Make Up or Break Up

"You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone..." "Early bird gets the worm..." "Can't have your cake and eat it too..." Our mothers spent a majority of our childhood drilling these adages into our minds, but at least it was for good reason: 99.9% of the time, except for those with stupidly dumb luck, they're true.

Every crossroad leaves a choice to make, and every choice leads to a consequence -- fate, if you have it. One wrong turn can lead you down a path of dismay, one mistake a future of turmoil. It's a sad and lonely lesson, a certain Kane boy may have to be taught...

... but for the sake of optimism, let's hope not.

---

"As long as you don't have any bright ideas like forgetting to pack a decent meal, next time, I'd say it wasn't that bad, Meredith," Jebidiah chuckled as he opened the door to the house after they returned from their camping trip.



"Nooo, it was aawwffull," she groaned a few steps behind him, her pale face buried in the palms of her hands. "Amelia's not going to talk to me for a week, now."

"She'll get over it," Jebidiah continued, still laughing... But as he was about to find out, there wasn't much to be laughing about inside their house.



For a moment, both Jeb and Meredith were a bit shell-shocked. What they'd walked into was not exactly their house... At least, not the way they'd left it, only a few hours before.



As Meredith got a full look around, her neuroticism instantly gave in and sent her into fury-mode. "Traaa-viiiiiiss!" she yelled up the stairs, doing her best to keep her composure so she didn't have a full on break-down.

"What the plumbbob happened in here?!" she said with a bit more mild voice, obviously directed at her husband who was still having a hard time believing what he was seeing... and smelling, apparently.



"Uuugh, what is that smell?!" he grumbled while pinching his nose. He knew his son was a slob, but this... this was as if he'd gone through and dirited and broken everything he could within the few hour span that the rest of the family was gone.

... It had to be a dead animal of some sort. The smell, that is.



"I am not handling this. He's your son. You deal with him." Meredith was pretty sure she'd explode if she had to -- or worse. When she finally heard Travis stumbling about upstairs, Meredith let out another rather audible sound of frustration, and went into the nursery, and slammed the door shut.

And, found at least one part of the smell -- a pizza slice that looked like it had been trampled on by a herd of simaphants. Great.



Jeb did a once-over of the rest of the ground floor while he waited for Travis to come and face the music, and at least he found that the rest of the house seemed to be in relatively good shape. A couple pictures knocked over, some more toys littered on the ground and trampled: nothing major.

Travis, on the other hand, was not quite so relieved. But at least he didn't have to face his mother. Right?



"You don't have to tell me what happened, Travis. It's pretty obvious... You had people over last night, right? Ordinarily I'd be fine with that, but... Did you have to let them absolutely trash the house? Your mother is going to be a living nightmare for the next few weeks, you realize..."

"Yeah, I know... I'm sorry, dad. I meant to get it all cleaned up after everyone left, but it was so late and I was so tired..." Hahaha. Yeah, right -- Travis never did an honest day's cleaning in his life.



"Well, you're getting your chance to clean it up, now. By the time your mother stops hyperventilating in the other room, you'd better have this place looking at least half normal. She's probably going to scrub it twice over afterwards anyways, but it's time you start proving you're at least partially capable of being a responsible adult."

Despite the fact that cleaning was not exactly Travis' cup of tea, pick-up duty was a pretty tame punishment compared to what he was expecting -- so to say he was happy about it was a pretty dire understatement. "Okay, dad. Is... that all?" He had to make sure.



"Well, between you and me-- I don't know what happened last night, but it was obviously pret-ty wild. Compared to our little excursion, I have to say I'm actually pretty jealous."

"You should be, it was aawwessome," Travis whispered in his oh-so-cool tone.



Well, even if neither parent was happy about the fact that their son was a possible budding party-animal, at least one of them was a bit understanding -- if not envious.

Oh, Travis Kane... If only you knew how lucky you are.

---

Later that afternoon, Brad got an unexpected phone call -- Emerald wanted to hang out for a while. She'd been distant, lately, and Bradley wasn't positive why. She'd said that she was his best friend, so why didn't she want to be around him? Was all she wanted out of him a relationship?

He couldn't decide if that was a bad thing -- he wanted a relationship, too, but... They had all the time in the world. What was her rush?



They agreed to meet at a fishing hole across town: somewhere out of the way, quiet, and earthy. Emerald liked that, usually.

"Where you been the last week or so?" he asked when she finally showed up on her bike. "I was starting to get worried you were mad at me..."

"I'm not mad at you, Brad, I just..." Emerald didn't exactly enjoy being put on the spot right away, but there was no use in dancing around the issue. "I just felt awkward about the situation, alright? I mean, I was trying to do my best to show you what I wanted, and it just wasn't gonna happen. I'll do my best to act otherwise, though, I guess."



"Oh, that's great! 'Cause I totally wanted to tell you about this new static conductor I've been working on, I'm so close to perfecting it and I bet that I'll win the science fair if I can get a little..." and, Brad went on. And on.

Emerald tried to tell herself it was okay; they were friends... she didn't need for him to step up and ask her out if he wasn't ready. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't lie to herself: she wanted more from Brad.

And she wasn't sure if she could handle this, with the way she felt.



"That sounds great... Listen, can we walk? I just... maybe we need to talk." She wasn't sure what she wanted to say, but the Bayless's were walking up the road and she didn't feel it was right to talk about this in front of anyone.

"Sure, Em, anything for you." Bradley's response made her grumble: yeah... right.



"I always loved this spot," Emerald said as she looked up at the broken down bridge, an ancient remnant of Twinbrook's bustling past. "Apparently this is where my dad proposed to my mom, they always liked these backwater areas of town."

"I can see why," Bradley said with a bit of a smile.



For a moment, Emerald's hopes went up. As she looked into his eyes, she forgot all about last night, the little incident -- mistake -- with Travis, and how much she'd enjoyed the last few months, years, around Brad.

And Brad, seeing her so happy, considered, for a moment, that maybe the time was right...



... but his stomach instantly was full of butterflies, gnawing at his insides. Yeeaaaah, scratch that. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Emerald played with her fingernails, her lifted spirits suddenly plummetting through her gut. Great, disappointment yet again.

"Brad, you mean a lot to me," she started, still not really sure where she was going with this -- she was just making it up as she went along, at this point. "And I really do want more from you. But, I want a lot more out of this than you're willing to give right now, and that's just going to make it really hard to be around you until you're ready."

"I understand... You said that earlier, remember?"

"Yeah, but--" Emerald bit her lip anxiously before continuing. "I think I've found someone else that's willing to give me what I'm looking for. I don't know how far I see it going, but since you're not going to be budging anytime soon..."

Bradley hung his head. He should've said something -- he knew it. But it was too late, now... "I..."

"Please, Brad, here's your chance... Please, just one little sentence..."

"Do whatever feels right, Em," he finished, closing his eyes.



Although she was disappointed, Emerald wrapped her arms around Brad and pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank you for being understanding," she gritted through her teeth painfully. "I still want to know when you're ready, but..."

"It's okay," he responded, trying to smile. "I just want you to be happy."

"I don't think I'll ever be happy without you, Brad," she thought to herself. "But... I'll try. I'll try."

---

The next afternoon before the kids had returned from school, Meredith was surprised to hear a knock at the door. They never did get many visitors, so she had to quickly wrestle on some regular clothes before peeking through the front window to see whowas there.

"Huh?" she muttered to herself once she saw who it was.



"Tatianna.... What are you doing here?" she asked, so surprised that she didn't even think to sound rude.

"I'm here to see your husband," Tatianna responded with a downward curl of her lip. "Is he in?"

"Yeah, he's home, I'll go get him..." The hatred she had for the woman was beginning to settle in once she got over the fact that she'd bothered to come visit their home.



Jeb, however, did not bother to look decent for their surprise guest. He didn't care -- in fact, if it bothered her in the slightest, all the better for him.

"So, what brings you here so early in the morning?" he asked, actually smiling. "Need some extra pocket change for that new Camero you've been wanting? A few more truckloads of Pradas? Or just have a little bit of a hankering for some blood?"



"I... Is there somewhere we can talk in private?" Tatianna asked, looking a little fidgety as she saw Meredith still walking around the house, pointedly giving her angry glares every time she walked past. "There's something we need to talk about."

"Oh, serious business today, huh? Planning to practice some voodoo rituals on me? Or do you need to practice some insults about my wife a few more times and see how many shades of re--"

"I'm am serious, Jeb. Please?"

Well, considering Tatianna hardly ever referred to him so informally, Jeb figured there couldn't be any harm in it -- in fact, for the first time ever, Tatianna actually seemed agitated about something.



"Sorry, this'll have to make do... I was hoping to build an office, but since I haven't had a lot of extra cash laying around, it's hard to actually make any improvements to this place..."

Jeb was surprised that he still wasn't getting much of a rise out of her. "Alright, sorry... What was it you wanted, now?"



"Jeb," Tatianna began, tapering off into silence for a moment as her eyes turned to gaze at the family photo sitting on the endtable next to them. "You may not think much of me, but I had dreams once, too. Of a husband... Of a real life, a career. You were right, about me. I'm a lonely woman, Jeb. I wouldn'tve chased you halfway across the country if I had had a life, before. When I saw what you had... I was jealous. Angry at how easy it was for you to get it all. I thought that if I couldn't create it for myself, that I'd strip yours away. That it would bring me some satisfation."

Jeb rolled his eyes, but allowed her to continue -- she obviously was going somewhere with this.



"I'm leaving Twinbrook," she finally said. "Sometime within the next few weeks. There's nothing left for me, here. When I first showed up, I thought I had something going with someone. But somewhere in between the jail time, he found room in his life for someone else, and I realized I've just been chasing one other failed dream. This place isn't going to give me what I want... It's best I get out while I can."



"Also," Tatianna continued. "I've decided to return some of the money. Taking all that I need to settle down somewhere else, but the rest I'm giving back. I'll never achieve anything if I just take what I want, instead of actually earn it."

Jebidiah thought it was a bit hypocritical -- under that logic, why not just give it all back? -- but hey... He'd take 2 cents from her, at this rate!



"So wait, you're just going to leave? No more blackmail, no ratting us out, no last fight to settle the score?" Jeb wasn't sure if he could believe her. "This is just... it?"

"You're a better person than I thought you were, Jebidiah Kane. As far as I'm concerned, you've suffered punishment enough for your crimes. This town's more of a prison than any jail cell, for you... Your job, your life, and what I took from you." Tatianna shrugged. "I don't mind being the law, but there's no point in being downright cruel."

Haha. Right, Tatianna.




"Well... If that's the end, then... I guess..." Jebidiah shrugged as well. What was he supposed to say? 'So long, and thanks for all the wonderful memories of debt and fear'? "Thanks."




After a moment, he actually almost smiled. "You know, I'll almost miss looking over my shoulder.You've been a royal pain in the ass, but... Having a worthy adversary? That's been kind of nice."

"Yeah... I'll suppose I'll kinda miss the hunt and chase, too. It's been fun, Jebidiah."



As she left, her face soured... Tatianna didn't like giving up her cushy income and her defenseless toy, but it was for the best.

It was the right thing to do; but she didn't have to like it.

---

The sounds inside the Greenwood house across town were full of laughter and giggles; the TV upstairs was cranked to max volume, so Jade could block out the presence of her ex-boyfriend... Of the fun he was having with someone other than her.




"So then what happened?" Emerald asked, looking into Travis' green eyes with a smirk.

"Well, he went crying to mom, of course... And then probably went to work building some sort of robot to 'destroy me' or something. Brad always takes jokes so seriously. We've always had a friendly rivalry, but he's gotten over it ever since we've become teens. I'm actually surprised, though, he always had a thing for you, when he was little... I thought for sure he would've made a move on you by now."



"Oh, well," Emerald shrugged. "Some things don't always work out the way you want them to, you know?"

"Yeah," Travis said as he closed in a little towards her face. "Yeah, I think I know." Upstairs, the TV grew even louder; seems Jade definitely didn't want to hear what was going on downstairs.

Emerald cringed a little, but went straight back to gazing into Travis' eyes. "Do you want to go out? Get away from--"

"Yeah. That's a great idea."




It was late, but the dimming light reflected off the water just enough to case a glow across their faces as they looked into one anothers' eyes, while standing on the pier.

"It's been really nice hanging out with you, Travis," Emerald said with a smile. "Things have been really rough for me lately, I can't tell you how much I needed this."

"Well... that sorta reminds me. There's something I've been meaning to ask you, for the past few days..."



He took Emerald's hand tightly in his. "Look, I still have feels for Jade, and I know you've still got feelings for Brad... But we're just going to be stuck in a rut until things either resolve themselves, or we take the initiative to move on. I really like you, Em, and... Well..."



"Yeah?" Emerald asked, her eyes bright.

"I want you to be my girlfriend. For now, we can help each other get through this. I think there's the potential to be something great between us... And if we keep focusing on 'what could've been', then we'll never be happy. You know what I mean?"



"Yeah, I do," Emerald responded. They were the words she wanted to hear -- maybe she wanted them from someone else, but... This would just have to do. "And yes... I'll be your girlfriend, Travis. I think that would make me very, very happy."



Well... Emerald had to be honest with herself. She wasn't sure if Travis would make her happy, or if she'd ever get over Brad... But maybe, it'd make him just jealous enough to give him the courage to do something.

Maybe, it'd at least help her forget how much she thought she might love him.
Maybe, she'd grow to like Travis even more over time -- he wasn't a bad guy, after all...

Maybe...
Just, maybe.