Here is a short chapter, and then one more after that. Reading all this over, I think it is the darkest story I have written yet. Not to say I don't like it, I love this story, I love this different, unconventional look at the LM universe. But if you are in the mood for something more lighthearted, check out my new LG in the Rated T section, The Perfect Gift.
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Larry and Veruca walked back into the restaurant together, but Veruca immediately went to her friends at the far table, where at this point she just mooched off everybody else's plate, but only a little, because with everything that was happening, she wasn't really that hungry.
All the time she talked to her friends, she had one eye still over on the other table, where she noticed without a doubt that Lizzie's sweater was ruined, and Gordo still looked as cute as ever, but in fact, most of all, she could not keep herself from glancing at Larry Tudgeman.
Was she really going to go out with him? Well, she had had a crush on him once upon a time, long ago, in fifth grade. So there must be something there…right?
She kept laughing quietly to herself. Cassandra leaned over and asked, "What's so fuckin' funny, V?" but Veruca just shrugged it off and said, "Nothing."
If she was going to do this, Cassandra was not going to be the first to know. First, she had to talk to Ethan. Ethan may not have too much in the way of school smarts, but if there was anyone she could trust for street smarts, he was the one. If there was some glaring reason why she should not go out with Larry Tudgeman, Ethan would be the first one to see it. Veruca decided that if going out with Larry Tudgeman got the Craft Seal of Approval, then it would be alright with her. And if it didn't…well, she would just deal with that possibility if she came to it.
Larry, Miranda, Lizzie and Gordo had long since left the restaurant (and only Larry gave a parting wave in her direction), but Veruca's thoughts were all on Ethan as she and her friends finally stood up to leave, some time shortly after 2am. They walked outside together, and were trying to decide who was going in whose car, when suddenly a dark figure stepped out from behind a tree and approached the group.
"Ethan!" Veruca exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him. "What are you doing here? I thought you went home."
"Never quite made it," Ethan said glumly. "And besides, I kept thinking about how I promised your mom that I would take care of you. I can't break a promise like that, to someone like your mom, who has such faith in me."
"Hey, Ethe," Kendrick said. "You and 'Ruca ride with us, okay?"
"Nah, thanks," Ethan said. "It's not so far to Rookey's house from here. I think we'll just walk."
"Okay, dude. Later. Later, 'Ruca."
Goodbyes were said all around, and Ethan and Veruca began to walk away from the group.
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As they proceeded down the street, the night seemed to get deeper, darker, even colder. For a short while, neither said anything. Veruca wanted to run the Larry Tudgeman scenario by Ethan, but she could tell that something was not right with him. She knew if she only gave him a little while…
"Rookey?" he said finally. "You know how your mom said it would be okay if I slept over? Do you really think she meant it?"
"Ethe, my mom doesn't say something like that unless she means it. If you need a place to crash---"
"It's just…just…" He sighed heavily. "I don't want to go back to my Dad's. And I don't want to go to my Mom's either. I just want to stay with you. Do you think that would be alright?"
Veruca put her arm through his, much too aware of the sadness in his voice. "You are always welcome to stay with me, Ethe."
They walked quietly again, and now Veruca could sense that he was feeling a little better, knowing that he didn't have to deal with either of his parents, at least not for the rest of the night. After a while, as they finally turned into to the entranceway to Whispering Oaks, Ethan said, "So what happened after I left, anyway? What happened with you and Tudge?"
"Oh, yeah!" Veruca said, brightly. "It was pretty weird, actually." She told him the whole story, sparing no details, then waited for his reaction.
As suspected, he offered a hearty laugh at first. The idea of Tudge and Veruca as a couple would have to make anyone laugh, and she expected that much. What she didn't exactly expect was Ethan's reaction immediately after his laughter.
"That is so cool, Rookey! You and Tudge. Yeah, I can see it. Crazy. Crazy, like you're going to make everybody crazy, all the fuckin' little preps will be pissin' in their pants to think you've bagged the star baseball player. That stuck up snob Miranda will be so fuckin' jealous---"
"That's not why I'm doing it, Ethe. I mean, the shock value is a nice side benefit, I admit, but I wouldn't do it just for shock value."
"But you really like Tudgeman, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do," Veruca nodded. "Not like I like Gordo---"
"That prick!" Ethan steamed.
"You've got to lay off him," Veruca said, coming to Gordo's defense. "It's like I told you, he knows you're after Lizzie, he feels threatened. You can't blame him for feeling threatened."
"I blame him for everything!" Ethan hissed. "Him, and everybody like him!"
Veruca could see he was about to go off on an angry tangent, so she brought him back on track by saying, "But not Larry, right? He's not like the rest of them, is he?"
Ethan sighed. "No. Larry's okay, I guess. There's something about him. It's like, he's playing the game, but he knows it's a game, so he's alright. It's the rest of them that are playing the game, and they don't even know it's a game. That's what pisses me off."
"The rest of them," Veruca ventured, "Like…even Lizzie?"
Ethan sighed deeply. "Don't talk to me about Lizzie. I can't even think about Lizzie right now. My heart is breaking, it's broken. It's just…it's so…" and then words failed him and all he could say was, "Fuck!"
Veruca squeezed his arm. "Here we are," she said, as they turned up the flower-lined path to her house. "Home sweet home. Come on in, I'll let Mom know you're staying."