Disenchanted

Mae had always been dependent. Ever since she and Josh broke up, she had tried not to rely on anyone, not to love anyone. But as Gee stood there, she couldn't help but want him to hold her. Even with Josh, Mae had not felt this way. Looking into Gee's eyes was like looking into a world of possibilities she had never dreamed of.

As she stood in the bathroom, looking at Gerard, she ran up and grabbed him into a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry I left. I was wrong."

"Mae. It's over, you're back. Don't feel guilty, because you're here and I'm here, and there's no reason to be guilty. The past is the past right?"

"Right..." she replied, with remorse in her eyes.

"Listen to me, Mae," Gerard said, backing away from the hug, looking into her eyes, "If we live dwelling in the past, we're not living. Keep living, or die trying to have something you can't have. Mae, I know it hurts to know but you can't have your father back. It's not your fault, and it never was, and whoever feels that way is wrong, you're wrong. Did you push him? No. Did you stab him? No. If we live in the past, we never know that what we have NOW might be the best thing we'll ever have. YOU'RE the best thing I'll ever have."

"Can I tell you about the best thing I ever had?"

"Sure."

"His name was Blake." Gee looked at Mae with interest as she spoke, and a little hint of jealousy in his eyes, "He was the most wonderful boy I have ever known. Blake was my twin brother. In a way, I feel like I should say IS, but he's gone so I can't. We um, we were best friends. We did just about everything together. Me, him, and some friends of his would all go to the mall and just talk for hours. His best friend, Josh, he would take advantage of me. When we would go on dates he would be really sweet, and kiss me, and make me feel wonderful but when Blake was around he would call me names, and make me feel useless. There were other people in the group."

Mae paused with a thoughtful look in her eyes, "There was Mary, Tony, Gage, and someone we called Blondie because we could never remember her name," Mae laughed, "Blondie was my favorite. She never asked me to smoke, or anything, she always just sat there, in a chill way. Blake was protective of me, he acted as if he were way older than me, although we were only minutes apart. Even if I wanted to, Blake would never let me do drugs. Josh would call me stupid, and he would slap me, and if I tried to kiss him, he would always turn the other way, and he'd be an asshole. I noticed it, Blake noticed it, and it made Blake mad." Mae smirked, a smile full of regret.

"What made him the maddest was that one day, the day after Josh had taken my virginity, we were all hanging out, the six of them smoking, me drinking some coffee, and I turned to Josh and I asked him, 'Can I kiss you?' and he replied with 'No, I don't kiss dogs.' Blake looked over, and without a word he punched him, he kicked him, he just tore the shit out of him. The next day, he wasn't there, and neither was Blondie. Mary and Tony, they were like closer than a married couple, they brought something, to this day I don't know what it was. I don't think it was a real drug, because no one took it except for Blake. But they told him to take it, they told him he had to. I yelled at him," Mae wiped the emerging tears from her eyes, "I told him not to, I ask him why trust them? Why?" She started to cry.

"He looked at me, and he said 'Mae, shut up. You'll never get anywhere in life if you don't do anything. I love you, I do but you're a killjoy. You never do anything fun.' I glared at him and said 'You never LET me Blake, you never let me do anything. But besides that, you're so young, you don't need to take that. You have a choice. Would you like your sister, or those...'friends'' and he looked at me and said 'I choose them.You wouldn't have the guts anyways,' and he drank whatever that was. So I ran. I ran home, I wasn't going to watch. And then the emergency room called our house, and they told us that someone must have poisoned him, because he wasn't breathing, but there was no signs of injury. Only I know who did it, and I never told anyone. Until now." Mae found herself finishing her story and crying on Gee's shoulder.

Gee grabbed Mae and looked straight into her eyes. He kissed her, this time with more passion, and he could feel the remorse as Mae's features tensed up.

"He was my rock," she said, looking down. "He would have helped me through this," she thought for a second, "But now I have you, and you'll do the same."