same shit, different day.

author's notes at the end...hope the formatting issue I had last time is cleared up...this chapter is probably rated PG-13.


Abby sighed and checked her watch once more, just to make sure it wasn't too late to be ringing someone's doorbell. Not that she could change it now, but she needed to keep herself busy while she was waiting for someone to answer the door.

She still couldn't quite work out why she had decided to go to John's house. Maybe it was because she needed to talk to someone, and Susan was out of town, visiting her grandparents.

The door to the Carter mansion swung open and Abby was surprised to see that John himself had answered the door. He looked quite surprised to see her standing there.

"What, no butler tonight?" she asked, a lopsided smile appearing on her face.

"Well, he's off fetching me a brandy and a cigar, so I had no choice but to do something for myself for once," he threw back. "What's up?"

She shrugged, feeling herself become self-conscious. "I don't know. Guess I just needed...I don't know."

He looked over her shoulder, searching for evidence of how she got to his house at that time of night. "How'd you get here?"

"I rode my bike."

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "You rode your bike? All the way from your house? At night?"

"Well, it's better than walking here, isn't it?"

"I guess but...geez, Abby. You should have just called–I would have picked you up."

"Yeah, well, I didn't know where I was going until I got here."

"That makes me feel better–you riding aimlessly around Chicago."

Abby let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, are you going to criticize me or are you going to invite me in? Because you can criticize me inside, too."

He stepped back a few feet and silently invited her in. He remained silent as he closed the door behind her, waiting.

"I guess I...it was...things were a little crazy at home and I needed to get away." Why can't I form a coherent sentence around him? He's your friend. He's just your friend, you can talk to him.

"You wanna talk about it?"

She regarded him for several moments, mentally debating whether she'd even be able to speak properly. In the end, she simply nodded.

John looked around, trying to decide the best place to have a conversation. "Let's go outside. We won't bother anyone if we're out there." With that, he led her through the house, out to the pool, where he plunked himself down on the ledge, dropping his short-clad legs into the water.

Somewhat timidly, Abby followed his example, sitting so they were shoulder to shoulder, but hugged her legs close to her body, partly because she was still feeling self-conscious, but also because she felt the need to be hugged.

"So..." John began.

"How was work today?" she asked, trying to delay the conversation for a little longer.

He looked at her for a moment, but decided not to press the issue and let her take her time. "It was good. The house is almost ready–we'll be moving someone in soon."

"That's awesome. It must be a great feeling, you know?"

He smiled in agreement. "Yeah, it is. I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something and not just being a drain on society."

"I wish I could do something like that."

"There's nothing wrong with having a job that pays, Abby. You're trying to earn your own living, and that's just as admirable, especially at our age. Most of the people at school probably won't get jobs until they're forced into it. They'd rather mooch off of their parents forever. Speaking of jobs, though, how was your day at work?"

"Pretty good. Actually, they finally told me that they want to keep me on part-time through the school year, and they're willing to work with my schedule. So, I'll be working a few hours after school two or three days a week, and most weekends. They're really nice, and they seem to like having me around, so I can't complain."

There was an awkward pause in the conversation while they each mentally fished around for another topic.

"Hard to believe the summer's almost over, huh?" he finally asked.

"Yeah. It didn't really feel like much of a summer, though, being stuck inside the whole time."

"Sucks to get old."

Abby smiled at him. "At least you managed to get a tan. I'm still pretty pasty." Tan looked really good on him. Not to mention that he'd gotten quite muscular from building houses all summer. She'd had a tough time taking her eyes off of hm on the rare occasions he'd walked around shirtless.

"Nah, you don't look so bad. You spent quite a few hours hanging out here, so you've got one of those healthy glow things going on." He nudged her playfully. "And I got to see you in a bikini, so it wasn't an entirely wasted vacation."

Abby was surprised to hear herself laughing out loud. "You're terrible."

"I'm also a sixteen-year-old guy. Girls in bikinis make me happy."

There was yet another pause in the conversation, though Abby quickly decided that if she came all this way to talk, she might as well talk.

"My mom's sick."

That got John's attention. "What?"

"Not sick like that. Mentally sick."

"Oh. Aren't they all?"

"I suppose, but she's actually sick."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's manic-depressive."

"That's the one when they have all those mood swings, right?"

Abby let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, that's one way of putting it. But it's so...extreme. She can go from cracked-out cheerleader mode to angst-ridden teenager mode in about five seconds. She's happy then she's sad then she's mad, then she does it all over again."

"I thought they could treat manic-depression."

"They can. The problem is that she doesn't always take her medication. She's been really good about it lately, but sometimes...she just doesn't feel like it. That's when it gets rough."

"So...did she decide to not take her medicine today or something?" John knew there were only so many reasons that Abby would be bringing this up now, and that something must have happened with her mother.

"That's the thing. I don't know. She started yelling at me when I got home from work a couple of hours ago, but I don't know if it's because I did something to piss her off, or if she's manic right now. It can be really hard to tell sometimes, especially when I don't get to watch her closely. So, I actually could have done something that made her rightfully mad, but I didn't feel like sticking around to find out just then. So I made sure Eric could stay at a friend's house and got out of there."

A few things finally clicked into place for John. "So that's why you're always worried about getting home to make sure he's all right."

"Yeah. Because I can't count on my mother to be there all the time, someone has to be."

"That's not fair to you."

"No, it's not. But someone has to do it. At least I know I can count on me. And so does he."

"Why didn't you tell me, or Susan, about all of this before?"

She shrugged. "Don't know. It doesn't generally come up in casual conversation though, does it? 'Gee, that test today was a bitch, wasn't it? And hey, did I tell you that my mom's bipolar?'"

He chuckled a little at that. "Yeah, I can see your point. But, seriously, if you ever need to talk to anyone about it, you know, now that I know, I'm here for you. If you ever need to get away, just call me and I'll come pick you up. Eric, too, if necessary."

Abby smiled at him in appreciation. He was such a genuinely nice guy, the likes of which one would be hard-pressed to find anywhere, never mind that he was still in high school. That was part of what drew her to him, among other things. "Thanks. I really do appreciate it. And it does feel good to finally talk to someone about it, even if there's nothing you can do. Anyway," she said, shifting a little so she was facing him, letting one leg drop into the water but keeping the other close her body. "So what about you? Anything you need to bitch about?"

John had the feeling there was a lot more to Abby's mother than she was saying, but the fact that she had told him this much was enough for now. "Well, I've barely seen my parents all summer, though I don't think I'm actually upset about that. We're not exactly close."

"Yeah, I kinda gathered that. Why is that?"

"Who knows. Just not interested in being parents, I guess. Too busy living the high life to be interested in their kid. It's okay, though. I have my grandparents, and they're awesome. I'm quite content to have them as my parental figures."

"Well, just as long as you're content," Abby answered, grinning slightly. "Content is good."

"Content works for me."

Another silence fell between them, and neither were quite sure how to break it now. Abby had said what she had come to say and was now tapped out. Granted, she felt better having told him about her mother, but there was still so much he didn't know and so much she was concerned about, it still weighed heavily on her mind. Her gaze drifted to the rippling water of the pool and she stared at her foot, transfixed by the shapes it was taking underwater. She was well aware of John staring at her, but she was at a loss for words.

The moments lapsed into minutes of silence and eventually, the staring got be too much. She looked up to tell him to knock it off and was surprised to see that not only had he been staring at her, but he'd been slowly leaning in closer. She swallowed nervously but before she had time to process anything, his lips were on hers. Instinct took over as soon as the shock wore off and she kissed him back.

It was soft and gentle, not demanding or pushy. Everything a first kiss ought to be. Perfect.

Too soon, he was pulling away, looking surprised by his own actions. Abby didn't care. She didn't want to think, she didn't want to analyze it, she didn't want to ponder what it could mean, she just wanted to act. She wanted to kiss him again. She'd wanted to kiss him for months and now was finally the time. She didn't know if John felt the same way or if it was something that just occurred to him, but it didn't matter. They could talk about it later. This was here and now.

This time, she leaned into him but didn't hesitate before pressing her lips to his. He seemed surprised but definitely didn't fight her off. He brought his hands up to cup her face, pulling her closer. Tentatively, she slid her hands up his arms, letting them come to rest at his shoulders.

She didn't know how long they kissed–it could have been moments, it could have been hours–but suddenly she was laying on the ground beside the pool, John's body pressed firmly against hers. They had somehow rearranged their arms so that hers were now wrapped around his neck, her hands stroking from the nape of his neck to as far down his back as they could go. His hands were resting somewhere around her waist, gently massaging her hips and her sides, almost groping her, but not quite. Considering she had never actually kissed anyone before, she thought she was doing a pretty good job with the whole situation. Though most of it felt instinctive, as if somewhere, deep down, maybe she didn't know how to kiss, but she knew how to kiss him.

Eventually, oxygen became a necessity, and they managed to untangle their lips from one another.

"Wow," Abby whispered, struggling to catch her breath.

"I know," John answered, his voice equally as soft, also trying to breathe.

"Where did that come from?"

"I've wanted to do that for a long time," he told her with a smile. "I guess I just finally found the courage to do it."

A slow smile spread over Abby's face. "Really? You've wanted to kiss me for a long time?"

"Oh yeah. I've had the world's biggest crush on you for so long."

This was a first. The guy she liked actually liked her back. She leaned up and pressed a brief kiss to his lips.

Suddenly, John sat up and moved himself off of her. Abby was puzzled until he said, "I must've been crushing you. And concrete isn't very forgiving."

She sat up and just smiled at him. "I hadn't noticed."

They stared at each other for several long moments before he stood up and held his hand out to her. "Come on. It's getting late and we should probably get inside. I can drive you home if you want, or you can stay here tonight."

"Uh, I think I'd like to stay here, if you don't mind." She tried to say it casually, but her heart starting pounding at the thought of sharing a bed with him tonight.

"I was hoping you'd say that," he answered, pulling her to a standing position but not releasing her hand. "Though, I think we should lay some ground rules for ourselves."

"Okay...like what?"

"Probably no kissing in bed. Obviously, we're going to be prone to get carried away, if this is any indication. And if my grandparents were to come in and find us making out, they'd probably kill us both. They trust me, and they've been very lenient about letting you and Susan stay over, and I'd kind of like to keep it that way. Is that cool?"

"Yeah, I can live with that."

"Don't misunderstand me. It's going to be very hard to keep my hands off you now, but at least for tonight, we'll be able to sleep in the same bed without anyone freaking out."

Abby just smiled and let him kiss her for a few moments before leading him toward the house. "Come on. The sooner we get to bed, the sooner we get to wake up and make out some more."

John gazed at her in amazement and let himself be led to his house, wondering why on earth he waited so long to do this. But, he had to admit, it was worth the wait.


Author's Notes: The End. Kidding. It's just getting good. But, I'll let you guys be the judge of that. Can you believe I got another chapter out so quickly? I started making notes for it the other day at work, but I went out town the next day and was away from a computer for about 5 days, so I couldn't work on it. But, I wanted to get something to you guys before my net's temporarily taken away from me. I really do hope it was worth the seven month wait. For my part, it came out pretty close to how I pictured it in my head. So, review if you liked it, you know the drill. Oh, and apparently I didn't mention COURTNEY last time, so HI COURTNEY. And holla to ALEX across the pond. And I'd also like to thank the academy...