Brown Eyed Girl
Part Seven

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"Can we forget about the things I said when I was drunk
I didn't mean to call you that
I can't remember what was said or what you thew at me
Please tell me, please tell me why..."

       "Man, that song really fits." Lewis said as he eyed the car stereo playing "My Own Worst Enemy".  He and Oswald had ben driving around town ever since the fight.  Lewis hadn't felt like driving home, and as for Oswald, he felt like sticking around and being his best friend.  Lewis had been full of a mix of regret, saddness, and anger the entire time while Oswald just sat and listened.
        "Does it?" Oswald asked, remembering how set Lewis was in his point of view during the fight with his girlfriend.
        "At least the first verse.  Right now, all I want to do is get her back.  This needs to be fixed, that's all I know right now.  But...I don't know, she's not usually that controlling."
        "How is her asking you not to joke about something controlling?" Lewis glared at Oswald, who quickly put his hand up.
        "I'm serious.  I know none of your past girlfriends have done that before, but they haven't spent as much time with all of us as she has.  It's a shock to you, I know, to have a girl like Twyla, who's normally pretty easygoing especially where you're concerned, to ask you to hold back.  But, considering how easy she's been, don't you think you owe her this much.  Wouldn't it just be easier if you just did what she asked?  I'm sure Kate would appreciate it too."

Lewis stared at the road coldly as he contemplated what Oswald said.  Then, with a slow smirk forming on his face, he turned to his friend.
        "You know, if you were this smart all the time, we probably wouldn't have 300 lbs of dog food sitting under the sink."
Oswald made a face for a minute, then returned his friend's grin.

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        Greg had paced the apartment enough times to make a rut in the carpet.  All the time, he was trying to imagine what might have happened that was so horrible it made Twyla want to just disappear.  The two of them had their share of tiffs during their relationship, but she had never pulled this before.  It didn't make sense...

Unless she loves Lewis more than she ever loved me, Greg thought with a sick feeling in his stomach.  True, he still loved Pat very much, but he kind of hoped that he would always be the one Twyla loved best.  It was a pride issue, he decided.  The phone's shrill ring brought Greg back from his thoughts.
         "Hello?"
         "Hey Greg, it's Drew.  Good news and bad news buddy.  The good news is she's at Eugene's place, and she's okay.  The bad news is she drank herself stupid."
         "What?!  But...she's only had one or two drinks before in her entire life, this isn't like her."
         "Well, thing's did get pretty rough between those two.  I'm still trying to get the blood out of the carpet." Drew said sarcastically.
         "Man...well, where is the place Drew, I'm going to pick her up."
         "No you're not." Drew stated matter-of-factly.
Greg gave the phone a double take, "Pardon?"
         "You aren't going to pick her up.  See, Eugene seems to have a plan to bring them back together."
         "So Lewis is going to pick her up?"
         "Yeah, so they can hash things out at Eugene's place.  That, and Lewis has more experience dealing with funny drunks than you do."
         "He should, he's been one for years." Greg muttered has he hung up the phone.

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         Eugene eyed the still-sleeping Twyla laying on his couch.  He imagined all the horrible words said bewteen her and Lewis were still echoing in her head.  Thinking about it, it seemed like a stupid thing to fight over.  That was why just letting them talk it out seemed like a workable plan.  Just then, he heard a knock at the door.  He answered it to find Lewis standing there.
         "Hey." Lewis whispered.
         "Hi.  She's over here." Eugene smiled.  Quietly, he led Lewis over to the couch.  Lewis bent down to wake her, but Eugene pulled him back quickly.
         "She's probably still drunk.  It might not be a good idea to wake her up yet."
         "Can't we just give her some coffee or something?  It always worked for me.  Okay, so I wanted to kill whoever gave it to me, but still..."
         "Not yet," Eugene whispered firmly, "I want to talk to you first."  With that, Eugene led Lewis away from the couch.  He pressed his lips together before beginning.
          "First," Eugene got a wide smile and a hopeful glint in his eyes, "has Drew mentioned me at all lately?"
          "No, sorry.  And as...attractive as I'm sure you are to other guys, I think Drew's pretty set on staying straight."
Eugene smiled knowingly and shrugged.
          "I know," he said, "I just figured I'd ask while you were here.  Anyway, the second thing is you do realize that you guys had a stupid fight right?"
Lewis looked at Eugene sharply, not expecting him to be so blunt.  After a second, he lowered his head and stared at his hands.
          "Yeah." He answered quietly.
          "Good." Eugene said wiht a nod, "Then I'll make some coffee for 'Drunken Beauty' over there, so you'll have time to figure out what you want to say to her."
Lewis dropped his lanky frame into one of the chairs and looked at Eugene in the kitchen.  Idly, Lewis pondered how interesting it was how he immediately felt at ease with Eugene, despite the fact that they barely knew each other.  It was as if Eugene was an old friend, one Lewis had known for...oh, over twenty years...
          This thought immediately fled from Lewis' head as he looked down at Twyla and remembered their fight.
          "How can I take back what I said?" Lewis asked Eugene.  Eugene, done with preparing the coffee, went to Lewis and sat in one of the other chairs.
          "Well," he started, "how can Twyla take back what she said to you?"
          "She doesn't have to." Lewis said with a snort, "I was being an idiot."
          "Ah, in that case the most you can do is apologize."
          "Apologize."
          "Yeah, admit you were being an ass and move on.  I think she'll be all right with that."
          "As long as I don't do it again."
          "Exactly."

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(Now, to the alchohol-induced dream-world of Twyla...)

          "The first thing Twyla was aware of was the fact that she was on a couch.  So, naturally, her mind tried to piece together how she got there.  Eugene must've brought me home, she thought.  Not feeling the drive to open her eyes yet, Twyla idly wondered how she managed to drink herself to the point of unconciousness and not have a hangover.  Instead, she heard a voice in her head, one that oddly resembled her mother's, scolding her for drowning her sorrows.  After drawing the conclusion that a scolding voice was a hangover in itself, Twyla decided to slowly open her eyes...
          And behold a room she didn't recognize.  The room was fairly large and consisted of one other piece of furniture besides the couch Twyla occupied; a table which had coffee in styrophone cups and some food.  The term "green room" imediately popped into Twyla's head (where it came from, she didn't know) and she guessed that was where she was.  She rubbed her face with her hands, then ran her fingers though her hair, a nervous habit she had picked up from Greg.  After a few minutes, Twyla looked up to see a familiar man walk into the room.  Eugene!  Maybe he took me here, she thought.
          "Morning sunshine." he said with a sweet smile.
          "Hey Eugene." Twyla responded with a tired smile.  This changed the man's face from one of friendliness to one of confusion.
          "Um, my name's Colin." He said slowly.
          "Huh?!" Twyla's jaw dropped.
          "I'm Colin.  Colin Mocherie, you know, from planet Earth?" (Author's note: Much apologies if I spelled Colin's last name wrong


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