Connor's Tale - A Jonnor story

Chapter 2 - Daria's View

Daria on the other hand was stunned.

Hearing Connor say "Yeah, so what" when Logan said that he and Jude were not only gay, but also together, instead of denying it, suddenly made everything click.

Daria had never understood the distance that Jude always seemed to put between the two of them. Daria actually liked Jude, he was smart, funny, and while no Connor, he was cute in his own way. And even though she had tried hard to include him as Connor's best friend when they did things, and never got mad at the way Connor always seemed to make sure that Jude was included on their plans, or how they always sat together at lunches, there was always this barrier between them.

Daria had even wondered if the problem was that maybe Jude had also liked her and was jealous of his friend. Especially since he was never mean or rude to her, he never said any snarky comments (unlike her best friend Taylor – "yes I heard that comment about Meerkats"), or did anything other than try and avoid her. Thinking back, every time he did snap a little or show some frustration, it was never directed towards her, it was always towards Connor. And she had learned very quickly being around them that Jude's opinion of Connor mattered to Connor a great deal.

FLASHBACK

"Daria, we need to talk."

She remembered when Connor said those words to her at the hospital when she had gone to visit him after the shooting. He could barely look at her and she suddenly felt her heart in her throat.

Seeing Connor shot two days earlier had been one of the scariest things that she had ever experienced. The blood and the yelling and the sound of the gun were awful. She and Taylor had gotten outside the door and were in the clear when the shot rang out and she heard Connor's scream.

Turning back, Taylor started yelling at her dad that it was her and to stop shooting, but Daria had frozen. The lights came on and she saw her boyfriend on the ground, bleeding, with Jude holding on to him. She couldn't seem to move and she heard Taylor calling 911 for help. Connor was gripping on to Jude's arms and hands fiercely and Jude was talking to him, but she couldn't hear what they were saying.

It took Daria two days to get up the nerve to go visit Connor after that night, especially after Taylor told her about going to the hospital with her dad to apologize to Connor and Mr. Stevens. Mr. Stevens scared Daria to be honest, he always seemed so angry about something and she had noticed that Connor had flinched more than once when his dad had said something.

Taylor had been so quiet, not at all like her typical sarcastic self. No sly comments or jokes. She had told Daria that she felt so bad since it was all her idea and it was her dad who had fired the gun. And poor Taylor's dad, he was so overwhelmed by the shooting that he could barely get out of bed. Unlike Connor's dad, Taylor's dad was pretty cool. He was so nice to her whenever she was over at Taylor's house, she knew he wasn't a mean guy.

Daria looked down at Connor who was looking at her from his hospital bed but wasn't able to look her in the eyes, but he looked so sad. "Okay," she said dreading the answer, "what did you want to talk about?""I don't think...I mean we...I just" Connor kept stopping and starting over and Daria had seen enough movies to know what was coming, but it still hurt when he finally paused, took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes and said "I'm sorry, but I don't think we should see each other anymore."

She had tried to find out why. She had asked him over and over again what had happened, but he just kept saying he was sorry, but that he wasn't right for her. When she finally left, it was with no real answers and no understanding of why her boyfriend had broken up with her.

Daria had gone to see Taylor straight from the hospital and cried with her about the whole thing. She really wanted to blame Taylor for her stupid idea to break in and steal her dad's liquor, but she knew Taylor was already feeling bad enough. But she had needed someone to cry with and Taylor was her best friend.