Back at Home. (Open to One Female)

[Warr]

The call came at 8:23, PM. You remember a call like that.

"Your father's not gonna last long. His cancer's gotten worse, I know you're so far from home but if he could just see you one more time before....before..."

"I know, ma, I know, I'll be there. Don't worry."

He hung up the phone and he could feel HER just GLARING at the back of his head with such heated intensity, like she was actively trying to light his hair aflame. How ANGRY she felt. It RADIATED off of her, god dammit.

She was searching for SOME reason to be mad at him. SOME reason to be FURIOUS. He never saw her in any other form when he was around: Disappointment and anger, like he was just one big fuck up.

Living in an unhappy relationship. Well away from the town he grew up.

Living with his girlfriend, his 'high school sweetheart' with a bright future ahead of him, fresh out of high school, in a new town and everything. It's the stuff those cheesy high school romance stories are made of.

But here he was. In a dead end job at the local mechanics, barely making enough to support the two of them. Her personality changing from a loving, caring girl to a heartless, evil bitch who barely even looked at him. Living in a rundown apartment in a city at least half a day's drivefrom his home. He never felt so alone. So empty, so....everything.

He doesn't dare turn around, lest he light the fire of his girlfriends wrath and instead tells her he's gone for a few days. He'll be back soon.

Sometimes he doesn't want to.

He knows what she does.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who SHE'S been seeing on the side lately. Faithful my ass. About a year at this point. Sticking around wasn't even an option. She still paid for half of the rent (She ddn't even need to work, daddy was loaded and more than willing to spoil his precious little girl). But he couldn't live on his own without ending up on the streets.

Be miserable, or live.

Tough choice.

He packed a couple of days worth of clothes and told her, in a deadpan tone, that he'd be back. "Whatever" was the answer he got. So much venom in her voice, he figured she was part viper. So, as he throws the little suitcase in the back of his car and started it up. Full of gas. Tunes playing. The traffic wasn't terrible.

Let's do this.

...

His mind drifts to that special little town he grew up in. His old hang outs. The people he hung around with. What they could be doing. The idea brought a smile to his face. The first smile he felt in almost months. It was a good feeling.

His mind drifts.

"Mike! 'Ey, Mikey, take a look at this!"

"What is it?"

"It's a joint. Found it in my brothers room. I seen him do this stuff all the time and it makes him happy! Wanna try?"

"I dunno, Sid...Ain't that stuff illegal?"

"What're you, the cops? Come on man, it's just one puff! If ya don't like it, I won't force it on ya!"

Sid was a good man. He was his best friend growing up and one hell of a riot at parties. Eventually started goin' by S to keep things short. Of course it was on a joke level: S also could have stand for "Stoner", and half the time he was so baked he couldn't even remember his name. He was a stoner through and through, but even in his munchie induced state, you couldn't have a more honest friend. Besides, he always found the good stuff.

He heard tale of his friend, Brock as well. Brock was one of those jocks but he was a great guy. Dumb as a bag of rocks, but he earned Michael's respect one night he'll never forget. Gettin' shit from a nearby gang, they quickly dispersed when Brock strode up in his six foot five height, wearing his football uniform, covered in scuffs, blood and mud and DARED any of them to mess with him. Brock was the reason Michael lasted through most of school. He was like a body guard and a big brother to him. Turned out he'd grown into the a stellar police man. Passed the Police Academy with flying colors.

Then her.

He almost swerved off the road when she came into mind. Those late night talks over the phone. The constant flirting. The dance. The alcohol induced groping. But never too far, she wasn't that kind of girl. Never was. Pure and honest and GOD he hoped she stayed that way.

He thought about his father and his mother. Loved them both. He knew he disappointed his father at times. He was more of a reader than a tackler. More of a student than a dunker. He wasn't made for sports but he loved his father for the fact he never showed his disappointment. He always told him how proud he was, despite the littlest hint of regret in his voice, but he never stopped loving him.

Then why didn't he feel depressed his father was on his death bed?

"Welcome to Brookville".

Welcome home.

...

"Well, as I live 'n breath..."

Sid looked great, compared to the stoner friend Michael remembered from five years ago. Back then he looked like Shaggy from scooby doo. Scruffy and mangy, his clothes constantly smelling of drugs and smoke and sometimes vomit. Now he was pretty clean. His normally shaggy black hair combed back, his clothing now much better fitting and his eyes, constantly red, held behind a pair of sunglasses. He gave his old friend a grin and before Michael could say anything, he was pulled into a tight hug.

"It's good to see you Mikey."

"Good to see you too, S." Michael grinned and hugged him back. "Or is it Sid now? You look great!"

"Rehab, man. Figured I had a problem when I was getting busted breaking into someone's car for a quick puff. One year today, I haven't smoked the Mary Jane. I couldn't have gotten a better present than you comin' into town."

"I wish I had better news about coming in..."

"I heard about your dad, man. I'm so sorry to hear. He was a good guy."

"I know. Walk with me to the hospital?"

"Of course."

They chatted like they'd never been away from each other. Laughs and jokes and what not. Regaling stories of what's changed, whose doing what and everything.


"So how's Tiffany doing?"

Michael's happy attitude crashed like a car slamming into the side of a brick wall. His frown returned and for a moment, his emptiness returned. Sid could see this immediately and changed.

"Erm...nevermind. How long ya in town for?"

"Couple of days." He said with a sigh. "Mom said he's probably not gonna last much longer, and she wants me to be there. Then she wants me to help her clean out his stuff when it happens. Ya know, what goes to donations, Good Will, sentimental reasons. So I wanna say...maybe a week."

"Cool, cool." He nodded, pushing his sunglasses up his head.

"So...how's....erm..." The words die in his voice. "How's.../she/ doing?"

"She?" Sid asks, before he blinks and slaps his forehead. "oh, duh, who else would you be talkin' about? She's-"

He stops when he sees her stepping out of a new coffee shop. Michael's first thought if that used to be a thrift store, owned by a nice older couple. Another little memory that belonged in the vault he guessed.

Sid's smirk grew. "Why don't we find out?" A loud whistle. "Oy! Sweetheart, guess who's back in town!"

"Sid you IDIOT-"

((I'm looking for a female to play HER, that girl that got away that can't leave Michael's mind. Any takers?))

 

[Joycelet]

Joyce (Her)

Hey, Mikey. Nice to see you again. What brings you back to town? I asked

He told me the news. My face hardened and I hugged him and told him I was sorry to hear about his dad.

In high school we'd been in classes together but never really knew each other. We had never dated because he was so smitten with that Tiffany, and then the summer after we graduated he moved away and I didnt even know where.

Asking where he now lived and what he was doing, I got an evasive answer so I didnt press it, but I did ask if we could see each other while he was home and told him I hoped so, because I always liked him and wished we could gave gotten together.

"I'm living at home again and we're in the phone book", I said.

"Please give me a call".

I turned and went to my car and went home, thinking about him and the dude I had been living with until we broke up recently, and now I needed a new boyfriend.

 

[Warr]

((Sorry all, the spots been taken by someone else))

 

[AlysaNewport]

Alysa Stepped out of the small café holding her favorite cup of cappuccino, taking a small sip of the pumpkin spice flavored liquid. Her friends always made fun of her for ordering that drink, but she loved the taste and it smoothed her troubles. Troubles, which was an understatement on this time of day for all that has been going wrong. She stopped at the small bench just outside of the café and was thinking of all the things she had to get done before going to the hospital to visit a friend’s father whom has taken ill in the worse way.

Her blue orbs staring at the ground but not seeing it for what she was seeing was that day of the dance when Mike introduced her to his father out in the old garage. Here she was wearing a light blue evening dress out in the middle of several cars that have been under various types of mechanical surgery procedures. His father, the one committing the surgeries, walked out from one of his operations, covered with oil, grease and some sort of red liquid dripping from a thin metal rod.

She smiled at him while she approached; she extended her hand out to him in greeting, and “Hello.” she whispered to the man. His return look was on of astonishment as he turned to Mike and told him not to let this one get away. She remembered the red cheeks that appeared upon mike faces. He was so handsome, but that night, that one night when alcohol changed everything.

“Oh Mike, I’m so sorry.” She whispered to herself. She wondered if he has gotten the news yet about his father. She would have called him, but the turmoil that happened on graduation day was enough of a run in with Tiffany for a lifetime. She quivered at the thought of even seeing that thing wrapped around Mike’s arm, like at graduation.

‘Come on Alysa you’re a grown up now.’ her mind spoke to her. She only retorted her own statement of being a grown up. She couldn’t blame her really, for Mike was a snazzy catch and it was her own fault that he ended up with her. That night, it was that night. A tear formed in her eye as she heard a whistle, than a familiar voice calling out to her. It was Sid.

She smiled and turned to face him. Her life stopped, time itself stopped. Her mouth went slightly opened for a moment before closing shut. She closed her eyes and reopened them hoping that it wasn’t a dream. She wanted to move but remained frozen where she stood.

When the two came up to her she brushed her red hair back over her shoulder, “Mike.” was all she could manage to get out.

 

[Warr]

"Aly."

He was silent, stunned as to what to say. Good lord, she looked stunning. Like she never aged a day. Well, she aged of course but in all those right ways. When Michael was still living here he had that homely kind of look. Glasses. Pale skin. Shaggy brown hair. Sure he had all that again, even as he stood there but still, it was part of his 'appeal' if you will. He had that kind aura around him.

Sid could feel the awkwardness in the air and glanced back and forth. "Well!" he said. "This isn't exactly how I imagined it'd go...I imagined more hugs...more crying, more "How ya doin!" and what not. But ya'll...make this really awkward. You guys aren't fun."

Michael answered by slapping him upside the head. Wincing, Sid chuckled.

"Oh yeah, THAT brings back memories." He turned his attention to Aly. "We're gonna head over to the Hospital to see his dad. You wanna join us, maybe catch up during the walk, or are you too busy with something?"

Please come with, please come with, please come with, please come with... Michael found himself internally chanting. Was he really that excited to see Aly again? Hell, numerous questions about the red head rose in his mind again.

Did she have a boyfriend? Was she working anywhere in town? How were her folks? Did she have a boyfriend? Maybe she moved out after he did and she was just visiting someone. Wondered where she got those curves in the past five years? And most important...

Did she have a boyfriend?

Please come with...

 

[AlysaNewport]

She couldn’t do it, she couldn’t face him again, as the pain rippled up from her guts and coursed in her chest. She couldn’t stop the tears from forming and slowly drifted down her cheek; she halfway turned away from the guys and franticly wiped away the tears.

Sid’s sense of humor jumped in to save the moment of this awkward meeting and she was grateful that he did. He always had that ability to break the ice between two people that were just meeting, or the laid-back ability to break the intense moment of two people who separated by a mistake and brought back to close proximity of each other by an outer circumstance.

She looked at Sid with her now red eyes, “I was basically heading that way when you called out.” She addressed herself to Sid, avoiding eye contact with Mike. She couldn’t look at him it hurt way too much. The pain that she felt now was the same pain she felt back then. It hadn’t lessened a single bit, but the fact was still there, that night he went to Tiffany to resolve his need for release.

She tapped her coffee cup rethinking the situation of going to see his father now that she knew they were going there. She didn’t know if she could keep her composure tight enough not to break down as she is now. Then at the hospital, it would be different for her focus would be on his father, not him. Besides Sid would be there and if she needed to step away with him, he would do it.

Deciding she looked to Sid, “Okay, I’ll go with you guys.” She gave Sid that same painful look that she did back then. Tears filled her eyes again more and she had to turn away. “Hey, Mike would you mind going and getting your car. I need to talk to Sid a moment. Please.” she looked back at Sid.

 

[Warr]

"Um...sure, it's a couple of blocks back but...I guess...I can...go...get it..." he said with a nervous nod of his head, casting a glance to Sid. His friend could only give him an idle shrug of his shoulders. "Okay..yeah, I'll go grab it..."

He disappeared back down the road, leaving only Aly and Sid. Sid, now sober, crossed his arms over his chest and pushed his Sunglasses down, glancing at her.

"Okay kid, spill."

 

[AlysaNewport]

Alysa turned her red eyes toward Sid. Closing them momentarily, gathered her thoughts then slowly opened them to look upon his. “I can’t do this. It hurts still as if it was just yesterday that he left me in that barn loft and went to Tiffany. I know we were both tipsy and I allowed him to fondle until I sobered up quicker than him and stopped what was going on, but that wasn’t a sign that it would be okay for him to go screw her for his enjoyment. I know we never said that we were together but you seen us. Would you say that we were together?” She closed her eyes again as a tear fell once more. “Damit, I loved him Sid.” She turned back to him. “I loved him and he went and screwed her!”

She wiped away the tears, “I still do.” She added, “And he is still with her.” She shook her head in disbelief, “Just ten minutes ago my life was in order. Now once again it’s a train wreck.” She swallowed hard. “Just seeing him brings the pain back.” She wiped her eyes again. Taking a deep breath and then releasing it. “So how do I move forward with this? I seen the way he looked at me so it’s obvious that he and Tiff are having problems. So..” She tapped her foot battling her emotions. “I still love him Sid.” She lost it. Tears fell like a spring rain. “What am I going to do.” She walked into him and placed her head upon his shoulder. Wrapped her arms around his waist. “What am I to do?” she whispered again.

 

[Warr]

"Oy vey, what I wouldn't give to get a good puff goin' on right now..." He grumbled and wrapped his arms around her in return in a comforting hug. "Look, kid, I ain't gonna lie and pretend I'm Doctor Phil or Oprah. Hell, I ain't even Steve Wilkos, but it seems pretty obvious what you should do, eh?"

He pulled her away from the hug and gestured. "Gotta tell him. Ain't good to have all that pent up frustration and anger and secrets hidden away with you just kinda lettin' it fester. You gotta let it out. It's not good for you and it ain't fair to Mike."

Another pause, he gave a chuckle.

"If it makes you feel any better...I don't think things are going to smoothly with Tiff anyway."