Encore
Sean and Emma were sitting at the picnic bench outside of DCS waiting for the warning bell for homeroom to ring. "So Ash and Marco went to visit Ellie this weekend," he said as he sat, playing with a spark plug.
" And?" Emma asked.
" they said she's good, happy…" he answered, "I don't wanna talk about this, I don't know why I brought it up in the first place."
"how's AA going?" Emma asked, changing the subject.
"can we not talk about that either?" Sean asked.
"have you even been going?" Emma asked. She suddenly found herself reverting to her old girlfriend self, "you know you need to go to those meetings, Sean." Emma continued to rant and Sean tried to bury his head in his hoodie, away from her, away from the verbal abuse, her constant controlling.
"STOP!" he shouted, "would you just quit it Em? I know I need to go, but I just can't right now, okay?" Sean turned his attention to a tree across the street. He ran his fingers through his messy hair and groaned, "I just need to go at it slow, and your constant pushing is driving me crazy." All he could think about right now was how he wanted to fall in front of the television, with a beer and just drown away all the emotions he's had bottled up. "You're stressing me to the point where I need a beer." He immediately regretted saying that aloud.
"Excuse me?" Emma asked, "are you trying to tell me that I'm the reason you want to drink."
"No Em, I'm not saying that…can you just get off my back?"
" We always end up fighting, always." Sean was silent. And it was true. Every time they got back together, or every time they became friends again they fought. It was frustrating for both parties. Emma drove him nuts, and he was sure that Emma was suffering as well. Emma groaned, " I can't keep doing this Sean, this little dance we do, this friends and enemies shit we pull,…"
Sean started to laugh.
Emma jumped off the picnic table and threw her hands on her hips, " what's so funny?" she asked, trying to be angry at Sean as he laughed, "seriously Sean, us fighting is not funny, stop laughing!"
"you said shit!" he laughed, "Emma Nelson said shit, didn't know you had it in you Em," he said hopping off the picnic table. Emma stared at him. Sean stared back as he tossed his book bag over his shoulder and tucked the spark plug into his pocket. Emma laughed, and pushed him as she grabbed her back pack and walked with Sean to homeroom.
-X-
"So what was the crazy house like?" Paige asked as she reapplied a layer of lip gloss to her still glossy lips. Ashley walked out of the bathroom stall and washed her hands while looking at Paige.
"nothing special Paige, you didn't miss much" she answered.
"did Ellie tell you when she's coming back?" Terri asked as she leaned against the tiled walls of the ladies room.
" soon, hopefully," Ashley answered as Hazel handed her some paper towels.
"So…" Hazel began.
Ashley looked at her questionably, "so?"
" we hear you're dating a Uni boy" Hazel said, wanting to gossip.
" are you talking about Mark?" Ashley asked.
"So that's his name?" Terri asked.
Ashley groaned, "I'm pretty sure I told you guys about him before."
"Not enough hon, obviously," Paige said, "otherwise we wouldn't be asking for the dish." Paige dropped her lip gloss into her purse and made her way to the door. Terri and Hazel quickly followed suit as the door to the ladies room opened and Manny and Emma walked in. Ashley acknowledge Manny, but with a glare, and the room was still. The older girls pushed their way out of the rest room and headed to class.
"That was awkward" Manny said checking her hair in the mirror as Emma disappeared into one of the stalls.
"tell me about it." Emma's voice echoed.
"part of me thinks she's not really as mad at me as much as she is at Craig."
"Do you blame her?" Emma asked, "I mean he did play both of you and lied."
"But he chose me" Manny said as she fluffed her hair and made a kissing face at her reflection before she spun around to face the stall, and eased herself up so she was sitting on the sink counter.
"Hey Manny, do you have a tampon?" Emma asked from the stall.
"Yea, plenty actually, Aunt Flow hasn't been by lately," Manny answered, digging through her purse, and found a tampon and slipped her hand under the stall until Emma grabbed what she needed. "Maybe it's because I've been sick lately, that happens sometimes right Em, it'll not come when you're sick and stuff."
Emma was quiet, for a moment, and then the sound of a toilet flushing resounded throughout the restroom before coming out of the stall. "What kind of sick?" Emma asked.
"I dunno," Manny answered, "I just can't keep anything down, I think it's that flu that's going around."
" Are you sure?" Emma asked.
"I mean what well could it be?" Manny asked as Emma washed her hands.
" a baby?"
Manny laughed, "but he used a condom." Then her face fell as she thought about it while handing Emma a paper towel, "atleast I think he did…"
" Manny…"
" He had to…I mean, he's the guy, it's his job right?" Manny said starting to worry.
" You remember what Dr. Sally said, both guys and girls need to take responsibility." Emma answered. Suddenly Manny's face turned a pale green and she dropped her purse to the ground before rushing into the open stall and emptying her stomach into the toilet bowl. Emma walked into the stall and gently rubbed her friend back as she threw up. "It'll be okay Manny," she reassured, "it'll be okay."
-X-
" I cannot guess what we'll discover," Craig sang as he began to strum his guitar, working on the Death Cab for Cutie cover of Soul Meets Body, when the door to the garage door opened, "when we turn the dirt with our palms cupped like shovels but I know…"
"Hi" Manny said softly.
Craig looked up, "hey!" He patted the space on the couch next to him, "come listen, tell me if this sounds good,…but I know our filthy hands can wash one another's and not one speck will remain…I do believe it's true that there are roads left in both of our shoes, but if the silence…" Craig looked up. Manny kept looking at her hands, as they kept writhing and wringing in her lap. "You okay?" he asked, setting his guitar in its stand.
"Um, Craig, I need to ask you something important."
"Okay?" Craig said shaking his head with a confused smile.
" do you remember…when…"
Craig looked at Manny, and at the moment, she looked so tiny, so innocent. Like the year before when she was sweet and innocent, just like Angie. He wasn't paying attention to what she was saying, " what was that?"
" when we…after Paige's surprise party…did you…use anything?"
"what are you talking about…"
"when we had sex!" Manny screamed in frustration, and then quickly slapped her hands across her mouth.
"You said you … I thought…I didn't have anything, I was under the impression you were on the pill, why?"
Manny's face turned a shade of green, "I'll be right back," she said and rushed out of the garage and into his house, straight into the bathroom. Craig followed her slowly into the house, trailing. He saw Angie skipping down the stairs in a tutu and waving a wand.
"Hey princess," Craig said, picking her up and spinning her around, "have you seen Manny?"
"Yea," Angie said patting Craig on the head with her wand, "she's in the bathroom, I think she's sick Craig."
"what do you mean Ang?"
" she sounded like you did when you were all grossy and sick last week…" Angie answered imitating the sound of someone throwing up, "should we make her some soup Craigy? I bet I can make her better with my magic!" she said excitedly as she skipped to the kitchen. Craig looked up the stairs.
"No I don't think your magic can help, Ang, but maybe soup is a good idea."
Angie turned back to face Craig and smiled as she drug a chair across the kitchen floor and to one of the cabinets. "Craig!" she whined, "I can't reach."
"Coming Princess…" he said walking into the kitchen and grabbing a can of soup and handing to his sister. He turned to the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, and saw Manny looking like she'd been crying. She wiped her mouth, and slowly trudged down the stairs.
"Manny, I'm making you soup, I'm gunna make you feel better!" Angie called from the kitchen.
Manny smiled, "thanks Angie," she said quietly.
Craig turned to Angie, "don't make a mess squirt." Angie just smiled as Craig walked into the living room and sat down with Manny on the couch. "You okay?" he asked. Manny looked like she was going to burst into tears.
"I dunno…"
"Do you think you're…"
"I think so" Manny answered, "I dunno, I haven't taken a test or anything…Craig I'm scared."
-X-
Ashley was sitting in the public library, eyes closed, her headphones in place over her ears and she was casually running her fingers along the table littered with her books and notes as if she were playing the piano. Mark crept up behind her and slid the headphones gently off her ears, "hey gorgeous," he whispered. Ashley smiled and opened her eyes as he slipped into the empty seat next to her, "whatchya listening to?" he asked, dropping his stack of books on the table.
"some Chopin and a bitch of Beethoven," she answered, "getting back to my ivory fingered roots."
"lovely…so how was Ellie, and your trip with Marco?" he asked.
" Ellie looks good, looks like she's getting better,…how are you, you never told me about why you were going to be at the hospital" Ash said, changing the subject.
Mark paled, "I'm having some…problems…with my heart," he said.
Ashley narrowed her eyes, "what do you mean?"
" Nothing you need to worry about Ash, I promise, I've had this problem since I was an infant."
" I have a right to worry Mark, you're my boyfriend."
"VSD Ash, Ventricular Septal Defect" he said simply, "I have a hole in my heart, they thought I'd be fine, and the hole wouldn't get any larger, but…"
"it did?"
"Yea…and the constant strain at home with my parents isn't making things easier on my heart." He mentioned.
"Are you going to be okay?" she asked. Her head was swimming with thoughts. For the first time in her life she was deeply in love with someone and now there was a chance that he could be taken away from her in the blink of an eye. She wasn't sure if she could handle the stress that came along with the thoughts of losing Mark.
"I should be fine, they want me to go in for surgery sometime this year to work on either making the hole smaller and as non-existant as possible…until then they keep pumping me with pills," He opened his notebook. He paused to look up at Ashley who obviously looked distressed. "I'm gunna be fine Ash."
Ashley looked up at him and smiled, "you better be mister, otherwise who else will be lead guitar and vocals in the MASH Experience?"
Mark laughed, "is that what we're calling it now?"
"what's wrong with that," Ashley asked pouting, "I mean, dual meaning, MASH as in our names mashed together, and MASH as in that stupid game the grade sevens play all the time, you know…"
"mansion, apartment, shack, house…?" Mark finished for her.
Ashley smiled, "exactly."
"Heh, I like it" Mark said leaning over and kissing her gently on the cheek.
A/N: Again, please ignore any grammar/spelling mistakes that my spell check may have missed, I'm really pushing this out for you guys, because I feel like I've been a disappointment making ya'll wait so long for chapters. But as I said before, very busy!
p.s. last chapter, if you didn't notice that it was Sonnet 139 by Shakespear (I believe it was 139 correct me if I'm wrong)
p.p.s. Also, lyrics used in this chapter, and song by Craig were as stated: Death Cab for Cutie 's Soul Meets Body