Backlog: You Make It Easier When Life Gets Hard
Who: Mercedes and Tina
When: Monday, December 27, 2018
Where: Mercedes’ childhood home
What: Open me up and you will see I’m a gallery of broken hearts
Tina shivered as she rounded the corner of the Jones’ street. She knew it was a stupid idea to take a stroll in the snow, but she couldn’t exactly drive with her injured hand and she didn’t want to wake Mike. Ascending the front porch steps, she pressed a finger to the doorbell before tugging her sleeve as far as she could over the bandage her dad had wound around her palm and wrist in vain. Tina knew Mercedes and her sharp perception would notice it anyway.
She tried to brace herself for what Mercedes would say to her. She figured she’d get an ear-full for what happened with Artie and not seeing her sooner, but maybe she needed it. Well, and a hug, too. As much as loved being around Mike, right now two sad Asians together just meant they enabled each other than much else.
The front door swung open and she was warmly greeted by Mercedes’ mother. After a chorus of “Oh, I’m alright. How was your Christmas?” she followed the staircase up to Mercedes’ old room. She knocked and once she got the all-clear, she gently pushed the door open. She stood in the doorway, looking tired and sheepish.
“Hey. Call me an idiot?”
Mercedes' room had been all cleared out over the years. It was nothing like the room she used to reside in. It was more of a guest bedroom now, the only remnant of her old life was a little corner blocked by a mirror where she had made her friends sign the wall.
It was always weird walking those familiar steps up into a neutral guest bedroom.
She was sitting on the bed, playing with her phone when Tina entered. Mercedes immediately stood up, taking in her friend's state. She did not look well.
"Girl what happened?" she asked, moving over to her friend and guiding her to the bed.
Tina sat down next to Mercedes. She sniffled and gave a tired shrug, turning to her with a vacant expression. “I don’t even know where to begin," she said, her response mirroring Mike's when she had asked him what happened to him just yesterday.
Mercedes hugged her friend and pulled Tina’s head towards her shoulder. “Just start wherever, we can figure it out.” She said softly.
Tina let out a sigh, resting her head against her friend. She willed herself to be comforted by the gesture. When she finally spoke, her words were quiet and slow. “You know how I fled here in the middle of the night? Um...something happened with Mike and he got really drunk...his partner put him a holding cell for the night.”
Mercedes' head snapped to look at Tina. "What happened? Don't just leave me hangin' like that girl."
Tina made a little noise in amusement. She knew she wouldn’t get away with being vague. She had given Mike a heads up the night before she planned to see Mercedes; she had always been the only person she spilled their secrets to. Mainly because Mercedes would give you hell otherwise. “Well, he...he really likes this girl but when they were about to have sex he accidentally calls her Quinn. So yeah...And then her brother punches him and he ends up getting shitfaced and punches his partner and...yeah.”
“Oh ouch” Mercedes said, scrunching up her face. “That’s pretty rough. Poor guy.” Life seriously needed to cut Mike some slack. “But Tina...I feel like there’s more to the story. Boys get themselves in stupid shit all the time, what’s really got you down?”
Isn’t there always more to the story? Tina exhaled and ran a hand over her face before remembering it was her bandaged one. “Ow,” she muttered, setting it back in her lap. She really didn’t want to talk about this next segment of the suck. “Oh, you mean the part where I make my flash come true or the part where I tell my boyfriend about it and he storms off? Oh, or the other part where Eli was kidnapped on his way to Lima?”
Mercedes reached for Tina’s bandaged hand, and swiped at it, not particularly carefully either. “How about what the fuck happened to your hand?” She asked concerned, and that was when she caught up to speed with everything Tina had just said. “Wait what the fuck? Eli was kidnapped? How the hell did that happen, woah woah wait, your flash came true?”
Tina made a face when Mercedes pointed out her hand. “I was standing in the way when Mike tackled Kellan outside Lombardo’s. Yay gravel,” she supplied with a shrug before biting her lip, definitely not proud of this next part. “I was freaking out the next day; both Mike and Eli were MIA and...well, I started drinking. And somehow Artie ended up at my house? I don’t remember much. My mom walked in on him kissing me.”
She paused, giving Mercedes time to process this. “Eli...he showed up the next day. He said he stopped to help a woman on the side of the road and ended up getting mugged. He woke up in the back of a van, they let him go though and he got a ride from a county trooper.” She looked away, her voice heavy. She didn’t know what she would’ve done if he wasn’t okay. “And I know this is my fault, but he wouldn’t let me explain and he just left. He doesn’t have anything on him and I don’t know where he is or if he’s even okay right now...” Tina trailed off into a sob, unable to stop herself from bursting into tears.
Mercedes pulled Tina even closer, if that was even possible, “Hey, hey, look, Eli survived a kidnappin’, he’ll be fine. Right now I’m more worried about you.”
There wasn’t a lot Mercedes could do, the things that Tina had talked about had already happened and even though she wanted to slap the girl silly for going to Artie of all people instead of her, Tina just wasn’t in the shape to be pounced on.
“So the Artie thing...how’d that go? Like what did he say?”
Tina took a deep breath, trying to get herself to stop crying. “I don’t know. I only know what my mom told me and what I can barely remember. I tried calling him but he’s being really evasive. Like...he doesn’t want to admit he had a part in anything. He wasn’t drunk though. Just me.” She knew she was responsible for her own actions, but it was really hard to deal with it all if he refused to give her the solid truth.
“What?” Mercedes said sharply, pursing her lips together. Boy was going to get an earful. “I’mma kill him.”
Tina gave her a withering half-amused look. “I’m sure you can recruit Mike for that. But it’s fine. I can fight my own battles. Plus if I can’t get anything out of him, I don’t think he’d talk to anyone else about it. I just don’t know what to do right now.”
Mercedes sighed, “Just try not to think about him right now.” She patted Tina reassuringly, “We’ll deal with that when we have to.”
“Thanks,” Tina murmured softly, relaxing into her friend’s embrace. She liked the way Mercedes said ‘we’. It was comforting to know she still had her back. “For listening to my drama and not slapping me. Even though I deserve it.”
Mercedes shook her head, “Girl you know me, I eat this shit up.” she attempted to joke. Although, really she just wanted to be there for her friends whenever they needed her, and Tina clearly needed her.
She sniffed, reaching her hand up to swipe away her tears. “I just wish I could reach Eli.” Her mind kept replaying his expression when he turned and walked away. “I’ve never seen him look at me like that before. With such disdain. Like he couldn’t decide whether to be disappointed or hurt or angry, or some combo of all three. I know I messed up, but when I told him my flash before he said we’d handle it together if the time came. And then the time actually came and, oh look, I’m alone again.” Tina trailed off and inhaled a sharp breath. She knew she was rambling, but she didn’t really know what else to do. She hated feeling this helpless.
“Look, Eli had just been through some crazy ordeal, you know?” Mercedes was trying to rationalize the situation, and trying to give Eli the benefit of the doubt before she went out and killed him. “He was probably just stressed and he like couldn’t deal with it.”
He had better been. Walking out on Tina like that when she’s in this state? Not cool with her. She liked Eli and all but Tina always came first.
Tina nodded, knowing Mercedes’ was right. She wished knowing that made it easier to deal, but it didn’t. She sighed and pulled away to collapse backwards onto the comforter. “When did my life get this dramatic? I swear last week everything was fine.” Mike seemed to be picking up the pieces of Hurricane Quinn, she was happy with Eli, and Artie and her mother weren’t even in the picture. She stared at the ceiling as if the answer was buried somewhere in the molding.
“Can I just hideout with you wherever you go next?” Tina asked, tilting her head to look at her. She was kidding, but part of her wished she really could. Then Tina thought about what she had said to her mother in anger the other day. “I made a mistake. And now I have to deal with it. I’m not going to run off or lie about it.” “Never mind,” she muttered absently, her eyes wandering back to the ceiling. “Then I’d be just like my mom.”
“Girl you know you can come with me.” Mercedes said honestly, “But you do have a life.” She was glad that her friend came to that conclusion herself, she was glad that Tina wanted to own up to her mistakes. “Hey, Tina, we make a million mistakes, remember back in high school when somethin’ would happen and we didn’t think we'd get through it? Well we did. This is just like that, you’ll get through it. It just takes some time.”
Tina nodded slowly. Mercedes was right. She’d get through this like she always had. Tina stared at her friend for a moment, overcome by feelings she currently identified as gratitude and fondness. Evidently there was something oddly philosophical and heartwarming in the aftermath of fucking up so terribly that caused her to appreciate those few in her life that had always stuck by her no matter what. If she was in a better mood, she’d laugh at herself for turning into a cliched clone from some after-school special teenage dramedy.
But since she wasn’t, Tina let a sentimental smile tug at the corner of her mouth instead. “Have I told you lately how wise and amazing you are?” She sat up and moved forward to wrap her arms around her friend, resting her chin on the edge of Mercedes shoulder. She mumbled a quiet thanks before pulling back to look around the room again. Her eyes halted at the suitcase on the floor. When she was here a few days ago, there was a mess of clothes draping out of it. Now it was oddly tidy. For Mercedes’ standards anyway.
“I’ve always been amazing, the wise thing? That comes with age.” Mercedes laughed, oh god the way she said it made her sound so old. Time flew by fast. Seriously.
Tina laughed lightly and nodded towards her suitcase. "Looks like someone got that call...” Tina’s knowing smile was bittersweet; she knew Mercedes’ flash and that she only planned to stay for so long. Tina was glad if this meant she got to keep doing what she loved, but parting ways always, for lack of a better term, sucked.
“Yeap” Mercedes sighed, “I’ll be headin’ to LA soon. Sunny side California. I think I might move there...” There was really nothing tying her to Georgia anymore. The record company that was working with her was in California and it wasn’t like she was home a lot anyway. “Rehearsals for tour start soon and then there’s the whole business and contract thing I have to go over.”
“Really? That’s awesome, Mercedes.” Tina was glad they were changing the subject. Plus she always liked hearing about her friend’s world. “Are you excited?”
“Hell yeah,” Mercedes said honestly, “But like I got no idea what it’s gonna be like, I don’t know California too well.” She had been there before but she had been in a lot of places, she didn’t make a habit of staying anywhere for long.
“True, but you’re Mercedes. If I can count on anyone to turn a move into an adventure, it’s you. You made moving to Georgia seem a lot less random than it sounded.” Tina was teasing, but she meant it. That was one of things she admired about Mercedes; she was able to pick a place and a dream and go after it. Tina had always been the type to carefully analyze everything before taking a step forward. “Plus it’s California. Sounds kind of perfect for you, if you ask me.”
“Oh I can’t wait.” She admitted, “Next adventure and all that.” She waved her hands around to emphasize her point.
“You can come with me you know.” Mercedes said, nudging Tina a little bit.
“You have no idea how tempting that is.” Tina smiled, nudging her back. “Maybe once you’re settled and I’m less poor, I’ll visit you.”
“Oh no girl, now that you’ve said maybe, there’s no doubt about it, you’re comin’.”
“Well, if you insist. Just promise me you won’t forget about me when you’re all busy being a rock star.”
“Pshh, I’m already a rock star, whatchu talkin’ about?”
Tina laughed lightly and nodded. “That you are.” She looked over at her friend again. She felt bad for initially expecting Mercedes to chew her out over what happened. She should’ve known she’d understand. Like she always had. “Thanks,” she said vaguely after a moment, “I know I’ve already said that...”
Mercedes shrugged, “Don’t mention it.” Tina had been through a lot in a very short amount of time. “Seriously, or I might have to slap you,” she joked.
Tina regarded her with a grin. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
When: Monday, December 27, 2018
Where: Mercedes’ childhood home
What: Open me up and you will see I’m a gallery of broken hearts
Tina shivered as she rounded the corner of the Jones’ street. She knew it was a stupid idea to take a stroll in the snow, but she couldn’t exactly drive with her injured hand and she didn’t want to wake Mike. Ascending the front porch steps, she pressed a finger to the doorbell before tugging her sleeve as far as she could over the bandage her dad had wound around her palm and wrist in vain. Tina knew Mercedes and her sharp perception would notice it anyway.
She tried to brace herself for what Mercedes would say to her. She figured she’d get an ear-full for what happened with Artie and not seeing her sooner, but maybe she needed it. Well, and a hug, too. As much as loved being around Mike, right now two sad Asians together just meant they enabled each other than much else.
The front door swung open and she was warmly greeted by Mercedes’ mother. After a chorus of “Oh, I’m alright. How was your Christmas?” she followed the staircase up to Mercedes’ old room. She knocked and once she got the all-clear, she gently pushed the door open. She stood in the doorway, looking tired and sheepish.
“Hey. Call me an idiot?”
Mercedes' room had been all cleared out over the years. It was nothing like the room she used to reside in. It was more of a guest bedroom now, the only remnant of her old life was a little corner blocked by a mirror where she had made her friends sign the wall.
It was always weird walking those familiar steps up into a neutral guest bedroom.
She was sitting on the bed, playing with her phone when Tina entered. Mercedes immediately stood up, taking in her friend's state. She did not look well.
"Girl what happened?" she asked, moving over to her friend and guiding her to the bed.
Tina sat down next to Mercedes. She sniffled and gave a tired shrug, turning to her with a vacant expression. “I don’t even know where to begin," she said, her response mirroring Mike's when she had asked him what happened to him just yesterday.
Mercedes hugged her friend and pulled Tina’s head towards her shoulder. “Just start wherever, we can figure it out.” She said softly.
Tina let out a sigh, resting her head against her friend. She willed herself to be comforted by the gesture. When she finally spoke, her words were quiet and slow. “You know how I fled here in the middle of the night? Um...something happened with Mike and he got really drunk...his partner put him a holding cell for the night.”
Mercedes' head snapped to look at Tina. "What happened? Don't just leave me hangin' like that girl."
Tina made a little noise in amusement. She knew she wouldn’t get away with being vague. She had given Mike a heads up the night before she planned to see Mercedes; she had always been the only person she spilled their secrets to. Mainly because Mercedes would give you hell otherwise. “Well, he...he really likes this girl but when they were about to have sex he accidentally calls her Quinn. So yeah...And then her brother punches him and he ends up getting shitfaced and punches his partner and...yeah.”
“Oh ouch” Mercedes said, scrunching up her face. “That’s pretty rough. Poor guy.” Life seriously needed to cut Mike some slack. “But Tina...I feel like there’s more to the story. Boys get themselves in stupid shit all the time, what’s really got you down?”
Isn’t there always more to the story? Tina exhaled and ran a hand over her face before remembering it was her bandaged one. “Ow,” she muttered, setting it back in her lap. She really didn’t want to talk about this next segment of the suck. “Oh, you mean the part where I make my flash come true or the part where I tell my boyfriend about it and he storms off? Oh, or the other part where Eli was kidnapped on his way to Lima?”
Mercedes reached for Tina’s bandaged hand, and swiped at it, not particularly carefully either. “How about what the fuck happened to your hand?” She asked concerned, and that was when she caught up to speed with everything Tina had just said. “Wait what the fuck? Eli was kidnapped? How the hell did that happen, woah woah wait, your flash came true?”
Tina made a face when Mercedes pointed out her hand. “I was standing in the way when Mike tackled Kellan outside Lombardo’s. Yay gravel,” she supplied with a shrug before biting her lip, definitely not proud of this next part. “I was freaking out the next day; both Mike and Eli were MIA and...well, I started drinking. And somehow Artie ended up at my house? I don’t remember much. My mom walked in on him kissing me.”
She paused, giving Mercedes time to process this. “Eli...he showed up the next day. He said he stopped to help a woman on the side of the road and ended up getting mugged. He woke up in the back of a van, they let him go though and he got a ride from a county trooper.” She looked away, her voice heavy. She didn’t know what she would’ve done if he wasn’t okay. “And I know this is my fault, but he wouldn’t let me explain and he just left. He doesn’t have anything on him and I don’t know where he is or if he’s even okay right now...” Tina trailed off into a sob, unable to stop herself from bursting into tears.
Mercedes pulled Tina even closer, if that was even possible, “Hey, hey, look, Eli survived a kidnappin’, he’ll be fine. Right now I’m more worried about you.”
There wasn’t a lot Mercedes could do, the things that Tina had talked about had already happened and even though she wanted to slap the girl silly for going to Artie of all people instead of her, Tina just wasn’t in the shape to be pounced on.
“So the Artie thing...how’d that go? Like what did he say?”
Tina took a deep breath, trying to get herself to stop crying. “I don’t know. I only know what my mom told me and what I can barely remember. I tried calling him but he’s being really evasive. Like...he doesn’t want to admit he had a part in anything. He wasn’t drunk though. Just me.” She knew she was responsible for her own actions, but it was really hard to deal with it all if he refused to give her the solid truth.
“What?” Mercedes said sharply, pursing her lips together. Boy was going to get an earful. “I’mma kill him.”
Tina gave her a withering half-amused look. “I’m sure you can recruit Mike for that. But it’s fine. I can fight my own battles. Plus if I can’t get anything out of him, I don’t think he’d talk to anyone else about it. I just don’t know what to do right now.”
Mercedes sighed, “Just try not to think about him right now.” She patted Tina reassuringly, “We’ll deal with that when we have to.”
“Thanks,” Tina murmured softly, relaxing into her friend’s embrace. She liked the way Mercedes said ‘we’. It was comforting to know she still had her back. “For listening to my drama and not slapping me. Even though I deserve it.”
Mercedes shook her head, “Girl you know me, I eat this shit up.” she attempted to joke. Although, really she just wanted to be there for her friends whenever they needed her, and Tina clearly needed her.
She sniffed, reaching her hand up to swipe away her tears. “I just wish I could reach Eli.” Her mind kept replaying his expression when he turned and walked away. “I’ve never seen him look at me like that before. With such disdain. Like he couldn’t decide whether to be disappointed or hurt or angry, or some combo of all three. I know I messed up, but when I told him my flash before he said we’d handle it together if the time came. And then the time actually came and, oh look, I’m alone again.” Tina trailed off and inhaled a sharp breath. She knew she was rambling, but she didn’t really know what else to do. She hated feeling this helpless.
“Look, Eli had just been through some crazy ordeal, you know?” Mercedes was trying to rationalize the situation, and trying to give Eli the benefit of the doubt before she went out and killed him. “He was probably just stressed and he like couldn’t deal with it.”
He had better been. Walking out on Tina like that when she’s in this state? Not cool with her. She liked Eli and all but Tina always came first.
Tina nodded, knowing Mercedes’ was right. She wished knowing that made it easier to deal, but it didn’t. She sighed and pulled away to collapse backwards onto the comforter. “When did my life get this dramatic? I swear last week everything was fine.” Mike seemed to be picking up the pieces of Hurricane Quinn, she was happy with Eli, and Artie and her mother weren’t even in the picture. She stared at the ceiling as if the answer was buried somewhere in the molding.
“Can I just hideout with you wherever you go next?” Tina asked, tilting her head to look at her. She was kidding, but part of her wished she really could. Then Tina thought about what she had said to her mother in anger the other day. “I made a mistake. And now I have to deal with it. I’m not going to run off or lie about it.” “Never mind,” she muttered absently, her eyes wandering back to the ceiling. “Then I’d be just like my mom.”
“Girl you know you can come with me.” Mercedes said honestly, “But you do have a life.” She was glad that her friend came to that conclusion herself, she was glad that Tina wanted to own up to her mistakes. “Hey, Tina, we make a million mistakes, remember back in high school when somethin’ would happen and we didn’t think we'd get through it? Well we did. This is just like that, you’ll get through it. It just takes some time.”
Tina nodded slowly. Mercedes was right. She’d get through this like she always had. Tina stared at her friend for a moment, overcome by feelings she currently identified as gratitude and fondness. Evidently there was something oddly philosophical and heartwarming in the aftermath of fucking up so terribly that caused her to appreciate those few in her life that had always stuck by her no matter what. If she was in a better mood, she’d laugh at herself for turning into a cliched clone from some after-school special teenage dramedy.
But since she wasn’t, Tina let a sentimental smile tug at the corner of her mouth instead. “Have I told you lately how wise and amazing you are?” She sat up and moved forward to wrap her arms around her friend, resting her chin on the edge of Mercedes shoulder. She mumbled a quiet thanks before pulling back to look around the room again. Her eyes halted at the suitcase on the floor. When she was here a few days ago, there was a mess of clothes draping out of it. Now it was oddly tidy. For Mercedes’ standards anyway.
“I’ve always been amazing, the wise thing? That comes with age.” Mercedes laughed, oh god the way she said it made her sound so old. Time flew by fast. Seriously.
Tina laughed lightly and nodded towards her suitcase. "Looks like someone got that call...” Tina’s knowing smile was bittersweet; she knew Mercedes’ flash and that she only planned to stay for so long. Tina was glad if this meant she got to keep doing what she loved, but parting ways always, for lack of a better term, sucked.
“Yeap” Mercedes sighed, “I’ll be headin’ to LA soon. Sunny side California. I think I might move there...” There was really nothing tying her to Georgia anymore. The record company that was working with her was in California and it wasn’t like she was home a lot anyway. “Rehearsals for tour start soon and then there’s the whole business and contract thing I have to go over.”
“Really? That’s awesome, Mercedes.” Tina was glad they were changing the subject. Plus she always liked hearing about her friend’s world. “Are you excited?”
“Hell yeah,” Mercedes said honestly, “But like I got no idea what it’s gonna be like, I don’t know California too well.” She had been there before but she had been in a lot of places, she didn’t make a habit of staying anywhere for long.
“True, but you’re Mercedes. If I can count on anyone to turn a move into an adventure, it’s you. You made moving to Georgia seem a lot less random than it sounded.” Tina was teasing, but she meant it. That was one of things she admired about Mercedes; she was able to pick a place and a dream and go after it. Tina had always been the type to carefully analyze everything before taking a step forward. “Plus it’s California. Sounds kind of perfect for you, if you ask me.”
“Oh I can’t wait.” She admitted, “Next adventure and all that.” She waved her hands around to emphasize her point.
“You can come with me you know.” Mercedes said, nudging Tina a little bit.
“You have no idea how tempting that is.” Tina smiled, nudging her back. “Maybe once you’re settled and I’m less poor, I’ll visit you.”
“Oh no girl, now that you’ve said maybe, there’s no doubt about it, you’re comin’.”
“Well, if you insist. Just promise me you won’t forget about me when you’re all busy being a rock star.”
“Pshh, I’m already a rock star, whatchu talkin’ about?”
Tina laughed lightly and nodded. “That you are.” She looked over at her friend again. She felt bad for initially expecting Mercedes to chew her out over what happened. She should’ve known she’d understand. Like she always had. “Thanks,” she said vaguely after a moment, “I know I’ve already said that...”
Mercedes shrugged, “Don’t mention it.” Tina had been through a lot in a very short amount of time. “Seriously, or I might have to slap you,” she joked.
Tina regarded her with a grin. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”