Avoid Complications Rodrick.

Monday 4:00 p.m

Cynthia was outside, sitting on the porch, her phone attached to her ear, he had finally called her. Rodrick hadn't told her anything about his doctor appointment from today from his texts and she was worried, but when he called she could tell it didn't go as well as they'd all hoped it would be.

She chewed on her lip in the silence

" So do you have a cast?"

" No.. Just some like first aid tape on my nose"

" Is it all black and purple?" She asked smiling.

He sighed and nodded " Yep"

" And your eye?"

" Got worse, so you can have your makeup back"

She laughed and shook her head, her free hand playing with her hair.

" So are you grounded?" She asked, turning serious.

Rodrick licked in his lips, he didn't want to answer her.

" Uh.. Yeah.." He lied, and started twirling his drum stick in one hand.

" Aw. For how long?"

" A week"

" Well that's not too bad.." Cynthia smiled and scratched the back of her neck and sighed.

Rodrick kept quiet, he knew she'd want to hang up, she wasn't the kind of girl who wanted to talk for no reason for hours.

" Well.. I have to go help my dad cook dinner"

" Whatcha having?" He asked, if he tried to keep her on, it'd seem like he didn't want to hang up so badly.

" Oh, uh barbecue and stuff.." She said a little awkwardly
" Look I need to go.. Um.. Bye"

" Bye..." He said, seconds from turning off his phone. But she beat him too it.

She held the phone in her hands.

" Was that so hard? Saying bye?" She asked herself and went back inside.

Her dad and sister were in the kitchen, cutting veggies and talking.
Mr. Daniels looked back at Cynthia and smiled.

" There's the girl I wanted to see" He said and wiped his hands on the dish towel resting over his shoulder. He ran off to his office then returned with a big gift bag and handed it to Cynthia. She raised her eyebrows

" Where's Lilly's ?"

" I already opened mine. Come see" Lilly said smiling and took Cynthia too her room, Lilly had gotten a pair of shoes she had really wanted.

Cynthia smiled and walked down to her room and set her gift on her bed.
She didn't feel like opening it.

She returned to help cook dinner.

" Did you like it?" Mr. Daniels asked.

" Haven't opened it yet"

" Why not?" He asked, a little put off by this.

" Why are we getting presents? Its not a holiday, or a birthday. No promotion. What's the point in wasting money?"

" They are presents for you two being so good about the recent events."

" You mean Miranda being sick!?" Cynthia asked throwing down the things she had in her hand, somehow managing a quick slice to her finger from the sharp knife she had.

Mr. Daniels kept quiet as his daughter stormed out to her room, mumbling that she no longer had an appetite.

He sighed and put his hand on his face.
What did he do wrong?

Cynthia slammed her doors behind her and went over to the present and opened it, violently.

She looked at the contents inside and threw them to the floor, breaking the new canvas and brushes and everything that had been inside the paper bag.
Her sister was dying and he bought them presents for dealing that more calmly then Eddy did, running away from his problems, any hard thing that came into his path he ran away from. Her oldest brother was a coward and didn't know how to face anything.

Even though she was the only one who had the ability to contact him, she never would.
He left her and Lilly when Miranda had first gotten sick, three days with the responsibility and he cracked under the pressure.

She paced around her room, she wanted to yell, blow up and punch something.
She needed to let off some steam.

She opened her phone, she had found Arissa at lunch and the two chatted and Arissa put herself in Cynthia's phone.

She sent Arissa a message, asking if she was available..

" I am sorry, I cant hang out tonight. Grandma in town" Cynthia read out loud, sighing.

She didn't want to get Rodrick in trouble by sneaking him out of the house, but she didn't have alot of friends and she couldn't take her sister, Lilly didn't understand it or get it the way Cynthia did.

So she went alone, she put on her green stoned wedges and grabbed her dad's keys.
Cynthia hardly had her driver's license, she didn't like to drive anyway, so she didn't care.
But she felt different sitting behind her father's car. It's engine purring sweetly for her, she backed out of the drive way and just started driving.

She tossed her phone into the back, she didn't care for the lecture her father would give her. Her phone was vibrating out of control..

Rodrick looked over at his mother, his cell phone in his hand as he pressed dial once again.

" I'm sorry John, she's not answering Rodrick either" Susan apologized into the phone, walking away from her son.

Rodrick sighed and grabbed a sweater.

" Dad? Can you drop me off somewhere?" Rodrick asked, embarrassed he had to ask his father to drive him somewhere, even though it wasn't cause he couldn't drive himself or anything. He just knew there wouldn't be any point bringing his van to a place where there was a car already there.

Cynthia left the general store and got back in the car, taking her phone and seeing Rodrick's name at the top of the missed calls list. She moved her hair, chewing on her snack.

The phone rang and rang.

" Cynthia!" Rodrick said into the phone answering it, gaining an odd look from his dad.

" Where are you?"

" Does it matter?"

" Kind of yeah. I'll meet you where ever you are.. Okay?" He said, lowering his voice so his dad couldn't hear him.

She sighed and rested back in her car and told Rodrick where she was.

Hank pulled into the parking lot, and Rodrick was out before he stopped the car.
He ran to the car she told him she was in.

Mr. Heffley left not too long after Rodrick jumped inside.

Cynthia was staring out the window, biting on her knuckle. Slowly she looked over at her boyfriend and burst out laughing.

" Oh man. You look.."

" I look pretty bad. But remember I did take a really strong.. door.. to the face.." He said, smiling at her.

He reached for her hand, and took a deep breath, he was prepared to be the guy he wasn't.
A guy who could listen to his girlfriends problems without being bored to death.

" What happened? Your dad called, you just stormed off taking his car.."

" I don't want to talk about it" She said starting the engine.

" No here at least." She pulled out and started driving to the empty field Rodrick took her too on their first date.

When they got there, Cynthia got out of the car and walked off for a little while, leaving Rodrick at the car, eating the snacks she'd bought.

Rodrick layed on the hood of the car, his hands behind his head.
His eyes closed, Cynthia silently walked back to him, and put her arm around his waist. She looked at his nose and felt guilt. She didn't know why, she couldn't help it if he was dumb enough to get into a fight.

Rodricks eyes remained closed even though he felt her wrap herself around him.
Cynthia kept looking at his face, he looked tired.

X-Rays and tests all day, she'd be tired too. And with her whim of drama, she couldn't blame him for wanting some shut eye.

She leaned on the car resting her head on his hip. Looking up at him.
At this, Rodrick opened his eyes, licking his bottom lip.

She smiled up at him. Then went into the car and turned it on.

Rodrick followed her into the fancy leather seating black sheek car.

" Are you hungry? Cause I am so hungry. I could totally go for a hot dog" Cynthia said starting the car.

Rodrick groaned and took her keys.

" Don't punch me okay?"

She looked at him apathetically.

" Fine. I wont punch you.. In the face at least"

" Okay. That I'll take" He smiled

" Cynthia. What happened that set you off?" He asked, moving a bit closer to the window, keeping away from Cynthia's not so tough fists.
But who honestly enjoyed being hit? Even by her?

" I... I don't want to tell you"

" Did have something to do with your sister..?"

" Maybe..." She said, getting a little defensive, she didn't want Rodrick to ask her these questions. She would get defensive and say something she'd regret.

" Cynthia..."

" It just.. got me thinking about ... my brother.."

" You have a brother too?"

" Yeah.. Hes.. not exactly a responsible... guy.."

" How do you mean?"

" I mean, when my sister first got sick. Eddy.. My brother.. He um was supposed to look after us, three days in he left. And I took the role of mother hen"

Rodrick's eye's went a little wide, he had seen her in her 'mother hen' role. But hearing how she got that way, it explained a few things.

" Today, my dad came home and gave me and Lilly presents for not freaking out like Eddy had. I mean how can he be wasting his money on me and Lilly when my sister is dying and my brother is out there somewhere and no one knows where he is!" Cynthia said, her anger growing and growing in her voice till she was yelling.

Rodrick sat there silent, he didn't know what to say or whether he should even say something. He knew she had some stuff but he never imagined it was that..

" Lets go get that hot dog.. Okay?" He said, smiling.

She sniffled and looked at him and leaned over and kissed him.

" Ow! Cyn. Please... Nose" Rodrick cried, Cynthia pulled back.

" Right.. Sorry" She whispered and grabbed the keys from his hand and once again started the car, and started to drive off.

" Cynthia?"

" Yeah?"

" What did your dad buy you..?"

" He bought me some new art supplies" She said, clearing her throat.

" You art?"

She raised her eyebrows and smiled

" I used to paint" She whispered and pulled into the first general store they saw.
The two got out of the car locking it, then Rodrick took her hand and squeezed it tight, pulling up his hood.

" What? Afraid to be seen with a psychotic bitch?" She asked laughing.

" Afraid to be seen with a messed up nose"

She smiled and hugged his arm snuggling her cheek onto his arm.
They walked in, the familiar ding telling the people inside new people arrived.

Neither of the two made any eye contact with the people inside, they had arrived in their own little world and they kept it like that.

" What would you like on your dog? Miss Daniels?" Rodrick asked, two hot dogs in his hand, a Slurpee in his other. Cynthia bit her Slurpee straw and smile at him.

" Ketchup please"

" That it?"

" Sorry to disappoint you but yes." She smiled and took the ketchup topped hot dog from his hand and took a bite. Rodrick smiled at her and put his Slurpee down and drenched his dog in mustard and ketchup.

" Does this count as date five...?" Rodrick asked smiling.

She smiled and kissed him.

" Ew.. Mustard" She giggled and wiped it off, and blushed as Rodrick kissed it off, running his tongue on her hand.

" ... Rodrick.." Cynthia piped out, embarrassed and quickly took her hand back.

" So how long till your nose is better?"

" Doctor said hopefully by next Monday. But there's no guarantee"

" Anything we can do to make you heal up faster..?"

Rodrick smiled

" Well, I heard that if you put ketchup" Rodrick said taking a swipe through her hot dog's ketchup and ran his finger on her cheek. " Right there"

" It will help my nose" He laughed as her mouth fell open.

" Well, maybe some mustard right here" She said doing the same actions as he did and put her finger on his cheek bone " It will help"

He smiled and put down his food and pulled her in close and rested his hooded forehead on hers.

" You look ridiculous" Cynthia whispered looking up at him.

" You look like your cheek's bleeding"

They laughed and hugged then went back to eating their hot dogs.

" Lets go home Cyn." Rodrick whispered as they shared a bag of Cheetos. Finishing off their Slurpee's.

" Yeah I'd better go home too. Even though I'm probably going to be grounded" She sighed and ate the Cheetos residue left on her finger tips.

" Just... keep your phone handy" Rodrick said and leaned over and kissed off the ketchup on her cheek. He pulled back laughing

" Next time, make sure I put like whip cream or chocolate sauce on your face instead of ketchup..." He laughed and kissed her cheek once again.

" If you keep doing that I might never take you home "

" I think you will. We've had a pretty bad day..." Rodrick said and crunched up the empty bag.

" I could go for a sleep" Cynthia said, looking over at him smiling.

" Well, lets make that happen"

Cynthia smiled and started to drive off once again, this time. She was slow and calm, and she dropped off her boyfriend Rodrick. Waved him good-bye then drove home.

She sat, holding back her tears as her father yelled at her.

" You are turning into such a... Disappointment!" He yelled and stormed off.

Cynthia buried her face in her hands and ran down to her room.
She had expected herself to cry, but to her surprise she didn't let a single tear fall.

Instead, Cynthia did something she hadn't done in at least a year.. She picked up her new brushes.. Got some water and a put up a big piece of paper.

She put her hair back and dipped her brush in paint, and started to stroke her hand onto the paper. The more she saw the picture progress, the more happy she felt. It was like all her emotions were escaping through her arm into her hand as it held the instrument making the painting burst into a dark life.