----- Chapter Thirteen -----

"D'ya reckon she's home yet?" Scott asks me nervously from his seat next to Marie, curled up in the back of Abs' car. We're on our way to Kerry's house to pick up some of Scott's stuff that he left there. Abs and Scott haven't spoken since their little argument in the hospital, and the atmospheres kinda tense to say the least.

I shrug, "Prolly. I mean she left after I told her…" Scott had been kept in for an hour or two under observation, even though he felt absolutely fine. I spose they do that for head injuries to make sure you don’t have concussion or brain damage, or you're going mental or something…I'm surprised they didn’t keep Scott in for longer =). He's been so subdued that he slept right the way through 3.30 without his usual spamming out bit.

Abs cruises the car up to Kerry's house, cuts the engine, and slumps back in his seat to sulk. I don’t know how Kerry got home - she must've gotten a cab or something.

"What d'ya need?" I turn round and ask Scott, who shrugs.

"I don’t know if I've got anything there…maybe some clothes, but don’t worry about it…" he thinks for a moment, "My phone. She's got my phone…"

I sigh. I have to face her. Great, "Ok. I'll go and get it…" I get out the car reluctantly and make my way toward Kerry's front door. I push the doorbell and stare at the frosted glass til she answers the door.

"Dad its for me!" she calls back into the house, then knits her brow as she glares at me, "Whaddaya want?"

"Scott would like his cell phone back please…" I request evenly, matching her 'evil' gaze.

"When can I see him?"

"When he wants to see you."

"When will that be?"

"I don’t know…" all I want is the phone, then out, "Could be hours, days, weeks, months…" I pause, "Years…"

Her eyes widen, "I want to see him now," she looks past my shoulder, "Is that Abs' car?"

"Umm…maybe," I stand in her way, hoping she doesn’t try to get past, "Look, the sooner you're less menacing and more nicer towards Scott, the sooner he'll want to see you."

She thinks this over for a moment or two and then reaches back towards a table behind her. I just fed her an absolute pile of shit and she believed it all…Kerry hands the phone over to me.

"Thank you," I turn to leave, "Don’t call him - he'll call you!"

"Where to now, Scott?" I ask. Abs has reached the deciding road. One way leads back home to London, where Scott wouldn’t have to face answering questions for a while; the other way to Scott's part of Essex, where Mick'll got mental.

He sighs, "I spose…I better go home. My mum can look after me then. And my Dad'll find out anyway so I may as well see him now."

So off to Essex we go. Abs hasn’t said a word in my presence since Scott shouted at him earlier - which is not a good sign at all. Scott prolly told him in the end and now Abs is stunned. And not likely to ever wanna speak to me again.

I walk Scott up to his door, when we arrive at his house. He looks a little fragile still, but has a lot more bounce than earlier. He's prolly got a splitting headache though.

"I've got a stoopid photo shoot tomorrow and I hafta do it with THESE stitches in…all the interviewers are gonna ask me how it happened," he sighs as we reach his door.

"Just make up something dumb, like you were running around, tripped and head-butted something…" I suggest, "It'd prolly work."

"Yeah…"

"Umm…" I start, "You didn’t tell Abs about me, did you?"

Scott's eyes get really wide. He's got his back to the door, and I'm facing him.

"Tell Abs WHAT about you?" asks Abs from behind me. The blood drains from my face and I get a really sick feeling in my stomach.

"Shit…" I mutter.

"Tell me what?" he repeats. I turn around to face him.

"What the fuck are you doing, sneaking up on me like that?"

"I didn’t sneak! I thought you knew I was here! I came to apologise to Scott for how I was like earlier on…" he trails off and looks at Scott, "Sorry, man, I just don’t like seeing my mates get hurt, that’s all…"

"That's ok…" Scott says. At that moment, Marie joins us. She's got Scott's jacket - he must've left it in the car. I think she's just saved my life.

"Scott - you forgot your jacket…" she hands it to him. He smiles.

"Thank you…d'ya wanna come in? I mean, are you going home with them, or can you get home from here by yourself?"

"I can get home by myself…and I'd love to come in…" Marie smiles back. Definite romance there, I can feel it. Unlike me and Abs. I hope that he's forgotten what I said, but I know by the way he's glaring at me that he most probably hasn’t.

"What didn’t you tell me?" he asks me, then thinks for a moment while I pray that the ground eats me up. Abs frowns, then has a sudden look of realisation. Shit, he's figured it out…"Are you two seeing each other? I knew you liked Scott!"

"No!" me and Scott say together. Freaky.

"We're not seeing each other…" I protest.

"I don’t believe you."

"It's the truth!"

"How do I know that?" Abs narrows his eyes. Marie looks really confused. I look Abs right in the yes to show I'm not lying and say softly,

"I never lie to you, Abs. Ever."

"But there's obviously something you HAVE lied to me about, otherwise Scott wouldn’t be able to tell me about it!" he reasons. I shake my head,

"Nope. There are sometimes things I don’t tell you - but I NEVER lie to you."

Abs shrugs, "Whatever," and then stomps off towards his car.