Jason returned to Houston after three weeks. Three very long weeks of nothing but short, vague emails. No I Miss Yous. No I Love Yous. Those weren't allowed. Morgan couldn't chance it. It was all very...formal. Detached.

Hows Work and When's Your Flight. That kind of thing. It seemed three weeks apart with practically no contact had driven Morgan ( Read more... )

( Part 4b: The Middle of the End )

( Part 4a: The Beginning of the End )

 Jason and Corinne struck up a quick friendship in San Diego's comic-con and it blossomed into an even quicker partnership. Jason loved the idea of travelling the country, looking for stories, rather than being tied down to one locale and being told what stories to write. Corinne loved the idea too because so many places offered so many different ( Read more... )

The house in Chicago was big. Bigger than the house in New York, at least. It wasn't a mansion big but they all got to have their own rooms. Even if the rooms were kinda small when compared to the old rooms. But it was nice. Nice high ceilings, big windows, two bathrooms, a basment, big kitchen. A backyard with a swingset already installed. The ( Read more... )

"I got a promotion at work." Jason was 8, he was living with his aunt, uncle and cousins. Life with his parents was complicated.

"That's cool." His older cousin, Kelly, crowed happily.

Jenny, his other cousin, nodded along happily too. She was 7 and understood what that meant as much as Jason did. Not much.

"Right, it's very cool. But...it comes ( Read more... )

 "Hey, Jaybird. How would you feel about coming to stay with your Uncle Cliff and Aunt Sue for a litte while?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, buddy. We'd love to have you around." Jason grinned up at his Aunt Sue and Uncle Cliff, then looked over at his mother who was smiling sadly.

"Okay! How long?"

The 'how long' turned out to be Two years. Two, wonderful, ( Read more... )

Jason has had a number of friends in his lifetime. There was Blake Harrington, all throughout elementary and middle school. Plus some other kids who came and went but Blake and Jason were always there for each other. Then Jason took to hanging out with Shana and Keegan and Kevin and Alex and Devon and...you know. Every one else with money and class ( Read more... )

Flicksparksnap, flicksparksnap. Over and over he flicked open his zippo, lit it, and then snapped it shut. He was sitting on a canary yellow porsche. It was Shana and Devon Burke's dad's porsche. It was also Mr. Burke's credit card being used to cut the cocaine that Devon was about to snort while Shana and Devon's friend Kevin had sex in the front ( Read more... )

Jason remembers the moment he saw Morgan. He had been struggling to get his apartment door open with a huge box in his arms. She'd been traipsing down the hallway with a grocery sack in her arms. It was a testament to how...sweet...she was that she stopped, turned back and walked back to help him.

She took his keys from him, unlocked the door for ( Read more... )