The Garden of Eve 8

...chapter 8...

 

Free Fall

            “What do you think?” Morgana asked Eve, they were in one of the rooms in Mario’s townhouse getting dressed from Arias New Year’s party. 

            “Mario is going to lock in his room,” Eve replied in Morgana laughed.

            “It was Kyle’s idea to have a pajama party, besides when I sleep with Mario I don’t usually wear anything,” she said looking in the mirror. She was wearing a black lace almost completely see through bustier with black skirted panties and her new stilettos. Maybe it was a bit much but she wanted to be the hottest girl at the party.

            “I know most girls will wear lingerie but Mo you’re naked,” Eve said.

            “I deserve attention, I’m hot,” she replied heading out the room and downstairs to find Mario. He would definitely like her party attire, right? When she found him he was in the kitchen with Kyle, they both froze when they saw her.

            “You look hot Morgana,” Kyle said while shamelessly staring at her.

            “Get your a*s back in that room and put some clothes on,” Mario told her looking completely un-amused. Before this he never tried to tell her what to wear, usually he encouraged her wild ways.

            “What you don’t think I’m sexy?” She asked hoping up on the counter and crossing her legs.

            “I’m serious Mo,” he said and this time he seemed angry.

            “I think I’ll leave you two alone,” Kyle said. As he passed he looked her over again and she knew Mario saw.

            “What’s up with you?” She asked Mario when they were alone.

            “Put clothes on now,” he ordered. This was unlike him, he really looked annoyed.

            “Mario it’s a party, I want to have fun,” she told him. At first he hesitated but he leaned on the counter where she was sitting and stared her straight in the eyes.

            “I don’t want anybody looking at what’s mine,” he told her. He pulled her down off the counter and held her close to him.

            “You bought me these shoes,” she whispered.

            “Yeah I did get you $600 shoes that you just had to have,” he replied.

            “You do think I’m hot don’t you?” She asked pouting slightly and he actually smiled then kissed her.

            “If you wear that every guy at this party will want you and I don’t feel like fighting my friends,” he said. “Wear that in our bedroom, not to the party. So you gonna put something on?” He whispered in her ear, when he was being all cute and sweet, how could she say no?

            “I guess I could change if I can wear this for you later,” she said suggestively. Even though she wanted to get attention, she knew she was going to be the hottest girl no matter what. Besides that she didn’t want to ruin the party for Mario.

            “Baby, before this night is over I’m gonna have you in a lot less,” he said and she smiled. “We haven’t done anything in the last few days but I will make up for that tonight,” he told her then kissed her. “Now please change before people start arriving.”

            “Ok fine,” she said heading up the steps. Kyle was at the top of the steps looking at her in a way that actually made her feel uncomfortable.

            “Too bad he’s making you change,” Kyle said. There was so much lust in his eyes that now she understood how Mario could get mad. This was his cousin and if his cousin would stare at her like this then his friends and frat brothers would be worse.

            “Well he was right, nobody needs to see my hot a*s but my man,” she told him then walked pass him and back into the room with Eve, who was no longer alone.

            “What did Mario say?” Eve asked she was lying on the bed with Neil; Morgana threw herself down on the bed with them.

            “He said my a*s is his and nobody else needs to see it,” she told them.

            “That’s not surprising,” Neil said. She noticed unlike his cousin, Neil wasn’t trying to check her out, of course he wouldn’t, besides she’d changed in front of him before at Eve’s house.

            “No offense but Kyle is way creepy,” Morgana said. “The way he kept looking at me made me feel sick.”

            “And what you didn’t think that all the guys at the party would look at you?” Eve asked and she shrugged. “And Mario is definitely way too possessive for you to be looking like that, I could tell at formal,” Eve went on.

            Morgana thought a moment; she looked over at Eve with her shorts and tank top. Clearly after the pimps and hoes party she was playing it safe. She really wanted to do what she wanted to do and not let Mario’s jealousy get in the way of her fun. At the same time the way Kyle looked at her made her want to dress like a nun. It was going to be weird with him sleeping here tonight too. It wasn’t until now that she ever thought of Mario being possessive. But usually when they were out at a party or something she was making out with him. Now that she really thought about it he didn’t really ever leave her alone and he did keep his arms around her almost all night at formal. Mario being possessive wasn’t that big of a deal though, she actually kind of liked it. But Kyle Jay’s creepiness was a problem. All she really knew about him was that he’d been best friends with Mario in high school. Since Morgana didn’t really talk to any of the Jays during most of high school she never really spoke to him. Besides that they were seniors when she was a freshman. She was pretty sure that her sister probably had a crush on Kyle because Tessa liked every hot guy.

            “Kyle probably doesn’t take your relationship seriously since Mario has never been one for commitment,” Neil told her. “So he might think that you’ll do something with him, it’s happened before with other girls.”

            “That’s gross,” she replied. “So what Mario is being all possessive cause he knows Kyle wants to have sex with me?” She asked and Neil nodded.

            “And you’re his first real girlfriend and he loves you, so he doesn’t want anybody looking at you and wants everybody to know you’re his,” Neil said.

            “But you aren’t like that with Eve,” she said and he shrugged.

            “What don’t you think someone might steal me away?” Eve asked Neil and he laughed.

            “Because I know you aren’t going anywhere, you’re all mine,” he said.

            “Ok before you two get all disgusting, what am I going to wear?” Morgana asked, she could see an Eve-Neil make out-love session coming a mile away.

            “Wear a pair of his boxers over your panties, I have a tank top you can wear,” Eve suggested. “That way your behind is covered and he can’t complain,” she said.

            “I think he’d prefer it if you wore pants, that way he wouldn’t have to worry about anybody looking at you too much,” Neil said.

            “I think this jealous boyfriend thing is kind of cute,” Morgana said thoughtfully. “I think I will go take the boxers he’s wearing right now,” she said. “I would wear pants but come on I wore way less at the last party we went to and he was fine. Then again that was the night ya’ll got drunk and he made me mad,” she said as she was heading out the door.

Morgana walked down the hall to Mario’s bedroom, which she felt like was hers too. Today she’d just chosen to get dressed in another room with Eve, mostly because she wanted to surprise Mario with her outfit. His reaction wasn’t at all what she’d expected, but she wasn’t going to dwell on it, clearly he just didn’t want her to get any unwanted attention. When she opened the door to the room she’d expected to find Mario getting dressed for the party. Even though she knew that he didn’t normally wear pajamas, especially when she spent the night. What she found was Mario standing over by the open window smoking a cigarette. When he turned to see her standing there he hurried to put it out, looking very embarrassed.

“I thought you were changing?” He asked her as if nothing was wrong.

“Wanted to borrow something,” she said. “So since when are we smoking?” She asked, it didn’t escape her notice that he also had an open can of beer on the dresser.

What was going on with him lately? For most of the last week he’d been acting very weird and didn’t seem to want to spend time with her. She slept over most of the nights since he moved in, but he suddenly didn’t seem to want to touch her. There hadn’t been any reason to make a big deal about it; she knew he wanted to hang out with his friends that were home from school. So she’d let him have his space, but since she’d been with him he never smoked. And she knew he wasn’t that big on drinking, so why was he doing it now before the party? She never dated smokers and she herself didn’t really drink so she hated guys that liked to get drunk all the time.

“It’s not a big deal, I just do it sometimes when I’m stressed,” he said. Then he pulled her to him and kissed her, it took a lot of her not to push him away. “What’d you need?” He asked all she could think of was how he reeked of cigarettes and so did his room. It made her not want to spend the night here.

“I was coming to take your boxers off,” she told him and he looked intrigued. It was a change from the way he looked a minute ago, like he didn’t want her to know what he’d been up to. That was why people locked doors; she thought but decided not to mention it.

“Really?” He asked pulling her down on to the bed with him, clearly he’d decided that he wanted to have sex with her again, for once she wasn’t in the mood.

“Mind out of the gutter sweetie, I just need them for my new outfit,” she told him and he pouted at her. She felt like she had jut entered into the twilight zone all suddenly.

            “I’ll give you whatever you want, if you give me a little something,” he said suggestively. Was he for real? She knew exactly what he wanted and there was no way she was doing that right now.

            “Aren’t we supposed to be getting ready for the party?” She asked hoping it would change his mind, but she knew it hadn’t.

The lusty look in his eyes usually turned her on; right now all she could think of was that cigarette smell and his odd behavior. Maybe things would settle down and become normal later? She really hoped so and she hoped that he wouldn’t get drunk. The last time he had he treated her like she was only around to have sex with him. And Morgana Wrecker was nobody’s w***e or plaything, despite what some people may have heard. Mario knew that better than anyone, didn’t he?

“Who cares? I didn’t want to have this stupid party anyway, Kyle did,” he said. “I just happen to have my own place now and he can’t have a party at his parents’ house. What I wanted was to spend the night with you,’ he told her. For some reason she wasn’t sure that she should believe him.

“Too late to back out now,” she replied and he shrugged. Before he could try to get her to do something she got up from the bed. “I think I’ll just steal some out of your drawer,” she said. When she opened his underwear drawer she found more than she’d been looking for. There was a half empty liquor bottle and a half pack of cigarettes. Instead of saying anything, she just closed the drawer.

“Mo,” he said, he was standing behind her now.

“I think I’ll just wear Eve’s sweat pants,” she said turning and heading for the door.

She was determined to avoid talking about this. Did everything have to be talked about and explained? He was two weeks away from his 20^th birthday and he was in college, so this wasn’t abnormal. She just hadn’t thought that he was the type of guy that she usually stayed away from. But it didn’t matter right? Because she loved him? Maybe this whole thing was just some illusion or a dream or something. She didn’t want to think about it and certainly didn’t want to talk about it. So she was going to get dressed and pretend it never happened. Why should she judge him for being human? Maybe she could get pass this grossness if he just didn’t come near her smelling like cigarettes and definitely didn’t kiss her after drinking.

“What you can’t understand that I maybe need a break sometimes? A lot has been going on in my life,” he said. “My grandparents have been on my last nerve because of you, my family is a mess and your psychotic sister won’t leave me alone,” he went on sounding more frustrated with every word. Never since they’d been together had he attempted to raise his voice at her, until now. They never had a fight before either.

“I said nothing,” she replied. “But yeah I know my crazy sister has been being a jealous b***h, I have to live with her. And really you knew your grandparents were judgmental and narrow minded, oh and yeah your parents have never loved each other so you should be happy they’re splitting up. Life sucks and it’s full of drama, whatever, I don’t care what you do. I’m not judging you,” she said trying not to yell. If she didn’t get away from him soon she knew she might not want to be near him ever again.

“I’m just saying it’s not a big deal, I don’t drink and smoke all the time,” he said.

“Sure, whatever, it’s your life,” she said trying to get closer to the door.

“I’m not getting drunk tonight,” he said very unconvincingly.

“Ok, fine,” she replied trying so hard to stay calm. “I’m going to go get dressed before anybody shows up,” she told him. But as she feared it was too late, he shook his head and she knew whatever he was going to say would be something he regretted.

“This is ridiculous,” he said laughing humorlessly to himself. “If I want to do something I can, I don’t have to listen to some silly little girl just because I have sex with you. I’ve heard so many things about you Mo, were you planning on hooking up with some guys at the party? You were already trying to get my cousin’s attention,” he said. There it was something he could never take back. Now she had to go home, there was no staying here of forgiving him.

“You know I’m over this whole stupid relationship thing,” she said yanking her necklace off and throwing it at him. Then she left the room before he could say anything and went back to the other room, where Eve and Neil were making out on the bed.

“What’s wrong?” Eve asked her when she looked up, but Morgana was already putting her jeans back on.

“I’m done with him,” she said. The worse part was that she felt like she was going to cry and she could hear Tessa in her head.

“What happened?” Eve asked sounding all concerned, like a good friend would.

“I don’t wanna talk about it, I’m going home,” she replied trying to gather all her stuff up.

“I’ll come with you,” Eve told her and Morgana turned to look at her.

“No, stay here with Neil, have fun,” she said.

“Neil doesn’t mind, right?” Eve said and Neil shook his head, but he did look a little disappointed. “Mo, you’re my best friend and I know you’re upset,” she went on.

“I’ll give ya’ll a ride home,” Neil said getting up and leaving the room. For some reason Morgana got the feeling that he knew something she didn’t. Or maybe it was just weird because she’d broken up with his brother?

“You don’t have to do this,” she told Eve who was getting dressed.

“I do, Neil and I can be together anytime,” Eve told her as if it didn’t matter, but she knew it did. “Besides I’m way over partying, the last one took a lot out of me,” she said.

“You’re amazing Eve De Marco,” Morgana said and Eve hugged her.

She was determined not to cry, she wasn’t some weak lovesick little girl. This was exactly why she didn’t get attached. Mario was such a liar with all his love stuff, she hated to admit it but maybe Tessa was right about him. All she knew for sure was that she was never going to get into this type of situation again. Love was something that some people found, but not her. As they were heading out she considered giving back the shoes and the Iphone Mario bought her, but decided against it. She loved these shoes and had grown attached to the phone; she did deserve something after she’d had her heart broken. But she vowed never again, nobody was ever going to get this close.

 

 

Eve woke up when her cell phone rang, the ringtone was Neil’s. The clock beside her bed said that it was almost four in the morning. Why would he be calling her now? The last time they spoke he was going to bed, that was almost two hours ago. She really hoped that he didn’t want to come over unless it was just to sleep. After leaving Mario’s townhouse earlier that evening she spent the night with Morgana who was pretending not to be upset and broken hearted. They watched MTV’s countdown show and ate ice cream, while her parents were at Morgana’s house where the Wreckers were having a party.

“I am asleep Mr. Jay,” she whispered in the phone, Morgana was asleep on the day bed across the room.

“Morgana’s there right?’ He asked to her surprise.

“Of course,” she replied. Maybe Mario was going to come apologize?

“Eve, there’s been an accident,” he said and she sat straight up. “I tried to call her but I guess her phone is off. Kyle was driving Mario over to your house to see her because Mario kept saying how he needed to talk to her. They were both really drunk and high and Kyle was driving. They went off the road,” he told her.

“Oh my God, are they ok?” She asked not trying to be quiet now, but Morgana didn’t stir anyway.

“Mario isn’t as bad as Kyle is,” he replied but she knew none of it was good. “I know she’s mad at him, but if she wants to come over to the hospital I’ll come get her.”

“Are you ok?” Eve asked him knowing that this had to be hard for him. His brother was hurt and he’d just been getting over what happened to Corrina. Neil and Mario were really close and spent a lot of time together, so she couldn’t image what could be going through his mind right now.
            “I’m fine, just talk to her and call me back,” he said. It was clear that he didn’t want to talk about it and she wasn’t going to push the subject.

“Ok, I’ll wake her up and call you back,” she told him.

“Alright,” he said, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said and they hung up.

How was she supposed to do this? Morgana was so mad at Mario even though she tried to pretend like she wasn’t. And Eve understood because he’d said some mean things to her. But she knew that Morgana would want to be to be there for him because despite the way she was acting she loved him. Fate was so cruel for this to happen right now. Why tonight after they had a fight? If Mario had died, Morgana would probably never recover. How could she be expected to after Corrina and then Mario? But thankfully Mario was still alive, though Eve had no idea what condition he was in. She clicked on the light, then dragged herself out of bed and crossed the room to wake Morgana. This made her wonder what had happened after Corrina had died. Did Ana get a call that morning and had to tell her daughter that she would never see her best friend again?

“Morgana,” Eve said shaking her arm.

“Are you going to have sex with Neil? I know it was him calling,” Morgana groaned without opening her eyes.

“No, something happened to Mario,” Eve told her and Morgana’s eyes flew open.

“What?” Morgana asked in a panicked voice as she sat up.

“Him and Kyle were in a car accident,” she told her.

“Where is he? Is he ok?” Morgana asked and ad to tears in her eyes. Clearly earlier was forgotten because she still loved Mario.

“Neil said he’s ok and that he will come pick you up and take you to the hospital,” Eve told nodded.

“I wanna go,” Morgana said like Eve knew she would. “Will you come with me?” She asked and Eve nodded, there was no need to ask of course she was going.

Both Neil and Morgana needed her to be there for them and Mario had become one of her good friends. There was never a question in her mind as to if she would go or not, she had to. This was a weird way to start a new year, with drama. Hopefully this wasn’t a sign of things to come. All she knew was that fate wasn’t playing nice, but she hoped that things would be looking up from now on.

 

 

This was like a scene from a nightmare or a horror movie. She walked down the quiet, clean and cold hallway of the hospital; it was somewhere around five in the morning. Hospitals were her least favorite places to go; it was a step above funeral homes. But hopefully she wouldn’t be going to any funerals anytime soon. Someone had told her where to go but she wasn’t sure who because she was in a daze. There was Mario lying on a bed behind a curtain. His whole left arm was bandaged up to his shoulder; he had oxygen going into his nose. This wasn’t how she imagined her New Years to be, it was supposed to be fun and she was supposed to be happy. Mario was an idiot and she was happy he was alive so she could tell him that.

“You came,” he whispered, she hadn’t realized he was awake.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t still hate you,” she told him going to take a seat in the chair by the bed.

“I was coming to apologize,” he said.

“You’re an idiot you know that?” She asked feeling her anger actually slip away.

“Yeah I am for a million and one reasons,” he said. “I love you so much and I kept thinking that I needed to tell you that and tell you I’m sorry.  I’ve been stressed out and stupid,” he said shaking his head. Which actually looked like it hurt him to do.

“So are you going to tell me why you suddenly think I’m such a w***e? You use to think my skimpy clothes were cute,” she said.

“I still think everything about you is cute,” he said smiling at her. “But it wasn’t about you, I think I just felt like I should push you away, I don’t know. I was kinda of drunkish and kinda high and there you were, it was easy to just take it out on you. But I really am sorry,” he told her. “Mo, I found out something that makes me think differently about my whole life. There was one thing Tessa wasn’t exactly lying about.”

“Explain please,” she ordered, while bracing herself for the worse. This definitely had to be something she didn’t want to hear if Mario was this stressed over it.

“I got a girl pregnant,” he said avoiding her eyes. “It was in high school and before she could tell me about it Mimi ‘took care of it’. She told me that day she came over, she paid the girl to keep her mouth shut and not have the baby. I have no idea how Tessa knows,” he said.

“For a minute she just stared at him, and he finally looked her in the eyes again. It wasn’t that surprising that Mimi would do something like this. No wonder he was acting weird, his mother got rid of a baby he never knew he had. But how did Tessa know? As long as the reason wasn’t that it was Tessa that got pregnant, she didn’t really care. None of this excused his behavior or the things he’d said to her. She hated being so attached, she felt bad for him when she wanted to hate him. What he said and the way he’d been acting had actually hurt and she’d come close to actually crying. That was unacceptable, she was never going to admit it, but Eve knew.

“Mario, I love you, but if you ever act like that again I’m done. This is you’re only second chance,” she told him.

“Don’t worry Mo; I will be on my best behavior from now until forever. No more drinking or anything for me, it’s not worth it,” he said taking her hand. “I was so stupid to listen to Kyle; Neil kept telling me that I could see you in the morning. But I couldn’t stop talking about you and Kyle thought if I got drunk I would shut up, he was wrong. Then once Neil went to bed, Kyle said we should just come see you. I knew we shouldn’t, but here I am,” he said.

“You’re both alive, so try not to think about it too much. And you both learned a valuable lesson about drinking and driving. But yeah you are both so stupid,” she told him. “Even though I was pissed at you, I would hate you so much more for dying before I could kick your butt,” she said and he smiled.

“I want to kiss you but as you can see I can’t move too much,” he said and she rolled her eyes.

“Sure, it’s more like you want me to do all the work,” she said getting up from her chair to kiss him.

“Why is she here?” Mimi’s voice was like nails on a chalkboard, she always seemed to pop up when nobody wanted her around.

“You’re son almost died and this is how you act?” Morgana asked her, though she wouldn’t have wanted to deal with baby mama drama, she hated Mimi for what she did. It gave her a whole new reason to dislike Mimi, pretty much anything could give her a reason to hate Mimi.

“It was your fault,” Mimi replied. “I know he was coming to see you.”

“Mimi why are you here? I told you I don’t want to see you again,” Mario said in obvious annoyance.

“You are my son, even when you are acting foolishly,” she said. “My son needs his rest, so go home girl. You are a curse; Corrina was friends with you and look what happened to her. Now you want to take another child from me?” Mimi asked Morgana, it took all her strength fir Morgana not to strangle this woman.

“Mario, haven’t your told her about the baby? We’re going to be family soon Mimi, aren’t you excited?” Morgana asked, the look on Mimi’s face made her want to laugh but she held it in.

“Another mess to clean up,” Mimi said turning to head out the door. “I think I’ll enjoy this one most of all,” she said disappearing.

“Morgana,” Mario said. “You aren’t really pregnant are you?” He asked and she tried to look hurt.

“Why? Wouldn’t you love our child?” She asked, but she realized too late that this wasn’t funny considering the circumstances.

“Of course I would, but as you may have noticed I can’t really take care of a baby right now. It would be horrible timing,” he said.

“Well no need to worry honey pie, I’m too young for kids, and I’m going to prove to my mother that just because she got knocked up at 16 that it doesn’t mean I will,” she told him. “Anyway you do need to rest, so I should go,” she said but he grabed her wrist.

“No, stay with me, being near you makes me feel better,” he said.

“I guess Nurse Mo could take care of you, but quit with all this mushy stuff its making me sick,” she said and he laughed. “Ya know this gives me an excuse to buy a s****y nurse uniform, so I can take care of you my poor baby.”

“Take my credit card then,” he told her.

“You’ll regret that,” she said as she leaned back down to kiss him again. Right now there wasn’t anywhere in the world that she’d rather be then by his side.

 

 

When she woke up in the morning she’d known something was wrong. Though she wasn’t sure what and everything appeared to be fine. Today was the day that Mario was going home from the hospital, so Neil was dropping her off to see Claira before taking his brother home. After the past two days she was hoping desperately for a break from drama. This wasn’t how this year was supposed to begin; she’d envisioned spending time with her boyfriend and friends. But that turned out to be a big mess for Mario and Morgana. Eve just hoped that nothing in her own life got crazier. Hadn’t she already had enough drama in the past 16year? This year had to be different, it had to be a good one, or so she hoped. Because there really wasn’t much more she could handle.

The feeling that something was wrong was even strong as Eve road the elevator up to the third floor where they kept the adolescences. It seemed to take the elevator forever to get there and Cathy was calling her cell phone. Wasn’t she supposed to be on vacation the rest of the week? She decided that she would call Cathy back later once she was done visiting Claira. When the elevator finally reached the third floor and she got off, she realized that she wouldn’t have to call Cathy back. There Cathy stood at the nurse’s station talking to Claira’s doctor, a security guard and one of the nurses. They all watched her as she approached; something had to be terribly wrong.

“Eve I was trying to call you,” Cathy said, for once she wasn’t all perky and smiling like usual. She waved the cell phone she had in her hand at Eve, like she didn’t know what a phone was. “Your sister is missing,” she went on.

“Excuse me?” Eve was in shock, at this point the other people Cathy had been talking to had walked away.

“It’s possible that she had help from your mother,” Cathy said. None of this should have been surprising to Eve.  

Now everything was becoming so clear to Eve, she was so stupid. Claira faked the whole thing to get herself out of trouble. How could she have been so blind? This was a classic Claira move, more drama now, which she had been hoping to escape. Now Claira and Sanoe would get together and double their efforts to come after her. Eve felt so stupid, why had she trusted Claira this time? Why did she think her sister could change?

“So what now?” Eve asked Cathy, she tried not to sound as annoyed as she was.

“Well we have alerted the authorities, but you know better than anyone else that they are hard to locate. Of course we know they will more than likely try to contact you. That being said we can have some protection put in place for your safety, if you want. Whatever you think will help you feel safe and hopefully keep them at bay,” Cathy said. She was read to take down an instruction in her day planner.

“I’ll get back to you,” Eve told her. “Right now, I think I’ll just go home,” she said. Cathy took her hand and squeezed it encouragingly.

“Monday I will come over after school and meet with your parents,” Cathy said and Eve just nodded.

She said her goodbyes to Cathy who was going back to talk to the doctor. Eve walked back down the hall to the elevators; she was going to walk down to the main hospital to meet up with Neil and the others. As she walked down the hill she couldn’t help but to feel so stupid for falling for Claira’s act. Was she so desperate to have her sister back that she was so easily fooled? She’d thought that Claira could change and fit into her new life. Clearly she was wrong and it was time to let go of any hope she had left for her sister. Now she would have to play keep away from her evil mother and sister. The whole thing was getting tiring and old, maybe giving up would be easier. She wasn’t sure she had much more fight in her. No matter what she did or where she was, they would come find her and make her miserable. Though she didn’t want to give up her life here and her family, she was tired of fighting. All Eve knew for sure was that anything could happen now.

 

 

Mario was lying in his bed trying to make his head stop pounding. It seemed like his headache was getting worse every second. He never wanted to drink again no matter what and no more parties. But he was lucky right? He could have died, the car flipped over and Kyle’s head went through the window. All Mario had was a lot of pain, cuts, bruises and a useless left arm. There were bandages all the way up to his shoulder and he had a cast on because of his broken wrist. His arm was supposed to stay in the sling a lot to help it heal, but it was annoying. Kyle was so much worse though, with his fractured skull and broken ribs. Still they were both alive, so they were lucky, right? Right now he didn’t feel so lucky, but he was alive.

After Morgana had left the other night he wanted to call the party off, but people start showing up. For some odd reason he let Kyle convince him that getting drunk would make him forget her. A few times that night he’d come close to doing something he regretted. Even if Morgana said they were broken up it would still be like cheating. Besides that all he really wanted was her. Neil had tried so hard to calm him down and get him to stop drinking, but he didn’t listen. And he’d known getting in that car was a mistake, but he did it anyway. His mind had been fixated on seeing Morgana and telling her he was sorry. The only reason Kyle even wanted to take him to see her was because he was sick of Mario talking about her. Because they couldn’t listen to Neil and just go to bed, they almost died.

Most of this whole mess he blamed on Mimi. She was the one who wanted to play God. How could she do this? It wasn’t that he wanted kids, because he was too young for that, but it wasn’t right. Shouldn’t he have had a say in what happened? Sure he’d clearly been irresponsible, but he was a different person back then and it was high school. If he never would have found out about this his life would be a whole lot simpler. His already high stress level went through the roof when she’d told him what she’d done. There wasn’t anything he could do to change the past, so there was no need to contact the girl in question. As far as he was concerned he never wanted to see or hear from her again. But what he didn’t understand was why he cared so much. One day he wanted to have a family, probably with Morgana, but right now he was still in school and she was in high school. It would be way too much trouble for that now.

“How’s my patient doing?” Morgana asked when she came into the room.

“Wishing he could hold his woman,” he grumbled.

“You will be fine soon, just a few weeks,” she said sitting next to him on the bed. “Besides my uniform will be here on Monday, so I can be you super hot nurse.”

“Sounds great, but you’ll just be teasing cause I can’t do nothing,” he said.

“You act like I won’t still dress up for you once you’re all better,” she said. “For now you can look at me and I’ll inspire you’re recovery,” she told him then kissed him.

“Mo,” he whisper, she was always tempting him.

“I asked the doctor and sex is fine,” she said and he stared at her.

“Did you really ask that?” He asked, that was definitely a Morgana thing to do.

“No sweetie, but its not like you deserve it anyway, you have a lot of a*s kissing to do” she told him.

“I am really sorry about what I said to you I wasn’t thinking clearly and Kyle was looking at you,” he said.

“I’m hot, what do you expect? Anyway I’m over it, you’re just going to have to work for your lovin’ once you’re better,” she said matter of factly.

“Lay with me,” he said and she did. He wrapped his good arm around her and they just laid in silence for a minute. It was going to be awhile before he got the full use of his arm, but it was a small price to pay for his life.

“I didn’t know lying with you involved you touching me butt,” she said looking up at him.

“I can touch whatever I want,” he replied. “Shouldn’t you be spending time with your family? Isn’t that what people do during the holidays?” He asked her, it was what his family use to do before life go so weird.

“Being around Tessa for Christmas was enough, especially with her telling Nana a bunch of lies, was enough. Nana suggested I go to an all girls catholic boarding school because of that witch,” she said. “Besides you need me and you’re stuck with me until I go back to school on Monday.”

“Just move in with me,” he said.

“I want to, maybe I can convince my parents that it’s a good idea,” she said.

“That would be nice,” Mario said. His pain killers were finally kicking in; so he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. At least after all he’d gone through he did still have Morgana.

 

 

Juliet stood in the doorway of her freshly painted nursery, the walls were pink and the ceiling was painted blue with clouds. She placed a hand over her now significantly larger belly and sighed at all the boxes of furniture that needed to be put together. Damien was too busy to put this stuff together; he was very busy these days. From a young age Juliet knew she wanted a family of her own, but she never imagined marrying into such a family. Especially since she’d recently found out that Mimi hired a private investigator to follow her around and take pictures. Pictures that she sent to Damien trying to prove that Juliet was cheating on him and that she was having someone else’s baby. It was true that Juliet had a guy friend that she spent a lot of time with, but she’d never had a romantic or sexual relationship with him. Mimi’s harassment extended to bothering Juliet’s parents and siblings and calling Juliet to make threats and accusations. The constant harassment was starting to get to her and she’d had to change her phone number twice in the past few months. She was starting to question if her love for Damien was strong enough to keep putting up with this.

“Fiona Amelia Jay, what are we going to do?” She asked aloud, but of course her unborn daughter couldn’t answer her.

She headed down the hall to her office which was full of boxes with post-it notes attached to them. There were boxes stacked everywhere around the room and around her desk. They were full of wedding stuff, before she’d gotten engaged she was an event planner and mostly did wedding. The plan was to take off just until she was married so that she could plan her own wedding, but fate intervened. She’d also had to plan a wedding for her little sister. Then once she found out that she was pregnant, the date of the wedding had to be changed. Instead of moving it up, she decided they would get married after the baby came. And of course now she also had to plan Christianna’s wedding and a close friend of hers had asked her to plan hers as well. Working at home was now a lot easier since she had her own home to work in. While she like Betty and Paul just fine they were starting to suffocate her.

Betty gave her opinion on everything on everything from wedding to baby and other things. There were also the subtle hints that Juliet and Damien should have been married before having a baby. She made it seem like the whole thing was planned and like Damien had no fault. Their intention wasn’t to start a family so soon, but they hadn’t done anything to stop it either, it was all up to fate. Betty also seemed to think that Juliet couldn’t plan a wedding and that Christianna should hire someone else, she’d dropped hints about that too many times. Everything in the Jay family was drama and nobody ever seemed to mind their own business.

Life here in her own home was a lot calmer than it had been in a long time, even with Neil living there. Of course he spent a lot of the last two weeks at Mario’s townhouse and with Eve. It was weird to not have the other Jay siblings around, she had been living with them for the last two years. Now everything was different and changing. For a 26 year old she felt like she was doing pretty well for herself. An amazing fiancé, her own home, a career and soon a baby girl. The important part was that she was happy. When she’d first met Damien in college she never thought she would end up with him. He’d pursued her relentlessly and eventually she gave in, something caused her to see him in a different light. Ironically it was his love and devotion to his family that made her love him so much. The last five years they had been together was difficult at times and everybody was asking her constantly when they were getting married. She’d found out that Damien was going to ask her 3 years ago, around the time that Corrina Jay died. But now it had been well over a year since he asked and at the end of this coming summer, they would finally be married.

“Hey gorgeous,” Damien said when he entered the room.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” she replied before he came around the side of the desk to kiss her.

            “You know I like to sneak up on you,” he said. “Aren’t the girls coming over? He asked while peeking at her computer screen.

            “They should be here soon, remember they are still in high school,” she said. Tomorrow was Mario’s 20^th birthday, so Morgana and Eve were coming over so that the three of them could host a dinner party for the family.

            “Of course,” he said then he took her hands in his. “You know I was thinking we could just run off and get married,” he suggested.

            “Elope after all the hard work I’ve done? If you wanted to marry me than badly Mr. Jay then you should have done it years ago, you can wait,” she told him.

            “I just don’t want any more interference; you and Fiona are the most important people in the world to me,” he told her. “You know since everyone will be here we could put them to work and finally get Fiona’s furniture put together,” he suggested.

“Sounds great, it will be a family bonding thing,” she said smiling. There wasn’t a more perfect man in the world and despite his mothers efforts to get rid of her, Juliet wasn’t going anywhere. She could hear the door open downstairs, that meant that it was time to get cooking.

 

 

“I love Juliet, Mo and I are going to hang out with her more often,” Eve was saying on the phone.

“She’s like the mother I never had,” Neil replied. “I’m on my way so be ready,” he told her.

“Hurry up or we’ll be late for the movie,” she replied. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” he said before hanging up.

The wind blew hard s he walked down the stone steps outside of the church. He had to go to a meeting and now he was on his way to take Eve to the movies. Today was his brother’s birthday and he was staying away because he knew Mario wanted to spend time with Morgana. As usual when he was at church he didn’t lock his car, it was a test of faith. If it was meant to be stolen then it would be, but here it still was. Everybody thought he was crazy for doing this, but he still did it anyway. When he got in everything was where he left it like usual, but it did occur to him that he was crazy. It wasn’t until he started the car and looked up in the rearview mirror that he saw her. And she smiled at him like this was perfectly normal, and then climbed into the front seat.

“You know you left your car unlocked?” Claira asked, he knew if she knew he left his car unlocked then she must have been watching him.

“I’m at church, it’s not going anywhere,” he replied.

“The weirdest boyfriend Evey’s ever picked up,” she said laughing. “So did you miss me?” She asked like it was perfectly normal and they were friends.

“What do you want?” He asked her, in response she leaned over to try to kiss him.

“I wanna test drive you, see what Evey sees in you,” she said trying to climb into his lap.

“You’re insane,” he told her pushing her back into the passenger seat. “I tell you I love your sister and you do this? No wonder she doesn’t want anything to do with you.”

“That was harsh,” I just wanted to test you and see if you were for real. The things Eve said about you didn’t seem like they could be true. She has very bad taste in guys, so I’m just trying to protect her. After the last idiot I didn’t think she’d try that whole love thing again,” she told him.

“Are you going to tell me what you want?” Neil asked, she had to be trying to trick him right? Why else would she just pop up in his car?

“I need to see my sister and I know better than to go near her house, so I need you. Before you get all protective Boyfriend, I’m going to disappear because I’m not going back to Sanoe’s crazy land. When I was in the hospital I realized so many things that I was wrong about and I know you people really love here and so I’m leaving so I don’t mess it up. I just want to say goodbye and warn her about mommy dearest, she’s gotten herself into serious trouble,” she told him.

“You know she really wanted you to stay here with her right?” He asked even though he knew he shouldn’t be talking to her.

“Yeah, I know but I can’t do that, nobody tells Claira what to do. Eve needs to be here with you weird suburban people and have a normal life. I was so wrong about all the things I thought and things Sanoe drilled into my brain. The hospital actually did me some good believe it or not, I got the clarity that’s been eluding me for the last 17 years. My sister needs deserves to be happy after all she’s been though,” she told him.

“What exactly do you want me to do?” He asked hoping he wouldn’t regret it, for some reason he actually believed her.

“You’re going to see her right?” Claira asked and he nodded. “Take me with you, once you get her in your car, I’ll talk to her then neither of you ever have to see me again. And you’ll be right there to watch and protect her from me,” she said.

“Fine, but keep in mind I’m not apposed to pushing you out while I’m driving,” he replied.

“I underestimated you Boyfriend,” she said laughing.

Even though this was probably a bad idea, he finally pulled out of the parking lot. But he knew hoe Eve felt about her sister and if she didn’t get to say good bye it would really hurt her. Already she was upset even if she wouldn’t admit it because she thought that she was only going to see her sister if it involved kidnapping. He himself would give anything to get to speak to Corrina just one more time. If he couldn’t say good bye to his sister, he at least wanted to give Eve that chance. Claira had her faults but it was pretty clear she loved her sister. Neil would do anything for his brothers and sisters, so he had to believe that Claira’s love for Eve could make her change, even if it was a little bit. It now occurred to him that locking his car would probably be a good idea for the future. Nothing got stolen, but anybody could be waiting for him in his car.

 

 

“So has this been your best birthday?” Morgana asked and he considered her a moment before answering.

“Let’ see dinner with the family I do like and my hot girlfriend spending the weekend, it’s definitely top ten,” Mario replied. “Now get your a*s back over here,” he ordered. She was just coming back from the kitchen and laughed at him.

“Somebody’s horny,” she said but she came back to the couch anyway.

“What do you expect? You prance around here half naked and I have all this free time to think about you,” he said.

Today was his birthday and he was just spending the day at home with Morgana. Yesterday he was surprised to see that Morgana and Eve had helped Juliet throw him a dinner party. After his accident he was just planning on trying to ignore and forget his birthday, but he was glad they did it. His last birthday involved his friend throwing him party with strippers and a lot of alcohol. He’d gotten really drunk and had sex with two strippers, but to this day he wasn’t sure if he’d been with them at the same time. This year was a big change from last year for a lot of reasons. Maybe it was because he was growing up and changing that none it sounded appealing anymore. Kyle was usually the one that would try to plan a party, but he wasn’t in any condition to party right now. Mario was going back to school on Monday, while Kyle had to take the semester off.

“I feel like a house wife,” Morgana said while climbing on top of him.

“You don’t look like a housewife,” he told her. Though he didn’t know too many housewives, he was pretty sure they didn’t walk around the house in tight tank tops and panties. But he definitely wasn’t complaining.

“Yeah but I’ve been over here taking care of you everyday and you’ve been treating me like one,” she said and he laughed. “I want payment.”

“Its practice for when you’re my wife,” he said. As expected she stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language.

“Honey, why on earth do you think I would ever be a housewife?” She asked clearly avoiding asking about if he was serious about them getting married. He knew too well how she thought, because most of the time his mind worked the same way.

“Who’s going to stay home with our five kids? We grew up with nannies, my kids aren’t going to have that,” he said.

“We can discuss this when I have a ring on my finger and a bun in the oven,” she said. It was pretty clear the conversation was freaking her out, so he didn’t press, he didn’t know why he’d brought it up. But he forgot about it when she start undoing his pants.

“My favorite subject is sex,” he said.

“I know,” she replied and he pulled her down to kiss her.

They hadn’t had sex since Christmas and he was desperate to do it again. After Mimi had told him what she’d done, it put him off sex a bit. Especially since they’d gotten into a habit of not using condoms. When he’d come home from the hospital he was in pain and irritable. Morgana wore her s****y nurse uniform around and it drove him crazy, the last two days were the only days she didn’t wear it. Right now all he wanted to do was have sex with her and he knew she wanted it too. Just as they really got into making out, the doorbell rang.

“Ignore it,” he told her trying to pull her back down with his one good arm.

“Remember we did order out,” she said getting up.

“Put something on,” he told her and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine my overprotective man,” she said grabbing his shirt from off the chair.

The shirt she put on just barely covered her butt, but he wasn’t going to complain. Instead he just laid there on the couch waiting for her to come back. Why did they have to be interrupted? When he heard Morgana call his name in a panicked voice, he was worried. Before he could sit up she came back down the hall escorted by four police officers. This wasn’t good and he had no idea why they were here. Was this about the accident? Did something else happen?

“Mario Jay?” One of them asked, the name on his tag said ‘Spatz’.

“Yeah?” Mario was unsure of what to do, but two of the officers were talking to Morgana on the other side of the room.

“You need to come with us,” the other one said dangling handcuffs. But when he looked at Mario’s arm he put them away.

“What’s this about?” Mario asked them, then he looked back at Morgana who was visibly distraught.

“Are you aware that your girlfriend over there is 16 years old?” Spatz asked him and he nodded. “Then you’re aware that you’re breaking the law?”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Mario replied but realized too late that he’d said the wrong thing.

“Having a sexual relationship with a minor is a big deal,” the other officer said. They both looked at Mario with disgusted expressions. Was this some kind of joke?

“Especially when she’s a runaway,” Spatz said.

“This is ridiculous, are you joking?” Mario asked, earlier that day Mrs. Wrecker came to bring Morgana some clothes and she’d given him a birthday card.

“You are under arrest,” Spatz replied. He went through the whole speech and Mario just stared at him in disbelief.

“You people are insane,” Morgana yelled then she crossed the room. “Mario tell them to get out of your house,’ she said.

“Young lady, please go get dressed,” the only female officer in the room said.

“Hell no, I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said.

“Mo, do what they say,” Mario told her and she stared at him. “We haven’t done anything wrong and I don’t want you to get in any trouble.”

“Mario you know I’m not a runaway, what sense does that even make?” Morgana asked him, when he reached out and took her hand all the cops in the room looked like they were going to tackle him.

“I know that, but clearly these idiots don’t know anything,” he said. “Go get dressed, ok?” All he did was nod then she went upstairs, the female officer followed her.

“You might want to get dressed, pervert,” Spatz said. Mario rolled his eyes, then buttoned his pants back and put some shoes on.

“I’ll cooperate with this bullshit, but I want my lawyer,” he told them

“The guilty ones always do,” Spatz replied.

Mario followed them out to their car where he sat in the back like a criminal, they had a separate car for Morgana. None of this made any kind of sense, her parents knew where she was and how old he was. So who would report him? His grandparents didn’t like the fact that he was with her and that they had sex. But Betty and Paul would do anything to avoid a scandal. They didn’t believe that any private business should ever be made public that was part of the reason they disliked Mimi so much. There was his answer, who would do something like this? Mimi, she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. A woman, who paid a teenage girl to have an abortion and harassed her children for fun, was capable of anything. He never saw this one coming, but if this was really one of Mimi’s little crazy plots, he was going to get revenge.

 

 

Joan had a bad feeling as she stood in the door watching Eve get into Neil’s car. Usually Neil got out of the car and came into the house to say hi, today he didn’t. Eve said it was because they were going to be late for the movie, but he didn’t even roll the window down. Neil was one of the most well mannered teenagers she’d ever met and this wasn’t like him. Then when the car drove away way too fast, she definitely knew. So she went back into the living room and picked up the cordless phone. Eve didn’t answer her cell phone, it went straight to voicemail. A car horn hooked outside, so she went back to the door. When she saw Neil’s car park in the front of the house she dropped the phone he’d been holding. He got out and start walking up to the house. Was this some kind of trick? Did Eve maybe forget something? It was the exact same car, but she had a feeling that Eve wasn’t in it.

“Hey Joan,” Neil greeted brightly as he usually did.

“Cornelius, is Eve in your car?” She asked, but she knew the answer.

“No, I’m picking her up now,” he said staring at her confused. “Did she leave? I just talked to her like ten minutes ago or maybe fifteen, I got held up.”

“Oh God no,” she said turning and going to sit down, she felt faint.

“Joan what’s wrong?” Neil asked as he followed her.

“Before you came, Eve got into a car that looked just like yours,” she said. Her head was spinning while she tried to figure out what to do.

“Joan, I have to tell you something,” Neil said staring down at the carpet.

“What is it?” She asked but she knew it wasn’t anything good.

“Claira is in my car, right now,” he said.

“Excuse me?” There was no way she could have heard him right.

“She was waiting for me when I left the church, she wanted to say good bye to Eve,” he told her.

“Bring her in here,” she told him and he left without a word.

Joan was no fool, the only way to get eve back was this girl. So she had to put aside what she thought of Claira so that she could get Eve back. Ever since Eve came into her life everything seemed so right. Finally she had the daughter she always wanted and now she was gone. Why was the world so cruel to do this? Why were there people in the world like Sanoe De Marco who would do hurtful things to her children? Never in her life was Joan a violent person, but she really wanted to kill this woman.

Author's Note

...as always i appreciate any input/ opinions you may have.. and yeah you know my grammar is bad and theres the occasional typo here or there.. but i tried!!