by H G Lynch
The water was nearing ‘too cold to sit in’ so she decided it was finally time to get out. She got out of the bath, toweled off, changed into cozy pajamas, and crawled into bed. Pulling the duvet over her head, she curled up and closed her eyes and hoped she didn’t dream tonight. She was afraid she’d dream of Reid and Lia together, and she was fairly sure that if that crossed her mind, even in sleep, she’d end up outside Liandra’s door with an axe and a fist full of fire.
*****
** Sherry **
“Oh, good, you’re finally awake. Where were you yesterday? I didn’t see you at all and you were already asleep when I got in. Did you and Reid go–” Sherry cut herself off mid-question as she turned from closing the door to look at Ember. She hadn’t really registered the girl when she’d first come in, but now she could see that Ember wasn’t really awake – she wasn’t asleep, but she didn’t seem to be in touch with what was going on around her. She was staring blankly at a spot on the wall, apparently lost in her own head, but not like Sherry had ever seen her. There were deep purple smears under her glazed blue eyes, her hair didn’t look brushed, and she was wearing, of all things, a baggy black tracksuit. Ember never wore tracksuits. Ever. Something was seriously wrong.
“Ember? Emz, what’s wrong? What happened?” Sherry asked gently, moving to sit carefully on the edge of Ember’s bed.
On closer inspection, she realized Ember had brushed her hair, but it looked like she’d been tugging at it in frustration or anger. There were thin lines around her mouth, too. The smaller girl looked even tinier than usual, curled up with her chin on her knees, her arms tightly hugging her legs. It was like she was trying to simultaneously hide and protect herself. She didn’t even blink at Sherry’s questioning.
Sherry tried again. “Emz, what’s wrong?” she asked again.
Ember tilted her head slightly, blinked, and her mouth crumpled into an uneven line. Tears filled her eyes and she turned sharply away. Sherry felt her heart give a twist of sympathy for her friend, wondering what could’ve happened to have her so upset.
Did I do something? Is this my fault? she speculated worriedly. She didn’t think she’d done anything to upset Ember, except maybe that trip to the cinema with Lia, but surely that wasn’t enough to drive Ember to wearing a tracksuit.
Ember still wasn’t talking, half-turned so Sherry couldn’t see her face.
Sherry tried a different tactic. “Why are you wearing a tracksuit? I thought you hated them. They’re tacky and ugly, remember?” Appealing to the slight snob in her friend, Sherry thought she might at least get some sort of answer that could help her work out what was going on. She was right. To some extent, anyway.
“Because I’m a stick and at least the tracksuit hides it,” Ember muttered into her knees, miserable as Sherry had ever heard her.
This happened sometimes; Ember got self-conscious and went into a little dark corner of her mind where she could hide and mope. It was pretty hard to get her out of that corner usually, but a good book and caffeine normally did it. Even better, Sherry assumed, would be hearing her boyfriend telling her she was beautiful and brilliant.
“I’ll get Reid. You need a confidence boost,” she said, getting off the bed.
But, quick as a flash, Ember’s hand was around her wrist, squeezing painfully tight.
Sherry gasped and Ember instantly let go, giving her a sidelong repentant look.
“Sorry. I don’t want to see Reid. Just…I just want to go back to sleep. I don’t feel well,” Ember mumbled, then slunk under her duvet with Quince, her cuddly teddy bear.
Sherry hesitated, bit her lip for a moment, and then nodded though Ember wasn’t looking at her. Oh, Reid is in serious trouble. Whatever he’d done, he was in need of a scolding and possibly a bitch-slap depending on what it was he’d done. If he’d broken up with her…Yeah, he’d get more than a bitch-slap.
Sherry crept quietly out of the room and closed the door carefully before striding down the hall to Reid and Ricky’s room and banging on the door furiously. That stupid, arrogant bastard was going to get an earful for this. He’d messed up somehow and Sherry wasn’t about to let him get away with hurting her best friend. The boy wasn’t as clever as he pretended to be if he thought he could break up with Ember and not suffer any repercussions. Ugh. Just imagining what might’ve happened pissed Sherry off on her friend’s behalf. Guys could be real jackasses sometimes and if Ricky ever, ever did something to hurt her, she knew Ember would gladly rip his nuts off.
As soon as the door swung open to reveal the blond boy, Sherry asked in a no-nonsense
tone, "What did you do?"
Reid blinked as if in surprise, but guilt flashed across his face before he covered it with one of his maddening smug grins. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, arching one brow at her. "Could you narrow it down for me?"
Before she could stop herself, Sherry's hand flew out and she slapped Reid right across the face. Her hand connected with his cheek with a sharp smacking sound, and she glared up at him furiously. How dare he joke and be smug when he'd so obviously screwed up royally! Ember was a wreck and he had the arrogant tenacity to act like an ass. What surprised her, though, was that when he looked at her again, there was no trace of shock or anger, just sadness and regret, like he knew he deserved it. That made Sherry pause a moment. It seemed she had, quite literally, smacked the smug grin off his face. For just a heartbeat, she wondered how many people had tried that before and failed.
Quietly, dismally, Reid asked, “How bad is she?”
Ah, so he does know he’s screwed up. Now that she looked at him properly, Sherry could see he didn’t look much better than Ember. He also had dark smudges under his eyes and he actually hadn’t brushed his hair. There was tight anxiety in his eyes, like he was waiting for bad news. Like he already knew how bad it was, but felt inclined to ask just in case he was wrong.
Sherry crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at him venomously. “She’s wearing a tracksuit and she’s retreated into her dark, self-hating corner,” she said it accusingly, letting him know he was a moron for whom the better part of her respect had just diminished. Sometimes, she wondered if she should keep a mental points system for Reid; if he did something good or nice or not-insane, he got points and if he did something stupid or reckless or acted like an arrogant prick, he lost points. That way, she could judge how angry to be at him on a daily basis. It would be the equivalent of giving a kid gold stars when he did his homework. Actually, that could work with Reid too. Stars, or maybe cookies. And when he was an idiot, she could squirt him with water like you did to cats.
Reid sighing heavily brought her attention back to the fact that he was currently resting perilously on the edge of a possible -10 points. He jerked a hand roughly through his hair, frowning. He looked kind of like he wanted to bash his head on the door. Sherry wouldn’t try to stop him if he attempted it. “Damn it. Damn it!” He smacked a hand on the wood of the doorway, then rested his forehead on his raised fist, closing his eyes.
Sherry watched him with growing worry.
“Reid, what exactly did you do?” she asked, no longer accusing, but wary. If he was beating himself up this much, it had to be serious. She’d only been joking when she’d thought of him breaking up with Ember – there was no way he’d do that after everything they’d been through. He loved her, and she loved him, and they were perfect for each other in a really dysfunctional, funky way. But what if…what if he’d actually gone off his nut and done something that stupid. Maybe he’d been drunk or something, or maybe…
With a groan, Reid pushed away from the door and stalked back into his room. He dropped down onto the edge of his bed, putting his head in his hands, and then stood up almost immediately to begin pacing the length of the room.
Sherry stepped carefully over the threshold and chewed her lip anxiously. Watching people pace or worry always made her want to pace or made her worry more. Deliberately, she stepped
into the path of Reid’s pacing to stop him and he looked down at her with sad blue eyes.
When he spoke, his tone was rueful but matter-of-fact, “I screwed up big time,” he stated, biting down on his lower lip hard enough that Sherry thought he might draw blood.
She raised her brows and gave him a sarcastic look. “No kidding,” she said curtly.
Reid groaned again and went to sit on his bed again. This time, he stayed sitting, though he drummed his fingers on his knees incessantly. Sherry took a seat on Ricky’s bed and folded her legs under her, waiting for Reid to continue and explain what he’d actually done. She got ready to take his head off and felt a faint, cool tingle in her fingertips signaling her magic was working.
It took a long while of Reid chewing his lip and repeatedly running his hand through his hair, choosing his words Sherry assumed, before he spoke again. “Okay, you want to know what I did? I’ll tell you, but you have to hear me out, promise not to turn me into a living ice sculpture,” he said, clenching and unclenching his fists nervously.
Jeez, Sherry was sure she’d never seen him so nervous before. Was he always this fidgety? Normally, he seemed pretty composed a lot of the time, but right now he looked like he was ready to fling himself out the window at any moment.
She nodded slowly, slyly crossing her fingers behind her back – Hey, he said to promise. He didn’t say anything about meaning it. Reid made a sharp sound something like a sigh and hung his head so she couldn’t see his face.
He was silent for a second, then said, “I kissed Lia.” His shoulders tensed, his fists clenched until Sherry could see the fine bones sticking out.
Sherry hesitated only a second before her mind processed what he’d said and fury welled up inside her. With incredible speed – for her – she got off Ricky’s bed and towered over Reid. He tensed further, curling in on himself as if he could hide from her by making himself small enough – or maybe he was trying to hide from what he’d done. It wasn’t going to happen.
“You did what?” she hissed through her teeth. She couldn’t believe this. After everything Ember had done for him, after she’d risked her life to save him from Owen and the witches, and fought to keep him from being torn apart by The Society…after all that, he cheated on her! It was the sleaziest, most disgusting, rotten, bastardly thing he could’ve done. If she knew Ember – and she did – to her eyes, this was worse than if he’d broken up with her. Ember had a hard time trusting people, and an even harder time loving people, and for Reid to go and betray the trust she had in him, toy with the love she felt for him, it was despicable!
Sherry felt her hands tingle with chills and resisted the urge to slap him again just to see if the contact would be enough to freeze him solid. “You absolute bastard! How could you do that to her! Reid, she loves you! She trusted you! What the hell did you think you were doing? Maybe you used to pull crap like this with your old girlfriends and they wouldn’t give a toss one way or the other, but you know damn well Ember isn’t like that. You’re bloody lucky she hasn’t killed you yet. I’d help her if she decided to. Have you told Ricky about this yet? Oh, wait until I tell him. You know he’s going to just as pissed about this as I am, and you have to share a room with him so good bloody luck! And Cris, you know how he is, he’ll take Ember’s side. Oh, and Hiro. Oh God, I’d love to be here when Hiro finds out. I just bet he’ll rip you a—”
“Hiro already knows,” Reid cut in miserably, tipping his head back to look her in the eye. She was surprised to see burning fury in his eyes that didn’t match his tone. “He’s the one who saw and told her. That friggin’ fox! This is his fault! That stupid little rat didn’t even—”
“This isn’t his fault, it’s yours! You’re the one who cheated on Ember! You moronic douche, you have nobody to blame but yourself—”
“I can blame Lia! She was the one who kissed me! She brought it on! We were just rehearsing lines and she kissed me and I just reacted! I didn’t—”
“You kissed her back! That’s what matters! If you kissed her back, you cheated! You screwed up, Reid. Accept the responsibility for once, and I hope the guilt keeps you up at night.” She scoffed in disbelief and anger, turning away from him. She didn’t even want to look at him right now. All she could think about was how Ember must’ve felt when she found out. I bet she was heartbroken. And I wasn’t even there to comfort her. Dammit!
All the anger and fight went out of Reid and he slumped, letting out a sigh from the depths of his lungs. “It did. The guilt kept me up last night. It’ll keep me up tonight and tomorrow night and probably every night for the next three weeks unless you help me. Please, I’m begging you, Sherry. I didn’t mean to kiss Lia, I swear. It was a mistake, a giant friggin’ mistake and if I could take it back, I would. But I can’t, so the best I can do now is figure out how to make it up to Ember and keep her from breaking up with me. Please, Sherry, I love her so much and if…if she breaks up with me, I know I’ll deserve it, but I don’t…I don’t think I could stand it. I love that girl more than anything, I promise you that much. Just help me fix this, please.” Reid was pleading with her, his eyes wide and desperate.
She got the impression that he’d drop to his knees and beg in a heartbeat if he had to. He looked like he was really sorry, like he really meant it. But Sherry hesitated anyway, not in the least because she had no idea how to help fix this. It wasn’t like he’d just insulted Ember, or locked her up against her will for own sake, or overreacted to a badly-timed little scene with another guy this time. No, this was huge. It wouldn’t be fixed by a plaster and a lollypop. This bloody gash would need slow-healing stitches. Luckily, she thought she might know how and what he had to do to start the stitching process – that was if she really wanted to help him. Did he really deserve another chance after this? Or should he suffer for his idiocy?
Sherry pondered this for a long minute. The thing was, if she made him suffer, Ember would suffer too. If this carried out its natural course, Reid would learn a lesson in loyalty and be miserable, and Ember would never trust another guy in her life, plus she’d be nursing a broken heart for a looong time. She wouldn’t get over something like this easily. It’d take time and a lot of sleepless nights. If there was any possible way that she could help them patch this up, Sherry had the obligation to do so. If she didn’t, it made her a terrible best friend and she’d been sucking at that pretty good already. This would have to redeem her.
Finally, she sighed. “Okay. I’ll help you,” she said, turning to scowl at Reid.
His head jerked up and he blinked. “Seriously? Oh God, thank you. I swear, I’ll do anything to fix this.” He got to his feet and, in an uncharacteristic move, gave her an impulsive hug that nearly crushed her ribs. Sherry gasped and punched his shoulder blade to make him let go. He released her instantly and looked down at his feet.
Once she could breathe again, Sherry hit him once more, punching him in the arm. He scowled at her as if to say, ‘what was that for?’ Sherry glared back at him. “Don’t hug me and don’t thank me. You’re still an ass and the only reason I’m doing this is because I know how much this must hurt Ember. If you can win her trust back, she won’t have to hate you. I doubt she could handle hating you after loving you. It’d seriously mess her up. So, I’m doing this for her. And if you ever, ever do something like this again…you’ll receive an improvised castration. Got it?” she warned.
Reid nodded solemnly, taking a step back from her.
“Good. Now, the first thing you need to do is go and talk to her.”
He made a frustrated sound. “I already did that last night! It didn’t go well. You think she’ll want to talk to me now, after she’s had time to stop crying and get angry? She’ll rip me to shreds. I’ll be lucky if I walk out of there without first degree burns on eighty percent of my body.”
True. Too bad he wasn’t going to have another option. Hey, she was helping him – the fact that he was going to get flame grilled was just a bonus. Maybe it’d
help him learn his lesson a little faster. If not, it wouldn’t be any more than he deserved.
“Tough. You’ll just have to risk it. Go and talk to her, let her beat the crap out of you if she needs to. Throwing yourself at her mercy will at least make her feel a bit better. That’s step one. Once she’s gotten the anger out of her system, you might, might be able to have a logical conversation with her.” Or he’d just need a trip to the infirmary and a blood bag. But either way, Ember needed to give him a good kicking before the healing process could go any further.
Reid gave Sherry a long, hard look, as if he were trying to decipher whether or not she was kidding. She wasn’t. He seemed to realize that because he set his shoulders back and nodded sharply.
“Fine,” he bit out. “But you’ll be the one setting my bones and providing blood for my recovery.” Somehow, he still managed to joke. Apparently, Reid’s humor was indestructible. Luckily for them all, his heart wasn’t. That was one aspect where he was just as vulnerable as everyone else, as every normal, sane person, as every human on the planet – clinical psychopaths excluded.
*****
** Reid **
Reid hesitated at Ember’s door, both uncertain and anxious. Normally, he’d just walk right in, but it didn’t seem right to try that now. Also, he was a little scared to find out what was waiting for him on the other side of the door. Probably something akin to a feral tiger…or an actual feral tiger…made of flames…Oh, this wasn’t going to be fun. Note to self: Do not piss off fire-wielding Elementals, especially when that Elemental is your girlfriend. Yeah, fat load of good the note did him now. He could’ve used that advice yesterday before he went and royally screwed things up. You are a moron, Reid. Time to pay the price for it.