Angelica "Freak Two" Munson

Chapter 23

"Thanks again, Jonathan!" Angie yells as she enters her house.

She immediately rushes to the phone to call Steve's house. Her leg shakes impatiently as the dial rings.

"Hello?"

It's a woman who answers. Maybe it's his mother?

"Hi, is Steve home?" She asks as sweetly as she can.

"Um, who is this?"

Shit.

"I'm a friend from school."

"You're probably his newest skank, aren't you? Are you the one he's running around with now?"

First of all, definitely his mother. Second of all, ouch. And third of all, yes, absolutely.

"I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that, but I'm just calling about a school project." She groans internally.

"Look," She laughs dryly, "there's no way Steve is actually working on a school project. Don't call here again."

Then, she hung up.

Well, that was extremely rude, but it does give her an insight as to how awful Steve's parents actually are. It's despicable to think that someone could treat their kids that way.

She vows then and there that they'll never treat their kids that way, and she'll never let Steve believe that he's half as bad as either of them.

[?]

It's been an hour since Angie's been home, and there hasn't been a single call on the phone. She assumes that his mom wouldn't tell him that she called, but she was hoping that he might do it on his own.

It was a little past five, and Eddie picked up the earlier shift tonight so he could get some more hours in. He's worried that something might happen to Angie again, so he wants to be able to have some extra cash in case he has to take some time off to take care of her this time.

Angie figures that she might as well make something for dinner, so she slowly makes herself a pot of macaroni and cheese with hotdogs; it was the easiest, and she actually likes to eat it when she's feeling crummy.

After finishing the entire pot, she dies the dishes and tries not to sulk on the couch.

He's probably just busy.

You don't need his attention anyway. You're an independent woman.

But he said he wanted to talk later, and it is now later.

Eventually, she drifts off on the couch. It didn't take much effort considering that she was already exhausted from being back at school, and it wasn't exactly a great day either.

After dozing for another hour, there's a knock on the door.

Her first thought is that it could be Tommy and his minions, so she grabs a bat from Eddie's room before walking back up to the door.

She slowly peels it open, ready to swing, when she spots who's outside.

Angie sighs in relief, dropping the bat to bring Steve into her warm embrace.

"Hey," He places the flowers on the small table on the porch and holds her tight, "Is everything okay? Why do you have a bat?"

She pulls away slightly to chuckle at the bat laying on the carpet, "Oh, um, yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Angie slips away from his hold shyly, now embarrassed that she thought to do such a thing in the first place.

"Are you sure?" He doesn't want to push his limits, but he's troubled by the sight of her state.

She nods softly, putting the bat back against the wall.

Steve completely forgets about the flowers for a minute as he tenderly grabs her hand and pulls her back in.

"Angie?"

"Yeah?" She doesn't hold eye contact.

"Hey, look at me." He pushes her chin up to meet her gaze, "Are you sure that you're okay? I mean... you opened the door with a bat in your hand, Ange."

"Yeah..." She slowly crumbles under his gaze, "It's just that... the last time I opened the door, it was... Tommy and the other boys."

His heart breaks a little thinking about how it was his fault that he couldn't be there to protect her.

"Look, I'm never gonna let that happen again, okay? Never."

Angie nods lightly, hoping that he can actually keep that promise.

Steve clears his throat as the situation becomes awkward, "Oh, um, I brought something for you?"

He disappears back outside, puzzling Angie in the process.

"Close the door, and I'll knock again. We'll start over, make this memory a happy one."

She laughs a little at his antics, already feeling a bit better.

"Go on, hurry. It's fucking freezing out here."

Angie closes the door quickly and waits for him to knock, which takes a  minute because he pauses for dramatic effect.

When he finally does knock, she pulls the door open to see a sight that makes her tear up: Steve's standing at the door holding up a beautiful bouquet of lilies, her favorite.

"How did you even know that I liked lilies?" She sniffles quietly.

"I asked Munson– the older Munson."

"When?"

"It was when you were still in a coma... Jonathan told me not to call because you wouldn't be awake anyway, but I couldn't help myself. So, I called and he answered. I asked him if you were gonna be okay, and he gave me shit about hurting you... I promised him that I would make it up to you, and I asked him what your favorite flowers were... I didn't want to get it wrong because I could only make it right once, you know?"

Angie laughs, happy tears rolling down her cheeks, "But that was weeks ago. Why are you bringing them now?"

"Well, because you were... having a bad day, and I wanted to cheer you up." He smiles hesitantly, "Plus... I never officially asked you to be my girlfriend. I know that we agreed to be together and to, you know, hide it from everyone, but we didn't actually specify what we were, and I thought I'd be fine with not knowing, but it's slowly been killing me inside, so I couldn't not know, you know, and–

Angie giggles at his flustered state before kissing him passionately to end his rambling. He's initially caught off guard but quickly returns the kiss affectionately.

She pulls away, softly brushing her thumbs against his cheeks, "That was really sweet of you, Steve."

"I know." He smiles teasingly, "I'm just so great. You should be incredibly grateful that I'm giving the opportunity to experience these things."

"Oh really," She pecks his lips once more with a grin, "you know, I think I can accept that."

"Good, because I'm not leaving any time soon." Steve rests his hands on her hips, "I care about you too much."

"It's not like I'd let you leave anyway."

"Yeah, I guess not... so what do you say?" He shrugs.

"About what?"

"My question."

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Why not?"

She laughs wholeheartedly, "I'm joking, Steve. My answer is yes, a thousand times over."

"Oh, okay, good, because I spent a lot of gas money to get you these flowers."

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Just one more fluff chapter until we get into the good part...

I have so much drama planned.