A New
Beginning
Chapter 14: Wow, Tell Her Already!
(Un) Important babbling-notes from Cimmy: I currently don’t have a spell check to run my stories through, the last one got crazy so I threw it to hell. The grammar might not be all that great because of that. I’m sorry.
And this is to you, Kristine; they have no last name, because I’m a mysterious person. Well, not really, I just don’t have enough imagination to come up with decent last names... Nice to know I’m not the only one obsessing about a fictional guy. Thank you for the reviews, keep rambling!
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Connie is still clueless about Guy’s proposal. Apparently she never saw the ring when it flew across the room earlier. Guy had crawled around on the floor a long time before he found it, but somehow he did it without revealing the surprise for Connie. Connie Germaine, that sounds just weird.
It’s Christmas Eve today, yahoo. I think Guy is still planning on proposing to Connie tonight. I don’t know anymore, he hasn’t spoken to me since the blackout. No one has. I deserve it, because I was really stupid.
Mom called me again today. God jul and stuff. Merry Christmas that is, but in Swedish. My brother David kept bugging me about getting my car-license, and what Marcus was talking about, I don’t know. I rarely do. I no longer talk to my younger brother, because of reasons I rather not talk about. But my older brothers talk for all three of them instead. And mostly at the same time.
I asked David about what to do with Charlie. I can’t ask Marcus that, he would only be weird and it’s impossible to talk serious with him. David said that I should forget about Charlie and tell Fred that I love him. Brothers. Why did I even ask?
My Mom is leaving for a cruise to Finland tomorrow, and she’s staying over New Year too. So I can’t talk to her. Great. I only have my Dad, and he’s just like Marcus.
Enough about my family, they are all lunatics.
When I came down to the living-room this morning, it was almost worth all the agony. The Christmas-tree had been decorated and there were lots of presents underneath. The sun was up, and there were no snow falling down from the sky. Just sun. I skipped into the kitchen, still wearing my pajamas.
“Hey, you up already?” Portman grinned at me. He was sitting on the sink, eating cereals. I ignored the fact that he saw me happy (and in my jammies) and went over to the fridge to see if he’d left any food for me.
“Of course,” I answered.
“Well, you look almost... happy today. Actually, I haven’t seen you at all for a couple of days. What have you been up to?”
Besides from throwing Charlie’s things out into the hallway, throwing up and crying, not much. I’m getting a cold, because I feel sick almost all the time. And I’m sniffing myself unconscious.
“I found the Playstation,” I reported back. “Bummer, huh?”
Portman had been turning the place inside out, looking for the Playstation Charlie had been hiding. Charlie always takes away something from us when we’re not behaving well. Russ had ‘accidentally’ forgot to shovel snow outside the door, so away the Playstation went. But I found it when I was tossing Charlie’s stuff around. Why hide something valuable like that under the bed?
“You did?!” Portman howled like a wounded pig. “Lemme have it! You... baby.”
I gave him a puzzled look. “It’s Jesus’s holiday, I can’t swear!” he exclaimed. “Nice outfit. Barney’s?”
“Lindex,” I snorted, leaving him to ponder over what I meant. It’s going to drive him crazy not knowing what a certain word means. Maybe I’ll tell him next year that my Mom bought my ‘outfit’ in Sweden? Nah, why ruin the fun?
Charlie came strolling from the living-room, but he paid no attention to me at all, he just went by without looking at me. He’s mad at me? Is that fair? I decided to not care. Instead I sat down next to Dwayne on the couch. He was sleeping there, guarding the TV.
“Hey,” he mumbled. We rarely speak, because we don’t know each other that well. He’s part of that crowd that I just never managed to get to know. But I do say hello when we meet. Otherwise I’d be rude.
“Hi,” I answered and reached for the remote. Dwayne gave me a suspicious look, but didn’t attack me. “What are we watching?”
“Terminator,” he replied and sat up. “Part one.”
I began to shiver. Damn Connie to open all the windows. Why does she always have to be so freaking hot? Warm, not good-looking. I’m always cold, in more sense then one.
More people began to show up, among them Guy. When I was heading back to my room, he suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me out on the porch. Cold!
“I need to talk to you,” he said.
“I need to be inside right now,” I explained and went to the door. He took it as a sign that I didn’t wanted to talk to him.
“No! Don’t run off!” he growled and put his arm up in front of me. I walked right into it and hurt my nose.
I pushed him away and jumped up and down on the spot. There were never any snow in L.A. “Let’s start with your comment the other night, shall we? I would really like to know what part of my life could be described as ‘games at the playground’,” I began.
Guy was famous back in the old days. He used to say the most stupid things sometimes, and the most thoughtless one-liners. He never knew when to shut up and he never knew when to quit it. Games at the playground, what a way to express yourself.
“I know about you and Fred.”
I just swallowed my own tongue.
“I saw you two at the tournament. I saw you kissing. I know you had sex with him.”
“Me?” I said stupidly.
Guy rolled his eyes. “Of course you, who else? I don’t know if I like knowing that you cheated on my best friend. It doesn’t feel very... friendly to not tell him what I know. If he finds out, I’m going to spill my guts.”
“What a co-incident, I’ve already done that,” I mumbled.
“And another thing. If you ever do something like that again to another person, I suggest that you hide it better.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, completely ridiculed.
Guy shook his head slowly. “You just don’t get it, do you. I’m not the one you should apologize to. Except for the ring-thing, of course. You should really be more careful when you go around doing thoughtless things. Next time you might not get away with it as easy.”
“I’m really sorry,” I continued, knowing that if he kept going with his lecture, I’d burst into tears any time.
“Don’t sleep around.”
“I’m not! You don’t understand! It was just that one time, and I never... I never knew it was going to happen. I couldn’t resist falling into my old... old...” Suddenly I couldn’t breath. I was too cold, and too nauseous. I had a cold, and he kept yelling at me.
“Stop that!” he ordered. “You can’t fake your way through every unpleasant conversation. Don’t get a panic attack everytime you have a conversation! It’s actually very annoying.”
Instead of calming down, I did quite the opposite. I threw up on him. Well, on his shoes, but it’s just as embarrassing anyway. He took a quick step back and moaned. “You really are impossible. What’s wrong with you? Are you okay?”
I didn’t bother answering. My deeds spoke for themselves. Guy kept complaining while doing a pathetic try at soothing me. I wasn’t even freaking out, I was just feeling sick. I get like this when I’m sick. Even if it’s just a cold, I throw up for days.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They open gifts on Christmas Day here in the States, in case you’ve never got that. In Sweden we bend the boxes open on Christmas Eve. That was what I was planning on doing now too.
I was sitting on the floor next to the tree, shaking the gifts marked ‘Cecilia’. One from my Mom, two from my Dad, one from my older brothers. Two from my cousins and one from Adam. Awww. I threatened him to buy me pillow. I saw it in a store, and I told him to buy it, ‘or else’. It’s probably just a photo of a pillow, he does those types of things when he knows that I can’t get to him.
“Opening gifts?”
Connie Moreau, the master of sneaking.
“Uhm, no, just looking,” I said, hiding a bow behind my back. “I thought you were asleep!”
They all went to bed early for some reason. It struck me that she didn’t mention Guy’s proposal. He never popped the question. Why?
“Guy said you weren’t feeling well,” Connie told me and padded away across the floor towards me. She sat down next to me on the floor and begun reaching for the gifts marked ‘Connie’. I didn’t say anything for a while, I just watched as she piled her gifts into a tower. Man, she’s popular.
“Guy said that you weren’t feeling...”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time,” I interrupted.
“So, why didn’t you answer ‘the first time’?” she asked mockingly. “I think this is an alarm clock.”
One of the boxes she was holding went flying over her shoulder when she decided to toss it to hell. Well, at least she knows what she wants. Not everyone knows that.
“I did, you just never heard me,” I muttered.
“I can’t read minds,” Connie continued.
“Maybe you should learn that,” I bickered away. “It could come in handy when you’re arguing with Guy. Oh, wait, you already know how to read HIS mind.”
Connie shook another big box. “This must be clothing. Could we stop with the chit-chat? I’m thirsty. You want anything?” She got up from the floor and knocked her big tower of affection over. Then she skipped over to the kitchen.
“The only thing left in the fridge was Bacardi and that egg-thingie,” she announced and threw me a bottle of pineapple Bacardi. She knows I’m a sucker for that.
“Thanks.”
“I know that it’s a holiday, but what’s the big deal if we drink a little, right? I mean, who’s going to turn us in for something as innocent as that?” Connie went on and sat down among the presents on the floor. “I think this is something breakable. You want it?”
I shook my head. “What’s with you? What’s behind this new suck-up personality of yours?”
“I’m not sucking up, I’m trying to bond with you. We used to be close friends, but we haven’t spoken at all since we started college. I don’t know about you and your adventures this last couple of months.”
“And now we have to socialize? Great.”
Connie opened the bottle using her nails. That’s something that has impressed me ever since freshmen year in high-school. I tried to learn how to do it, but the only thing I managed with was breaking all the bones in my fingers. It hurt.
“Fine, be that way. If you don’t want to be friends, it’s no big deal. Just don’t complain if you’re all alone one year from now,” Connie replied, using her heaviest speech-material. The ‘you’ll end up all alone’ stuff that she only use when people are being mean and thoughtless. I’ve heard it like a million times.
“We are friends. But we’re busy friends.”
“Yeah, right,” she snorted. “What’s your excuse? That your studies take up all the time? You’ve skipped classes everyday since August! And you don’t have a boyfriend, or a job of any kind. You slack off in your room, watching TV and terrorizing Adam. You don’t even take hockey seriously enough. You know what I know?”
“No.”
“They’re thinking of suspending you from both school and the team. Charlie has been taking your side all term, telling Bombay that you’re not as impossible as they think. They’ve had it with you, both Muck and Bombay. Especially Charlie and Travis are tired of your behavior and they won’t put up with you for much longer. Guy told me, and now I’m telling you.”
I took a big sip from the bottle, while trying to get my brain to understand this new lecture. I’m being suspended again. This time because I’m an impossible creature. And I didn’t even take any drugs this time!
“Where’s Guy?” I asked.
“It’s not his fault!” Connie exclaimed. “Don’t be mad at him.”
“I’m not, I’m just asking where the little rascal is. Did you misplace him?”
“I’m here,” Guy answered from across the room. “Did I interrupt something important?”
“No, not at all,” I said. “You can come in, I’m just leaving.” I got up from the floor and gave Connie a box. “Merry Christmas, Con. I think it’s a CD.”
She smiled at me, so I smiled back. When I went by Guy, I grabbed his arm and whispered into his ear: “If you don’t ask her now, you’re the hugest jackass in the whole entire world.”
Guy gave me a surprised look. “Oh yeah? What changed your mind?”
“It’s not because of you. It’s because of her. She deserves to be happy, even if it’s you proposing. Plus, she’s being annoying and I want her off my back. Get into the game, Guy.”
I hid behind the door so I could hear what Guy said. I was curious how he was going to make this special moment into pure embarrassment. What? He is the master of screwing things up!
It was really nice, actually. Candles, fireplace and the Christmas tree, everything shining around the two Duck-lovers. That was what Charlie used to call Fred and I. It’s hard to believe that Guy and Connie have been together their whole life. They deserve each other in a way most people don’t. They really love each other, in the true meaning of the word ‘love’.
Any other significant moment would be easy for Guy to talk straight to hell, but he knew exactly what he was doing this time. He must’ve practiced the proposal around the clock, because it was freaking perfect from beginning to end.
While waiting for him to get to the point, I realized that this was it. The culmination of the ‘ConnieandGuy’ period. Just like the Jurassic period once ended into... something less easy to pronounce, their relationship was soon going to be more then just a long-lasting crush. What would Connie be without Guy? What would Guy be without Connie?
What would I be without...?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“What are you doing here?”
Someone was currently speaking to me, even though I was too much in a fog to realize it at once.
“Excuse me?”
“I asked what you were doing here, but the answer is kind of obvious now when you’ve opened your mouth. How drunk are you anyway?”
I was sitting on the floor next to the up-stairs bathroom, leaning against the wall. That was as far as I managed to get after I’d barfed my heart out. The whole proposal had made me really bummed out, and I drank all of the Bacardi in the fridge, and the ‘egg-thingie’. I also found some wine and beer, and the combination of that made me sick.
What I still don’t have a clue about is how the proposal went. I hurried away before I heard the words ‘will you marry me?’. They’re engaged now. Damn them. Damn me for being such a jealous ass.
“I’m a fourteen, on a scale from one to ten,” I slurred. “What’s you?”
“What’s me? Get up from the floor.”
“I can’t. I’ll fall.”
I gazed at the person in front of me. Crap, it was Fred. I hadn’t even recognized his voice. There were two of him, giving me a tired look. Suddenly there was two of Jen as well, skipping towards the room she was staying with Fred in.
“Are you coming?” she asked him.
“You go ahead and sleep, I’ll be there in a while.”
“But...”
“Jen, I can’t leave her like this.”
Jen gave up a frustrated moan and slammed the door to their room. Bad for her, less bad for me. But according to the look on Fred’s face, I’d say that I’m as bad too. He grabbed my arm and janked me up from the floor. I lost my balance right away and fell into his arms. He dropped me and I crashed into the floor.
Yuck, I hate the taste of blood. Who invented that you should bite your tongue whenever you fall into something?
“Tell me again why you’re drunk,” Fred said to me and kneeled, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“A shaw shomeshing bad,” I slurred. “Sho a deshi... decid... went to fogget... it.”
Fred sighed. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re saying. You want some water? You should move to the side so you won’t feel as bad.”
“Too late,” I mumbled. Fred got up and went to get me some water, and I sat up.
“Here, drink this. But just a little, not too much.”
I took a sip from the glass. “Id u scheep wiv er?”
“Are you speaking German?”
“Id u scheep wiv er!” I barked.
“If I’m a sheep-dealer?”
“U erd me.”
Fred put his hand on my fore-head. “No, I haven’t slept with her, and wow, you’re burning up. You should be in bed, tucked in by now.”
“Heesh endejshed.”
“Who’s engaged?”
“Glee wiv Commi.”
That’s nonsense for ‘Guy with Connie’. You try and speak when you have a damaged tongue! For a strange reason, Fred seemed to understand what the hell I was going on about.
“So that made you depressed? You should be happy for them. If you excuse me, I have to go and check so that my girlfriend won’t escape through the window. I suggest that you crawl to your room and go to bed.”
He got me up on my feet again, and then he went to his room. I was just about to open the door to my room when I changed my mind. I turned quickly, fell again and somehow ended up outside Fred’s room. I was still lying on the carpet with my head against the door, eaves-dropping on the following conversation.
“What’s wrong with that girl?” I heard Jen’s voice.
“It’s nothing wrong with her, she’s just bummed because... Well, something quite depressing happened earlier.”
“That’s no excuse for getting drunk, like all your other so-called friends...”
“Don’t do that,” Fred muttered.
“Don’t take her side all time. She’s behaving badly, and you always say that you don’t care about her. Still you’re concerned and willing to help...”
“She’s a friend of mine! I can’t let her lie on the floor in a pile of... whatever, when I know I can help her.”
“Like I give a damn. I thought you were over her. I thought we had a deal.”
Much more couldn’t be progressed by my head. I closed my eyes for a second and everything went black, just like that.
By the way, Guy never proposed. He didn’t have enough guts to do it.
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