AN: Hey guys, sorry it's been awhile. I wanted to get this chapter out in honor of River Phoenix, as it is the 12 year anniversary of the day he died. Rest in peace and flow forever, I will always love you, no one will take your place! Sorry if I don't have any of the clothes that they wear later on right with the time-zone, and the first part of the chapter takes place on the same day as chapter 12. Oh, and about Chris's hair mention in this…it looks like Rio's hair in Running On Empty (look it up on Google so you can picture it!) I really hope you like it, and I love you River!
Chapter 13: Vern's Escape and a Date to Remember
Vern sat at the kitchen table, drumming his finger along the wooden surface. He was waiting for Abbie to come down. He had been waiting for a really long time, and he knew school was about to start. I wonder if she's ok up there, he thought, I guess I'll just leave without her, what could be happen?
Soon he was strolling on the sidewalk, openly and loudly singing Surfin' Safari, by the Beach Boys, who were totally boss. Them and Bobby Rydell were the cool guys around, despite his cousin's undying love for Elvis, also known as "the King". Elvis is alright, I guess, but he doesn't hold a tune to Bobby. Vern started gazing at the flowers that were dying away- winter was almost upon Castle Rock. That's a shame, the gardens were weren't bad this year, although Miss Evelyn's is never any good. Like I remember this one time...
He froze. His breathing became heavy, and he felt his heart thumping away in his chest. It felt as if a pole-vaulter stuck his pole deep into his testicles and sprang out of his mouth. Oh shit, was he in major trouble……
Heading towards him was his older brother Billy Tessio, followed by Charlie Hogan and Vince Desjardins. None of them looked very pleased to see him. Their faces were twisted into expressions of rage. Billy's and Vince's fists were clenched tightly, but Charlie was holding a baseball bat. Charlie always hated him the most.
"Well Billy, we finally found your shit-ass brother," Vince concluded with a worn-out tone.
"Fuck we found him, and now he's gonna get it. Bad," Charlie smiled, showing off his gross, disfigured teeth.
"Wha…wha….what did I do?" Vern asked, alarmed, beatings in the past and ones to come flashing before him, "I didn't do shit, Billy, you know that. Please, please don't hurt me!"
Vern brought up his hands in front of them as a sign of surrender. Even though Vern was sixteen, and so were the others, The Cobras were still older, and a hell of a lot stronger in terms of physical strength.
"Shit Vern you know what you did!" Billy accused, "You got Abbie to go out with that fucked up Chambers kid!"
Vern's eyes widened with terror as he pleaded, "Please don't hurt me, I didn't do anything! Abbie and Chris wanted to get together themselves; I didn't have a thing to do with it!"
"Vern, you little sonofawhore!" Charlie exclaimed, "You knew exactly what you was doin'! Come on, you knew that Eyeball wanted Abbie, and didn't want her to go out with his fucking retarded brother!"
Vern opened his mouth, but then snapped it shut. Wait….Eyeball wanted to go out with Abbie? So his best friend's older brother wanted to go out with his cousin? But…why would he want to? He didn't really know anything, but Vern had a feeling that he should tell his cousin. And that he needed to get out of this situation.
Vern stared at Charlie. Charlie stared at Vern. Billy stared at the both of them. Vince stared at a girl on the other side of the street. Vern took a step back…..and then another…..and another…..and another. He turned around, in a way to him that felt like one of those old slow motion frames, and then took off towards school. He could feel the three older boys behind him, his and their feet pounding on the cement. He didn't know if he had the running capacity to make it to school. Suddenly, he saw it: it was right there in front of him, and he saw five familiar faces…..
This seemed to give him an adrenaline rush, and he sprinted faster and faster until he reached his friends. Vern gave a small cry of relief as he slammed into Gordie, and the whole gang gave him strange looks.
"Fat-ass fucker!" Billy roared as he and his friends stomped over towards the gang.
Vern immediately jumped behind Abbie's back, cowering. Abbie rolled her eyes. Coward. Billy's expression immediately changed when he saw his cousin. His face lessened some and his eyes got brighter. Although he would hate to admit it to anyone, he actually had a soft spot in his heart for Abbie. Abbie gave her older cousin a small smile, and then nodded to Vince, who grinned at her. Charlie was keeping himself occupied by gaping at Emma, and Teddy looked like he was ready for a rumble.
"Let's go, guys," Billy ordered.
After a few more moments of stares, looks, and awkward glances, the older boys set off into town.
"Vern, what just happened?" Emma asked as he jumped out from behind his cousin.
Vern ignored her, and instead latched himself onto Abbie.
"Abbie, Abbie," Vern wheezed, "Did you hear that-"
"Where have you been? We were really worried!"
"Yeah but just listen-"
"No you listen!"
"I've got to-"
"VERN!" the rest of the gang yelled.
Vern bent his head low, in the way a puppy dog would do if he was being punished.
"Vern, you pussy!" Teddy exclaimed, "Let Chris and everyone tell their fucking story!"
So, eventually, through a lot of explanation, Vern understood the whole story about Ace and Catie going out and what damage that could do to the gang- meaning that even someone could get murdered. Vern tried to speak up and inform the gang of his story, but they never listened to him. The one time when Vern had something important to say, they never listened.
A week had now passed, and things weren't going as they had planned. The gang had come up with many schemes to split Ace and Catie, but somehow they didn't work. From what Abbie saw, she actually thought Catie was falling for Ace. How is that possible? Well, they are both coldhearted people, maybe that's what they have in common! Of course, Ace was just in it for the physical aspect. The four boys knew that Ace was nothing but a lying, cheating, dangerous, hard-up pig. But like the third adjective, he was extremely hazardous.
The Cobras, of course under Ace's command, were always after the four best boys. Billy Tessio and Charlie Hogan loved to go for Vern, probably because he didn't put up a fight and was just fun to hear scream. Vince Desjardins and Fuzzy Bracowitz waited for Teddy to come around the fence behind the schoolyard after daily make-out sessions with Emma. Teddy was probably the only one in the gang who actually liked the fighting, what was better to a crazy, hormonal son of a soldier than to kiss his beautiful and beloved girlfriend and then try to beat up two older boys? The next day, the gang would try to find new ways to fix his glasses. For some reason that Abbie couldn't fathom, Ace Merrill had a thing for punching poor, skinny old Gordie until he was unconscious. But Gordie acted as courageous as possible when facing Ace. Abbie had no idea why Ace would go after Gordie, of all people. And of course, that meant that Eyeball was all over his little brother. Abbie knew Chris could fight and could do some damage, but he didn't want to. No, Chris wasn't going to fight back, if anything, he'd try to calm his brother down and make peace. But Eyeball wasn't up for that at all. Chris would come to school sporting ugly bruises all over his arms, legs, and torso, and some deep cuts zigzagging across his handsome face. But everyday Chris would come with that sunny smile of his.
Abbie stared into the mirror in her bathroom. She had to look absolutely perfect tonight. If she didn't….then it would be so embarrassing! She, Chris, Emma, and Teddy were going on a double date tonight. But she was a little nervous. Teddy was driving.
Abbie did a twirl in front of the mirror and then sighed. What else could she do? She was in a black, strapless dress with red netting lining the bottom, cut to her knee. She side-parted her dirty blonde hair, and felt like she was layered with eye makeup and lip gloss. Abbie gave herself an encouraging smile, called to Vern that she was leaving, and stepped outside. There was Teddy and Emma, seated in the front of Teddy's freakishly large truck that was a disturbing purple color.
"Climb in the back!" Teddy instructed.
After a few minutes of gathering up strength, Abbie heaved herself up and into the truck and slammed the door. Teddy and Emma swiveled around to face her.
"Oh my god! Don't you look sexy?" Emma complimented.
Teddy let out one of those clichéd, when-a-guy-sees-a-girl whistle. "Oh man," Teddy exclaimed, "Chris is gonna have a wonderful night!"
Then, he let out his trademark Teddy Duchamp laugh.
"I thought only witches laughed like that," Abbie remarked.
"He is a witch," Emma corrected, "A transsexual witch."
Teddy immediately stopped laughing, started to drive, and mumbled something that sounded like, "Girls" and "Estrogen" and "Sexy", causing Emma to give him a hard slap on the arm. Abbie shook her head with a smile. Those two would never change.
Soon the three of them were outside the Chambers home, which did not improve since the last time Abbie saw it. Teddy honked the horn, and Abbie thought she was going to fall out of her seat.
"Jesus Christ, you don't need to lay down the horn that much!" Abbie yelled, throwing her hands up to her head.
"Well, we've been waiting for ten minutes. I mean really, how much time does Mr. Chambers need to dress and go?"
"Ten minutes…already?" Abbie questioned, shocked.
She looked towards the house. There were lights on, but it seemed as if the whole area was silent, like no one was home.
"I'm going to go in," Abbie told her friends.
Suddenly, the three heard a huge crash come from the house. Teddy and Emma jumped, and Abbie kicked her car door open. She knew what could happen inside that house. But just as she was about to put a foot on the ground, Chris stumbled through the door and raced towards the truck. He almost jumped on Abbie, and this gave Teddy the signal to take off. The truck roared and burned some rubber from the tires as they sped down the road, but the main thing was that Chris was there.
"What happened?" Abbie demanded, putting a hand up to Chris's cheek.
"Nothing," Chris answered after a moment's silence, "My dad got angry about something, and started coming after me."
"Poor thing," Emma remarked from the front seat.
Abbie knew Chris didn't want to continue the conversation and have people feel sorry for him. He wasn't the type of person who really let out his deep, painful secrets about his family. They were locked away, inside his brain and his heart. The most important things are the hardest to say.
Teddy slowed the truck down and put it into park. The four of them climbed out and stared. They were on a hill, almost like a grassy mountain, that was overlooking Castle Rock. This area was known as Castle View, the outskirts of the town. No one ever came around Castle View, only if they were coming in and out of town. There were barely any lights on in Castle Rock, making the night sky and the stars brighter and easier to see.
"If we were only coming out here….then why did we dress up?" Emma questioned.
She was also in a dress, a sleek dark purple one with thin straps. Not only were the girls dressed up, but so were the guys. Teddy and Chris almost looked identical because they were wearing the same exact thing- smooth black suits, white button up shirts beneath them. Of course, Teddy had his black coke-bottle glasses to match. Chris was absolutely beautiful. With his dirty blonde hair now in floppy hair style, his ocean blue-green eyes stood out like two gems in the Sahara desert. And he always had this odd smile on his face; it was a sunny, sweet, playful grin that made everything else fade into nothing. Oh, and of course there was this one eyebrow that he raised, and for some reason it drove Abbie insane. She had never really realized until now how handsome Chris actually was.
Suddenly, music started playing. Abbie whipped around to see Chris standing by a portable radio that was place in the trunk. He stepped over towards her, stuck out his hand, gave her that smile, and asked, "Would you please honor me with this dance?"
Abbie grinned widely and they began to dance. It was funny, they actually stayed in the same place, but just swayed gently back and forth. He had one arm wrapped around her waist and his other hand was placed on her back. Abbie sighed deeply with pleasure. She had never felt this great in her life. She felt so protected, so enchanted, so loved…..oh, love. That word rang inside her head. Abbie knew that she could be in love with Chris. Who couldn't be in love with Chris? The way he made peace, the way he helps, the way he protects, the way he defeats his demons…..Chris Chambers was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Then why couldn't she just look up at Chris and say, "I love you"?
Abbie laid her head on Chris's shoulder, and he immediately rested his head on top of her's. She wanted to cry out in frustration over her feelings.
The rest of the night was an on-going battle of feelings. With every touch Chris made, she wanted to scream to the world that she was in love with him. But she just wasn't sure….she was sixteen, how can you be sure if you are in love at sixteen? Although the battle raged on in her head, they all had a great time.
Teddy had dropped her off on the side of the road in Castle Rock that was close to her house. Chris wanted to at least walk her home, but she refused for him to do so. She needed some alone time. Abbie sauntered along the sidewalk, acting like she was still dancing with Chris on the hill. It was definitely one of the best moments she had ever experienced. Just as she closed her eyes and Chris's striking face came to view, she felt something being whacked on the side of her head. She stumbled, but then soon fell into the arms of the unknown.
