Back at the party, Craig was twenty minutes late, and the crackers were running low. Emma had been contributing nothing to the party. From the moment she walked in, to her current state, she had said nothing. It wasn't that she was nervous -- it was more that nobody really could bring up the courage to say anything, and in the face of all their gossip, she too had gone silent.

Ashley had given her sympathy at the door, about her and her "situation," but that was where the socialities had stopped. Marco and Paige had crowded off to the side, leading Ashley to do the same. It looked as if for a moment Spinner had considered waving, but for whatever reason, he didn't.

She knew they had all heard the rumor, and it infuriated her. They made it all too obvious! They didn't even bother to have the courtesy to try to hide it! Oh, but of course, why would a whore like her deserve coutesy?

Seething in the corner, she sharply darted her head to the window, glaring out at the neighborhood, making tiny insignificant obervations. The flowers were dying. The stars were annoying in their glory. Every night, people flocked from their houses to worship them, to watch them. They had an audience each and every night. And why did they get so much glory and awe? Why was she so unspectacular? She scoffed under her breath. What a waste of mental energy that thought had been.

Craig reached Ashley's doorstep, gasping, completely flabbergasted with himself. Thinking of the deep amount of trouble he was in, and the defiance he had just shown, was enough to convince himself that he indeed was dumb, but not enough to make him stop. Composing himself, Craig swung open the door, falling before a room full of startled people.

The carpet was inexplicably soft. That was all Craig was thinking as he pulled himself up.

"Craig!" Ashley exclaimed, scampering forward to the rescue. "You're late, what happened --"

But Craig paid no notice to his girlfriend's inquisitions. Straightening his shirt, hoping he looked alright, he glanced around for Emma. Acting on tactless thoughts, Craig left Ashley's side and stepped a bit closer to Emma.

"Craig, what are you doing?" Ashley asked.

Reflexively tapping his hand on his pant leg, Craig swallowed hard. "Ash... the party's really nice, but I've gotta talk to you."

"Sure, whatever you want. Just not now, okay? We can talk later. Let's just have some fun."

She wasn't grasping his intentions. She didn't understand that this "talk" was going to be more than a passing conversation. Apparently, neither did Spinner, because he immediately turned up the music and dimmed the lights, prepping the night of "fun."

"Spin!" Craig yelled. "Spin, will you turn that off?"

"Lighten up, hun, it's a party." Paige remarked.

Ashley took his hand for the thousandth time that day. He had decided that it was her signature move.

"So... what do you want to do?" Ashley inquired, grinning.

He wanted to talk to Emma. His whole reason for being there, other than to prove to himself that he was a decent person, was to talk to Emma. The way she was just sitting off there, so devastatingly alone...

"Umm, Ashley, I have to go. To the bathroom."

Ashley let go of his hands, moving to the refreshment table.

"It's alright."

Craig noticed Marco shoving crackers into his mouth behind her.

"I'll be right here when you get back, " she added as she swept away to Paige, who was fretting over a choking Marco.

Feeling a slight concern which he chose to push aside, Craig nodded. He would have to rescue Emma. Save her from this accusing atmosphere. Averting his gaze to the corner, he made a face which he knew must have been extremely creepy, and sauntered off to the staircase, hoping she got the message.

Spinner was lounging in the largest chair he had ever seen. From the moment he saw it, he knew he had to have it. Who would buy such an enormous piece of furniture? No, really -- who would look at this monstrous heap and be under the delusion that it suited them?

It's got a matching pillow, Spinner thought in awe, It has a MATCHING PILLOW. Oh, Marco's alive... cool. Ow, why is Ashley beating me?

Ashley had apparently retreated from the other side of the room to kill him. She started tugging at his sleeve, motivating him to stand.

"Did Craig tell you where he was going?"

Spinner shook himself from Ashley's grip, inching away.

"Oooow, no. What do you care, he's been gone for, like, five minutes."

"Spinner, he's probably fooling around upstairs or something. Will you just go get him?"

Spinner looked around. Bothing Craig and Emma had vanished, so he could in fact infer that Craig very well be fooling around upstairs.

"Spinner? Will you just go get him?"

It had taken a while for Spinner to reach this point, but pausing, he felt a twinge of empathy for her. His friends had truly doomed themselves.

Craig had been sitting on the edge of the bed when Emma had entered the room. He had been sitting with one leg falling off the matress, which a second ago had seemed perfectly fine, but now with Emma seeing him was just such an embarrassing position to be caught in.

She shifted forward and sat, not seeming half as self aware as he was. They said absolutely nothing. The air was free, not nearly as restricted as he thought it would be.

"How many -- well, how many weeks is it?"

She smiled, a daring move. "It's six weeks tomorrow. Snake comes home, and I'm going to have to tell them, and -- I don't know, I don't feel sad." She giggled a bit, her grin widening.

"Joey knows," Craig retorted in a hollow voice, slumping back against the pillows. "So he's probably going to tell Snake and Spike... so... this sucked so much."

What a teenager thing to say. He knew it as he was saying it, but what was the point of trying to sound literate when it came out so much easier the other way?

He peered through his sweaty hands, which had become clamped to his face, to see Emma, silently weeping, the little mascara she had on streaming down her miserable face. Craig sat up, pointing to his own eye, trying to word what he was trying to say.

"Oh, Emma, your --"

Her face beckoned for the end of the sentence.

"Your makeup's running," he finished lamely.

"I-I'll be back."

She went off to the bathroom, undoubedly to correct it.

Taking the annoying steps two at a time, Spinner finally bounded to the top of the staircase, feeling more energized than before. But wait... if Craig really wasn't in the bathroom, where was he? Spinner glanced around at the collection of doors and froze, cluelessly grabbing out for the handle of the first one and parading inside. And lucky he was.

"Your girlfriend is a psycho!"

"Spinner!" Craig shouted. "What are you doing in here?"

"Uhhhg, you know what -- " Craig's extra long sleeves had overcome his hands as he pressed them against his forehead and continued. --it doesn't even matter, you just have to get out. You have to go!"
As Craig continued to ramble, Spinner sprung his hands to his face, rubbing roughly. He brought them down again, leading Craig's ranting to cease.

"Craig, this is going to be harsh... but... well it's only karma. You're a dumbass. You spend all this time and worry about this big secret and stuff when all of this would have been over weeks ago if you would have said something. I know you didn't want to hurt anyone, whatever. That's nice and all, but you suck at it. What you do isn't prevent pain, you prolong it."

Spinner's stuffed-nose way of talking caused Craig's face to break into an expression of exasperation, and his entire body to flop backward onto the pillows. Looking at him, it was odd, the mangled position his body had taken, and when it spoke, it only made it odder. His chest rose as he fought to catch the breath he needed to speak.

He called hoarsely, "Is there... IS THERE ANY..."

But his words had suddenly drifted off again, becoming feeble. Spinner titled his head in annoyance and confusion.

"What? Is there any what?"

Bu before an answer could ever be given, Marco came bursting through the door, his long hair he spent so much time lamenting over askew.

"Guys, you'll -- oh my gosh, you need to come. Where's Emma? Is she in the bathroom? EMMA! Emma, you need to come now! It's big! You're boyfriend's here!"

"Wait, Marco," Spinner said. "You have to actually say words for someone to understand you."

"Spin, I just said everything."

Bitterly, Craig replied, "Yeah, well when you talk faster than the speed of light..."

"You guys don't understand. You're not listening. Sean's here.