Remember when I said each story will be different unless otherwise stated. Well, this is one of those times. This story is part one. Expect part two in a couple of days (and both of these parts together will make up Part 6 of the Julie/Brett Weston story you're probably familiar with. Make sense? Awesome!)

Irregular Around the Margins
Julie/Weston/Landry/Matt, Post- Leave No One Behind, PG13, 1592 words, Title from the Sopranos

Brett sat in the passenger seat as Julie began driving his car around the neighborhood. Brett noticed that she had the biggest smile on her face. He on the other hand, felt completely nervous. Like she might get distracted and crash the car at any second.

"Okay, I think you've had enough fun with my car for one day, so can you please pull over and let me drive the rest of the way?"

Julie looked at Brett and tried to give her best sad-face, but it didn't work. So she pulled over and put his car in park.

"You are no fun what-so-ever."

"Hey, it's called, I don't want you crashing my car into a telephone pole and most likely sending both of us to the hospital. That's not cool."

"Yeah, whatever. Buzzkill."

Julie gave Brett a kiss before forcefully sitting on the passenger seat.

--

Julie stood at her locker the following Monday when Landry, limp leg and all, walked up to her.

"Julie Taylor."

"Landry Clarke. What's up?"

"Okay, look, I know this is going to sound a little strange and all because it's about Matt –"

"How is that strange? You know, things aren't that weird between us anymore. We're getting along, and he's okay with me and Brett going out."

"Well, see, I kinda don't think that's the case anymore. You do know what's been going on lately, right?"

Julie stopped to think and didn't know about anything going on in Matt's life that would be a cause for concern.

"No, can't say I do."

"Okay well, the maid –"

"Nurse…"

"Right, the nurse. Carlotta. Yeah, she left, and ever since he's been drinking non-stop, skipping school, showing up to practice drunk, not really caring about anything. He won't talk to me about any of it. And I was kinda hoping that maybe you'd help me in that department. I'm a little worried about him, you know?"

Julie stood there as Landry told her he needed her help. It didn't take long to come up with a decision.

"Yeah, I'll talk to him. Is he here at school?"

"Nope. He didn't show up. You could probably try his house after school cause you know he probably won't go to practice either. Which I'm sure will make your boy happy."

Julie laughs a little

"Yeah, it probably will. I'll go over his house after school today. Thanks for telling me Landry."

"Thanks for helping me Julie."

Landry walked away as the bell rung.

Julie hopes that can help him. But she doesn't fully understand the situation and she's not so sure she can get the job done.

--

Julie spots Brett in the parking lot after school. As much as she wants him to know where she's going and what she's doing, she'd rather not tell him. He'll get too concerned, and tell her not to get involved in Matt's problems. But she can't lie to him about this. It wouldn't be right.

"Hey, Jules," Brett shouted at her. She wants to make this conversation end as soon as possible.

"Hey. How are you?"

"I'm good. Had a good practice today. I got to start too. You wanna go get something to eat with me? I'll let you drive my car. And I won't freak out this time. Promise." Brett begins laughing and kisses Julie lightly on the cheek.

"I would, but… I was going to stop over Matt house to –"

"Wait, you're going to Matt's house? Why?" Julie sensed an attitude in Brett's voice.

"Let me finish talking before you get all mad. Landry told me some things that have been going on lately and I wanna make sure Matt's okay. That's all."

"Well, I'm just saying, you could –"

"No, it's fine. I should have told you earlier. It's no big deal. I won't be there long. I'll call you right after." She quickly gave Brett a kiss and walked to her mom's car, which she, luckily was now allowed to drive to school. She quickly drove to Matt's house and knocked on the door. Grandma was there to greet her.

"Julie!!" Grandma shouted before opening the screen door and wrapping her arms around her. "Oh honey, it is so good to see you. How are you?"

"I'm doing good. Is Matt home at all?"

"No, no, he isn't here yet. But he will be soon." Julie peaked through the hardly open door to Matt's room to find him passed out on his bed. This was going to be harder than she thought. She watched as Grandma walked into her room.

"Would you like me to make you a sandwich Julie? I can make one if you're hungry. We sure do miss you around here. You should come by more often."

"Yeah, I miss it too. But you don't have to make me anything. I just ate before I got here."

"Well okay then. I hope you don't mind me taking a little nap while you wait for Matthew. I'm sorry to keep you waiting all by yourself."

"Oh, that's okay Grandma. You can take your nap. I could just come back later."

"Oh nonsense, he'll be here any minute, just you watch. Do you mind fetching me a glass of water though?"

Julie quickly grabbed a glass and filled it with water before she brought it to Grandma and shut the bedroom door behind her. She made her way through the hallway and opened the side door to Matt's room. She walked slowly towards him and began rubbing her hand on his shoulder.

"Matt… Matt…"

Matt quickly jumped up and ran his hand over his face, moaning in pain, before he saw Julie.

"Julie? What the hell? How did you get here?"

"Grandma let me in. And she's fine. She just went to go take a nap."

Matt sat up and stretched his body out, his head spinning every other direction. Julie could tell he was drinking earlier (it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out). This wasn't going to be easy.

"Um… Landry came by to talk to me today. About you." She tried to say as casually as possible.

Matt rolled his eyes. Here comes another lecture.

"I just want to make sure you're alright."

Matt began laughing. Loudly.

"Am I alright? HA! Am I alright? That's a good one Julie, bravo! You sure are smart."

Julie felt offended. But more clueless than anything.

"You think this is funny?" she said with anger in her voice. Now she was really getting mad. Just exactly why did Landry ask her to come here? So she could look like an idiot? She wanted to scream. Matt could tell and he was getting upset. Julie looked right into his eyes, for the first time in a long time. And before she knew what hit her, she found Matt lying on his bed crying.

"Hey, hey, what… are you okay?" she asked as she lied down next to him.

"No, I'm not. I… I don't want to talk about it okay. Can you just leave me alone? Please? I'm sorry but I need to be alone."

Julie wanted so badly to stay with him, tell him everything was going to be alright, but she knew she was part of the problem and would only make things worse. So she got up off the bed and headed for the door.

Matt wanted her to stay here with him, so he could have someone tell him that he isn't some freak who no one loves. But he couldn't. Not right now. He needed to take care of himself first.

"If you want to talk to me later on, or tomorrow, or whenever, you can. I'm here for you. Okay?"

She saw Matt nod his head before she slowly closed his bedroom door and walked out of his house.

She sat in her mother's car for a good five minutes crying before Brett called her. She tried to hide the fact, but it didn't seem to work. She started up the car and made her way to his house. He was waiting for her outside by the time she got there.

"Are you okay? What did he do to you?" he shouted.

"Nothing, he didn't do anything." She began crying ever harder than before.

"Julie, please tell me what's going on." Brett was getting frustrated. He didn't understand anything that was happening with her and Matt.

"It's just, I don't know, he's just having a tough time with some stuff and I want to help him out and it's just… so hard. I don't want to just ignore it; I don't want to screw this up. It isn't fair."

He wrapped his arms around her in a hug and let her cry on his shoulder.

"I'm sure he'll be just fine. Don't let yourself get worked up over it okay. Come on, I'll make you something to eat." He turned around, keeping his arm around her shoulders, and led her into his house.

--

Brett lied on his bed that night and thought about everything. Was he the jealous one this time? Was he just angry that she still cared about Matt when she shouldn't? He didn't know, but everything seemed so irregular to him, like the picture he was envisioning looked messed up and needed to be retaken or redeveloped. But whatever it was, he needed to figure it out and fast before it was too late to fix.

He didn't get much sleep that night.

/tbc/