Mary Andrew was sitting at the foot of her daughter's bed. "I know he was your first love, but you have to get out of bed. It's been days, honey. I'm starting to get worried."
"He's more than that." She sobs.
"I know it feels like the end of the world but it's not. Your life will go on and there will be other loves." She put a hand on hers. When she doesn't react, she sighs. "If you want I can get you, someone, to talk to. I went to therapy and it helped a lot."
"Hello, Ms. Andrews. I'm Greg, a friend of Abby. May I speak with her for a moment?" Greg spoke from the doorway.
"Sure… Good luck." She nods to him before leaving them alone.
Greg closed the door when he heard her walking down the stairs. "Listen, this Bella Swan reenactment has been spectacular. I feel like I'm in the movie, but it's time for the credits to roll." He grabbed the blanket she was tangled up in and gave it a hard tug making her fall to the ground.
"Greg!" She looks up at him in shock and anger.
"What is going on? Are you not going to try and win him back? From what you told Tomoko, he wants you too. He said it directly to you, so I don't understand why you're mourning him." Greg sat on the bed looking down at her.
"How would I go about winning him back after what I did?" She grabbed a used tissue that was on the ground to blow her nose.
"Disgusting." He threw a tissue box at her. "I'm pissed at you for running off too. Everyone is."
"Everyone?" She tilts her head.
"Everyone that noticed, so all your friends." He shrugged.
"Then why are you here?" She wondered how he could look at her when she went back to Kurtz.
"Because I understand why you did it. You wanted to save Fangs, it is why you went the first time too. Tell me, are you in love with Fangs?" He wonders.
"That's a ridiculous question." She narrowed her eyes.
"No, it's not. You're throwing yourself into great danger to save someone who doesn't want to be saved." He points out.
"I did that to save people including you from ascending and I didn't even know you." She snaps.
"Yeah, but you weren't in this desperate state like you are now." He stayed calm, not letting her emotions affect him. "You had a plan. You had the upper hand the first time around. This time you ran in when you knew all the odds were against you. You went against the group for your gain."
"I get it. I fucked up. I should have been patient. I should've thought things through. Even if I was able to kidnap Fangs. I wouldn't be able to get him to see the Farm as a cult." She stood up on shaking legs.
"You see that, that is what Sweet Pea wants to see in action. He wants to see that you know you're wrong." He points at her.
"How do I show that?" She cringed when she smelled herself.
"I'm afraid this will be another long game. You'll have to be consistent in keeping your nose out of dangerous business." He knew it would be hard for her.
"But, what if I can help uncover the king?" She had to help.
"Then you discuss it with him and me for that matter. Don't go looking for shit. Leave that to Jughead and Betty." He heard the couple planning.
"I fucked up so bad. I don't know how to face Tessie." She had abandoned the girl for a second time.
"As someone who had parents abandon him, trust me, all she is going to want is your consistency too." He would have… hell would still love for his parents to get clean and be a part of his life.
"You're a good friend, Greg." She went to hug him but he pushed her, making her fall on her butt.
"No offense…. Great offense, you smell worse than Kurtz's ballsacks." He got off her bed when he realized she'd been laying in it smelling like that.
"You got up close and personal with them." She teased.
"Only when I imagine kicking them." He threw a towel at her. "Take a bath and let's go to school."
Abby took a deep breath before walking up to Sweet Pea. "Hello." When his eyes fell on her they showed shock then relief. He was worried when she didn't show up the past few days. He thought she might have gone back to being the Goddess. "I am... I…" He had to fight back the smile when he saw how nervous she was. It reminded him of the first tutoring session they had. She tripped over her words until she got to talking about books. "I was wondering if I can come with you to pick up Tessie today." She was able to get it out when she looked over his shoulder and saw her friends watching from down the hall. Trev was giving her a thumbs up.
"I would like that but you know what that means right?" He felt like a single dad that was protective over his baby.
"I know, and I'm going to be consistent. I'm going to be there every day for her. It didn't matter what I got going on or what our relationship status is." Not only did she owe it to Tessie to be by her side, she wanted to be.
"And what do you want from our relationship?" While he was happy that she wanted Tessie, he also wanted her to want him.
"We can discuss that later." It was a vulnerable conversation that she didn't want to have in the school hallway.
"Okay, yeah." He nods.
"I'll meet you here after school." She walks away after he agrees. She didn't want to overwhelm him by hanging around him all day. She had to respect that he wanted his space.
"What are you doing, Sweets?" He slammed his locker. He was the one that set up boundaries when all he wanted was for her to do is barge right through them.
"I don't know, what are you doing?" Fangs was waiting behind the locker door for him.
"Shit!" He jumped. "What the hell do you want?"
"Oh, you can spend time with your girlfriend but I can't with my boyfriend?" He didn't see what right he had to be mad at him.
"Dude, what are you talking about? This is the first time you talked to me in more than a month." He scoffed.
"You've been giving me the cold shoulder at Serpent meetings." He defends himself.
"Excuse me if I don't want to talk to the guy who left a family he insisted on being in for a cult." He snaps.
"It's not a cult!" Fangs yelled.
"You're living in a place where one guy is ruling over all of you with his philosophy. If you break those philosophies you get kicked out. If that's not a cult then what is it?" He wasn't going to deal with this brainwashing.
"It's a family, a real one with love. If you can have that, why can't I?" He thought he was being selfish.
"So because neither Abby nor I were fucking you, there wasn't love in our family." He tilts his head.
"You don't get it because you weren't on the outside. I could never really be in your immediate family. I was never going to be Tessie's dad. She might have called me it but I was at the most an Uncle. I can still be that. We can still all be together, where the one becomes many, and the many become one." He wanted him and Tessie to join him in the better life he found.
"As long as you're with that group you aren't coming near my daughter." He walks away from Fangs.
Kevin came up from behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You tried but not everyone meant to be on the Farm. Some can only be detractors."
"If Abby would join, he would follow." He knew it.
"You know Abby can't be talked to. After what she did to Evelyn, the only one who can think about approaching her is Edgar. She's too dangerous." He reminds him.
"She would never hurt me. I could convince her. I know it." Fangs knew Abby's love for him was true. She may want to control him but she thought she had his best interest at heart.
"It's something we can't risk. She swayed you on the wrong path before." He grabs his hand.
"You're right. I can trust Edgar to bring her in." He nods.
"You don't have to be nervous. She'll be excited to see you." He watches her twitch next to him.
"I don't deserve it. She should be mad at me." She plays with her backpack straps.
"I told her, you went to see your mother in Chicago." He told her the story he made up.
"You don't have to lie to her for me." She felt bad that he was covering for her.
"I don't do it for you." He didn't want to break Tessie's heart.
"Right." She snapped her head up when she heard the classroom doors open. Kids came spilling out and the teacher was at the door to make sure they went with a trusted guardian.
Tessie ran up to hug her, filling her with guilt. "Mommy, you can't leave anymore without saying goodbye."
"I'm not going to leave anymore." She forced a smile.
"Even better." She grabbed her hand. They walk to the door. "Hi, daddy." She waves to the man.
"Hi, Tess." He smiles. She caught Abby up to speed on everything she learned and the exciting things she did while she was gone. She kept a hold of Abby's hand even when she was doing her homework on a picnic table at the tent village.
"Tessie, come play with us," Sue yelled from a table where little girls were having a tea party.
It broke Abby's heart when she squeezed her hand and looked up at her. "Go play, I'm not going anywhere."
"Promise." She stuck her pinkie out.
"Pinky Promise." She wrapped her pinkie with hers and kissed her thumb.
"I'm coming." Tessie ran off.
"I'm a shitty person." Abby rubs her face, willing herself not to cry.
"No, you did a shitty thing, you're not a shitty person." He corrected her.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving without telling you. I'm sorry for making you worry. I can't do whatever I want and expect you to be okay with it. I was selfish and thoughtless." She never wants to feel this horrible feeling again. "If you'll let me, I want to rebuild your trust for me. I know it's going to be harder than the first time but I am willing."
"Who could turn down being chased by a beautiful woman?" He smiled.
"You don't have to be here, you could be at your prom." She let Sweet Pea in the house. He dropped Tessie off at Ms. Shapely to hang out with her.
"Even if I went, Jughead would want me to do some job." He needs a break from the Gargoyle King.
"I don't want you to think you shouldn't go. Just because we have Tessie doesn't mean you have to make things work with me." She wondered why he kept giving her more chances.
"Abby, I don't want to be with anyone else. The only people who know that we're in a rocky spot are our friends. They wouldn't have known if they didn't come to check on you when you didn't come to school or answer your phone for days. They promised to keep their mouths shut. We are very much still in a relationship." He wants to set the record straight. "I don't want to go to a stupid renaissance prom."
"Okay, then let's go to the backyard." She led him through the backdoor.
"Woah." He smiles at the air mattress that was covered in blankets and pillows with a pizza box sitting on top of it. There was a big purse filled with snacks and a cooler of drinks. There was a projector and screen.
"I thought I would recreate our first date." She sat down on the bed.
"You were trying to talk me out of this when you went through the trouble of setting this up." He sat next to her.
"A part of me doesn't feel worthy of a third chance." She felt like she was getting off too easy with both Sweet Pea and Tessie.
"It's not like you cheated or anything. I understand why you did it. I want Fangs back too. But, we're not going to get him back by kidnapping him. That would prove that the cult is right about us being bad influences. He has to want to come back." He knew his interaction with Fangs went bad today, but he was filled with nervous energy trying to repair his relationship with Abby.
"Okay," She nods, having to accept that Fangs might not come back.
"Look, let's not worry about any of that. This is a first date. Here is a tip: don't be telling a guy your cult problems, it's going to run him off." He teased her.
"Okay, let's start the movie." She grabs her laptop to push play.
"What is this?" He watched the black and white movie.
"This is the original Scarface." She knew how much he liked the remake.
"Wait… there's more than one scarface." He didn't know there was an older one.
"Yup, Antonio Camonte." She said his name with an Italian accent when he came on the screen.
"You weren't kidding when you said you like old movies." He hears her saying her favorite lines.
"Jughead would make us go to the drive-in for their classic days." She spoke of where she got her knowledge of older movies from.
"Damn there are a lot of parallels." He watches Tony's best friend fall in love with Tony's sister. He was a little heartbroken that the movie he loved wasn't as original as he thought.
"I think Al Pacino made him a more likable character." She thought the remake did a good job of keeping to the plot while making it their own. A Lot of that was the different take on Tony.
"Do you have another gangster movie on here?" He asked when it ended.
"Plenty." She played Little Caesar.