Disclaimers: Jeez… I still can't spell that damn word… you'd think of all the times I have spelt it I would, but I don't… I also don't own the F4 characters…
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"I was driving the car, and Maria's cup melted," Johnny was sitting on his desk chair, whilst Reed and Sue sat facing him sitting on his bed. "I took my eyes off the road for a second, I didn't want her to burn herself. I didn't see the red light until… well, we felt a little crash," he said tentatively.
Reed and Sue looked at each other, "Why was her cup melting?" Sue wanted to know.
Johnny grinned sheepishly.
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Maria was also sat in her desk chair, with the other two adults sitting facing her, sitting on her bed, "My coffee had gone cold, and Johnny 'fireballed' it to warm it up for me, then the cup melted," she explained. "He took the cup away before I burnt myself, and that's when he ran the red light," she said. "You see, he didn't mean it, he wanted me to be ok," she said, hoping they'd see the good side.
Alicia and Ben nodded, "So what about the doughnut race?" Ben asked, "Was that really mature to do whilst driving?" he scolded.
Maria looked down at her hands, "Not really," she said, "But he did slow down," she looked at them with a little smile. "No one got hurt, but the ambulance people wanted everyone to get checked out," she explained.
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"So we went to the hospital to get checked out, and had to talk to the cops," Johnny explained, "We sort of need to pay a fine, but no points on my licence," he grinned.
Reed and Sue exchanged looks, "You know we were really worried," his sister said. "Why couldn't you call us?" she demanded.
Johnny's grin left his face, "The nurse called you when we were being questioned, we just thought they'd tell you we were fine," he said defensively. They looked at him in disbelief, "It's true, ask Maria if you don't believe me!" he have shouted.
Reed and Sue looked at each other, "I think we're done here," the older man said. His fiancé nodded, and then took Reed by the hand and led him out of Johnny's room.
Seeing his bed was empty, Johnny got up off his chair and flopped down on his bed. He glanced at his radio alarm clock, 23.45. "What a day," he said to himself, putting his hands behind his head. Thoughts drifted through his mind, he never did find out what had happened to Maria, and why she was so sad. All he knew was that he'd made her laugh, even if it was for a short time, but she still laughed. Something he hadn't seen her do for a long time. He sighed, reached over and switched off his light, then closed his eyes.
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Ben and Alicia had met Reed and Sue in the kitchen to compare the stories they had just heard. "Why do you think the hospital wouldn't let them call us themselves?" Sue asked.
The reply to her question was a shrug from each person. "I don't know," Ben was the first to speak. "Maria said maybe it was to save time because they were in with the cops," he said. "It makes sense, also they may not have wanted to draw too much attention…"
There was silence after that, until Sue asked another question, "Why didn't they take them to the police station?"
"Probably because of the publicity, and hype Johnny would cause," Reed said. "I can't bare to see the papers tomorrow…" he said.
"Or watch CNN," Ben added.
"How's Maria?" Reed wanted to know.
Ben shrugged, "She seems fine… a little pale," he said. "She's surprisingly well though, I thought it would bring all these feeling back, seeing as her parents…you know," he paused, and the other three nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about, "but it hasn't phased her," he mused.
"Nothing ever really does," Alicia said. "She seem, hollow…" she added. A silence followed what she'd just said, "Are you guys staring at me? Because I can feel you're eyes on me…" The three heroes exchanged smiles, and laughed a little. She was right, what she'd said had acquired many strange looks from the other three…
"What makes you say that?" Ben asked his girlfriend.
She shrugged, "I don't know… it's just she seems cloudy… like she's built up walls around herself or something…" she mused.
Ben smiled, she was right, "Maybe I should talk to her," he said, getting up.
"Not right now, she'll be asleep," Alicia said, tugging on his arm to sit back down.
"Maybe it would be a good idea if we all went to bed," Reed said, taking Sue's hand, and she nodded.
Ben got up again, and guided Alice out of the kitchen then on to his room, and Sue switched off the light with her free hand, and let Reed lead her to their room.
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But, Alicia was wrong, Maria wasn't asleep, in fact she was still very much awake, and stared at the ceiling of her darkened room, thinking about what was going to happened the next. Would Johnny tell the others about the incident by the lake? What was happening to her? Maybe she was losing it? She didn't know.
She just stared at the ceiling until she could stare no more, and her thoughts became too heavy for her brain to hold, and sleep came to her.
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End of chapter
