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Post by Jeanette Panagiotou on Aug 10, 2007 6:38:30 GMT -5
She stood there for the longest time and closed her eyes every now and then trying to remember anything and everything about her father she could. His laugh, his voice, his singing voice, even that ugly Madusa tattoo that had been on his arm. Everything she could think of. She opened her eyes and reached up wiping at her tears. She hadn't noticed him come in. She had been too deep in thought. She felt like everything was going downhill slowly but surely. The composure she had been working on the past three or four months was slowly disappating, and she had done so well to.
She jumped a little at the sound of his voice and shook her head free of the thoughts. She brushed away the tears willing the rest back. She looked to him and shook her head. "No, it's not Thomas. It's just..." She paused debating if she should say anything, but she just shook her head. "It's nothing you need to worry about. Just things at home that's got me worked up." She said gently as she looked back out the window for a moment before she hoisted herself up on the counter to sit. There was more to it than "things at home" that had her worked up, but she didn't want to say without being pushed. If she pushed the matter she would say, but she wasn't going to willingly give up the information. "I wasn't aware that ou could play the piano." She said gently looking up at him after moment.
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Post by Ryan Andrews on Aug 10, 2007 15:56:38 GMT -5
So it wasn't Thomas that was making her cry. Well, that was good in a way since if it had been then he would have woken him up and went off on him how he'd made his girlfriend cry and things like that. Now he wasn't really into relationships that much but he knew enough not to make a girlfriend upset or at least, not too much. "Really, well having problems at home are never good. I really don't have that problem though because my parents are never home. They're usually off somewhere else and sometimes I don't even know where they go off to." He said quietly, he knew that wouldn't help but he really didn't know what else to say. Since he wasn't about to offer her any alcohol for two reasons. One, she'd taken prescription medicine earlier and all of them usually started not to use alcohol with them. Two, he didn't know how much alcohol she could hold and it wouldn't be a good thing if he gave her too much and she got drunk. It was then that he noticed that she had been crying, something really must have her upset.
As soon as she mentioned him playing the piano his face lost most of its color for a few seconds before it slowly started to return. She must have either heard him playing and figured out that it was him or somehow peeked in on him without being noticed. Either one was possible and either way, he really couldn't deny it too much. He didn't even know if Thomas knew that he played though, this wasn't good at all. "Um, yeah I do play and I have for over ten years." He said and then looked down at the floor for a moment, he was really embarrassed that she'd seen him play. Since he knew that if she'd seen him playing then she'd probably seen everything that had went on in that room. "Nobody really knows that I play though, I don't even know that Thomas knows. It's just that things have been so..frustrating lately and Thomas should know that my moods can turn on a dime. And not to ever mention a certain name when people are around." He said and then sighed, today was not his day.
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Post by Jeanette Panagiotou on Aug 10, 2007 16:26:35 GMT -5
She looked at him frowning gently. "I wouldn't consider that a problem at home. I would consier that a family problem." She said gently looking at him then down at her knee regretting that she said it. She was making a bad habit of saying what she was thinking. She glanced at the glass of vodka wishing she could have a sip, but she didn't want to take chances when she had downed two pain killers and her anxiety meds. She wasn't stupid to try that. She didn't want to end up in the hospital because of it.
She looked back to him and saw the color leave his face. She frowned wishing she had never brought it up. "I'm sorry if I intruded, but I heard it and I just couldn't help but be curious and figure out where it was coming from. When I realized that you probably wanted to be alone I slipped out and came in here." She explained gently looking at him. She thought for a moment wondering who Greg was. She had picked up that something happened to him, but she couldn't figure it out. It had something to do with doctors too. She looked down at her knee for a moment feeling the pack to see how it was since her knee had gone numb. "Who was Greg?" She asked gently as she undid the pouch and set it down after getting the somewhat warm ice pack out. She held it out to him to put back in the fridge or freezer.
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Post by Ryan Andrews on Aug 10, 2007 17:01:31 GMT -5
"Well, I really can't relate to those much either. Since like I said, my parents are never home and the only people who I see are my two sisters. Actually, make that one since I never really see my youngest sister that much." He said and then looked around, he couldn't remember that last time that he'd seen Clarissa it had to be a couple days ago at the least. Since she had been in the kitchen at the same time that he had been. Of course, she only really said about two words to him. The two didn't have the best relationship but they talked to each other, and unlike Alex and Thomas he didn't get scratched up and hurt by her. She just didn't like his choice of clique, or Jesse's either since she was like his polar opposite in a way. "Well, if you ever need to vent you probably could vent to me. Since sometimes I need a way to release anger without throwing beer cans at walls." He said and then grinned, he didn't know if she'd been in there when he'd done that or not but he didn't think so because he probably would have seen her then.
"Yeah, I'm the only one that really goes in that room and I did want to be alone to think." He said, he'd came in here to think but it looked like that wasn't going to happen now. He didn't mind though because he could probably think later about things. Maybe tonight he'd go for a long walk or something or he could lay out in the backyard and try and see the stars. A look of pain flashed across his face when she mentioned Greg, he knew that she'd probably be curious after Thomas had mentioned him but he never liked to talk about it. He took the ice pack that she held out to him and made his way across the kitchen and put it back in the freezer. He then grabbed the glass of vodka off of the counter and drank the rest of its contents before walking back over to where Jeanette was and setting the glass into the dishwasher. He was trying to think of things to do to hold off talking about Greg for a little while longer but he'd just ran out of things to do.
He took a deep breath and then leaned back against the counter as he looked at the fridge. "I met Greg a long time ago, one of the first things I can remember is the two of us playing in the mud together and getting our good cloths dirty. I guess that the two of us were very selective about who we were friends with. So neither of us really had too many friends. He was my best friend and we did everything together and I mean everything." He said and then fought back the tears that came into his eyes all of a sudden. He took a shaky breath and then closed his eyes for a moment before he knew that he had to keep talking. "When he was four something changed, even I noticed it. I didn't know it at the time but a little while after I noticed that he was diagnosed with Cancer..and he was terminal and only had two months to live. Nobody ever told him, or me that he even had that long. He didn't even know what was wrong with him, nobody would tell him." He said and then looked around, it felt as if the kitchen was closing in around him, he needed to get out of here. "It was like clockwork, two months later I was told that he was sick and that I couldn't see him. A couple of days later..he..he did." He said quietly and then he looked down at the ground again, that was all the father he could go. He couldn't talk about the funeral or when he was told what really happened.
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Post by Jeanette Panagiotou on Aug 10, 2007 17:22:48 GMT -5
She looked at him and frowned with a confused about throwing beer cans at the wall. She must have missed that part. She didn't ask though. She watched as the pained expression crossed his face. She felt all to familiar with that feeling. She watched him as he just moved around. He was obviously trying to avoid it as long as he could and she still understood his reason's. She looked down at her leg for a moment then looked up at him.
When he started talking she could hear the pain in his voice. She watched him knowing what it felt like to loose someone that was so loved. She felt a tear trickle down her cheek and she reached up knuckling it away. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked when I know how hard it is to talk about something like that." She said gently looking at Ryan.
Neils pulled up into the driveway of the Andrews' place and glared at it for a moment. He had already been at Thomas's place and his sister informed him that Thomas was staying here so he figured he would try to find her here. He knocked on the door and when no one answered he rung the doorbell. He knew that Thomas was here. He recognized his truck parked infront of his metallic green '67 Mustang convertable.
Jeanette jumped at the sound of the door bell. She looked to Ryan wondering if he was expecting anymore company. The one thing that suddenly went through her head was that Neils had found her. How she didn't know, but she suddenly had this bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
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Post by Ryan Andrews on Aug 10, 2007 18:21:51 GMT -5
He heard what she said and then nodded, it was extremely hard to talk about that. And he was still being haunted by his death in his sleep but she didn't need to that that. "After that Thomas came into the picture and for some reason I chose him to be my new best friend. He was a year older and probably had a better grasp about death then I did. but he didn't ask any questions." He said and then looked around, he knew that if he drank any more that he might start to show that he'd been drinking. And well, Thomas wouldn't like that very much when he woke up. But later tonight when he was the only one up he probably would go downstairs and into his parents wine cellar and try and fine something. He wasn't a big fan of wine but he needed something different to take the hurt from everything away, even if it was for a little while.
He heard the doorbell ring and looked out the kitchen window. He didn't recognize the car but it was a very nice one. "I wonder who is here since I didn't invite anybody over. Then again, people do tend to show up here when there's no security at the gates. Yeah, my parents hired a security person to be at the front gate but I told him to go home since I could handle whatever came up." He said and then began to make his way toward the front door. Maybe it was a mistake to let the gate person go home early. Since there was no way this car would have gotten through if he had been here. Once he was in the living room he checked on Thomas again, he was still sound asleep. He made his way over to the front door and stood there for a moment looking at the door, he didn't know if he should open it or not. Since he really didn't want to get hurt anymore today and that was what would happen because he wasn't really in fighting condition because he knew that the scratches on his arm could get reopened easily. He reached for the doorknob and let his hand rest on it for a second before he opened the door.
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Post by Neils Panagiotou on Aug 10, 2007 20:55:15 GMT -5
She looked to Ryan frowning gently. She glanced out the window after him and she frowned when she saw the all to familiar car in the driveway. She followed him slowly and she reached for her brace and strapped it back on. She froze when the door open and Neils was right there in the doorway infront of Ryan.
Neils looked to Ryan with a hard stare with the same green eyes that Jeanette had. "Where is she?" He asked looking over Ryan's shoulder and he locked gazes with Jeanette for a moment. He said something to her in Greek and she shook her head. He pushed Ryan out of his way and walked over to Jeanette and his hand closed around her arm and pulled her to him. He said something and it wasn't the most pleasent tone, but she spat something just as mean and cold back at him. He looked to Ryan. "I'm sorry for any trouble she's caused, but she's coming home with me." He said as he started to pulled her along.
"No, I'm not!" She exclaimed angrily as she yanked her arm away from him. He had a vice like grip on her arm though and he was starting to hurt her. She winced gently and yanked as hard as she could finally getting away from his grasp. She looked at her arm that was at the moment red from where his big hand had been holding her. "Go home, Neils." She said angrily as she stepped away from him avoiding him. She looked over at Ryan wishing he wasn't seeing this.
"Not unless you're with me." He said angrily as he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. "Now, come on and we can finish our discussion in the car." He said as he pulled towards the door. She stopped and pulled her arm away angrily. He turned and said something to her in Greek and it wasn't nice whatever it was.
She looked at him shocked and she reached a hand up and slapped him as hard as she could "You have no right." She snapped at him before she turned and walked out of the room. She didn't look back either as she walked to the bathroom slamming the door. She leaned against it and slowly eased herself onto the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest and laid her forehead on her knees and cried.
Neils had reached a hand up to his cheek feeling the sting of that slap. He looked back to Ryan with the meanest glare imaginable. He didn't like one bit that his sister was here at Ryan Andrews's house. He had read the gossip columns and he had heard a bunch of bad talk about him without the column.
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Post by Branden Devereaux on Aug 10, 2007 21:25:36 GMT -5
He noticed how hard he was getting glared at so he simply glared back with the same intensity. He didn't like getting that look from somebody who he didn't even know and the fact that he hadn't done anything wrong only made him angered even more. "She, the only she in this home right now is Jeanette. And you're intruding on private property so I don't have to tell you where she is." He said sharply but the next thing he knew he was getting pushed out of the way. He quickly made his way over to where Jeanette was but he was a step too late, Neils already had her and started dragging her away. Before he could do anything she was pulling her arm away. Damn, she wasn't kidding when she said that she could hold her own. Thomas was lucky, he had a girl that would fight back. He watched as she slapped him and he forced himself to hold back a grin. He knew that she would be safe hiding if he needed to he could put himself between the door and Neils he knew that there were a couple of empty bottles of alcohol around the house and he'd perfected his skill at throwing them. Not to mention he was a very tough fighter but he didn't have Thomas as backup.
He then noticed that he was still being glared at and he'd just had it. "Look, I don't know what you have against my house but I can assure you that she was perfectly fine here. Now I don't know what you heard but there's no way in hell that I'd go after my best friend's girlfriend. Besides, Thomas is here and the only reason he isn't next to me is because his little prick of a brother hurt him." He said and then looked at Neils he had no idea who this kid was, but he already knew that he didn't like him.
((short and in the wrong account but I didn't want to power play.))
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Post by Jeanette Panagiotou on Aug 10, 2007 21:44:50 GMT -5
He shook his head. "I don't give a damn what you think. I don't see this as a safe environment for her when all you ever do is drink and party and flirt with girls." He said keeping calm surprisingly. He walked over to Ryan with that cold look still on his face. "If anything happens to my sister in one of your little parties, I'm blaming you for it. If you've got a problem with that then you can get the hell over it." He said harshly looking at him. He moved past him and out the door to his car muttering angrily in Greek. He got in his car slamming the door angrily. He sat there trying to calm himself because he didn't like to drive angrily.
Jeanette was still sitting on the floor of the bathroom with her back leaning against the door. What had started off as soft and muffled, but they had grown to gasps for air as tears streamed down her face. She was starting to feel an anxiety attack coming on and at the moment she wasn't in the mood to get up and go rumage through her bag for her medicine. She just slowly rocked back and forth taking a deep breath between gasping sobs as she tried to wipe at her tears.
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Post by Branden Devereaux on Aug 10, 2007 21:58:55 GMT -5
That wasn't all he did, he actually went off and ran everyday and sometimes he'd be convinced to go off to the golf course and play a round or two of golf. He was really pissed that everybody thought all he did was get drunk and flirt. My god, it wasn't like he lured girls away from a group and then mugged them or something. Why did he have to be the one that always got mentioned for drinking in columns? "Look, I don't give a flying f**k about what you think about what I do. I can be a nice person, to people that I like. And right now, I'm not really liking you. And for your information, I'm not having a party tonight so there everything is going to be just fine and dandy." He said and then watched as he left. After that he locked the door and looked around the first thing he did was check on Thomas again and he was still fast asleep. Could he sleep through the fourth of July fireworks or what?
The next thing he did was head off in the direction of the bathroom. After he made sure that he was fine he was going back and trying to get all of his pent up anger out by playing as fast as he could. He knocked on the bathroom door softly and then he heard her gasping. It sounded to him like she was crying. "Jeanette, he's gone so if you want to let me in that's fine. But if not then I'll just go off on my own again. Now you might hear a piano playing but you know that just me." He said softly before looking around it was amazing that he didn't throw a couple of punches at the guy.
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Post by Jeanette Panagiotou on Aug 10, 2007 22:16:56 GMT -5
She heard the knock and looked up and over her shoulder at the door. She looked at her arm noticing that a bruise was starting to form where Neils had grabbed her in his vice-like grip. She took another deep breath trying to wipe away the tears, but once again it was no use. She listened to him for a moment and debated actually opening the door.
She finally made up her mind. She scooted over to the side of the door and reached up to the knob opening the door a crack to let him in. She was trying to take deep breaths to try and keep the anxiety attack at bay. She could feel it slowly going away, but she could still feel it. She reached a hand up and covered her arm not wanting him to see the bruise, but it hurt to just barely touch it so she pulled her hand looking at the floor as tears continued to stream her cheek. "I'm so sorry, Ryan. I wasn't expecting him to come looking for me that hard." She said gently through soft sobs.
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Post by Ryan Andrews on Aug 11, 2007 11:37:39 GMT -5
He watched as the door opened slightly and he took that as a yes so he opened it a little more and then walked in. He noticed that she was crying and that made his anger spike again . He hated it when people made his friends, girlfriends or anything like that cry. And now that Thomas was out of action for who knows how long of time he knew that it was up to him to get her to calm down and relax. He sat down next to her and reached out and gently wiped a few tears away. It was then that he realized that might have been a bad move, a male had just tried to drag her away. "It's alright, you don't have to be sorry about anything. I promise that nobody is going to hurt you while you're here now. I'm not letting anybody else in unless I actually know who they are. I should be the sorry one, I should have known to get in front of you." He softly said and then looked around too many things had happened today and his mind just needed a break. It was then that he noticed how she was covering her arm, if she was hurt then this guy definitely would pay.
Normally if something like this would have happened he would have went after the person or fought with them right on the spot. But he hadn't gotten the chance to fight on the spot and he'd just been too concerned about Jeanette to chase after him. But, he would remember his face, that guy was definitely on his enemies list. And you did not want to be on that list because he had friends in high places and he could turn some very powerful people in the cliques at school against him. Maybe he'd ask Thomas if he'd seen somebody who looked like that around because he had been too busy lately to go around meeting new people who he thought were worth meeting. "Thomas is going to be really upset that he couldn't have helped you even if he was awake. Because honestly it he would have been the one to get pushed to the side he would have taken that as a threat and just layed into him." He said and then smiled, sometimes Thomas had a shorter temper then he did.
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Post by Jeanette Panagiotou on Aug 11, 2007 11:56:27 GMT -5
She looked up to him when he walked in. She sniffed back some of the tears. She pulled away from his touch, but then she let him wipe away the tears even though it was no use. She looked up at him as tears still ran down her face. Her nose was red and her pretty green eyes were bloodshot and puffy from the crying. She glanced down at her arm when he noticed how she was covering it. "Please, Ryan, don't go make any trouble with him. He doesn't understand his own strength when he's upset like that." She said gently when her hand uncovered the bruise that wrapped all the way around her arm to wipe at her tears.
She looked down at the bruise. At the mention of Thomas she looked up at Ryan frowning. "Please, Ryan, don't say anything to Thomas about this. That wasn't just some random guy I know, that my brother. I don't want them to get into fights when they're both going to be on the football team. Not to mention that if they do get into fights I'm going to be stuck in the middle to choose between them." She said gently grabbing his arm giving it a gentle squeeze as her tear streaked face put on a pleading look. She didn't want Thomas and her brother pitted against eachother because not only would it put her in the middle she would have to choose one or the other and quite frankly she didn't want to do that. She couldn't do that.
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Post by Ryan Andrews on Aug 11, 2007 12:22:09 GMT -5
"I'm pretty upset myself, it's like all he thought I did was drink, party and flirt with girls. That's not all I do and most people around here know that that's just what gets around. Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I don't ask my parents if they can send me somewhere else." He said and then looked at her, there really was nothing here besides painful old memories. Sure there was Thomas, but he had other friends then just him. It wasn't like he'd be missed at school if he left, or at least he wouldn't be missed by teachers or something. Sure he had a B average but he did just enough to keep it that way. He watched as she uncovered her arm revealing a bruise. Something had to be done, but she didn't want him to make any trouble with him. But people saying things like that had never stopped him before. Something was different though, maybe it was because of the fact that she was so close to Thomas stopped him from calling somebody up and asking if they wanted to help him hunt this guy down. "Fine, but he's officially on my enemies list and if word gets around about this then he'll probably get exiled from the clubs and parties." He said and then looked into her red rimmed eyes, he felt like somebody had just hurt one of his siblings.
He listened to what she said about not saying anything to Thomas. He couldn't believe that her own brother would try and drag her away like that just because he'd heard some stuff about him. "He's going to ask how you got the bruise. And if he's got that short of temper then if he clashes with some people on the football team bad things could happen. Since the people on that team have mostly known each other for at least ten years and they care about each other. Unlike the cross country team, nobody really cares too much about a teammate maybe its because we're an individual sport in a way. But we're also a team sport, I don't really know why none of us really speak to each other." He said and then looked down at the floor, he'd stay here as long as he had to. But after she was calmed down enough he was going to go and either take a nap or start playing again he didn't know which one he would do. Since he was still angry, yet he was tired.
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Post by Jeanette Panagiotou on Aug 11, 2007 13:01:53 GMT -5
She looked at him and frowned. "It's because of that damn gossip column. All he knows about this place is what he's heard from the column and what few other people he's talked to." She said gently shaking her head as she rested her forehead on her knees. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself. "What would you have done if all you've heard about somebody was that they drank and partied and was very flirtatious with girls and then comet to find your sisters at his place planning on spending the night? Don't lie and tell me you wouldn't keep a straight head either. He doesnt' know what to think here. He's so used to our way of life in Greece that he's confused." She said gently looking up at Ryan brushing away tears from her cheek. "America is so much more different from Greece and he doesn't know what to do." She said as she leaned her head against the wall looking up at the ceiling.
She brushed a few stray locks of hair out of her face and looked back to him frowning. "I don't care, we can think up a logical story. I just don't want to get stuck in the middle with Thomas and Neils. I can't choose between them. He doesn't have too short a temper, he's just mad because we've been at each others throat since last night." She said gently looking down at her knee. "He finally reached his boiling point and when that happens he can't control himself very easily." She said gently looking back up at Ryan.
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