Don't Need a Reminder - Abby Tags Diego

[Abigail Winchester]

It had been awhile since Abby had bumped into Diego after his accident. They had broken up a bit before what happened but Abby was still shaken up when Diego was hurt in the last game he played that she came to watch. It took a lot in her not to visit him in the hospital. She still wonders everyday if he thought of her at all. How silly of her, why would he? She broke up with him and not the other way around. He probably stopped thinking about her the moment she asked for the break-up.

Abby thought it was funny that she hadn't seen Diego since they shared a locker. His books were still there. Some football stuff still pinned up to the walls of the locker, a picture of them taken at the picture booth at a carnival when they were still together...wait...he still had that? She smiled softly as flashbacks of their times together at that carnival raced through her mind. She shouldn't still be thinking of him. It didn't help that she had already forgotten why they broke up in the first place.

She hurriedly took out the books she needed for her classes after lunch and slammed the locker shut, not wanting to be reminded of the good times Diego and her had. Knowing that nobody else was around made her confident enough to slam her forehead on the locker door. It hurt. "Damn it," she hissed softly, even though she didn't make a move to rub the sore spot.

[Diego Gutierrez]

The echo of Abby's masochistic headbutt rang down the empty hallway just as Diego gimped around the corner, bookbag slung around one arm and crutch in the other. He froze, his brain locked in place. It was standard protocol when he discovered Abby at their shared locker, that cruel twist of fate when the schools merged. Normally, the football player would inconspicuously wait for his ex to vacate the locker, but this time there was no crowd to blend in with, no one to stop and talk to. Abby simply stood, head pressed against the locker, looking tired and stressed and like she was rooted in place. Diego had only two options.

Run or approach.

His body loosed as he chose that latter, and he tried to recall his former cocky self. It was difficult now, limping down the corridor. If Abby heard him coming, which most likely she could, she did not move to look. Diego hoped she was simply lost in her thoughts, and not ignoring him. Though it wouldn't surprise him, the ex girl that didn't come see him in the hospital, that seemingly avoided him as much as he avoided her. He didn't get it, why she dumped him so abruptly. She was cold, and he responded with nonchalance. Neither seemed to care that the relationship ended, though Diego knew that for his part it was very much not true. He had assumed that they would not last past high school, few couples did. She was graduating at the end of the year, and he still had a year to go. But at the time it seemed forever away, and the pair didn't seem to be thinking too far down the road. Perhaps Abby was, and Diego never noticed.

As he neared, Diego tried his best to shake those thoughts from his head. He focused on acting as if nothing were wrong, that not even his leg bothered him. He may be a bit of an emotional mess right now, but he sure didn't want Abby to know that. He paused next to her a moment, to see if she'd look up. She didn't. He spoke.

“So am I ever going to get a turn at the locker, huh?”

[Abigail Winchester]

With her eyes fluttering close and her head deep in thought, Abby didn't even notice the new presence until the deep gravelly voice practically boomed into her ear. Jumping away from the locker and oh so gracefully holding her fists up in front of her for any sudden attacks, she almost physically slapped herself when she realised that it was Diego. What, did he have ESP or something? She was just thinking of him!

Slowly dropping her fists, she looked at Diego, processing what he just said and couldn't help but grin. Silly boy. "Yeah...uh...sorry. I didn't...I should go," she stumbled over her words as she slowly backed away from the locker and away from the canteen...and her bag as well, which was still on the floor by the locker. Not that she noticed in all her idiotic backing away.

What the hell was she doing? She was a cheerleader, a senior and she broke up with him. Why was she acting like an air-head then? "I'm going to head to the canteen." She turned on her heels to head to the canteen then finally realising why her shoulder was so light. She bumped her fist on her forehead and turned to get her bag back. Without a word to Diego, she bent down and grabbed her bag and walked back in the correct direction of the canteen.

God, that was embarrassing. Please don't call me back, please don't call me back.

[Diego Gutierrez]

The incessant thub-dub of Diego's heart slowed back to a much more normal pace when he realized Abby was startled by his presence. She wasn't ignoring him, then, she really was just distracted. By what, he had no clue, but she did seem to get quite defensive. Diego thought it was cute, and he couldn't help but grin a bit.

“Hey, girlie, no need to attack,” he joked, raising his one free arm up in the air. “I ain't gonna hurt you!” He didn't expect her reaction, though. The normally very suave senior seemed quite shaken, something Diego surely hadn't ever seen. His grin slowly faded as Abby awkwardly brushed him off with a quick declaration of her destination. The two had barely talked since they split, and even though it had been months ago she still acted as if he barely existed. Was she seeing someone else now?

Her footsteps echoed down the hall, and Diego was left alone with his thoughts again, each one more angry then the last. How could she go from being so close to him to acting as if he were a stranger? Each footstep carried her further away from him, and each slap on the ground caused Diego's frustration to build until he couldn't hold it in any longer.

He dropped his bag as he started to hobble after her, knowing he'd never catch up. “What the hell, mami?” he called after her, hoping she'd stop and not just ignore him again. “You think you can just blow me off like that and I won't care? What did I ever do to you?” He stopped, holding his crutch up in front of him. “Or is it 'cause I ain't on the team no more, so I ain't worth your time? I'm some maricón 'cause I can't play, and you and your cheerleader friends are now too good for me, huh? Shit...”

Diego's rant took the fire out of him, and he immediately regretted what he said. He whirled about, or at least tried to whirl and best he could. The boy no longer had any desire to see Abby, and he merely wanted to get his books, go to class, and get home as soon as he could.

[Abigail Winchester]

Abby froze when she heard him yell. Did he just call her mami? And the words that followed made her cringe, and then as it went on, it made Abby mad. Why did he think she was some kind of a pathetic, vapid, shallow and heartless cheerleader who thought nothing beyond status? Didn't she break up with him before the accident?

And it wasn't her fault that they never saw each other anymore. At least some of the fault had to be put on him. He was the one who shunned everybody else after that accident. They shared a locker yet they never bumped into each other; that was mostly because she didn't have anything to bring to class anymore now that she was a senior.

She whirled around and even though he had turned his back on her, she called out to him anyway. "Hey, marblehead." It wasn't a good thing to start with but it sure as hell made him stop. "What the hell?" she asked, shaking with anger. Part of her didn't dare move near him. She was afraid of what could transpire between the exes if they were close enough; good or bad.

"Is it really my fault that I'm afraid of being near you?" she admitted, a bit too shaky for her liking. It was showing too much weakness but she couldn't let Diego keep thinking that she was such a heartless bitch. She wasn't. Yet she still couldn't figure out why they broke up in the first place.

"You're a piece of work, Aguilar...you think I'm some kind of tool, going with you because you were on the team? God, I liked you!" She regretted admitting that too. Well, at least she didn't say the other L word...the one that could mean way too much in this delicate situation. She could never admit to him, or really to anyone, that she had loved him. "You seriously need the doctor to check your head coz maybe that fullback didn't just fall on your leg."

Abby wanted to call on more of his faults but it wouldn't help the situation. Not by a mile. It could make things even worse. She knew how Diego is. She used to know how he was. He was sweet. He cared way too much for his own good back then. She knew now how he handled his anger and it wasn't too pretty. So she calmed herself down and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. "I'm sorry I blew you off. You didn't do anything wrong. I..." Abby sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We really should do this often." She chuckled mirthlessly.

[Diego Gutierrez]

Diego silently cursed at himself. He knew he should have just waited for the girl to walk away from their shared locker. He would have been on his way to class already, with no worries outside of the standard thirteen million he had previous to this encounter. Now, however, it seemed he had thirteen million and one.

Abby had known exactly what to say to get his attention. Marblehead, a silly name that wouldn't even be that good of a put-down, unless someone had a shaved head maybe. But it had been the silly name Abby had always called Diego while they were dating. Any time he was late, or forgot his phone, or lost the remote, he became her marblehead.

So of course he stopped and turned as she started back at him, though she didn't come close. A part of Diego wished she had, if only to be near her again, but she voiced her concern to his dismay. “Why are you afraid to be near me?” What did the girl think, that he would hit her? He had never hit a girl, and though his temper ran hot, he was never out of control.

The admission of like didn't surprise the junior too much. He knew she liked him. In fact, he wasn't sure why he had said what he did, as he was very certain that the pair's relationship wasn't just some facade. He was about to reply in kind to Abby's admission, but her next statement caught him off guard. It was a low blow, going after his injury. He had lost nearly everything in his life when that meathead rolled on his leg, and it came just two weeks after she had dumped him. It had easily been the worst month of his life, and she had to go and bring it all back up.

Frustration built within him once again. She had hit too soft a spot, and he knew he would explode if he kept looking at her. He turned awkwardly back towards his bag, slamming the crutch again the row of lockers next to him. A loud bang reverberated through the hallway, and if any students or teachers were in a classroom down the hall, they no doubt would soon be investigating the cause of the noise.

“Yeah, I'm sorry too,” Diego mumbled as he tried to give up the anger. The further away from Abby he got, the better he felt. He reached down for his back pack, trying to remain standing, but it was a difficult and eventually fruitless effort. He felt like a baby as he reached for the third time, the bag just millimeters from his fingertips. He felt stupid and foolish, and he didn't want Abby to see. He kicked the bag out of frustration, grimacing at the pain in his other knee as it and the crutch managed to support him. “Just go to the stupid canteen, okay?”

[Abigail Winchester]

His question was a simple arrangement of words but Abby sucked in her breath through clenched teeth. It was a loaded question. One whose answer could determine the exes' standing in this situation. She couldn't very well admit to him that if they got any closer she wouldn't be held accountable for the kiss she wanted to plant on his lips that used to make her shiver every time, or the big bear hug she used to expect from him after an especially hard day.

She knew she had gone too far when she mentioned the accident and she could see in Diego's expression and how his whole body slumped. She wished she could just go over there, bundle him up in her arms and make him feel better but hell, if she did, she'd be showing that stupid weakness Diego might use to his advantage. Not that he was capable but...she didn't want to risk it. Not with Diego.

Wincing when his crutch slammed against the lockers, Abby had to bite her lower lip to stop the tears from coming. But they did anyway. She stubbornly wiped those tears away and saw that her ex boyfriend was struggling to grab his bag off the floor. She was about to walk over to him when he angrily asked her to go. She stopped in her tracks, her flats soundlessly creating friction against the tiles.

Abby should have gone. Her mind was telling her to go, her body was already half turned to leave but something in her screamed to go and help him. And so she trusted that something and marched to him to grab his bag and hand it to him. They were way too close and she could see every muscle straining to keep Diego up. She wanted so badly to help him up, or go to the nurse's office. God, she was back to being that hopeless fool in love with the younger boy. What was wrong with her?

"Mi Vida..." she called to him out of habit, not really noticing that she did. "Let me help you to the nurse's office," she suggested gently even though she was actually kind of scared he'd lash out on her for making him seem weak, unable to handle himself.

[Diego Gutierrez]

It was as if Diego had turned into a statue. He could hear Abby coming towards him, smell her as she neared. She still wore the same perfume as she did when they were together. It might even have been that last bottle he had gotten her for her birthday last July. His mind momentarily drifted back to that night on the beach, watching the fireworks...

His attention was called back by a slender hand entering his view. It lifted his bookbag up to him, showcasing how much help Diego needed anymore. Had he not been so frustrated, he could have easily grabbed his back safely and without strain, but his anger clouded his thoughts and the rash grabs were like a plea for help. Very much unwanted help.

“I can get my bag,” he said, half under his breath. The girl's proximity to him made his heart start to speed up again, though this time he wasn't nervous. Her outfit showed off the right places, some of Diego's favorite places. He crushed his eyes shut, trying not to think about Abby like that anymore, but it couldn't be helped, especially when she called him “mi vida.” He hadn't heard those words out of her mouth for months. Many, many long months spent in and out of hospitals, all alone when she should have been by his side.

“I don't need the nurse,” he spat, his voice louder and stronger now. He knew what he had to do, though of course he'd regret it. The two weren't together anymore, and no doubt she'd dated other guys. Diego had been alone, and the journey he had to take was not for two. He was a different guy than he used to be, and there was no way he could be who Abby wanted anymore.

“And I don't need you.”

[Abigail Winchester]

Abby heard him protest weakly as she got his bag and she could feel his stare on her. She felt a bit disconcerted but at the same time completely flattered. Did the boy hate her for leaving him?

She almost dropped the bag when his voice came on strong and hard. She gripped the bag tight and clenched her jaw. He really was a different guy now. The accident really screwed him up. It used to be that she got a sweet smile and a shy kiss when she helped him with something he couldn't do. Now...where did Diego lose his old self?

Her grip on the bag loosened and it dropped when his last words crushed her heart into tiny pieces. She then remembered why she broke up with him in the first place. They had had a little fight before, nothing major. But it had hit a nerve with her. And they had separated, or at least she thought they had been separated since he left in a huff.

Abby had cheated on him with someone else. Nobody knew. She didn't even know his name. It was a one night stand that didn't even last that long. The next day when Diego called, Abby felt so guilty. She didn't even realise what she had done. The only rational thing she thought of doing was break up with him before he knew. It broke her heart to leave him. It was so hard not to visit him in the hospital. She almost came close. She was right at the door but then she saw his mom and turned tail. She hadn't been there since.

She held back the tears that accompanied the squeezing of her heart. She scooped the bag up again and slammed it into Diego's chest. "The hell you don't need me," she mumbled before moving to walk away. Why did she turn back? Why did she have to listen to that something in her that made her turn to him and help? Diego was a changed guy. That stupid accident made him this callous jerk. She couldn't see herself with him anymore. Not this version of him anyway.

Mi vida my ass, Abby thought to herself.