Lie of Omission
Date: Thursday, January 13, 2011
Characters: Marie O'Shea, Hannah Reed(NPC)
Location: Hannah's house
Status: Private
Summary: Marie has a confession
Completion: Complete
The trip up to Plano had been a pain. Marie hated dealing with all the construction they had in Grapevine on 121 N and had been doing her best to avoid it. If traffic was a pain and she didn’t have to go out, Marie generally stuck to a personal rule of having a day in. But, it was Hannah’s last day in town before she was driving back down to College Station so Marie had made an exception to her rule.
“So, how’s the new apartment?” Marie, who had been staring at the ceiling from her comfy spot on Hannah’s bed, rolled over on her side to see Hannah trying to cram the last bit of her clothes into the already overstuffed suitcase. She chuckled at her friend’s battle with the zipper before answering her question.
“It’s ok,” Marie replied. “Doesn’t feel like home, but I haven’t even been there for a week so I’m thinking it’s more of an adjustment thing than an apartment thing.”
“Hmmm, that makes sense,” Hannah replied, though Marie could tell that she was still wholly focused on the unmoving zipper. She decided that she had let Hannah struggle on her own enough and continuing to find amusement in her friends struggle at that point would have been semi-cruel of her.
She got up from the bed and plopped herself down on the top of the suitcase, forcing the contents of the bag to squish together under her weight. “Try it now.”
“I knew there was a reason I invited you over,” Hannah said excitedly as she was finally able to zip close the last of her suitcases.
“So that I could sit on your luggage? Not sure how I should take that,” Marie replied as she stood back up to reclaim her spot on the bed.
“Basically,” she could hear Hannah say from the floor. “I try to keep the useful people around. Take it as a compliment.”
Marie let out a small snort of amusement before she rolled on her side to get a better look at her friend again. “Whatever, just admit that you’re madly in love with me and didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye!”
“You caught me,” Hannah said, pretending to hide her face behind her hands in embarrassment. “But honestly,” Hannah said, giving Marie a serious look. “Do you like it there?”
Marie gave her friend a small smile. “I really couldn’t say at this point. I’ve met a couple of interesting people, applied for some part time jobs, but nothing has made me really happy yet.” Marie ignored the worried look on her friends face. Hannah had a tendency to worry over every little thing. She was lucky, Marie knew, to have a friend who cared so much but sometimes it could be a bit of a pain.
“Anything else, happen this week,” Hannah asked. Marie hated that tone of voice Hannah used when she knew Marie wasn’t being 100% honest with her. Most people couldn’t tell when she was withholding information from them. She wouldn’t call herself a dishonest person. She just believed there were times when people didn’t need to know certain things.
“Sean tried to call me again,” Marie admitted quietly. She knew she could have tried to hide it from Hannah, but her friend could always tell when something was wrong and she was obviously already suspicious. When Hannah was already suspicious it was better to just be forthcoming.
“That fucker,” Hannah said with malice. She had never been a fan of Sean. His and Marie’s nasty breakup had just given Hannah an excuse to hate him more. “What did the little shit want this time?”
“Don’t know,” Marie said with a small shrug. “I ended up spilling everything in my purse all over Starbucks and missed his call. He left a message but I haven’t listened to it.”
Hannah stood up as Marie finished her explanation. “Give me your phone,” she demanded quickly. When determined to do something, Hannah was a force to be reckoned with. Marie usually just went along with what she wanted, but she knew now was not the time to take the easy way out of confrontation. The Sean Thing, as Maire had begun calling it, was her problem. If anyone was going to do anything about it, it would be her. She wasn’t always going to be able to hide behind other people.
“Why,” Marie said, playing dumb while she gazed at her friend’s outstretched hand. Hannah sighed in a frustrated way that implied that the answer was obvious; which it was. Marie knew that Hannah wanted to bitch Sean out, but was going to avoid that plan of action at all costs. On the one hand, it would be nice to let someone verbally rip Sean a new one, but on the other hand, that would only let him know that he was getting to her. He would only take it as encouragement and that was the last thing Marie wanted to give him.
“’Cause I’m gonna call the asshole and tell him to leave you the hell alone,” Hannah said, her voice rising as she grew more agitated.
Marie sighed and stood up so that she was right in front of Hannah. “No, you’re not,” she said calmly as she placed her hands on Hannah’s shoulders and tried to look her straight in the eyes. Hannah stood a good four inches taller than Marie, so it was a difficult task. “I appreciate it, really I do,” she added quickly when Hannah opened her mouth to interrupt her. “But, I figure if I don’t react, he’ll just get bored. He’s just throwing a temper tantrum and it’ll run it’s course if I don’t respond.”
She could tell that this did little to appease Hannah’s anger as her friend was looking firmly away from her eyes. People who didn’t know Hannah as well as she did would assume that this was a sign of concession. Knowing that this was far from true, Marie mentally braced herself for the fight she knew was about to come.
“You know what, yeah, you’re absolutely right,” Marie winced at the sarcasm in Hannah’s voice. “I bet Lindsay was just throwing a temper tantrum when she sent you to the hospital.”
“That was a completely different situation,” Marie said quickly, immediately on the defensive. Her left hand brushed across the spot on the outside of her leg where she now had a permanent reminder of that incident. She didn’t like to think about it.
“Bullshit it was different,” Hannah exclaimed, finally reaching the end of her fuse and directing the explosion at Marie. “Someone was harassing you and you just ignored it! Now, with the way that one turned out, you want me to just go on down to College Station and act like I don’t know something like it could happen again?! What the fuck Marie?!”
Marie stood still while she listened to Hannah’s rant. “When the fuck are you gonna stand the fuck up for yourself and not let people treat you like shit?!” If she could just stay calm it wouldn’t last long Marie reminded herself as Hannah continued. Hannah didn’t like fighting with Marie anymore than Marie liked fighting with Hannah. She knew this because Hannah had once said that yelling at Marie felt like kicking a hurt puppy. You just sit there and take it, she had said. It just doesn’t seem fair.
When it looked like Hannah was done, Marie pulled her into a light hug. This was partly because she was sorry that Hannah was so upset, but also because it would give her some time to think about how to say what she knew she needed to say.
“Look, what happened with Lindsay was an accident,” Marie said as she pulled out of the hug. “And Sean isn’t a violent person. If he’s still trying to contact me by the end of the month then I’ll take action, but until then I just want to leave it alone and hope it’ll run its course.”
Hannah looked like she wanted to argue. Marie hoped that she wouldn’t push it further, she never liked making Hannah upset and she knew that they weren’t going to come to an agreement. “I think you’re wrong,” Hannah said and Marie let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding. “But I don’t want to spend my last day in town arguing with you. Besides, arguing with you just makes me feel like a bitch.” Hannah looked at Marie and pulled her into another hug. “Promise me that you’ll let me know if it gets worse, ok?”
“I promise,” Marie said, wrapping her arms around the taller girl. She was grateful that Hannah was still hugging her. If she hadn’t been she probably would have realized that Marie was lying. Sometimes, there were things that people just didn’t need to know.
Characters: Marie O'Shea, Hannah Reed(NPC)
Location: Hannah's house
Status: Private
Summary: Marie has a confession
Completion: Complete
The trip up to Plano had been a pain. Marie hated dealing with all the construction they had in Grapevine on 121 N and had been doing her best to avoid it. If traffic was a pain and she didn’t have to go out, Marie generally stuck to a personal rule of having a day in. But, it was Hannah’s last day in town before she was driving back down to College Station so Marie had made an exception to her rule.
“So, how’s the new apartment?” Marie, who had been staring at the ceiling from her comfy spot on Hannah’s bed, rolled over on her side to see Hannah trying to cram the last bit of her clothes into the already overstuffed suitcase. She chuckled at her friend’s battle with the zipper before answering her question.
“It’s ok,” Marie replied. “Doesn’t feel like home, but I haven’t even been there for a week so I’m thinking it’s more of an adjustment thing than an apartment thing.”
“Hmmm, that makes sense,” Hannah replied, though Marie could tell that she was still wholly focused on the unmoving zipper. She decided that she had let Hannah struggle on her own enough and continuing to find amusement in her friends struggle at that point would have been semi-cruel of her.
She got up from the bed and plopped herself down on the top of the suitcase, forcing the contents of the bag to squish together under her weight. “Try it now.”
“I knew there was a reason I invited you over,” Hannah said excitedly as she was finally able to zip close the last of her suitcases.
“So that I could sit on your luggage? Not sure how I should take that,” Marie replied as she stood back up to reclaim her spot on the bed.
“Basically,” she could hear Hannah say from the floor. “I try to keep the useful people around. Take it as a compliment.”
Marie let out a small snort of amusement before she rolled on her side to get a better look at her friend again. “Whatever, just admit that you’re madly in love with me and didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye!”
“You caught me,” Hannah said, pretending to hide her face behind her hands in embarrassment. “But honestly,” Hannah said, giving Marie a serious look. “Do you like it there?”
Marie gave her friend a small smile. “I really couldn’t say at this point. I’ve met a couple of interesting people, applied for some part time jobs, but nothing has made me really happy yet.” Marie ignored the worried look on her friends face. Hannah had a tendency to worry over every little thing. She was lucky, Marie knew, to have a friend who cared so much but sometimes it could be a bit of a pain.
“Anything else, happen this week,” Hannah asked. Marie hated that tone of voice Hannah used when she knew Marie wasn’t being 100% honest with her. Most people couldn’t tell when she was withholding information from them. She wouldn’t call herself a dishonest person. She just believed there were times when people didn’t need to know certain things.
“Sean tried to call me again,” Marie admitted quietly. She knew she could have tried to hide it from Hannah, but her friend could always tell when something was wrong and she was obviously already suspicious. When Hannah was already suspicious it was better to just be forthcoming.
“That fucker,” Hannah said with malice. She had never been a fan of Sean. His and Marie’s nasty breakup had just given Hannah an excuse to hate him more. “What did the little shit want this time?”
“Don’t know,” Marie said with a small shrug. “I ended up spilling everything in my purse all over Starbucks and missed his call. He left a message but I haven’t listened to it.”
Hannah stood up as Marie finished her explanation. “Give me your phone,” she demanded quickly. When determined to do something, Hannah was a force to be reckoned with. Marie usually just went along with what she wanted, but she knew now was not the time to take the easy way out of confrontation. The Sean Thing, as Maire had begun calling it, was her problem. If anyone was going to do anything about it, it would be her. She wasn’t always going to be able to hide behind other people.
“Why,” Marie said, playing dumb while she gazed at her friend’s outstretched hand. Hannah sighed in a frustrated way that implied that the answer was obvious; which it was. Marie knew that Hannah wanted to bitch Sean out, but was going to avoid that plan of action at all costs. On the one hand, it would be nice to let someone verbally rip Sean a new one, but on the other hand, that would only let him know that he was getting to her. He would only take it as encouragement and that was the last thing Marie wanted to give him.
“’Cause I’m gonna call the asshole and tell him to leave you the hell alone,” Hannah said, her voice rising as she grew more agitated.
Marie sighed and stood up so that she was right in front of Hannah. “No, you’re not,” she said calmly as she placed her hands on Hannah’s shoulders and tried to look her straight in the eyes. Hannah stood a good four inches taller than Marie, so it was a difficult task. “I appreciate it, really I do,” she added quickly when Hannah opened her mouth to interrupt her. “But, I figure if I don’t react, he’ll just get bored. He’s just throwing a temper tantrum and it’ll run it’s course if I don’t respond.”
She could tell that this did little to appease Hannah’s anger as her friend was looking firmly away from her eyes. People who didn’t know Hannah as well as she did would assume that this was a sign of concession. Knowing that this was far from true, Marie mentally braced herself for the fight she knew was about to come.
“You know what, yeah, you’re absolutely right,” Marie winced at the sarcasm in Hannah’s voice. “I bet Lindsay was just throwing a temper tantrum when she sent you to the hospital.”
“That was a completely different situation,” Marie said quickly, immediately on the defensive. Her left hand brushed across the spot on the outside of her leg where she now had a permanent reminder of that incident. She didn’t like to think about it.
“Bullshit it was different,” Hannah exclaimed, finally reaching the end of her fuse and directing the explosion at Marie. “Someone was harassing you and you just ignored it! Now, with the way that one turned out, you want me to just go on down to College Station and act like I don’t know something like it could happen again?! What the fuck Marie?!”
Marie stood still while she listened to Hannah’s rant. “When the fuck are you gonna stand the fuck up for yourself and not let people treat you like shit?!” If she could just stay calm it wouldn’t last long Marie reminded herself as Hannah continued. Hannah didn’t like fighting with Marie anymore than Marie liked fighting with Hannah. She knew this because Hannah had once said that yelling at Marie felt like kicking a hurt puppy. You just sit there and take it, she had said. It just doesn’t seem fair.
When it looked like Hannah was done, Marie pulled her into a light hug. This was partly because she was sorry that Hannah was so upset, but also because it would give her some time to think about how to say what she knew she needed to say.
“Look, what happened with Lindsay was an accident,” Marie said as she pulled out of the hug. “And Sean isn’t a violent person. If he’s still trying to contact me by the end of the month then I’ll take action, but until then I just want to leave it alone and hope it’ll run its course.”
Hannah looked like she wanted to argue. Marie hoped that she wouldn’t push it further, she never liked making Hannah upset and she knew that they weren’t going to come to an agreement. “I think you’re wrong,” Hannah said and Marie let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding. “But I don’t want to spend my last day in town arguing with you. Besides, arguing with you just makes me feel like a bitch.” Hannah looked at Marie and pulled her into another hug. “Promise me that you’ll let me know if it gets worse, ok?”
“I promise,” Marie said, wrapping her arms around the taller girl. She was grateful that Hannah was still hugging her. If she hadn’t been she probably would have realized that Marie was lying. Sometimes, there were things that people just didn’t need to know.