Just as I Begin to Fade

Twenty Six. The Movies

"So, your dad lets you stay here alone?" Donna asked as she went for a second slice of pizza.

"Well, not really, but he isn't here and I do have keys," she shrugged, reaching for her glass of iced, Diet Coke.

"My parents would kill me," she chuckled. "But I guess this is pretty cool if it's just you."

"For sure..." she nodded. "I don't spend too much time here, but I like it here. It's a great house. My dad said that it'll be mine if anything happens to him..."

"That's cool... Well, it's not cool but it is," she laughed.

"I get it," she agreed with a small chuckle. "It's just nice and quiet."

"It really is."

"Besides that," she decided to drift from such topics.

"Yes?"

"Party. So, like I said, if you hate it, I will not force you to come," she smirked.

"Well, as I have been thinking about it, I'm gonna have to lie to my parents and tell them I am spending the night at your house. They'd flip the heck out if they knew I was going to a party."

"Okay. They can meet me and I will tell them we'll be at my dad's---he's out of town, but my stepmom is here. Mindy isn't really my stepmom, but close enough," she shrugged.

"What about your mom?"

"I'm not really talking to her right now, but I can always ask Karen."

"Who's Karen?"

"My mom's assistant and second mother slash aunt to me. She took care of me when my mom was working and she took care of my mom so she's family. Derek's not coming over that night and she won't mind if it's just the two of us alone. My mom wouldn't either but I just don't trust her right now."

Donna nodded gently. "You seem really sad, Gwen, are you sure things are okay? You can tell me, I have nobody to tell."

"It's just that sometimes, things are tough," she shrugged. "I know I have a handful of people, but I just don't have anybody to talk to. Nobody understands anything and it feels like when I tell them anything, they dust it off as; everybody has the same problem when that's not true. Nobody has Stevie Nicks as their mother. It's simply different and Lindsey understands that."

"Wait!"

"Donna, yes, I said Stevie Nicks. Don't even bother with fan-girling right now," she slammed her hand into her forehead.

"That's crazy! You never told me that."

"Nobody's supposed to know. Lindsey only knows by default because she blabbed on accident."

"I'm sorry to do this to you, but are the rumors true? Is she a witch?"

Gwen smirked.

"That was dumb, but I have to know."

"No, it's fine. No, she is more of an empath than anything, but she is not a witch. Both of us are, I just tune people out so I am not depressed all the time."

"And..." Donna paused. "The drugs?" she said softly.

"Yes, she is on drugs, but she's also trying to get clean. That's why things have been so difficult for us. She also has other various issues and I don't know how else to help her. Lindsey was helping us, but she snapped at him too... So, I don't know what's going to happen right now, but I hope she apologizes to him."

"I'm sorry. That must be tough. Is that why you're here?"

"Pretty much. She is a walking tornado and I just don't have anything to hold onto anymore. She called a little bit ago, she wants to hang out tomorrow night. Which I don't mind, I just told her I'll be coming here after. I don't want to spend the night at home and I told her we needed the week to figure ourselves out. We're just having relationship issues," she put it simply.