with that. Then she had Math, which was long and boring and made her long for the weekend and her friends. And then, finally, she had gym. While gym was usually her best class, today it was the worst of all.
Being so distracted, she barely even noticed when the girls in the locker room around her began to slowly but surely edge away. Now that she thought about it, the girls had always distanced themselves away from her, but she always had Tish so it didn't matter. As she started to change, she heard someone calling from across the locker room: "What's wrong, dyke? Miss your girlfriend?"
This took her a bit by surprise. Did people think she and Tish were together in that way?
Apparently they did, because on the basketball court, the boys started to say things, too. As one boy, Josh, was playing, Lor, who was smaller and faster than him, managed to get the ball away from him and scored three points for her team. Apparently this was a mistake. As the game progressed, Josh became more and more surly and inappropriate. He checked her in ways that really were just unnecessary. A full-body slam here, a hand on her side there, until it reached an entirely different level. When Lor went to put her arms up and take a shot, she found him right in front of her, blocking her. When she tried to duck around him, his hand shot out and, quite deliberately, cupped her right breast.
Of course, her immediate reaction was to drop the ball and back away. The rest of the class thought this was very odd. They had not seen the action on Josh's part, only Lor's reaction. "What the hell, man!" she yelled, crossing her arms over her chest. Even as she did so, he was still looking at her in a way that made her feel completely violated.
"Oh, I'm sorry, only your smart-ass girlfriend Tish is allowed to touch you there, right?" he said, sneering.
This time, Lor's reaction was much stronger than dropping the ball. She stepped foreword and, putting as much force behind her blow as possible, swung her fist into his chin. He stumbled backward then fell on his bottom, clutching his face. The gym teacher ran up to Lor and made to restrain her, but found that she was completely calm. She was just standing there, glaring at the boy on the floor, who was avoiding looking at her and checking his chin for blood.
"What the hell is going on here?" shouted the gym teacher.
Both kids were silent.
"Because from my perspective, it looked like that was an unprovoked attack, Lor."
It was only then that Lor became not calm. "It was not! He grabbed--"
"It's fine!" interrupted Josh, getting up. "We were playing. Right? Just playing."
With a start, Lor realized that she could get Josh into a lot of trouble if she wanted to. A lot more than she would get into for punching him, that's for sure. But she didn't want to get him into trouble just yet. If later she decided that Josh was still being out of line, she would report him, but for now, she settled with, "Yeah, man. Just playing around."
The gym teacher, being a rather perverted jerk, just let it slide.
As she changed in the locker rooms, she noticed two things. One was that the girls were still whispering about her, and the other was that her hand was beginning to swell. When she had hit him, she had not noticed how much it hurt, but now she found herself running it under cold water until the bell signaling the end of the day rang, and she began to walk home.
Yes, it had been a very, very shitty day.
And it was made worse by the fact that Tish and the others wouldn't be home until six. When she got home, she went immediately to her room and sat down on her bed. Directly across from her, her mirror showed the image of herself sitting on her bed. She looked into her own eyes, and then looked down at her chest. Standing, she put her hand under her breasts, turned to her side, then to the other one. She certainly wasn't a child any more. This was not news to her. She had heard the boys talking, and she knew that they found her attractive. She knew that they also found Tish attractive. Not to mention the fact that the girls thought that Tino and Carver were "cute." That was one thing that Lor definitely could not understand. There weren't really any boys in her year at school that she thought were "cute." They just weren't her type.
Sighing and cradling her throbbing hand, she decided to watch a movie until Tish got home.
Finally, at six thirty, Tish came over, toting with her a bag sporting the water park's logo. She looked a bit tanner, a bit tired, but very happy. "Hey!" she greeted Lor, then put one of her arms around her friend's shoulder in a half-hug. This was a common greeting for them. "Mind if I put this down?"
"Oh, sure, just set it on the bed," she replied, motioning with her injured hand. It did not, of course, go unnoticed by her perceptive friend. Tish gasped and put her hand over her mouth.
"What happened to your hand?" she exclaimed.
Looking at the slight swell, Lor shrugged. "I dunno. I jammed it in a door or something." She did not want to have to relay the story to her best friend.
"Well, you should have iced it right away! Hold on." With that, she ran to Lor's kitchen to get some supplies. She came back with ice in a Ziploc baggie and some bandage that she had found in the bathroom. "Let me see." Reaching out, she took Lor's hand and began to examine it. Lor thought that Tish had very soft hands, and looked very cute when she was concentrating like that.
Whoah. Where did that come from?
"Make a fist," ordered Tish, and Lor obliged. Turning the fist, Tish squinted very closely at it. She made a little noise as if she had just figured something out. "Can you wiggle your fingers?"
"Yeah. It doesn't hurt that much, Tish, it's no big deal..."
"It is, though! It could have been sprained or broken. You don't want to break your hand at a time like this, with basketball season so soon." Gently, Tish lifted the bag and placed it on the most swollen area of her hand. "How's that feel?"
It felt awesome. It felt like Tish's hands were sending little electric sparks up and down her spine. Then she realized that Tish meant the ice. "It feels good."
"Good. Keep that ice on for twenty minutes, then take it off for twenty minutes, then put it on for twenty more, and then we'll bandage it. Okay?"
"Okay." Lor paused, adjusting the ice. "Thanks, Tish. You're a good friend."
"Hey, it's the least I could do. I missed you today."
Smiling at her, Lor replied, "I missed you, too."
For the next hour, Tish talked about her day at the park. She had brought lots of chocolate for Lor, as well as autographs from two of the "Melanie's Place" actors. The three of them had taken lots of photographs and they were being developed. Tish had dropped them off just before she had come over. They would be ready by Wednesday. As she was wrapping Lor's hand, she asked, "So how was your day?"
Hesitating only for a second, the blonde replied, "Can't complain."
SATURDAY
Tish had given Lor specific directions regarding her hand, and Lor was careful to follow them. She wrapped it slowly to avoid mistakes, and remembered what it felt like when Tish had been wrapping it.
She slept till noon and then played video games until two, at which point she did some of her homework so that she wouldn't have to do it later. At four she headed out to meet the gang for a movie, then they would go get pizza at Dictators of Eastern Europe Pizza.
It was drizzling slightly when she got there, and the other three were already there. "I hate drizzle," Carver was saying. "It makes my hair all poofy."
"Mine too," agreed Tish. She made a half-heartened attempt at patting it down, but it didn't work and she knew it.
"Hey, Lor!" said Tino upon noticing their friend.
"Hey," she said back.
"You're late," pointed out Tish.
"Well excuuuse me for living," shot back Lor jokingly. They laughed for a moment before Lor said, "Let me just get a ticket and we can go in."
"I got it for you already," chirped Tish, holding out the ticket.
"Oh. Thanks, Tish."
"You're welcome."
They went inside. Neither Carver nor Tino had noticed Lor's bandaged hand. The movie was a horror film that was supposed to be pretty bad. By the time they saw the monster's zipper two times, Tish and Lor were no longer interested. They were sitting on the end next to each other, and Tish leaned over to whisper, "How's your hand?"
"It's good. It hurts a lot less. You were right, as usual."
"As usual," was the arrogant reply. "Let me see. It still hurts though?"
In the movie, the monster attacked a girl in a car. Tino and Carver laughed loudly.
"A little bit, when I move it."
Gently, Tish took Lor's bandaged hand into her own. She carefully shifted the bandages a bit and began to massage the hand. Her touch was light and reassuring, and Lor felt her face grow warm. She suddenly felt the urge to take Tish's hand into hers, to lace their fingers together. Her fingers almost began to twitch at the very thought. But, taking a deep breath, she maintained control of herself.
Tish's treatment continued until just before the end of the movie. She guided Lor's hand back to the armrest, and then she did something that really surprised Lor. She ran her hand up Lor's arm until the elbow, and then pulled it away. The blonde felt her whole body stiffen.
The movie ended. Tino, Carver and Tish all stood, and since Lor was on the end, she found herself standing as well. She led them out of the theatre, deep in thought.
It could have just been a friendly touch. Just an 'I hope you liked the massage' touch. But even then, it's a little weird. Maybe the touch hadn't even happened. Maybe Lor had just imagined the whole thing. That seemed unlikely though. Her arm still tingled where she had been touched. Her hand no longer hurt.
Much sooner than she had expected, they were at Dictators of Eastern Europe Pizza. After a dramatic re-enactment of a war that only Tish knew anything about, a cannon fired a pepperoni pizza onto their table. Taking two slices each, they began to eat.
Only when they were eating did Tino notice Lor's hand. "Hey, Lor, what happened to your hand?" he asked, biting into his second slice.
"Ran into a door," was the only reply he got.
Just thinking about how she had sprained her hand made Lor's stomach churn. She suddenly didn't feel like eating.
All throughout the meal, Tish watched her best friend through the corner of her eye. She noticed when the blonde girl put her pizza down and did not pick it up again.
Seven o'clock rolled around. They headed to the arcade to play some pool. Tino won by a long shot because of Lor's hand. They played video games against each other, and Lor cursed her hand for its causing her to loose consistently. The others all laughed.
At nine they went to the beach to tell scary stories in the darkness. It got chilly eventually and they decided to head home. Tish walked Lor home in one direction, and Tino and Carver went off in the other direction. Once they were out of earshot, Tish smiled up at her friend. "So," she began conversationally, "who did you punch?"
Lor stopped walking. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. The bruises on your hand are exactly right-hook-shaped. And by the way, it looks like you've got a mean right hook." Putting her hand on Lor's arm, she got them walking again. "So who was it?"
Once again, Lor found herself hesitating. Then she decided to tell her. She always felt like she could tell Tish anything. "That kid Josh Smith in my gym class," she confessed.
"Ha! That little jerk. I bet he deserved it. What did he do?"
He said that we were together. That was what Lor should have said, she knew. She knew that that was why she had hit him. "He did deserve it. He kept..." she paused. "He kept touching me. And then at one point it crossed the line, so I hit him."
"Did you report him?" she asked incredulously.
"No, I just hit him."
"You should really report him."
"I don't want to cause any trouble."
"It's not trouble, it's... It's your pride as a woman. You have a right to defend yourself."
"And I did. I hit him."
There was a break in the semi-argument, and Lor could tell that Tish was smiling when she replied, "Good point."
Soon they were standing in front of Lor's house, and Tish lightly hit her friend on the arm. "Hey," she said, "are you okay?" Lor knew that Tish was asking if she was okay with being felt up by some stupid boy.
Standing there, looking at the girl in front of her, feeling the dull throb in her hand, with her hair wind-whipped and frizzy, sand in her socks and all out of cash, Lor couldn't help but smile. "Yeah," she replied. "I'm okay."
SUNDAY
Lor didn't sleep much that night. She kept thinking about how she had lied to Tish and how awful she felt about it. Then she would think about how Tish had touched her hand so softly and lovingly, and then she thought about how pretty Tish was, and then she thought about what Josh thought and what everyone thought, and it made her want to punch something again.
But it wasn't the wanting to punch something that killed her about it, it was that she didn't know WHY that made her want to punch something.
At around dawn, she figured out why.
At noon, when she woke up, she called Tish. This was an emergency. Tish had been up for hours, apparently, so that was good. Didn't want to wake her up. They arranged for Lor to head over to Tish's house at one. That gave them both time to get ready. They showered and got dressed, and at one, Lor showed up on Tish's doorstep.
"Come up to my room. I want to show you something." She led her upstairs, and Tish showed Lor how much chocolate she had gotten from the trip to the water park. It was boxes of it, literally. It was quite a sight, really.
Soon enough, they were both sitting on Tish's bed, and Lor said, "I have to tell you something."
"I have to tell you something, too."
"Okay, but let me go first."
"Okay."
"Okay. I lied to you, Tish," she said simply.
Tish raised her eyebrows. "About what?"
"About why I punched Josh."
"Oh. He didn't..."
"No. I mean, yes, he did, but that's not why I hit him." Turning to face Tish, Lor put one leg up on the bed. "Tish, I don't know if you know this, but everyone at school... They all think... They all seem to believe that... That you and I... Are... Are, well, together. In... In THAT way."
There was an elongated pause. Tish dropped her gaze. "Oh," she said finally.
"I hit Josh because he said something about you, in terms of your relationship to me. He said something about you being my girlfriend," she finished, voice breaking somewhat on that last word. Now it was Lor's turn to look away.
Another elongated paused followed. The blonde heard her friend take a deep breath, then let it out as she said, "Would that be such a bad thing?"
Immediately correcting herself, Lor stuttered, "No, that's not why I hit him. It was just the demeaning way in which he said it, it was like he--"
"Lor," interrupted Tish. "You misunderstand me." She reached out and placed a finger under the blonde's chin, turning her head back towards her. Looking into her eyes, Tish continued, "I was asking you, would you mind? Being my... My girlfriend?" She gingerly put her arms around Lor and put her head on her shoulder. "Now I have to tell you something, Lor. I'm in love with you."
As Tish buried herself in Lor's shoulder, Lor grinned widely, placing her arms around her friend and pulling her closer. "That was the other thing I was going to tell you," she whispered. Then she kissed her friend lightly, and it was exactly everything she had spent all night imagining, only better because it was real.
That afternoon, they spent the better part of their time kissing and cuddling. As the sun began to set, they found themselves lying together in each other's arms. Suddenly, Lor whispered, "Hey Tish?"
"Yeah, Lor?"
"I lied to you one other time."
"What now?"
"Well, I told you that I couldn't complain about my day on Friday, but the truth is, I'd love to complain to you about it."
"Go ahead, honey," said Tish, and the endearment sounded natural to both girls, as if she had been calling her 'honey' for years.
So Lor complained. It had been one of the worst days she had ever had. But in the end, it seemed to work out okay. At least she still had Tish.