"A little help?" Tyler requested, drawing Jay's attention away from where Alex had disappeared.
Jay rolled his eyes at the sight of Manny still dry heaving into the sand shrub. Tyler was kneeled down beside her, rubbing a hand up and down the girls back. Emma stood a short distance away, concern creasing the corners of her eyes and chasing the anger away temporarily. Jay sighed before making his way towards the group. He helped Tyler pull the brunette up off the sand, praying she wouldn't throw up on his shoes.
"I don't feel so good." Manny mumbled as the guys led her towards the parking lot.
"Remember that the next time you decide to get wasted and ruin everyone's lives." Jay shot back.
"Back off." Tyler replied in defense of Manny. "You're the one that screwed up. She just blew the secret."
Emma heaved a sigh of irritation before stepping in, "Would you both just drop it? Tyler, you have no idea what happened. And Jay, now really isn't the time."
Emma stormed past the two boys, leaving them with their jaws dropped open. So much for the perfect peaceful weekend she'd been hoping for. Sean was mad at her, Alex was probably plotting 15 different ways to kill her, and while she wanted to be furious with Manny, she couldn't exactly blame it all on her. Hooking up with Jay had been her decision and hers alone. She was the one who hadn't bothered telling Sean. She was the one who decided to keep it a secret.
Emma leaned against the Civic and waited for the boys to join her. They were moving slowly, trying to balance Manny's weight between them as the three stumbled up the hill to the parking area. She pushed herself off the car as Jay reached into his pocket and tossed her the keys. She quickly unlocked the door and flipped the seat up. The boys eased Manny into the back seat so she could lie down, her head resting against the opposite window. Emma flipped the seat back into place before handing the keys back to Jay. She climbed into the passenger seat and started to pull the door shut when Jay stopped her.
"Your friend vomits in my car and you're cleaning it up." His tone was in all seriousness as he slammed the door shut and rounded the car to the driver's side.
Emma gave Tyler a slight wave as the car pulled out of its parking spot and headed off towards Sean. Jay weaved through the streets of Wasaga, an eerie silence engulfing the Civic. Manny had drifted off to sleep and was snoring loudly in her drunken state. It was the only sound coming from the car, the only sound breaking the silence.
Back at Sean's, Jay carried Manny into the trailer, depositing her onto Sean's parent's bed. He rolled her over onto her side and put a bucket on the floor beside her. It brought back a flood of memories. How many times had he done that for Alex? How many times had she done that for him? After pulling the covers over the sleeping girl, he grabbed his duffle bag off the floor and headed out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Emma asked as Jay headed towards the door. She'd already searched the small home for Sean but he wasn't in any of the rooms. Her heart sank as she realized she had no idea where to even begin looking for him.
Jay shrugged, "I'm sure I can find a place to crash. I'll be back sometime tomorrow to take you guys back to T.O."
"Jay…" Emma started but it was too late. He already pushed his way through the front door. She heard the engine start and the car pull away from the house before she crumpled to the floor letting the tears fall freely.
00
Alex sat on the beach running her hands up and down her bare arms in an attempt to get warm. Jay's sweatshirt lay abandoned beside her. She'd taken it off when she'd realized where the smell was coming from. Her ribs were killing her from the hike down the beach and she'd left the bottle of painkillers back at Sean's. It was the last place she wanted to be, at Sean's, sharing a tiny trailer with both Jay and Emma. She'd rather freeze to death on the sand. And to think she'd been on the verge of forgiving Jay, on the verge of thinking maybe she'd been wrong about the nature freak. She'd been stupid, naïve and now she was paying for it.
Alex quickly swiped at the tear trailing its way down her cheek. She hated being weak, being vulnerable. She hated that Jay was the only one who had ever been able to make her feel that way. She let out an irritated cry before slowly pushing herself up off the sand. She grabbed Jay's sweatshirt and pulled it back on trying her hardest to ignore the smell as she made her way off the beach. She found the nearest pay phone and pulled some change out of her pocket as she silently prayed that her mom would answer.
00
Sean quietly made his way into the trailer as the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds. His head was pounding from the fifth of liquor he'd poured down his throat after Manny's little drunken confession. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Emma and Jay together. The image made him sick to his stomach. His Emma, so pure and sweet. How had she gotten tangled up with Jay, with the Ravine crowd?
"I'm sorry." Emma said, softly causing Sean to jerk around. The door he'd been easing shut slammed in the process.
Sean quickly glanced away from Emma who was sitting on the floor, her back resting up against the couch. Her eyes were blood shot from crying, her skin pale. She looked so tiny, so small. It physically hurt to look at her. He tossed his keys onto the table beside the door and made his way to the kitchen, completely ignoring Emma's apology.
He was pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge when Emma appeared in the doorway, blocking his only way out. He sighed, grabbing the bottle of Tylenol his mother kept in the cabinet for her own hangovers and popping two of the tiny pills into his mouth. He chased it with the water, trying his hardest to ignore Emma's presence. It wasn't easy, it never had been. There was just something about her that demanded attention.
"You weren't there, Sean. You have no idea what it was like." Emma started, standing her ground. "You got to run away from the problem. I didn't. I had to go back. I had to face it everyday. People were walking on eggshells around me. I had to deal with the concerned looks, and hushed whispers. I had to walk by that hallway every day. I needed you and you weren't there."
"So you what? Turned to Jay?" Sean yelled. He took a deep breath lowering his voice before continuing, "You're so much better than that, Em. So much better than him."
Emma swallowed the lump in her throat. "He was the only one who wasn't treating me like I was going to break. He was the only one who made me feel…anything. I'm sorry you had to hear it from Manny and not from me but…"
"But what?" Sean asked interrupting. "You think I came up here and it was like nothing ever happened? Jesus, Emma. I killed a guy. Every night I wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares, every night I stare down the barrel of that gun. Just because I'm not in Toronto doesn't mean that I'm not living with it every day. But I didn't randomly hook up with everything in a skirt either."
"That's not fair." Emma replied, her voice small, soft, and barely above a whisper. "I made a mistake, Sean, one mistake with one person. I'm not perfect. I never claimed to be."
Sean sighed as the fatigue settled in and the weariness finally hit home. His adrenaline was wearing down quickly, causing his head to pound even more. He didn't want to fight about it. In fact, all he wanted to do was crawl into bed and forget the whole thing.
"You want me to pretend it didn't happen? Pretend that you didn't just rip my heart right out of my chest? I loved you, Em." Sean spoke, his voice tight and drained.
"And I love you Sean." Emma said, taking a step towards him.
Sean used the opening to his advantage as he squeezed past her and made his way out of the room. He hated being cornered. It was an inborn trait found in all the Cameron men. Anytime they'd enter a room, the first thing they'd look for would be all the exits. Being cornered in the tiny kitchen by Emma made him face the facts. The only reason she'd turned to Jay was because he wasn't there. He shouldn't have been mad at Emma or Jay, he should have been mad at himself. It was just easier to place the blame on someone else.
Sean made his way into the living room just as Alex stepped in the front door. It brought him to a stand still. He'd never seen Alex look so weak. Her eyes were dark from lack of sleep, her face scrunched in pain from who knew what. She looked completely unhinged and he realized for the first time he wasn't the only one the world had come crashing down on.
"You okay?" he asked with a little nod hello.
"Peachy." She replied tightly as she shut the front door behind her. "I just came to get my stuff."
With that, Alex headed off down the hallway. She stopped in the doorway of Sean's parents' bedroom at the sight of Manny curled into a ball. Alex grinded her teeth against the memory from the night before as she made her way across the room and grabbed her bag. She reached into the side pocket and pulled out the bottle of pain killers, popping two pills into her mouth and swallowing them dry.
"You've been popping a lot of those this weekend." Sean's voice floated in from the doorway startling her.
Alex glared at him as she growled, "Mind your own business, Sean."
"Where are you going?" he asked.
Alex rounded the bed so she was face to face with Sean before answering, "Home. There's a bus ticket with my name on it waiting for me at the station. I'll be sure to tell Ellie you said hello."
Alex pushed her way past Sean. She was halfway down the hallway when she ran right smack into Emma. It was like a cat and mouse stand off. Emma, sullen with a look of fear and acceptance in her eyes. Alex, fierce poised for a fight. Her spine ridged, the hair on the back of her neck sticking straight up. It felt like an eternity passed between the two girls before Emma finally took a deep breath and spoke up.
"I'm sorry." Emma offered with complete sincerity and complete exhaustion.
Alex simply smirked and pushed past the blonde making her way out the front door. Her mother had wired her the money for a bus ticket and a cheap hotel. She'd lied awake all night staring up at a grimy ceiling, yellowed from cigarette smoke. She should have been used to getting the short end of the straw, used to life throwing her curve balls that knocked her on her ass. But she'd always had Jay to turn to. The fact that for the first time in her life she was completely alone scared the hell out of her.
00
Jay woke up to the sunlight streaming in through the tented window. He jerked up quickly, causing his head to slam against the roof of the car. He mumbled a few curses before climbing over the front seats and stumbling out the door. A piece of paper tucked under his windshield wiper caught his attention as it blew in the breeze. Jay rolled his eyes as he pulled the parking ticket out and shoved it into his pocket. It seemed the whole world was out to get him.
He stretched in attempt to work out the kink in his back as he yawned in the ocean air. The day was beautiful with the sun sitting high in the sky. The air gave off just enough breeze to chase away the sweat and make the heat bearable. It would have been a great day to sit on the beach, a great day for a game of volleyball or Frisbee. Jay cracked his neck and looked down at his watch. It was barely past noon, too early to go home. But what was he supposed to do to kill the time?
00
Manny rolled over groaning as her stomach lurched with her. Her head was throbbing and her throat was on fire as she tried to remember what had caused her to feel this way. She'd gone to the beach for the bonfire, flirted with Tyler, one of his guy friends had given her lemonade…oh, yeah the lemonade. She thought it had tasted funny.
Manny eased herself up into a sitting position, putting her foot on the floor to steady herself. She paid little attention to the bucket she kicked over as the room continued to spin. She slowly looked around the room trying to figure out where she was. A framed picture on the wall of Sean and Tracker made her realize she was in Sean's parent's room. She tried to remember how she'd gotten there but she couldn't.
She ambled her way to the door, using the doorframe to hold herself up. She peeked out into the hallway but didn't see anyone. She made her way slowly down the hall and into the living room where Sean was laying on the couch, an arm thrown over his eyes. She couldn't help but wonder if he'd drank the lemonade too.
Manny bumped into the end table, nearly knocking over the lamp. The commotion caused Sean to sit up quickly, his eyes sunken and blood shot.
"Sorry." Manny mumbled, catching the lamp and steadying it.
"Don't worry about it." Sean replied, sinking back down onto the couch. He flung his arm back across his eyes before adding, "There's Tylenol on the kitchen counter. Take two and drink a couple glasses of water you'll feel fine in about an hour."
Manny offered him a weak smile despite the fact that he couldn't see it. "Thanks." she added as she headed towards the kitchen to heed his advice.
When she was finished taking the Tylenol, she carried her glass of water back down the hall towards Sean's bedroom. Emma was sitting on the floor unpacking and repacking her suitcase. Manny watched for a minute a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. Her friend was such a perfectionist. Manny cleared her throat as she walked behind Emma and sat down on the bed. That's when she noticed the tear streaks down her friends face and the black circles that made her look like death warmed over.
"Emma?" Manny asked in concern, drawing Emma's attention away from the folded clothes scattered around her. "What happened?"
"What happened?" Emma repeated in an eerily calm voice, her brown eyes darkening with frustration. "You got drunk and told Sean and Alex about the Ravine, about me and Jay hooking up."
Manny's own brown eyes grew in fear and shock as Emma's words rang in her ear. Her friends tears were because of her, because she'd made yet another mistake that had destroyed everyone's second chance weekend.
"Em," Manny started with a shaky breath. "I…"
"I know." Emma said cutting her off. "Its not your fault. I should have told him. I shouldn't have been trying to keep it a secret."
"Have you talked to him?" Manny asked and then as an after thought added, "Where's Jay and Alex?"
Emma sighed, giving up on her repacking as she haphazardly threw the rest of her clothes into the suitcase. She turned all the way around so she was facing Manny and hugged her knees to her chest.
"Jay left right after he dropped us off last night and Alex left for the bus station a couple of hours ago." Emma replied, resting her chin on top of her knees. "As for Sean, I've tried talking to him but he's too mad to listen. I really thought this weekend was the answer to all my problems but its just made things worse. I never should have come."
Manny slid off the bed onto the floor, wrapping her arms around Emma. Her stomach twisted with regret and blame. Things had been going so well and she ruined it. Manny made a promise to herself that she would fix things no matter what it took.