Broken But Not Shattered

Chapter Seventeen: One More Day

Forgiveness.

Squid slammed the head of his shovel into the dirt; the day had just begun but he could already feel the sun baking his already-tanned skin. He looked over his shoulder to see X-ray slowly walking away from his hole. As he watched the tent leader he thought of his apologies the night before, the lies that came undone, and the tears that X had spilled onto his cot. It was true, there really was more to each person at Green Lake than just the tough-guy façade, even X-ray wasn't completely hopeless. There was even more to Squid than just the toothpick-chewing hick that everyone saw.

XXXXX

Keavy sat in her hole reminiscing last night's incident with X-ray, it puzzled her to hear his apologies and confessions. That just wasn't the X-ray she was used to.

Squid, he was another subject that didn't make sense, she did feel something for him, but did that count for anything? Shaking her head she picked up the shovel that seemed to hold her doom and began digging.

XXXXX

"Yes. Yes. Uh-huh. As soon as possible. That'd be great. Okay, bye," X-ray listened to the one-sided phone conversation that The Warden was having in the other room of her cabin. He twiddled his fingers while waiting for her.

"Well, hello there, X-ray."

He swallowed, "Hi."

"Don't be shy, sit down."

X-ray obeyed and sat down on the tattered sofa that was placed awkwardly in the middle of the cabin.

The Warden sat down on a recliner, "I've been hearing from Pendanski that there has been some trouble in D-Tent, and seeing as how you're the leader, I figured that you should be the first to know."

The tent leader focused his eyes on a dusty vase that sat on a shelf, " Know what?"

"That your troubles are ending. Soon."

"I don't understand."

"You will," She sat up and motioned to the door, " Now if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to."

X-ray left the cabin, his mind as twisted as the motives in the Warden's mind.

"So I guess that's your secret, huh, X- suck up to the Warden? What'd you do, snitch on the us?"

X-ray spun around and saw Armpit, standing there, just watching him, "It's none of your business 'Pit."

"You must think I'm an idiot, don't you X-ray? I heard everything that went on last night, between you, Squid, and Mouth. I've come to the conclusion that you're a shallow person, and you deserve to be in here, rotting." Kicking the dirt, Armpit left, the light from the single outside lamp formed his shadow upon the sand.

X-ray would've held up a fight against the boy that threatened his ego, he would've clocked him without a single thought, he would've done a lot of things; that was, if Armpit was wrong.

XXXXX

The blazing Texas sun had set and settled itself behind the golden moon that bloomed in the blackened sky. Keavy sat in the sand behind D-Tent and watched the vastness of the night.

"Beautiful, ain't it?"

Mouth jumped, "Yeah, Squid, it is."

Squid said nothing, but sat down next to the girl and waited for her to speak the words that seemed to reveal themselves in the silence.

"Squid, I'm so-"

"Keavy," he stopped her, "I know. I'm sorry too. It's okay." Squid took her hand and she felt a thrill run through her. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way. We were caught in a game that we couldn't play, and we both lost.

Mouth blinked, he definitely caught her off-guard. She saw this whole thing playing differently in her mind. She apologizes, he accepts, and the world turns. But no, Squid had to go off on one of his ramblings and screw any chance of simply avoiding the subject. Keavy blinked again, why did he have to do that? Heck, why did he have to be so nice to look at?

"Mouth? Mouth? You in there?"

"Yeah, sorry, I was just...thinking about what you said."

"...And?"

"And I think you're right. We really know how to screw things up..." Keavy's voice drifted off, it seemed to do that a lot lately.

Alan looked at the girl next to him, "Hey..."

Keavy looked at the boy next to her, "What?"

"Friends?" He extended his arm out, as a peace offering.

"No. Squid, no..."

"Why not!"

"Because, things happened between us...and when you care about someone as much as I do you, then you can't just be friends."

A silence, thicker than the night air rolled into their conversation. Squid swallowed, not knowing what to say and Keavy just sat there.

"You know, we're not gonna get anywhere by us not saying anything."

"I have nothing more to say to you, Squid. I told you what I feel, now take your peace and leave."

All he could do was shrug and take the hint. He left, not knowing what would come next.

XXXXX

Lou sat on her sofa and painted her toenails bright red, to match her fingers. A CD playing her favorite song in the background completed her perfect night alone. That's how it had been for years, lonely and tiring. Lou Walker pulled through in the end because, as always, it was just one more day. The phone broke her perfection and she stumbled with a curse across the room to pick it up. "Hello?"

"Miss Walker? Hi, its Donna, Donna Torrelli."

The Warden rolled her eyes and faked a sweet tone, "Hi, can I help you?"

"Yes, actually you can. I think I'm nearby. You said that I was to go South on 1-84 then take the Bluesville exit all the way down to a dirt road, right?"

"Uh-huh. That's right."

"Great, then I'm going the right way. You see, I grew up in Queens, never really saw much of anywhere else. Though, I can take you to a great little pizza place in Soho and there-"

"I'm glad to hear that you're on your way. I'm sure you'll make it here in the morning. I'll let Keavy know. Goodbye." Lou set the phone on the receiver and called Pendanski on the walkie-talkie.

XXXXX

Squid stopped walking and turned to look back at Mouth, "You know what I don't understand, Keav?"

She looked over her shoulder but said nothing.

He continued, "I don't understand why you always call the shots! One day it's fine to sit with you, the next its wrong. One minute you're confessing your feelings to me, next you ignore me. And you know what? I'm sick and tired of being played with! I don't know why or how I can care about you so much, but I do! I gave a piece of myself to you, I told you things I haven't told anyone before and you treat me like a dog! I care about you Keavy, more than I've cared about anyone else in my entire life. Maybe it's because we can relate in some odd way to each other, or maybe it's just unexplainable." He stopped, his breathing fast and his mind slow and slurred. When Keavy said nothing he took a seat next to her again and waited.

Keavy bit her lip, trying to find and pick the right words to explain how she felt towards him. She tried, but she couldn't. Silence was becoming more of an ally than words. She slipped her hand into his and when he squeezed it back that was all she needed, "Me too," was all she managed to say and that was enough for Squid. They sat there under the stars, like so many nights before, but this time the walls were broken down. They could finally be what they wanted each other to see.

"Alan?"

He looked at her and brushed the hair out of her face, "Hm?"

"I'm leaving. Tomorrow."

Squid dropped her hand, and picked up the wall again, "What! I—I mean, that's great. You need to get out of here."

"Oh don't pretend with me, Alan."

"It's Squid."

"Fine, Squid. Are you gonna miss me?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course I'm gonna miss you. You gonna miss me?"

"Yes," She nodded. "X-ray told me."

"That you were leaving?"

"Yeah."

"That was nice of him, I guess."

"About that. Look, give him a break. He was a jerk, but he did apologize. Which takes more courage than being a jerk does." Keavy reached into her pocket and pulled out a rolled up napkin and a pen. She wrote something on it and shoved it into Squid's hand, "If you ever wanna, you know, write me. Or something."

"I will. I don't give up easily, remember?" He put an arm around her waist and she snuggled up to his touch.

"Actually, I can count a few times where you gave up. On me." Keavy smiled.

"Well that's only because—" He stopped mid-sentence, "I'm gonna miss you so much."

"So will I. I'll be waiting to hear from you."

Squid said nothing for a few moments and Keavy broke the silence, "You in there?"

"Yeah, I was just wishing."

"For what?"

"One more day with you." Alan then dropped his wall and pulled the girl in for a kiss.

A/N: Hey all, I know it's been too long. I'm sorry.

Well the last chapter is on it's way, so don't worry:) I was actually thinking of re-writing this whole fic once I had the time. It's just that I've been looking back on the old chapters and I cringe. I've matured in my writing and in my plot. I guess one day soon I'll start on that...one day.

Oh, and review!