The Breakfast Club

[B e t h y <3]

Oh the drama! xDD

After about an hour and a half, Morgan finally turned off the music. She listened to Asher's voicemail as she changed. She ran a hand through her hair, pulling it up. She threw the phone on the ground. He was so sweet and perfect and called just to make sure he hadn't done anything to upset her. And she kept feeling like she wasn't good enough for someone as phenomonal as he was. Once she was dressed, she got into the car. As much as she wanted to go over to Asher's and tell him that he didn't need to be sorry, she also had other things that had to be done- picking up Cody and making dinner.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

I know, right? xDD

Asher and Sam just sat and talked for a while. Firstly about him and Morgan, but soon moving onto other things, as well. About his day otherwise, about hers, and other things going on and such. Sam eventually took the phone from him and shoved it down the side of the couch nearest to her. "She'll call you sometime, and you'll hear it. Think about something else, okay? If she doesn't forgive you, she's a fool."

"You're supposed to say that, you're my sister," Asher replied with a chuckle.

"Of course I am, but sometimes it doesn't make it any less true. I have no idea if you're a good boyfriend or not.. But somehow, I think you can be to her."

Asher smiled gratefully and leaned back against the couch with a heavy sigh. It bothered him that he still had no idea whether to call again, whether to go over and apologise, or whether he should just shut up until she talked to him again. He was restless, but the solution wasn't easy to find. He hated that. He hated that he didn't know how to be right for Morgan, that he didn't know what to do and when all the time. He wondered if eventually she'd grow tired of his naivety.

 

[B e t h y <3]

Morgan drove to Cody's school and picked him up. She took him back over to the new apartment, and was greeted by her drunk father. Her lip trembled a little, but she stood in front of Cody. "Where's Kyle?" she asked, her voice quivering a bit.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Despite Sam's keeping him company, Asher was still restless. He didn't know for certain, but sometimes - and this was one of those times- he could just feel something in the air that he didn't like, and that caused him to think that something else was adding to his inability to keep still, as well as the fact that he still had no idea what he'd said earlier.

"Are you sure that's all this is about?" Sam asked him, making him jump as he came out of his thoughts.

"I don't know. Something's wrong. Something else."

 

[B e t h y <3]

"Not here. Did you really think that you could leave me, you f`cking whore?!" Jack's voice was getting louder and louder. Cody looked like he was about to cry. "Why shouldn't I? It's not like you love me." Morgan said. She seemed calm on the outside, but on the inside, she was terrified. It was about to happen again. Jack grabbed Morgan and threw her onto the couch. He forced himself on her. Morgan tried to scream, but Jack shoved a sock into her mouth.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

"Listen, Sam, I just.. I can't sit around anymore. I know she would have called by now, at least to tell me she was upset and she'd had it already." Asher got up and fished his car keys from his pocket. Now, if he could jut remember where Morgan had mentioned where the new apartment was. The address itself had only been brought up in passing, but, with Asher being Asher, he remembered it well enough. He took a while to find it, and even then, the number escaped him. He looked at the number on each door, to see if it triggered anything in his memory. Then he was outside one door. The number made sense, and he could hear a faint noise from inside it. He knocked and called out, "Morgan?"

 

[B e t h y <3]

Cody answered the door. When he saw Asher, he tugged on his sleeve, and pointed over at the couch. Jack had already left by the time Asher had gotten there, and Morgan was laying on the couch with a black eye, and clothes everywhere. "NOOOO!" she screamed, thinking Jack was back. She sat up. Once she saw it was Asher, she grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around her, and cried.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Asher hadn't expected quite what had really happened when he got there. The first thing he really heard was the sound of Morgan screaming from in the living room. He stood frozen for a minute when he saw her for the first time, and took in the atmosphere in its entirety. Her clothes on the floor.. And then Morgan, looking bruised, a face wet with tears. "Oh, God," he breathed, putting a hand over his mouth. He rushed to her side, but he didn't want to touch her until she let him. "What happened?"

 

[B e t h y <3]

"H-he...showed up." Morgan said between sobs. "I-is C-c-cody okay?" Leave it to Morgan to ask about Cody before anything else. She looked at the clothes on the floor. The nightmare kept running through her head. She couldn't bring herself to look up at Asher.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Asher registered this, trying to work out who 'he' was. He thought about it, and then he knew; Riley wouldn't ever go this low, even he thought so. "Jack did this to you?" he whispered. Not again; he just couldn't bring himself to even imagine what it was like, for her own father to do this to her - even once was horrifying enough. He nodded at her question and had to smile despite everything at the fact that she was asking after Cody. "Yes, Cody's okay, he let me in. It's you we're worried about.." While she didn't look at him, he couldn't not look at her, and there was such sadness in his eyes. "Oh, Morgan.." he murmured helplessly. "Can I.. Do you need something? Can I get anything for you?" He knew he was asking all the wrong questions, but he also knew he couldn't think of any other way to handle it.

 

[B e t h y <3]

Morgan shook her head and stood up. She wrapped the blanket around herself like a towel. "I do this all the time. I'm fine." she murmured to Asher. To Cody, she said, "Hey Codster? Why don't you go get an apple for a snack. Sissy's going to order pizza for dinner and Kyle's going to watch you while I go to work, okay?" Once Cody left the room, Morgan walked over to her bag and picked up her phone. She dialed Kyle's number and asked him to come home as soon as possible. Once she hung up, she asked Asher, "Could you go check on Cody? I need to put my clothes back on."

 

[KERFUFFLE]

"Going to work? Are you being serious?" Asher said to her after she'd hung up the phone after talking to Kyle. "I just.. I really don't think you should." Of course, he didn't say it straight to her face, but she was a mess. He didn't care how often it happened, he didn't want her to go when she was like this. "If you need the money, I understand, but then let me give you what you'd earn so you can jut stay here and get some rest. I'll even make you guys dinner since you haven't already ordered anything." He didn't know how much effect what he said would have on her, but he wanted to try; he was worried about her.

 

[B e t h y <3]

"Asher. I can handle myself. I'm going to work. We're ordering pizza. You're welcome to stay. But I'm fine. Seriously. A few tears get shed, and I'm okay." Morgan said, through her teeth. She gathered up her clothes and walked into her room. She was becoming her hard self again. The walls were coming. Once she was dressed, she came back out and made herself an ice pack. She sat down in the living room and put the ice on her bruised eye, closing her other eye and taking a couple of deep breaths.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

"Alright. Fine. I'll check on Cody like you asked, and since you obviously don't need me or my help, I'll just go," Asher said. He paused for a moment, watching her as she tried pulling herself together. "Look, I was just trying to be helpful and care for you, you know, like I thought a boyfriend should. And I'm sorry for whatever it was that I said earlier that hurt you, but if it hurt you that much, I wish you'd told me. Then I wouldn't have come and you wouldn't have had to put up with me being here and seeing you like this." As much as he hated talking to her like that, he just didn't understand how he could make things better, and he wanted her to know that's how he felt. He went and found Cody, and then crouched down to his level to talk to him. "Okay, your Dad's gone, and it's all going to be okay. Morgan wants to go to work, and your brother will be home soon and you'll get some dinner. I'll see you soon, and look out for your sister for me, okay? She means a whole lot to me, even though she probably has no idea just how much, and I'm worried about her." He smiled slightly at Cody before getting up to leave.

 

[B e t h y <3]

Morgan's so effed up. Haha.

"Don't go." Morgan whispered, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. "I wasn't hurt. The L-word scares me. A lot. To me, 'love' is connected to heartbreak. And I don't want to lose you. Which makes me so scared to say anything like it. And I know I'm moody, and confusing, and probably don't treat you the way I should, but I'm trying. I've never depended on anyone before- and that fact that you want me to depend on you terrifies me. I really am trying, Asher. But you have to understand. I have only believed two people when they say they love me. And that's Cody and Kyle." She took a deep breath and continued. "If you really don't want me to, I won't go to work. I'll stay here, and you can cook if that's what you really want." Morgan leaned against the door frame. "Please... don't walk out on me."

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Haha, yeah, just a li'l bit. But he finds that endearing about her, in a way.

Asher had just been about to leave, his hand ready to push the door handle down when Morgan's voice came from behind him. He turned and moved away from the door. He said to her, "It's not that I don't understand why you're afraid to love someone. I fully understand that. Just now is an example of exactly why you have good reason to trust and love almost noone- the people who should love you hurt you all the time. And I told you that if you never loved me, I was okay with that, and I always will be because I know why you're afraid of it." By this point he was standing much closer to her, his frustration fizzled out, and the only thing he felt now was a deep empathy for her. "And you don't have to depend on me, Morgan. That's not what I want - heck, I think you'd be crazy if you did, I don't even know how to be dependable. What I want is for you to be your own person, but that you can feel like I'm here if you need me; even if it's three o' clock in the morning and you need me, I'll be there. So, in light of that, if you want or need me to stay, I will. If you want me to fix you all some dinner, I will- but only if you want me to. I mean, if you really want, go to work; I'm just worried about you, that's all." He smiled at her then, and sad, "As for walking out on you, I'd be a fool and an idiot if I did that; I'd be back again before you could say... cheese, or something like that," he chuckled.

 

[B e t h y <3]

Cheese? Oh my gosh, he's so precious. &lt;3

Morgan smiled and said, "We're both a work in progress. We both have things we're not proud of, and we'll help each other work through everything. We trust each other, and that's the first step- for our relationship and outside of it." She gazed into his grey eyes for a moment before continuing. "I really don't need to go to work. I'll call in sick or something. But I'm going to go to the doctor instead. If that `ss-hole hurt my potential child, all h`ll's gonna break loose. You can either come with us, or go home. It's up to you. And right now I'm really craving Hawiian pizza, so I think that's what we'll have for dinner. But I would love for you to stay." Morgan kissed him on the cheek. "I would have chased after you before the door even closed behind you, you know." she whispered in his ear.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Haha, it's partly due to my failure to think of something witty to go there, so I thought I'd make it just plain silly xD

Asher allowed himself to lean against the opposite side of the doorframe while she talked, knowing that everything she was saying was completely true. "You and I are both damaged souls, but we understand each other because of it. And I know you can help me - well, you already have, a lot - and I hope I can help you a little bit, at least, too." He smiled at her as he listened to her newly forged plan of action for the evening, thinking it all sounded like a good idea. "I would love to stay, since you'll have me," he replied. He got a bit flustered when she whispered in his ear, his cheeks tinting a subtle pink - if there were a few things he still wasn't used to, it was her complimenting him, and her giving him close, affectionate gestures like that-, and for a moment he had to take the time to compose himself again, clearing his throat. He leaned in a little bit and murmured, "And I'd have let you catch me and drag me back in an instant." He honestly couldn't think of anything he was more afraid of at that time than losing her, for whatever reason.

 

[B e t h y <3]

Morgan ran a hand through his hair and kissed him gently before backing up and going back over to her phone. First, she called in sick, giving a pretty convincing cough and stuffy nose impersination. After hanging up, she called the local pizza place. While it was ringing, she asked Asher, "What kind of pizza do you want?"

 

[KERFUFFLE]

"Hmm, oh, good question... I don't think it has a specific name so, a Margherita with ham, onions and green pepper, thanks," Asher replied, still leaning against the kitchen doorframe. He moved into the living room to call Sam, to tell her he wouldn't be home for dinner. "Yes, I'm aware that it's pasta; I am the reason for it being so," he chuckled as she asked him if he was sure. "Yes, I'll be fine. Missing dinner schedule hasn't bothered me, no. Okay, bye." He slipped his phone back into his pocket. Although Sam was being cautious, he knew that she would have been smiling on the other end of the phone at the thought that her brother, for the first time since she could remember, was suddenly not bothered by a lack of routine events, and that he was simply happy to spend time with someone else.