Malibu Madness: Green vs. Green Prelude Doreen & Julian

[x-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Right after her dorky reply to Julian's post, Doreen and Julian talk about the beach, families and other things when the subject of Doreen's parents' divorce comes up after some prodding.

Julian looked up from his computer to look at Doreen who eagerly waved back at him. "Dork," he said in a friendly sort of way. "Yeah, that's where they are," he continued, his mood and tone suddenly darkening.

She giggled and grinned until his tone turned, "I'm sorry. But, uh, at least they didn't stay here and then just send us right back home?" she suggested.

"They could've done that too."

"Yeah, but then at least they would have seen me," he replied, with a slight shake of the head. "What are you doing?" Julian asked, trying to change the subject.

"I'm writing in my blog," Doreen chirped, "And being a dork," she said happily, sticking out her tongue. "I'm good at being a dork."

"Heh, yeah you are," he smiled. "Speaking of Dorkyness, you want to hit up your old comic shop this week?"

"Ohmigosh, I would totally love that!" Doreen said, perking up. The volume of the statement waking up Monkey Joe who looked around, walked to the other side of the room and fell asleep there.

"I mean... If I have, I mean if you have... I guess I mean if we have time, because with the beach and stuff we'll all be really busy," Doreen said.

"With beach stuff."

Doreen was hiding something, that much was obvious. "You mean when we're avoiding Cas and Blake, right?"

"Pffft. They can't keep us off the beach. It's not their beach. They don't own it," she said, still working on her blog post. Her tone very, very second grade.

"Yeah well, tell them that, right?" he shrugged. "Crazy seeing Cas again, I mean...damn...."

"She's not a nice person," Doreen said, shaking her head. It was as critical as she ever got of anyone, "You are totally better off without her."

"She looked good though, that's why I was attracted to her...kinda stupid, right?" Julian paused, "You know, I actually thought she'd be on board with my coming out as a mutant. Turns out, she was only dating me because I was popular." He'd never shared that.

Doreen shrugged, "Everything at our school was about looking good," she pointed out. It was why she was never popular. "It's not your fault she's mean."

"Nah, she's got some pretty nasty parents...speaking of which, are you going to be seeing your mom while you're in town...not that she's mean I mean, that she's family." He cleared his throat, Doreen's father seemed to be worse than his own and since he was in town, Julian had half a mind to track him down and throw him off the top of a very tall building.

"That's no excuse for being mean. And...uh... yeah, I'm seeing Mom tomorrow morning. For stuff...after she gets off of work. She's working the night shift now at the hospital and...stuff to do," she finished lamely.

"What's wrong, Dori?" Julian asked, bluntly. She would keep dancing around the issue until there was no where else to step.

Doreen was staring intently at the bright colors of her blog for a moment, "Mom and Dad's divorce is going through," she muttered after a moment.

Another moment of silence passed before Julian stood up and walked over to the couch Dori was lounging on. With a sigh he sat down and put an arm around her, not saying a work as he pulled her into a side hug.

Doreen was trying not to start to cry, because crying was a little kid thing. And she was far from that. Sixteen year old girls were supposed to be... well, a lot more girly than her, for one. But definitely not childish.

She couldn't stop the tears for very long though.

"It sucks so much," she managed, which she realized sounded really lame.

"Yeah," he gave her a squeeze. "I can't say I sympathize...I can't even begin to be able to understand what you're going through. But you've still got me and your other friends."

"I know," she managed, sniffling. Crying really wasn't... well, she couldn't stop it so it didn't really matter. She wiped her eyes, avoiding her bony knuckles, or clawing an eye. "It's just... really, really, sucky," she sniffed, "Mom has to sell the house and everything."

"Does she have a plan on where she should go?" Julian asked, the gears starting to turn in his head.

"We're moving in with my Grandpa, he has a hobby farm outside of the city. He's nice and I like him a lot, but it's not home, you know?" Doreen said. Home was Beverly Hills. She spent her whole life here.

"I do," he gestured around the room. "This is where I spent my summers for ten years, it's as much home as our house in Beverly, but...coming back. It's just a house." Julian lifted her chin and looked Dori in her tear filled eyes, "Home is where your family is, and since you and the others are here...right now, this is home."

Doreen wibbled.

Julian was tackle hugged.

And somehow, she couldn't stop crying.