So it's been a little while. Sorry about that. Between work, holiday stuff, a lovely step/flu combo, and catching up on my other stories I've been a little preoccupied. This is a bit shorter than my normal chapters. I'm going to try a little experiment and see if having the chapters a little shorter helps me get them edited and out more quickly. Given how much I love to ramble on we will see how long that lasts, lol.
As always, thanks for your feedback and endless patience. :-)
"So Dana just comes right out and says to me, "Rich, I love you, but I don't think I can-""
"Wait a second, I'm sorry, but why would your girlfriend be calling you Rich when your name's Jason?"
"I decided to go by Rich in college."
"Why?"
"My middle name's Richard."
"And? You don't see me going by Randall, do you?"
Angela wrinkled her nose. "Your middle name's Randall?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Why did I think it was something else? When we played that soap opera name game I thought you said Jonathan."
"I lied."
"Why?"
"I wanted to keep people guessing."
"Oh."
"Now what's wrong with Randall?"
"Nothing, but-"
"It was my mom's last name before she got married. She didn't have any brothers and wanted to pass it on."
"Okay, I'm sorry. It's very sweet that she wanted the name to live on."
"So you like Randall?"
"I appreciate the sentiment behind it."
"What does that mean?"
Jason tossed a pillow in Eric's direction. "It means let me finish telling the story."
"Sorry," they apologized in unison.
"There was a mix-up with my paperwork and everything said J. Richard Halke."
"Ooh, like you were some wealthy, trust fund kid?"
"That's how they treated me at first. I tried to correct everyone but there were already so many guys named Jason and people reacted a lot different when I said my name was Rich, so I thought what the hell? College is the time for experimenting. I gave Rich a try."
"And?"
"Eh." He shrugged. "Not bad."
"Do you think you and Dana will work it out?"
"I want to say yes, but Dana's determined to succeed in law school. Getting into Harvard was her dream. She worked so hard to get there." He shook his head. "I don't get why she thinks her choices are either us being together or Harvard, but I love her too much to get in the way of her accomplishing her goals."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, sorry, man."
"Thanks, but what can I do?"
"You could tell me all the embarrassing stories about Eric you claimed to have," Angela suggested. She had the feeling Jason was done talking about his girlfriend for the night. "I believe you even promised me pictures."
He grinned, grateful for the distraction. "Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I? What do you want to hear first?"
"You said something about a lobster if I remember correctly."
"Does anyone want ice cream," Eric asked in a last ditch effort to save his dignity. "I feel like ice cream. How about I run down to the corner and pick some up?"
She draped her legs across his lap. "You're not going anywhere."
/
/
"I don't know what to do, Shawnie. Topanga is so miserable right now."
"Her family's breaking up. She's going to be a little miserable. I think she's earned it."
"But what do I do?"
"Shut up and support her?"
"I'm trying but…" Cory sank into the chair and ran his hands over his hair. "…it's like she can barely stand to look at me. As if being in the same room with me hurts her."
Shawn looked up from his catalogue. His boss had suggested a few new lenses to try and tossed the magazine his way as he left work this evening. Some of these lenses were an entire paycheck. "Just give her some time. Trust me. It's not always easy to deal with happy families and relationships when yours' falls apart."
"Are you talking about you and Angela?"
He rolled his eyes. "No, my parents…why do you think I snuck out the window so many nights when I stayed with you?"
"It was the cool, rebel thing to do?"
"It was hard hearing all of the, 'goodnight, honeys' and 'I love yous' and not feel sick. I was constantly being smacked in the face with what I lost…hell, what I never really had. I love your family, but that doesn't mean I didn't…don't resent you sometimes."
"So you're saying Topanga resents me right now?"
"You have the parents who are still together."
"Fine, maybe I understand that, but it's like she resents our relationship on top of all that."
"She's scared. Just give her time. I never had the happy family, but she did. She's had it her whole life until now. It's like that magic trick where they suddenly pull off the tablecloth but everything else stays put."
"How?"
"Right now she's the plate halfway off the edge."
"So I need to put her back on the table?"
"Sort of. I guess."
"How do I do that when she won't even talk to me?"
"You'll think of something. You always do. For now just try to be there and let her know you love her. Give her some sort of normalcy in her life."
Cory snapped his fingers. "Normalcy. Perfect. I'd say a night out with friends is pretty normal, right?"
"Sure."
"Great. Then you'll come with us to karaoke on Saturday night?"
"Us who?
"You, me, Topanga, and maybe Jack…and-"
"And?"
"And maybe Angela and Eric since they're the ones who invited us in the first place."
"Nope, no, it's not happening. I can't hang out with them."
"But, Shawn-"
"No."
"The tables are small so we wouldn't even all fit at the same one. You can sit at a different table and not have to talk to them."
"And if they decide to sing a duet?"
"Perfect time for a bathroom break," Cory suggested.
It had been bad enough watching Angela sing a love song with…what was his name? Don? No, no, it was Ron. It was torture watching her sing with Ron and that had only been a first date. He couldn't imagine seeing her up there with real feelings and emotions involved. "I can't."
"Please? For Topanga? You said yourself she needs everyone who loves her around her right now."
"I said she needs you around her right now."
"Shawn, come on." He tried to think of something, anything that would convince his best friend to come. "They're giving away money."
"Who?"
"At karaoke, it's like a summer kickoff thing. It's not just singing. You can win prize money."
"Really?"
"I think first prize is $200."
He eyed the catalogue he'd cast aside only minutes earlier. Prize money would definitely help him afford those lenses. "Fine, I'll go to try and win money."
"And for Topanga?"
"I figured that went without saying."
"Thanks, Shawnie. You won't regret this."
"If I do you're going to be the one giving me $200."
"Deal."
/
/
"…and all of a sudden he comes waddling out in a giant lobster costume." Jason handed over some pictures, much to Angela's delight.
"Have I mentioned lately that I hate you," Eric said, having to speak up to be heard over the laughter. "Both of you."
"I'm sorry, babe, but…actually, you know what, no, I'm not sorry. You're a freaking lobster!"
"Thanks," he huffed, arms crossed.
"Ooh, here are the ones where he's falling into the dunk tank of melted butter."
"It's your fault I went into that tank! You hit the target."
"Hey, I had to win the ladies a free lobster dinner."
Eric glanced over and saw Angela wiping her eyes, having laughed so hard she was crying. "Glad you're getting a big kick out of this."
"Are you kidding? This might be the best thing I've ever seen in my life. My dad is going to love these."
"Your dad?"
"Yeah, he's coming into town in a few weeks, remember?"
"Right."
"Ooh, meeting dad for the first time," Jason asked. "That's big."
"No, I've already met him. He loves me."
"Really, loves? You sound pretty confident there." He turned to Angela. "Is it true, your dad loves him?"
"He doesn't hate him."
"What does that mean? He gave me a present. He bought tires for my dad's car."
"He felt bad the tire blew out because we were traveling through bad weather because you were bringing me to see him."
"Tires are expensive. You don't buy a new set for someone you only don't hate."
"We weren't dating yet when you drove me to Fort Campbell. We were just friends."
"But you said he thought there was something going on."
"He suspected there was something between us, yes, but still, you've gone from the guy he only thought wanted to sleep with his daughter to the guy who is sleeping with his daughter."
"Crap. He's going to kill me and make it look like an accident, isn't he?"
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I won't let him."
"Promise me you'll hide his guns when he's here."
"He doesn't walk around armed 24/7."
Jason held up his hand. "Hi, excuse me, I'm a little lost. Is your dad a cop or something?"
"He's a Master Sergeant in the army."
"You're a dead man. At least I got to see you one last time before he kills you."
"Shut up."
"Don't worry, I promise to leave the lobster story out of your eulogy."
"Wow, you're a true friend."
"I know, right?" Jason turned his attention back to Angela. "Now what story do you want to hear next: the time I got him a date on New Year's Eve with my cousin who was a supermodel-"
"No, please," Eric interjected, "not Rebecca-Alexa."
"-and he blew it," he continued, "or the night he lied about passing his driving test and Mr. Feeny had to bail him out when his dad's car got towed?"
"Well-"
"You talked me into lying! I wanted to tell my dad the truth."
"Ooh, or the time he got so wowed by a girl he waited on her hand and foot, even got a beeper so he could run to her any time of day or night."
"Hey, the second you made me see the light and I broke up with her, you were the one jumping to answer her pages!"
"Who's the one who took her cat to get neutered?"
"But-"
"And drove her car around for forty minutes so it would be all warm and toasty when she was ready to drive home?"
Angela raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "Really?"
"Jason can't judge. He watched her do all that stuff to me and still dated her afterwards."
"Okay, fine, she doesn't count. We were both stupid with her."
"I think it was the accent."
"Yeah, accents can be hot."
"So who was the girl with the beeper and the hot accent that made fools of you both?"
They spoke in unison, mangling her Southern drawl. "Desiree Emmeline Hollinger Beaumont."
"You remember her whole name?"
"It's how she introduced herself to everyone," Eric explained. "Even if we went to a movie, that's how she started a conversation with the ticket takers."
"Wow."
"Just remember we were seventeen and stupid."
"I will." She was quiet for a minute, smiling as she took one last look at her boyfriend the lobster. She definitely needed copies of these. "Tell me the Rebecca -Alexa story next."
"No!"
"Sorry, buddy. Majority rules."
"Now I am going to get ice cream and no one can stop me." He removed Angela's legs from his lap and stood. "Butter pecan or chocolate chip?"
"A scoop of each?"
"I don't know if you deserve double scoops, egging him on like that and enjoying these terrible stories."
"Aw, does that mean you won't bring me back cookie dough?" Jason ducked when he removed a baseball cap from the hook by the door and launched it his way. "Don't forget the whipped cream."
"I'm not enjoying these amazing stories," she said to Eric.
"Really? Could've fooled me."
She walked over to him. "What I love is learning more about you: good, bad, and everything in between."
"How can you love hearing stuff that makes me look like a jerk?"
"None of these have made you look like a jerk."
"Yeah, well, I'm kind of a shallow butthead in the Rebecca-Alexa tale so I'm going to go ahead and get that ice cream now."
Angela wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss. "Double scoops," she asked when they separated. Luckily she remembered Jason was right there before things got too heated.
He nodded. "Double scoops."
She kissed him one more. "Thank you."
/
"Just when the captain of the football team was about to drop me head first into the garbage can Eric screamed that there was a rat loose in the cafeteria."
"Hey, what kind of best friend would I be if I let him get beat up because he accidentally spilled his lunch tray on some muscle head's varsity jacket?"
"Didn't you get into trouble," Jack asked. He had come home a little while ago after spending the day in New York for his mom's birthday. She'd wanted him to spend the weekend, but he had to work. "Even if there was no rat you still made people panic." He'd caught the best friend remark and tried to brush it off. Eric and Jason had known each other for years and people were allowed to have more than one friend.
"A little bit, but for the rest of the day no one was talking about how Jason almost ended up in the garbage. Instead they were cracking up over Mr. Football jumping up on a table and screaming like a little girl because he thought there was a mouse."
What started as a laugh morphed into a yawn for Angela. "This has been fun guys, but I had a long day. I think I'm going to call it a night."
"Sure leave when we're finally getting to the flattering stories about me."
"I'm stealing a t-shirt." She gave him a kiss before standing. " 'Night, Jack."
"Good night."
"Jason, this has been fun."
"You're coming with Eric to my party on Sunday, right?"
"We'll see."
"Seriously, it won't be a party without you."
"I'm meeting with my aunt so we can pack up some of my grandmother's things. I promise I'll try."
"If you need any convincing, just think of this. Any embarrassing stories that his mom doesn't know, mine does."
"Do you want me to get varsity jacket the rat screamer over here? Because I will."
"That is intriguing."
"Jay, you know that goes both ways. My mom has embarrassing pictures and stories about you, too."
"Crap."
She shook her head and smiled. "Goodnight, guys."
After wishing her goodnight Jason waited until Angela was out of earshot before moving from the chair to the couch. "Okay, fess up. What kind of gypsy, fortune teller, voodoo lady did you sell your soul to so you could be with her?"
Eric smiled. "I know, she's amazing. I really like her a lot."
"Like? Please," he scoffed. "You four letter l-word her, but that word is not like. And don't say you don't because you so do. I can tell. Have you told her yet?"
"No. Not yet."
"Why?"
He busied himself with collecting the dishes they'd created. "I screwed up not too long ago. Really, I almost blew it." He briefly explained to Jason how he'd shut Angela out after he learned about his missing credits. "I want to make it up to her."
"Then wouldn't telling her be a good thing?"
"I'm not sure she's ready to hear I love you yet."
"That's so dumb. Who wouldn't want to hear someone loves them?"
"I don't want her to think I'm just saying it to help things get back to normal between us. I want her to know I mean it."
"I get that, but it's still dumb." He hit Jack's arm. "Right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Right. Dumb." Eric had never brought up the word love where Angela was concerned. Granted, Jack had never come right out and asked him. He had eyes though and could see how into each other the couple was, but why hadn't Eric confided in him. "I think I'm going to head to bed, too. My mom was extra demanding today, using the excuse of it being her birthday for everything. 'Night."
"I didn't realize how much I missed doing this," Jason said once it was just the two of them.
"What?"
"This, us…hanging out and being stupid together."
"Wisconsin didn't have people to be stupid with?"
"There are plenty, but I mostly hung around with Dana and her family. I shared a little apartment in the back of her house with her stepbrother."
"TJ, right?"
"J.T.."
Eric nodded. "J.T.."
"I loved it most of the time. He's a fun guy and the apartment was great when me and Dana were together, but after she broke up with me it got awkward. J.T. never changed. He's been cool no matter what, but the rest of the family didn't know how to talk to me anymore. Her parents said they weren't kicking me out and I could stay there until I got a steady job and on my feet, but I had to get out of there."
"You and Dana were together for a long time, right?"
"Almost three years." He sighed. "So obviously it made sense to come home and metaphorically lick my wounds. I couldn't be there when she wasn't and Dana didn't want me to follow along to Boston."
"Sorry."
"Thanks." He was unsuccessful in holding in a yawn. "Damn, yawning and it's barely midnight. I am getting old."
"You can crash on the couch if you want. Or mine and Jack's roommate went home to Texas for the summer so we've got an extra bed."
"Not tonight. I think my mom will send out the cavalry if I'm not home."
"Okay."
"You want to hang out tomorrow?"
"Uh…Friday is usually mine and Angela's date day, but I'm sure she'll be okay if-"
"No, don't blow off your girlfriend for me. I'll be in town for a little while."
"You sure? I don't think Angela will mind."
"Keep your date day."
"Okay. See you Sunday though."
"You'd better." Jason made sure he had his wallet and keys before heading for the door.
"I might be a little late. I have to work."
"That's fine."
They were almost at the elevator when Eric got an idea. "Hey, wait a second."
"What?"
"You could stay here."
"No, I already told you my mom-"
"I don't mean tonight. I mean if you stay in Philly."
"What are you talking about?"
"Mine and Jack's roommate, well…I don't think she's moving back in after the summer. She and Jack were dating and it didn't work out and now things are weird between them."
"Okay…"
"We're going to need a third roommate to help make the rent. That could be you!"
"Shouldn't you run this by Jack first?"
"He'll be cool with it. Besides, think of how much fun it would be to hang out all the time again."
Jason had to admit the idea was enticing. He was already tired of his mom's attempts to baby him and his dad treating him like an eight year old. "I'll think about it and let you know."
"Great."
"Don't forget, Sunday."
"Your mom won't be pissed that I showed up without RSVPing? And that I'm bringing a date?"
"Duh, that's the best part."
/
A little while later Eric entered his room. Angela was already asleep. He did his best to be quiet, but she still stirred when he tried to get into bed. "Sorry."
"S'okay," she mumbled, trying not to wake up completely. "Jason's nice. I like him."
"Yeah, you made an impression on him, too."
"Good?"
"The best."
"Cool."
When he lay beside her she drifted closer and threw an arm around his waist. He hugged her in return, tracing lazy patterns on her back. This was the first time since his screwing up that she was spending the night and he couldn't be more grateful to have her here. "Can I ask you something?"
"What?"
"I know it's dumb that it bothers me, but do you really hate my middle name?"
"Hate is too strong a word, but-"
"But?"
"There are other names I like more."
"Oh."
"But as I said, I think it's very sweet that your mom wanted to pass on her name to you. The sentiment is more important than the name."
"Can I ask you one more question? Then I promise I'll shut up and you can go back to sleep."
"What is it?"
"What's your middle name? I know you told us during the soap opera name game, but I don't remember. Was it Sheena or Shania? Something like that?"
"Can I confess something?"
"Ooh, secrets. Hit me."
"You're not the only one who lied when playing that name game. My middle name is not really Sheneneh."
"Really? Why lie?"
"Because I hang out with the whitest people in the world and I wanted to see if you'd believe me. And you all did, never even blinked. I mean have you even heard the name outside of Martin or In Living Color?"
"No."
"My point exactly."
"So what is your middle name?"
"Kamaria. It's after Nan's grandmother. She wanted to name my mom Kamaria, but my grandfather refused. Camille was the closest she could get him to agree to."
"What does it mean?"
"It has something to do with the moon. Moonlight, I think. Part of me hates it because it's a connection to my mother, but I know how much it meant to Nan that the name lived on. So, again, sentiment surpasses the actual name for me."
"For what it's worth, I like it a lot. I think it's really pretty."
"Thank you."
"Can I ask one more question?"
"Sure."
"If you lied about your name, did you lie about the street, too? Did you grow up on Martin Luther King Drive?"
"Boulevard," she corrected, "and no, I didn't. It's the street my dad grew up on though."
"Why did you name his street?"
"I've moved a lot. If I had the same address for two years that was an eternity. I didn't know which street to give for the game, so I just said my dad's."
"Sorry."
"Don't be. Like I've said, I loved seeing so many different places as a kid. A lack of a permanent mailing address doesn't change that."
"So what would your real soap opera name be if you picked the street you lived on the longest?"
She went through the list of street names in her head, knowing she was bound to forget something. "Kamaria Dogwood…I think. Either that or Kamaria Admiral."
Eric extended his hand. "Hello, Kamaria Dogwood. I'm Randall Cumberland."
She accepted the handshake. "Nice to finally meet you."
"Ready to go to sleep now?"
"Yes, please." She snuggled against him and closed her eyes again. "You were very cute, you know?"
"I'm always cute. You have to be more specific."
"As a lobster…adorable."
"Ugh, do we have to talk about that again? It was humiliating."
"We could be The Little Mermaid for Halloween. You can be Sebastian."
"Funny." He could feel Angela shake with giggles. "I'll do it if you wear the purple shell bra like Ariel."
"Hmm, then again…maybe not."
"Sure, tease me with the thought of you in that outfit. I can already picture it in my head. Mean."
She peered up at him and barely contained her smirk. "Please, if I wanted to tease you I'd mention all the ideas I came up with after seeing you covered in butter."
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "You're not mean. You're evil. Unless…care to tell me any of these ideas now?"
"Nope."
If it was possible to take a mental cold shower Eric was trying his damnedest now. "Pure evil."
Angela kissed his shoulder before once again settling beside him. "Thank you."