Note: Yeah, at this point I'm just totally for finishing this story out so that I can launch the sequel and begin to rectify things. That's the plan. And trust me, I gots a plan. This is just me putting all sorts of related things together in one chapter. Eh.
One Fine Day
This takes place over the course of a few weeks, starting with the week of graduation and continuing into the summer. Yaar.
Graduation was upon them before they knew it. Just one day, they had been standing in their senior hallway, teasing a teary Mr. Alcazar, and one week later, they were standing in front of the building on the last night that they would enter it.
The week off had done them all good; the days had been spent lounging under the sun in Jason's backyard, playing in the pool at Sonny's house, watching movies and eating Jeff's chips at Elizabeth's house, and throwing a crazy house party at the Barrett residence.
"My gown smells like hair spray," Brenda frowned, lifting the folded blue silk to her nose. "Ew."
Elizabeth smirked and shook her head, following her best friend into the bathroom. She had about five minutes to be dressed in her medals and report to the Band Room; all of the students graduating in the top five percent of the class were supposed to don their special medals and special tassles and show up for a pre-graduation picture.
The bathroom was jam-packed with their other friends, all of whom were trying to figure out how to get their caps to stay on their heads and using a judicious amount of hairpins to accomplish the trick. Carol had already fixed hers and helped Elizabeth put her own cap on over her straightened hair. Sydney helped her zip up her gown and grabbed the medals from her tote, and she was set.
"See you guys later," she smiled, stepping outside and leaving them to spritz Brenda's gown with perfume to get rid of the hair spray odor. Sonny and Jason were walking down the hallway on their way to the Band Room, both of them dressed in their gowns, and Elizabeth couldn't help but smile.
Sonny grinned instantly when he saw her, but Jason was pouting down at his gown. Shaking her head, Elizabeth stepped up to him and brushed his hands away from his neck, fixing the attachable collar herself so that it looked the way it was supposed to. "There. Now don't you go messing that up, Morgan."
His sandy brows furrowed as Jason looked down at the gown he was wearing over his black dress pants. "I hate this thing."
"Hey, at least yours doesn't smell like hair spray," Elizabeth smirked, stepping between the two boys and looping her arms through theirs as they all stepped into the Music wing.
"Twenty bucks says Czar starts tearing up halfway into his speech."
"Jason, shh!" Elizabeth couldn't help but grin up at her boyfriend as they filed down the aisle to their seats along with the rest of their classmates. The class had been split in two and herded into two long lines, and as usual, M and W wound up together.
The graduation was being held in spacious Port Charles High gymnasium and although none of the graduates were too thrilled about it, most realized that it wasn't that big of a deal at all. They had already graduated; the ceremony was a formality that was basically for their parents, all of whom lined the bleachers that extended up to the balconies on either side of the gym.
Elizabeth scanned the crowd on the right for her parents, hoping beyond hope for the off-chance that she'd be able to find them in the sea of faces. She should have told her father to wear some outrageous hat or something. The band continued to play the march as she searched and finally, she found her sister's face. Sarah and her boyfriend Clint sat right next to her parents and grandparents and they all waved at her when they saw her looking back at them. She smiled brightly back at them, suppressing a giggle when her father waved broadly.
Next to her, Jason was also discreetly searching the bleachers as they walked. He figured it should be fairly easy to spot his own family – all six of them had come. Before long, he found them in the center bleachers. His mother and father, his grandfather and grandmother, and Tracy and AJ. His older sister had flown in for the occasion and had been staying with them for the past few days, and would soon be flying back out again just like Sarah and Clint. Proud grins bloomed instantly on all six faces when the Morgans saw Jason looking up at them, and he contained a smirk when all of them waved at him simultaneously.
His father looked away for a minute and Jason saw an expression of surprise flicker across his features. And then the well-dressed doctor was waving elsewhere – at someone else. Monica looked in that direction and smiled, and when Jason followed her gaze he found none other than the Drs. Webber on the opposite side of the gym.
Elizabeth, too, had seen her family's attention turn elsewhere and just then spotted the Quartermaines herself. She caught Jason's glance and couldn't help but chuckle back. Breaking graduation procedure as indoctrinated upon them by their gym teacher, the brunette reached out and slipped her hand into Jason's larger one.
"Twenty says that Luke beans the Principal in the head when it comes time to throw our caps."
"I now present to you the class of-"
The Principal's voice was cut off with a resounding chorus of yells as the new graduates stood up from their seats, cheering loudly. Their voices resonated through the gymnasium, coupled with the applause from their families, as two thousand blue caps flew into the air, yellow tassles and all.
Luke didn't bean the Principal, but he did chuck his hat at one of the deans, grinning innocently when the man grabbed it before it could hit his chest. They were all fair game.
Mr. Alcazar's smile was bittersweet as he watched the young men and women celebrating in the center of the gymnasium. The girls were laughing, the boys were grinning, and all of them were eagerly awaiting their turn to file into the aisle and leave the gym. The rows exited with jubilant swiftness, and the students now filed into the Field House to say goodbye and meet up with their folks. He knew this wasn't the brightest arrangement, because the parents would only file in after the kids and the entire Field House would be jam-packed with people and no one would be able to find anyone.
But perhaps that was the fun of it – if he had learned anything from his graduating class of miscreants, it was to not sweat the details and fret over minor glitches. As Jason and Elizabeth advised, they should just live through it slow. He'd have to remember to ask Jason for a detailed explanation of that later.
Sonny and Brenda were among the first to duck into the field house, and a thick throng of their friends gathered around them. The cheers were still sounding strong by the time Jason and Elizabeth squeezed through, hand in hand. At this point, finding the folks just wasn't important. The girls immediately broke off from the boys, who were shaking hands and alternately punching each other in the shoulder. The parents were beginning to filter in, looking very confused among the sea of excited children, and the Field House soon turned into a madhouse.
"There she is!" Jeff Webber called out above the churning sea of kids. "I see her! That one there! Oh – wait. Never mind."
Caroline squeezed through a small group of parents behind her husband and somehow managed to spot Sonny. "Jeff, there's Sonny – Jason and Elizabeth can't be too far away."
"Looking for the kids?" came a deep voice behind them, and the two doctors turned to find their old friends. "We haven't had any luck spotting Jason, either."
"They can't be far," Caroline repeated with a smile as she waved over Mike and Adella who were standing with the Barretts. "We'll find them."
The large group of adults moved into the center of the field house, doing their best to duck out of camera shots and not step on anyone's gown. Finally, they found Jason, Sonny, Elizabeth and Brenda standing right in the middle of a thick clot of laughing students. Jeff and Alan stood around clearing their throats loudly for a minute, hoping to attract their kids' attention but when that failed they just began yelling. All four students gaped at the large group of adults before grinning and immediately running over.
Elizabeth threw her arms around her mother and Sarah, and then Clint gave her a hug before her father swept her up in a tight embrace. Her grandparents descended as soon as Jeff set her down, and across from them, Lila was kissing Jason's forehead. Tracy tousled his silky blonde locks affectionately as AJ jumped around between Jason and Edward. Sonny was already being clapped heartily on the back by his older brother, Ric Corinthos, and accepted a hug from his sister-in-law Samantha before pulling his niece, Kristina, into his arms. Adella could be seen hugging Brenda as Hayden and his wife stood proudly by, and finally, the large group began to meander toward the exit.
Mr. Alcazar met them halfway and congratulated all of them, even shaking hands enthusiastically with all their parents and grandparents. AJ wondered aloud if he'd be learning calculus from him in a couple years, to which Sonny, Jason and Elizabeth all groaned aloud before bursting into laughter.
They said goodbye and thank you to all of the teachers they met along the way, exchanging promises to keep in touch and visit whenever they could. Before long, they found themselves by the front doors of the brick building, and that was when Elizabeth stopped them.
"Wait!" she cried, fixing her cap with one hand and trying to retain her grip on her diploma cover. "We need a picture of just the four of us."
Jeff and Alan instantly got out their digital cameras, as did Mike, Hayden, Steve and Edward. They waited patiently, smiling to themselves, as the foursome arranged themselves. It was immediately decided that Elizabeth and Brenda needed to be in the center with their respective boyfriends framing the shot. The multiple flashes went off, capturing the four friends during their last moment within the walls of PC High.
Elizabeth smoothed imaginary wrinkles out of her dark blue dress and patted down her hair as Jason clicked the auto-lock of his Jeep and settled one hand on her back to lead her into the building. "Do I look all right?"
He swept one easy glance over his girlfriend from her toes to her hair. She was dressed in a sapphire blue dress that matched her eyes perfectly. The dress fell down an inch past her knees and the skirt was pleated, giving it a nice swish when she walked. It was v-necked and low enough to just barely hint at her cleavage, and she had paired it with a sapphire pendant and matching blue sandals. Her hair was free and flowing down her shoulders in waves, just as he liked it.
"You look like you," he smiled boyishly, tucking an errant lock behind her ear as she laughed.
"You are no help, you know that?" Elizabeth's eyes were glittering as she teased him. "I could be dressed in a burlap sack and you'd still say that."
Jason chuckled and wrapped his arm securely around her waist, escorting her into the restaurant. "I'm hoping you have some sort of clue as to what's going on tonight, because I'm completely in the dark."
She shrugged. "My parents just said for me and you to meet them at the Cellar at eight-thirty. They probably just wanted to have dinner together – you know, so my father could hassle you."
Her teasing didn't have the desired effect because Jason's attention was suddenly focused elsewhere. "If they wanted to have dinner with us, then why are Sonny and Brenda here?"
Elizabeth frowned as their friends approached them just as suspiciously. "What are you two doing here?"
"We were gonna ask you the same thing," Brenda replied warily, glancing at Sonny. The brunette wore a black dress about the same length as Elizabeth's with delicate, understated jewelry and Sonny was dressed in a casual suit, though he looked much more formal than Jason who had just come in a pressed shirt and his only pair of dress pants. "Sonny's mom told us to meet her and his dad here for dinner."
"We got the same message," Elizabeth informed her, looking questioningly up at Jason. "Coincidence?"
He shrugged. "Maybe."
"Let's just go in," Sonny suggested, glancing at his watch. "We'll find out sooner or later, I guess. You don't think…they planned this, do you?"
He and Jason only had time to exchange thoughtful glances before Elizabeth and Brenda snaked their arms through theirs and yanked them inside, eager to find out. They tugged their boyfriends down the flight of stairs to the main dining room of the Cellar and sure enough, there were their parents…all of them. And a whole bunch of other people.
"Surprise!"
"Congratulations!"
"Hey, it's the graduates!"
"Can we cut the cake now?"
Jason smirked at his little brother through the chorus of congratulations that flooded their way. He couldn't believe their parents had done this; it was so…unnecessary.
Elizabeth appeared to be having the same thoughts, but she wouldn't dream of hurting anyone's feelings. "Oh, you guys, thank you-"
Sonny and Brenda, the power couple when it came to public spotlights, were already way ahead of them, shaking hands and warmly accepting well wishes as they moved through the crowd to their parents. Elizabeth elbowed Jason with a chuckle and grabbed her grinning boyfriend's hand, pulling him in the same direction. Sometimes, those two were too much; but they certainly played the part of gracious and surprised honorees very well, taking the heat off her and Jason.
Alan and Jeff stood with Mike and Hayden as they motioned for the servers to wheel out a large sheet cake. Elizabeth recognized several of her classmates as well as her parents' friends from the hospital, along with an army of people she didn't know – people that most likely knew Sonny, Brenda or Jason somehow. The Cellar was packed tight and it looked like the entire town had been invited. She had to give her parents and their friends credit for organizing such a bash, and keeping quiet about it above all else.
"Here it is," Alan grinned, motioning his son and Elizabeth forward as Sonny and Brenda joined them. "Take a look at that!"
There, sitting atop the covered cart, was a large sheet cake bearing the picture of the four of them taken on the day of their graduation.
"Hey, there, Mister, put a fence around your sister; it's the – huh! – Boy's Night Out!"
"Girl's Night Out," Brenda corrected, throwing her duffel bag into the back of Sydney's minivan. "This has nothing to do with the boys, Beth – it's all about us girls."
"Well, I know, but that's not the song," Elizabeth replied witheringly as she closed the snap on the cooler that they had just piled juice and other supplies into before motioning for Jason to put it in the van with everything else. "Now I have to start all over. Hey there, Mister, put a fence around your sister; it's the Boys Night Out!"
"Why do you even need one of these?" Sonny huffed as he ruffled through Brenda's duffel bag and pulled out a pack of post-its. "Who brings post-its on a road trip?"
"That's for Beth," his girlfriend snipped, brushing his fingers away from her bag and zipping it up. "She's going to write her number on them and give 'em out to all the hot guys we meet at the beach."
"Ha, ha," Jason jeered as he finally loaded the cooler into the back of the van. "You're a riot, Brenda."
She grinned cheekily back at him, smirking when Elizabeth laughed and kissed his cheek reassuringly. "What? Who doesn't prefer a beach boy to a living block of concrete? It's a no-brainer if you ask me."
"Don't listen to her," Elizabeth ordered with a smile, wagging her finger at her best friend. Jason snorted and grabbed her blue duffel, arranging it carefully with the others. "She just likes to cause trouble."
"Who, me? I'm an angel," Brenda grinned, sticking her hands into the back pockets of her khaki shorts. "What say you, girls? Are we ready to hit the road?"
"We're ready," Carol grinned, fishing her keys out of her purse. "Syd and I are driving, right? Who's going with me?"
"All I know is the luggage is going with me," Sydney announced, popping out of her garage with a water bottle and her keys. "So I think that you better follow me, Carol – 'cause if we do it the other way around, you'll lose me and then half of this group will be without bikinis. And that's just a tragedy."
"Indeed," Elizabeth agreed heartily, pulling open the door to Sydney's van. "Especially since I just bought a brand new one."
"Ooh, that reminds me – we should grab more sunscreen!" Brenda slipped her arm in through Sonny's and herded him off to the garage to help her search while Jason slipped up behind Elizabeth.
"New bikini, huh?" he growled, wrapping his arms around her waist as she bent to clear some room in the backseat of the van. "How come I wasn't told of this?"
The brunette grinned cheekily and turned in his arms, brushing her lips teasingly against his. "I'll wear it for you – later."
He groaned low in his throat when she pressed a sweet kiss to his lips and moved away to make sure everything else was in order. Brenda appeared with the sunscreen and tossed it into the back of the van.
"Are we set?" Elizabeth wanted to know. "Does everyone have enough gas money? Money for tolls? Everyone's phone is working, right?"
"We're good to go," Emily announced, already heading for Carol's car with Felicia. "We three will go with Carol and you guys ride with Syd, okay? We're gonna stop at the Oasis at the halfway mark for food, remember? We'll see you then."
"Brenda and I are going to take Pat," Elizabeth clarified, motioning to Brenda's silver Porsche. "We've got the towels and volleyballs and all the beach stuff in the back already, so we're set. Jenny and Lexi are the ones going in the van."
"Come on, gals," Sydney ordered, pulling open the drivers' side door. "Get in. Say goodbye to the men and let's hit the road."
Brenda and Elizabeth dutifully kissed their boyfriends, who were very reluctant to let them out of their arms, and waved before running to their car. And then they were off – eight girls ready to embark on their road trip that would eventually lead to the shores of the Atlantic ocean.
"God, we should have done this a long time ago," Carol sighed, stretching out lazily under the sun and adjusting her shades. A group of college boys in swimming trunks were playing volleyball right in front of her, and she couldn't say she minded the view. The others were stretched out nearby, enjoying the sun and working on their tan. Except for Elizabeth, of course, who didn't tan very well and was more concerned with turning as red as a lobster than a healthy golden brown.
"I know what you mean," Brenda sighed happily. This was their second day at the beach and everything was going perfectly. They woke when they want to, ate what they wanted to and when they wanted to, and basically did nothing all day but talk about girlie stuff while they watched half-naked hot guys run around in swim trunks. It was heaven.
"Ooh, look at that one," Carol purred, taking off her shades so she could get a better look at one of the blonde volleyball players. "Hot damn."
Elizabeth peered in the same direction and upon spotting the young man, rolled her eyes at Carol. Personally, she thought Jason was hotter – but then again, she was just a wee bit biased. Next to her, Carol was praying under her breath. "Please, please, please let them accidentally hit the ball over here."
Elizabeth was about to laugh and tell her to get real when the exact thing Carol was hoping for happened – a spike went wrong and the volleyball bounced toward them. Grinning like the cat that ate the canary, the blonde leisurely rolled up to a sitting position, adjusted her bikini solely for the viewing pleasure of the volleyball players, and stood smoothly. Calmly, she picked up the ball, threw it up lightly in the air, and hit it back to them with a swift thrust of her coupled wrists, thus securing for herself an invitation to join the game.
Tossing the rest of the girls a wink over her shoulder, Carol threw her shades down and trotted over to the boys when they asked her to play. Brenda was watching the scene with a smirk and could only shake her head. "Oh, to be free…"
Her best friend laughed. "Oh, come on, Bren, you don't mean that."
"Okay, fine, maybe not…but still."
"You just miss Sonny," Elizabeth declared. "If he were here, you wouldn't even notice those other boys."
"You seem very secure in my relationship with him," Brenda giggled. "It's that perverse need of yours to see everything paired off forever."
Next to her, Sydney laughed. "Oh, that again? Yeah, I have to go with Brenda on this one." There was a brief, awkward pause as Sydney fingered the sand and glanced hesitantly at her friends. "I told you guys I broke up with Charlie, right?"
Elizabeth snapped to attention. "What? No, you did not tell us! When? Why?"
Brenda rolled her eyes and motioned for Sydney to continue. "Don't pay any attention to Cupid over there. What happened, Syd?"
"Well, I thought about it realistically," the other brunette replied as the girls scooted closer. "I mean, I'm going to college in the fall and he's going to be a senior. I'm going to be halfway across the country – in Chicago – and he'll be here. It's just not going to work and to be honest, I don't think I want to put that much effort into making it work. I mean, it's not like I was in love with him or anything. Time to cut things off."
Brenda was nodding sympathetically, in total agreement, as Elizabeth struggled to keep her mouth shut. "Yeah, long-distance relationships can be scary. Personally, I'm just so glad that me and Sonny are going to the same school and won't have to worry about that. What a load off my mind."
"Yeah, consider yourself lucky," Felicia nodded. "Long-distance relationships at our age are just doomed to failure, in my opinion. I tried that once – I met this great guy when I was visiting my aunt in Texas, and we tried to keep it going but it was just ridiculous. I should have actually ended it quicker – then I wouldn't have been nearly as depressed as I was since I waited."
"That's exactly what Charlie said," Sydney burst out, surprised. "We had this same conversation when we broke up, and he said the same thing; that it was better to do it sooner rather than later. It's amazing how the guys actually think just like we do when it comes to this stuff."
The conversation continued around her, but Elizabeth was stuck on the last comment about Sydney's ex-boyfriend. Did he actually feel the same way Sydney did or was he just saying it to avoid looking like the love-sick puppy in the whole situation? Did guys really feel the same way about long-distance relationships? More importantly – did her guy think so?
"Got that cute boy's number," Carol gloated as she returned to their hotel room to shower for dinner. "Told you I would and I did!"
"Bravo, Carol," Elizabeth chuckled, rolling her eyes. "This must be a proud day for you and your family."
"Ha, ha – you just wish Jason was around. That's the problem," Carol replied, pulling her blonde hair into a ponytail. "If he was, you two would be glued at the mouth. Yuck. I'm sorry," she added defensively when the brunette glared at her. "But it just looks gross when he kisses you – Beth, you look like you're freaking twelve, for Christ's sake!"
"Can it, you two," Brenda commanded as she emerged from her room. "We're going to go eat because I am starving, and there is no way in Hell that those little old ladies are going to finish up all the salmon at the buffet, so let's-"
Just then, the shrill tune of her cell phone interrupted her, and while Brenda pulled it out of her purse, Carol quickly ducked into her room for a quick shower. Sydney and Felicia appeared and milled around nearby as they waited for the others, and Elizabeth was about to yell out for the girls to hurry it up when Brenda clicked off her phone and looked up at her with dead brown eyes.
The brunette frowned as she looked at her best friend, who could only stare back. "Bren? What's wrong? What happened?"
"It's my mom." The words were so quiet that they were almost lost on the soft summer breeze. The girls quieted down instantly and stared back at her. "She – that was my dad. He said she…she was brought to the hospital. It's the headaches again."
Elizabeth's eyes widened with a gasp, and her mind raced with the new information. Her best friend was in near tears and beginning to panic, and she had to distract her before she hyperventilated altogether.
"Okay, okay," she got out, wrapping her arm around Brenda's waist. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out. This is what we'll do," Elizabeth told the other girls who stood by nervously. "Bren and I are gonna take off – Syd, there's room in the van for the beach junk we brought along, right? You're gonna help us load that in the van, we'll grab our bags, and then we're heading home."
"Got it," Sydney nodded, already reaching for her keys and motioning to the other girls. "Okay, let's unpack."
"And I'm driving," Elizabeth added, grabbing the keys from Brenda's hand. She latched onto the taller brunette's elbow and steered her toward the parking lot. "It's gonna be fine, Bren."
"Girls." Hayden Barrett wore a relieved smile as he wearily walked over to where Elizabeth and Brenda sat in the waiting room of General Hospital. He wore a formal business suit, but the jacket was open, the tie was lost somewhere, and his shirt was untucked and flapping with each step. "There you are."
"How is she, Daddy?" Brenda's chocolate eyes were alight with worry, but her father soothed her by taking her small hands in his.
"She's fine," he replied, tucking her hair behind her ear. "She just woke up and is doing fine, and the doctors are saying that it's going to be fine. They want to keep her for observation a little longer, but we can definitely take her home tomorrow."
"Oh, thank God," the brunette muttered, lifting one hand to her forehead as she tried to calm herself down. "Oh, good. Can I see her?"
"Right away," Hayden assured her as he took her hand. His dark eyes fell on Elizabeth and the corner of his mouth curved upwards. "Thank you for being here, Elizabeth. I appreciate it."
"Thanks, Beth," Brenda agreed, suddenly remembering her best friend was with her and hadn't left her side since they arrived. "For driving home, for being here, for everything."
"Don't mention it," she replied with a small smile. "Do you two need anything else? Can I do-"
"We're fine," Hayden assured her with a smile. "You've done so much already – please, don't worry. Everything's going to be fine here."
"Take the car, Beth," Brenda added, squeezing her father's hand. "I don't want you to be stuck here – I'll pick it up from your house later."
"I'll stop by tomorrow," Hayden agreed. "Or I'll send someone to get it. Please, go home, eat, rest – you must be exhausted from the drive. Go, go, and thank you."
Nodding, Elizabeth leaned in to give her best friend a hug. Brenda hugged her back tightly and stepped away with a brave smile, waving her toward the elevators. With one last look behind her, she waved at her best friend before rushing with her father to the nearby hospital room.
"Alan, it's too hot for him to be mowing the lawn. Tell him to do it later."
Alan Quartermaine frowned stubbornly at the medical journal he held in his hand. "If Jason had mowed the lawn when I told him to, then he wouldn't have this problem. Let him finish. He's been putting it off for a week."
Monica sighed as she looked out the window at her oldest son. He wore black track shorts and old sneakers and was sweating under the harsh, bright sun. She was about to insist on bringing him back when a loud squeal of rubber tires in the driveway interrupted her. "Who on earth could that be?"
Alan was wondering the same thing and left the room to peer out the front door. "Monica, who do we know that owns a silver Porsche?"
"Dr. Lindstrom – drives it to work every day. What's he doing here?"
"No, not a man – a woman. What woman owns a silver Porsche?"
Monica's golden brows furrowed as she thought. "Hayden bought Brenda one of those for her sixteenth birthday, I think – but what is Brenda doing here? She and Jason don't get along at all."
"Ah, not Brenda," Alan replied, pulling his head back inside. "It's Elizabeth – she must be driving Brenda's car. Kids these days – she's not insured on that vehicle! What if something were to happen? It would be one big mess, that's what would happen."
"What's Elizabeth doing home already? The girls just left for their road trip to the seaside three days ago."
Alan shrugged and motioned that Elizabeth was heading straight to the backyard. Curious now, both parents headed back into the same room they were in before to see what was going on. Outside, Elizabeth was making a beeline straight toward an oblivious Jason as he strained over the lawnmower in the bright sunlight. Her hips moved in a strict, hard rhythm and her little hands were curled into fists and even though Alan and Monica were relatively far away, they could easily tell that the little brunette was angry.
"What on earth did that boy do now?" Monica muttered aloud, causing Alan to shrug.
Sensing an intruder, Jason looked up from his task expecting to see his pesky little brother and instead found his girlfriend – and boy, did she look fired up. He shut off the lawnmower and wiped the sweat away from his forehead, squinting at her with confusion. She didn't take any pity on his clueless state and instead just marched right over, placed her tiny hands on his sweaty chest, and shoved with all her might.
"Elizabeth!" He stumbled back a step and just stared at her. "What-"
"Damn it, Jason Morgan!" The brunette's sapphire eyes were blazing as she lifted one finger, pointing it at him in such a threatening way that he actually gulped. "We're going to get a couple things straight right now!"
Alan and Monica were watching the scene with the same mixture of disbelief and confusion as their son, and they both wished they could actually hear what was being said.
"I don't care what the other people are doing," she hissed as if he had any sort of clue about this whole conversation in general. "I don't care if some people don't want to be paired up – even though, yes, damn it, everything should be paired up! Everything should always be paired up! Cats and dogs, babies and plants, salt and pepper, sofas and armchairs – that's just how the world works! But fine, fine, if not everyone feels that way, I can deal with it!"
Yeah, he had absolutely no idea what was going on.
"But you better get one thing through your thick skull, Morgan." She stepped closer, poking him in the chest now with that scary-looking index finger. "I do not want to break up just because you're going to Boston and I'm going to Columbia. You got that?" In her impassioned tirade, Elizabeth didn't notice the way his eyes widened; he had never once thought of breaking up because of that. "I don't care if my phone bill costs more than a semester's tuition – I'm not going to call this off just because-"
Jason had heard enough and reached out to wrap one hand behind her neck. The next thing she knew, he was crushing his mouth to hers, effectively squashing any further arguments. His other arm snaked around her waist to pull her closer but Elizabeth came willingly, pressing up against his hard, sweaty chest as he ravaged her mouth. His tongue thrust past her lips without permission and he engaged hers in a clashing duel. By the time he pulled away, they were both gasping for breath.
"You done with your big scary speech?"
Alan and Monica watched Elizabeth nod at something their son must have said, still entirely confused regarding the peculiar communication methods of teenagers.
"Good," Jason murmured as he leaned in once more, brushing his lips against hers gently. "Because I remember – no bailing."
