Thankfully, I've finally decided on what exactly is going to happen with this. So yay.
Again, thank you for the reviews.
For the next three days, we repeated the same routine. I'd sit in my car waiting for his shift to start; he'd ignore me. I'd walk around the hospital, sometimes following him, sometimes asking other staff members about him, sometimes just thinking; he'd ignore me. When he got off work, I'd go sit in the corner of the bar near the hospital that he went to; he'd ignore me. Frankly, I had no idea what I was trying to. What, did I think that if he spent long enough around me he'd crack and let his feelings come pouring out? That was not going to happen. I guess I just needed to feel I was doing something. I was hoping that maybe eventually he'd give me some clue as to what was wrong, but I knew it was a foolish thing to believe.
By the fourth day, I was getting edgy. I hated this, this uselessness. I couldn't help but feel I should have called Carla on that first day here. I was almost sure that she or Ghandi could have gotten through to him. I wasn't good at the whole emotion thing. All I could do was follow him in a borderline creepy way and have the occasional angry outburst around him. What good was I? In fact, when I'd been sitting outside, waiting for him to come out of the hospital, I was so, incredibly close to driving back to Sacred Heart and getting JD's besties to come and help him since it was out of my hands. I had actually turned the car on and put it in drive, just about to pull out of my parking space when he came out of the hospital. He walked to the exit, as usual. Then he turned right. Was this what I'd been waiting for? Some sort of deviation from the norm?
I waited a few minutes before driving slowly out of the car park after him. I wasn't sure if he knew I was there, but on the off chance he didn't, I wasn't about to bring it to his attention. After about five minutes, he hailed a cab and got in. I had to smile a little; the whole following a taxi thing was like something out of a bad movie.
It wasn't a long drive, fifteen minutes tops. The taxi pulled up outside a tall, iron fence. There was a gate with a sign on it a little further along. Although I was too far away to read it, I didn't need to. The lines of grave stones spoke for themselves. I got as far as opening the gate before I hesitated. If he was here visiting family, then it was a personal time. As much as I wanted to know as much about this new him as possible, I wasn't sure it was right to pry. On the other hand, this could be the thing I was looking for. That made my decision for me. I stepped through the opening, rationalising it in my mind that this was something I needed to do, as much for me as for him.
I followed the paved path, weeds poking through the cracks. If that and the uncut grass was anything to go by, it didn't look like this place was very well tended. As JD came into view, I paused. My thoughts from before were creeping back as I watched him stare intently at one of the graves. I shouldn't have come here. I needn't have come here. I could wait for him outside, and now that I knew where to look I could come back another time and see who he was missing. That was the right thing to do. I turned away and took a step forward, before wavering again. I turned away from the gate and was stunned to find JD right in front of me.
"I didn't think you'd follow me here." He stated. For a few seconds I was too taken aback at the fact that he hadn't ignored me that.
"I…I intruded." I admitted, the closest I was ever likely to get to apologising. He shook his head.
"Oh, not that. I already know that you and society have differing views on acceptable behaviour. I just underestimated your persistence."
"I can be very persistent. Like if I'm going up against Kelso, I-"
"I'm sorry," he interrupted, "I meant I underestimated your persistence for something that really has nothing to do with you." I shrugged. "I suppose if I leave now, you're just going to go over there and look at the names anyway?" I shrugged again. He sighed. "Fine. That one there," he pointed somewhere behind him, "is my dad." I leant sideways to look around him and frowned.
"The giant penis?" I glanced back at him.
"Pencil" he snapped. Oh yeah. So it was. He must get the phallic thing a lot. "But yes. And the one next to it is my brother. So now, please go ahead and enjoy my pain, because let's face it, mourning just isn't fun if there isn't some jackass laughing at you." If I hadn't been so used to being insulted and guilt tripped, mostly thanks to Jordan, I probably would have winced at the venom in his voice.
"Yeah. I… I should go."
"Hey, that's a good idea. Why didn't I think of it? Oh, but now just wait a second…" I rolled my eyes.
"I meant I should leave the cemetery. That is, if you're not done…"
"Well you've gone and ruined the moment, so…" He shrugged. "Besides, I need to get back to check on my mom."
"How is your mom doing anyway?" He stiffened.
"I... Why the Hell do you want to know?".
"Now hold on there, Susie. I just meant what with daddy passing and then little Danielle that she might still be a little upset." He glared at me, fire in his eyes and jaw twitching. I glanced downwards and noticed his fists clenching sporadically.
"You bastard", he whispered. Then I was left stumbling as he pushed me out the way and almost ran out of the cemetery. Woah. It seemed I'd hit a nerve. Then I had a flash of inspiration. Maybe this all came down to his mom. Could she have…? I started towards the two graves, breaking into a jog as I grew more confident. I stopped in front of them. Samuel Mathew Dorian… Daniel James Dorian… But no Barbara Dorian. She wasn't dead. But I was still sure she had something to do with all of this. I just had to figure out what.