Title: Chapter Four: Nuisance

Series: Emesen’s Child

Author: Jennifer Lee

Email: jesca10@attbi.com

Web: http://home.attbi.com/~jesca10/ *Fictitious*

Disclaimer: All characters are the property of the author and are not to be reproduced without express consent.

Rating: G

Summery: Subtle hints don't always have to be so subtle.

Author’s Notes: Please email me if you want to put this or any of my stories on your website. I never say no, but I like knowing which sites are supporting my writing. Thanks!




Emesen’s Child 4: Nuisance
by Jennifer Lee

Darien looked behind him and to the left and shook his head in irritation. Carl Williams sat in the dark theater a row behind him and Sandy. He was dividing his attention between Sandy and the movie. When Darien looked over at him, Carl and he made eye contact and Carl waved. Darien didn’t wave back; he just rolled his eyes and turned to look at the screen.

“Just ignore him,” Sandy said.

“It’s rather hard when he’s staring right at us. Just once I would like to take my girl to the movies without him.”

Sandy smiled a little and put Darien’s arm around her. She snuggled into his side and laid her head on his chest.

Darien smiled and looked down at her, bending down to kiss her on the top of the head. Darien felt something hit him on the head and he saw a kernel of popcorn fly by him.

“Get a room,” a voice said to the left of them.

Darien slowly turned his narrowed eyes to Carl. Carl’s eyes widened and he snapped his head to look forward, looking at the screen with new intensity. Darien swallowed down the growing irritation and tried to focus instead on the girl in his arms.

Things had been going very well between the two. Sandy turned out to be a great deal more interesting than he had bargained for. He missed Christie, but he was having so much fun exploring this thing with Sandy that it helped him get through his thoughts of Christie.

Carl watched the two and shook his head. He sighed a little to himself. He just didn’t know what to do.

A year and a half ago, when they had first come to The Academy, things were a lot different. For one thing, Sandy was still dating Gabe Stanley, but other than that, Carl couldn’t get over the differences in his friend and the hurt feelings that were now beginning to drive a wedge between them. Carl remembered when Darien and Carl would stand up against people like Sandy Blaire. She and her group of friends did their best to ignore the existence of people like him and Darien. All the while he and Darien pretended that it didn’t bother them. But who didn’t want to be accepted?

Carl knew that the rebel attitude Darien had towards the more popular clique in school was really a show to hide hurt feelings. In Oregon, he and his family ruled the roost. Darien wasn’t used to not being popular. But he quickly found out you needed more than money to be popular in The Academy. Unfortunately, having relied so much on his family name, he hadn’t developed much of a winning personality. So he stuck near the one friend he knew he did have, Carl.

Carl knew he wasn’t fully accepted at The Academy, but it wasn’t anything new to him. Although he and Darien had been friends for a lot of their high school years, Carl was used to being picked on. He was used to being the butt of jokes. Usually, though, because he was Darien’s friend, he was widely accepted as someone you had to get used to in order to be close to Darien. Carl knew he could count on Darien to stick up for him, and Darien often times did. Although Darien picked on him a lot, Carl didn’t mind it so much from him. Darien seemed to know that Carl was more sensitive to other’s criticism and he usually stepped in if it was too harsh.

Through the first couple years of college together, Carl and Darien had stuck together. Even when Sandy Blaire and the ’in’ crowd would poke fun at them. The ’in’ crowd didn’t really go out of their way to tease Darien and Carl, but the two were easy butts of jokes among the more popular. Mostly they were just ignored, something that could be as hurtful at times.

Especially when Carl first started developing his crush on Sandy Blaire. Try as he might, he started having feelings for her. It complicated things a lot for him, and he became even more sensitive to her jests and the teasing from the ’in’ crowd. Darien just laughed at his crush on Sandy, saying that Carl was a glutton for punishment and had no taste in women. But Carl didn’t care what Darien thought; he was really falling for the girl.

Having feelings for Sandy really opened him up to a lot more teasing from the ’in’ crowd. After he began courting Sandy, things started getting tougher. He always pretended not to notice the times she would roll her eyes at him or the way she would force her smiles. He didn’t think she was a mean person, as much as he felt she didn’t have a lot of patience. Carl knew he’d have to have enough patience for the both of them in order for a relationship to flourish, so he continued to ignore the little rude things she would do, and instead focused on any smile or kind word she’d give him. But no matter how patient Carl was, eventually she would turn him down and his pride would get the better of him. He’d run from her, cursing her to himself and swearing his crush on her was over. But it didn’t take long before he started smiling when she entered the room.

Darien would tease him about his crush on Sandy and call her his girlfriend when she’d be in sight, but he was quick with a glare or a few words when her friends giggled and laughed at Carl. Carl always appreciated that and kind of felt like Darien was as close as a brother to him.

When Darien and Sandy started to date, he felt the worst betrayal he had ever encountered. Even tougher than his father abandoning him, Darien had betrayed him ultimately in two ways.

First of all, his best friend had just asked out the one woman Carl was interested in. There was no chance that Darien didn’t know Carl was interested because Darien often teased Carl about the crush and sometimes comforted him when Sandy would hurt his feelings. Darien, knowing that Carl liked her, asked her out anyway. When Carl asked how Darien could do that to him, Darien merely told Carl to grow up.

But, trying to look on the bright side, Carl realized that now that Darien was dating Sandy Blaire, he was a shoe-in for the ’in’ crowd. Sure enough, Darien started to change to suit the ’in’ crowd. His clothes got less dark. He started mixing color in with his all-black attire. Darien started fixing his hair a little more the style. He didn’t do a complete change, but he did incorporate some of the more in-style things into his own style. He started hanging out less with Carl, but Carl didn’t mind. He knew that as soon as Darien got good with the ’in’ crowd, he would pave the way for Carl to be popular too.

When Darien started teasing Carl more often, and more in the presence of his new girl-friend and his new friends, Carl started to get the picture and the second betrayal hit him. Suddenly, knowing all of the buttons to push, Darien raised the stakes on the jokes. Suddenly jokes about his illiteracy and his slightly autistic mannerisms became hot commodities. Carl may have been able to forgive him easier if he was just going along with jokes other people were saying, but when Darien was the first to start making Carl the butt of the joke and the person who laughed the hardest at it, Carl’s pride was wounded.

In private, Darien would apologize to Carl. Being roommates in the beginning of the school year helped to keep Carl and Darien together. While they were alone, Darien was just like he used to be. That calmed Carl a little. But as time went on, and he spent more and more time with Sandy and her pals and less time with Carl, the fleeting moments of friendship were wearing thin.

Soon after Darien took to teasing Carl so much, Carl decided to continue pursuing Sandy. At first he had decided not to because of Darien, but since Darien wasn’t being nice, Carl didn’t intend to make it easy for Darien. Although Darien didn’t see him as much of a threat, he did see Carl as a nuisance.

Carl started by asking her out, like he did when she was with Gabe. She would remind him that she was seeing Darien, and usually Carl’s feelings would get hurt. Soon after that started, Darien asked Carl not to ask Sandy out anymore. Carl’s solution to that was to start proposing to Sandy. Sandy didn’t like to be rude, but she didn’t know how to make Carl stop asking her out. Sometimes when he would give her a pitiful, teary-eyed look, she almost said yes. But she knew that would cause more problems than telling him no, so she did. She was reluctant to hurt him. Teasing him once in a while for the silly things he did was one thing. It was just playing around. But she didn’t really mean to hurt his feelings.

Soon after Carl started asking her out, Carl was informed by Darien that he was no longer welcome to any of the sorority or fraternity parties. Even the open invitation ones, he was told. Darien told Carl it wasn’t personal, but Carl knew that was a lie, because he was the one being personally excluded. He knew he wasn’t wanted there, so he never intended on going back.

Not long after, Darien moved out of the apartment they shared and moved in with Sandy. He left Carl with the full rent payment, something he couldn’t afford. Carl worked part time at Hot Lips Pizza, the local hang out, but he could barely afford his share of the rent. Fear of homelessness started to panic him. Anger at Darien also started to pique within him. Darien knew that homelessness was his worst fear, but without warning he just moved out of the apartment. Carl didn’t know what to do, but eventually he was able to find a few guys who wanted to room with him.

It was only a two bedroom apartment, but the two guys that moved in were friends and didn’t mind putting twin beds in the same room together. The rent was very cheap when split three ways, and they felt it was worth it. Anthony and Marvin were friends of Carl’s. he had met them in his remedial reading class. They were a couple of outcasts who had been natives to Florida. They had problems reading like Carl did and they were picked on by other kids as well. Carl felt like he could relate to them better than his best friend, Darien. Since their parents were wealthy, paying the bills was no longer a problem.

Try as he might, Carl was not satisfied by Anthony and Marvin alone. He missed the closeness he and Darien shared. So he called Darien up and invited him to have pizza with him. To his joy, Darien said yes.

That night they shared a night that was so reminiscent of the old times, Carl thought that things were going to be better from then on. He even saw the silver lining about Darien moving in with Sandy. Now when Carl went to visit Darien, he could spend more time with Sandy too.

At first the arrangement worked great for Carl. Everyday in between classes or after work, Carl would come to see Darien. Sandy would be polite because Carl was Darien’s friend. She didn’t want to cause problems between herself and Darien as well as between two people who have been good friends for so long. Darien on the other hand, became quite agitated with Carl.

Lately Darien had been limiting the nights when Carl could come over. He was now down to three nights a week when it was ok for him to come over. But Carl missed Darien. Most of all, Carl wanted to know what it was that Darien did that made Sandy want to date him. So, he started following them on their dates. He thought that maybe if he could watch how Darien did it, he could get Sandy to like him by doing similar things with her.

For the most part, Sandy ignored that Carl was there, but it always got to Darien. Darien felt like Carl had interfered enough with his relationship with Sandy. His silly pranks and following them around was getting him nowhere, and Darien was tired of never being able to be alone on a date with Sandy. He knew he was going to have to have a talk with Carl after the movies.

When the movie was over, Darien and Sandy made their way through the darkened theater. Pulling her hurriedly through the crowds, he led her to his car.

“What’s the hurry?” Sandy asked, realizing she was being pulled.

“I want to out run Carl,” he said as he hurriedly shut her door behind her and got into his own car. He looked up as he started it and saw Carl coming out of the theater. Carl spotted the two and hurried toward his rusty truck. Darien put his black corvette into gear and screeched out of the parking lot.

He smiled over at Sandy. “Alone at last.”

She giggled a little bit. “Poor Carl.”

“Poor Carl?” Darien asked in shock. “Sandy, maybe I need to get my hearing checked but did you just say, poor Carl?”

“Yes, poor Carl. Don’t you feel a little bad for the guy? I mean, he must feel like he’s losing his friend or something. Why else would he follow us around all the time?”

“Uh, you? Correct me if I am wrong, darlin’, but he does seem to obsess over you a bit, don’t you think?” Darien looked pointedly at Sandy.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Well? Doesn’t it bother you?”

Sandy smiled. “Oh yes, it bothers me a lot to have guys want to date me and people want to spend time with me.” Sandy looked at Darien as if he was crazy.

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you, my sweet.”

Sandy giggled. “Actually, I get asked out a lot. I’m used to it.”

“What do you mean you get asked out a lot?” Darien’s eyebrows raised and his mouth tightened into a grim line.

“Oh, don’t get all jealous. Isn’t it nice to know your girlfriend is pretty enough to get asked out by other guys?” She smiled up at Darien.

He smiled and glanced in the rear view, suddenly losing his smile.

“What is it?” Sandy turned, expecting to see a cop or something, when she saw Carl’s truck. “Persistent, isn’t he?”

Darien smiled a little and started to slow down. The truck behind him slowed, keeping pace.

“He’ll pass us soon. If there is one thing I know about Carl, he hates driving slow.”

But after a few moments, Carl hadn’t passed them, so Darien slowed down more. So did Carl. Finally fed up, Darien pulled over and parked the car. Carl did the same.

“What are we doing?”

“Well, I’m wondering if Carl is dumb enough to think that I don’t know his truck is behind my car.” Darien picked up his cell phone. He had gotten Carl a cell phone for Christmas that year and knew that Carl kept that in his truck. He dialed the number and looked at Sandy, waiting for Carl to pick up.

Carl jumped when his phone rang. He didn’t know why Sandy and Darien were pulled over to the side of the road. He was starting to think it was engine trouble, but then when they didn’t get out of the car, he became confused as to what they were doing. Carl reached for his phone.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Carl,” he heard Darien say. Darien watched through the rear view mirror to see Carl’s reaction.

“Hey, Darien. What’s up?” Carl tried to hide his nervousness.

“Just calling to see what you’re doing.”

“Uh…I’m….watching television.”

“Really?” Darien turned around in his seat to look back at Carl. Carl noticed and ducked down quickly. “What are you watching?”

Carl’s mind went blank. He was so busy trying to hide from Darien he didn’t remember the excuse he had just used.

“Watching?” he asked in confusion.

“Yes, watching. On television.” Darien got out of the car, he didn’t shut the door, only let it rest cracked open. He walked to the truck where Carl hid.

“Oh, yeah. The Love Boat.” Carl smiled at his quick thinking. Suddenly he heard knocking on his window. He looked over and saw Darien knocking on his door. Carl’s eyes widened and unsure what to do he started singing the theme to The Love Boat into the phone, as if Darien would still believe his story.

Darien shook his head and snorted in amazement at Carl’s stupidity.

“Roll down the window, moron.”

Carl frowned. “I’m not a moron. If you’re not going to be any nicer than that I’m not going to talk to you.” He hung up the phone and crossed his arms.

Darien sighed in frustration, knocking on the car door again.

Carl kept looking ahead, angry at the harsh tone and word his friend had used.

“Fine,” Darien called through the window. “Stop following Sandy and I, Carl, I mean it.” Angry for real now, Darien stormed over to the car and got in.

“You ok?” Sandy asked.

“No.” He heard Carl try to start up his truck behind him. The truck kept refusing to turn over.

“Good riddance,” Darien said as he started up his own car, pushing on the accelerator to add insult to injury. He put his car into gear and was about to take off when Sandy’s hand fell over Darien’s.

“You’re just going to leave him?”

“Yes, yes I am. I’m sick and tired of him coming over all the time, following us around all the time, and I am sick of him asking you out. If he can’t be any better of a friend than that, he can rot on the side of the road for all I care.”

Again Darien started to go and Sandy called out for him to stop. Carl’s truck had still not turned over, although Carl was still trying.

“Let’s give him a ride home, Darien. We might as well. I don’t want to get all the way home before he calls you on his cell phone and you have to come back. Let’s just take him home.”

“Absolutely not, Sandy.” Darien took his foot of the brake and the car started to roll. Sandy rolled her eyes and undid her seat belt, opening the car door, making Darien come to a stop again. “What the hell are you doing?”

Sandy’s eyebrows rose at his tone. “I’m offering him a ride home. It’s the least we can do.” Sandy got out of the car and closed the door. Darien just sat there in amazement.

“No, the least we can do is drive off,” he muttered to himself.

Carl tried desperately to start his truck. He knew he wasn’t making much of a grand exit with his stalled vehicle, but he wanted to leave before Darien did. He wanted to be the one to peel out, the one to show he didn’t care. He raced against time.

When he heard knocking on his door, he thought for a moment it was Darien again, and he let his anger rise. It was squashed though, when instead he saw the lovely face of Sandy looking in at him. He rolled down his window for her.

“Hi Sandy.” He smiled to her.

She smiled back. She actually thought that Carl was a handsome guy. His hair wasn’t cut in style and his clothes looked hand-me-down, but in the right clothes, with the right hair, he could be someone girls craved. Course, the moment he opened his mouth, his appeal would lessen by at least a third.

“Hey Carl.”

“You want a ride?” He asked Sandy, a big hopeful smile on his face.

Sandy tried to keep a straight face.

“Actually, I noticed your truck wasn’t starting, so I came to offer you the same thing.”

“You want to give me a ride?” Carl asked.

“Sure, I do,” she said with a smile.

Carl looked around. “Where’s your car?”

Sandy looked at him as if she didn’t understand what he said. She looked over at Darien’s car and then back to Carl. He had to know she came in Darien’s car, she thought to herself.

“I meant, Darien and I will give you a ride.”

“Oh no, he called me a moron.”

Sandy rolled her eyes a little.

“He’s sorry, Carl. Come on.” She opened his truck door. Carl tried to start his truck again, with no luck.

“He doesn’t want me to.”

“Yes, he does. He sent me out here to ask you.” Sandy started to brush her hands over her arms. Even in her jacket, the weather was cold to her as she stood out there. She didn’t want to leave Carl in the chilly night, alone.

“Why didn’t he come himself?”

Sandy looked back to the car. “Hold on, Carl.” She trudged to the car and knocked on Darien’s window. The window came down, revealing a very displeased Darien.

“He wants you to ask him.”

“Well I want him to leave me alone. Doesn’t look like either of us is going to get what we want. Come on, lets go,” Darien said curtly.

“Darien, I’m not going to leave him out here. It’s kind of chilly tonight.”

“Sandy, just forget about him, will you?”

Sandy looked down, pouting. “I’ll make it worth your while.” She looked up at him through her lashes, a look she knew that always got Darien.

He groaned in protest, but he quickly opened the door of the car and trudged towards Carl’s truck. Carl was still trying to start it.

“Carl. Come on.” Darien held open the door of the truck.

“What?” Carl seemed genuinely confused.

“I’ll give you a ride, come on.”

“Why?”

“Why?” Darien looked at Carl, using up his last bit of patience. He wanted to tell Carl that the reason why was because he wanted to get home to sleep with Sandy, but he knew that would only incite Carl to stay. “Because, you’re my friend and it’s cold. Come on.”

“What about Sandy?”

“What about her?” Darien said, confused.

“Is it ok with her?”

“Were you not here when she came and asked you?” Darien snapped. Carl flinched a little and Darien tried to cool down. “I’m sorry Carl. Please, lets just go, ok?”

Finally Carl nodded, locking up his truck, he followed Darien to his car and got in. On the ride back, Carl struck up a conversation with Sandy about the movie.

“So what did you think of when Roger turned out to be Alec?”

Sandy smiled a little and turn in her seat to look at Carl. “I thought it was a little predictable. I mean, please. Every time Alec struck, Roger was no where to be found. And the blacking out…it was kind of obvious.”

Carl nodded his head. He didn’t think it was so obvious. As a matter of fact it had surprised him when the discovery was made, but he didn’t want to look stupid to Sandy so he just nodded. Besides, he wasn’t totally watching the movie while he was there, some of that time was spent watching Sandy.

“Yeah, you’re right, totally obvious.”

Sandy smiled at him. He was almost fun to talk to once in a while, she realized. Darien rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath.

“What was that, Darien?”

“Nothing.” He looked at Carl through the rear view mirror. Carl looked happy to be so near Sandy. Darien smiled a little. “So, Carl. At what point in the movie did it become so obvious to you that Alec was Roger?”

“What?”

“Well, I’m thinking, if it was so obvious to you, what tipped you off.” Darien’s eyebrow raised in challenge.

“Uh, well…it wasn’t actually….it was…I mean…the blackouts. Like Sandy said, it was obvious.”

“Uh huh. Now name something that tipped you off that Sandy didn’t already tell you.”

“Darien, stop,” Sandy said, frowning. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Me? I don’t believe this.”

Carl looked down. Despite his effort not to look stupid in front of Sandy, Darien had managed to make him look stupid anyway.

The rest of the car ride was a silent one.

When the car came to a stop behind the apartments, they all piled out. Carl shoved his hands in his pockets and feigned a smile to Darien.

“Thanks for the ride, Darien. You’re a real pal. So you wanna take me to pick up my truck tomorrow?”

Darien looked over at Carl and then to Sandy. He nodded.

“Thanks, Darien.” Carl smiled and said goodnight, running up the stairs to his apartment.

Marvin was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels, a laptop on his lap.

“Hey Carl, how was your date?”

“Pretty good. The movie was pretty decent and I got to talk to Sandy.” He smiled.

Marvin shook his head a little. “Carl, you are going make yourself a target to that girl the more you open up to her. Listen to me, man. Popular people are all the same. If you’re invisible then you can maybe get through school with little teasing. The moment you make yourself known to them, they pounce on you. You’re lucky you aren’t more of a target, what with you chasing Sandy Blaire all over the place.”

“That’s not true. Sandy and I talked today. I think she’s beginning to like me. She even smiled at me and offered me a ride home when my truck broke.” Carl took off his jacket and sat down on the couch.

“Carl, look, she doesn’t like you. If she did like you, she’d be going out on dates with you, rather than your so-called friend. Girls like Sandy do whatever they want. If she wanted to date you, she would be.”

“You’re wrong about her. She isn’t going to tease me anymore. I’m sure of it. We’re friends now. And don’t talk bad about Darien. Sure sometimes he’s not very nice. He called me a moron today.” Carl frowned a little. “He made me look stupid in front of Sandy, too. But he’s going to take me to get my truck tomorrow. So that’s a good thing.” Carl said, brightening up a bit.

Marvin rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak when there was a forceful knock on the door. Carl got up to answer it.

When he opened to door to Darien, Carl smiled. “Hey, Darien. We were just talking about you.” He offered for Darien to come in, but he didn’t. His face was dark with barely contained anger.

“Carl, I have something to tell you and I want you to listen good. Sandy and I talked it over and we both decided it would be best if you didn’t come over to our apartment anymore.”

Carl frowned a little. “You mean on Fridays? I’m already not allowed to go to your place on Fridays Darien. Besides, there’s no way I could be in trouble. I didn’t even go to your apartment today.”

“Carl, listen. I mean ever. Don’t come over to the apartment. You’re not welcome.”

Carl stood there in shock. He swallowed the lump that crawled into his throat and he tried to keep the tears from welling in his eyes. He wanted to say something, but every time he opened his mouth, he couldn’t say anything. Darien just watched him.

“Understand? You’re not welcome.”

Carl blinked the tears out of his eyes; they spilled down his cheeks as he frantically tried to wipe them out of existence.

“Fine! I don’t want you to take me to my truck tomorrow either! I’ll find my own way!” He turned and ran to his room, crying. Darien looked over at Marvin a second before turning and leaving. He realized he probably just broke Carl’s heart, but at this point, he didn’t care. He went back to Sandy, who was oblivious to what Darien had just done, and finished his night with his girlfriend, in peace.



To Be Continued...