Life Can Be Beautiful

You Matter To Me

November 8, 1997

Veronica's POV

"So here's some news I've been hearing about. The band Edge Of Great is rumored to be making a comeback. I think it's great that they're coming back. Their music was pretty good. I know I called them a one hit wonder a few months ago, but I really do enjoy their music." One of the radio hosts says. "Yeah. I'm looking forward to hearing new music from them." The second host responds. "Look at that! They took back what they said." Alyssa smiles, sitting in the passenger seat of my car. "Yeah. I'm glad." I say, focusing on driving. "So how's songwriting going?" She asks, turning down the radio. "Good. We've been writing new songs. We have one called 'Don't Go' and 'Lavender Haze.'" I'm proud of the new songs. They're the first songs I wrote with JD that didn't cause a fight.

Alyssa and I sit down at our favorite diner and eat together. Alyssa had woken up and decided she didn't feel like cooking breakfast and I didn't want to either so we decided to go there. "Hey ladies. How are we this morning?" Our waitress Cathy smiles at us. We almost always get seated in her section so she knows us well. She always looks at me whenever one of my songs comes on the radio. "We're doing good. What about you?" Alyssa taps her fingers on the table. "It's going okay." She sighs. She takes our order and brings the food out when it's done. We pretty much eat in silence. Alyssa is probably thinking about school. She has homework to grade when we get home.

We finish eating and are about to walk out when a woman I recognize walks in. I realize it's Aaron's mother. Her image from the news is burned into my brain. I'm sure the same is true for her about me. "Excuse me." I try to get past her. "Murderer." She hisses as I pass. "Excuse me?" Alyssa scoffs. "I called her what she is. A murderer. She murdered my son." Mrs Bridges says to her. "Your son tried to kill her. She defended herself. Your son is the real monster here." Alyssa tells her. "And who are you to tell me that?" Mrs Bridges puts her hand on her hip. "Her partner. Now move." Alyssa pushes me out of the diner. "Come on, let's go." She grabs my hand a little aggressively and walks me towards the car.

I drop Alyssa off at home and I go to Owen and Will's. JD and Sam are on the couch, talking. "Hey guys." I sit down on the other side of JD. "Hey. What's wrong? You look upset." He turns to me. "Yeah. I had a run in with Aaron's mom." I sigh. "Again?" Owen enters the room. "Again? This has happened before?" JD looks at Owen. "Yeah. It happens a lot. This is just the first time Alyssa was with me." I never told Alyssa about these encounters. I don't want her to be concerned for me. "Why does she keep doing that? She was told by the police what happened." JD says. "She just doesn't want to believe that her precious son was an abusive and dangerous man." I shrug.

"I remember how much I hated that guy. When we were broken up that time at the beginning of college." JD says. "Yeah. I can't believe I ever dated him. But he was there and I wanted to make you jealous." I lean back. "Wait that's why you dated him?" JD whips his head around to look at me. "Yeah. I thought you knew that." I could have sworn I told him that. "No. I mean I thought it, but I didn't know for sure. That makes a lot of sense." JD messes with his hair.

We talk for a while before I decide to head back to my apartment. "Hey do you mind if I come along? I haven't really seen her since that first time we saw each other when I had come over." JD puts his hand in his pocket. "Sure. You want to stay over. We can drink and stay up." I suggest. "Sure." He says. We go over to my place. Alyssa is sitting on the couch, already drinking a glass of wine. "Hey JD! What're you doing here?" She stands up. "Veronica suggested that I stay here tonight and we could drink together." JD tells her. "Oh okay. Veronica can show you where the glasses are and where our stash is." She says. "She's joking. There's no stash." There kind of is. We have a cabinet with some liquor and a bottle of red and white wine. And some beers. Alyssa hates the taste of beer but I'll drink it with Owen when he's over. I don't love beer but I can tolerate the taste of it. "It's a stash." Alyssa smirks. "Whatever. Come on." I bring JD into the kitchen. We pull out the red wine and get glasses.

"So I heard about the incident this morning." JD says. "Yeah. I can't even believe the audacity of that woman." Alyssa shakes her head and takes a sip of her wine. "She needs to stop doing that. I'm glad you were with her this time." JD sighs. Shit. "This time? There's been other times?" She looks at me. "Yeah. I just didn't want to worry you." I touch the rim of the glass with my finger and just move it around the top of it, not wanting to look up. "But you should have told me. She shouldn't be doing this. She knows what her son did to you. She can't keep doing that." Alyssa says. "I know. But what can I do? I can't stop her." I tell her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." JD apologizes. "It's okay. You didn't know." Alyssa looks down.

November 10, 1997

Alyssa and I haven't talked since she found out about Mrs Bridges. She's not angry at me, she's just upset I didn't tell her. She's been busy so we've just avoided each other. JD kept apologizing but there's no way he could have known that I didn't tell her. Owen told me to just give her a little time to sort her feelings out. He said she'll be over it soon. We've had plenty of fights before and it's not like this one is any different.

Alyssa gets home from work and goes into the kitchen. I follow her and lean against the counter. "Yes?" Alyssa says, not even looking at me. "Nothing. Just wanted to be near you." I shrug. "Oh." She continues what she's doing. "Listen. I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. I just didn't think it was a big deal." I say. "You and I both know that's not true." She finally looks at me. "You tell me everything, regardless of whether or not you think it's a 'big deal.' You only don't tell me things if you think it'll hurt me or you're hiding it." She crosses her arms. "Fine. You're right. I just... I knew you'd worry about me and I don't want you to worry about me." I step forward. "But I'm always going to worry about you. That's kind of my job as your partner." She puts her arms around my neck. "I know. I'm sorry." I lean my forehead against hers. "I love you." She whispers. "I love you too." I step back. "You matter to me, and I don't want you to ever think that I don't." I tell her. We kiss and go to the couch to watch TV