Like Nothing Had Happened - Part 1



Sam Green is 17; Matthew Langerak is 18; Melissa Green is 16; Kyle Centowski is 57; Cory Green is 48.

November 2025

Ok, its been so long, I almost feel the need for some kind of 'previously on' segment... or, at least, this:
Backstory for Sam (continued in part 3), Melissa, Cory (if you're new here, its a looong story :) That's just the most recent part).




Sam wasn't used to waking up slowly.  Normally, even on a Saturday like today, she'd be up at 6am sharp to swim for an hour before breakfast.



Part of her wanted to believe that it didn't matter so much on the weekend, when she could get some practice in later in the day.  Part of her just wanted to enjoy the feeling of lying next to Matthew, pretending that she already lived there in the dorm with him, just a little bit longer.


She couldn't let that part win.

As she swung her legs out of the bed, her phone caught her eye.


She'd turned off the sound, which was probably a good thing... she frowned at the display, then reached over for it.

"What's up?" Matthew asked sleepily.
"Four missed calls... all from my dad.  The last one was at 3am."
"You did you tell him you were staying the night, didn't you?"
"I told him I was coming here... "
"But did you tell him you were staying the night?"
"Not exactly..."
"Sam!"
"Well, Rose can tell him, she knows I've been staying here every weekend."

Matthew sighed.  "You probably should call him."
"But - "
"Call him." He threw her t-shirt to her.  "He'll be worried about you if you don't."

Sam sighed as she pulled the t-shirt over her head and picked up the phone.


"Hi, Dad... yeah, I know... but it got too late to drive back, and you know how dangerous that road can be, it was safer to stay the night....  yeah, sorry, I turned it off to save the battery."

As she finished the call, she realised that Matthew was staring at her.  "What?" she asked.
"You really think he's going to believe that stuff about the road, and - "
"I don't care if he does or not!"
"Sam... "


"You know if I asked permission he'd never let me stay over here.  You do want me here, don't you?"
"You know I do! I just don't want to wreck things between you and your father."
"You don't have to worry, " Sam said.  "It's not you who's doing that."  She scooped up the rest of her clothes and headed for the bathroom.
----

It was late morning when Melissa finally emerged from her bedroom.  She could hear her mother and Joshua downstairs.  Part of her had hoped they'd have already left, but at least if they were still here, then Shane would still be here too.


She loved to sneak into her brother's room when no one else was around, and just watch him sleep.  Sometimes, his eyes would flicker like he was enjoying some dream, although she couldn't really figure out what babies would actually dream about.  Even better were the times when he'd wake up, and she could pick him up out of his crib before he had the chance to start to cry.


She loved those times.  She loved Shane.

It was crazy... the whole time her mother had been pregnant, Melissa had vowed to hate the baby.  This was the baby who her mother had wanted so much, even though she'd never made a secret of the fact that Melissa would never have been born if she'd had her way.  This was the baby who would have Melissa's bedroom when she moved out... which, based on the way her mother and Joshua talked, couldn't be soon enough.  Melissa had every reason to hate this baby, and she was determined that she would.

Until she saw him.  Until he put a little finger around hers, and stopped crying just because she picked him up.


She'd happily give him her room now.  She'd give him anything he ever wanted, if she could.

She heard someone coming up the stairs.  Giving the baby a quick kiss, she carefully put him back in the crib.  She didn't want her mother or Joshua to know how she felt about Shane... she just couldn't shake the feeling that, if Joshua knew, he'd use it against her somehow.


She closed the door and went quickly back to her room.  She'd stay there until they left later this afternoon.  Her mother and Joshua were going to be away overnight, which suited her fine.  She had plans of her own for tonight.
----

"Are you sure you want to come back this soon?" Kyle asked.
Cory nodded, although if he were to be perfectly honest, he really wasn't.  What he was sure of, was that he wanted to get this conversation over with.  Ever since he'd made the decision to come back home, he'd been aware that there were some things that he might not be able to just pick up where he'd left them like nothing had happened.  His job was one of those things.


"Well, its not that I don't want you back, I just - " Kyle started.
"Look, I know you hired someone to replace me."
"It wasn't so much to replace you, I just needed someone to - "

"It's ok." Cory said. The least he could do was spare Kyle the awkwardness of having to say it himself.  "I mean, I've been gone well over the three months you gave me... this is why I asked you to come talk about this while Rose was at work.  If you're going to fire me off officially, its probably better for everyone if you don't do it with your daughter here."

"Ok, if you let me finish this time," Kyle said.  "First of all, I'm not going to fire you.  And this has nothing to do with Gavin, he's not looking for a permanant job anyway.  Granted, you're asking to come back a lot sooner than I expected, but we can work around that.  I just want to be sure that you're ok coming back this soon."


"I'm sure," Cory tried to sound like he meant it.  Hell, he wasn't about to blow this unexpected chance by asking Kyle to wait any longer.  "I mean, It's not helping anything if I just sit around here all day.  I just want things to get back to normal."  The last part was true, at least.
"It's just that... well, you look really tired, that's all."
"I... uh... yeah, I am tired." Cory said, looking away.  "I... Sam spent all night out with her boyfriend at the university, and she never called.  So, yeah, I didn't get much sleep."


"Ok, teenagers," Kyle said.  "How old is she now, sixteen?"
"Seventeen," Cory said.
"Well, you're lucky she's left it this long to start pushing the boundaries."

Cory nodded.  Luckier than Kyle realised, because he was almost glad that Sam had stayed away the night before.  He wasn't about to tell Rose's father the real reason he'd been so tired since he'd come home.

Whatever else had changed in his relationship with Rose in the previous few months, they had found that their physical desire for each other was as stronger than ever...


... as was their sense of enjoyment in satisfying it.


Maybe it was the time apart, maybe it was just the need to be as close to each other as possible right now.  Cory didn't know.


He certainly wasn't complaining.


"What?" Kyle said suddenly.
"Huh?"
"What's so funny?  You just started grinning...."
"Oh... I was just remembering something." Cory looked away awkwardly.

"Well, it must have been something really good."
"Oh yeah, it was..." he said.  "Uh, I mean.... what were you saying about Gavin not looking for a permanant job?"
Kyle frowned at the sudden change of subject, but thankfully he didn't comment.  "Gavin's got his sights set on bigger things." he said.  "A pity, really...  he has some skills we could really use for our other project..."
"Our... other project?"
"You do remember, don't you?  We were talking about it before... " he trailed off awkwardly.
"Yeah, I remember," said Cory.  "I'm just... I'm surprised you still want to involve me after - after everything."
"Of course.  I've had to put the whole idea on hold, but I'd like to get it going again... if you're still interested, that is."


"Absolutely interested," Cory said, more hopeful than ever now.  Maybe, just maybe, the damage wasn't as bad as he'd imagined.  Maybe things hadn't changed anywhere near as much as he'd thought they had.

----

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sam asked.  It was probably a dumb time to be asking, given that they were already in the city, but the full significance of what she was about to do hadn't really hit her until they stepped off the train.  "I mean, what if they realise...?"


"They won't," said Melissa.   "Trust me, I've done this before."
"Yeah, that kind of worries me, too..."
"Meaning...?"
"Meaning, you're way to young for bars and nightclubs and - "
"Hey, you asked me to get you a fake ID!"
"That's different, in a few months I'll be old enough to go into a bar legally.  You're nowhere close.  And anyway, I only wanted it to get into the college bar with Matthew.  I should never have let you drag me along here tonight."
"So why did you?"


It was a good question, Sam thought.  She hadn't even been completely comfortable with going into the college bar, never mind some nightclub in the city, regardless of how many times Melissa had done it before without consequences.

She knew that there was no point in pushing the subject with Melissa, they'd had the conversation before, more than once...


"... but what if Mum found out or something?"
"She won't."
"... but if she did?"
"So what if she did?"
"Well... she'd be angry at you."
"So?"
"So... don't you care?"
Melissa shrugged. "No.  Should I?"

Well, that was another good question.  A few months ago, the answer would have been a clear yes.  But now... now Sam wasn't so sure.  Now, she was getting so much better at not caring herself.  As nervous as she was about this whole idea, a few months ago she wouldn't have even got this far.  


But a lot had changed in a few months, and Melissa was right.  There was no reason why she shouldn't just forget everyone else and have fun tonight.

No reason at all.
----

So, this is pretty much all set-up, with nothing really happening, but that's a result of the way I rearranged my storylines to allow more gameplay.  This story (2 or 3 parts - and stuff does happen in the other part/s :)  ) is kind of the transition between the old schedule and the new one, and as such its not a smooth as I'd like it to be.  Really, I could probably do it better, but its taken so long for me to get back to this, I decided to just get it out there so I could focus on the better stories that I have planned.  

Comments

  1. Yay, an update. Wow, I feel for the girls :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was happy to see an update from you this morning!

    That looks rather promising, for Cory and Rose. Even if it's mostly physical right now, it could go a long way towards mending their relationship in other ways. They've certainly been through a lot together.

    Can't wait to find out what happens with the girls on their night out! Something not so good is my guess. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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