[break the window]

OMG! I FINALLY ****ING FINISHED IT! IT'S A MIRACLE!

Okay, I started this story in April of 2020 because I had just been, sort of, laid off from my job because of the pandemic and a staffer testing positive within our company and our company is rather small. Then life happens, as we all know, and it took three years to complete this labor of love. I put so much into this story, I cannot even tell you.

Throughout this process I was able to put truth to the role of Ephram losing his mom because in March of 2021 I lost my mom to Covid and also my sister to Covid in about the same week. I feel like it stunted my growth a little bit. I have an idea of what it was like for Andy Brown to pick himself back up time and time again when the cards were consistently stacked against him. I did inherit my sister's very emotional hundred-pound mastador (mastiff/lab mix) which, on some occasions, was like Andy now having to deal with Ephram being a pain in the ass ninety percent of the time.

When I write stories, especially big stories, I write the entire story as an outline basically. So, it's all written, and I can update parts that I post to match how everything ends up.

This story, on a font size of 12 is 50 pages in a word document, 45,971 words. So yes, probably the biggest story I've written in quite some time. I hope you all enjoy it and comment if you like


THE OUTCAST


Chapter 1


Edna called her to walk over to the steps, sighing, this was the second attempt.

“Amy, your breakfast is getting cold.”
Not even five minutes later, Amy came rushing down, finishing her hair in a messy bun, and fixing her glasses correctly to her face. “I’m here. Sorry. I lost track of time in the shower, I guess.”
“In the shower? Do you need an egg timer?”
“No, I wanted to try something a little different with my hair. I put a bunch of products in my hair last night and forgot that it doesn’t do well and by morning I, well, had to strategically pull my hair apart. I was this close to wearing a hat.”
“If you want, I can take you to Redmond’s Salon in town, he styles your hair whichever way you want.
“Nah, not important. It’s hair, it grows back and when I get it trimmed, it’ll be back to normal.”
Edna sat down, sitting her napkin on her lap, looked again at Amy, and sighed...again. “Amy, we haven’t had a girl’s day in a while, why not go this weekend. There’s the new movie you said you wanted to see with that actor you like and we can go shopping and of course, dinner...my treat.”
“I’ll probably have mounds of homework.”
“Amy, you have more homework than anyone I’ve ever seen. Honey, you have more homework than your father did when he was in medical school.”
Amy shrugged. “I want to get into a good college.”
“You had an almost perfect score on your SATs last year, what more can you prove that any college would deny you for?’

Amy swallowed the rest of her breakfast quickly. “Grandma, thanks for this, but I have to go.”
“But...I made you lunch. It’s on the counter.”
Amy kissed her grandmother on the cheek, “Thanks Grandma,” and rushed out of the house.
“I’ll surprise her!” She spoke softly to know Amy wouldn’t hear a word of it.
Edna wrote a list of things they can do this weekend. She even thought it would be nice for Amy’s mother Rose to visit them when they stop in Denver.
“Hello.” Rose spoke softly on the other end of the phone.
“Rose, this is Edna.”
“Oh, Edna, how are you. It’s been, gosh, it’s been a little while.”
This sentence broke Edna’s heart, but not for her, but for Amy “Well, Rose, since it’s been so long since we’ve all seen each other, I was hoping you would join Amy and I when we have a girl’s weekend. I was thinking of visiting Denver. We could do room service and just be girls for a while.”

“Oh, Edna; that would be a treat. When were you thinking of coming up?”
“Oh, what about this weekend?”
You could hear shuffling of papers going on in the background, sounding like Rose was searching through her calendar to see if she had any plans this weekend. “Well, Edna, Brighton has a football game that day. What about next weekend?”

“Well, that could certainly work. I know I’m free.” Edna smiled, looking at the blank box on her calendar.
Rose sighed. “You know, Edna, I will have to get with Brighton and his agent both to see which weekend would be best. How about I call you back?”

“No, you cannot just call me back.” Edna had to get up and start pacing as she spoke. “I thought you would be thrilled to spend some time with your daughter?”

“Oh, I am. I would love to spend some time with you and with Amy, but the scheduling...”
“The scheduling? I have to get you to pencil in time with your own daughter?”
“That's not fair, Edna...”

“Rose Abbott, I have held my tongue long enough and you are going to hear this!” Edna honestly waited to see if Rose would hang up in her face, but so far, she is on the line, so Edna continued. “You and Harold, without hesitation moved to support Bright’s football career. Okay, I get it. I’m delighted to have Amy living here. But all she needs is to spend time with her own mother. A mother, who obviously picked sides and she isn’t not one of those sides. You don’t visit, you don’t call, Amy might as well be an only child. Hell, I doubt anyone new to County High School knows Bright has a sister. She’s a pretty great kid, you know, But. then again, you wouldn’t, because YOU ARE NEVER HERE!” Edna hung up harshly. She felt relieved. Partly because Edna was the one to hang up first and not get the phone hung up in her face and finally...finally, was able to speak her mind to Rose about how awful this entire situation is.
Edna sat down, looking at her list and immediately crossed Denver off the list. “Yeah, that’s probably not a good option right now.”

~*~

“Ephram, breakfast!” Julia called from the kitchen and looked up to see Deliah making her way downstairs. “Is your brother ready?”
“I don’t know, his door is closed...” She saw the look Julia made to her. “What, just because we’re twins, I’m supposed to know exactly what he’s thinking every second of the day?”
Julia sighed, taking the full plate of food away and the fork out of Deliah’s hand. “Get Ephram down for breakfast and then you may eat.”
Deliah sighed. “I’ll be right back.”
Julia smiled and very pleased with herself. “Two can play this game.” She spoke quietly to herself.
Andy kissed his wife on the cheek, while still fixing his tie. “You look happy this morning.”

“Yes, I am quite happy with my parenting skills this morning.”
“As you should be. I am in awe of you.”
“It’s like Everwood was the fix. The kids listen when I actually need them to listen. But I do give them a little leeway since we did uproot them to Everwood.”
“And I became the town doctor.”
“Yes.” She started putting Andy’s breakfast plate together. “And I got my husband back.”
Andy smiled as he started eating. “This is really good, Julia.”
“Thanks. I was looking at new breakfast ideas on the internet and would you know, there’s like thousands.”
“The internet can be a scary place. Half my patients come to me at their worst point for what they learned from Dr. Internet.”
“And you are always their saving grace.”
“I am. I just wish I could be their saving grace before they try to diagnose themselves. It would save a lot of confusion and a lot of time without them having to question me with, but I saw these pictures on the internet, and they were worse than what I have.”
“Speaking of people with questions. How is Christina Dashwood?”
“How did you know I’m her doctor?”
“Well, ‘A’, you’re the only doctor in town. And well, ‘B’, I saw her in the market, and she said for me to, and let me get this right or it won’t mean as much.” Julia cleared her throat and spoke with the best southern accent she had talent for. “That husband of yours, my gosh, he cured me like no other doctor has. I’ve been to five doctors, and they all said I was crazy, but, your husband, finally told me...I wasn’t crazy.”
“Well, there’s a little more to it than that.” Andy sipped his coffee.
“Let me finish, it gets better.” Julia smiled and cleared her throat again, continuing her southern accent. “And when he examined me, I felt like I had the hands of God around me. I felt so much better, and I knew I was in the best hands God had ever created. You know what he finally was able to diagnose me with? Sleep Apnea. I got some breathing equipment and some different medication to help me sleep better and I feel better than I did when I was in my...fifties!” Julia ended up giggling when she finished the story, continuing in her normal tone. “It was literally, the funniest thing I had heard ever since we moved to Everwood. If you cure no one else, Andy Brown, you have cured Christina Dashwood for life.”
Andy shared the laugh with his wife. “She is definitely a patient I will never forget.”
“She will certainly never forget you.”
Ephram finally came down with Deliah right behind him.
“My son, he is alive!” Julia set both plates of breakfast on the table. “Ephram, why do you take so long to get ready in the morning. You barely have time to chew your breakfast, much less taste it.”
“I value my sleep, mom.”
“Go to bed earlier...” Julia stopped when she saw Ephram mimicking what she was going to say, having heard it enough times. “You know, Andy, I think our son could use a couple of days without my famous pancakes, eggs, sausage, sometimes bacon in the mornings, what do you think?”
“Wow, not sure how to take that. What do think, Ephram?”
“That’s not fair.” He said, before drinking his juice.
“Is it fair that I slave over this stove in the morning to cook you breakfast that you barely taste? I mean, sounds, fair it me. What do you think, Delia?”
“As long as it means that I don’t have to eat my breakfast cold because I’ve had to pry you out of your room. Seriously, dude what do you do?”
“Some people care about their appearance.”
“You sound like Hannah.” Delia laughed. “You change teams or something since we moved to Everwood?”
“Ha, funny.”
“Ephram.” Julia spoke, waiting for Ephram to look at her. “All seriousness. Downstairs by eight, no later. You will have thirty minutes to eat.”
“It doesn’t take me thirty minutes to eat.” He threw it back.
“It might if you actually tasted the food.” Julia gave him a look. “Don’t throw sass at me, either.”
Andy sighed, hoping to lighten the mood. “It’s almost eight thirty, we all have to go.”
“I’m not done yet.” Ephram was still chewing his food.
“My point exactly.” Julia spoke harshly when putting out her hand for Ephram’s plate and fork.
“I’ll be so glad when I move out.” Ephram started to say. “Then I can eat whenever I want and take as long as I want.”
Andy laughed at his son. “Yeah, who’s going to cook it for you then.”
Ephram didn’t know what to say but to scowl at both his parents. Deliah was right behind both of them. “Give it up Ephram, they’re right, you’re wrong. Let’s go. Some people relish being on time. Me, being one of them.”
“How are we twins again?”
“Well, I am three minutes older, and we had to wait for you. As usual.” Deliah made a face. “Some things never change.”
“Enough!” Andy called them down when shutting the door behind them as they walked out of the house.

~*~

Hannah sat down at the desk to Ephram’s right. “You look like you’ve had a morning already.”
“Am I a slow eater?”
She laughed. “What? Where is this coming from?”
“Do I procrastinate?”

“Just about every moment of your life.” Hannah laughed. “But seriously, you and Deliah get into this morning.”

“Well, yeah and with my mom and with my dad.”
“Wow, you really have had a morning...this morning. What bought all this up.”
“I took longer to get ready this morning and I was late to breakfast.”
“You do realize your mom is like this amazing cook. You have no idea how excited I get when I’m invited to dinner.”

“Wanna come tonight for dinner. I might need a wingman...woman for dinner.”
“Yeah, I’ll go.”
Amy walked in, just as the bell rang, sitting in front of Ephram.
“Good morning seniors!” Mr. Gray bellowed, clapped his hands together. “I know you are not tired of hearing that since it’s the first week of your senior year but the end of the year, you will be glad to not hear the word senior ever again, well, until you hit senior year in college. I know I have quite the reputation around school. Yes, I do assign very hard projects every year because I want to challenge you to think. But you only hear from the students in my freshman, sophomore, and junior students. Because the senior assignments are different and seldom talked about, because they are a lot more personal.” Mr. Gray took out his workbook. “I will be pairing you up with someone else in class. So, if you think of pairing up with your best friend...like I see Ephram Brown and Hannah Rogers are whispering about.” Mr. Gray waited to get everyone’s full attention and then continued. “Think again. I have assigned you...completely at random. So, you might get someone you’re familiar with or you just might get someone you didn’t know existed and have shared at least one classroom together at least five times over the course of your life.”

Mr. Gray started to write down on the whiteboard the topics of the report.

“The topics on this board are what you will include in your report. This report will be due at the end of the term, which is at the end of the school year, which for seniors, will be in April. Now, given that this is...well...September, you think you have all year, and in fact, you do. But I don’t want, and I can tell if you do this, I don’t want you to start connecting with your assigned partner in March. I want you to really connect with these people. I’ve been assigned this project every year for a number of years, and I can tell which partners have been working on their project since the beginning and who have not. Now, I’m not saying that your project needs to start today, but the sooner the better. Because this project will count for...drumroll...seventy percent of your final grade.”

Mr. Gray waited for the moans and groans of the percentage to filter through the students’ minds.

“That is why this project has a timeline for the whole year. Give it thought, give it heart...give it your all. The topics I put on the board are just an idea of what I want you to include in your final paper. If you discover something in your findings that you want it to bring up in your paper, absolutely. Just be sure, and I cannot stress this enough, be sure to share your paper with your partner so you don’t mention something in your, and wait for it, ORAL presentation. Yes, you are giving your presentation to the entire class. So, if there is something you have learned about your partner that they are not okay with the whole class knowing about...they don’t want it being told in your paper. So, please, please, be open, be honest. Above all else, be respectful.” Mr. Gray was holding a stack of envelopes. “In my hand are envelopes, as you can see. Each of these envelopes has your name on it and inside is the name of your partner. As you leave, as you walk out of this classroom, I will be handing you your envelope. So, it is up to you and your partner to meet up, start this project and do this completely on your own. Because you are seniors and going out into the world and have a lot more real-world experience than most of the lower classes, I feel this project is appropriate. So, everything with this project and I know can trust you all, yes, I know I can. This paper will be worked on, out of class. Don’t take it upon yourselves to work on it if you happen to share a class with the partner I choose for you. Also, if you happen to dislike the person very much, I pair you up with...life is life, tough luck, figure it out. I know who I assigned you, I have it written down. So, I will know if you switch partners, you will be given a big fat ZERO!”
“So, we just work on this project, the entire year, that’s it.” A student asked.
“Class, was he listening?” Most of the class nodded and a few called out ‘no’. “No, that is not all. This project is worth seventy percent, so for those of you who can do math, there is thirty percent left over that you have to make up. But that will not lighten the workload that is also expected in Advanced Placement English Literature Class. You will have class assignments, you will have homework, in addition to this project. The reason I put so much percentage on this final paper, so if you are struggling in this class, you would benefit from a really good seventy percentage of a good grade to go towards your final grade which might be the difference in graduating or spending another year at County High. I do not apologize for my curriculum being the hardest in the state, this is advanced placement. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t smart. You’ve proven that you’re better than the senior level English Literature. Now it’s time to prove that you’re worthy of placing better than every other student that walks by this classroom and wonders why they can’t get into this class.” Mr. Gray finished with a solemn voice. “You are good walking in here and I want you to be great walking out of here.”

The bell rang, all the students started packing their things together.

“Remember, get your envelope. Today offering only. I am not going to follow you around to make sure you do this. Your seniors now, you can follow directions.”

~*~

Deliah plopped herself down at the same picnic table Ephram was eating at and took out her brown bagged lunch.
“This year is going to be the worst, thank goodness it’s the last.” She took a big bite out of her turkey and mustard sandwich. “Why, who’d you get?”
“You, first.” She nodded towards his envelope.
“I asked you first.”
Deliah rolled her eyes. “Colin friggen Hart!”
“Wow, didn’t know his middle name was...” He stopped when Deliah flung a bread crumb at him. “Maybe you’ll find out his real middle name.”
“The guy doesn’t take anything seriously. I might as well just do the project myself and make it up as I go along, not like he shows up to class anyway.”
“I didn’t know Colin Hart took AP English...is he smart enough to take AP English?”
“Trust me, I’m sure he batted his lovely brown eyes at all his teachers and told them how needs good grades to play basketball.”
“How do you know his eyes are brown?” Hannah spoke up, both of them looking at her. “What?”
Delia looked at her friend strangely. “When did you get here?”
“Um, about the moment you had your friggen freakout about having Colin Hart for a partner. I feel for you.”
“Thank you? Seriously, I’m going to fail English! Maybe, I can get some extra credit during the year.”
“Maybe it won’t be that bad.”

All three of them looked to the middle of the quad to see Colin throwing one of his textbooks like a football to someone just a few feet away.

Hannah placed her hand on Delia’s arm. “We’ll be back next year to see you graduate.”
“Yeah, you should, because I am so going to fail. Ephram, tell mom and dad for me.”
“Nope, I have my own problems.”
“Oh yeah, mom laying the smack down at breakfast this morning.”
“Yeah, Ephram told me had rounds with everyone this morning.”
“Ephram complains about never having enough time for breakfast and doesn’t come downstairs until twenty minutes after 8.”
“But school doesn’t start until nine.”
“See, someone is on my side.” Ephram looked at his friend. “Thank you, Hannah. You are definitely invited to dinner tonight.”
“What’s on the menu?”
“No idea.” Ephram shrugged.
Delia made a face. “You invite your best friend over for dinner and don’t even know what’s on the menu?”
“It’s good, mom always makes good food.”
“This is true.” Delia nodded in agreement.
Hannah nodded towards Ephram’s unopened envelope. “Who’d you get?”
“I totally forgot about it.” Ephram saw Delia roll her eyes as she was eating. “So, I have...Amy Abbott.” He shrugged again, putting the envelope back in his backpack.
Hannah and Delia spoke in unison, smiling. “The Other Abbott,” then laughed.
“Who is “the other Abbott”?”
“Bright Abbott?”

“Yeah, basketball, football, the guy is great at everything. I hated having him as a partner in gym class.”
“Amy is Bright’s sister” Hannah made a face at her friend. “She sits in front of you in English Class, like this morning!”
“Wait, someone sits in front of me in Mr. Gray’s class?”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, she’s Bright’s younger sister.”
“But I thought Bright moved and his whole family moved with him when he got some big-time scholarship to some big college football program.”
“There’s stories about what happened, being a small town.” Delia continued. “Bright got this scholarship, his parents decided to follow his dream of football. Those parts are true, but what’s weird is that Amy now lives with her grandmother and isn’t really seen by anyone. Unlike her brother, who you know is within fifteen miles of you because of his personality and the crowd that follows behind him constantly. Amy is quiet, shy I would guess. Who wouldn’t be with Bright having more personality than most two people combined.”
“How do you know all this, and I don’t.”
“Well, the same reason that I have to explain that Amy Abbott sat right in front of you in English and you didn’t know she was there.”

[jediwands]

Awesome. Thanks for it. Looking forward to reading.

[break the window]

this story is in no relation to the story posted above. This is a short story, one shot if you will. I'm really inspired by Taylor Swift and her writing and I've written this story below on the song "All Too Well"...10 minute version and using mostly exerts from it.

It's based on Bright and Hannah

I hope you like it


All Too Well

Hannah stepped out of the vehicle as soon as Bright put the car in park. She loved her hometown of Everwood in Colorado. She almost felt like a Hallmark movie…almost.
“We’ll probably get about two feet tonight, so it was a good thing we don’t plan to leave until Sunday.”
“That gives me plenty of time to get to know your family.”
Bright rolled his eyes. “Yeah, they’re great.”
“You keep saying they’re great with sarcasm. They can’t be all that bad.”

Rose came out of the house, wiping her hands on the kitchen towel.

“I was hoping you two would get here before the storm really gets bad.” Rose hugged her son and looked at the woman he said he was bringing. “You must be Hannah.”
“Yep, guilty, I guess.”
“Hmm, starting that legal talk already.”
Hannah looked at Bright. “Yeah, I told mom that you’re declared to be a law major.”
“It’ll be nice having a lawyer in the family.”
“Yeah, Bright told me his dad is a doctor.”
“The town doctor. Not the only town doctor, though.”
“The only one that charges”
Hannah was loosening up a little bit. “So, there’s a doctor in town giving free medical care?”
“Yep, started it the first day he arrived in town and we all told him he was crazy, but he’s still doing it.”
“How does he have money to live if he’s providing the cost of care?”
Bright handed Hannah his phone number of the article explaining Dr. Andrew Brown’s introduction to Everwood. “He makes a million dollars a year off a patented procedure?”
“He calls it a ‘nest egg’ that he acquired in New York.”
“Quite the egg.”

Hannah walked in and definitely felt the Hallmark vibe of the Abbott household. The aroma of cookies baking with some slight decorations. She almost felt at home, almost. She laid her coat and scarf on banister that led to the upstairs, all the bedrooms, she figured.

Walking through the kitchen, she was in awe of the leaves falling, like looking at a picture. The scenery took her back to once of her first dates with Bright. They were riding home from a movie and all the leaves were falling, the air was getting damper, colder and everything felt like a picture, falling into their respective places. She wished she could go back to that night when everything felt just right.

Rose sat down at the table with them, Harold joining them soon after.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived….Mrs. Drewberry, just has to see me today before the weather would get bad out. How was the drive.”
Bright and Hannah mostly silent, but shared a smile. Hannah looked over at Harold. “It was good, lots of leaves.”
“Yes, it’s pretty to look at, but driving with the leaves getting stuck to the windows…it’s not so pretty anymore. Sometimes you can’t see a thing.”
“Like red lights.” Bright mumbled, he and Hannah laughed.
“You ran a red light, Bright?” Harold asked, sipping his wine.
“I almost did, looking at something else.” His eyes flipped back to Hannah, smiling.
“When you did you decide the law profession was what you wanted to do?” Rose putting her wine glass down, motioning to Harold to add more.
“It started with my dad, he was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease and I saw how hard my mom fought with doctors to get the proper medical care my dad really needed versus what the recommended regime and I want to help families who need to fight the system.”
Harold’s eyes focused on Hannah. “The medical profession has rules in place for the proper medical care.”
“Then how come my father never really was able to talk to a doctor and just nurses and never really got treated fairly? Really, Dr. Abbott, what are your thoughts about families having to fight tooth and nail to get, as you say, the recommended care?”

Bright sighed; rubbing the back of his head feeling like this is the night the fireworks come out at the dinner table.

“Ms. Rogers—”
“Hannah is fine, I’m dating your son, you may call me Hannah.”
“Hannah, I don’t think this is the time, nor place to have this discussion.”
“Fine, I’m okay with that. I’ll probably be on opposite sides of you in a courtroom in some way talking about how your malpractice insurance doesn’t cover my client.”
“And that is hypothetically?”
Hannah smiled, grimacing. “Of course.”

~*~

“Rose handed Hannah a photo album.”
“Abbott Family Memories…volume six.” She smiled at Rose. “How many volumes are there?”
“At least thirty. I thought this might be a good transition from the bullheaded my husband shared with you this evening.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Abbott. I wasn’t exactly looking to win any points.”
“Still, I like to get to know my son’s girlfriend first before he seeks his teeth into them.”
“Fair enough.” Hannah opened the book “Is that Bright?”
Rose laughed. “I forget that Brighton used to wear glasses.”
“When did he stop?”
“When he started playing tee-ball and little league. There wasn’t much support for glasses in little league, so we got him contacts soon after.”
“Bright played baseball?”
“Yeah, he was committed to it until he saw how many girls he could get with being on the football team.”
“How many girls did he get?”
“Just between us girls; he was all talk.”
“No action?”

Bright sat on the opposite couch, sipping the hot coffee he had just fixed himself.

“I was great at all the sports.”
“When not watching Stacey Wilson and the other girls on the cheer team throw each up in the air.”
“Mom, they’re called basket tosses.”
Harold walked in, holding one of Rose’s cakes. “Which one are we taking to the Browns’ Christmas Party?”
“The one in the aluminum foil.” Rose said without looking up.
Harold held the aluminum covered dishes in both hands. “They both have aluminum.”
Rose looked up. “Did you get the one on the right or the left of the red Tupperware container.”
“There’s three Tupperware containers in the refrigerator.”
Rose slowly handed the book over to Hannah. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” Hannah spoke quietly. She got up and sat with Bright, putting the photo album in her lap.
“Danny Green.”
“Friend of yours?”
“No, I hated the guy. He scored on every pitch you threw at him.”
“So, you were jealous?”
“I was not jealous, I don’t get jealous.”
“Did you ever ask Danny Green for help in how to be better?”
“No, I hated the guy.”
Hannah continued flipping through the pictures. “Because he was better than you.”
“Yeah, whatever you want to call it.”
“Who’s this?” Hannah pointed to a guy with brown hair that was in a lot of photos.
“Colin.”
“He doesn’t seem to be in any pictures when you were younger. Did he move away?”
Bright hesitated and then spoke. “He died.”
“I’m so sorry, was he sick?”
“No….it was an automobile accident, and I was driving and was speeding, went over a cliff and Colin was thrown from the vehicle.”
“I can see that it upsets you, we don’t have to talk about him.”
“It’s just weird because everyone in town knows so no one has to talk about him. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t know him.”
“Oh, you look happy here…. who’s the girl with the brown hair.”
“Laynie…Colin’s sister. That was Founder’s Day weekend; the day before the accident.:”
Hannah closed the photo album. “Enough memories, I think I’m drudging up all the bad ones.”
Bright put his arm around her, held her right hand in his. “I want you to know all of it…I want you to be a part of everything.”
“I do too.”

~*~

The snow was still falling that morning when Bright tossed Hannah the keys.

“Bright, I have no idea where we are going; why am I driving?”
“I want you to love Everwood and experience Everwood the same way I have.”
Hannah was excited to more apart of Bright’s life, even if it meant driving in a place she had never been. She wanted to be apart of his world, no matter how little or small he let her in.

Hannah pulled out of the driveway, finally picking which direction to pull out onto the street.

“Just drive.”
“The street ends at some point Bright, I’ll have to turn somewhere.”
“I’ll let you know.”

Hannah kept driving, waiting at stop lights. Smiling whenever she stopped at a red light, her smiling at Bright remembering how she felt when Bright almost ran the red light because he was looking at her because he was laughing at her hair going in all kinds of directions because of the wind.

They came to the end of the road that also had the entrance to the park.

“I thought we were going to the store.”
“We will, I wanted to come here first.”
“What is here?” Hannah asked, then reading the sign dedication for the Irv Harper Memorial Park.
“I feel like this place is a place that I can escape to; that we can escape to.”
“Bright, your parents are more wholesome than the Cleavers. What do you have to get away from?”
“Being the son of one of the doctors in town is one thing. Being the son of one of the best mayors this town has ever had, that’s a lot of pressure. I just come here to bring my perspective back.”
“It is pretty.”
He entwined his hand with Hannahs, looking over at her. “Now I have someone to share it with.”
“Thank you for showing me this place.”

Bright leaned over, kissing Hannah on the mouth, ending it more quickly than she wanted, and he sat there, still holding her hand. “We better get to the store before someone starts to wonder where we are.”

~*~

Hannah walked down to the kitchen, Bright was eating an overstuffed roast beef sandwich.

“Not that I’m judging because that looks really good, but you just had dinner like five hours ago.”
“I’ve mastered the art of pushing the food around on my plate and eating like every sixth time I move the food around. Apparently, that idea still works.” Bright opened up the refrigerator door, the only light filling the kitchen. “Remember that song on the radio, on the way here. The one you like with all the blues and guitar.”
Hannah finally remembered the tune. “Yeah, it was nice. Made me relax in the car a little bit.?”
“I can’t get that melody out of my head.”
“I didn’t think you liked that kind of music, Bright?”
With the refrigerator door still open, Bright took both of Hannah’s hands and slipped his right arm around her waist. “It’s a nice song to dance to.”
“I thought so too.” She let him twirl her around, landing in his arms. “Very nice, I didn’t know you liked to dance.”
“With the right partner, dancing is easy.” He let his eyes meet hers as he twirled her towards him again. “Very easy.”

Bright’s phone started to vibrate, and he grabbed it before the very loud ringtone started.

“Hey, Colin! When did you get back into town?”

Hannah let Bright have his time with his friend who he hasn’t seen in years while she cleaned up the kitchen and shut the refrigerator door. Almost immediately Bright turned on the light, illuminating the area that just moments ago felt like something serene and something that was just there for them. Hannah’s spirit damped a little bit.

“Yeah, I just got back into town too…just for the weekend. Yeah, just with friends. Come on over…tomorrow sounds great, I’ll let mom know to set another place. Oh, two places? You have a girl now? No, nothing special. Alright, see you tomorrow night. Later.”

Bright turned around to see all the kitchen cleaned up and Hannah slowly wiping the counter with a sponge.

“You remember Colin, right? He and Wendy are going to be in town tomorrow…and they’ll be over for dinner.”
“I do remember Colin. Why did it sound like you didn’t want to mention me? Mentioned you were just friends.”
“Because it’s Colin. He makes a huge deal out of every little thing. He’ll want to know when we’re getting married, having kids. All the stuff we don’t know what’s in our future for.”
“Okay.” Hannah kissed him on the lips, rubbed his chest and headed upstairs to bed.

~*~

Hannah looked at her phone, it was past three in the morning when she felt Bright crawl in the bed next to her.

“Bright, what is that smell?”
“Oh, Brandon texted, said he was in town and we went for a few beers.”
“In the middle of the night? You smell like you drank the bar.”
“I had a few too many beers, mom, and you can relax, I had someone drive me home.”
“So it’s okay you have a few beers, come home, crawl into bed with me smell like a liquor store.”
“What is the big deal? Just because you don’t drink, doesn’t mean others can’t.”
“No, Brighton I’m talking about high school when you went on benders every weekend and almost got yourself killed sixty-five thousand times. I’m talking about you going on these binges where everything is just fine until it’s not.”
“What is all of this about?”
“Does Colin know you have a girlfriend?”
Bright smiled. “I’m not attracted to Colin, if that’s what you’re asking.” He rolled his eyes, laughing at his own joke.
“Never mind.”
“Hannah.” Bright sat up, putting the pillow on his lap. “What’s going on, why are you so angry with me?”
“You told Colin you were here with friends? I thought you were with me, your girlfriend.”
“I told you, he would ask questions that neither of us are ready to answer?”
“How do you know I don’t want to answer them. I barely know Colin, he might not even ask.”
“He asks every girl I’m with when the wedding date is?”
“And I bet he was sober, too.”
“He was.” Bright paused. “Thirty-nine percent of the time.”
“Why do you not want me to meet Colin or any of your friends. I wanted to come back to Everwood to meet your friends and get to know the real you.”
“Hannah, we’ve been together for five years, you do know to real me?”
“Really? How come this weekend has been a complete eye opening experience? I’ve learned more about you talking to your mom than talking to you.”
“I just don’t talk, you know this….why are you doing this? It’s a weekend with my parents.”
“Usually the guy brings his girlfriend to meet his parents because he has a special question to ask her.”
“What question would that be?” Bright had a blank face and a lowered voice.
“If you have to ask that question, then you’re never going to ask the question.”
Bright had a light belch, he saw Hannah roll her eyes. “Okay, maybe I’m a little, teeny, tiny bit drunk.”
“Now the truth comes out, which it always does.”
“You want the truth?”
“Sure, and yes, I handle the truth, Jack Nicholson.” Hannah threw back at Bright the same thing he says to her when he’s trying to win an argument.
“I want to be that guy for you, I do. I thought bringing you home, to my parents, to where I grew up, it would change something for me?”
“Like change your feelings for me?” Hannah stood at the end of the bed; her arms folded.
“Yeah.”
“How do you feel about me, Bright?”
Bright looked at Hannah and knew this would be the break of their relationship. “I…” He cleared his throat. “I want to love you, the way you deserve to be loved.”
“But…”
“But…I can’t. I don’t feel it and I really, really…” Bright stopped when he saw Hannah change back into her clothes from earlier and throw everything into her overnight bag. “Hannah, please don’t leave. I’m just being honest.”
“You make me think, for five years that this, us might be something special only to say that you can’t find the feelings to love me.”
“I’m must being—”
“Honest, yes, I know. You said that already.” Hannah opened the door sharply and closed it softly and not wake up anyone in the house.”

~*~

The next morning Bright strolled into the kitchen to find Hannah, still dressed in the outfit she had on from last night, slowly drinking coffee.

“You’re still here.”
“Yep, turns out Colorado gets snow, Bright. Like sixteen inches of it in the middle of the night. The car is buried in it, I didn’t have the strength to start digging the car out in the dark.”
“Maybe it’s a sign…that we can work things out.”
Hannah laughed, anxiously. “You can’t love me, how can we work around that, Bright?”
“Give it some thing.”
Hannah strangled the coffee mug. “Five years…how can we work on it now if five years can’t fix it.”
“I don’t know, but I really, really want to.”
“What’s going to change? We’re going to work on our relationship today and tomorrow morning wake up as new people and have this wonderful connection? This isn’t high school, Bright. We can’t just wait for next period and have historical events burned into our brain and forget about the fight we had not even twelve hours ago.” Hannah put the almost empty mug into the sink, filled it with water from the faucet. She paused, straightening her sweater. “Who was she, Bright?”
“Who was who, Hannah?”
“The girl you turned me into thinking I could be here and wake up one day and realize that I’m not her.”
“The girl you told me you wanted to be in high school.”
“High School? We say a lot of things we don’t know what we’re talking about, we hadn’t experienced life yet.”
“That’s the difference, the person who I thought you were and the person you really were.”
“What are you talking about?” Hannah asked, watching Bright walk over to her, as she stood over the counter.
He whispered in her ear. “If you were older, you’d understand.” He put on his jacket and went out he front door.

Hannah wanted to scream and did not care who would hear her. She knew their relationship was in trouble before even coming to the Abbott home, but now, she just wanted to die.

Rose came in after hearing the front door slam. She rushed over to Hannah.

“What’s going on, what’s happening?”
“Bright….Bright is what’s happening.”
“I don’t understand, did he say something to make you so upset.”
“This was supposed to be a fun weekend, getting to know you and Doctor Abbott, but it’s a mess.”
Rose stood Hannah up. “What did my son say to you?”
“I’m not the girl he wants.”
“You’re perfect. He talks about how he wants to be with you forever.”
Hannah wiped her nose with a napkin and cleared her throat. “You should ask him which Hannah he is talking about.”

~*~

[TWO MONTHS LATER]

“Hannah, delivery.” Her roommate said to her on the front porch when Hannah was walking home alone from the library.
“Thanks.”

Hannah took the box into her room. She was excited to open it until seeing that it was from Bright.

Reading the note, Here are your things, I thought you might need them—Bright

Hannah opened up the box to see all of the things he ‘accidentally’ left at Bright’s house. She read an article about the little things to do when you want to give signs, you’re ready to move onto the next step with a guy. Apparently, the article wasn’t for everyone.

Plaid shirt, the twelve CDs that she left all over his car. Hannah couldn’t help but smile at Bright’s attempt to like her music when hearing it blaring in the car. The pairs of jeans she left in his hamper when wearing his clothes around the house when he would be taking a shower.

The box feels like a lifetime ago, a different person. Maybe that’s what it was all supposed to be. A steppingstone. An event that would have Hannah pushed into her next phase who she was meant to be. The box, Hannah thought, was supposed to be dramatic and all the sad things, but she felt healing until she rummaged through the things and didn’t find the one article she really, desperately wanted back. She also wanted to sit there and run her fingers through it all and remember every moment she spent with Bright where each of these articles existed in their relationship.

Hannah dialed the familiar number since he wasn’t assigned to her contacts anymore.

“Hello.”
Hannah had to remember she would always have courage. “Hey, it’s Hannah.”
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good,” she half lied. “I got the box.”
“Great, I was hoping it wouldn’t take forever to get there.”
“I’m missing a scarf.”
“What scarf?”
“The black one with grey and white stripes. I wore it…it doesn’t matter when I wore it.” She lied, when she wore it meant everything.”
“I’ll look for it, but I didn’t see a scarf?” Bright sounded like he was looking around his bedroom. “Nope, but I’ll keep a lookout for it.”
“I’d really like that back.”
“And if I find it, I’ll mail it out right away.”
“Thanks.”
There was a long pause. “Anything else.”
“Nope, I guess that’s it.”
“Okay, we’ll talk later, I guess.”
“Yeah.”

The line went dead on Hannah’s side as she put the receiver back on the base.

Bright saw his parents getting ready to leave and got his coat ready. He reached down and picked up the scarf that had dropped. It was his favorite. Black with gray and white stripes.

[THE END]

[jediwands]

Added to OP. Thanks for it!

[break the window]

So, this story has like 50 some pages to it, maybe more than that. Would you like me to post just one per week or just post them in order and they can be linked on the OP?

[jediwands]

Originally Posted by break the window (View Post) So, this story has like 50 some pages to it, maybe more than that. Would you like me to post just one per week or just post them in order and they can be linked on the OP?

You tell me. It is all you.

Looking forward to it!