A Few Days Later
"I wonder where Marian is," Glyn mused. "She usually gets off work at sometime around six." It was now past eleven.
"She's probably out with someone. Or something." AJ shrugged.
"Maybe…" Glyn frowned. Marian usually would have called her if she was going out. Something must be wrong.
"I'm sure she's fine." AJ sat next to her on the floor.
"I'm calling Owen!" She jumped up and went to find a phone.
"Who's Owen?" AJ scowled.
"A friend. Maybe Marian called him.." Glyn dialed his number and waited for someone to pick up.
"Yeah?" an unfamiliar voice asked.
"Um, can I talk to Owen?"
"No, he isn't here. He left a little while ago..."
"Oh. Okay. Sorry. Thanks, bye" Glyn hung up and looked at the wall. "Owen isn't there! I'm going to call Tristan! He'd better be home. Tristan?"
"Glyn? Umm.. I'm kind of.. busy." Tristan muttered.
"Where's Marian?" Glyn persisted.
"How the hell should I know? Where are you? I tried to call your apartment.."
"Oh! We got evicted." Glyn covered the mouthpiece of the phone. ""AJ, can I give people your phone number?"
"Sure." AJ mumbled.
"Thanks! Tristan? Yeah.. here's my new number…." Glyn recited AJ's phone number and hung up a little while later.
"So what's up?" AJ wondered.
"No one knows where Glyn is! Oh, I bet NATHAN does!" Glyn drummed her fingers on the phone. "No, I can't bother him. Umm.."
"Glyn, I'm sure Marian's fine." AJ chided himself for resenting her numerous male friends.
"I could call Mr. Harris," Glyn said thoughtfully. "He's Marian's boss." She dialed another phone number. "Mr. Harris?"
"Who is this? Do you have any idea what time it is?!" the grumpy old man demanded.
"Yeah. You know someone named Marian Arden, right?"
"I do in fact. She was fired today."
"You asshole!" Glyn hung up and looked at AJ. "She got fired today."
SOMEWHERE ELSE
Marian wondered what she and Glyn would do now that they had no source of income whatsoever. They couldn't just mooch off of AJ forever, and they needed to find a new apartment. She sighed and put her head in her hands, deciding it was time to leave. She put some money on the table and left.
"Marian?!" Brian slammed on the brakes of his car. He hadn't been able to sleep so he'd decided to just drive around a little. But there was Marian, walking somewhat unsteadily along the sidewalk. Afraid she would wander into the road at any second, he put a hand on her arm gently. "Marian, what are you doing?"
"Umm... going home?" Marian shrugged. "What are you doing?"
"Driving... Couldn't sleep. What happened?" He asked.
"Nothing. I got fired." She frowned.
"I'll give you a ride. Come on." Marian sat in the passenger seat sadly.
"What time is it?" she wondered.
"About two-fifteen." Brian informed her. "Have you been drinking??"
"Not much." Marian closed her eyes. Brian drove back home. "Is this your house?"
"Yeah. Oh, sorry." Brian wondered if she'd rather have gone back to AJ's.
"Why?" Marian smiled. "Watching AJ watch Glyn gets really old after a while. Actually, it gets old after about ten minutes."
"Sorry." Brian led her into his house. "Hey, speaking of Glyn, do you want to call her?"
"Good idea." Marian agreed and Brian brought her a cordless phone. She sat on a couch.
"Hello?" Glyn sounded haggard.
"Hi Glynnie."
"MARIAN!!! Where are you?? I was calling everyone and your asshole boss said he fired you.."
"Glyn, slow down! I'm at Brian's. Yeah, I got fired. I'll get another job, it's okay. I've just been out wallowing in my misery."
"Why didn't you call me?" Glyn whined. "You should have told me you were going out. I would have come."
"You know that's illegal, Glynnie."
"So? I wouldn't drink anyway. You know I don't." Glyn protested.
"Uh huh." Marian yawned. "Hey, I'm going now.. I'll see you later."
"Bye Marian... have fun!" Glyn hung up. "AJ, Marian's at Brian's."
"Good. Now you can stop obsessing. Wait. Why is she at Brian's?"
"Hey, I dunno. Maybe they were both out getting drunk. Without us." Glyn looked slightly miffed. "So anyway… Have you talked to Nick lately?"
"No. I saw Barnaby hanging around Kevin's house the other day so I guess he's not at Nick's." Glyn grimaced at the mention of Barnaby's name. AJ's mind wandered back to Glyn's guy friends and he wondered suddenly if she had a boyfriend. He'd never thought to ask. He'd just assumed she was single. Was there a graceful way to find out? Maybe… "So… uh, Glyn.."
Glyn could tell he was about to ask something possibly offensive. She had a knack for that kind of thing. She considered pretending she knew exactly what he was about to talk about when really she only had a rough idea but instead smiled innocently.
"Yeah?"
"Um. Ummm…."
"Is something wrong?" It was something about one or more of the people she'd mentioned. She'd seen the look on his face!
"No! … So, um, who's Nathan?"
"Nathan is a friend. I met him at a job I had for a couple days once. He's a painter." Glyn hid a smile.
"And.. Owen? And Tristan?" AJ crossed his arms.
"I met Owen through Marian. He writes, but actually has a steady job doing it. Um, Tristan is a computer geek and programs shit. Daniel is a bum like me. We met in Central Park cause I was running around taking pictures of the scenery when I moved here. Zach's a drummer in a band, and Alec plays guitar and sings in the same one. Oh yeah, he writes music too. And then there's Thom, and he's a bartender." Glyn listed nonchalantly. "Shall I tell you about my female friends now, or were you only curious about ones you might be competing with?" AJ was seething.
"You shouldn't assume things, Glyndalyn." AJ said coldly.
"No, maybe I should just go over to Alec's tonight. I haven't seen him in a while. We have some catching up to do." Glyn shrugged. AJ was stunned. She stood up quickly and walked out before he could say anything. When he heard the door shut somewhat loudly AJ stormed into the kitchen and found a few beer bottles sitting on the counter. Deciding against drinking them, he smashed them on the floor one at a time. Luckily, there were two more six packs which he finished then went to sleep.
Glyn knocked timidly on the door to Alec's apartment.
"What the HELL?!" Alec was angry. It was four in the morning and he was occupied. "I'll be back," He got out of bed and went to the door. "Glyn?"
"Hi." Glyn said quietly. "Oh no, sorry. I can go to Nathan's.."
"No, it's okay. What's wrong?" Alec pulled her inside and shut the door.
"Not much," Glyn lied, managing a rather fake smile. "Actually, Marian and I were evicted a few days ago and we've been staying with a friend. I … We had a fight. So…" She shrugged. What exactly had happened? It was way too late. No, early. It was way too early.
"I understand." Alec smiled kindly and walked over to a couch, which folded out into a bed. "Here ya go."
"Thanks so much." Glyn found a blanket folded over the back of a couch and collapsed on the couch-bed-thing.
"Is someone here?" an unfamiliar voice said from a doorway. Glyn had a feeling she'd walked in on something. She pulled the blanket over her head, feeling unwanted. "Oh. Alec…."
"Seth, this is Glyn. She…um…"
"Glyn." Seth echoed. "I understand."
"No, Seth, it isn't like that.." Alec protested. Seth didn't say anything, but Glyn thought he left. Alec sighed and sat beside her on the couch.
"I'm sorry." Glyn said miserably through the blanket. "I've really fucked things up tonight."
"Shh... no you haven't. It's okay. What happened with you and your 'friend?'"
"He just got really weird when I told him I had other friends. I think I overreacted. I'm sorry-"
"It's okay, Glyn. You didn't do anything," Alec repeated and walked out of the room. Glyn resurfaced from the blanket to turn off a light then fell asleep on the couch-bed-thing.
Somewhere Else
"You said you've been drinking how much?" Brian asked skeptically as he pulled out a chair in his kitchen for Marian.
"I said not much. But I don't really remember." Marian sat down miserably and looked at the tabletop. "Oh damn. I feel sick."
"There's a bathroom over there." The phone rang. "Hello?"
"You bastard! Where is she?" AJ had woken up to a horrible headache and had seen a phone. He'd decided to push STAR 75 and see who picked up. It turned out to be Brian.
"What? Who?" Oh no. Sounds like AJ's in one of his moods again.
"Is that girl at your house?!"
"What girl?" Brian was rather confused.
"Glyn" AJ spat.
"Umm. No. She's not. What's up?"
"DAMNIT!" AJ slammed the phone down. Maybe he'd call Brian later.
"That's nice," Brian said quietly and hung up the phone. "Marian? Are you okay?"
"Yes," she said, lifting her head from the tabletop. "Did someone call?"
"AJ called. He asked if Glyn was here..."
"Glyn? That's funny. I thought she was there."
"She was when you called a little while ago, I think," Brian reminded her patiently. It was strange to see the quietly upbeat, serene Marian like this.
"Oh yeah... I wonder where she went. Maybe she's at Owen's. Could I use the phone?" Unfortunately the phone rang again.
"Hello?" Brian picked it up.
"Brian?" AJ was a little less angry now. "Have you talked to Glyn??"
"No... what happened?"
"I don't know! She got all pissed for no reason, dude!" AJ shook his head.
"Somehow I doubt that." Brian frowned.
"Can I talk to Marian? I gotta ask her something."
"Um.. I guess." Brian handed the phone to Marian. "It's AJ... he wants to talk to you."
"Hi." Marian said to AJ.
"Hi. Where would Glyn go if she's mad?" AJ asked unhappily.
"Umm.. that depends. If she's just generally angry at the world, she'd go wander around aimlessly for a while until she gets tired and then she'd come back." Marian wondered what had happened. "If she's mad, say, at a certain person, then she would probably take refuge at someone's house. Like Owen or Alec or someone."
"ALEC!!! That's where she said she was going!!"
"Um, great." Marian wondered if Glyn would be angry that she'd given away her hiding place. "Where does Alec live?" AJ asked politely.
"Umm.." Marian wasn't sure she should disclose this information. "In a building..."
"TELL ME!!! Please Marian?" he begged.
"AJ I don't think..." Marian sighed.
"Please? Please please please??"
"If Glyn gets mad at me..." Marian shook her head. "I can't tell you! She'd kill me. She'll come back, she never stays away long. Trust me."
"I don't believe you! If she's with that ass ALEC ..." Marian laughed.
"I really don't think you should worry about Glyn and Alec."
"I hate you people!!!" AJ hung up the phone. He banged his fists on the countertop he was sitting on. "Damnit!" His hands hurt now. He needed to throw something. Hmm.. he found an empty bottle and hurled it at a window. Unfortunately, he missed and it hit the wall. The sound of glass shattering basically drowned out everything else and was oddly calming.
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