hey ya'll! here's the second chapter! thanks to everyone for the great reviews! you have no idea the natural high they are for me. i'll admit, 10 reviews were a little too much to want on the first chapter, so, i settled for 5. anyway, here's the second chapter, enjoy!

Jim woke up on Friday morning in his living room, squinting in pain from the sunlight & the massive hangover he had, which was quickly becoming a routine. He looked around his apartment, saw that it was littered with beer cans from the last 3 days which he spent sulking around the apartment attempting to drown his sorrows while not even bothering to put something on over his boxer shorts.

Jim sat up on the couch wincing in pain from the massive headache he had, he looked over at the table next to the couch & saw that velvet box which held the same ring that caused all this mess, he tried several times over the last three and a half days to get rid of it, but he didn't have the guts to do it.

The phone ringing interrupted Jim's sorrow & made him feel like someone was hitting skull with a hammer from the inside.

He quickly found the found & answered.

"Hello?" he said groggily.

"Hey, big kid" came the gentle voice on the other end of the line.

"Hey, mom, what's up?" Jim asked quietly.

"I wanted to check up on you, I heard about what happened."

Jim was confused, "how did-"

"Your friend Oscar called me."

Jim remembered calling in on Tuesday & Oscar answering, he claimed he was just walking by & the phone was ringing, Jim had told him to tell Michael he wouldn't be in for a few days & that he didn't want anyone stopping by or calling to see how he was, that he just wanted to be alone, strangely, they all respected his wishes.

"He told me what happened...sweetheart, I'm so sorry."

"What did he tell you exactly?"

"That Pam left you, something about she thought you didn't want to marry her, & that you screamed at that fellow, Andy, & blamed him for it."

"Look, he stole my chance &-"

"I know, son, you told me all about it."

"Right, sorry, anyway, Pam told me she was going to go stay with her mother in Wilkes-Barre while she figured things out, but, I could tell, she's left me for good."

"I'm sorry, son."

"Well, what are you gonna do?"

"Jim, I know things can be pretty desolate right now-"

"Look, ma, I appreciate what you're doing, but, I just want to be by myself right now, I'll have to get over this eventually, right?"

"Jim, I-"

"I'll call you in a couple of days, bye, mom." & with that, Jim hung up the phone.

Normally, if one of her kids hung up on her, Sarah Halpert would immediately call back & give them an earful, but, now she couldn't feel anything but sympathy for her youngest son, wishing there was something she could do. When suddenly, an idea hit her.

"Kyle, I'm heading to Wilkes-Barre!"

so what is jim's mom gonna do? review & find out!

on a lighter note, i wanted to tell something about me & this story, i'm a film geek by nature & I put different movie lines & homages in my stories. in the first chapter, jim yelling at andy, i based that on ernest borgnine yelling at gene hackman after stella stevens died in the original poseidon adventure. & at the end of that chapter, when michael asks "what i miss?", steve buscemi said that line in a...similar context in armageddon. & finally, here, i named jim's parents sarah & kyle, a cookie for anyone who can figure out what movie that's from. i'll give you a hint: sc & kr