Spring Fever
Chapter
8: Another Agony
Notes: From Connie’s point of view.
This was the call she’d feared all day. The call where she had to tell her parents that she had lost all of her savings. Every penny.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so afraid of something. The last time she’d been in so much trouble.
It had taken her parents several years to save up all that money. Her brothers also had their share at the bank. Maybe it didn’t sound so much to other people, but three thousand dollars was a lot to put away for their children, when you didn’t make that much money. Connie knew that.
Now she had to tell her loving parents that she had cleared her account and lost the money. They would be so disappointed. She had let them down, and now she was feeling terrible.
Why she had taken that money in the first place, seemed to be a huge question. She didn’t even remember herself. She had just cleared her account before they left Los Angeles, and now it was all gone. Everything she owned.
Guy had been furious, she could tell. He hadn’t said anything, but she could tell anyway. They knew each other well enough to read what the other one was feeling.
Damn, this was bad.
“Have you called them yet?” Guy asked her. Did he have to be up in her face all the freaking time?
“I’m about to,” she said briefly. “They’re not home yet.”
“Do it as fast as possible. It’s important.”
“Yes, I’ll call them,” she shouted. God, he was annoying. “I said I’ll call them when they get home!”
“Don’t yell at me, Connie. I’m just trying to help me.”
“Easy for you to say, it’s not your parents. It’s not your money. Even if it was, it wouldn’t be such a big deal for you, since your family has money.”
“Don’t get started on that again,” he warned her. “You know that it’s not like that. Talking about money is obviously a problem for us. It just gets us more separated. Let’s not drag that up again, okay?”
Connie gave him an angry stare. It was wrong to take it out on him, but he was the only one who knew. Why couldn’t he be a little more supportive?
“This sucks,” she mumbled.
“Of course it does. I just can’t believe why you took the money in the first place. It was a stupid thing to do.”
There were only two things to choose from, either to burst into tears and cry, or kick his ass. This must be how Cecilia felt when she started her fights with Fred.
“Stop telling me that!” she yelled. “Don’t you think I know that already? Stop telling me how stupid I am, and help me instead!”
She combined her two choices, by starting to cry and hit him at the same time. She was glad that the others were nowhere near. They were probably down at the beach or something. She hadn’t seen them in quite some time, actually.
“Okay, Connie, calm down.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace. This was the last thing she wanted. To let him see her cry. To bury her face into his shoulder and let him comfort her. It might sound good in theory, but it was the absolute last thing she wanted.
“It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay, I promise.” Easy for him to say. It wasn’t his parents. Not by a long shot. He wasn’t from a poor family. He never had to take care of his younger sister after practise every day, until his parents came home from work. His mother was always there, ready with dinner, as soon as he walked through the door.
When she finally got rid of him, after some pampering, she decided to call home. She felt sorry for Fred’s dad, who had to explain for his company all the strange calls made by them this week.
It was her brother who answered. Not Ben, he was probably spending his spring break getting drunk somewhere.
“Hello?”
It was a long time since she’d spoke to her little brother. Maybe he’d forgotten all about her by now?
“Hi Daniel, it’s me, Connie.”
There was a piercing yell and a loud crash at the other end of the line. What now?
“Daniel? Hello?”
“It’s Connie,” she heard him scream. “It’s Connie from A.L.”
A.L.?
“Daniel? Are you there?” A long silence followed, until her mother answered. Connie wasn’t prepared for that, so she almost fell off her chair when she heard the familiar voice. Now was the time to start with the explanation. This was going to be ugly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Well, well, well. This was just great.
She hadn’t had the nerve to tell her mother about the money. Now she’d been giving her mother thoughts that there was something wrong with her. That she was sick or something. Maybe because she hadn’t been able to say one word without getting that feeling that her throat was as dry as a bone.
“What did they say?”
Great. Guy was still breathing down her neck.
“They were... upset. I guess I’m not allowed to live until I turn twenty-one.”
“Live? That’s kinda harsh. Are you sure that’s what they said?” Guy smiled at her.
“I might have misinterpreted it.”
“I’m proud of you, Connie.”
God, she hated those words. It sounded so patronizing. He could’ve just told her that she had just done the biggest mistake of her life. At least that would’ve been the truth.
She was just about to answer something bitter, when Cecilia came bursting into the room. She was carrying a load of bags and looked very content with herself. She turned around and whistled.
“Luis, for crying out loud, hurry up.”
“If you ever whistle for me again, I have to break your neck,” Luis muttered. His mood didn’t seem to have improved after a day with Cecilia. “Here are your bags. You know, if you’d used your money for charity, you could feed a small world country.”
“Well, when I’m done with this stuff, I can donate them to Africa.”
“Yeah, coz they are really in the need of the Counting Crows latest album. And they’d really appreciate your new denim jacket.”
“Maybe they will, what do you know about it? There’s always room for ‘hard candy’, right?”
“Where the hell do you get your money from? Is your father some kind of millionaire or something?”
“No,” Cecilia replied. “After all the shifts I’ve worked at Rainbow, I’m worth this. It’s the first pay-check I’ve got with more then two zeros after each other.”
Connie sighed. Even Cecilia had money. This was bad.
“What have you two been doing?” Cecilia asked her. “Nothing too gross, I hope.”
“You should talk,” Guy grinned. “You’re just jealous, because Fred’s not hanging out with you.”
Cecilia threw her team-jacket at him. “You couldn’t be more wrong, Germaine.”
“Well, let me have a try before you make such a statement. Connie, are you ready?”
Huh?
“Uhm, for what?”
“I asked you if you wanted to go to the beach. Do you?”
“I guess.” No, actually she wanted to crawl into bed and grieve for her lost money. Not go to the beach and watch Fred drown Cecilia.
“I’ll put these bags away, and then I’ll go with you. Luis?” Cecilia asked.
“No, forget it. I agreed to go shopping. I’m not up for any more of this ‘Cecilia-spirit’ routine. You’re too hyper for me. I’ll rather...”
“Kill yourself, yes, I know.”
Actually, Luis’s mood didn’t sound so unappealing right now. He was basically just as down as she was.
“Well, you can stay. Guy, wanna tag along?”
”Yeah,” he answered. “You sure you’re not up for this?”
The last question was directed to Connie. She nodded. This was just too perky for her humour.
Guy and Cecilia left to catch up with the others, and Luis went over to the stairs. “Aren’t you gonna keep me company?” she asked.
“Nah, you can entertain yourself, I’m going to mope around in my room.”
Was he still angry about what happened between them last year? For God’s sake, it had been several months ago. Exactly a year, to be precise. Was he actually that resentful?
“Luis?”
“Yeah, what is it, Moreau?”
“You’re not angry with me, are you? Because of the whole...”
“No, forget about it,” he interrupted. “That was a long time ago.”
He went up the stairs and turned to face her. “Just don’t ever do that again, Connie. It’s just not worth it.”
So, he was pissed. Funny, he could spend a day with Cecilia, but not have a conversation with Connie. What had she done that was so awful? Okay, she’d been treating him bad when she used him to get Guy jealous, but Cecilia had done the same thing.
Why did Cecilia always get all the advantages? Was it so selfish to ask for a little understanding?
Luis slammed the door to his room; she could hear it all the way down to the living room. This was unfair. He was mad at her, but not at Cecilia. He could talk to Fred, but he avoided Guy. Even though Fred had been ten times worse to him then Guy had.
Connie went up the stairs. She was going to settle this once and for all. Luis could be as stubborn as he wanted, but she was pretty stubborn too.
She didn’t even knock on the door, she just burst in.
If she couldn’t take out her anger and frustration at Guy, someone else had to take the outburst.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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