Title: Tastes of Home

Writer: Azure K Mello

Part: 21

NOTE: I haven't even watched Everwood since the middle of the third season because no one was acting like themselves.

NOTE 2: I've changed the time line as I wanted Ephram to know about Linda's HIV prior to Thanksgiving.

THIS IS A BREAK LINE

As he saw the familiar person walking down the hall and he smiled, "Now there's a sight for sore-" was all he got out before he was slammed into his locker and kissed hard and fast, "-head," he finished when he was let go of. He rubbed the back of his skull and said, "That was a great hello."

The short brunette smiled, "Ephram, I've missed the hell out of you."

"You too, Chloe. . . though maybe not the bruises."

"You're such a girl. So I went to your house, and you weren't there. But your grandparents were sitting in your kitchen making really painful small talk with your dad. So I put twelve one gallon containers of Mom's smashed dessert into the freezer and then got your sister's babysitter to drop me off here so that I could meet you and you could drive me back. It was kind of surreal: I never expected Kidtastic to have a sitter."

"You brought twelve gallons?"

"The Great Ephram Brown always focuses on the important fact. You're like a drug addict when it comes to that stuff."

"Yeah, but I haven't had a hit in over a year and a half."

"Well then it's a good thing I brought thirteen gallons."

"You said twelve."

She produced a large container from her back, "I said I put twelve in the freezer. I have two spoons in my back pocket. Pack you books and lead me to your car then we'll eat it all and no one need ever know there was a thirteenth gallon."

"I love how calculating you can be." Ephram began throwing books into his bag at a speed that not even Clark Kent would have believed possible.

Walking over Bright asked, "Dude, being chased by the hounds of Hell?"

"Bright, Chloe. Chloe, Bright," he introduced quickly. "Chloe's holding the best thing in the world, no one is even aware that that container exists, and the faster I pack I the sooner I can eat it."

Looking at the see through container Bright said, "What's in it? It looking like babies blended into marshmallow fluff."

"Home made whipped cream, vanilla cake, crushed meringues, strawberry sauce, chocolate fudge, raspberries, and pears. It's nice to meet you, you're Doctor Abbott's son, right? Ephram talks about you a lot." It was all said in one breath, easily and flowingly.

"Packed, Bright, come to Thanksgiving and you can try it there. Right now Clo and I need to see if we can devour this in under fifteen minutes."

"I take that bet and raise the stakes to ten minutes. A dollar?"

"You're on, bitch. Bye, Bright."

The pair were off like a shot before the blond boy could reply. "Bye then."

THIS IS A BREAK LINE

Sitting in Ephram's parked car still in the school car park the two friends were enjoying the snack. "So Jay was like, 'That's not a car, officer, it's a giraffe.' And we turned around and his mom was there. She called all our parents, we all ended up grounded."

Ephram laughed and said, "Man, I wish I'd been there."

"Phram, we all miss you so badly. We'll do really stupid things and someone will always say, 'This is so stupid but we could totally pull it off if Eff was here.' And it sort of sucks. And, like, when I got my tattoo I thought, 'If Ephram was here he'd do something to distract me from the pain.' And it really hurt."

"Next time slice a lemon into wedges and soak them in tequila. Bring them with in a bag and chew each wedge slowly. You'll concentrate on that and it will make you just tipsy enough to not care about the pain but not so drunk that the artist will refuse to continue the tattoo."

"You're amazing."

"No, just smart enough to learn from my own stupidity. Like, crashing a car into the Bronx Zoo to free the meerkats is awesome but it's just like the time we tried to fill Olivia's building's elevator with toilet paper; you know you're going to get caught. I would have pointed that out. A motorized Vespa would have been your best bet." He looked at the empty carton and asked, "Time?"

"Seventeen minutes and sixteen seconds."

"Damn it, I wanted that dollar. I'm so glad you came today instead of tomorrow. This was awesome."

"I lied about the smash."

"There aren't twelve gallons?" Ephram sounded panicked.

"No, there are. But I didn't need to come down a day early to freeze it."

"You used smash as a cover? That is so dirty."

"I needed to talk to you alone."

"Bad or good news?"

"I'm not sure. Remember when you and I auditioned for LaGuardia while stoned for that bet?"

"Yeah?" Ephram didn't see where she was going.

"And we won ten bucks from Jackson because we both got on the waitlist?"

"Yeah?"

"They called me last week because they didn't know your forwarding address. You're off the waitlist. You can start in the January term. I told them you'd call admissions once you'd thought it over."

"Oh, wow. I. . . my dad. . . I need to think."

"Of course. Don't make any decisions without talking to your family."

"Wow."

"I know it's huge. So I think we should go home and you should talk to your dad. And then I think we should go to the movies and bring everyone with us so your dad doesn't have to talk to your grandparents for a couple of hours."

"That sounds good."

"Ephram," she said, concerned, "you sound catatonic."

"LaGuardia pretty much feeds into Julliard." He put the car into gear and left the school.

"Yeah, Eff, it's pretty awesome. It would also be nice to have you back home."

"Chloe. . . I can't really do all that stupid shit anymore. I'm finally on good footing with my dad."

"Oh, that's okay. We don't do much stupid shit anymore. The thing at the zoo was ten months ago and that was our last thing. We're all getting to a point wherein we see that the best way to not get grounded is to not be morons. We don't get drunk and try to walk along the rooftop ledges anymore. We get drunk and play the piano and do Twister. It's still fun. No one's been arrested since you left. You were with us the last time we got arrested."

"That's good. I still don't understand how we got arrested for spitting off the Empire State Building."

"We were also dropping pennies."

"I had forgotten that detail."

As they pulled into the driveway Ephram parked and, after taking off his seat belt, gave Chloe another hug, "I'm so glad you're here."

They walked into the kitchen with his arm over her shoulder and hers around his waist.