Sour Grape #11, Strawberry Banana #26
Author: winebabe
Title: Too Late for Plan B
Story: The Gemini Occurrence ( Poverty Club 'Verse)
Rating: R (offensive language, gratuitous swearing, see content warning in notes)
Flavor(s): Sour Grape #11: look before you leap; Strawberry Banana #26: indecision
Word Count: 2,837
Summary: October 2020. Isaac's not free of the Eastman curse.
Notes: Previous: In the Cold Light of Morning. Isaac Eastman, Cara McLaughlin, Victor Eastman, Casey Calhoun, Mona Lively. (Content warning: abortion.)
“Come on,” Isaac says and gives Cara’s wrist a hard tug. Behind him, she makes a noise of protest but jogs to keep up as they push their way through the crowd of students walking down the hall.
Hunting down Vic is no difficult task--he has three main places where he hangs out--but Isaac hates having to run to his brother in the first place. Cara isn’t making it easy, either, sniffling behind him like she’s holding back tears. The last thing he needs is to have the wrong person see him dragging a crying girl down the hallway.
“Will you keep it together?” he says over his shoulder, and that earns him a hiccup of a sob in response. Isaac stops walking and spins around, still holding onto Cara’s wrist. “Cara, please. Come on, I promise I’ll fix this.”
“Your brother is the one who’s gonna fix this,” she says, and rips her arm free. Isaac watches in stunned silence as Cara stalks off ahead of him.
“Cara, stop!” He jogs up beside her and tries to put his hand on the small of her back, but she just walks faster to get away from him. “Cara! It’s not all my fault!”
“Yeah?” Cara shouts, turning her head just enough that Isaac can see the tears glistening in her eyes. “Fuck you!”
“Cara!”
Isaac decides to give her her distance, but continues following her down the hall. She’s still heading in the direction of one of Vic’s signature haunts: the stairwell hidden behind the auditorium. They’ve already checked at his locker, and outside by the bleachers, so if he’s not in the stairwell, they’re out of luck. Isaac can’t begin to imagine what Cara will do if they can’t find Vic.
Cara shoves the door open and Isaac has to catch it before it swings back and smacks him in the face, but sure enough, Vic is balancing on the railing, with Casey to his right and a girl Isaac doesn’t recognize to his left.
“What’s going on?” Vic asks, hopping down, and with all eyes on him, Isaac isn’t sure he can answer.
Cara doesn’t answer, though, so Isaac leans in as much as Vic will allow and whispers, “Cara’s pregnant.”
“Holy shit, dude,” Vic says, and takes a step back, his eyes wide. “What the fuck, Isaac? You’re fourteen! She’s a child!”
For some reason, that sets Cara off, and she starts bawling right there in the hallway. The dark-haired girl immediately puts an arm around her shoulders and guides her away from the boys, whispering to her and patting her arm.
“You think I don’t know that?” Isaac hisses. “We weren’t trying or nothing! I don’t want a baby!”
“Ruby is going to freak out,” Casey mutters.
“We’re not going to tell Ruby!” Isaac shouts, and Vic nods his head.
“No way. She’s not keeping it, is she?”
Isaac glances over his shoulder to where Cara and Vic’s friend are standing. Cara’s back is to him, but he can still see how upset she is in the way her shoulders are slouched, how her arms are wrapped around herself. The first words out of her mouth, after ‘I’m pregnant,’ were ‘Get me an abortion.’ She doesn’t want it. He’s sure she doesn’t want it. And he’s sure he doesn’t want it. “No. She wants the abortion.”
“Okay.” Vic pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks the screen. “If we’re gonna go to Planned Parenthood, we need to leave now. It’ll take two hours to get to the city and even then, I don’t know if they’ll see Cara on such short notice. You should call and try to make an appointment.”
“Fine.” Isaac glances back and forth between Casey and Vic. “Can I do it on the way? We need to get this thing done. Now.”
“Get Cara,” Vic sighs, and Isaac power-walks across the hall to where she’s standing.
Casey puts a hand on Vic’s shoulder and laughs. “Shit, man.”
All five of them--Vic, Casey, Mona, Isaac, and Cara--climb into Vic’s car fifteen minutes before the first bell is supposed to ring. It’s about 7:15 in the morning, which puts them in the city a little after 9 o’clock, if traffic isn’t terrible. Vic’s never had to take anyone to Planned Parenthood before, but Gina’s gone and said everyone was really nice to her, that they were professional and caring. As long as Cara doesn’t die and doesn’t have Isaac’s baby, that’s all that matters.
Mona and Cara don’t become fast friends, but Cara seems more at ease with another girl around, so Vic manages to convince her to skip school and come with. Casey’s along for the ride just for the hell of it, and Vic’s glad, because he’s not sure he could handle a full day alone with his brother and his girlfriend.
“Abortions cost money,” he says and looks back at Isaac and Cara in the rearview mirror.
Cara glares at him and pulls her wallet out of her pocket. “I know that, asshole.” There’s a wad of cash just peeking out above the fold, and Vic whistles.
“You’re flush, huh?”
Cara puts the wallet away and sinks down in her seat, folding her arms across her chest. “I stole it from my dad, okay? They have what they think is a secret stash just in case, and they almost never look at it, so I’ll probably be good for a while. I needed it a hell of a lot more than they did.”
“Lying, stealing, underage sex... you’re turning into a real Eastman, sweetheart,” Casey jokes, and Vic reaches over to smack him with the back of his hand.
“Yeah, I’m surprised Vic hasn’t gotten anyone pregnant yet,” Isaac grumbles in response, and Vic and Casey fall silent.
After a beat of silence, Vic says, “Learn how to use a condom,” which just sparks a loud argument between the two brothers as Vic speeds out of the parking lot.
It starts out as the most uncomfortable car ride ever, but eventually Vic turns on the stereo, and his unusual combination of punk rock and electronic music manages to satisfy everyone in the car. By the end of the first hour, even Cara seems to have cheered up a little--at least as much as one can, given the circumstances.
“What was it like living in the city?” Cara asks, engrossed in her conversation with Mona. The younger girl seems to have taken an interest in her, in the way that younger girls often do when they’re around someone older. Mona doesn’t think she projects any kind of maturity, but Cara looks at her like she’s so cool, so experienced, and Mona hates to disappoint her.
“It was cool,” she says and shrugs. “Lots to do. Lots of people. I think it’s easier to get away with stuff in the city.” She doesn’t mention the drugs or the drinking, or her mother’s terrible habits and the disgusting living conditions she had to endure. Cara seems smart enough to realize nothing has all the glitz and glamour it may come across with, and Mona doesn’t want to insult her intelligence with a lecture about the harsh reality of life in the city.
“Why’d you come out here, then?” Isaac chimes in, and Vic catches Mona’s eye in the rearview mirror.
She gently shakes her head, as if to tell him to back down, and turns back to Isaac. “I didn’t have a choice. My mom died, so I had to move in with my aunt.”
“Oh my God,” Cara says, one hand pressed to her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Mona replies, and then wishes she had just said ‘thank you,’ or something equally acceptable. She’s getting looks from Cara and Isaac, curious looks that tell her they want to know more but are too afraid to ask.
She’s not going to tell them how she found her mother, how she took a picture of her corpse on the couch and sent it to her brother, how she wasn’t even sad when Cassandra died. She may have broken her own rules and shared the one piece of personal information she was planning on keeping in, but it’s too hard to lie to people she’s trying to form bonds with. It’s as far as she’ll go, though; Mona won’t say anything more. They don’t need to know the disgusting truth. She doesn’t need to be judged by people who aren’t too far off from where she’s been.
“We weren’t close. She wasn’t around much,” Mona offers as an explanation. “It’s just that my brother couldn’t take me in because he has some fancy professor job and he doesn’t have the time to raise a teenager. It’s fine. I get it. Auntie Liv isn’t so bad.”
“Olivia Meadows,” Vic clarifies, and Isaac laughs.
“Hey, she’s that woman who always used to bring Ruby desserts, right? She’d come home with coffee cakes and muffins and shit, like every week.”
“I guess everyone knows her,” Mona says, and Casey turns around in his seat.
“Everyone knows everyone else here. Your aunt is kind of a busybody--but in a nice way. She just includes herself in everything and no one can dislike her because she gives them desserts or helps them out when they need it.”
“I think she’s just lonely,” Isaac chimes in. “Ruby said she’d come into the diner every day and talk to her. She was always alone, right?”
“Well, not anymore,” Mona replies, and she’s hit with a sudden wave of guilt. Auntie Liv was always just her mother’s weird older sister who had some obsession with taking Mona in. She’d never thought to consider other options--like maybe Auntie Liv was lonely, or she was just trying to do what was best for a child she knew was being neglected.
Mona pulls her phone out of her pocket and sends a quick text to her brother. i’m a shitty person.
“Well, if she starts baking you desserts, bring some over, would ya?” Vic asks with a laugh. “She’s a great baker, I’ll give her that!”
Mona smiles, but her face feels tight and she worries that it looks too forced. “Sure, yeah.” At least with Cara’s pregnancy, most of the focus has been elsewhere, but Cara’s problem has an easy solution. By the time they get back, Cara’s life will be back to normal, and Mona feels bitter about that. Her life won’t be going back to normal once she gets back from the city. Her life has never been normal...and likely never will be.
When she turns back, Cara has her phone out and is staring down at the screen with her eyebrows knit. Isaac is leaning his elbow against the door, staring out the window. Vic and Casey are talking quietly in the front, and it almost seems like a normal road trip. No one would look at them and think, these kids are on a mission.
Abortions aren’t as taboo as they used to be, she knows--at least legally. Federally, abortions are legal, with strict restrictions on late-term abortion, and in most cases, parental permission isn’t required. Women of sound mind and the capability to understand the risks are able to make their own choices. A woman’s body is her own.
It’s still frowned upon, though, and Mona’s not surprised Cara and Isaac are keeping it a secret from their families. No parent wants to hear their 14 year old child is carrying a child themselves. A lot of people still consider abortion ‘murder,’ too, and she can’t imagine that would go over well.
Cara and Isaac look so young with the worry etched into their faces, and Mona has to wonder if this is a difficult decision for them. Part of her wonders, too, why her own mother hadn’t made the same decision. She thinks Cara is doing the right thing.
Mona thinks she really should have been aborted.
Inside the clinic, Mona helps Cara get everything in order while Isaac lingers around, with nervous energy coming off of him in waves. Vic thinks he looks more like a new parent, a father waiting around for his wife to give birth, than a boyfriend escorting his girlfriend to get an abortion. Isaac’s a much better kid than any Eastman should be, Vic thinks, because most guys wouldn’t go with their girlfriends for something like this. They’d give them money, tell ‘em good luck, and leave them to it.
Instead, Isaac just hovers, wringing his hands, asking the nurse if he needs to do anything, sign anything, pay anything.
“You need to relax, sweetheart,” the woman says with a gentle smile.
Vic and Casey are sitting in the corner, pretending to flip through magazines while they wait to find out whether or not Cara will even be seen that day. Casey’s ignoring him, even though he keeps lightly hitting Casey’s leg with the back of his hand.
“You wanna stop?” Casey asks finally, not even bothering to look up from his worn-out People magazine.
“I need a cigarette,” Vic replies. “Wanna come outside with me?”
Casey lowers the magazine and turns to look at him with a tired, flat expression. “I just spent the entire night with you,” he says, keeping his voice low. “I’m not fucking you in the backseat of your car while your little brother and his baby prostitute of a girlfriend get their lovechild vacuumed out.”
Vic frowns. “Jesus, dude. I want a cigarette. That’s it, relax.”
Casey sighs and puts the magazine down on the empty chair beside him. “Fine, but you better give me one, too.”
They both get up from their seats while Cara is still busy filling out paperwork, and slip out through the entrance. The parking lot is relatively empty, and even though it’s on a busy road, the cars are far enough away that Vic doesn’t think they’ll grab anyone’s attention. Still, he leads Casey around to the side of the building where they can shield themselves a little better.
“I was lying,” Vic says once they’re far enough out of sight, and leans in to kiss Casey hard on the lips. “A little.”
“I wasn’t,” Casey replies. “No car sex, Vic--I mean it.”
“I’m not--” Vic starts. “I don’t--” He cuts himself off with a huff, reaching up to run a hand over the top of his head. “It’s not all about sex all the time, alright? Jesus. Maybe, sometimes, I just want to spend time with you! People in a relationship do that!”
“Shit,” Casey says, and leans back against the brick wall. He folds his arms across his chest and sighs, staring down at his feet.
Vic takes a few steps away from him, flipping the lid of his cigarette carton open and shut. He doesn’t even pull out a cigarette, as much as he wants to, because he knows if he does he’ll have to give one to Casey as well. He doesn’t want to even look at Casey.
They stand in silence for what must be minutes before, very quietly, Casey finally says, “I’m sorry.”
Vic chooses not to look at him. “Yeah?”
Casey’s not the affectionate type. He’d probably hide their relationship even if everyone in their lives supported them, Vic figures. He doesn’t do PDA, he doesn’t hold hands, and he seems to want to remove himself from any immediate danger of touching Vic, purposeful or otherwise.
At school, they’re friends. Sometimes even enemies. They fight like they hate each other, and occasionally Vic walks away wondering whether or not it’s all for show. Nobody can know, Casey had said after their first time, and Vic was too wrapped up in the heat of the moment passion to do much but weakly agree, staring into his eyes with a dazed, happy expression. Of course they had to keep it a secret. Of course no one could know.
Vic just didn’t realize how far that would extend. He hadn’t expected it to impact their relationship as much as it does.
“Vic,” Casey says, but he doesn’t move from the wall.
All Vic wants is a little acknowledgment that they’re something. That they’re together, and aren’t just two otherwise-straight guys who enjoy fucking on the down-low. He wants to say that he didn’t expect what happened between them, that he wasn’t planning on a relationship and he didn’t set out to bang his best friend. He wants to say that he’s sorry, but now it means something to him and if Casey wants out, if Casey doesn’t want more, he has to say so now.
But Vic can’t talk. He can only see Casey calling him a girl, mocking him for having emotions, asking where the hell the tough Vic Eastman went.
So when Casey finally steps away from the wall, says “Vic, come on,” and reaches for his wrist, Vic pulls back and slugs him in the jaw.
Title: Too Late for Plan B
Story: The Gemini Occurrence ( Poverty Club 'Verse)
Rating: R (offensive language, gratuitous swearing, see content warning in notes)
Flavor(s): Sour Grape #11: look before you leap; Strawberry Banana #26: indecision
Word Count: 2,837
Summary: October 2020. Isaac's not free of the Eastman curse.
Notes: Previous: In the Cold Light of Morning. Isaac Eastman, Cara McLaughlin, Victor Eastman, Casey Calhoun, Mona Lively. (Content warning: abortion.)
“Come on,” Isaac says and gives Cara’s wrist a hard tug. Behind him, she makes a noise of protest but jogs to keep up as they push their way through the crowd of students walking down the hall.
Hunting down Vic is no difficult task--he has three main places where he hangs out--but Isaac hates having to run to his brother in the first place. Cara isn’t making it easy, either, sniffling behind him like she’s holding back tears. The last thing he needs is to have the wrong person see him dragging a crying girl down the hallway.
“Will you keep it together?” he says over his shoulder, and that earns him a hiccup of a sob in response. Isaac stops walking and spins around, still holding onto Cara’s wrist. “Cara, please. Come on, I promise I’ll fix this.”
“Your brother is the one who’s gonna fix this,” she says, and rips her arm free. Isaac watches in stunned silence as Cara stalks off ahead of him.
“Cara, stop!” He jogs up beside her and tries to put his hand on the small of her back, but she just walks faster to get away from him. “Cara! It’s not all my fault!”
“Yeah?” Cara shouts, turning her head just enough that Isaac can see the tears glistening in her eyes. “Fuck you!”
“Cara!”
Isaac decides to give her her distance, but continues following her down the hall. She’s still heading in the direction of one of Vic’s signature haunts: the stairwell hidden behind the auditorium. They’ve already checked at his locker, and outside by the bleachers, so if he’s not in the stairwell, they’re out of luck. Isaac can’t begin to imagine what Cara will do if they can’t find Vic.
Cara shoves the door open and Isaac has to catch it before it swings back and smacks him in the face, but sure enough, Vic is balancing on the railing, with Casey to his right and a girl Isaac doesn’t recognize to his left.
“What’s going on?” Vic asks, hopping down, and with all eyes on him, Isaac isn’t sure he can answer.
Cara doesn’t answer, though, so Isaac leans in as much as Vic will allow and whispers, “Cara’s pregnant.”
“Holy shit, dude,” Vic says, and takes a step back, his eyes wide. “What the fuck, Isaac? You’re fourteen! She’s a child!”
For some reason, that sets Cara off, and she starts bawling right there in the hallway. The dark-haired girl immediately puts an arm around her shoulders and guides her away from the boys, whispering to her and patting her arm.
“You think I don’t know that?” Isaac hisses. “We weren’t trying or nothing! I don’t want a baby!”
“Ruby is going to freak out,” Casey mutters.
“We’re not going to tell Ruby!” Isaac shouts, and Vic nods his head.
“No way. She’s not keeping it, is she?”
Isaac glances over his shoulder to where Cara and Vic’s friend are standing. Cara’s back is to him, but he can still see how upset she is in the way her shoulders are slouched, how her arms are wrapped around herself. The first words out of her mouth, after ‘I’m pregnant,’ were ‘Get me an abortion.’ She doesn’t want it. He’s sure she doesn’t want it. And he’s sure he doesn’t want it. “No. She wants the abortion.”
“Okay.” Vic pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks the screen. “If we’re gonna go to Planned Parenthood, we need to leave now. It’ll take two hours to get to the city and even then, I don’t know if they’ll see Cara on such short notice. You should call and try to make an appointment.”
“Fine.” Isaac glances back and forth between Casey and Vic. “Can I do it on the way? We need to get this thing done. Now.”
“Get Cara,” Vic sighs, and Isaac power-walks across the hall to where she’s standing.
Casey puts a hand on Vic’s shoulder and laughs. “Shit, man.”
All five of them--Vic, Casey, Mona, Isaac, and Cara--climb into Vic’s car fifteen minutes before the first bell is supposed to ring. It’s about 7:15 in the morning, which puts them in the city a little after 9 o’clock, if traffic isn’t terrible. Vic’s never had to take anyone to Planned Parenthood before, but Gina’s gone and said everyone was really nice to her, that they were professional and caring. As long as Cara doesn’t die and doesn’t have Isaac’s baby, that’s all that matters.
Mona and Cara don’t become fast friends, but Cara seems more at ease with another girl around, so Vic manages to convince her to skip school and come with. Casey’s along for the ride just for the hell of it, and Vic’s glad, because he’s not sure he could handle a full day alone with his brother and his girlfriend.
“Abortions cost money,” he says and looks back at Isaac and Cara in the rearview mirror.
Cara glares at him and pulls her wallet out of her pocket. “I know that, asshole.” There’s a wad of cash just peeking out above the fold, and Vic whistles.
“You’re flush, huh?”
Cara puts the wallet away and sinks down in her seat, folding her arms across her chest. “I stole it from my dad, okay? They have what they think is a secret stash just in case, and they almost never look at it, so I’ll probably be good for a while. I needed it a hell of a lot more than they did.”
“Lying, stealing, underage sex... you’re turning into a real Eastman, sweetheart,” Casey jokes, and Vic reaches over to smack him with the back of his hand.
“Yeah, I’m surprised Vic hasn’t gotten anyone pregnant yet,” Isaac grumbles in response, and Vic and Casey fall silent.
After a beat of silence, Vic says, “Learn how to use a condom,” which just sparks a loud argument between the two brothers as Vic speeds out of the parking lot.
It starts out as the most uncomfortable car ride ever, but eventually Vic turns on the stereo, and his unusual combination of punk rock and electronic music manages to satisfy everyone in the car. By the end of the first hour, even Cara seems to have cheered up a little--at least as much as one can, given the circumstances.
“What was it like living in the city?” Cara asks, engrossed in her conversation with Mona. The younger girl seems to have taken an interest in her, in the way that younger girls often do when they’re around someone older. Mona doesn’t think she projects any kind of maturity, but Cara looks at her like she’s so cool, so experienced, and Mona hates to disappoint her.
“It was cool,” she says and shrugs. “Lots to do. Lots of people. I think it’s easier to get away with stuff in the city.” She doesn’t mention the drugs or the drinking, or her mother’s terrible habits and the disgusting living conditions she had to endure. Cara seems smart enough to realize nothing has all the glitz and glamour it may come across with, and Mona doesn’t want to insult her intelligence with a lecture about the harsh reality of life in the city.
“Why’d you come out here, then?” Isaac chimes in, and Vic catches Mona’s eye in the rearview mirror.
She gently shakes her head, as if to tell him to back down, and turns back to Isaac. “I didn’t have a choice. My mom died, so I had to move in with my aunt.”
“Oh my God,” Cara says, one hand pressed to her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Mona replies, and then wishes she had just said ‘thank you,’ or something equally acceptable. She’s getting looks from Cara and Isaac, curious looks that tell her they want to know more but are too afraid to ask.
She’s not going to tell them how she found her mother, how she took a picture of her corpse on the couch and sent it to her brother, how she wasn’t even sad when Cassandra died. She may have broken her own rules and shared the one piece of personal information she was planning on keeping in, but it’s too hard to lie to people she’s trying to form bonds with. It’s as far as she’ll go, though; Mona won’t say anything more. They don’t need to know the disgusting truth. She doesn’t need to be judged by people who aren’t too far off from where she’s been.
“We weren’t close. She wasn’t around much,” Mona offers as an explanation. “It’s just that my brother couldn’t take me in because he has some fancy professor job and he doesn’t have the time to raise a teenager. It’s fine. I get it. Auntie Liv isn’t so bad.”
“Olivia Meadows,” Vic clarifies, and Isaac laughs.
“Hey, she’s that woman who always used to bring Ruby desserts, right? She’d come home with coffee cakes and muffins and shit, like every week.”
“I guess everyone knows her,” Mona says, and Casey turns around in his seat.
“Everyone knows everyone else here. Your aunt is kind of a busybody--but in a nice way. She just includes herself in everything and no one can dislike her because she gives them desserts or helps them out when they need it.”
“I think she’s just lonely,” Isaac chimes in. “Ruby said she’d come into the diner every day and talk to her. She was always alone, right?”
“Well, not anymore,” Mona replies, and she’s hit with a sudden wave of guilt. Auntie Liv was always just her mother’s weird older sister who had some obsession with taking Mona in. She’d never thought to consider other options--like maybe Auntie Liv was lonely, or she was just trying to do what was best for a child she knew was being neglected.
Mona pulls her phone out of her pocket and sends a quick text to her brother. i’m a shitty person.
“Well, if she starts baking you desserts, bring some over, would ya?” Vic asks with a laugh. “She’s a great baker, I’ll give her that!”
Mona smiles, but her face feels tight and she worries that it looks too forced. “Sure, yeah.” At least with Cara’s pregnancy, most of the focus has been elsewhere, but Cara’s problem has an easy solution. By the time they get back, Cara’s life will be back to normal, and Mona feels bitter about that. Her life won’t be going back to normal once she gets back from the city. Her life has never been normal...and likely never will be.
When she turns back, Cara has her phone out and is staring down at the screen with her eyebrows knit. Isaac is leaning his elbow against the door, staring out the window. Vic and Casey are talking quietly in the front, and it almost seems like a normal road trip. No one would look at them and think, these kids are on a mission.
Abortions aren’t as taboo as they used to be, she knows--at least legally. Federally, abortions are legal, with strict restrictions on late-term abortion, and in most cases, parental permission isn’t required. Women of sound mind and the capability to understand the risks are able to make their own choices. A woman’s body is her own.
It’s still frowned upon, though, and Mona’s not surprised Cara and Isaac are keeping it a secret from their families. No parent wants to hear their 14 year old child is carrying a child themselves. A lot of people still consider abortion ‘murder,’ too, and she can’t imagine that would go over well.
Cara and Isaac look so young with the worry etched into their faces, and Mona has to wonder if this is a difficult decision for them. Part of her wonders, too, why her own mother hadn’t made the same decision. She thinks Cara is doing the right thing.
Mona thinks she really should have been aborted.
Inside the clinic, Mona helps Cara get everything in order while Isaac lingers around, with nervous energy coming off of him in waves. Vic thinks he looks more like a new parent, a father waiting around for his wife to give birth, than a boyfriend escorting his girlfriend to get an abortion. Isaac’s a much better kid than any Eastman should be, Vic thinks, because most guys wouldn’t go with their girlfriends for something like this. They’d give them money, tell ‘em good luck, and leave them to it.
Instead, Isaac just hovers, wringing his hands, asking the nurse if he needs to do anything, sign anything, pay anything.
“You need to relax, sweetheart,” the woman says with a gentle smile.
Vic and Casey are sitting in the corner, pretending to flip through magazines while they wait to find out whether or not Cara will even be seen that day. Casey’s ignoring him, even though he keeps lightly hitting Casey’s leg with the back of his hand.
“You wanna stop?” Casey asks finally, not even bothering to look up from his worn-out People magazine.
“I need a cigarette,” Vic replies. “Wanna come outside with me?”
Casey lowers the magazine and turns to look at him with a tired, flat expression. “I just spent the entire night with you,” he says, keeping his voice low. “I’m not fucking you in the backseat of your car while your little brother and his baby prostitute of a girlfriend get their lovechild vacuumed out.”
Vic frowns. “Jesus, dude. I want a cigarette. That’s it, relax.”
Casey sighs and puts the magazine down on the empty chair beside him. “Fine, but you better give me one, too.”
They both get up from their seats while Cara is still busy filling out paperwork, and slip out through the entrance. The parking lot is relatively empty, and even though it’s on a busy road, the cars are far enough away that Vic doesn’t think they’ll grab anyone’s attention. Still, he leads Casey around to the side of the building where they can shield themselves a little better.
“I was lying,” Vic says once they’re far enough out of sight, and leans in to kiss Casey hard on the lips. “A little.”
“I wasn’t,” Casey replies. “No car sex, Vic--I mean it.”
“I’m not--” Vic starts. “I don’t--” He cuts himself off with a huff, reaching up to run a hand over the top of his head. “It’s not all about sex all the time, alright? Jesus. Maybe, sometimes, I just want to spend time with you! People in a relationship do that!”
“Shit,” Casey says, and leans back against the brick wall. He folds his arms across his chest and sighs, staring down at his feet.
Vic takes a few steps away from him, flipping the lid of his cigarette carton open and shut. He doesn’t even pull out a cigarette, as much as he wants to, because he knows if he does he’ll have to give one to Casey as well. He doesn’t want to even look at Casey.
They stand in silence for what must be minutes before, very quietly, Casey finally says, “I’m sorry.”
Vic chooses not to look at him. “Yeah?”
Casey’s not the affectionate type. He’d probably hide their relationship even if everyone in their lives supported them, Vic figures. He doesn’t do PDA, he doesn’t hold hands, and he seems to want to remove himself from any immediate danger of touching Vic, purposeful or otherwise.
At school, they’re friends. Sometimes even enemies. They fight like they hate each other, and occasionally Vic walks away wondering whether or not it’s all for show. Nobody can know, Casey had said after their first time, and Vic was too wrapped up in the heat of the moment passion to do much but weakly agree, staring into his eyes with a dazed, happy expression. Of course they had to keep it a secret. Of course no one could know.
Vic just didn’t realize how far that would extend. He hadn’t expected it to impact their relationship as much as it does.
“Vic,” Casey says, but he doesn’t move from the wall.
All Vic wants is a little acknowledgment that they’re something. That they’re together, and aren’t just two otherwise-straight guys who enjoy fucking on the down-low. He wants to say that he didn’t expect what happened between them, that he wasn’t planning on a relationship and he didn’t set out to bang his best friend. He wants to say that he’s sorry, but now it means something to him and if Casey wants out, if Casey doesn’t want more, he has to say so now.
But Vic can’t talk. He can only see Casey calling him a girl, mocking him for having emotions, asking where the hell the tough Vic Eastman went.
So when Casey finally steps away from the wall, says “Vic, come on,” and reaches for his wrist, Vic pulls back and slugs him in the jaw.