Family Affairs Ch 46

Passion In James County XIX: Family Affairs

Chapter forty-six

Rick knocked on Dianna's door and was relieved that she, and not her mother, answered.

Dianna looked at his puffy, red eyes. "Rick, are...are you all right?" she asked. "You look upset. What's wrong?"

"I-I don't know," Rick replied. "The whole world's going crazy."

"Come in," Dianna said.

"Are your folks home?" Rick asked.

She shook her head and said, "Mom's working a double shift and Dad's out plowing snow."

"Snow?" Rick said. He looked behind him. It was snowing. He was all wet. He never even noticed.

"Take your jacket off and sit down," Dianna said. "I'll make us some hot chocolate."

"Yeah, OK," Rick said. He slipped his jacket off and headed for the living room.

Dianna was worried. Rick looked terrible. She quickly got the hot chocolate made, then went back to the living room and sat next to Rick on the sofa.

"You want to talk about what's bugging you?" she asked.

Rick shrugged and shook his head. "I-I don't know," he said. "I'm all screwed up. My life's all screwed up. Jesus! I don't even know who I am any more."

"Rick, what's wrong?" Dianna asked.

"Aw shit..." Rick said. He got up and began to pace. "The other day, I saw my dad screwing Miss Conklin and Lisa."

"What?" Dianna exclaimed, stunned by the news. So Miss Conklin wasn't a Lesbian, she must be bi-sexual, and she was sleeping with Rick's father, and sharing other girls with him, too.

"Yeah, I did, but that isn't all of it," Rick said. "I think my best friend is screwing my Mom." He stopped pacing, pounded his fist against the wall, then he resumed.

"Your best friend...and...your Mom..." Dianna stammered. She was confused. "You think...you...you mean your mother and Matt, they're...?"

"Yeah," Rick said. "Shit, here I thought Den and me were like brothers, then I find out..."

"Rick, are...are you sure?" Dianna asked. She found it almost impossible to believe that Rick could be right. Matt seemed like such a shy, quiet boy. She couldn't quite imagine him making it with Mrs. Forrester. He didn't even try to put the make on her when they were together, and Mrs. Forrester seemed nice, too.

"I didn't see them screwing, or anything like that," Rick fumed, "but they were hugging and kissing, and they weren't just friendly hugs and kisses, they were..." He hugged himself, closed his eyes, and shook his head.

"What did you do?" Dianna asked, trying desperately to make sense out of what she was hearing.

"Jesus, what could I do?" Rick said. "I took off, and I wound up here. I don't even know how I got here, except that I ran." He flopped down on the sofa.

"What are you going to do now?" Dianna asked. She laid her hand on Rick's leg.

"I just don't know!" Rick replied. "Jesus! I thought...I thought Matt was my friend!"

"What if you're wrong about them?" Dianna suggested hopefully. "What if you're making something of nothing?"

"You had to see them," Rick said. "What they were doing was more than a friendly hug and kiss."

"Well..." Dianna said. She desperately tried to think of some explanation, some way to get Rick calmed down. "But you didn't talk to them. How can you be sure what's going on if you don't talk to them? Maybe they can explain, don't you think?"

Rick looked at her in amazement. "You're unreal, you know that?" he said.

"I..." Before Dianna could reply, the doorbell rang. She got up to answer it, and more than a little miffed. She was hoping to have had time to let Rick talk out his problems. She didn't need any interruptions, not now, not when Rick was so upset and needed to talk things out.