The Illusion of Goodbye, Part 1
By Missy SERIES: The Illusion of Goodbye
PARTS: One OF Two
RATING: PG (For Character death)
DISTRIBUTION: To Squeaky, LW and FG so far; any other archives are welcome to ask, but disclaimers must be included, my email left intact. send a URL, and provide full disclaimers as well as credit me fully. Please inform me if you are going to submit my work to any sort of search engine. Â Please do not submit my work to a search engine that picks out random sets of words and uses them as key words, such as "Google"
Please contact me in order for this story to be placed on an archive, or if you want know of a friend who would enjoy my works, please email me their address and I will mail them the stories, expressly for the purpose of link trading. MiSTiers are welcomed! Please do inform me that you'd like to do the MiSTing, however, and send me a copy of the finished product. I'd also love to archive any MiSTings that are made of my work!
CATEGORY: L&L Romance (a wee bit); C&S (A Wee bit) Comfort/Tragedy
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: Laverne reveals to Shirley what exactly's so special about September Eighteenth..
NOTES: Patching in a bit of Lenny's backstory; we know that his mother left him when he was five, and there was mention of a sister with whom he lived (In Hi Neighbor). Later, he was referred to as an only child, but I'm using the Hi Neighbor version of the cannon, using the thought that he has an older sister. This endeavors to explain what happened to his father.
*****

"Shhs! I'll see you next week, Len!" Laverne whispered as she stepped carefully into her apartment and closed the door behind her. She nearly came flying out of her skin when she turned on the lights and found Shirley standing directly in front of her at the bottom of the stairs.

Laverne jumped back, clutching her chest, "Shirl! Ya scared me half to death, here!" She frowned down at the cakey stain that now marred the top left pocket of her bowling shirt, "Ya made me get cake all over my shirt! I just got this cleaned!"

"Aww, well, we'll soak it," Shirley stared down at the stain.

"What were ya doin?" Laverne replied, putting down the now-ruined slice of cake. "Yer supposed ta be out on a date with Carmine! It's yer Anniversary an' everything..."

"Have you checked the clock?" Shirley replied, "It's four AM! What in the world could you possibly have done with Lenny until four in the..." Shirley's eyes bulged out and she squealed in horror, "Oh Laverne! I always hoped that your first time would be SPECIAL..."

Laverne shook her head, shaking her best friend's grip and heading to the bedroom, "We ain't gonna get into that, Shirl; besides, Len and I weren't doin' nothin'. It just so happens that he bowled a perfect game tonight and Pop gave us a free pizza on the house."

"You can get a free pizza from your father any time," Shirley pointed out, "Honestly, Laverne, I have no idea why you would want to spend any more time than necessary with that man."

Laverne sighed deeply; "Yer gonna owe me a new bowling shirt if I don't get this in the tub," she pointed out.

"I knew it!" Shirley cried, "You DID something with that boy, didn't you?" Following Laverne's path into the bedroom, Shirley sat down on her bed and waited for her best friend to emerge. Once she did, in her bathrobe and with her toothbrush held between her teeth, Shirley blurted out, "Are you at least going to tell me how it was?"

Laverne sat down at the vanity mirror, adjusted her hair, brushed at her teeth a bit, and finally turned to her by-now hyperventilating best friend, "I told ya, Shirl, we didn't do anythin'! Lenny just didn't wanna be alone tonight, and, well, it was a pretty good idea to stay with him. He gets very emotional every year when this date comes 'round.."

"Date?" Shirley frowned, "What's so special about September Eighteenth?"

"Shirl!" Laverne reprimanded crossly, "Don't ya remember?"

"What?" Shirley asked, "It's mine and Carmine's anniversary, of course....Aww!" Shirley tilted her head, her eyes going soft, "You guys went out to buy us a present...That's not necessary at all, but..."

Laverne slammed down her brush and sprung to her feet, and Shirley shrunk from Laverne's display of anger. For all of the temperament she had just displayed, Laverne instantly deflated when Shirley winced away from her; she could practically see the hearts and flowers still waltzing around her best friend's heart; a bouquet of daises from Carmine lit up the beside table.

"Nevamind," Laverne sighed, "I'll explain. Remember what happened the night ya had yer first date with Carmine? I was home alone..."

****

1955,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Laverne frowned at the image presented by her own vanity mirror; she frowned and pinched the baby fat on her cheeks. In this, her junior year of highschool, she remained dateless and mired in an awkward period that seemed to last forever. The only boys who would talk to her were Lenny and Squiggy..especially Lenny...for whatever reason, she had no clue; he had been following around, bee-like, in the years since they'd met at eight years of age.

She stood, turning sideways; posing like Liz, Marilyn, and Natalie in the issues of Photoplay she bought with her allowance every month; women she idolized but she felt could not physically compete with in a million years.

It didn't help that Shirley, her best friend, was wrapped up in Carmine Ragusa's arms right about now. She sniggered to herself at the probable horror of Shirley's mother in the knowledge that her little girl was now dating the idealized man of their graduating class (he had supplanted Fonzie when His Coolness dropped out during their sophomore year) the class jock, to boot.

Mrs. Feeny; she should know Shirl better than she does, Laverne sighed, fully aware that her best friend was and would always remain a "Good Girl" until she said a set of vows, whether they belonged to an order religious or the Order Of Married People.

She didn't even want to imagine what Anne Marie was doing; probably having more fun than Laverne had dared to dream of. So, Gutsy sat alone in her bedroom, aware that even her FATHER was with someone of the opposite sex, having the time of their lives.

Laverne remained haunted by these thoughts as the phone rang from the living room. She picked it up and tried out her new, smooth, accent-less voice, the one she hoped would get her a date for the following Friday, "Hello? This is the DeFazio residence; the man of the house is out, but I can take a message..."

"Laverne?" She heard Lenny's tear-filled voice, "Vernie, 'zat you?"

Her voice dropped its calm, cool pretense, "Lenny?" She had known this boy for eight years, so the naturalness of knowing him seeped into her speech, "What's goin' on?"

"Can ya come 'ere? I need some help,"

Suspicion filled Laverne; cautiously, she crept to the living room window and flipped up the shade; but Hector and Squiggy weren't hiding on the fire escape, waiting to mug her.

Lenny continued, "My...my dad's real sick...I'm at the Hospital; the big one by the river..."

"St. Michaels?" She shivered; St. Michaels was the last place she'd seen her mother alive.

"Yeah...I can't reach Squig; his mother said he needs 'is rest an' she won't wake 'im up..." His voice broke, "My sister's commin', but she has to wait for 'er husband to get back...it's league bowling night, an' I ..."

"Len, yer ramblin'," Laverne was already stepping into her galoshes and putting on her rain slicker, "I'll meet ya there; where are you?"

"The fifth floor," He said, "Outside somptin' called the INU.."

"ICU?" She shivered again. Exactly where her mother had died.

"Yeah, yeah..." He coughed through his tears. Then the cool, clinical voice of the operator cut through their midst, "Young man, you'll need to deposit five cents if you wish to continue this call.."

"Neva mind, Len," She said swiftly, "I'll come stay with ya. OK?"

"OK," He managed.

Laverne hung the phone up and began to snap the buckles on her raincoat. Then realization dawned on her, "POP!" She blurted out; quickly, she ran to her room, scribbled out a brief note: (Lenny's dad sick; at St. Michaels hospital helping out, Your Muffin). Feeling incredibly grown-up, she grabbed an umbrella, shut off the hall lights and ran out into the pouring rain.

(TBC)

To Part 2