Wonderful
By Missy


TITLE: Wonderful
PART: One of One
RATING: R
PAIRING(s): L/C in hindsight, L/L, mainly, of course. Smacks of other pairings, though.
DISTRIBUTION: To LW, Kai, Myself 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. 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: Drama
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SETTING IN TIMELINE: California Era, Post "Hair Today..." Relies partially on "Monestary Story".
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: So...that's it?
NOTES: Named after an Everclear song.

****

"I don't understand...that's it?"

"Fraid so, Laverne."

She stares blankly at the ceiling, remembering the words. All of that tango, that action, that vibrato...and it ended in this.

Nothing.

His body had lied to her, promising a thousand and one things his mind and soul could not deliver. Those lies had just spread themselves to the darkness of the room, where his cock, like the ones before it, failed in spectacular fashion.

He had also fallen asleep on top of her.

She rolled over, curling into a ball, feeling so bereft that she wanted to scream. Why did it happen for everyone but her? When would she get love, real love? The kind Shirley and Walter had.

Now she had nothing at all.

As if in sympathetic agreement, the lights promptly went out.

"Fuck!" Another sin to confess on Sunday: bless me father, for I have sinned. It's been four days since my last confession. I nailed my best friend's ex-boyfriend, but it's okay; I didn't come.

She stomped downstairs in her robe, looking for a flashlight. A pounding at the door sent chills up her spine.

Maybe it was Chuck; he had a tendency to loiter in front of the building. Odds were that it was Lenny, and if it was him it would be too much to explain.

Her instincts were, as always, well-timed.

"Whattya want, Len?"

"Uh-hey Vernie-" His stance showed his nerves and he almost leapt into her house. "You got a candle?"

"Uh-huh." She handed him a taper which she had retrieved from a kitchen drawer, all the while hoping it wasn't a banana.

He retrieved a match from his pocket, and the taper blazed to full light. In the shadows, Lenny looked like a fallen angel.

He might as well be, after what you did to him.

"So...can ya go home?"

He shook his head. "Squiggy's using the place. I wonder if they'll let ya sleep on the beach in Cal-"

"Len? Stay with me."

He nodded. She heaved a sigh, holding her football jersey tighter to her frame, wondering if he could see the dirt she felt, clinging to her skin. Carmine had been drunk, his nostrils had been red, and he had hurt her, somehow.

"Can I-"

"Huh?"

"Sleep on the couch?"

"Oh." She paused. "No, I think ya can come upstairs."

He shifted the candle to his left hand so he could bite his right palm.

"Uh-uh." She corrected, "Sorry Len."

He whined, but obediently followed her upstairs.

***

Her room was pitch dark, but she watched him in the moonlight. Silent, beautiful. Everything she needed. She could not explain just why she did not claim it.

He wanted a mother to hold him, to give him the kind of love he had never had. And she couldn't give anymore.

She had given to Fonzie. To Norman. To Ted Nelson. To Jake. To Randy. To Sonny. And to Carmine.

He was chugging his way across the Atlantic with a noseful of cocaine, having drained the last of her innocence.

Lenny deserved someone better; someone fresh and new, who had something left to give.

There was a niggling voice in the back of her head, telling her she was wrong. And he was the right one.

She shivered in fear.

***

The next morning, the power was back up. He left her with a hug, urging her to be well.

"I'm wonderful." She had lied.

Only when the door closed did she allow herself tears.














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