31-Aug-2004

Title: Nothing Like the Sun
Author: Sol 1056
Rating: R
Pairings: 1+R, 1+2, 2+3, 3+4... oh, and 4+OC
Archived: gwaddiction & sweetlysour Warnings: Quatre cusses, gets laid, beats people up
Disclaimer: not mine. I know this. don't sue, it's all for practice.
Note: thanks to those reading & reviewing

Nothing Like The Sun by Sol 1056

Part Thirteen

"Hello?" The voice was soft, feminine, and could be only one person.

My knees sagged, and I leaned against my dresser, even though she couldn't see me.

"Lola?" I heard a sharp intake of breath, and spoke quickly. "Please, don't hang up. I just... I... I wanted to know if you'd go with me to see Li Ou. At the Metro Center. Next month." She didn't say anything, so I kept going. "Not as a, a, date—" I couldn't believe it, I was babbling. "—if you don't want, that's cool, but a friend gave me tickets and I thought you might enjoy it. But if not, that's cool, I under—"

"Li Ou?" Lola sounded hesitant, but I knew that tone. "The violinist?"

"Yeah," and suddenly I was excited. I waved the tickets about as I spoke. "Orchestra, fourth row, right in the middle. He's only playing two shows, and it's the evening one, but if you don't want—"

"I'll go."

"—It to be a date, I just thought you might—"

"Cat... Uh, Quatre." Lola sounded almost amused. "I said, I'll go."

There was a long pause, and I had to mentally rewind.

"Oh." I stared down at the tickets, then blinked. "Oh! Okay. It's June ninth, at eight o'clock, so we should probably be there an hour before... " I considered that, uncertain how soon I'd need to be there if I wasn't going to be expected to hobnob with the social set beforehand.

"The seats are reserved, right?"

"Yeah." I studied the tickets. "Assigned seating."

"Then maybe seven-forty-five?"

"Okay. Seven-forty-five... "

Lola hesitated, and I waited, not sure what she was going to say – perhaps that we should meet there. Just two people who happened to be seated next to each other—

"And we could have dinner beforehand?"

Again, she caught me off-guard, and I had to back up. I nodded, realized she couldn't see me, and was amazed my voice worked.

"Yeah. That offer for Bruno's stands," I said. I didn't know how I'd afford it, but I had a little money left from Iria's gift. Not much, but I could manage.

"Bruno's." Lola laughed, nervously. "Well, we don't have to be that fancy. Or do we? Saturday night, we'd probably have to be all dressed up... "

"Your choice," I said, feeling like I was back on comfortable ground. "Not to, uh, be obnoxious, but I've done these sorts of things before, and not everyone pulls out the pearls. Dress how you want. Up or down."

"I think I'd like to dress up," Lola said, so softly I almost didn't catch it.

"I'll need your help, then," I teased, but as deadpan as I could manage and not sound harsh. "Because I've never really had to dress myself for a fancy occasion."

Lola giggled, and it was a wonderful thing to hear. I thought about asking her if she wanted to get together sooner, but decided not to push my luck.

"So. It's a, a thing," I announced. "Fancy dress thing. With food."

"Yeah." Lola's response carried notes of pleasure, and anxiety. "A thing. Cool. Shopping for clothes the weekend before?"

"Sounds great," I told her.

And it did.

The last day of exams, I had the oddest prickling sensation on the back of my neck every time I stepped outside. The walk between buildings wasn't long enough to place it, but I found myself scoping the area. Whatever had me on guard wasn't showing itself, but I still picked seats where I could see all entrances, and had my back to the wall. The feeling would fade indoors, but pick up again once I left each exam hall.

I ran into Lola on campus, and we chatted politely, if a bit distantly. It was almost as though we had to get to know each other again. We didn't hug hello, and she didn't kiss me on the cheek like she always had before, but at least she smiled, and didn't try to punch me. I figured that was an improvement. We confirmed our date for the weekend to go shopping. Once again I refrained from blurting out that if I told anyone at the Metro Center that I was Quatre Winner, they'd let us in even wearing rags. I figured boasting probably wouldn't put her at ease.

Watching her walk away, I felt that sensation again, and it all clicked. I could either let it run for longer, or take the chance that my instincts were right. I dropped my bag, and turned in a circle. A clump of students was leaving the main administration building, and something in that direction had me tensing. I took a deep breath, and shouted.

"Duo!"

A lean shadow disengaged from under the building's overhang, and Duo strolled towards me. He was dressed in boots, black jeans, a green t-shirt, sunglasses, and a smug grin. I rolled my eyes, and he started laughing.

"Man, you are so out of practice," he drawled, coming to stand in front of me. "How've you been? Look like you're not eating enough." He pushed the sunglasses down his nose and squinted at me. "Need more sun, too."

"Says the colony boy," I retorted, and next thing I knew, I had an armful of Duo. We hugged tightly, and his arm remained over my shoulders while I picked up my bag. "Done with school," I said, since I had to start the conversation somewhere. "You're all graduated now?"

"Like hell," he replied. "Got a summer semester, but figured I'd stop in and see how you're doing." Duo smirked.

"Just fine all morning," I informed him. "Eight-fifteen." I had the pleasure of seeing his eyebrows shoot up.

"Eight-ten," he replied, a touch sullen. "Damn. I thought I'd gotten better than that."

"Don't underestimate me just because I'm short," I told him. He glanced up at me across the two-inch height difference, and scowled. I draped my free arm over his shoulder, and hugged him close. "It's good to see you."

"One of us had to show up and congratulate you for surviving your first year in college." He sniffed dramatically. "Our little Quatre, all grown up and failing classes."

"I'm not failing."

"You get straight As?"

"Not exactly," I said, wincing. "I got a B+ in Abstract, and I think that was mostly a pity grade."

Duo guffawed, and I wriggled out of his grasp long enough to punch him in the arm. He yelped and rubbed his arm, mock-glaring.

I poked him in the chest. "Don't insult the host."

"The host going to feed me?" Duo pushed his glasses back up his nose, and shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. The move reminded me of Trowa, and I shifted to walk at a more reasonable distance. If Duo noticed – and he probably did; he never missed the little things – he didn't say anything.

"Heero taught me to cook," I replied. "So I can feed you one or two things. Or we can grab something at the Polish deli on the way to my place." I frowned, and looked over Duo. "You come here with nothing?"

"Naw." He grinned slyly at me. "Left everything at your place."

I stopped in my tracks, staring at him.

Duo cracked up, leaning backwards, laughing with his mouth wide open. He dug out one hand to point at me. "Man, you should see your face! Crap, you look like I just gutted you."

"Duo," I protested, and crossed my arms.

"Don't sulk, Quatre," he said, and draped an arm over my shoulder again, pulling me down a little to his height. "I actually just left my bag in one of the temporary student lockers. We can stop by the building... it was one of these big concrete ones with the planters in front... " He frowned, tapping a finger against his chin.

"They're all big concrete ones with planters in front." I sighed. "Did you make note of the name?"

"Wilson." Duo shook his head. "No, Johnson? Erickson?"

"Oh, fuck. Those are all buildings on campus."

Duo flashed me a wicked grin. "It's the one over there," he said, pointing. "I just like seeing you get all huffy."

"I don't recall you giving me this much hassle when we were kids," I informed him, rolling my eyes as he dragged me towards one of the student centers.

"We had more important things to do, then," he replied, shrugging.

"My place," I told him, as we walked up to my apartment building.

"I was warned." He glanced over the tops of his sunglasses at the three junkies arguing on the front steps, and looked at me pointedly.

"Yeah, well. It's cheap, and close to campus." I shrugged, and stopped at the mailbox to pick up my mail, then led the way up to my apartment. Unlocking the door, I ushered him in. "This is it."

I set my bag down on the table, and unpacked my books, setting the ones aside that I'd keep. The rest I'd sell back in a day or two. I puttered around, rinsing my mugs and pulling out a beer for both of us. I was nervous, and I knew it, but I did my best to appear busy.

"Quatre." Duo leaned against the countertop, a slight smile playing at the edges of his lips. "I like it. You done well, man."

I halted in the action of handing him a beer, startled. He took the beer, sipping it, but watching me out of the corner of his eyes.

"Uh... " I stared down at my own beer, and smiled back at him.

Duo grinned, and knocked his bottle's neck against my beer. "Quatre, speechless. That's a day to mark on the calendar."

"Very funny."

"I'm a master of humor, didn't you know?" Duo smirked and moved to sit at the table. "So what kinda things do you do for entertainment around here?"

"Heist cars, mug college students, torch grocery stores," I said, sitting down opposite him. "The usual."

"Unh-hunh. I hear you work at a club, now."

"Yeah... shit, I've got to work tonight, actually. How long are you staying? You can hang with me while I work, but it's pretty boring."

I didn't think I could get out of work at such late notice, but at least it meant I didn't have to get out of plans with Jamie. I was supposed to see him in two nights. I figured if Duo was going to be around, I'd just tell Jamie I had to cancel and I'd see him the next time I had a night off.

"I've got a week," Duo announced, then grinned. "Not planning on staying that long. A day, maybe two, but I won't wear out my welcome. Besides, Relena asked me to swing through Sanq on my way back to school."

"Got an email from her last month," I told him. "One of her send-to-everyone rants."

"Oh, yeah, the Rep from Asia," Duo replied, nodding. "Have you read the news on him? Total asshole."

"He's a politician." I finished off my beer. "Par for the course."

Duo smirked. "And you'd know all about that."

"Yeah." I meant to joke, but I know I sounded serious. "Yeah, I do." I tried to laugh, and Duo smiled, but it was a strained expression. We were quiet for a moment, then Duo asked about my only non-A, and somehow we left the awkward moment behind us.

"Several messages for you, Director Winner," the young woman says. She hands over an envelope, and Quatre rifles through the papers while she finishes checking him in.

Quatre picks up his bags, waves away the hotel employees springing to his aid, and heads off to find his room.

Duo ended up pitching in and helping clean up after the club closed, which didn't surprise me. He was getting antsy sitting at the bar, being fed alcohol thanks to Fred, who seemed to take a shine to Duo. Maybe it was the way Duo leaned against the bar, like he owned it, or the bit of an edge in his laugh, or possibly the graceful way he moved across the dance floor, braid whipping behind him like a scorpion's tail.

The girls sure paid attention. At one point I thought the band had to be far worse than I'd estimated, because not a single groupie had tried to weasel past me to the band's area in the basement. Del came by and I said as much, and he jerked his head towards the dance floor.

"Naw, all the groupies are too busy drooling over some guy." Del sighed, a long-suffering expression. "If I got out on that dance floor, I'd be looking like that stupid experiment with frogs and electricity. Y'know, where they make the limbs go all jumpy?"

"Yeah, rings a bell," I said. I watched the band's roadies checking over their repair of a guitar string, and shrugged. "But some people just have it."

"That guy does, or so the girlies think." Del had laughed, and gone on his way.

So I worked, while Duo entertained the masses, and when the doors closed, Duo helped me sweep up and even lent a hand to the doormen carrying out the last of the speakers to the band's truck. We chatted with Del and Melissa, did a few shots with the crew, and waved our goodbyes over our shoulders without looking back.

Duo paused on the street corner, as though seeing it for the first time. We'd walked past here on the way to my apartment from campus, and again to come to work, so it was new but not unfamiliar. I stopped, waiting for him to explain.

"Actually," he said, "it does fit you."

"What does?"

"City life," Duo said. He opened his mouth, then seemed to think better of it. He shrugged, turning towards my apartment building without hesitation.

We were quiet for a half-block, and Duo looked over at me. I'd been considering the evening, and all the time I'd spent watching Duo socialize. I could tell by the lines of exhaustion on his face that the night had taken a great deal out of him, but old habits die hard, sometimes. I still struggled with the impulse to smile politely and make small talk when I worked the ticket counter; it was no surprise Duo would play the sly jester for an audience.

"You danced with a lot of people, tonight," I said, unable to think of what else to say. There was something heavy, moving between us, that hadn't been there before, and I wasn't sure what it was. Perhaps the three shots of vodka at the bar before we left wasn't the best idea.

"I like to dance." Duo shrugged. "Would've gotten a few girls' numbers, but I’m not in town long enough." He waggled his eyebrows at me.

I couldn't stop myself. I blurted out the words even as they formed in my mind. "But you and Trowa—"

"Me and... " Duo faltered, and turned to face me, puzzled. "What about us?"

Oh, I thought, open relationship. I shook my head, embarrassed. "Nothing." I started walking, but Duo caught me by the elbow, and moved to stand in front of me.

"What about us?"

"You're... " I backed up, and tried to look casual. Instead, I felt like punching him. Trowa deserved commitment, not another love where the person didn't care or notice or talk—

"I'm what," Duo prompted. He dropped his hands to hang loosely at his sides. His feet were braced. I recognized the sign of growing belligerence.

"You're a couple," I said.

Duo blinked, opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, then surprised me by sighing deeply and stalking off. I was left staring at the spot he'd vacated, and it took a moment for me to register his reaction. In three long strides, I caught up with him, and it was my turn to catch him by the arm.

"I thought—"

"We're not a couple," Duo spat, and jerked his arm away from me. "We just... hung out a few times... " Duo stopped, and gave me a suspicious look. "Who told you we were a couple?"

"Heero." I didn't look Duo in the eye; the annoyance rolling off him was enough to make me want to step back. "At Relena's New Year's party, he said you were in the library, or study? Something like—"

"That was him?" Duo's face went scarlet in two seconds flat, and he groaned. "We were just hugging. Damn it. Heero acted weird the rest of that party and I couldn't pry out of him what was up, and then the next time I see him he's all cool and casual... If I didn't know better, I would've thought... "

Duo scowled, cutting off his own words, and started walking again. I was starting to feel like a damn yo-yo. Start, stop, start, stop. Fortunately we were only a block from my place; with all these stops, we might make it in another hour.

"Thought what?" I couldn't help but ask, poking a finger against a wound I couldn't see, hadn't known. The question was enough to let me know the injury was there, though – and that it was a bad one.

"I figured he'd started seeing someone." Duo waved a hand, then hunched his shoulders again, glaring at nothing in particular. "He doesn't care now. Y'know, he's like... he's cool. As in... almost cold." He glanced at me from under his eyelashes. "How was he, when he visited?"

"Fine. We... talked about the war, mostly. And argued," I answered, picking my words carefully. "Worked some stuff out."

Duo nodded, and that line between his brows let me know he was considering something intensely. His expression would be inscrutable to a stranger, but to me, that single line spoke volumes.

"Me 'n Trowa," Duo started. He hunched his shoulders, and didn't look at me while we enter my building and tread the stairs on cat-soft feet. We glided down the hallway like two shadows. "Just so you know, it didn't work."

"I'm sorry," I said, and I was surprised to find I mean it.

"It was just too weird, I think," Duo confessed. "Maybe we've been friends for too long." When I turn the overhead light on, he snaps it off quicker than I can react. "Leave it," he whispered. "I had enough of bright lights at the club."

I nodded, and flipped on the bathroom light, closing the door to all but a few inches. "That okay? I'll make tea."

"Thought you liked coffee."

"I do. But tea's easier without a coffee pot." I poured water into the pot, and set it on the stove. Duo sat down at the table. He leaned on his elbows, and stared across the apartment. It reminded me of Heero, and I turned away, uncomfortable.

"I guess he is seeing someone," Duo said, and his voice was stronger, clearer. "That would explain a lot. You'd think the bastard would at least tell one of us." Duo perked up, giving me a hopeful look. "Heero say anything to you?"

"About seeing someone?" I shook my head, not really considering my words before I spoke. "No, but I'd doubt he is." I realized my mistake a second too late, and covered by pouring the hot water into the cups. Duo was quiet for several minutes, but I had my composure by the time I turned around to hand him a mug.

Duo's eyes were hard, and glittering. He was staring at me in that almost casual way he had; it was a look that would reduce most people to garbled confessions. It didn't work on me, most of the time. But then, usually I wasn't sitting across from the person who'd once been in love with the person I'd... I didn't know what to call the situation, what had happened with Heero. I hoped I didn't have to. I studiously poured milk and cream into my tea, and pretended like I didn't notice Duo's contemplative danger.

"I saw him two weeks ago," Duo mused. "Night and day from when I saw him last... "

"Oh?" I asked, only because if I didn't, the game would be up. It probably was by that point, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from faking for as long as I could. Duo had scented the quarry.

"Yeah. He was more content," Duo said. "Just... I wish I knew what you did, so I could've done it a long time ago." He managed a grin, and I did my best to smile back, shrugging nonchalantly.

"It wasn't anything that big," I tell him. And yet, it was everything, in those dark hours, I added, but I couldn't admit that. Not to him, not to me.

"Well, does explain a lot," Duo replied, leaning back to stretch broadly. "No wonder he kept mentioning Trowa when we'd talk." He chuckled. "And here I figured Heero'd finally found... " Duo's smile widened, then froze.

I kept my head down.

"Quatre," Duo said, in a low, breathless whisper. "You know something. There's something you're not telling me."

"There's nothing to tell."

"Look at me," Duo ordered. "Look me in the eye and say that."

I raised my head, looked at him, and couldn't say a damn thing.

"No... " Duo's face was pale, and his hands shook around the mug. "He avoided me, then he visits you, and now he's all... Something happened. Between you two, when he was here, something happened... something you said, or did—"

"Duo," I finally said, growing impatient with his insistence. I didn't want to talk about it, and I cast about for the best strategy to cut him off at the pass. "We five are friends, but what Heero and I discussed is our business. If he didn't choose to make it known to you, I'll respect that, and therefore I won't, either."

Duo narrowed his eyes, silent. I kept my gaze steady, but my heartbeat was thrumming wildly in my chest. I wanted to blink, look away. Instead I returned his stare, measure for measure.

"Something you did got him over me," Duo accused, and somehow it was ten times worse for the fact that he said it so flatly. "Something... " His eyes widened. "Did you sleep with Heero?"

"I only have one bed," I parried.

"Quatre," Duo countered, angrily, but still in that soft voice. "Don't lie to me. I wouldn't to you. Don't lie to me."

"Don't ask me, then." I closed my eyes, unwilling to look at him for a moment longer. "You're not ready to hear the answer."

"Like hell I am!" Duo shot up from his chair, and his fist slammed down on the table. His mug was jostled, splashing tea across the wood. "You did, damn it, you slept with Heero! What the fuck were you—"

"You have no claim on Heero anymore," I shouted back. "If you ever did, you haven't for a long time, so don't give me any shit."

"I can too give you shit!" Duo shook his head hard enough to make his braid fly around behind him. "How the fuck could you do that to me? How could you possibly—"

"HE IS NOT YOURS," I yelled, coming to my feet. "How dare you act like I'm the guilty party? We're adults. We're not seeing anyone. What we do on our own time is none of your business."

"It's my business," Duo hollered back. "It's sure as hell my business!"

My hands were balled into fists, and I didn't care. "On what grounds?"

"Because I'm in love with him, you bastard!" Duo's face squeezed up, contorting painfully. "How could you just fuck him and send him back and—"

"It wasn't like that," I retorted, still angry. "It wasn't cheap."

"You get everything!" Duo slammed his fists down on the table a second time, and the mug fell over. Tea went everywhere. Neither of us moved. Duo was panting, leaning over the table, his voice a low growl. "You had Trowa and tossed him away. And now you had Heero, and you send him away, too. Is there anything you get that you don't throw away?"

"Go to hell," I spat. "I never had Trowa. I sure as hell never would've thrown him away if I'd known how he felt. And Heero wasn't mine, and never will be, and the only thing that matters here is that Heero isn't yours, either. It's over, it's done, and he's not coming back to you!"

"Because of you! You had him already!"

"He's not some prize in a cereal box, Duo!" I threw my hands up and stalked off, rather than punch Duo. I was furious, but I didn't want to lose my best friend. I just wanted to slam his head against the wall until he saw reason, or passed out and shut the hell up. "You don't have any right to care what he does. You've been dating other people for two years, now—"

"So?"

"So bloody fucking hell, Duo, if you feel this way about Heero sleeping with me, how the fuck do you think he's felt about you being with other people?"

"I didn't say it was rational," Duo retorted. "And he could sleep with twenty people but that's not the point. He slept with you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Everything you want, you get," Duo cried. He pointed at the apartment, at the city out the window, at me. "It all comes so easy to you. Including the one person I've ever loved, and he never came to me, he never wanted me enough to—" Duo broke off, and shoved a hand into his mouth for several minutes. When he lowered his hand, he was calmer, but no less angry. "You bastard. You had him first. You get everything."

"No, I don't." I laughed, bitterly. "You have no idea how ironic that is, because I don't get a damn thing." I shook my head before he could speak. "Money just isn't enough. Money isn't going to make Trowa come back, and it wouldn't make Heero stay."

"Money would—"

"Money doesn't do fucking jack but pay bills and put food on the table and it sure as hell doesn't make people love you unless you really get off on the idea of everyone around you always agreeing with you, Duo!"

I was screaming at the top of my lungs, and Duo looked almost scared. I was breathing heavily, as if I'd just run ten miles. I had to stare out the window to keep from smashing my fist into the wall.

"Trowa walked out of here with the intention of going to see you, to ask you out," I informed Duo, a bit more evenly. "And Heero... yeah, well. We fucked." I laughed, a sharp barking sound. "But it was your name he called the whole time."

The room was perfectly silent. Neither of us moved, and I watched the neon sign over the Polish Deli on the corner. It flickered, and went on. Four in the morning, and Joseph was getting the place ready for the next day.

"So, you see, Duo, I don't get everything. I get the consolation prize. Money." I shrugged. "But what I really want, I don't get either. So don't give me any crap. I can give myself the guilt trip on my own, just fine."

"I wanted him to choose me," Duo said, in a faltering whisper. "And he wouldn't. But I couldn't tell him... I wanted to be the big guy, y'know, the honorable one, and tell him if Relena would make him happy, I'd let him go. And I couldn't do that, either. But he still didn't choose me."

"And he didn't choose me, either," I replied, my gaze fixed on the lights coming on in the businesses down the street. A newspaper van rolled past, and someone threw out a bundle onto the corner. "So we're both losers."

"Three times over," Duo shot back, coldly. I braced myself, staring down at the early morning streets. I heard a rustle, and knew he'd picked up his bag, thrown it over his shoulder. "You lost Trowa, and Heero, and now you're losing me."

"One question, Duo," I called out, before he could put his hand on the doorknob. "Just one question, answer honestly and then we'll be through."

He hesitated, but his answer still came quickly enough to give me hope. "Fine," he ground out. "Ask."

"What—" is the real reason you're so angry, I was about to say, but I stopped and suddenly the words weren't what I'd planned. "What will it take for you to forgive me?"

Duo laughed, a little breathlessly. "The secret of how to forgive myself, Quatre."

The door shut behind him, a whisper of goodbye as hollow as my own heart.

Quatre shuts the door behind him and leans against it for several minutes, before he gets the energy to stumble into the suite. He dumps the suitcase on one bed, and falls face-first onto the other one. After a minute, he digs under him to where he'd crushed the envelope between his stomach and the bed.

"Thanks." Quatre hangs up. Within minutes he's asleep, still clutching the notes to his chest.

Somehow I managed to make it through the next day. When I met Jamie for coffee at the local shop, I smiled politely and nodded and kept up my end of the conversation, though minimally.

He stopped, and gave me a hard look. "Quatre, you... " He sighed, and leaned his cheek on his fist. "You upset about something?"

"I lost my best friend last night," I said, woodenly. I blinked, hearing the words. Where the hell had my diplomatic skills gone, anyway? It was like something just blew out my circuits for choosing my words carefully.

"Oh." Jamie was quiet, stirring his coffee. "You want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"You want to be alone, maybe?"

"I don't know."

Jamie nodded, and was quiet for several minutes. I thought of twenty things to say, to distract him, and dismissed each of them. I couldn't muster the energy to care. Even with Duo so mad at me, even with me knowing I should call Heero and tell him, even with all the hundred things I'd done wrong in the past year, I knew the simple truth. If one of the other pilots walked through that door and I had the choice of picking their lives versus Jamie's, I wouldn't hesitate. Duo could brand me an enemy for the rest of my life, and I'd still pick him over Jamie.

It meant I couldn't say anything to Jamie, and I felt completely alone. Even a single word, and in this new lack of diplomacy, I'd risk hurting one who'd never done me wrong so far, by showing him how he could never be that to me. He'd never get into my heart that far. No one would. There were four people on the planet, in the universe, who could be that to me, and one by one I had knocked them down and discounted them.

"I fought for the Alliance," Jamie said, softly. "In my squad, only six of us made it out alive at the end of the war. Every person you lose takes a chunk out of you. Losing someone who's still alive... that's different." He leaned in close enough to brush his hand over mine, and his gray eyes were piercing. "If your friend is still alive, you've got a chance to fix it."

Nice platitude, I thought, bitterly, and shook my head.

"Okay," Jamie said, seeing something in my face, or maybe he was just giving up. He checked his watch. "I'm gonna go watch my sister's band practice. You figure out what you want, and I'll give it if I can, but I can't do much if you won't talk to me."

"I can't," I whispered. "I've told you what I can, and the rest... "

"We all have secrets," he agreed. "But... well, never mind. I'll see you later."

I didn't watch as he left the café.

End Part 13

(:./sol/nothing13)