Disclaimer: As always, I don't own anything in terms of characters. I only own the ideas. The rest goes to Saban.
A/N: Sorry this took so long to put up. The rest will be put up this week. Thanks for reading! Please remember to review!
By Your Side – Chapter 11
*Ernie's Beach Club*
Jason had been calling Emily for what seemed like weeks (in actuality, it had only been about a week and a half), but his girlfriend was not picking up. He knew that she was supposed to work at Ernie's place, so he figured he could catch up with her there. He initially wanted to ask if she wanted to go to prom with him, which at the time seemed like a mere formality. However, the more she didn't answer, the more it seemed like there was something going on between her and the new blue ranger. He arrived at the club, but saw no sign of Emily. He looked around, trying to see if maybe she was taking a few minutes to enjoy the beach or just to take a break, but saw no sign of her.
"Hey Jason," The jovial voice of Ernie interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey Ernie," Jason replied in a serious tone.
"Everything okay?" Ernie asked.
"Yeah... I was just wondering where Emily was, I knew she was supposed to work today."
"Didn't she tell you?"
"Tell me what?" Jason asked.
"She quit two weeks ago, said that she needed to focus on other things."
"She quit?" Jason was both confused and concerned at this point. "Why would she quit? And why wouldn't she tell me? We had dinner after she quit, I would have thought she would have told me then."
"Hey man, sorry to surprise you like that," Ernie said.
"Nah, it's cool man, thanks for the heads up."
*Emily's Apartment*
Jason walked up the stairs to Emily's second-floor apartment, and stood outside where her door was. He didn't know what the smell he inhaled was, but it was so gross and potent that he almost gagged. Music blared through the door, and while Jason was afraid to knock to see what he would find, he felt he owed it to her to see what was going on. Jason knocked firmly twice, but no one came to the door. After considering leaving, he made up his mind that he was going to make sure he and Emily talked now. He pounded on the door as hard as he possibly could, a little worried he might punch a hole through it. As hard as he hit it, no hole resulted, but he did notice that the music was turned way down.
"Who izzat?" A male voice said, seemingly under the influence of something. Jason started to become angry, thinking there was another guy with Emily, all alone in their room together.
"Jason." This prompted the music to shut off entirely. The sound from inside the apartment seemed to alert Jason to the fact that they were hiding, or at least moving, many different things before they opened the door to him. Finally, he heard the deadbolt unlock, and the door opened to reveal a slightly disheveled Emily.
"Hi," she said faintly. Jason looked at her intently, realizing that she looked scared to see him.
"I thought I'd stop by, since I haven't been able to get a hold of you," he said graciously, trying to see if he could understand what was going on without going berserk. "Do you mind if I come in?"
"Of course not, Jase," she said and stepped out of the doorway, allowing Jason to enter. The room looked like a tornado had run through it. Dishes were strewn out on the floor, a couple containing food that looked questionable in terms of its edibility. He walked towards the edge of the room, where he saw the guy, definitely one of the guys from Eddie's gang, sitting on the couch. "That's Clay," she mentioned. "Clay, that's Jason." Jason looked at him, but didn't bother to stick out his hand, nor did Clay offer his. However, Clay did speak up.
"Ahhh, I remember you from the beach club," he stated. "Emily's told me about you, how you saved her from those cog things."
"Yeah," Jason replied faintly, looking around at the room. "Look, Clay, no offense, but do you mind if I steal Emily away to chat?"
"Not at all, I need to head out, anyway," Clay replied, grabbing his stuff and quickly moving out the door. Silence reigned for a few moments as Jason observed Emily's apartment. He had been here once before, but he hardly recognized it considering the shape it was in. When he saw it the first time, it looked well organized, clean, and smelled decent enough for a small apartment near downtown Angel Grove.
"What's up?" Emily asked nervously.
"Maybe you should tell me?" Jason asked, now with a bit more edge to his voice. "Not to be rude, but this place is a mess. The smell is awful, it looks like you haven't cleaned in days, and I know you're hiding something from me."
"Hiding?"
"You think I didn't notice the awfully long time that it took you to open the door for me, or the large amount of noise coming from moving things around?"
"I... uh..."
"What are you doing?" Jason asked.
"I... I'm not sleeping with Clay," Emily stated. "I'm not cheating on you, I swear. You're the best thing that's happened to me."
"Em, if I were the best thing that happened to you, I would hope you'd have the decency to tell me the truth."
"It is the truth!" She fired back.
"Then what are you hiding?"
"I'm using!" The statement shot through the room. Jason took a moment, after receiving the proverbial kick in the stomach. His girlfriend, a drug addict. He knew she had a colorful past... but drug abuse?
"Using what?" He asked.
"Cocaine... and Heroin," she said.
"Why?" Jason asked. "I mean, why do you need this stuff?"
"Look Eddie and the others started passing around one weekend working on the bikes," she started to explain. "At first I didn't want to, but I took one hit, and I was hooked."
"Hooked as in addicted, or hooked as in you want this lifestyle?" Jason responded firmly. "Look at yourself for a minute, Em. You had a job, you were on track to get back into high school... you had someone who cared about you."
"Look, I tried that life, and it wasn't for me," Emily said. "The job was great, but I can make more money..."
"Dealing?" Jason asked honestly. Jason thought he would be angrier, but instead all he noticed was his deep sadness. He had thought he had seen his girlfriend change over the few months they knew one another, but it wasn't true at all. "Look, Emily. I really care for you, and that doesn't change regardless of what happens to us. But I'm not going to stand beside you as your boyfriend while you destroy yourself. But it's up to you. You can keep going down the path you're going with Eddie and the rest of the gang, or you can leave that life with me."
"Jason..." Emily said sadly. Jason understood what she meant by that. She was choosing the bikers, her friends, and now fellow drug abusers, rather than Jason. He nodded his head and walked out the door.
*Scott Residence*
"I don't know man... it's just really sad," Jason said over the phone with Tommy. "I mean, her life was turning around, she was ready to get back into school, and now this."
"How are you doing with it?" Tommy asked.
"Honestly, I'm okay," he replied. "I mean, I'd prefer to not have broken up with her, but I'm not really shaken up about it. I couldn't let her think I was cool with destroying herself like that."
"Yeah, Jase I'm sorry about this."
"So am I, bro. By the way, how did Kat take that you weren't going to be able to take her to prom?"
"Honestly, I think she's really sad. I didn't want to do it to her, but I just don't know about this racing thing, and this is the time to find out, ya know?" Jason thought about this, and wondered if the situation was with Kim instead of Kat if he'd have the same thought process. But he decided that would have to be something that he and Kat worked out.
"Gotcha," Jason replied. A few minutes went by as they caught each other up on other stuff, and then Tommy looped back around to the idea of prom.
"Hey bro, I had a crazy idea."
"What's that?" Jason asked.
"What if you took Kat to prom as a way to care for her?" Tommy asked.
"What?" Jason almost fell off his bed. "How would it care for her? She doesn't want a stand-in, she wants her boyfriend."
"But this way neither of you would be going to it alone," Tommy reasoned. Jason didn't like this, and yet he relished it. Kat was one of the most beautiful women he knew, and he really cared for her as a friend, but he hated the idea of taking his best friend's girlfriend on the highest-profile date that was possible for a high school couple.
'It would just be as friends,' he thought to himself. 'I don't like her like that anymore. Besides, I'm still going through the break-up with Emily. Maybe this would be good for both of us.' "You know what, maybe I'll ask her and see what she thinks." He responded.
*Hillard Residence*
"I'm surprised to see you in my neck of the woods," Kat responded as she let Jason walk through her family's home. "What brings you over here?" They walked over into the family room and sat down on the couches.
'This feels familiar,' Jason thought, considering this was where they sat the last time he had been over to talk to her about Tommy and how she could help him. "I... um... heard that Tommy has to bail on you for prom."
"Oh... yeah... I..." Kat stammered, clearly upset, but unconvincingly trying to make it seem like it was okay. "I understand. It's just too bad that he has that racing thing."
"I'm sorry that he can't go with you," he said.
"Oh, don't be... I'm just not going to go. I mean, everyone has someone to go with, I don't really want to play 3rd wheel to someone."
"Well... what if you didn't have to be 3rd wheel?" Jason asked.
"What do you mean? Everyone has a date. Adam has Tanya, Rocky is going with that girl from his computer science class, you're going with Emily..."
"Well, that's not entirely accurate," Jason replied.
"Which part?"
"The part about me taking Emily," he answered. "We actually broke up earlier today."
"Oh Jase, I'm so sorry to hear about that."
"It's okay, I just feel for her... she's fallen back into the wrong crowd, and they're doing some things that I don't agree with. But that brings me to why I'm here. I was wondering if I could take you to the prom?"
"Wait... you just dumped Emily, and now you want to take me to prom?"
"Tommy and I were talking, and when he mentioned that he couldn't take you, I thought it might be cool if we could go as friends. We talked about it and he said it was okay with him, but obviously it's up to you."
"Well... I don't know, Jason," she replied. "I mean, I'd feel weird going with someone other than Tommy."
"Hey, you don't have too. If you don't want to go, or go with me..."
"No, Jase... if it were any other situation I'd be thrilled to go with you. I do mean that. I really appreciate your friendship."
"Thanks," Jason replied, flashing a grin.
"You said Tommy was okay with it?" Kat asked.
"Yeah..." Jason replied.
"You know what, count me in," Kat said with a smile. "You just have to promise that you won't step on my toes." They both chuckled at that.
"I'll do my best, although I have to warn you, I have gotten many moves from Zack back in the day. Although he wasn't nearly as graceful as you."
"You're too kind."
"I'll let you know the details after I talk with Adam and Rocky... hopefully he has everything under control, with all the rehab he is doing on top of everything else."
"Yeah, I hope he's not overburdened," Kat agreed.
"Well, I should be off, but I'm really looking forward to our time together at prom!" Jason said.
"Me too!" Kat replied. They got up off the couches and Jason walked out of the house and climbed into his car. He waited for a minute before he turned on the ignition, and then he smiled to himself, saying, "I think Kat and I are going to have a lot of fun."
To Be Continued...
- Googz333