I Was Only Thinking Of Her Chapter 20, a degrassi fanfic

Oh, Sean. Yes, he did have a knack for arriving at the very worst times. And after being thought missing, it's only fair that his entrance be ten times more dramatic than usual.

Emma came scurrying from the bathroom not a moment later, her face clear of all the makeup she had previously been wearing. She must have been in the middle of whatever she had been doing.

"Did you say Sean was here?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's what I'm telling you." Marco answered excitedly, gripping the door and hopping a little. "C'mon, we've got to go. He's downstairs."

"Wait, Emma," Craig said, feeling very neglected. "Where're you going?"

Without an answer, she was out and about, only Spinner left to nourish his broken hopes. Which of course he wasn't going to go.

"Did she just flip me off?" he asked dumbly.

"Yes, Spinner, that's exactly what she did," Craig replied, slapping the door into his opposite hand and leaping through the exit. This was another obstacle. He had fought his way to get here, thinking it was the night, only to find that it wasn't. By the time he arrived downstairs, in his private little huff, Sean was on the second line of the American preamble.

"To establish..." Burp. "A more --" Tripped over the stoop there. "Lizzerish... no, no, perfect union. The perfect union."

To no surprise, clutched in his hand was a very trashy can of beer. Craig didn't know where he had dragged it, but it looked as if it had been to hell and back. Spinner found his way downstairs by then, joining the rank of the rest of the sober witnesses, all standing in their stupors.

"Emma? Emma, I -- c'mon, I can see you. Open the, open the window."

He was obviously one of those sluggish drunks. Stumbling over everything from his laces to the very air, he couldn't keep balance.

"Emma, get him out of here now!" Paige demanded, taking charge. Wrenching the window open, she stuck her head outside into the brisk night air. "Go away! Go away now!" Seeing the attempts were fruitless, she turned back and said, "Emma, could you please control your boyfriend?"

The events that followed would prove that she indeed could not. She could control no one, and she especially couldn't control Craig.

"Emma, Eeemmaa... oh my God, I love your name. Is just funny... iszz funny, you get it?"

The moon had risen in its predictable patterns, making the rotting leaves twirling on the ground look even more decayed than before. Sean crushed a pile of them in his drunken stupor.

"That's it, I'm calling my mom," Paige exclaimed. "Tonight was supposed to be fun and your boyfriend ruined it!"

It hadn't been fun from the start. It didn't matter what it was now, because whatever it had been int he beginning, it hadn't been good, anyway.

"Emma," Sean repeated, stepping forward and reaching through the window for her hand. "Listen." His eyes were half closed, and his speech was outrageously slurred, but Emma felt it only courteous to listen, although she had the strong urge to escape from his tainted breath. "I came back for you, okay? All for you. I was staying with Tr..." he looked a bit dissappointed in himself and his inability to complete a sentence, but pushed on, determined. "I was staying with my mom and dad, but only for a bit, 'cause I had to think, you know? I had to think about you and Jay... and when I talked to him abou it, he was all mad and kept saying how he didn't do it... but whatever, I don't care! Just come with me, Emma. We can go away, and get married and live happily ever after."

There was a slight stirring among the lot of them. The mood had suddenly gone tranquil, when --

"Oh, shut up, Sean! You'll never be married to Emma. Don't fool yourself."

"You don't get it!" Sean roared as he violently grabbed Craig was his wimpy shirt. "You - have - no - say."

Before Craig could answer, there was a fist coming at his face. One, two, numerous horrified faces gazed back at him before the collision actually took place. And there was blood. There was lots of blood, the whole of it streaming poetically from his nose, a more heart-stopping red than he could have possibly imagined. Deep seething red, seeping out onto his pale complexion.

Emma must have noticed that Craig was losing his balance, because she kept shouting that they were "going too far." Ashley must have agreed. As Craig was wrestling Sean to the floor -- and winning, by his surprise -- he saw her from the corner of his eye, dashing wildly from the room with marco and Paige at her side.

She was saying something negative, like "I can't believe I have to put up with all this from my boyfriend," while Paige nodded in agreement, but Craig didn't care. The one goal he had in mind was to do as much physical damage to Sean as possible, any surface he could touch, get to, anything. It occured to him for a split second how barbaric he was being, but the deed was done, and there was no going back. If Emma thought him too savage, he'd have to accept her judgement. Of course, he wouldn't like it.

He winced as Sean got him in the gut.

The brawl had been going on for about thirty seconds or so by the time Spinner decided to intervene. Ashley, Paige and Marco had gotten fed up with the scene and had went off to call her parents. Emma had stayed to the side during the whole masculine ordeal, watching, overwhelmed with this indescribable feeling. It was neither good nor bad.

Emma had never seen Sean in such a light. She had seen him intoxiiated before -- to her dismay -- but now it was something entirely different. Something far more embarrassing, humiliating. Sean was not only in front of numbers of their acquaintances, but he was doing it in front of Craig, and that somehow made a difference. It was as though her boyfriend was something she was supposed to be able to show off to him, to brag about in order to make him envious. Her boyfriend was a barrier between the two of them, and that had always comforted her. Knowing that what she wanted was off limits, no matter what, that she had this bumper to protect her and stop her from doing anything foolish, had always served as a benefit. But it had to stop. She had somehow managed to drive two boys off the edge. And Craig -- Craig just looked exhilerated. Dishelved, violent, unstable. It was funny how boys could be attractive in their instability.

"You guys need to stop!" Spinner yelled, his voice becoming hoarse, jumping up with Craig's wailing arms barricaded in his own. "Stop it, Sean! Get back!"

There was no man left to contain Sean, so, shaking a bit, Emma stepped forward and placed her hand on his sleeve.

"This whole thing, Craig, I swear, it's getting stupid," Spinner said. "This whole thing is stupid!"

"I don't get why you care!" Sean shrieked, dusting himself off. "Emma doesssn't care what you think! You're just Craig, I'm the soulmate!"

Craig had loosened himself from Spinner. His shirt was torn in several places and his curly hair was more astray than Emma had ever seen it. The majority of the blood had been wiped from his face.

"Oh, you're the soulmate?" he screeched. He looked like a boy at the last of his ends. "Well, I'm the Dad!"

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All motion in the room stopped. Emma's eyes were frozen on Craig, and Spinner gave out a sigh that seemed to say Well, now that that's done and over... Now was the time Craig expected to be attacked, but no. Sean's moves were anything but violent. He took a long glance at Craig, up and down, as if wondering how Emma could have let him touch her, then without a breath, stormed from the room, muttering about how he had to call Jay.

It was obvious his hurt went deeper than what he was showing, and there was a twinge of guilt in Craig's chest as he watched him go.

"Craig," Spinner said, "You said that pretty loud... like, you might want to go check that no one else heard it."

Craig grinned and reflected how great a friend Spinner was.

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Ashley was ranting to Paige and Marco outside when Craig stuck his head out the door.

"I mean, I throw him a party, and he ruins my house. How can he be so callous?"

"Hun, Craig's been acting weird for a long time. Maybe you should talk to his dad about his meds."

"No, Craig's fine," Marco interrupted. "It's not the meds. I don't know what it is, but it's not his meds."

He couldn't go out there. They were discussing him -- how tactless would it be of him to go out there now? In the middle of picturing the scene, he heard Emma approach him, stopping behind his shoulder.

"Next time don't wear red boxers. It didn't match your shirt."

Turning his head a bit, he smiled in amusement, still gripping the edge of the door. She was so appealing at that moment. Something inside of him made him feel almost like he had won her, or not won her, but had made her his, or more his than she would ever be, anyway. His feelings went from guilt and depression to giddieness and longing. Taking her hands, he lead her away, the two of them skipping to the dining room, where they could be alone. It was the wrong place, wrong time, but what in their relationship had been right? And people were just too tempting sometimes.

Giggling like seventh graders, they reached their destination, and Craig craned his neck a bit to innocently place his lips on hers, just for four sweet seconds.

"What the hell are you doing?" An angered voice ripped through their moment. She was standing near the entrance of the room, an expression of betrayal and sadness on her face. Paige, Marco and Spinner were gathering by now. Spinner threw his hands in the air as he came upon the mess.

"...Ashley..." Craig began weakly.

But before he could say anything more, she had let out a whimper and run off, Paige and Marco at her heels once again.

"Ashley, don't get too upset!" Marco called after her. "You've got so much more going for you!"

"He's the one missing out, forget him! Oh, Ashley, stop!" Paige pleaded.

Spinner shrugged at Craig, giving him the deepest look of sympathy, and he too went off. This left only Emma and Craig, their hands still intertwined, both of their postures lame, simply standing in the room, the darkness growing on them like mold.

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"Craig... Craig, will you please get up, it's after twelve."

Joey's gentle plea was enough to rouse Craig out of his hazy sleep. The night before had been a disaster. Its events elongated a heavy weight of dread in his chest. He could feel it weighing down constantly. After Ashley had ran off, she barricaded herself inside her bedroom, where she shouted instructions through the door for Marco to kick them out of the house. Marco, always being the nice one, had to side with the girl who was crying her eyes out, not the doomed little kid who had started the whole mess... which would be Craig. Paige had slammed the door in their faces, but nor before giving them an evil glare and the finger. No one wanted to side with the two of them, no one wanted to ease their guilt; it seemed that Ashley had won all the supporters, all the sympathy -- and Craig knew she had deserved to. Spinner had promised to call the next morning with details on the situation before he and Emma left on their worldless strides home. And after tiptoeing into the darkened house, feeling his heartbeat race with every creak and shadow, Craig finally made it into the sactuary of his own bedroom, fully unprepared to deal with the consequences the next day would bring.

The last thing he had expected was to see Joey sitting by his bedside, rolling over a ring in his course fingers. It seemed that he, too, was mulling current horrors. Craig remained quiet and wide eyes as he gazed.

"Craig I..." Joey let out a mix of a chuckle and a sigh, shook his head a tad, then continued, "I'm sorry. Last night -- I don't know -- I was meaner to you than I've been to anyone else my entire life."

His face scrunched up, the emotion getting the best of him. Apologizing was a humiliating and exposing ordeal, and watching Joey go through it was no easier.

"I was just so angry... you know, the whole thing... the first time was bad enough, but Craig, what are you really thinking?"

He smiled in awe and leaned back, staring away, trying to articulate the words.

"I don't want to be too harsh... but have you really thought about all the things this will start?"

For the first time, Craig found his voice. Yes, he had thought about it. Yes, he knew the road that lie ahead of him. And no... he didn't really have a way to solve any of it.

"It is all I have been thinking about for the past six weeks," Crraig toned somberly, pulling himself into a seated position. "Everybody's going to find out."

Raising his eyebrows in agreement, Joey looked away again. "Speaking of finding out... I haven't told Snake and Spike yet... they get back from the hospital today." He brought his eyes to Craig's. "I thought it would be a job for you and Emma."

A few seconds passed in the nonverbal state. The prospect of exposing his secret to a third party in less than twenty-four hours was undeniably unappealing.

Craig cleared his throat. "What uhh... what time do they get back?"

Craig... Craig, will you please get up, it's after twelve."