See Me - 21. Chapter 21: A Good Addiction

Emry laid there, staring into Sailor's eyes as he had been for what seemed like the longest time, feeling content and he looked just as content to Emry. A smile slowly appeared and he licked his lips. "Do you want to know a secret?"

"Oh, so you got secrets?" He grinned at Emry. "Okay...go for it."

Emry grinned and he shook his head. "This isn't a fun one." He sighed. "Though, given it's only happened once...I guess the chances are low."

"Chances of what?" He asked.

"Well...my doctor said that sometimes after orgasm it could trigger a cataleptic attack and I could just collapse and go limp right after. Sometimes I'll stay awake, other times I'll fall into sleep, the one time it happened, I went into sleep, for a short time, then I came out."

"That's what happened...when that guy...I mean, obviously before he grabbed you, but you collapsed."

Emry slowly nodded. "Worst part, for the first few minutes, I was awake and aware." He looked down. "Please, lets not talk about that, this is supposed to be our afterglow."

Sailor smiled. "Whatever you want, I just...I had to ask when you mentioned it."

"I know, it's okay." He grinned and then suddenly heard loud banging on the front door. He pushed himself to sit up.

"Is that your crazy mom? Doesn't she have a key?" Sailor jumped to sit up.

"Can't be...Lana wouldn't let her out of rehab." He rolled his eyes. "And the bitch fell down the steps one night, wouldn't surprise me if she lost her key." He slipped out of the bed and grabbed his clothes.

Sailor felt a little more anxious as he went and hurried to get dressed.

"Hey!" She screamed, banging on the door with her fist.

"Hold on!" Emry called out and pulled his jeans on over his briefs and fastened them and then he grabbed his shirt and quickly threw it on.

"The bed isn't made." Sailor's eyes widened after he pulled his shirt down from his head and onto his body.

"I don't care." Emry walked out of the room and headed through the kitchen.

Sailor went to follow after him and as Emry opened the door, they both came to find the red head standing right there.

"You guys stood me up." Miki said in an unhappy tone. "If we were camping...I'd be a very unhappy camper..."

She looked around Emry and saw Sailor approaching and then she looked at Emry and grinned. "Oh...you two must of came here to get freaky, that's totally excusable. Trust me...screwing Jesse would come before anything else in my book."

Emry's eyebrows lifted. "That's not what we were doing..."

Sailor walked up and wrapped his arms around Emry's waist. "Remember...it doesn't matter what anyone thinks." He looked at Miki and smiled. "Forgive us?"

"Well, looking as adorable as you two do right now, stay like that for a picture and all is forgiven." She pulled out her phone. "Emry...smile." She waited until he did and then she snapped the shot. "Totally going on my Facebook with some awesome quote."

"I'll get the duffel bag." He let Emry go and then moved down the steps, carefully passing Miki and he headed for his car to grab the duffel bag.

Emry watched Sailor go off and he sighed and looked at Miki. "I really appreciate this."

"Not a problem." Miki turned around and headed down the steps and grabbed the duffel bag from Sailor. "Don't worry, I'll hide it real good and he won't ever find it." She grinned and headed back towards her car to leave.

Emry looked from Miki and then his eyes fell on Sailor. "Told you it wasn't my evil mom." He grinned.

"What is she like, anyway?" Sailor walked up the steps, wrapped his arms around Emry and picked him up, spinning around and stepping into the house and spinning again to bring Emry inside with him. He kicked the wooden door shut and sat him on his feet.

"Well, she would have knocked for an hour and..." Emry turned around and stepped up onto the couch and grabbed a picture off the wall to reveal the hole. "She threw the phone into the wall and it fell inside and it rang and we couldn't answer it and the battery eventually died." He paused. "The hole wasn't originally this big, I had to make it bigger to hide Dani's duffel bag."

Sailor grinned and he watched Emry hang the picture back up. "That's a little funny."

"She was bitching a storm every time that phone rang." He eased down and sat on the couch and sighed. "And now I don't see anyone else in the world who could possibly interrupt us."

Sailor walked around and sat on the couch next to Emry. "Well, that's good...because I want you all to myself." He leaned forward and kissed him. "Hmm...we really need our own house so I can make you stay undressed." He eased back and smiled. "Or maybe one day let you wear one of those little basketball jerseys and nothing else."

Emry leaned back and he grinned, a quiet laugh followed. "Too bad we're so broke."

"Who said I was broke?" Sailor stared at him with a sudden look of seriousness. "I'm not broke, angel. I can make it happen, only your dad stands in our way right now, unless he wouldn't challenge me."

Emry tilted his head to the side. "How much do you have? I'm just curious."

"You can ask me anything, that is one of all the rights you have to me and with me." He smiled. "I got a five hundred thousand dollar trust fund when I turned eighteen, I'll get another at twenty five and then a third when one set of birth grandparents die and the final when the other set dies, total of two million." He shrugged. "Guess they figured throwing money at me makes giving me up a little better, I won't complain."

"And you don't know who they are?" He asked.

Sailor shook his head. "They don't know me and I don't know them, it was all handled by a third party connected to all of us, they made it happen without giving out the information. I wouldn't even want to know, I came to enjoy being on my own, being my own person, doing things my way without a care for what anyone else thought."

He brought his hand up to Emry's chin. "Of course...now that has changed, but for you...I'm happy."

Emry slowly nodded. "What if my dad did challenge you? I mean...he only has four years left with me and...we have always had a special bond."

Sailor's smile slightly faded. "Well, I would be sad...because I wouldn't break your bond with him and I would have to find the patience to wait until you're free. I could and would do that, so long as I can be with you now, in whatever way I can be."

He stared at him and then he leaned forward and kissed him deeply, his hand moved up and fingers curled around the back of Sailor's neck. He broke the kiss moments later. "I want to have sex...again." He grinned. "And want to know what else?"

"What else?" Sailor asked.

"My dad has a video camera...I want to record us." He quietly laughed and got up and took off for the bedroom. Sailor chuckled and took off after him, swinging the door but it stopped short of fully closing.

Emry turned the camera on and set it to record, putting it on the dresser, facing the bed and he moved forward onto the bed. Sailor headed towards him, grabbed him and threw him onto the bed. He grinned as Sailor climbed on top of him and he leaned up and kissed him.

"Fuck me insane." Emry grinned and he curled his fingers around the back of his neck, pulling him close and kissing him heatedly. Sailor smiled into the kiss and pushed forward, forcing his way between Emry's legs as he pushed against him, ready to do just as he asked and happy to make a visual memory of it.

Dani stormed into Asia's bedroom and he stared at her as she grinned and stared at him, lounging back in her bean bag chair, one leg crossed over the other, five thousand in twenties in her hand as she filed through them with her other hand.

"You did it! You called them!" Dani stepped further inside.

"Hey, I had to make money some how." She pushed herself up and shrugged. "One thing you should know about me, Dani boy...I am always out for me and me alone. When I know I can benefit myself..."

She rolled the money up and wrapped a rubber band around it. "I'm going to look out for myself, sweetheart." She shoved the money into her cleavage and then she laughed and walked around him. "You want to go off on someone, go to my Aunt Jackie's house and knock her head off."

"Hold it." He turned around and grabbed her tightly by the arm. "And one thing you should know about me...you don't fuck me over, bitch."

Asia spun around and she looked at him. "Oh, really? Fine, I won't fuck you over." She brought her other hand around and punched him across the face, her gold diamond studded knuckles already having been worn, expecting a confrontation. "I'll fuck you up."

Dani yelled and his head twisted to the side and he reached up to his bloody busted lip, looking at his finger. He started to look at Asia, however, he paused as he stared out the window. That was when he saw Miki across the way, carrying his duffel bag into her apartment.

He let go of Asia's arm and he looked at her. "You're fucking lucky today, bitch. Count your blessings." He took off and ran out the door.

"Fuck you!" Asia screamed after him and then she looked at the window, wondering what exactly he had seen.

Miki walked into her living room and she looked around. "Okay...where to hide this fucking thing." She walked further into the living room, having not realized she hadn't closed the door all the way, much less locked it. That was when Dani came crashing through.

"You got something of mine!" He screamed at her.

Miki's eyes widened and she spun around. "The fuck? I don't have anything of yours!"

"Don't act stupid! That duffel bag is mine!" Dani said. "Hand it over..."

"Are you kidding me? They sell millions of these! I bought it! You need to get out of my house!" She walked over to grab the phone.

"You bought a duffel bag from nineteen ninety five? That's how old it is you stupid bitch!" He then yanked out Asia's gun and fired a shot as Miki went for the phone.

Miki screamed and stumbled back and fell onto the floor, dropping the duffel bag.

"You had a chance..." Dani stepped over, he aimed the gun down at Miki.

Jesse had heard the gunfire and was running down the steps just as the second shot was fired and by the time he reached the bottom, all he saw was a hooded figure running the opposite way out of the stair case. His eyes widened and he ran into Miki's apartment.

Asia had already been on her way out, she hadn't seen where Dani had gone to. She was shrugging her black leather jacket on as she carefully made her way down the steps in her heels and had been moving across the street when the gun fire rang out. One of her heels had broken and she tripped and fell down.

Jesse ran into the apartment and his eyes widened, seeing Miki laying there in a pool of blood. "Oh my god!" A loud scream erupted as he dived down next to her, checking her pulse.

"Damn stilettos!" Asia hadn't seen anyone leave Miki's apartment or Jesse go in, but by the time she yanked her heels off, she rolled over and heard him scream. She got up and ran the rest of the way and stopped right in the door at the sight of Miki.

"She still has a pulse! Call the ambulance!" Jesse screamed at Asia and then he looked down at Miki, who had been shot in the head, but by miraculous luck, survived the blow.

Asia let out a breath and then she grabbed her phone and dialed the ambulance. "We need the police! And an ambulance! My friend has just been shot in the head!"

"She is still alive! Tell them to fucking hurry!" Jesse screamed in an agonizing rage that was just as full of fear of losing her.

"She is alive! Hurry the fuck up! She was shot in the head!" Asia screamed frantically and stepped away, calming herself down enough to answer the dispatchers questions.

Justin ran upon the scene, people from other apartments were coming out to see what was going on. He looked at Asia. "What happened?!"

She turned towards Justin. "Miki was shot in the head and shes still alive!" She walked into the apartment and stopped short of approaching Miki or getting too close to any of the blood. Her hands moved up and over her mouth.

"Get a towel! Get something! Damn it!" Jesse looked over at Justin. "The bathroom closet!"

Justin nodded and he ran down the hall and opened the closet near the bathroom and grabbed a couple of towels and headed back into the living room.

Jesse snatched the towel and went to apply it to Miki's head.

"No!" Asia screamed.

"What?! I have to stop the bleeding!" He looked at her.

"What if the bullet weakened her skull?! You could press her head in!" Asia's eyes widened.

"That's ridiculous!" Jesse looked down at Miki, hearing a soft moan of pain escape her. "Just relax. They are going to come and make it better..." He said, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles.

Justin looked out the door as the loud sirens filled the air and several police cars and an ambulance arrived. "Good thing we won't have to argue over that." He suddenly had a thought, how odd it was that the popular group disbanded and diminished, and how their group was getting murdered off by what was starting to look like a serial killer.

Justin couldn't help but wonder if the same person that did this could be the same person that had killed Dolph, what were the chances that it couldn't be? Well, it wasn't related to Mia, Tyler had done that and he had been caught.

Jesse quickly stepped back and away, watching with a worried expression as the emergency crew rushed in to do their job in getting Miki stabilized and transported to the hospital. "God, please don't let anything happen to her."

"We need the three of you outside." An officer stepped in and gestured with his hand towards the three teens and Asia followed Jesse and Justin as they headed outside and into the circus that it had become with police and emergency crew all around, not to mention all the residents at the complex in the distance trying to see what all they could.

Natalya burst through the crowd as the three teens came out and not in the mood to waste any time, she flipped her note pad open and flipped several pages until she found a blank one. "Okay, what happened, any idea?"

"Well, I heard screaming, Miki and a guy..." Jesse really couldn't tell that it was Dani, having been in his own apartment and not familiar enough with his voice.

"It was Dani." Asia suddenly said. "I don't know his last name...but it's this guy named Dani. He was over at my apartment and we were arguing and he looked out the window, like he saw something and he rushed out and then this happened."

"Dani..." Natalya slowly nodded.

"We met him through Emry, he brought Dani to my house one day and he's been hanging around ever since." Asia said, her thoughts drifting towards Dolph for a moment, that was pushed to the side for now, she was only worried about making him pay for what he did to Miki.

"Okay..so you met him through Emry." She nodded, now she would be killing two birds with one stone once she talked to the ill conditioned teen. "Thanks, that's all I need for now. Please vacate the scene and get outside the tape." She said as she watched the emergency crew taking Miki to the ambulance.

"Uh...my apartment is upstairs...so it's inside the tape." Jesse said.

Natalya stared at him. "Then either go outside the tape or above it, just stay away from the crime scene." She then walked off and headed into the apartment as crime scene investigators filled the room once the emergency crew vacated.

Asia watched Jesse head up the stairs and she walked with Justin and ducked under the tape and headed across the parking lot. "That stupid bastard..." Her eyes narrowed. "I should have beat his face in. If I ever see him..." She stopped and looked over at her car.

"Let the police handle it, he has a gun, he's dangerous." Justin said.

Asia stared at her car, tempted to track him down. "Yeah...but I have my fucking car, lets see how he fairs getting run over." She reached into her purse that rested on the opposite hip of the shoulder it was strapped to and she pulled out her keys.

"Asia..." Justin sighed, watching as she headed for her car and moments later, pulled out and drove off like a speed demon, squealing tires, leaving tread marks and all. He looked down and walked over to the side walk and sat down on the curb. He sighed, watching the scene and then he looked up, seeing Jesse pacing his room with his phone, likely calling for a ride to the hospital.

Emry stood at the stove, stirring the noodles around in the pot as he waited for them to get ready so that he could proceed to the more entertaining bits of cooking a spaghetti, his favorite meal, especially when it came to throwing all sorts of cheese in, sometimes he even tossed a can of chili in it if he wanted to be a little extra creative.

However, he let out a yelp and stumbled back when the wooden door was suddenly kicked in and he dropped the spaghetti utensil when Dani stormed into the trailer, noticing that he had the duffel bag in his hand. His eyes widened, the trailer dark on the inside, all except the light above the stove.

"Where is it?" Dani asked as he walked through the living room and he looked at Emry. "What did you do with the money?!"

Emry walked around the bar counter and he crossed his arms. "First, why don't you tell me why you have nudes of dad? Those are what I should of took. I mean...you kissed me, though I thought that was just part of the freak out..."

"Shut up!" Dani screamed. "I needed proof! Sorry if that is all the proof I had! Mommy dearest didn't exactly keep nice pictures of him!"

Emry shook with soft laughter. "So, you figured he'd recognize his dick?" He shook his head. "Look, you made the mistake of carrying money around like that, I'm really sorry you did."

Dani grinned. "Cute." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the gun and he aimed it at Emry. "The money, where is it?!"

Emry's eyes narrowed, though his grin didn't completely fade. "You shoot me and you're a real fool, you will never find it, much less get your hands on it..."

"I hope you have that food ready..." Sailor strolled into the kitchen in his boxers and suddenly stopped and he looked at Dani.

"Oh, I won't shoot you then, I'll just shoot him." Dani went to aim the gun at Sailor, however it was at that point that his hand was kicked, the gun fired off just as it flew out of his hand and he spun around to find Asia behind him.

"You shot Miki in the head! You bastard!" Asia swung her arm and punched him in the face, brandishing her gold knuckles on her hand, causing Dani to stumble and then she kicked him in the stomach and he fell over the coffee table and hit the floor.

Sailor ran forward and dived onto the floor and he snatched the gun from the floor and rolled away from Asia before she had a chance to get it. He rolled to his feet and he aimed at Asia. "Chill!" He screamed at her and then went to aim the gun at Dani.

It was too late, while Sailor and Asia were going for the gun, Dani scrambled to his feet and yanked his pocket knife out. He grabbed Emry and flipped it open and brought it to his throat. "Put the fucking gun down!" He screamed at him.

"Shoot him dead." Emry stared at Sailor and shook his head.

"Stupid bitch! Do you have a death wish?!" Dani jerked the knife closer, the blade lightly pressed to Emry's skin.

"Dying to kill you would be worth dying for." Emry mumbled.

Sailor slowly lowered down, sitting the gun on the floor, however before pulling his hand away, he pulled the trigger and fired the gun.

Dani screamed as the bullet went right through his shoe and hit him in the foot and that was when Emry grabbed his arm, ducked under and twisted around and shoved forward, pushing Dani back into the bar of the kitchen and forced his hand, plunging the knife into his throat.

Emry stepped back, his hands covered in blood as Dani gasped and grabbed at the knife and then fell to the floor. He watched Dani yank the knife out, blood spilled everywhere all around him and down his neck.

Asia's eyes widened and she brought the phone to her ear. "Uh...yeah...tell Nat Head we got the guy who shot Miki."

"Nat Head?" Sailor mumbled and then he quickly moved over and grabbed Emry by the arms and pulled him into the kitchen and over to the sink. "Here." He grabbed a rag and turned the sink on, getting the water warm and filling it with soap, helping him to clean his hands.

Emry sighed and he closed his eyes as Sailor took his hands and started washing them. "He was my brother..." He looked up. "Though, I guess you might of known that."

"I knew he was coming to find his dad." Sailor said, turning the water off and grasping his shoulders, turning him around. "I didn't know that you were his...brother."

"I guess he didn't care all that much. So, why should I?" He shrugged and looked up at Sailor. "But I do...even if he was really weird, psychotic part of him aside." He looked down. "But, then I guess you can't put that part aside."

"No...you can't." He looked up. "Why don't you go to the bedroom? We'll handle everything."

Emry nodded and stepped aside and turned around and headed back into the master bedroom and he closed the door, hearing the sirens in the far off distance. He sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the wall and then he laid down a moment later and pulled one of the pillows close as he curled up.

"Emry..."

He had to of fallen asleep, at least briefly as it seemed so sudden when he heard a woman's voice calling out his name. He knew he was waking up and while it hadn't happened in a while, now was probably the worst time.

He couldn't move, his eyes shifted around this way and that and then his eyes shut slightly tighter and relaxed again, slightly drifting open, that was when he saw Dani leaning over him, blood dripping down all over from his neck, the gun in his hand.

This happened even less often, which made it difficult for him to fully convince himself that it was a hallucination, and it was just as Dani pulled the trigger that he suddenly gasped and his eyes shot open and Dani was gone, instead it was Natalya leaning over him. Tears suddenly welled up in his eyes as he pushed himself to sit up and let out a brief cry of fear.

"It's okay!" Natalya grabbed him by the arms. "It's just me...I am Detective Holland. I need you to come with me."

"Where is Sailor? And Asia? Where are they?" Emry looked around.

"They're outside." She said, standing up and she looked off down the hall briefly.

"He...he was going to kill us..." Emry breathed heavily.

"They told me everything, please come with me." She nodded and lightly waved with her hand.

He nodded and grabbed his shoes and pulled them on and then he stood up and walked with Detective Holland out of the bed room and out the back door, she didn't want to take him through the crime scene again. Once outside, he looked around and saw his dad and Brett standing near a police vehicle with Sailor.

"Where did Asia go?" Emry walked over to where they were at.

"She wanted to go to the hospital." Sailor said, wrapping his arms around Emry and he pulled him close.

"You guys can come and stay at my house." Brett said, an offer already made, but it was more or less to let Emry know what was going to happen.

"I'm just glad you're okay." Cedric walked over and lightly rubbed Emry's back.

"Yeah..I'm fine." Emry nodded, figuring that he must not know who Dani was and at this point, he saw no reason to tell him. He just wondered what would happen if they found the duffel bag and found the pictures, his dad would certainly put the pieces together. He hoped that wouldn't happen.

He stared at the locker in front of him and his hand moved up to his mouth, thinking that if he had just done something different, maybe Dani wouldn't have killed Dolph. If he had just kept Dani close, not dumped him off on Asia, maybe if he had told his dad right away. There were so many thoughts of what he could of done different, yet the pain was a steady thought, the thought of a feeling that hurt more than anything.

"Are you sure you can be here?" Sailor asked, his hand running over Emry's shoulder. "It's okay if you want to leave." He said, not thinking that he could handle dealing with school.

"No..." Emry looked down and then he turned around and he shook his head. "I don't want to be...alone."

"You wouldn't be." He shook his head. "I'll be where ever you are."

"I know." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I just mean...I don't want to isolate myself." He looked at Sailor and then he shrugged. "I don't want to be where I'll feel dead inside..and a house...a room, a bed...I'd feel dead."

He took Emry's hand and began to lead him down the hall. "I don't know what to say...I want to take your pain away so badly...I want that more than anything."

He nodded. "I know." He pulled himself closer as they walked along. "Seems awful to say but...with time, it'll be...better, as they say." He looked up. "It's weird being here because I kind of don't really, entirely want to be here either. I guess I just wanted to...wander. I don't really want to confine myself anywhere."

"I could take you driving..." Sailor began to offer and then he looked up.

"Emry." Merit walked over towards them. "Hey, I heard what..."

"Can I help you?" Sailor quickly stepped in front of Emry, almost as if he were guarding his territory.

Merit looked at him and slowly shook his head. "Uh...well, you could move out of the way."

"Why? Who says he even wants to talk to you? Why don't you go talk to the girl you knocked up?" Sailor waved his hand off towards the hall.

"Sailor..." Emry brought a hand up to his shoulder and stepped around him. "It's okay..."

"No, it's not." He looked at Emry. "The guy fucks with your head and then stabs you in the back like that?" He looked at Merit. "And now you can't leave him alone."

"Okay...you know what? I was concerned about what happened last night." Merit said. "Although now I think I should have an on going concern."

"Guys! I said stop!" Emry snapped and held up a finger to Sailor. "Stay here." He then pushed his hands against Merit's arm and ushered him a few feet down the hall. "And you over here."

"So, that's what you want?" Merit looked at him. "Some guy that's going to be all over the top of you?"

"At least he wants to be on top." Emry said in a slightly defensive tone. "Don't criticize him, he has been better to me than any guy I've ever been with ever has."

"Even me? I saved you." Merit argued.

Emry's eyes widened. "No...the fact that I was innocent saved me." He crossed his arms. "And if you're concerned because of Dani and everything that happened, I'm fine...and I'm dealing with it."

Merit stepped closer and he reached down and took Emry's hand, whispering into his ear. "I still want to be with you...and I don't know what that looks like or how we'll make it work but...I'll figure it out."

He looked down at their hands and then he looked up at Merit. "Have you even told your parents about..." He trailed off.

"Hey!" Sailor walked over and he shoved Merit back. "I thought you were concerned." His eyes narrowed. "I didn't think you were going to take the opportunity to fuck with his head some more."

"That's not what I was doing, that's not what I've ever done!" He looked at Sailor and then he looked at Emry. "You know what...we'll talk when your body guard isn't around." He moved off around them and took off.

Sailor sighed. "I'm sorry...but I can't help it." He looked at Emry. "I have to protect you...from anything."

"You just care." He looked up at him.

"I care, so much." He nodded and then a small grin appeared. "Think of it...like an alpha wolf protecting his mate. It happens because his love is like...a good addiction."

Emry grinned. "Well...that's one way of putting it." He took a deep breath. "Not that it doesn't flatter me...I just don't want people to...dislike you."

"I don't care what anyone thinks of me. Only what you think of me matters, your thoughts are all that exist in my world." He smiled. "So, do you want to wander more? Or go for a drive? A drive would take less energy out of you, I worry...you didn't sleep well last night."

Emry leaned against the ledge of the window and looked down in thought, quiet for several moments. "If I went for a drive...I would want to go somewhere far away."

"Well, you still got that money.." He brought his fingers to his chin and lifted his head up, a small smile appeared. "Right?"

"Yeah, I still have it, I just want to be careful with what I do with it." He looked up at him. "I think I just want to be alone for.."

"No." Sailor shook his head. "I'm sorry but...every time I picture you alone in a hall, it makes me think of what happened to you...and I know we hadn't met when it happened, but I feel like I went through it with you."

"He's gone...they arrested him." Emry shook his head. "I'm fine, please..."

He sighed and then nodded a second later. "Okay...but keep your phone close, you call me and I'll be right there." He leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead and then eased back and turned around, figuring he would turn up late and take the odd stares when he disrupts the quiet class room.

Jasper headed through the cafeteria, looking over the tables and his head lifted as he looked over the crowd until he spotted one that was sitting by himself. What better and easier way to make friends than to hook up with any loner one could find? And at least it was a face he recognized and a name he could put with it.

"Justin." Jasper suddenly sat down in front of him and he grinned. "Saw you in last years copy of the year book. I tend to do that...if they keep them there, it lets me know who is who and certain people stick in my head."

Justin looked up at him and ate half of a French fry. "Really? And why did I stick in your head?"

"Don't know, just happens." His eyes widened slightly. "Oh...that mess with Dani must of affected you too. Am I right? Because you seem to be in a really crappy mood."

"Lets say Emry put the nail in it's place and Dani hammered it in." Justin mocked a smile. "Wasn't that fun?"

"What fun?" Jasper asked, appearing confused.

"Being metaphoric." Justin took a sip of his soda. "Yeah, look...if you're trying to find friends, I'm not the best of company."

"Then be some good company. It's either you or I go hang out with those chess guys over there..." He paused. "Although I wonder why one of them is having to use a scrap piece of paper with queen written on it."

"Because someone stole their queen." Justin explained, quite simply. "It's a mildly funny story."

"Who had to steal the queen?" Jasper laughed. "I mean...why?"

"You'd have to ask him, I have no idea." Justin shrugged. "Ask Emry...he did it."

"So...I met this girl, Asia...and when I was looking through the year book, someone cut her face out of it. Does she have a lot of enemies?" Jasper asked

"Now you sound like an Investigator." Justin's eyes slightly narrowed. "Funny in an odd way, I was sort of in that mode at one point." He then grinned. "She tore down the popular group like tackling an army of cheerleaders while they are in a human pyramid."

Speaking of the she-devil, it was time for her appearance. Yes tragedy and heartache among them, that didn't slow her down or stop her plans. She headed around the corner and through the cafeteria doors and made her way through the room and walked over to the chess playing boys.

"There she is." Jasper nodded and Justin turned around to see Asia.

She grinned as she leaned down and knocked the king to the side, not caring if it was a legal move or not, she then slammed the queen piece back onto their board, with her head glued to the queens face from her year book picture. She then spun around and headed right back out of the cafeteria, her laughter echoing behind her.

"Well...that's one way to return their piece..." Justin looked back at Jasper and his eyebrows lifted. "Maybe they should glue some ones face to each one of their pieces..."

"I wonder what kind of attention that would gain them." Jasper opened his soda and brought it up for a sip and then he shook his head. "So, look...I'm sorry about your loss and all, but it seems like you need a friend, so here's the deal. I'm new here...and I don't know anyone and my only friend has developed...well, his own fixation..."

Justin stared at him and then he slowly nodded.

"So, I'm pimping myself out to you as a comfort whore." Jasper leaned forward and he grinned. "For any comfort you need...and if not that, a friendship would be cool too."

He looked down and then shook his head at Jasper's words. "Not the kind of pitch that really appeals to me right now."

"I was just trying to be funny." He shrugged. "Guess not so much." He looked around and then his eyes landed on Athen. "Typical jock, letterman's jacket...guess she didn't take them all down."

Justin poked at his fries with a fork. "She could if she wanted, she always finds a way." He sighed. "Might even try to nail you in the eye with a sling shot, she tried that on me when we were younger."

"That's sadistic." Jasper tried not to laugh.

"The rock hit me just below my eye, it was one of those small rocks." He picked up a fry with the fork. "I'm thankful she didn't get me, messed up I ended up being friends with her, for a while anyway." He ate the fry.

He looked at Justin. "Not so messed up." He said, thinking about Dani for a moment. "Sometimes you just get close to people who are bad for you and...it's hard to figure out why you would or why you do...or did." He shrugged.

"Yeah...well, sad thing is..I got close to someone who...despite whatever, I'll always say he was a good person." He frowned, suddenly losing what little appetite he had. He pushed the tray away and grabbed his bag.

"You're leaving?" He asked.

Justin stood up and nodded. "Yeah...going to go...somewhere." He turned around and headed away from the table, leaving his lunch abandoned as he left the cafeteria.

Jasper sat there, left behind, yet for some reason he had a really bad feeling rising within him, a feeling that made him uncomfortable and he wondered if he should follow Justin or if he were just being a little paranoid, he didn't seem that upset, but then some people could easily put on a brave face.

Merit ran to the front door and opened it to see it was the pizza delivery guy. He took the pizza and handed the guy a twenty and shut the door and he turned around and headed over to sit the pizza on the coffee table.

Siera sat on the couch and her eyebrows lifted. "Pizza night? You decided to make this a dinner and made it pizza night?" She looked up at him. "You could at least make our last supper special."

"Last supper?" Merit looked at her and he made a face. "The last supper..." He sat down beside her. "I guess you could think of it like that."

"Yeah, and you probably thought telling them you were gay would be bad." Siera sighed, rolling her eyes. "Or should I say you are? I mean, you still identify despite the fact that you're with me...which is incredibly infuriating to no end."

"So, would you rather me lie..." Merit trailed off as his parents came into the room and they took a seat next to one another on the loveseat.

"So, you both said you have news to tell us?" Michelle questioned, honestly wondering why the two spent so much time together.

"Yeah...but uh...would you like to hear it over some cheese and pepperoni?" Merit smiled and shoved the box closer to them.

"Merit..." Siera frowned and she looked over at his parents. "Look, thing is...we made a really bad mistake and..."

"We're having a baby." Merit blurted it out just like that.

Siera's jaw nearly dropped and she stared at his parents as if she were just waiting for them to throw a fit, this was the part of the process that she dreaded the most, and they hadn't even started thinking about her parents yet.

"What?" Michelle stared at them and then she looked over at Mark.

"How...what...how..." Mark quickly shook his head. "Merit, how could that happen...you're..."

"Yeah, my babies daddy is gay, I know." Siera frowned, staring at Mark. "He doesn't want to be, so we plied him with alcohol and Viagra so that he could fuck me and we forgot to use a condom."

Merit's eyes widened and he looked over at Siera as she over elaborated in ways that were completely unnecessary. He looked at his parents and his eyebrows lifted. "Uh..yeah, that is pretty much what happened and...I...well, yeah...that's what happened."

Michelle was stunned into silence and Mark lowered his head. "Merit...I don't know how to even begin to understand why you would do something like that...and I don't even think either of you fully grasp the seriousness of this."

"We know it's serious, look...the baby is going to be born and we're going to raise it." Siera nodded.

"And what about college?" Mark looked up at Merit.

"We're going to figure that out, we'll probably just go to the same place. She is just as good academically as I am, we'll probably get the same options if we both apply to all the same places." Merit shrugged. "So, that's what we're doing."

"Does her parents know yet?" Mark asked.

"Uh...I'm going to make sure my dad can't find his shot gun when we sit down with them. I'll...put a broom in it's place so when he opens the case, there is a broom." Siera nodded.

"Perfect to whack me with..." Merit looked over at her.

"My dad enjoys shooting better than he does whacking." Siera responded.

"Okay so he likes getting it done but doesn't like the work?" Merit's eyes widened.

Siera looked over at him. "Oh my god! You know what I mean." She looked at Merit's parents. "Look, we got this all under control, really...we do."

Merit forced a smile and looked down. "You know what? How about pizza?! It's going to get cold!" He reached over and opened the top of the box to reveal the delicious delight that was inside, cheesy pizza goodness.

Michelle sat there in silence and Mark went quiet as they appeared to be in deep thought over the situation, the fact that Merit slept with Siera, and in such a way, that was the first thing they needed to process before everything else would follow, though they seemed to have turned this into a bit of a joke, could easily be a coping mechanism.

Whatever the case, this was a good practice run for Siera's parents, that one had them both more nervous than anything. She took a paper plate as Merit passed them around and leaned forward and put two slices of pizza on her plate, watching as Michelle grabbed a slice and Mark took two slices. Merit finally sat down with his plate and it would become pizza night, of course, it was one filled with stone cold silence.