Start a Revolution

Drew didn’t know where she was going after she ran out on her parents.

She did know that she was angry, hurt, betrayed, and overall disappointed. Her parents were so closed-minded. She had intentionally brought John suffering and for what? For two adults who were acting like children over something that was their daughter’s fault? The O’Callaghan’s had no blame yet Drew’s family was acting like they did.

And then there was the little detail that was Joey Rhimes.

He was the one who fucking ratted her out to her parents? What kind of an asshole does that? She assumed he would have been humble enough about their break up to let her be happy but no, he had to fuck that all up to.

Drew inhales harshly. She’s cussing too much. That’s never a good sign.

It was two minutes later that she realized where it was she was stomping to, her heart beat accelerating as she came closer to the bright blue door. It was a door she had gotten used to seeing, a blue so blue that it overwhelmed your senses. A lot of memories were tied to this rectangle of wood and they were memories she had harbored for a long time. And then, she was slamming her fist against the almost-chipping paint, flames licking at the side of her face as the anger pulsing through her took a turn for the worst.

Seconds later, the bright blue was moving back and his face was swimming in front of her eyes. Tears were pooling and then gushing, moving down her face in a rapid river of black mascara and warm liquid. The beating at her base of her jaw thumped harder and harder against her neck as his face droops into concern.

“Drew?” he questions with a worried tone, taking a step forward.

Then her hand was coming up to crack across his face.

After the slap was delivered, there was a heavy silence. Drew was staring at him, her breathing harsh and her hand stinging from the force she put behind the hit. Joey’s jaw was tense, a stain of red blotching onto his cheek gradually. She wasn’t sorry she smacked him—not in the least—but she was a bit terrified to see his reaction.

Once the tense silence was prolonged enough, Joey turns his head from where it had snapped to the right from the brunt of the hit, his green eyes piercing into her own gaze. She holds her ground, her hands balling into fists.

“What the fuck was that for?” he growls, even though he suspected the answer.

“You. Asshole,” she enunciates, reaching out to pound a fist against his chest. He swats her arm away like it was nothing which pissed her off even more. “Do you not realize how big of a dick you are? Shit! You ruined the best thing that ever happened to me!”

“Stop being so overdramatic,” he condescends, a snort passing his lips. “I did you a favor. And you know it.”

“I was happy!” Drew screeches, making him wince at the shrill note in her voice. “I was in a great relationship and you just couldn’t stand that, could you? You couldn’t understand that I’d moved on and found someone else!”

“That isn’t just it!” he retaliates, his jaw clenched so tight she felt it would burst. “It was with John O’Callaghan. Have you met the guy? He’s scum, Drew. He is lower than scum. And how you thought he was the one really gets under my skin. You can do so much better and you were about to before you just ruined it!”

“I can’t believe you,” she shakes her head, tears pouring as she spoke, the salt on her tongue too bitter, too sharp. “Who gave you the right to dictate who I’m with? When did you become exactly like my parents?” She scoffs weakly, using the edges of her sweater to wipe at her face. “You know, I had began to trust you again. Before my relationship with John and during my relationship with John. I saw you as a friend, as a confidante, and you threw that in my face. All because I wasn’t yours anymore.” The venom her voice was enough to make Joey feel like she had poisoned him. “You’re pathetic.”

“I’m pathetic?” he hisses, trying to show that her words hadn’t bothered him, even though they had. Badly. “You’re the one who sat around for the past two months, moping about how you and John broke up!”

“And who was it that broke us up?” she asks dryly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Joey falls silent, his shoulders as stiff as a billboard. He knew if she found out that she would have reacted like this, but he thought he could have calmed her down, thought he could make her see reason, see why he had told her parents. But she wasn’t seeing that, was being resistant. Why? “Drew,” he murmurs softly, shaking his head. “I did it for you. He’s not good for you. Why can’t you see that?”

“How is he not good for me?” she asks bitterly, flabbergasted. “He was loving, caring, honest…he was everything I’d been looking for since you. And now I realize that you’ll never measure up to him.” His eyes widen. “Never.”

His jaw cocks. “You don’t honestly believe he’s capable of that, do you?”

“I dated him, didn’t I?” she smiles sarcastically, shrugging her shoulders as she takes a step away from Joey’s bright, too blue door. “I loved him, Joey. And you ripped that away from me. Maybe John isn’t the one who’s not good for me,” she backs away, the hole in her heart sewing up halfway, “maybe it was you.”

Then she turns and paces away, Joey not having the balls to go after her.

Because even though he’d hoped that would go differently, thought he could have convinced her to go the opposite direction, a part of him knew she had been right.

And he fucking hated it.



Drew couldn’t believe she was doing this. Couldn’t believe she had snuck back into her house, grabbed her mother’s keys, and had stolen the car. She couldn’t believe she was even thinking of going down there anyway. Who’s to say he’ll be there tonight? He said he went their periodically, but what if tonight wasn’t one of those nights?

She shakes her head, pressing on the gas pedal harder as she drove down the long strip of road that was empty save for her. She needed to get there before her thoughts at her alive.

It was rounding out to 11:00 p.m. when she was pulling into the bare parking lot. The dirt road was swirling around her as she stepped out of the car, her figure bolting toward the front entrance. It was dark, the stars shimmering with the lack of civilization, the moon bright and partially full, hidden behind a mass of grey clouds. Drew’s heart was pounding and she was running, finally coming up to the tall chain-link fence.

This time, she didn’t hesitate to stick her fingers into the holes and push herself up, her feet grasping each hole like it was her last day. She swings her leg over the top of the fence and drops down to the dirt ground gracefully, her body swishing around as she looks through the shops and buildings.

If she were John, where would she be?

She walks forward a bit, her gaze moving to the left as she sees the purple sign that read The Renaissance Festival whisper in the wind. She swallows nervously.

Drew walked aimlessly for a few minutes, looking at every single medieval structure as she did. She didn’t know where John would be—where did he usually go when he came here by himself? She bites her bottom lip, afraid she would be wrong and that he wouldn’t be here after all. But she prayed that he was, so she kept walking.

After about ten minutes of wandering, she plops down at the base of the dragon slide, trying to keep the tears that were threatening to spill in. She had called John’s house earlier—after trying his cell, which had been off—where she was met with his younger brother. Shane—was that his name?—said John was out so the first thing that had popped into her brain was the Renaissance Festival. She wanted to assume he wasn’t anywhere else and it looks like she was wrong.

She huffs out a breath, trying to reduce the sobs shaking at her chest.

That’s when she heard a voice.

Her head shoots up, her ears straining. “…no…I’m…festival…” Her face looks this way and that, trying to decipher where it was coming from. “…promise…home…sure…” She freezes when she realizes the voice was echoing down the slide. “…yes…alone…please…” She grins before hurrying to her feet.

Her body runs down toward the castle entrance, sprinting up the stairs that wound toward the top of the dragon slide. Her heart was thrumming harder and louder and faster as she ascended the steps, her tears turning into tears of joy.

Once she had made it to the top of the castle, she stops in her tracks.

He was there, sitting at the mouth of slide, his back to her as he closed his phone. Drew couldn’t have been happier, seeing him there, his brown hair shoved under a beanie and a grey hoodie outlining his lean, skinny frame. All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him from behind and press her face into his jacket, to breathe him in, his smell of peppermint and cinnamon. But she refrained from doing so, instead opting to just clear her throat.

His head whips around at the noise, his eyes widening at the sight of his ex-girlfriend.

“Drew?” he asks softly, not standing up or moving. He just blinks at her, slow, trying to figure out if she was really there. “What are…what are you doing here?”

She hesitates, looking behind her as if someone else were with them. But the staircase was empty, so she looks back at John. “I, uh…” she swallows. “I yelled at my parents then came to find you.” It was so blatant, not what she was expecting herself to say, but she had said it. So she waited for his reply.

“You…” he scrunches his brows. “You yelled at your parents?”

She nods quickly. “I may or may not have blown up on them about…well, uh, you.”

Drew noticed the flicker of a smile that threatened to pull at his lips, but he stays composed so his face was blank and smooth. She didn’t know what to do, her hands at her sides and her figure swaying awkwardly, not wanting to go over and sit down beside him. Not yet, at least.

“I assume you were defending me,” he finally speaks, cocking his head to the side. Her body shivers at the way his green eyes were warming her up, melting her on the very spot. “Or, at least I’d like to think that.”

“You’re thinking correctly,” she smiles with a wisp of humor. “Like always.”

He grins wide then, the first time she’d seen that smile in months, and then he’s beckoning her over. Her heart goes giddy at the fact that they were reconciling. She’d missed him more than she’d ever missed someone before and they were about to have a real conversation.

“I also had a chat with my parents,” he tells her, his face going back to look down the large mouth of the dragon slide. She looked as well, the dark tunnel almost as eerie as it was the first time. “My mom talked mostly. She said that her and my father—even though I could tell my father didn’t agree—were fine with whoever it was I dated. She said that you had nothing to do with the accident and neither did I, so it shouldn’t be any concern to them or your parents whether or not we are in a relationship.” There was a brief pause. “I’m glad they said it. Because I agree one-hundred percent.”

He waits for her to reply. When she stays quiet for a bit he looks over at her, his brows scrunched. “Do you agree with them as well?”

She nods. “Of course I do. It’s just…”

“What?”

“What if it comes back to bite us in the ass?” she asks gently. “I mean, look what happened this past time. Oh God, the hurt I must have put you through…”

He shushes her, leaning toward her a bit more. “Don’t worry about that. We just have to take one step at a time. Our parents, our family, our friends…we shouldn’t be concerned about them. They’re small, miniscule. We tower over them. Okay?”

Drew blushes at his heated gaze. “But what if—”

John presses a finger to her lips, letting his forehead fall against hers. Both hearts beat simultaneously at the action, Drew’s mind going crazy. He was touching her, feeling her; were they okay?

“If we’re going to try this again,” he murmurs, his breath blowing over her face, “then you have to promise me something. You want to try this again, right?”

She nods frantically, making him smile.

“You have to promise that you won’t be constantly worrying. Don’t worry about our parents, don’t worry about Annie, and don’t worry about the past. Worry about the here and now and where you think our relationship will take us. You can’t let other people’s opinions of us get in the way.” All the words he was saying, the vowel and constants fit together so nicely and Drew was moved to tears for the third time that night. “You’re all I want. And I don’t care what people think of that. I want you and I’d like to think you want me so please, god damnit Drew, please let me have you again.”

Her throat had closed up because all she wanted was to be his again, so she couldn’t speak. All she could manage was a shaky nod, his grin blinding her. Then he was kissing her and all the pain and hurt of the past couple months was sliding away.

As he pulled away she spoke. “I love you.”

Another white smile. “I love you more.”

She laughs, the sound bubbly because of the tears in her throat. But he didn’t care, just kissed her again.

It happened so quick, their reconciliation. But both knew it was because they hadn’t really been apart; just physically. But Drew knew he would always have her and she would always have him because, let’s face it, they were meant for each other. It felt like they really were a Shakespearean play, the romance buzzing about them; save for the tragic deaths at the end.

“Do you wanna go down the slide?” she asks childishly, a giggle falling past her lips as he pulls away from them with a pop. She was giddy, excited. All she wanted was for them to be uncaring and content again.

“Of course.”

So they get into position, Drew sitting between John’s legs with her back to his chest, his arms coiled tightly around her waist. She breathes his smell in, the scent swarming around her head so it swam dizzy

“Ready?” he mumbles in her ear, kissing the side of her neck.

And with John at her side, her Juliet to his Romeo, she was ready. All the heartache and the pain were in the past and she was ready to move forward. No one could govern what she did or who she wanted to be with; she was her own person. And that was something she had finally discovered.

“Ready,” she affirms, gripping at his forearms tightly.

Then he was pushing them forward, their cries echoing off the expanse of the tunnel, basking in the unknown of the future.