A Bitter Pill to Swallow- chapter 1
As always, all the credit goes to the amazing WTB cast, crew, writers and staff. This takes place a few years after the show ends, around 1995-96. For reference, Jonathan is a sophomore in college.
It was a late Friday afternoon in the Micelli household. Tony had just gotten home from a long day of teaching at the local high school. He enjoyed teaching freshman American history but by the end of the week, he was exhausted. This was the beginning of his third year at Fairfield High, his time at Wells a distance memory. He was just heading into the kitchen to start dinner when Angela walked through the front door, briefcase in hand and her coat swung over her arm.
"Hi sweetheart! How are you? How was your day?" asked Angela as they walked over to one another, meeting halfway in the middle of the living room. Tony wrapped his arms around her and planted a passionate kiss on her lips.
"I'm great now that I've got my beautiful wife wrapped in my arms! I was just about to start dinner for us! How about you go get changed and then help me?" he asked as he reluctantly let her go.
"Sounds like a wonderful plan! There are some days I still can't believe we are official empty nesters. With Jonathan away at Harvard, Samantha and Hank moving to their own house a few months ago and Mother moving back into her apartment, it just seems surreal sometimes that this house is just for you and I…" she said as she leaned in for one more kiss.
"I know what you mean. I miss the hustle and bustle of the house sometimes but finally having this one on one time with you has been wonderful. I wouldn't trade it for anything!" he said.
They pulled away from each other, Tony heading into the kitchen and Angela heading upstairs. After a short time, Angela came back downstairs and joined Tony in the kitchen. Meal preparation was much less with only two people so they were done and eating in no time. They cleaned up together and ended up cuddling on the sofa, flipping through the channels until they found something they liked.
Just then, Samantha walked through the front door. She hung up her coat and came down to sit next to Tony and Angela; they gave each other a knowing look, thinking back to all the times Samantha had interrupted one of their intimate moments.
"Hi sweetheart! How are you doing? How's Hank?" asked Angela.
"We're good! He's working late at the studio so I figured I would stop by. Any leftovers Dad?" she asked.
"Help yourself! Not too much leftover since it's just us here…" he said with a laugh, his hidden meaning going over Samantha's head. She headed into the kitchen and warmed herself up a plate. After she was done, she came back out and sat back down.
"I spoke to Jonathan today and I'm going to drive up tomorrow morning to visit him. He sounded kinda down so I figured I'd come and see how things were going" said Samantha.
"He's feeling down? What's going on? I spoke to him last week and he sounded great, happy and full of energy" said Angela with worry and concern in her voice.
"I think he might just be a bit homesick. He hasn't been home in almost two months and his course load is really heavy this semester. If it's anything more than that I will let you both know okay?" she said.
"Stop by tomorrow morning before you head up and I'll have some freshly baked cookies for you to take to him. Maybe I'll even cook one of his favorite meals too!" he said enthusiastically.
"I'll see about putting together a care package too, some of his favorite things!" said Angela.
"Okay sounds good! I'll be back around 9:30am or so. Have a good night you guys!" said Samantha as she headed out the door.
"I hope he's okay Tony. He puts so much pressure on himself to be the best. I hope he's not burning himself out. His pre-med courses have started and that has to be a lot for him" she said.
"He does put a lot of pressure on himself, but he's also got a good head on his shoulders. He comes home for fall break in two weeks. We can gauge then how he's doing and see if we need to talk to him" he said.
"Okay Tony…" she said as she snuggled back into him. He pulled her closer and soon their worries about Jonathan lessened as they finished their show and headed to bed.
They were both up early Saturday morning, Angela at the stores buying Jonathan some clothing, snack foods, magazines and some of Jonathan's other favorite things. Tony was busy in the kitchen. He packed two dozen freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and made enough food to last Jonathan until he came home for break. Samantha and Angela walked in the house together as Tony came in from the kitchen.
"You guys! Neither of you know how not to go overboard!" she laughed as she saw all of Angela's packages and Tony's bags of food.
"Eh oh, oh eh! It's not going overboard for your kids! I think your stocked freezer would agree!" laughed Tony.
"Alright alright! I have to head out now if I'm going to get up there by lunchtime. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon and I'll stop by to let you know how he is doing" said Samantha as she grabbed all the stuff from them and brought it out to her car. Tony and Angela waved to Samantha as she pulled out of the driveway.
Samantha made the drive up to Harvard in good time. She was in her element, blasting the music and enjoying the early start of the New England foliage. She found a spot close to his dorm room and brought up the load of food and things from Tony and Angela. She knocked on his door but there was no answer. She knocked again and again until finally she heard a loud bang from the other side of the door. Jonathan opened the door so fast it shocked Samantha.
"Jonathan! You scared me! How are you?" she said. She was taken aback at Jonathan's appearance. He looked all disheveled- his hair was a mess, his clothes were all wrinkled and looked like he had slept in them. He had the start of a short beard as though he hadn't shaved in a few days. He looked like he lost at least ten pounds as his clothes were hanging off of him.
"Samantha! I'm amazing! Come on in! What did you bring? Here let me take those bags! Is that Tony's cooking? Did Mom send stuff too? She better not have cooked!" he was practically shouting and speaking very rapidly.
"Slow down there Jonathan! How much coffee have you had? And when was the last time you cleaned up in here? This place is a pigsty! How does your roommate put up with you?" she asked as she pushed some of his stuff off the sofa and sat down. She immediately stood up as she felt something sticky underneath her and screamed.
"Relax Samantha! It's college life! Besides, my roommate dropped out last month and it's just been me here! It's been great! Well most of the time- it was rough when he first moved out. It was hard to get going you know, kinda got lonely, but things have really turned around the past few days! I've gone to some parties and met some really cool people! I actually just got in not too long ago!" he said again very rapidly.
"Jonathan! Have you slept yet? And the past few days? I spoke to you yesterday morning and you said you were lonely and you sounded sad. Have you been eating? You look like you've lost weight and you were skinny to begin with!" she said with an increasingly worried tone to her voice. She had a fleeting thought she should call Angela and her Dad, but Jonathan distracted her going through the bags she brought.
"Oh wow! Look at all this food! Let me go put it away and then we can go out! I'll tour you around campus!" he said as he grabbed the bags of food.
"Jonathan you need to sleep first- if you haven't slept since yesterday you're gonna need to crash. How about I straighten up a bit in here and then after you rest for a bit we can get an early dinner?" she said as she tried to find a corner of his room to start cleaning.
"What? And miss my big sister's visit! No way! I've got so much to show you! C'mon let's go!" he shouted as he tried to pull her out the door.
"Wait! This room needs to be cleaned up a bit! I still think you should lay down for a bit, just relax. Or eat something Dad sent up- he practically cooked everything in the house this morning! And Jonathan… lay off the caffeine okay?" she said with a slight nervous laugh.
"Alright I'll lay down for a bit. Can we at least talk while you clean up?" he asked, his speech starting to slow down a bit.
"Of course! I can't wait until you see what we did to the house! Hank and Dad painted the shutters and garage… it looks so good with the new garden we planted…" she started when Jonathan popped up on his bed and interrupted.
"Oh wow that sounds awesome! When I get home if you need anything else, I can definitely help out! Last semester I volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and I actually became kinda handy. I mean I'm no Bob Vila but I can do the basics! You need something else done?" he asked, his speech becoming pressured and rapid again.
"Slow down Jonathan! What's with you? You're… you're not doing drugs are you? They will literally kill you if you've gotten yourself into drugs!" she shouted.
"What? No! The occasional beer or drink but I'd never do something stupid like that! How could you think so little of me? You know what? I think you should go. My life is shitty enough without you accusing me of being a drug addict! Just go!" he screamed at her as he turned and went to look out his window.
"Jonathan! You can't be serious! I came all this way to see you! Something is wrong Jonathan and I'm not leaving until you tell me what it is!" she shouted back.
"No! Get out!" he screamed as he threw a ceramic mug up against his wall, smashing it into a thousand pieces. They both stood in stunned silence, not knowing what to do or what to say. Finally, Samantha picked up her coat and purse and headed for the door. Tears were running down her face as she turned and looked at Jonathan, who was now slumped down against the wall, his hands shaking with rage, tears also streaming down his face.
"I don't know what is wrong or what is going on, but something is happening and I wish you'd let me in. You're my brother Jonathan and I love you…" she said as she walked out the door, leaving him a mess on the floor.
Samantha had to pull over twice on the highway on the way home as her uncontrollable crying blurred her vision enough she had trouble seeing the road. She drove right over to the house and ran inside. Tony, Angela and Mona were sitting on the sofa, watching a television program when Samantha's arrival had them jumping up in surprise.
"Dad, Angela… we have to talk now. Something is wrong with Jonathan…" she said as she burst into tears once again.