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About 8 PM or so, Colin's home phone rings.

"Hi Mrs. Crow, it's Donnie. Is Colin available?"

"Hello, Donnie. I heard the shower running, let me check."

She takes off her glasses, and goes knocking at Colin's room door. The hairdryer goes off and a rather wet Colin in his yellow bathrobe appears at the door. Alex gives him the phone with a smile.

"It's Donnie. Don't stay too long."

"Ok, Mom." he closes the door behind her.

"Hi Donnie. Is it all right?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to talk a bit, you know, guy stuff? I didn't feel comfortable talking about it in front of Sarah is all. You have some time?"

Colin takes a look at the window. The moon is not up yet. He has plenty of time before meeting with Sammy.

"Sure. What is that?" he says sitting on his bed.

OOC: actually Chapter 29-1-1 is taken. This should be 29-1-2. :)

"OK, this is going to sound wierd, but when I am with Sylvia, the only thing that matters is her. I don't think about dragons, or witches, or magic. It's like my entire world is focused in on her and me, what we do with each other. The world begins and ends with her. When I leave her after a date, or make-out moments beneath the trees, I feel dazed and hollow, as if I was addicited to her and just been denied a hit, you know? Is this normal?"

"Wow... I mean... wow."

Colin takes a moment to think of it. (A little part of his mind also takes not of the make-out moments beneath the trees: those sound nice.)

"Donnie, how am I to tell you if this is normal or not? Normality is overrated anyway. What you have sounds better. Now take a deep breath and tell me how you feel about this all. Are you happy with her?"

"Totally. I feel euphoric with her, and practically float home afterwards. My parents think I am on drugs sometimes the way i act. Some days I can't get any work done because I'm thinking of her. The days I train with Jack that I am distracted he totally makes me pay for it.

I don't want to compare our uh, love lives, but do you get this way about Sarah?"

I don't want to compare our uh, love lives, but do you get this way about Sarah?"[/color][/quote]

"I was thinking about it before. About what you told about her. For me... it's somewhat different. Maybe we had little time to be together, at least as I would like to be with her. But to me... Sarah is the safe port in the storm. It's the contrary actually: when I'm with her, or when I think of her, then I can really focus. She makes me feel happy, confident, brave, special... worthy. She makes me better. I hope I could be the same for her.

How do you think you make her feel?"

"I don't know. She acts so differently in public. Tough, cynical, analytic. When she and I are alone, she melts a little. Sometimes I feel she is holding back from me, but she can be sooo distracting when she wants to. I often forget to press her on things after she, uh, finds ways to distract me.

She hides. Alot. Even from her own family. She has different faces she puts on: one for family, one for the Usual Suspects, one for me, one in class. It must be difficult to juggle all those different 'fronts' but she doesn't really want to talk about it sometimes.

Do you know anyone named Dylan?"

"That's the feeling I had too. That sometimes she puts on masks to protect herself from the world. Don't let her hold things from you. When she thinks too much about something on her own... well, make her feel like she can trust you with everything. That she won't lose you because she spoke her mind. I think it will help her."


"Dylan? Uhmm, no I don't think so."

"Hmph.

She called me that once, while I was.. distracting her, and she never realized it. Heck I didn't realize it until a few moments later. I just let it pass so not to ruin the mood.

Since neither you or I have heard of this Dylan person, perhaps it was a slip of the tongue.

I hope."

"Oh. When you say distract you mean... I didn't get it the first time. It looks like you two... do a lot of this... distracting."

Colin is a little torn between embarrassment, curiosity and pure envy.

"Donnie, you know you're terribly jealous, do you? She's all over you, you probably mishear her one time, and soon you get all suspicious, as if she couldn't be trusted around other boys. And what you said of Kel today. Maybe you should apologize to him, too, by the way."

"Are you kidding me Colin? Of course I am paranoid. I am an ubergeek who like dragons and plays computer games dating one of the hottest freshman girl cheerleaders! As far as Kel goes, why should I apologize? I didn't say anything that was untrue. He practically drooled every time Megan walked by.

I know Kel and Sylvia have known each other a long time. I am dating her. They share looks between them, like some unspoken code or body language. Something I am not a part of. How can I not be worried or suspicious?"

Colin slightly frowns.

"Donnie, you can keep telling yourself this thing about the geek and the computer games as if you were hunchbacked or something like that, I don't know how hard it may have been for you, but that's not what you are. You're not fooling me, and you're not fooling Sylvia, that probably likes you like she does because you are what you are, rather than in spite of that. What did she do the first time you showed her your dragons drawings, and Pip was just in your imagination? Did she go 'OMG a geek! I'm out of it, it would ruin my cheerleader curriculum just being here!'? I don't think so. Do you listen to yourself? Why do you have to speak this way about yourself?

About Kel, there are a lot of true things that people don't tell each other, because it's not their place to say them, or because it would be just rude. Think about it.

Then, doesn't it makes you wonder that they have known each other a long time, they live just next door, they share this unspoken code and yet she chose you to distract herself with? Do you know Kel well enough to know what it's all about? Or even better, did you ask Sylvia what it's all about? She would tell you. I'm sure of that."

Donnie is silent for a moment.

"Dammit. I hate having glaring errors in my logic pointed out to me. I haven't relly tried to talk to her about these things. She just brushes the subjects off as if they were inconsequencial. Maybe that's why I have worked them up to be more than they really might be.

Dammit dammit dammit. Maybe I do need to apologize to Kel. I hate being wrong."

"I know. But it's not that I can really fault you for thinking this way. Ehm... did she tell you what we were fighting about that night at Greg's?"

Colin thinks about that night too. He was worried about his friend as he is now. There's something... a bit weird on how he behaved lately. He can't quite put his finger on it. Maybe he is simply too tired.

"Donnie... is the rest all right? At school, at home? How are your parents?"

"No, she never mentioned it. That was the night of our first kiss.. As far as the home life, Mom seems to take the dragons more in stride than my father. He has been 'working' the last two Thursdays, when we usually have chinese and watch bad miovies. It's mom's Bridge Club night. So I have been out with Uther and Pip. It gives me some satisfaction to come home after curfew to find Dad at the kitchen table, reading the paper. I am usually sweaty and dirty, but he seems to not know what to say to me anymore, except goodnight.

Mom is still her harpish self, but she has recently installed a No Dragons At The Table rule, which I found pretty funny. Probably because the food cost bills have jumped up since Pip has been around. The little buggr has a bottomless pit for a stomach.

The grad student at Miskatonic U has been harping me to apply for a scholarship there, based on some of the spellcrafting i have done. I keep putting him off, but he's starting to get either suspicious of me or hurt that I wouldn't want to go there and major with him. He thinks I am an undergrad at a local community college. I dunno what he'd say if he knew I was a highschool freshman. I have been slacking there, since much of my freetime is spent with Sylvia."

"I... I'm not proud of that evening. I assumed lots of things, and what i said... was despicable. I was concerned for you, because you were so into her, and she was sending mixed signals... well I was wrong. I don't think anything changed since that evening. But Donnie, take care. Take time to relax. Maybe not always with her. Don't... burn yourselves out too quickly. Give it time too."

"Yeah, well, doesn't look like the signals are rossed anymore."  Colin hears the smile on Donnie's face. "Maybe I'll avoid going out after the game on Saturday, like we originally planned. Alright, I'll let you go, man. Se you tomorrow at Lunch."

"Goodnight, Donnie. See you."

Colin puts down the phone. That he nearly bit his head off, is all forgotten. There's only a boy, slightly worried for his friend. And sneezing.

"OK, let's dry this hair before I catch a pneumonia."