*Me*
"Maybe he likes you," Morgon said, grinning. I gave her a look.
"Oh yeah, 'stupid little whore' is *so* a term of endearment these days."
She fell back on the bed, laughing. I grinned at her, then giggled, grabbing a pretzel from the bowl on the bed. I dipped it in chocolate icing, then popped it in my mouth.
Morgon and I talked for a while, then eventually calmed down and turned the lights off. I lay there a while until Morgon's light, even breathing told me she was asleep.
I got up and walked into Morg's small study. I sat down in the comfy, overstuffed easy chair, my legs tucked underneath me.
I set down the small photo album I'd picked up from my house in my lap and opened it up. The first picture was just of Wee, smiling. Her notebook was in her lap, her pencil in her hand.
I stared at the picture, feeling tears start to fill my eyes. I wanted to kick Kevin's ass for bringing up the painful memories. But I also wanted to hug him. I'd forgotten how much I missed her.
I closed my eyes and let my mind drift back to that night.
I remembered me and Tiff on the couch, laughing about something. I think the fact that I was finally legal was what we were joking about.
My mom and dad were in the kitchen. The scene in my head was perfect. Until it was shattered the by the front door slamming open and my ex barging in. Tiffany and I had jumped up.
From then on, it got kinda fuzzy, but I remembered the gun going off and the sharp pain in my leg. I heard screaming, but wasn't sure who it was.
I remembered seeing the red spreading through the carpet, not believing it was mine.
The gun went off again, twice. My parents both feel to the floor and I stared, thinking I was hallucinating, that I was imagining it all. Then Tiffany suddenly dropped to the floor beside me, crimson spreading from beneath her, mixing with mine.
Finally realizing it was real, that I had been shot and my parents and best friend were dead, I began to cry, my mind reeling.
The rest was a blur, of the hospital and the funerals, seeing Tiff's family so upset at hers, and hearing my ex'd been sentenced to life with no hope of probation or parole or anything, on 3 counts of murder in the 3rd degree, and 1 count of attempted murder in the 3rd degree.
I remembered especially the doctors telling me that I was lucky, that if he'd have aimed 4 inches lower, he would've shot me in the kneecap and I probably would've lost my leg from my knee down. I hadn't thought I was so lucky. The three people I loved most were dead. If they thought I was lucky, they were out of their minds.
I forced my eyes open finally, using my shirt to dry my tears.
I really hoped Kevin would keep what I'd told him to himself. I didn't want anyone to know other than myself and Morgon. Now Kevin knew, and I'd only known him for a couple hours. I could kick *myself* for trusting him so easily.
Then, suddenly, I thought of Nick and rage swelled inside of me. I clenched my fist, wanting to hit him again, knock him out.
I couldn't imagine 6 months with him, much less one day.
I finally closed the photo album and went to bed.

*Kevin*
The next day, all of us met up to discuss the itinerary of the tour.
Mary sat still and relatively silent, Brian on her left, AJ on his. I sat across from her, Howie and Nick to my right.
I noticed Mary frowning as she stared at the list.
"What is it?" I asked, breaking the momentary silence. She looked up at me.
"We're going to Tallahassee?"
I nodded. "2 days. Is that a problem?"
She shook her head. "No... it's fine," she murmured. I gazed at her curiously as she sat, her head lowered. She was much more subdued than yesterday, less responsive to Nick's snide, though few and far between, remarks. The only evidence of last night was a bruise on Nick's jaw. He sat, sullen, not commenting on much of anything.
Mary sat back in her chair, leaving the itinerary on the table, and pulled her knees up to her chest. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on her right knee.

*Brian*
I glanced at Mary, then at Kevin. He was staring at her like he was trying to figure out some complicated calculus problem. I wondered what'd gone on between them the night before.
I glanced back at Mary and was surprised to see what looked like a tear trail down her cheek.
In less than 24 hours, I'd seen her two extremes, anger, red hot anger, and now what looked like sadness.
Suddenly she looked up sharply, her eyes dry and tear free.
"Are we done here?" she asked, breaking the silence that had once again settled and Kevin's trance-like state as well. He nodded.
"Yeah, you can go, if you want," he said. She stood up, her shoes on her hand, the now folded itinerary in her back pocket, and left the building withour another word.

*Me*
I drove home and called Morgon.
"Morg, I'm going to Tally. I'll be back tomorrow."
"Okay, see you when you get back."
I was glad she didn't ask any questions. I threw my pj's, a change of clothes, my personal stuff, a book and my CD's into a backpack, grabbed my purse, and left, driving north.
I arrived in Tallahassee 5 hours later, driving on Highway 27. I turned onto Chaires and crossed 90, passing Maxwell's. I was heading towards my old house. No one wanted to buy it, and since I hadn't been back in town since the incident, I didn't know why.
Apparently they hadn't even changed the locks, as my old housekey still worked in the lock. I pushed the door open and walked inside. The house felt cool, a slight contrast to the outside temperature. All the furniture'd been taken out, the only piece of which I owned was my piano.
I took a step towards the family room and stopped short. The old carpeting remained throughtout the house and hadn't been cleaned since that night. The blood stains still remained in the carpet, almost as vivid as they'd been that night.
A quick image flashed in my mind, one of Tiffany lying there...
I backed up, feeling sick. My heart had risen into my throat and my eyes burned as I began to back out of the family room.
When I backed into something large and somewhat hard, I jumped and gasped as I whirled around. Kevin stood behind me.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I cried, anger quickly replacing my sadness.
"I followed you," he said simply. I slapped his arm hard, then did it again.
"How *dare* you follow me here!" I exclaimed, stalking out of the house. He followed me and watched as I locked the door.
I turned and glared at him. "Why did you follow me?"
"I- I was worried about you," he said softly. I stared at him in disbelief.
"I told you last night! I don't need you looking after me, I don't need you worrying about me! I don't- God, I don't want to trust you," I added in a whisper.
"But you do." He looked at me. He knew he was right and I knew he was right, too. I gave him a look.
"So?"
He grinned at me and eventually, so did I. He beamed proudly.
"Gotcha."
"Shut up."
He laughed. "Where to?"
"Crawfordville."
He stared at me blankly. I rolled my eyes.
"It's an hour away. We'll take my car."
"Why?"
"Why are we taking my car? 'Cause I wanna drive."
"No, why are we going?"
"You'll find out."
It was almost 7:00, but since it was summer, the sun was barely ready to set.
We finally ended up at the Crawfordville cemetary at quarter to eight. I walked through the cemetary, lightly stroking the soft petels of the deep red rose I was holding, Kevin by my side.

*Kevin*
Mary finally stopped to the right of a tombstone, then kneeled down and placed the rose on the soil in front of the headstone. I looked at it and read the inscription on it. I noticed the two girls were only 5 months apart, Mary the older of the two.
Mary remained in a squatting position, her hands clasped, her chin rested on her fist. Her hair, loose and lying on her back, had begun to curl in the humidity.
I reached down and carefully touched her shoulder. She was crying, as I could feel her shoulder shaking. I wanted to hug her, to hold her, to help ease her pain some. But I was afraid of damaging what seemed to be a blossoming friendship between us.
So I stood there, my hand on her shoulder while she cried.
When she stopped and stood a few minutes later, she looked at me. Then she suddenly hugged me, resting her head on my chest.
"Thanks, Kevin," she murmured. I hugged her back.
"No problem at all."

Part 3
Part 1
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