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Post by Admin on Dec 19, 2009 2:45:45 GMT -5
So tell me darling do you wish we'd fall in love? All the time, all the time - Owl City
Phil, Maggy and Mew stepped out of Maggy's jacked up white Ford pick up truck to be greeted with the sight of an already formed crowd. Phil was proud that he'd been able to rally so many people together, especially when he'd seen how pleased it had made Dare. An alliance between the Young Republicans -- himself, Maggy and Mew along with Tyler Durnham and Melodee Riker -- and the Environmental Club -- Dare along with Annie, Fin, Dee, Genny, Lana, Will and Isaiah. And then Lexi had come, although he wasn't sure exactly which club she had come with. Perhaps she had just heard about it and decided to show up; that only made the evening even more of a success. He had worn mundane clothes for this outting, having decided that jeans and t-shirt were better suited to the outdoor work; after all, he wouldn't wear his steampunk gear when performing mechanic work, so he wouldn't bring it to muck around in the dirt and litter, either.
----
Dare was thrilled by the amount of people that had shown up. There were people he had never expected to see there and many he didn't know. Bree Marcus whom he had never seen in anything but designer suits and dresses was there in jeans and a cotton button-up. They were still designer, but still it was much more casual than anyone had seen her before. Before people began to wander off, he thanked everyone for coming and handed out the caps he had picked up on the way. The blue pin-striped engineer caps looked great with the cupcakes and the saying 'Teens for a Better World'. He really hoped people would like them.
----
The two clubs had spread out, as there was a whole huge park that needed cleaning, though Phil and Mew had largely stuck together, wandering away from the rest of the group, heads together as they cracked jokes, chuckling and elbowing one another.
"I can't believe you convinced me to do this," Mew informed Phil, grinning as he bent down to snatch up an empty bottle of Sprite, "I never thought I'd be happy to be picking up trash."
Phil grinned back, "After I went to Anime Expo with you, and in that Baikinman costume and everything? You'd better help me pick up trash."
"Oh, come on! I go along as your wierd demon-possessed robot when you do your Steampunk stuff, and I dressed up as a Jedi for that San Diego Comic Con, one trip to Anime Expo does not indebt me to you!" The red-head shot back, "And we all know Jedi are a bunch of self-righteous hippie space ninjas."
Phil laughed, "That's not true! The Jedi are very necessary. Without them and their ideals the Dark Side would take over! Just because they have ideals doesn't make them self-righteous..."
Mew grimaced, "Call me crazy, but I'm in favor of passion and emotions. The Jedi just seem so cold, that's all."
"They aren't, though!" Phil objected, "They have compassion, much better than the regular kind. Regular old passion leads to mistakes of judgement."
"I guess, if that's what you want to call it," Mew sighed, sweeping up a nest of wrappers. There was a trash can not two feet away; were people really so lazy they couldn't be bothered to deposit their trash in the receptical that was placed in the park for that very purpose?
The tiny readhead had been bouncing around on her sandal wedges, tutu style skirt and "Keep It Green" t-shirt flouncing as she did, the sheer delight the girl had in being out of doors with so many other people around to help was more than the simple signs most of her friends knew could express. The cupcakes she'd worked on the previous day were all set up, along with drinks, bamboo plates and glasses. The picnic table had been the easiest part of her job that day, but it was what Annie did best.
Not having paired off with any one person, rather prefering to go around and help everyone else, the teen bounced up to Phil and Mew eyes wide and happy as she scooped up litter and dropped it into their bag. The day was bright, sunny, and the boys had been flirting! She'd seen the looks pass between them, the smiles, the laughs! In public they'd been flirting! It was Annie's assumption that because of everything that'd happened in this past year that Phil had finally grown wise to his choices. Continue to live in the closet miserable and alone, or to come out and be with his best friend who'd been pining for him for as long as the girl could remember. And Finally, FINALLY it looked as though he'd chosen love over fear.
Phil noticed Annie dance up to them, hyper and smiling as always. "Hey, Annie!" He waved, then began signing to the girl as he spoke. "What a great turn out, don't you think? I can't believe this many people bothered to come out, it's great!"
Dare had noticed Phil's and Mew's camaraderie as well and it made him rather quiet. He tried throwing himself into cleaning and helping out people who arrived late. Some of the people that were visiting the park even took a few minutes to help out here and there. As well as his new cap, Dare wore a pair of jeans that barely held themselves together and a teeshirt from Queen's Champions Tour. It had been his father's so it was rather large and worn out. His hair was braided at the back and still hung to his waist.
It's great! The girl signed back then tugged on the hat Dare had passed her before they'd all gotten started. Did you see! Cupcake! Dare's awesome! Her eyes kept dancing back and forth between Mew and Phil, and she just couldn't keep it to herself anymore. It was too much of a big deal and obviously needed to be mentioned!
I'm so happy for the two of you! Obviously they'd know what she was talking about and be happy that someone had noticed.
Phil lifted up his own cap in order to scratch at his head in consternation. There was a sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach, but he ignored it for the moment by telling himself that he was misunderstanding his tiny, deaf friend. "Yes, it's magnificent that we managed to get both clubs to work together." He signed, fingers flicking with a bit more force than was absolutely necessary. "And Dare is a very thoughtful young man, he did wonderfully with the uniform."
Mew crouched beside the black plastic bag he was fillling up, glancing from Phil to Annie nervously. He had almost thought she was assuming the two of them were together, but that couldn't be right. Not that he would have objected, had he thought there was any chance at all; he'd never attempted to hide his bisexuality, and anyone familiar with anime would have realized that the posters plastering his locker were of both scantily clad females and very pretty boys. Although some people assumed the pretty boys were pretty girls, he'd never have denied if asked point blank. Nobody ever had, however, and he'd assumed that nobody had noticed.
----
Genny had taken a position near the larger dumpster. When people brought their bags, she would give them a new one and she would take the full ones to separate the recyclables from the plain old trash. She was pleased to be doing something practical for the environment even if it wasn't ocean related except in a very round a bout way. She didn't have a partner which was kind of a bummer, but the sound of everyone laughing and having fun was almost as good.
----
Bree was starting up the flower planting crew, handing out trays of seedlings, watering cans and small packets of organic fertilizer.
Magdalena crossed her hands behind her back, wandering over to Bree. She was a bit reluctant to speak with the other` girl, as she was still a bit jealous of the cheerleader's friendship with Tyler, but they were in this park clean up together. "Hey," She whispered, then noticed Lexi standing nearby. What had the younger girl asked to be called? It hadn't been her proper name...Oh, that's right! "Hey, Dash?" She called, "What flowers do you want to plant?" She looked over the selection of seeds the auburn-haired Bree was handing out, wishing she knew more about flowers. She'd always considered them to girly to be interesting. She hoped that Lexi wouldn't mind that she'd essentially claimed her as partner; everyone else was pairing up, at the directions of Melodee and Phil, and since Phil had gone gallavanting off with Mew and Melodee had claimed Tyler she had little choice but to find someone else. And she recalled how nervous Lexi had appeared when she'd approached them the day before, and as someone who struggled with anxiety she felt the need to reassure someone with the same problem.
Bree smiled at Magdalena as she approached. "The flats are full of assorted flowers, perennials as well as annuals. I think each flat has enough flowers for a half a bed," she said giving her a hand sized spade, some gardening gloves and a flat of flowers. "Lexi? Here is the same stuff for you," Bree said, hoping she was right. It wasn't like she knew anything about gardening. She did much better in a florist shop.
----
Her face was that of laughter as Annie shook her head, There's that her fingers moved Icing on the cupcake! I mean you TWO together! In Public! It's adorable and wonderful! She was exuberant in her signing, delighted by her friends being together, clearly they were.
Phil's face went white at the accusations Annie lobbed against him. "We're friends." He told her in icy tones that would be lost on the deaf girl; his fists clenching instead of signing his words at her, "We've always been friends. Why shouldn't we be in public together?"
"Yeah, and we're in the same club, too," Mew pointed out with a shaky laugh, trying not to look at the girl. She always was more perceptive than anyone else; perhaps her inability to hear had honed other communication skills, skills in reading body language and facial expressions that even the speakers didn't realize they were so loudly broad-casting.
Confused Annie tilted her head and switched her gaze back and forth between the two boys. But the flirting... openly she signed, not giving up. He'd done it! She'd seen him! They HAD been flirting, in public, and now Phil was trying to say he wasn't? Why would he lie to her?
----
Alexia waved shyly at Maggy. She took what Bree gave her with a smile. "Thank you, Bree." She turned back to Maggy. "I don't know much about gardening. Oh wait...lemme have the tulips." She turned to Bree and got one packet. "Shall we go and get a spot?" She asked Maggy, holding up the things she was carrying.
Sloane arrived in plain jeans and a black t-shirt that said: Baby I'm a Lost Cause. Her hair was tied up in high ponytail and there not a trace of make-up on her face. Scanning the park for her best friend, she finally saw her handing out some gardening stuff to two girls, one of which she knew was Magdalena Veloz. So she approached them and pecked Bree's cheek from behind and waved at Maggy despite the brush off she had received from the girl. Turning to the other girl, Sloane's smile lifted a bit. "Dashwood...right?" When the girl nodded and smiled, Sloane extended a hand. "You're Sloane Taylor. We used to be on track together." She reminded Sloane who nodded, suddenly remembering. "You were a tiny thing..." When Alexia blushed, Sloane chuckled. "Bree, I'll be over that big shady tree avoiding the sun. Just holler when you need help." Sloane patted her best friend's shoulder and walked off.
Magdalena gave Sloane a curt nod coupled with a suspicious glare; the other girl was, after all, another one of Tyler's friends, and her loose ways weren't exactly hidden from the public. It was stupid, being so jealous of every attractive girl Tyler spoke with -- especially after they'd agreed that they weren't exclusive -- but she had a difficult time suppressing the reaction. Fortunately she didn't hang around long, apparently afraid of being exposed to nature for too long. Did Tyler only hang about with vapid plastics? Suddenly she was a bit worried about what he saw in her; if that was the sort of girl he normally spent time with, was she perhaps showing those predilections? She tried to shake off that worry by turning her attention back to Lexi, or at least to Lexi's shoes.
"Me, neither," Sloane's appearance had prevented her from answering Lexi's earlier question. "Know anything about gardening, I mean," She clarified hastily, "Can't be that hard, dig a hole and throw some seeds in, right?" She sounded doubtful at her own suggestion. The actual care, the watering and the sunlight and the proper weather and the protection from predators, that was what she had always assumed was the difficult part of gardening. But now that it came down to it, she didn't know anything about planting, either. What was the proper soil for a tulip? Where should they plant it in order for it to have the proper amount of sunlight? "Oh, we've been so well-trained for this. Should've prepared a little better, huh?"
Chuckling at Maggy's sarcasm, Alexia nodded. "Just slightly would have been fine. We don't exactly have gardening club or Planting 101 in school, do we?" She shrugged before finding an empty spot quite far from the crowd. The soil looked untreated to her untrained eye and it looked to be where some tulips were already growing so it must be a good spot. "So do you want to just sprinkle it like fairy dust or are we doing it nicely?" The junior asked.
"Fairy dust," Maggy decided, "We should sprinkle it like fairy dust." She normally wasn't one for faeries, at least not the Disney kind, but she certainly didn't want to try and be neat about it. "We can pretend we're performing a dark ritual." That was better than faeries.
Getting into it, Alexia chuckled and raised her head up to the sky and muttered unintelligible warbles before starting to dig the earth. "Let's do it in quiet. We can't let people hear us, mistress!" She was into role-playing and by the time they had enough holes to spray their flower seeds around, Alexia grabbed a handful of seeds and stood up, nodding at Maggy. "Shall we?"
Maggy nodded, throwing the seeds into the holes, pretending they were sacrificial victims to Cthulu or Shaggoth. " Ph'hglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtan." She chanted, then looked furtively around as though expecting one of the Elder Gods to descend upon them at any moment.
Alexia threw the seeds as well and continued on chanting with her eyes closed. Peeking slightly, she saw Maggy looked around a bit and she contained her laughter before opening her eyes. "Did they come? I mean...we should bury them now." She nodded and got down to her knees once more to cover up the holes. "To hoping it would appease the Gods."
----
After hearing that Dare Madison, son of rock legend [in her opinion] Maddog Madison from Toxic Religion, was setting up the park clean up, Ezra was obviously psyched to go, being an avid if not a big fan of Toxic Religion. And also being a singer songwriter, she had thoughts of maybe getting Dare to make sweet music with her. Laughing at her thoughts, she arrived at the park in free spirits despite already seeing people who looked at her funny. She ignored them and saw the long-haired blond and marched straight up to him. "Dare Madison? Ezra Kingsley, big fan." She tapped him on the shoulder and began the introduction in her slightly husky voice.
Dare dragged his errant attention away from Phil and Mew, whose encounter no longer seemed to be going so well and now involved Annie of the cupcakes. "Uh... hi... thanks. Not many people know my work," he said bluntly. They had one CD and one song that had gotten airplay. He wasn't stupid. Most people that knew about Paranoid Phantasm knew because of being fans of his father. "I can get you my dad's autograph if you want," he said, not wanting to appear rude. The situation with Phil and Mew continued to pull at his attention.
Ezra shrugged at his first reply. "Gotta admit, I wouldn't have known you if it weren't for your father but hey, you hold your own you know?" And when asked if she wanted his dad's autograph, she chuckled. "No thanks. I have like...a million signed stuff of his. So anyway...what's going on here again?" she asked, only coming to meet with Dare solely. But since she was already here, might as well do something, yeah?
Dare blinked when Ezra asserted it was him she was interested in at least at the moment. "We are cleaning up and beautifying the park. The Parks Department doesn't have enough in its budget to keep their smaller parks in shape," Dare said, wondering why she came if it wasn't for that. "Do you want to help? You can have a hat if you want to join us."
"Interesting." She smiled and looked back at the older boy. "Help? Sure...what must I do? Oh no...no hats thanks." She chuckled.''
Dare told Ezra the options. "It is good of you to help, Ezra. Is this something you enjoy doing?" he asked, unable to be believe that he was the draw. He had a fan base in Europe, but not so much in the United States. He wasn't anything like the boy bands that were popular at the moment. "If you are I can put you on my list for updates to when we will be doing other events."
Ezra laughed. "Oh no...I don't...help. Just heard you were here. I suppose since I'm here." She shrugged a bit and told Dare what she wanted to do and set to do it. Good thing she wasn't opposed to literally getting herself dirty. She had never done gardening but she wouldn't go screaming if bugs crawled over her since she's gotten into a lot of scrapes that involve her and bugs on her body and mud in her mouth. She perked up when Dare offered to put her in their update list. "Yeah, sure." She kept her enthusiasm hidden. It wouldn't do to let the senior think she was all gaga over him.
Dare pulled out his phone and handed it to her to program her cell phone number into it. "I keep telling myself I need to make a twitter page or facebook or something, but I don't really enjoy that kind of thing so I just text people. I will let you know if I manage to get myself motivated to become more organized," he said with his wide grin.She seemed respectful and not too pushy so he decided to like her. Fans could be rather frightening at times.
"Please don't." Ezra shook her head when he mentioned twitter or facebook. She knew they were networking portals but hell if she ever touched a computer. "Me and technology...don't work well with each other." She accepted the phone and typed in her number and saved it. Even that took her a long time. "There you go." She handed the phone back to Dare. She continued to dig out the weeds, humming one of Paranoid Phantasm's songs.
Dare grinned, glad he wasn't the only one that didn't get into the whole social networking thing. He wasn't really a technophobe. He only liked what he could do with technology when it came to music. He was currently teaching himself to use MIDI. "It has some good uses, but I prefer face to face when it comes to making friends," he admitted. Her humming was pleasant and he found himself singing along softly. He was the lead guitarist and vocalist for his group mainly because he had the best voice and stage presence amongst them, but he preferred guitar to the singing. His voice was a high tenor and he had a good range with a sweetness to his voice that made some people find it difficult to tell if he was male or female. He found it amusing. He had no hangups about such superficial things. With his long hair he had even been mistaken in person, so he managed to remain chill about such things.
Shrugging at his comment about technology, Ezra started singing a few bars from the song she had hummed. Her voice was a pleasantly raspy tone and worked well with the song she was singing.
Dare chuckled to himself and began to harmonize with the girl. He was always willing to make music, it was his true passion. He also found it amusing that he was taking the higher register. He hadn't sang with a female since his mother died and it was kind of pleasant in a bittersweet kind of way.
Smiling, Ezra couldn't help but admit the fact that they sound kind of good together. Maybe if Dare was willing, she could give him one of her songs and maybe they could do this again some other time under more professional terms. Funnily enough, she wasn't looking forward to that any more than she wanted to finish this song on a good note.
----
With Genny gone off elsewhere, Gage looked around to see who he should pair up with and found no one that looked like they needed help or anything and he sure wasn't going to ask Sloane Taylor to pair up with him after an embarrassing chance meeting earlier in the year, so he asked Bree Marcus for some gardening tools and set up far away from the crazy Gould chick. Cramming the gloves over his big rough hands, Gage went down on both knees and started digging the earth to plant his flower seeds. He had only seen all this done on TV so he wasn't exactly sure if he was doing the right thing.
----
May noticed Sloane's presence, but couldn't bring herself to approach the other girl. Not now, not surrounded by so many of their peers. If any of them had seen them on their date she could have lied, said it was just two friends out for dinner, but after that kiss she wasn't sure she could face the track star without giving away her secrets. And just because Sloane had known with little difficulty didn't mean she didn't still wish for them to be secrets -- at least insofar as most of the people here were concerned. She supposed she would have to admit her interest to some people, but she wasn't sure she was exactly ready to even tell Bree, and Bree was essentially her closest friend.
Still, even if she wasn't ready to tell Bree that she was a lesbian, she at least wanted the other girl's company; after all, Bree Marcus was really the only person there she associated with. She didn't have anything against anyone else there, but none of them were really in her social circle; even Tyler Durnham and Melodee Riker were in a slightly higher, richer group. Bree was wealthy, as well, but she was also one of the cheerleaders, and while some of them came from money not all of them did.
"Hey, Bree," She approached her friend gracefully, somehow managing not to turn red and stare at Sloane, who was uncomfortably nearby, "Mind if I help you hand things out?"
Bree smiled warmly at May and pulled her down for a quick hug. "Of course I don't mind, May, in fact I have been missing you a lot." Bree helped her over the supplies so she could sit with her. "How have you been? Anything new going on?" She gave her a half-hug.
May dropped to the ground beside Bree. "Oh. Nothing much..." She glanced quickly at Sloane before she realized what she was doing, then pulled her gaze back to Bree, "Other than yesterday. Wasn't that awful? Who do you think got all those animals in there? It's almost like the schools asked us to practice just for that." She whispered conspiratorially. Whoever had herded all those farm animals into the locker room yesterday would be in so much trouble if they wbere caught.
Bree shrugged. She hadn't been bothered too much by the prank. She had hung behind in the gym to talk to Tyler, so most of the confusion had settled down before she had gotten there. "I think most of these pranks are done by the same group of kids, but proving it is another thing. I don't know, I just can't be worried about trying to figure out who they were. It wasn't terribly clever after all and other than the initial fright and some dry cleaning I don't think it really hurt anyone," she said with a slight smile.
May shook her head, "It may not have hurt anyone, but it was still disrespectful." She sniffed; she hadn't found the prank funny at all. "So disruptive!"
Speaking of disruptive, it looked like an argument was breaking out not far from them. She recognized the students involved; Annie was in her grade, and although disabled was possibly the most popular girl in the school (across all cliques) for her charming ways and her free cupcakes. And while Phil was a year older, he too was a well-known figure around campus; who could miss the odd, Victorian-inspired clothing he wore? Both students were friendly and well-liked, and while May wasn't close to either she had to admit that she would never have guessed either would end up in an argument, least of all with one another.
She fought the urge to march over there and force peace; she didn't know either of them. Not really. Not well enough to warrant that kind of meddling. Not that not knowing people always stopped her, but at the moment she was with Bree, and she wanted to catch up. Just because some people couldn't even save the Earth without devolving into squabbling didn't mean she had to do the same. "Other than that, nothing....nothing really exciting to tell."
Bree smiled with just a hint of sadness that May didn't trust her enough to tell her about Sloane. "I mostly have just been concentrating on my current project and the brunch on Saturday that is to launch it. Are you planning on coming? Some of the Silver cheerleaders are even coming. I chanced to meet Cameron Whitlock on Tuesday and he got his girlfriend Haley interested. I am really grateful, I think with students from both schools working on it, it is much more likely to be a success," she said, her eyes brightening as she talked about her new charity.
----
Tyler felt understandably out of place in the group that had assembled. Even dressed in old clothes, worn jeans and a plain dark green shirt, he still seemed more dressed up than most of the others. Not surprisingly given his ‘old’ clothes were Calvin Klein’s. The hat he reluctantly donned just added more to the feeling. But he had agreed to go, and he was a man of his word, so he played nice.
He had assumed he would automatically be paired up with Maggy, but Melodee had other ideas. Not that he minded, his friend certainly provided something very nice to look at while they worked. And it had been awhile since they had spent much time together, so it was a good opportunity to catch up. Not that they had much of a chance to yet, they’d only just found a spot to start planting when a bit of commotion from behind got Tyler’s attention. Turning around, he saw Annie, Mew and Phil (slightly impressed that he remembered their names, though Annie was kind of cute) and what looked like the makings of an argument, if Phil’s current expression was anything to go by. He knew, being Maggy’s friends, he should feel inclined to step in, calm things down before they progress. But that really wasn’t him. “Hey, Mel.” He spoke softly, motioning towards the scene with his head.
Lifting her gaze at Tyler's tone, Mel smoothed back the set of short braids and adjusted her headband and frowned at the small group. Her co-president (she would give him that title at least) seemed to be a bit flustered over something. A frown touched her balmed lips. Her own jeans were designer and her shirt was fashionable, if last seasons. One of the reasons she wore it. Her frown smoothed itself out as she straightened from the crouched position she'd been in.
"This doesn't look good," she murmured to Tyler, whom she'd been quick to snag as her partner. If she was going to be out there cleaning up a park on an afternoon when she had had something else scheduled (mani pedi and a meeting with some of the writers for her mother's show) she was going to suffer in like company.
----
Phil didn't realize that anyone was watching, wouldn't have believed that the tension in his body was obvious to anyone paying attention. "Am I not allowed to have conversations? It was banter, not flirting. There is a difference." He informed her, remembering this time to sign at her. "I do not flirt, there isn't a single time I've flirted with anyone." He added, narrowing his eyes in challenge. She was his friend, and he liked her company very much, but who was she to say whether or not he was flirting? He was doing nothing of the sort. He was, truth be told, a little miffed at her for jumping to conclusions; she may have been absolutely correct about just who he was crushing on, but that didn't make talking to him flirting! He would deny that there was flirting with his last breath.
Hurt by Phil's reaction, Annie jutted her chin at a particularly stubborn angle. He had been. And she would defend what she saw until her fingers fell off!
Mew shook his head, trying not to look disappointed at Phil's (over)reaction. It wasn't as if Phil had kept his beliefs secret, after all, so he shouldn't be upset when his friend reacted exactly as expected. "Really," He stood, backing Phil up on this point as much as he didn't want to, "We're just friends. Don't know why you'd think we were flirting. We couldn't date, anyway, we aren't even the same religion." As though that was the most important difference between them.
"And," Phil added darkly, scowling now, "we happen to both be male."
It wasn't so much what Phil said as they way he said it. Dare was now absolutely sure that no matter who Phil lusted after, he was disgusted by homosexuality even if it was his own. To Dare that meant no matter how much the young Asian-American claimed to be his friend, he was really disgusted by Dare who was admittedly gay. Dare questioned his own judgement as his heart was breaking in a million pieces. He was totally pale and he leaned back against a tree so he wouldn't fall to the ground and totally embarrass himself.
They were both men? The tiny teen's face looked shocked at that bit of vehement wording. So what if you're both guys? She ignored Mew's denial just as she was trying to ignore [/i]Phil's but it had taken a whole new turn. I have two dads. And so WHAT if you're different religions? People get married and date differing beliefs all the time. As far as arguments went, the dif religious one was weak.[/color]
Mew shrugged uncomfortably, "Well, my parents would have a fit if I dated a gentile." He mumbled, glaring at the ground. His parents would not have cared at all had he come home with another boy, so long as that other boy was a nice, Jewish boy. It bothered them enough that his best friend wasn't Jewish, not to mention wasn't Liberal, but if they'd been dating?! Weak reason it may have been, but the red-head had never been much of a rebel. Perhaps if circumstances forced him, he would have stood up against others, but he was still living at home and desired parental approval.
"In case you hadn't noticed, I don't date. At all," Phil crossed his arms across his chest, fingers digging into his arms as he scowled at the girl. "But if I was going to date someone, it would not be another guy."
The people around them were still busy, but the little attention the argument had started to gain went unnoticed by the deaf girl. Why are you doing this? To him, to yourself? I SAW you flirt! Her fingers waved infront of her eyes a little more emphatically than necessary, but she was being lied to, and he was lieing to himself. She needed to know at this point, but beyond that, Annie's hands moved in sharp, almost angry signs And what's WRONG with dating guys?
Phil gripped his arms tighter, "There was no flirting to see," He insisted, "and maybe I care about doing the right thing."
Color flushed to Annie's cheeks at the perceived insult to her fathers. The right thing?
"Of course," Phil snapped, "The right thing. Dating other men would be a sin, Annie, and I try not to go directly against God."
----
Will noticed Gage alone planting flowers. Though he had been focused on the clean up, the opportunity to chat with Genny's confidant could not be ignored. The younger boy meandered over to Gage and stood behind him for a few minutes, hoping he would be noticed. Gage, however, seemed quite focused on the task at hand. Finally, Will decided to speak up. "Hey, Gage, need a hand?" He took a knee, not caring that his jeans got dirty. There were rare opportunities in the city to feel as if he were a part of nature like he used to in Canada, and although he tried to dress a little nicer than he used to he still made sure to wear clothes today that were not as nice. His bright, clean blond hair stood out in stark contrast with the old, worn garb.
Not noticing anything until someone spoke up, Gage almost dropped his shovel. He looked up and squinted against the sun to see the blond freshman whom his best friend has been gushing about. Okay maybe not gush but she talked about Will once or twice since the date so that was a good sign. "Will!" He took off one glove as he stood up to extend the gloveless hand towards the younger boy. "How are you, man? Well, I'm good for the most part but yeah, get your stuff from Bree over there."
Bree handed Will the planting supplies when he came over. She knew him slightly as she knew most of the athletes. Though each team tended to stick together, the parties always included members of every team. "How's it going?" She asked with a smile.
----
Finlay was glad that Delilah had come with him, as depressed as she had been lately. He sympathized -- she had every right to be upset! -- but he felt that it was good for her to get out, into the sunshine and with their friends. His friends, mostly, actually, though he desperately wanted them to be her friends, as well. "I'm glad you came," He told her, tugging down on the cap that Dare had given her, "And the hat looks cute on her." He smiled at her, trying to look encouraging.
Dee gave Fin a slight smile as he pulled on her cap. "Not something I'd normally wear...but for you.." She told him, adjusting it so it wasn't smushing her ears. "I told you I would come out for this with you didn't I?"
"Yeah, I know," Fin told her, grinning. "And I'm glad. It's nice to be out. And with awesome people." He gestured vaguely at the scattered group, "and all out for a good cause."
Dee gave her boyfriend a slight smile. Though she was there, he would still know that her thoughts were troubled.
----
Tears pricked behind the redhead's eyes as she stared at her friend's lips in disbelief. He LIKED her dad's... didn't he? He was comfortable at her house... wasn't he? Suddenly Annie was questioning everything she knew about her friend, she thought he was more open than this. The world had moved on, and seemingly no one else noticed what was happening between the two friends. Nor could they hear the splintering fracture forming between the two. Swallowing hard she signed with shaking hands, A sin? So my dad's WHO YOU LIKE she'd get her answer. Are going against God, WHO THEY WORSHIP?! The last three words were all but slapped into the air.
Phil's voice was getting louder and louder as the argument continued; he might as well have been alone with Annie, and Annie might as well have been able to hear him. "Yes, they are! I'm sorry, your dad's are nice, but there's no getting around that. Maybe it isn't as bad for them, since they don't believe it's wrong, but since I know, how can I directly disobey? It would be disrespectful, flaunting that I don't even care what God has to say about human behaviour. And I do care, I care about that more than whether society thinks I'm open-minded." He twisted the word as though it sullied him just to speak it. Open-minded. That just meant accepting of immorality.
Refusing to frown, Melodee kept a careful eye on the situation and when Philip began to raise his voice enough to be heard, she pressed her lips together thoughtfully. There had to be a way to handle this without embarrassing anyone further.
He'd never, up until then, had a problem befriending those with differing beliefs than himself. He knew how Annie felt on that subject, knew how Mew felt about him, knew that Maggy disagreed with him about how to interpret Biblical teachings on sexuality. He knew that Dare was gay, and while he thought it was wrong he generally avoided these kinds of arguments. But Annie had thrust this one upon him, and he'd had no choice but to either vocalize his opinions as clearly as possible or allow her to think it didn't matter to him. But it did matter. It mattered very much and he wouldn't, couldn't, deny it when confronted so directly.
Two fat tears fell from Annie's eyes blurring her vision. Wiping them way with two quick, hurt movements. She flicked her hand and fingers in shaky movements, effectively slurring her words. What's wrong with expressing love? Isn't that what God's about? Agnostic she might be, but she wanted to believe in a God who chose love over bias, bigotry, and hate.
"It's a perversion of romantic love." Phil snapped, still hugging himself defensively, "It isn't natural. And it's bad enough to even have those kind of thoughts, I'm not going to act on them!" That was as much as admitting that she was correct, if anyone had any doubts before. If anyone was even watching. Phil hadn't noticed Dare's eyes on him, or Melodee's and Tyler's. He'd all but forgotten even Mew, who was staring between him and Annie with wide-eyed horror.
More tears fell from the girls eyes, collecting on her chin and dropping from there, some rolled down her neck and onto her shirt collar. Her hands shook more as she signed, making her words almost unintelligible for those who weren't so used to signing. He'd admitted he'd had thoughts, ADMITTED it aloud but he still called it unnatural, basically telling her that her family didn't matter. It was a perversion. Something that simply shouldn't be. Where, WHERE does it say that? Why do you have to be so closeted, mean, and sanctimonious? You AREN'T God! You don't know. No one does! Love over Hate, Phil! LOVE OVER HATE! Near blind by her own tears, Annie dashed them from her eyes with angry movements, her nose was starting to fill up in a most unattractive manner.
----
Looked like things were heating up when Cera arrived at the park. There was a little sort of gathering and some of them had raised voices. She looked around to find Graham and didn't see him. Then she noticed that her best friend was in the circle and she frowned. "Annie?" She bit her lower lip, not knowing if she should grab her friend because she was crying up something awful. Taking out her cell phone, she texted Graham asking him where he was. Looking up again, she debated again with herself whether she should go and console her best friend.
----
Magdalena glanced up from her seeds, hearing Phil shouting. That was distinctly abnormal for the normally easy-going, friendly boy. She'd argued with him, plenty of times, but she'd never heard him yell in public before.
----
"Of course I'm not God!" Phil shouted, wishing he had a Bible he could pull out and point to her at exactly where the restrictions were. Right in there with don't screw women on their periods or your step-mother. As far as he was aware, people still followed those restrictions. Minus the stonings. He wouldn't suggest society return to stoning people, but it was right there, undeniably. "I'm not being mean! I'm sorry if you don't like the truth, but I'm not going to lie about it."
Dare had been growing more and more upset as he listened, but he said nothing up to this point. The part about sinning and going against God hit Dare hard. He walked quickly over. "Go directly against God! So everything you said the other night was bullshit? You know, I have been doing some reading Phil. Gay bashing is all old testament covenant. Once Christ came on the scene all the laws and regulations were thrown out. Now the covenant is really simple. Really only four little letters.... L.O.V.E. Love first your God and then love your neighbor as you love yourself. Oddly enough there wasn't anything about loving everyone but your gay neighbors," Dare said, his face turning red with an anger he had never felt before. "You're so smart about book stuff, how can you be so stupid about people stuff!"
"Excuse me, Tyler," Mel rubbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes. She was starting to get a headache and could smell "bad press" all over this situation. "I have a new kind of clean up to deal with it looks like." Heading towards the trio she formulated her words carefully and once within a distance rested a hand on Philip's forarm.
"This is not the place for this, Philip," her tone was neutral, "Take a deep breath." It bothered her to see the much shorter girl in tears, and the small frown returned when she didn't speak up in defense of herself, but rather waved her hands about.
You're WRONG and just being mean! Trying desperately to breath, the tears continued to fall unchecked. If you feel that way, maybe you should stay away. I wouldn't want you to be 'corrupted' the sign was sharp. Annie's arms wrapped around herself as she struggled to come to terms with what was happening. She hated confrontation, she hated the idea that she was losing one of her oldest friends.
Melodee's eyes shifted from Annie to the others around them. This was getting far out of hand.
Phil barely noticed Melodee's approach, so intent was he on Annie. He felt bad that she was crying -- a little bad -- but she'd been the one who brought this up in the first place. "Maybe I should, then. I thought you could handle people having different opinions, but apparently I was wrong. If you didn't want to hear it, maybe you shouldn't have made assumptions in the first place." He included Dare in this. "Love, you say. So telling someone they shouldn't be an alcoholic means you don't love them. Isn't that good to know, that I'm not allowed to recognize right or wrong because it wouldn't be loving. But great, I'm glad to know that everyone here excels at moral blackmail. Twisting words in order to prove your moral superiority. That's what always happens. Fine, believe I'm a horrible person. I'm awful. I get it. Don't think I haven't heard it enough, from the media, from the politicians, from the teachers. Don't always know they're talking to me, but I get it. People don't like that my beliefs aren't theirs. Because I don't follow their own moral code, but you don't notice you're doing the same thing. Judging the lost, because that's what you think, isn't it? I'm lost. So go ahead, weep for the fallen. Pray for me to change. That's what you want to do, isn't it? Convert me. And you'll say I'm the intolerant one. I'm the one with the sword at the infidel's throat. But that's funny, I don't remember trying to force anyone to change. I'm not the one who came up to someone assuming they'd converted to my religion. I told you my beliefs. But I don't have the right beliefs, so you'll do your best to guilt me into not speaking. Not even to simply inform people what they are, not even in response to people's incorrect assumptions."
Magdalena cringed; great, now everyone was going to associate her and the Church she and Phil attended together, with his ridiculous bigotry. Thanks, Phil She grimaced, wishing she could vanish right then.
Mew looked from Annie to Phil to Melodee, crouched as though he were on the verge of fleeing. Which he was, of course. He desperately wished for the clock to turn back to earlier in the day, when they were all still friends. He'd never intended for the entire world to know that he and Phil had mutual crushes and that Phil's guilt prevented things from progressing and that he knew and didn't care. If only Annie had kept her mouth shut!
Sucking in her breath, Mel removed her hand from Phil's arm, but refrained from wiping it on her pants as though she'd touched something filthy. Her brother was gay. Several of the people she knew, liked, and even admired were gay. She understood now what it was Mew had been hinting at, he thought she was gay and hiding it like Philip. Taking a deep breath of her own she spoke, in withering tones, "It is an opinion Philip. And while you are entitled to them there are ways to go about expressing them. Diplomacy." She did not want to do this here, but something had to be done as the redhaired girl he'd been talking to before fell to her knees on the grass and began to rock back and forth, making the strangled sounds of sobbing.
"Philip," Melodee's voice softened as she tried to keep this between them. "I think you need to step down. It's not in the Young Republican's Club's best interest for our leader to react in such a way. You've broadcasted to the park how sinful it is. We've all heard you loud and clear." Everyone, and then some. "Yes" she held up a hand, "you have every right to express your beliefs, but I say again, there are ways to do it." As much as she wanted to slap him in defense of her brother, Mel took the high road as she saw it. "We do try not to alienate people." The last was more than a little scathing. She had gotten her slap in after all, just verbally.
Phil dropped his hands to his sides and shrugged, trying to pretend he wasn't bothered. It was him against the world, but wasn't that how it was supposed to be? He shouldn't be bothered by it. If he'd cared less about what the world thought, maybe he wouldn't have been so reluctant to bother Aimee about attending Church with him. Maybe he could have Saved her, even if he couldn't have stopped her from getting shot. "Of course." He nearly growled at Melodee. He knew he hadn't handled the situation perfectly, but he had been put on the defensive almost immediately and he still felt as if he were under attack for his beliefs. "Freedom of religion." He muttered under his breath, "Pfft. Not when the masses side against you." He raised his voice as he addressed Melodee, "Then, you'll understand if I don't attend the next meeting. You can go in for diplomacy, but I'm going for honesty." He threw his cap at the bag of garbage he and Mew had been working on before he stalked off -- forgetting until he'd gone several paces that he'd driven with Magdalena and Mew. Oh. Right. He glanced over at Magdalena, who shook her head at him. Fine. Even she wouldn't side with him, and she was supposed to be on his side! He was reluctant to call his parents; he'd just walk all the way home. It might take him an hour, but it was better than staying here.
Mew stood shakily, "I uhhh guess I'll go now, too." He mumbled, not looking at Annie. If she hadn't said anything, then everything would be back the way it was. Hopeless, but at least happier.
It was at this point that Finlay finally noticed the argument and trotted over. He glared at Phil's retreating back before kneeling beside his diminutive, cup-cake loving friend. "Annie!" He gently lifted up her chin so she could see his face and read his lips. "Are you okay? Wasn't he the president of the Young Republicans? You should have known not to trust one of them."
Still near-blind by tears, Annie tried to read Fin's lips, and caught some of what he said. She fell into his arms though, in desperate need of a hug. She'd just been told, more or less, that her parents were going to hell. Her Christian parents.
Arching her eyebrows at Fin after shaking her head at Philip's back, Melodee propped a hand on her hip. "I beg your pardon? One of them?" Remembering where she was, and what had just transpired she turned to the blonde youth with hair longer than most girls.
"Dare," she was hoping she'd remembered his name correctly. "I apologize for that display and hope that it doesn't impede any further colaborations between our two clubs. You've done a marvelous job putting this all together and I'd hate to think that this has... impeded it."
Dare smiled weakly at Melodee. "Of course not. I only hold Phil's opinion against him. I hope he will reconsider it someday, but I hope we can work together again. Thank you so much for coming." He honestly didn't hate Phil either, just his opinion about gays, but he couldn't express that at the moment, he was way too upset.
"Of course," Melodee smiled, though inside she was seething still. Didn't that boy know how to do anything with diplomacy? He'd been so elegant as that fictional persona, Starlington? Something like that.
----
Graham arrived at the park clean up later than he'd anticipated; he'd ended up getting distracted practicing a particularly challenging part for band, and once he'd finally looked at the clock he was an hour late. So while he arrived too late to witness anything but the end of the fight, with some Korean boy stalking away and Annie crying. Just got here he texted Cera back, though he spotted her almost as soon as he pressed send. "Hey, what's the matter with Annie?"
Fin glanced over his shoulder as he patted Annie's curls, trying to see if Delilah had followed him. Surely she hadn't missed the fight? There was no possible way anyone could have. "One of them." He repeated, his words full of distaste. "Republicans, Christians, whatever. You're a bunch of bigoted hypocrits." He didn't know what religion Melodee followed, knew nothing about her except that she was very wealthy, very elegant and a member of the Young Republicans. But that was enough to damn her in his eyes.
He shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't work with your kind anymore," He told her, "Screw bipartisanship, it doesn't work, not when you people cling to your stupid beliefs." Fin was possibly missing the entire point of bipartisanship, but he didn't care. The failure today was a failure of other people to conform to his viewpoint, not the failure of one self-critical boy to hold his tongue when his perceived short-comings were pointed out to him in public.
Annie could feel her friend's chest rumble as she continued to sob.
Another had propped on the other hips as Melodee frowned down at Fin. "First, I may be a Republican and a Christian," loosely, "but I do not share in any of what Philip just said. He was wrong to bring it up in such a way, and I will have YOU know," her eyes raked the tattooed youth with hair that might just poke someone's eye out someday, "that Philip Lim has stepped down at the President of the YRC. His actions are not affiliated with us and were the expression of his own opinion. Not mine." Scathingly Melodee smiled, it was a dangerous thing that smile. "I suggest you take your friend here and get her something cool to drink, perhaps some of those cupcakes she brought. Rather than telling me what a horrible person I am because I know a boy. I know lots of boys."
Not one to interfere in a situation unless absolutely necessary, Tyler had willingly hung back when Melodee went to calm down the growing argument between Phil and Annie, or at least attempt to calm things down. Things hadn’t gone too successfully though it seemed, and with the arrival of a punk (or how Fin appeared in Tyler’s mind), the footballer decided interference just might be necessary, walking closer to stand just behind Melodee, his eyes completely focused on the newcomer. “I suggest you follow the lady’s suggestion and leave.” he spoke up softly, his eyes dark
A hand reached back and tapped Tyler. "Not leave, just get a cupcake, something to drink. There's a lot of clean up left to be done, and we've all made such progress." She felt something very akin to appreciation for Tyler stepping forward and taking the defensive with her, but that didn't mean tone didn't need to be watched. God, was this how actual politicians felt?
Fin shrugged, "I'm not the president of the environmental club. I don't decide what we do. But I will not attend if we're collaborating with you." He lifted Annie to her feet, Come on, Annie He signed under her nose, Let's go find Dee and eat cupcakes! He noticed Cera Lamprey, from Silver, and motioned her over. "Hey, Cera, want a cupcake? Did you see them? Didn't they look delicious?"
Practically yanking Graham's arms off, she raced to Annie but stood a safe distance away when she saw the girl hug Finlay Eddleman. "Hey Fin..." Cera smiled distractedly before patting Annie on the shoulder. "I don't want a cupcake. I think I should send Annie home." She pulled Annie's chin up to look at her. After years of beings friends with Annie, Cera had picked up a lot of signs so as her hands flew to sign to Annie that she was ready to go home, she turned to Graham and asked if it was alright if they went home first. She looked back to Annie. Would that be okay sweetie?
Rubbing the space between her eyes with a thumb, Melodee groaned inwardly. This had deteriorated too far for her to salvage it with the tattooed one.
Seeing his friend look exhausted, Tyler reached out and softly squeezed her shoulder, trying to comfort her. “It’s okay Melodee, don’t worry about it. Some people just can’t be reasoned with. Let’s get back to work.” But she wasn’t the only woman on his mind, and he glanced around automatically for Maggy. He would question that move later, but for now, he didn’t second guess it. Seeing his ‘casual’ girlfriend, and the confusion in her eyes, he offered her a small smile. He could charm, sure, but he wasn’t all that great at consoling someone.
Maggy turned quickly away when she saw Tyler looking at her, face burning. She hoped he wouldn't hold this against her; her friends weren't normally this idiotic!
Annie shook her head. She didn't want a cupcake, she wanted to go home. Wanted her dads, and wanted everything that had happened to not have happened. The hand on her shoulder was Cera and the tiny girl fell from Fin's arms into her best friends. She'd lost Phil. He would hate her now, probably Mew too. Her circle of friends was shrinking in a way she had never expected and truthfully she felt sick. Signing to those who understood her said as much. Yes she wanted to go home. Her head bobbled at Cera as she dashed the tears from her eyes with an already soaked hand.
"Come on, honey. Let's go home." Cera slid an arm around Annie's waist and pulled her towards Graham's car. She turned to look at Graham apologetically. "Babe...you coming?"
Like a ragdoll, Annie followed, leaving the cupcakes behind. They were in reusable silicone cradels that would eventually get back to her, she knew, but they were the furthest thing from her mind. A long term friendship...shattered with a few words. It had been a long time since Annie had felt anything like this sort of pain and her heart was breaking because of it.
Graham nodded, "Yeah, sure." He pulled his phone out of his pocket; it seemed like only seconds before that he'd been texting Cera, but once again he had need. "I'm gonna call the Holmes," He informed his girlfriend, tossing her his keys, "You okay with driving?"
Snatching the keys from her boyfriend, she nodded wordlessly. She bundled Annie up in the car and immediately drove her home.
---
Not one to let someone else deal with all the work. Well she was, but not when a situation had blown so completely out of proportion that she felt the need to step in, Melodee helped Dare square things away.
"The next one," she told him, "will be better. Less arguing and more actual cleaning. A lot did get done today if you look around. It's something you should be proud of."
Dare watched everyone begin to disperse like watching the ashes of his dreams blow away in the wind. Even the ones that had been too far away to hear the argument had by now heard about it and like rats from a sinking ship were leaving. Only Melodee remained behind to help him clear the supplies. He sighed and called his chauffeur who came and they helped him to load all the supplies in the limo to drop off at the school shed that the Environmental Club kept their supplies.
"Thanks Melodee. I had really hoped that this might become a regular thing, but after today I am afraid most people will cringe at the thought of clean ups," Dare said, his voice heavy with disappointment."It was good of you to join and I really hope that we can do more things, if this doesn't ruin everyone's opinions of our groups. Well I suppose I should get this stuff into storage and I want to see is Mew is all right."
"These things blow over, Dare. Something else will happen that will pull people's focus. They might remember, but it won't be the huge oh-my-god moment it once was." Mel smiled reassuringly as she helped to move things. It was true enough, something else would come along, another huge gasp, a different scandal. This too, as all things, would pass. The clubs would continue their work, and eventually the whispers would die. So it was in politics, so it was in show business, or any real career where one was in the public eye.
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Post by Admin on Dec 19, 2009 2:51:43 GMT -5
Mew dropped down beside Magdalena and Lexi, giving the younger girl a nod without actually looking directly at her -- he was sure that the entire group had heard and seen the fight, and he didn't want to face whatever judgments would be passed. On Phil most of all, he knew, but he'd become involved simply because Annie had singled him out, and he knew he couldn't get away from that.
"I think it's time to go," He told Maggy.
Maggy sighed unhappily. "Yeah." She agreed, "Guess we'd better gather Phil, then. Where'd he go, anyway?" She turned to Lexi apologetically, "Looks like things are over here. You need a ride?"
Looking up when Mew suddenly appeared beside her, Alexia didn't notice how he had basically avoided looking at her. Of course, it didn't help that she looked away so fast her neck could have snapped. As he told Maggy that they should leave, Alexia sighed and stood up, taking the gloves off her hands and into the back pocket of her black pants. The argument had blown way out of proportion and she saw Annie being ushered away by her best friend. When asked if she wanted a lift, Alexia shook her head and smiled at Maggy. "Thanks. I don't think I want to be...um...no. It would be too cramped. I'll see you in school tomorrow, Maggy. Bye."
She wasn't sure if her brushoff of Mew was accidental or not. After that display, she quite understood Mew's stand in the whole situation. She wasn't sure how she could have been so blind, not seeing the obvious. Of course having a gigantically erroneous crush on a boy who was in love with his best friend. Stupid Lexi. Always making stupid mistakes. Shaking her head, she walked out of the park without a second look. "Oh." Maggy decided that the idea of riding in such close proximity to someone willing to rant angrily at a deaf girl was too much for the younger girl. Stupid Phil! Just when she thought she was actually making friends! "Sure. See you tomorrow."Dare went over to where Mew was standing looking rather disconsolate. "Mew? Are you okay? Do you need a ride home or anything. We have gotten all the club supplies gathered, so if you want I can give you a lift." Dare didn't see Maggy or Lexi, though they were there. He sometimes was way too single minded.Seeing how Maggy was one of the girls he was seeing, most seriously after all, and given the fact the girl was looking rather worried and confused at this point, Tyler felt as though he should perhaps do more than watch from afar.
He made his way over, and in a very uncharacteristic move, took her hand in his larger one, squeezing softly. It was a display of affection he didn’t often resort to, especially with witnesses around. “Are you okay Maggy?” he asked in soft tones. “It looks as though things are wrapping up here. Why don’t we get out of here? Grab a burger or something.”Maggy was grateful that Tyler approached her, even after her friend had caused the end of the collaboration. "Good idea." She told him. "Umm, where...?" She wanted to ask if he wanted to meet there, or if he would take her. Her truck was here, so he'd have to bring her back and she wasn't sure she really wanted to come back, but she didn't want to go by herself, either. Tyler could read Maggy a lot better than he had figured he would, seeing how she was different to most other women he’d ever known, but only because she gave him clues no one could miss. Even as she accepted his offer, she glanced over to her truck, and he could guess what she was thinking.
“Doesn’t matter too much.” he smiled warmly, starting to walk over to her truck. “How about we just drive around, find something to eat, and you can just drop me back at my car later.” Stopping at hers, he tugged on her arm to pull her close for another unTyler-like chaste kiss. And when she was standing there a little stunned, he took her keys before opening the door for her, then taking his own seat. Things certainly hadn’t turned out the way anyone planned.--- Mew glanced up as Dare appeared. "Oh, hey, Dare," he rubbed the back of his neck ruefully. He was tempted to take the other boy up on his offer, if only because riding home with Phil was going to be incredibly awkward. "Umm, well...." He looked at Maggy, who nodded. "Yeah, that'd be great." He sighed in relief. "Where're you parked?"Dare smiled slightly and led him to the limo parked by the curb. "Sorry... I don't know how to drive and since the shooting my dad won't let me do public transportation," he apologized as he opened the door for his friend and then ran around to the other side to get in. "Tony, this is my friend Mew. Mew this is Tony, my driver and almost constant companion. You can tell him your address." Dare felt uncomfortable, but he was glad that he had asked Mew. Mew gave Tony an almost imperceptible nod, and a mumbled, "Hey." Before turning to Dare. He wanted to apologize that the clean up had ended in disaster, but he also didn't want to acknowledge that he'd been involved. So instead he said, "Thanks for taking me home." He was going to have to talk to Phil about it at some point, but not right that moment; not when his friend was still so worked up over the altercation with Annie.
He leaned over the seat to tell Tony his address, "1425 Third Street," He informed the driver, "If you need help, let me know." Then leaned back to look over at Dare. "Umm." He tried to think of something to say, something that wasn't awkward or stupid, but nothing was coming to mind. At least he was totally unaware that Dare had a crush on Phil, as well; he would never have accepted the offer of a ride had he known. Dare slumped down in his seat. "Phil was really upset. I knew he was kinda uncomfortable about homosexuality, but I didn't think it was as bad as this. You must have been really embarrassed. I mean you didn't get so angry at Annie's mistake. I admire how cool you handled everything," he said after rolling up the limo divider. "I'm gay, but if I weren't I wouldn't have been so angry about something like that. I had someone accuse me of being an anarchist once. It hurt, but I didn't freak out at him." He didn't realize how silly that might sound, but Dare was far from an anarchist and his devotion to politics and government was complete. He happened to be a democrat or he would've eagerly joined Melodee's Republican club. Mew shrugged uncomfortably. "I knew." He whispered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose in order to rub his eyes. He sincerely wished that Dare hadn't said anything. "Annie shouldn't have said anything. If I'd known she...I would have told her." He spoke to the back of the seat before him instead of at Dare. "I would have told her not to say that." Not in front of Phil; he was already skittish, prone to spending days at a time in isolation simply because he felt he was getting too close. And now that Annie had pointed out the obvious, Mew felt an impending sense of doom. If he could only talk Phil past this, then their friendship could survive. It had survived numerous sudden and inexplicable breaks in the past. But always before they had been private.
"He's angry at himself, not at anyone else. Maybe at Annie for so blatantly pointing it out, but mostly himself." He probably shouldn't have admitted so much, but he figured that everyone knew now, anyway. Mew's admittance confused Dare and he had to work it threw in his mind. "You mean... Annie was right, but Phil doesn't want to admit to himself that he is gay, because of his beliefs? Fuck... how can he live with himself? That is horrible. That must kill you, Mew. I am so sorry," Dare blurted out and took Mew's hand to comfort him."He's admitted it. To himself." Mew knew that Phil would be displeased that he was saying anything, but he'd kept these secrets for so long it felt good to tell someone, anyone. He couldn't 'tell Maggy, she had always been closer to Phil, had been friends with him before the red-head had come onto the scene. "And to me. And Maggy, too, I think. I don't know. He's an idiot." The bespectacled youth sighed, wresting his hand from Dare in order to hold his head. "But it's not really his fault." He added, still backing the Korean-American up even after the events that had earlier transpired, "Annie shouldn't have blabbed in front of everyone. She should know better than that." Dare sighed, not completely understanding Mew's attitude. "It's not helping him if everyone lets him continue believing that. It was bad for it to happen in public, but Annie was just happy at the thought that you two had gotten together. Phil could've just told her she misinterpreted what she saw instead of insulting those of us that admit our sexuality. And telling Annie her parents are going to hell was not something a friend should do even if she had acted out of malice," Dare said. Thinking Mew had pulled his hand away out of discomfort, Dare didn't try to comfort him anymore as it seemed Mew didn't like him very much. Dare looked out the window to hide his hurt expression. "She still shouldn't have said it." Mew mumbled stubbornly. He didn't particularly care to hear Phil thought he was going to Hell, either, but it wasn't as if he was only now learning his friend's thoughts on the matter. "And he did tell her she misinterpreted, she just persisted." Which was true. "And I told her she misinterpreted. Don't know why she couldn't listen to both of us."
He sighed, and dropped his hands, fidgeting with them in his lap. "I'll talk to him. He'll apologize." The red-head was confident this was true. Phil wouldn't change his mind, but he would feel guilty about shouting in public, at least. "Yeah, anyway, sorry things got so out of hand. I wish they hadn't." Dare decided to drop it. Apparently Mew was even more trapped by Phil's beauty and charm than he himself was. The red-headed boy seemed to be getting upset in his quietly stubborn way and Dare didn't want to make things worse. Mew had known Phil for years, if Dare was feeling this badly, it had to be much worse for him. Really none of it mattered in the long run if Phil was right and he was going to hell.
"Do you need to stop for anything on the way home?" Dare asked softly, mainly to let Mew know he wouldn't push it anymore. He wouldn't push anything anymore. There was no point, no point at all.
----
Not long after, two men arrived having been called and told what had happened and that their daughter had been involved. The treats were loaded into their car before the stood beside it and surveyed the scene of the crime.
"She'll be alright, James. Annie's a tougher kid than most people think. Look at everything she's managed," the darker skinned one said, snaking an arm around his husband's shoulders. "Besides," he added, "Cera's with her.
"I know," the other sighed and. "But will Phil?" Neither of them had particularly known of the boy's bigotry, had never suspected all the times he'd been in their home. And it worried them that he'd blown up the way they'd heard it told. Though it wasn't always true that someone could believe an eye witness' story. Nor was this the sort of thing to blow over easily. James, shook his head. "The Bowie's are going to be over this evening, David'll cheer her up." Wouldn't he?
The two piled back into their car and headed in the direction of home. Leaving the now peaceful park behind, with little evidence of what had happened, though word would spread.Fin
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