Station 429

the night of broken ties

the night of broken ties

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The group was feeling oddly disbanded, and this was the first time they had felt any sort of fragmentation among each other. They had thrived on the feeling of togetherness and being dependent on each other, but with that gone, what did they have left?

Those who put the pieces together were the ones tearing it all apart. The leaders suddenly fell behind the followers. The selfless became the selfish. Everything was changing and shifting underneath their feet, which left them stumbling and scrambling for something to balance them.

They were all just sitting in the train at the next meeting, staring at their feet and looking anywhere but each other. Colleen hated it, but didn't know what to do about it.

"Where's Nathan?" she asked as she walked in, not fully realizing the situation she was entering.

"He picked up a few more classes at the community college," Kendall said, "and he's backed up on homework tonight."

Colleen made an 'o' shape with her mouth and sat down next to her. As soon as she felt the silence settle in, she scanned the room. Foster, Dustin, and Misty were across from her, an open seat in between each of them. The rest of them—Kendall, Mia, Owen, and herself—were sitting closely together. The room seemed to be split, which didn't help the situation.

She hated every moment of silence that she experienced. She knew it wasn't supposed to be this way, and the fact that it was all over petty disagreements only made her more frustrated. But she had said all she could the last time they met; if she had said anything else, it would have been overkill.

Colleen wished more than anything that Nathan was there. He was always good at getting conversation going within the group. Even though small conversations popped up, mostly between the four who were not in the midst of life changing situations, they usually ended up fizzling out eventually. Colleen felt so lost and pretty much helpless.

When there was a lapse, Dustin, who hadn't said a word all night, cleared his throat. Everyone turned to look at him and waited. He scanned the room quickly before looking down at his clasped hands that held no football that night. Then he said, "I'm going home."

From across the room, Mia quietly gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Most everyone's mouths were open as they gaped at the boy. No one knew what to say—they were so in shock yet so excited for him.

"I'm going home," Dustin repeated, looking up.

"Oh, my God," Mia breathed out. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she stood up and crossed the room to where Dustin was sitting. She hugged him, then sat down and placed her head on his shoulder, her arm laced around his.

"Dustin,that's amazing," Colleen told him.

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head.

"Are you nervous?" Kendall asked.

"Definitely."

Everyone laughed—even Mia, who had to wipe her cheek.

The questions began bubbling out of everyone, and soon, things felt somewhat normal. They started standing up one by one so they could get closer to each other, and the ties were forming again, even though they were technically getting thinner and thinner. But they were still connected, and the kids were laughing again.

Misty was even making an effort to congratulate Dustin, standing up to give him a hug and a smile, but it apparently had no effect on Foster at all. Eventually, he stood up and walked out, trying to go unnoticed. He should have known better than to wish to be unseen, though, because once seen by Colleen, you can never be invisible again.

She stood in the doorway to the train, watching him make his way to the entrance. As she watched him go, she leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms, wondering if she should call his name.

"Are you gonna go after him?"

Colleen looked over her shoulder, seeing Owen walking up behind her. "No," she said as she faced forward again.

Owen stuffed his hands in his pockets as he planted himself beside her. "No?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?" she asked, looking at him.

He shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems like that's what you two do."

"Run around in circles? Yeah, we do."

"I was thinking more along the lines of pulling each other back to center. But if that's how you want to look at it, that's okay, I guess."

Colleen sighed and looked at Foster again, who was half way up the rock pile. "Sometimes, you just get dizzy from spinning around so much."

"True. You can't always fix people," Owen agreed.

"But how do you know when to quit trying?"

"I hate to be the one to say it," he said, looking at her, "but if you have to ask that question, then you're not at the point of quitting yet."

She knew he was right. She usually isn't one to get upset when someone else is right, but she hated it this time. "Damn it, Owen," she said under her breath.

He chuckled a little. "Don't give up on him yet, but let him come back to you this time."

"But what if he doesn't? Come back, I mean."

"He will, Colleen."

"How do you know?"

"Because he's just being Foster."

Colleen didn't respond. She was still worried, despite Owen's best efforts. She was treading on fine lines with Foster at this point, and she only had her self to blame, but she still didn't want to lose him.

"You must have said something to him," Owen was saying now, "because it usually doesn't take this long."

"So I broke him," she said, rolling her eyes. "That's typical."

"Again, that's only one way of looking at it. The way I see it, you're fixing him."

"Broken people can't fix broken people."

"I think you're defying that logic." Colleen looked at him. "Look, whatever you said got through to him in a way that doesn't happen very often. Just let him play around with it for a while. He usually makes it out okay."

Colleen let out a breath. "I don't know."

"This is good for him. Promise."

Colleen gave in, was tired of doing this to herself. She shifted to her left and bumped Owen's shoulder with her own. He lifted it and placed it around her shoulder as she drew close to him. "I'm holding you to that."

"Good."

He smiled down at her, and she found herself smiling back. A warm feeling spread through her body, starting at the heart and moving outward. A familiar feeling to her ever since she started coming to the station; a feeling of safety. One that never failed.

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song is torn [covered] by cassaddee pope. (sorry for the cheesy lyric video, it's the only one i could find that was decent quality.)

dustin has such a special place in my heart he's such a cutie.

speaking of dustin would you guys be interested in a spin off of this story but about him?? because i've been thinking about that tbh. it wouldn't be started for a while but idk i like to hear you're opinions!

there's only five more chapters left which is crazy i never thought i'd make it past writing three chapters.

anyway hope you liked this! leave me a vote if you did and comment to give me feedback! ily guys you're all rad.

-abby xx