Fic: Superstition, 1/3, Rated PG-13
Title: Superstition
Author: courts
Disclaimer: This never happened. And, for the record, I hope it doesn't. I'm making this all up.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The power of three.
Notes: This is the first of three prompts written as a trilogy of sorts that I am going to call Three, because the number plays a part in all of the stories. It deals with death, not of Cook or Archie, but just thought I should slap a warning on here. I hope this story doesn't come true. It's purely fiction.
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Superstition
You've always heard that bad things happen in threes. Celebrity deaths. Natural disasters. Those Fast and the Furious movies.
And, it's like the three things always line up in terms of just how awful they are. Like, the Fast and the Furious wasn't going to win any Oscars and Too Fast Too Furious was leaps and bounds worse, but Tokyo Drift? Even Paul Walker had the sense to say no to that. And you don't know why you're thinking about all this but you think it might be because it's easier than thinking about what's real. Because, lately, reality hasn't been going so well.
You knew that it was bad when you picked up the phone and heard his voice. It was that hitching little sigh just before he said hello, that barest exhalation of air that made your heart stop and all your mind kept screaming was 'what's wrong?'
He tells you that Adam's cancer is back for a third time and he sounds like he's holding it together, but you know him well enough to know that he's really not.
"Where are you?" you ask him.
"Indianapolis," he says. "Well, I'm in Dayton actually, on a layover. But my flight takes back off in fifteen minutes. I'll be in Indianapolis tonight."
'Do you want me to come?' you almost ask, but you don't because he would ask if he wanted you to come and all he's saying now is that he didn't want you to find out on the news that he rushed away from a concert and think that something was wrong with him. But something is wrong with him, you think. His big brother is dying and you're two thousand miles away and there's no one there to rub his back while he loses control.
"I'll be fine, Archie," he says and you don't believe it for a second. Because three strikes and you're out, right? And you were never any good at baseball.
You hang up the phone thinking three years since idol. Three girls he's dated in that time. Three break-ups that he's never been very upset about. And you're number three on his speed dial, right behind his mom and Adam.
You pick up the phone and call three airlines before you find one with a seat open tonight, going to Indianapolis.
-=-=-=-=-
July 3, 2008
-=-=-=-=-
Go to part two - I'm Here
Author: courts
Disclaimer: This never happened. And, for the record, I hope it doesn't. I'm making this all up.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The power of three.
Notes: This is the first of three prompts written as a trilogy of sorts that I am going to call Three, because the number plays a part in all of the stories. It deals with death, not of Cook or Archie, but just thought I should slap a warning on here. I hope this story doesn't come true. It's purely fiction.
-=-=-=-=-
Superstition
You've always heard that bad things happen in threes. Celebrity deaths. Natural disasters. Those Fast and the Furious movies.
And, it's like the three things always line up in terms of just how awful they are. Like, the Fast and the Furious wasn't going to win any Oscars and Too Fast Too Furious was leaps and bounds worse, but Tokyo Drift? Even Paul Walker had the sense to say no to that. And you don't know why you're thinking about all this but you think it might be because it's easier than thinking about what's real. Because, lately, reality hasn't been going so well.
You knew that it was bad when you picked up the phone and heard his voice. It was that hitching little sigh just before he said hello, that barest exhalation of air that made your heart stop and all your mind kept screaming was 'what's wrong?'
He tells you that Adam's cancer is back for a third time and he sounds like he's holding it together, but you know him well enough to know that he's really not.
"Where are you?" you ask him.
"Indianapolis," he says. "Well, I'm in Dayton actually, on a layover. But my flight takes back off in fifteen minutes. I'll be in Indianapolis tonight."
'Do you want me to come?' you almost ask, but you don't because he would ask if he wanted you to come and all he's saying now is that he didn't want you to find out on the news that he rushed away from a concert and think that something was wrong with him. But something is wrong with him, you think. His big brother is dying and you're two thousand miles away and there's no one there to rub his back while he loses control.
"I'll be fine, Archie," he says and you don't believe it for a second. Because three strikes and you're out, right? And you were never any good at baseball.
You hang up the phone thinking three years since idol. Three girls he's dated in that time. Three break-ups that he's never been very upset about. And you're number three on his speed dial, right behind his mom and Adam.
You pick up the phone and call three airlines before you find one with a seat open tonight, going to Indianapolis.
-=-=-=-=-
July 3, 2008
-=-=-=-=-
Go to part two - I'm Here