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Post by Ian Baxter on Dec 13, 2009 23:42:30 GMT -5
Ian quickly parked the van and leaped out to head inside. He wasn’t really in a hurry, but the van still carried the lingering scent of the barnyard. He had spent all morning at the hospital to talk to his brother’s doctors and help him move out of ICU into a regular room. The doctor said that Zac was doing so well that if he kept improving at this rate they would move him to a light care facility. It would be different if they had a normal home life, but they had sought to be emancipated a year ago because of their abusive father and alcoholic mother. The social worker at the hospital said it wouldn’t work for Zac to go home until he could care for himself. Ian had to go back to school or he would be sent to juvie for truancy. Ian had argued till he was red in the face, but she had not budged on that. He had already missed too much school.
Carrying a large Taco Bell bag and a cup of Baja Blast, Ian entered the cafeteria and went to the table his friends usually sat at. He found his place and hoped someone would be along soon to relieve him from the awkwardness of sitting alone. He pulled out the latest Laurell K. Hamilton book to keep him amused. He looked a bit like he was homeless for his clothes were worn and stained. Neither he nor his brother were very good at laundry, but they were clean and he didn’t smell as bad as he looked. Their budget just didn’t extend to new clothing.
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Post by Brittany Barnes on Dec 14, 2009 2:14:09 GMT -5
Brittany threw her books in her locker and pushed it shut. She was in a fairly good mood considering that they'd totally pulled off their prank the day before. She still wasn't completely sure how they'd managed without getting caught but they had and it had been amazing. Afterward they'd hung out on a boat and that had been all sorts of fun as well. Brit and sucked at the video games but so what. She'd still had fun and that was the important part. That night she'd avoided Aly for the most part. After all, the prank had been meant for the cheerleaders more so than Aly, she'd just been a casualty. Instead Brittany had occupied her time putting a blue streak in her hair to temporarily make herself feel more like herself until she and Evan both got together to dye their hair. Then she'd go back to some shade of red but she hadn't decided which yet. Red and orange were her favorite colors so she preferred those shades to the others.
She headed down the hall and towards the cafeteria. As she walked in, she eyed her normal table before heading to the lunch line, as she usually did, just to see who was there. And there was Ian. A huge smile spread across her face and she broke into a run across the caf. Sure, she'd seen both Ian and Zac as she'd been visiting at the hospital pretty regularly, but Ian hadn't been in school and him being in school had to mean that Zac was doing a lot better. "IAN!" Brittany exclaimed as she threw her arms around the boy. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming back," she admitted, "how's Zac? I can't wait to start up band practices again--I've been working on a few songs that I need to show you--oh and thanks for the van--the prank turned out soooo well, I didn't see all the footage yet but Mal's gonna post it," Brittany added, taking the seat next to him. "Oh, Taco Bell," she said, grabbing his bag. "Get anything for me?" she asked with a grin, having no problem stealing some of Ian's food.
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Post by Ian Baxter on Dec 14, 2009 16:38:52 GMT -5
Ian was up and had Brittany in his arms and twirling her in a circle. It had been a while and Brittany’s babble hit him right between the eyes. He set her down and held up his hands like a shield. “Hold on, girl. I am out of shape, I need to ease myself back into Brit babble,” he teased with a warm chuckle. He had really missed his best friend, but Zac had needed him.
“Zac is doing great, still not a hundred percent, but they are putting him in the regular ward, so you can visit easier now. He might be going to a rehab place next week since we have ‘no adult supervision’ in our house,” Ian said, a hint of bitterness in his voice and eyes. He missed being with Zac without Doctors and Nurses wandering in and out.
Ian laughed when his friend dived for his food bag. “It is very likely there is something for you in there and something for Mal too if she shows up,” he said, for he tended to be sure he always got something extra for the ladies in his life. They might not be dating but to him Brittany and Mal were family. He had hoped for a while Brit might become more, but he finally accepted that she belonged to Evan. “Just remember the Burrito Supremes are mine.”
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Post by Brittany Barnes on Dec 14, 2009 17:11:32 GMT -5
Brittany grinned as Ian swung her around in a circle. This of course was nothing new. Typical for them even, especially when it had been awhile, which it had. Sure, Brit had been visiting in the hospital pretty regularly, and had seen him the previous day to pick up the van, but it had been awhile since Ian was in school so, she still hadn't seen him as much as usual. "Oh you understand me fine," she said, playfully sticking her tongue out at him as she settled into her seat. Brittany didn't talk so much with everyone but Ian was different, plus she'd had a lot to tell him.
"Yay!" Brittany said, genuinely excited that Zac was doing better. "Good, because I got tired of lying and saying I was your cousin anyway," she teased, since the ICU was family only. Sure, Brit might not have been actually related to her, but both Ian and Zac felt like an extension of family to her. "That sucks," she said about Zac not being able to come home. "Do you know how long the rehab thing will be fore?" she asked. Aside from Brit wanting to get the band back together since they were on hiatus till Zac got better, she also just wanted her friend to get better.
Brittany grinned when he said he'd gotten something for her. "I can always count on you," she smiled as she grabbed a quesadilla and two tacos knowing they'd been meant for her. She of course did the same when she grabbed food from outside of school, although that was less often since Brit's main form of transportation was either her skateboard or bumming rides off her friends. She of course had no idea that Ian had ever had a thing for her. Brit tended to be oblivious of such matters. She hadn't realized that Evan liked her either until he'd asked her out and Ian had never really asked her out, or if he had she wouldn't have noticed because it wasn't exactly abnormal for the two of them to hang out on their own.
"So, anything else new?" she asked, unwrapping and taking a bite of one of the tacos. "I mean I'm sure your oh soooooo excited to be back at school," she teased.
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Post by Ian Baxter on Dec 14, 2009 17:44:08 GMT -5
Grabbing the bag from Brittany, Ian snagged his burritos and an order of pintos and cheese. He was one of those guys that could eat and never seem to gain weight. He could have eaten a lot more but there never seemed to be enough. A friend went by and he gave him his meal card to bring back his free lunch to supplement the Tex-Mex.
“Zac should be out in about a month if he works consistently at his therapy. The doctor said that he would approve Zac having a couple nights out a week if he behaved himself. So we can practice at least,” he said knowing that would please Brit. Hell, it pleased him. He had missed having their sessions.
“The only thing new except being back is that I managed to get a raise at the bowling alley. I told him I needed more money or I would have to quit as I needed to pay Zac’s share of the rent too,” Ian informed her. It unfortunately wasn’t that big of a raise and he was going to have to look for a second job, but he didn’t want to bum her out. “You don’t know anyone looking for a place to live do you? I am thinking of taking the storage room and renting out my room. I don’t know how we’ll be able to keep the house otherwise.”
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Post by Brittany Barnes on Dec 14, 2009 18:24:30 GMT -5
"Awesome," Brit said. "We'll have to plan something else too, I mean as much fun as practice is, might be good to take Zac out for a night too," she said. And their practices were always fun. Since they were all good friends they always had a blast during their band practices, but she could imagine that being cooped up in the hospital or even a rehab facility couldn't be too fun and she could only imagine that a night out would be a lot of fun for him.
"Oh dude, I'm jealous," Brit laughed. Of course she worked at the bowling ally with him, however she didn't work as many hours nor as hard as he did. "You totally deserve it though--by the way, Evan was talking about going bowling some night...forget when, gotta check, but you should come. I kind of promised either a discount or free shoe rental," she admitted, although she knew it wouldn't be difficult to swing some sort of discount for the group, she wasn't sure how much she'd be able to pull off.
"Hmmm," she said thinking for a moment. "I don't know. I mean everyone I know lives with their parents...but maybe you could put a flier up on the bulletin board or something," she suggested. "Unless you'd like Aly to move in," she teased, "I'd like to get rid of her," Brittany joked.
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Post by Ian Baxter on Dec 16, 2009 17:45:59 GMT -5
Ian frowned and slowly took small bites of his burrito as he tried his best not to look troubled. "We still have to be careful with him, he can't get overtired," he said, hoping his distraction would be attributed to concern about Zac. Well he was concerned, but really the thing in the forefront of his mind was keeping their home so that Zac would have a place to come home to. "I guess I will have to put a flyer up," he said, mostly to himself.
"If I am there I will be sure to set your friends up, shoes, tokens and whatever is happening in the snack bar. Probably tortilla chips and queso," Ian mused. He could usually swing things other people couldn't because they couldn't afford to lose him. He was a really good worker and he was the only one that could keep the pin reset machine running.
"Please don't curse me with Aly, she is fucking scary," Ian said, his eyes wide. Aly always looked at him like he was an insect she would like to crush or at least do a make over on. Personally he was more frightened of the makeover. He had no desire to end up looking like Jasper Hastings.
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Post by Brittany Barnes on Dec 17, 2009 13:34:23 GMT -5
"True," Brit agreed feeling slightly defeated. She knew she had to give Zac time to heal but at the same time she really wanted him to get better. She wanted everything to be like it was before. "I guess we'll give band practice a go before trying to take him out," she shrugged, she finished off her first taco and started to unwrap the next. "Yeah, either that or you could craigslist it," she said, "but at least if you get someone through school you would like kind of know them, right?" she said, "although you could ask around more too...I mean you know me, oblivious to the world half the time." Often things went in one ear and out the other with Brit. Part of the reason why she couldn't remember when the bowling event was planned.
"Well, hopefully if you're there you'll be hanging out with us and not working," she said. She knew that Ian had to work a lot but she much preferred it when her could just hang out. Ian was probably the best worker at the place. And he was probably the only reason that Brit kept her job there--it wasn't that she was a bad worker, it was more so that she'd get side tracked doing something fun half the time and had really reduced hours to begin with. She used to work more but since she started dating Evan she found herself constantly getting people to cover for her so she could hang out with Evan and co. and eventually she ended up cutting her hours altogether, so that most of the time she'd only work once or twice a week, often including Sundays when she'd take a shift or two before the band went on. She couldn't help but wonder when Zac would be okay enough for them to start up their regular gig there again.
Brit laughed when Ian called Aly scary. "Hey, I'm the one who's got to live with her," Brit pointed out. "Is it so bad trying to push her on someone else?" she laughed. Although truth be told, Aly wasn't so bad. Ever since the shooting they sort of reconciled a bit. She wouldn't call them best friends or anything but they could be in the same house, even the same room without fighting now which was a huge improvement. Of course Brit had felt bad about her being a casualty of the prank yesterday but Aly hadn't said anything about it at home so Brit figured she either hadn't been in the locker room or didn't know Brittany had been involved.
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Post by Ian Baxter on Dec 17, 2009 19:58:42 GMT -5
"The doctors say he is improving really fast, they are impressed, so hopefully he will be ready for good times soon enough. I know he is bored out of his mind. He actually has been flirting with the nurses even the scary ones. He wants them to be eating out of his hand before he is moved again. He has been practicing on the portable keyboard too, he figures he should be able to play it soon enough to lay down some tracks along with his drumming. He's not bad, but his drumming is much better," Ian said proud of his brother. Guitar was enough for him. He was constantly amazed he was even able to play one instrument. Their parents had constantly told him he was dumb as shit and wouldn't amount to anything. Getting a guitar in the first place had all been directed at proving them wrong.
"Aly is like the Wicked Witch of the East, the new and more evil version of your worst nightmare. Every time I see her I want to light myself on fire," Ian declared equating himself to the Scarecrow who had no brains. He had this vision of Zach clanking in his tin armor, him in his straw and Evan as the cowardly lion. It actually brightened his day to imagine Aly in the witches costume and a big wart on her nose.
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Post by Brittany Barnes on Dec 18, 2009 1:19:48 GMT -5
"That's really good," Brittany said, nodding, really glad that Zac was doing well. She remembered when she first found out that he'd been shot. She'd gone to the hospital with Aly after she'd gotten shot and she'd seen Ian there and he'd told her what happened. That was also the day she'd lost her virginity to Evan, although she hadn't told anyone about that yet. Part of her wondered if Evan had told anyone but she hadn't asked. She laughed when Ian mentioned Zac flirting with all the nurses. She could totally picture him doing that. Zac was always a huge flirt.
"Yeah, I can't wait to hear it," she said about the keyboard. In the back of her mind she was thinking that Evan played the drums and could fill in during rehearsals but she didn't feel right having anyone replace Zac even if it was only temporary and even if it was with her boyfriend. So she didn't mention it. "I can't wait to get back to practices though," she said. "I was telling you before about how I have some song ideas...I definitely want to go over them with you at some point but maybe we could go visit Zac and have him help out too," she suggested. Usually it was she and Ian who wrote all the songs in the band but she thought that maybe it would cheer Zac up. She could only imagine that being stuck in the hospital followed by a rehab facility would be pretty boring and depressing.
Brit laughed again when Ian called Aly the wicked witch of the east. "She's not soooo bad," Brit said. "Well, she's bad...but she grows on you," Brit shrugged, thinking about how Aly did save her life and all. She couldn't remember if she'd had a chance to tell Ian about that though since he'd been more concerned with the condition of Zac that what was going on with Aly.
Just then Brit's eyes followed a stray piece of bread flying across the room. "Oh shit--food fight!" she exclaimed grabbing her Taco Bell. Normally she'd join in but this was too good to waste throwing at someone.
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