Angelo and Sam - way backdated log
Feb. 28th, 2004 01:36 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsAngelo was sitting in the kitchen with a sandwich, having a quick lunch before he went back to trying to catch up on all the work he'd missed. Intent on his food, he didn't even look up when the door opened.
Sam, having listened to his stomach grumble for far too long, finally gave in and beat a hasty retreat from his training out on the grounds to the warm kitchen, intent on fixing himself a huge triple-decker sandwich. The thought of it made his mouth water, but as he pushed the door open and saw Angelo there, his mouth went bone-dry. Shaking his head, he breezed past the counter to the refrigerator, trying not to let his thoughts run away with him. Seething in silence, he thought, is much better than accidentally getting blood all over the kitchen counter. Very unsanitary, not particularly nice, and a far cry from his usual impressive restraint.
Angelo, a little surprised when whoever had just come in didn't greet him, glanced up and round warily, and froze when he saw who it was. "Sam. Hey", he said nervously.
Sam leveled a glance at Angelo, taking in the bruises and scrapes and trying to figure out if he maybe felt a little sorry for him, or just extremely upset and angry. He gave a curt nod as response, and his voice was gruff, "Angelo." Sam couldn't stop thinking about the last encounter he'd had with his sister. And he couldn't stop thinking about her foolish choice, Angelo's foolish actions, and how much he thought Angelo was hurting her, though neither of the two teenagers would admit it.
"How... how are you?" Angelo asked hesitantly, aware of Sam's anger, but trying to keep up an ordinary conversation anyway.
"Was good. Ain't that great now," he spits out, taking his sandwich makings from the 'fridge and spreading everything out on the counter across from Angelo. "Ya look like you could be better yourself, huh?"
Angelo forced his face to blankness at Sam's hostility. "Yeah. Had another run-in with the guys that went after Artie an' Doug in the mall that time."
"Oh?" Sam was genuinely interested, and not just so he would have more fuel the next time he tried to convince Paige that her whole relationship was A Very Bad Idea. "What happened?"
"Went out for pizza with Marie, got jumped, she flew us out of there", Angelo answered simply, deciding not to go into what had happened in the course of their escape.
"Ah," Sam said shortly. His mind immediately flashed to the possibility that it was more than just pizza, considering what he thought he knew about Angelo. "Must'a been a real bumpy flight, then, huh."
Angelo eyed him, unsure if he was being serious. "No. Got beat up a bit before Marie could get to me - one of 'em had her pinned against the wall, I think."
Nodding, Sam continued with stacking up his sandwich in silence. As he finished, he put everything back in the 'fridge. Closing the door softly, he turned around to look at Angelo. His eyes weren't as harsh or angry as they had been...he seemed confused. "...Why do you make her go through this?"
Angelo blinked, on the verge of denying that he knew what Sam was talking about, then sighed. "I don't make her anythin', Sam. You know that."
"Yeah, you do. If you love her the way she thinks, then..." Sam shook his head, not understanding in the slightest. "Why do you let her do this? If you're gonna..." He couldn't find the words, and the frustration built. "Nevermind. I don' know what I'm sayin' anymore."
"If I'm gonna what?" Angelo asked, eyes suddenly hard and voice cold.
"Nothin'. I said never mind." Sam's voice is low and he stares intently at his sandwich rather than at Angelo.
"I'm not gonna leave her, Sam. Not gonna hurt her, either, if I can help it."
Sam's lips pressed into a hard line, and he clenched his fingers on the edge of the counter until his knuckles turned white. "IF," he raised his voice without meaning to, bringing it back to a normal volume quickly. "If you c'n help it. Ififif. Ya can't help it, Angelo. She's," he made an angry, exasperated noise in the back of his throat, and gave in. "Dang it, she don't know what she wants, and she's gonna worry herself ta death aboutcha every second of every day, and you keep gettin' in trouble and goin' off with other girls an' leavin' her hangin' there and I know she still wants that Jono and I don' know why you keep puttin' her through this whole big stinkin' mess when you could jus' let 'er go an' everythin' would be so. Much. Better. For. Her!"
Angelo shot to his feet, face suddenly white with anger. "Okay, first, d'you think I haven't thought all that myself? D'you think I haven't even tried? She may not know what she wants, but she knows it's not that, an' if you'd bother to ask her, you'd know that too. Second, goin' off with other girls? Name me one time I've ever done that!"
Eyes flashing, Sam braced himself on the counter, face reddening. "Ya jus' TOLD me you go out with Marie! And I HAVE bothered to ask 'er, but she ain't talkin' to me now and even when she does, I can't make no sense of anythin' she says!"
Angelo took a moment to process that, then dropped back onto his stool, laughing. "You think I'm seein' Marie?! Okay, first of all, Marie's with Logan. An' even if she wasn't, I wouldn't do that to Paige. Yeah - we went out. We're friends, Sam."
"Fine, you're friends. It don't change nothin', Angelo. Paige is still beatin' herself up over you, an' I can't do nothin' about it," Sam hung his head, taking a deep breath.
Angelo frowned. "An' like I said, I know that. I've been tryin' for weeks - months - to figure out how to make it better. But d'you really think me breakin' up with her now wouldn't just hurt her worse?"
"Maybe it would now, but that ain't sayin' whether she'd be better off in the long run. I dunno..." Sam folded him arms in front of himself on the counter and slid onto a bar stool, resting his forhead on his hands. "I don' know what's best for her anymore, an' I ain't too happy about it. She misinterprets everythin' I say, and I misinterpret everythin' she says, an' I jus' want it t'be like ol' times again, y'know?"
Angelo smiled sadly. "Yeah, I get you. But if old times means when you were kids... not sure it's gonna be exactly like that again. Doesn't mean you can't be on good terms, though", he added hastily.
Sam sighed, looking up. "Right. Yeah, I got it. I jus'. This whole big-brother-thing. So hard to let go, and I ain't ever gonna be real happy with it, and I dunno. I'll try, but tha's all I can do."
Angelo nodded. "I'm doin' my best here, y'know."
"I guess that'll hafta be good enough." Sam ate his sandwich slowly, thinking as he chewed.
Angelo glanced over at him, with a flash of pain in his eyes. "Why don't you like me, Sam?" he asked suddenly. "For real? I wanna know..."
He shrugged, putting the sandwich on the plate and taking longer than absolutely necessary to swallow. "I dunno. I don' like Jono, really, either. You're...like, you're replacin' me, I guess. An' that's hard. An' you ain't anythin' like me, so I can't relate. Differ'nt values an' experiences an'..." he shrugged again, and sighed. "An' I dunno. It's not that I don' like you...I just...don't like you."
Angelo nodded sadly. "I'm crazy about her. You know that? An' if I thought it was the right thing, I'd leave tomorrow. But I already tried that a time or two, an' she wouldn't let me. So I guess I'm stayin'."
Sam still wasn't happy, and he knew he probably wouldn't be for a while...but he could live with that. "Mmhmm. She's stubborn, all right."
Angelo nodded, with a sudden smile that said clearly that was one of the things he loved about her. "That she is."
A deep sigh conveyed the fact that, overall, Sam was much happier to have this whole tangled mess off his shoulders. He didn't enjoy holding grudges, and he didn't enjoy letting things get to him the way this had been. He smiled at Angelo, thinking that mostly, if he looked at it objectively, Paige was a real lucky girl. "And more'n a little self-satisfied sometimes. But she deserves it, huh?"
Angelo smiled back, glad Sam seemed happier with the situation. "Yeah, she deserves everythin' good."
"Which, I guess," Sam said definitively, "means she deserves to have me apologize. For bein' so infernally overprotective." Making sure the counter was clean, he made his way to the kitchen door. "So I reckon now'd be a good time for that. See you later?"
Angelo nodded. "For sure. See you soon."
Sam gave him a curt wave, "Bye, Angelo. Wish me luck." With that, he pushed open the door and strode out, feeling 100 pounds lighter than when he went in.
Sam, having listened to his stomach grumble for far too long, finally gave in and beat a hasty retreat from his training out on the grounds to the warm kitchen, intent on fixing himself a huge triple-decker sandwich. The thought of it made his mouth water, but as he pushed the door open and saw Angelo there, his mouth went bone-dry. Shaking his head, he breezed past the counter to the refrigerator, trying not to let his thoughts run away with him. Seething in silence, he thought, is much better than accidentally getting blood all over the kitchen counter. Very unsanitary, not particularly nice, and a far cry from his usual impressive restraint.
Angelo, a little surprised when whoever had just come in didn't greet him, glanced up and round warily, and froze when he saw who it was. "Sam. Hey", he said nervously.
Sam leveled a glance at Angelo, taking in the bruises and scrapes and trying to figure out if he maybe felt a little sorry for him, or just extremely upset and angry. He gave a curt nod as response, and his voice was gruff, "Angelo." Sam couldn't stop thinking about the last encounter he'd had with his sister. And he couldn't stop thinking about her foolish choice, Angelo's foolish actions, and how much he thought Angelo was hurting her, though neither of the two teenagers would admit it.
"How... how are you?" Angelo asked hesitantly, aware of Sam's anger, but trying to keep up an ordinary conversation anyway.
"Was good. Ain't that great now," he spits out, taking his sandwich makings from the 'fridge and spreading everything out on the counter across from Angelo. "Ya look like you could be better yourself, huh?"
Angelo forced his face to blankness at Sam's hostility. "Yeah. Had another run-in with the guys that went after Artie an' Doug in the mall that time."
"Oh?" Sam was genuinely interested, and not just so he would have more fuel the next time he tried to convince Paige that her whole relationship was A Very Bad Idea. "What happened?"
"Went out for pizza with Marie, got jumped, she flew us out of there", Angelo answered simply, deciding not to go into what had happened in the course of their escape.
"Ah," Sam said shortly. His mind immediately flashed to the possibility that it was more than just pizza, considering what he thought he knew about Angelo. "Must'a been a real bumpy flight, then, huh."
Angelo eyed him, unsure if he was being serious. "No. Got beat up a bit before Marie could get to me - one of 'em had her pinned against the wall, I think."
Nodding, Sam continued with stacking up his sandwich in silence. As he finished, he put everything back in the 'fridge. Closing the door softly, he turned around to look at Angelo. His eyes weren't as harsh or angry as they had been...he seemed confused. "...Why do you make her go through this?"
Angelo blinked, on the verge of denying that he knew what Sam was talking about, then sighed. "I don't make her anythin', Sam. You know that."
"Yeah, you do. If you love her the way she thinks, then..." Sam shook his head, not understanding in the slightest. "Why do you let her do this? If you're gonna..." He couldn't find the words, and the frustration built. "Nevermind. I don' know what I'm sayin' anymore."
"If I'm gonna what?" Angelo asked, eyes suddenly hard and voice cold.
"Nothin'. I said never mind." Sam's voice is low and he stares intently at his sandwich rather than at Angelo.
"I'm not gonna leave her, Sam. Not gonna hurt her, either, if I can help it."
Sam's lips pressed into a hard line, and he clenched his fingers on the edge of the counter until his knuckles turned white. "IF," he raised his voice without meaning to, bringing it back to a normal volume quickly. "If you c'n help it. Ififif. Ya can't help it, Angelo. She's," he made an angry, exasperated noise in the back of his throat, and gave in. "Dang it, she don't know what she wants, and she's gonna worry herself ta death aboutcha every second of every day, and you keep gettin' in trouble and goin' off with other girls an' leavin' her hangin' there and I know she still wants that Jono and I don' know why you keep puttin' her through this whole big stinkin' mess when you could jus' let 'er go an' everythin' would be so. Much. Better. For. Her!"
Angelo shot to his feet, face suddenly white with anger. "Okay, first, d'you think I haven't thought all that myself? D'you think I haven't even tried? She may not know what she wants, but she knows it's not that, an' if you'd bother to ask her, you'd know that too. Second, goin' off with other girls? Name me one time I've ever done that!"
Eyes flashing, Sam braced himself on the counter, face reddening. "Ya jus' TOLD me you go out with Marie! And I HAVE bothered to ask 'er, but she ain't talkin' to me now and even when she does, I can't make no sense of anythin' she says!"
Angelo took a moment to process that, then dropped back onto his stool, laughing. "You think I'm seein' Marie?! Okay, first of all, Marie's with Logan. An' even if she wasn't, I wouldn't do that to Paige. Yeah - we went out. We're friends, Sam."
"Fine, you're friends. It don't change nothin', Angelo. Paige is still beatin' herself up over you, an' I can't do nothin' about it," Sam hung his head, taking a deep breath.
Angelo frowned. "An' like I said, I know that. I've been tryin' for weeks - months - to figure out how to make it better. But d'you really think me breakin' up with her now wouldn't just hurt her worse?"
"Maybe it would now, but that ain't sayin' whether she'd be better off in the long run. I dunno..." Sam folded him arms in front of himself on the counter and slid onto a bar stool, resting his forhead on his hands. "I don' know what's best for her anymore, an' I ain't too happy about it. She misinterprets everythin' I say, and I misinterpret everythin' she says, an' I jus' want it t'be like ol' times again, y'know?"
Angelo smiled sadly. "Yeah, I get you. But if old times means when you were kids... not sure it's gonna be exactly like that again. Doesn't mean you can't be on good terms, though", he added hastily.
Sam sighed, looking up. "Right. Yeah, I got it. I jus'. This whole big-brother-thing. So hard to let go, and I ain't ever gonna be real happy with it, and I dunno. I'll try, but tha's all I can do."
Angelo nodded. "I'm doin' my best here, y'know."
"I guess that'll hafta be good enough." Sam ate his sandwich slowly, thinking as he chewed.
Angelo glanced over at him, with a flash of pain in his eyes. "Why don't you like me, Sam?" he asked suddenly. "For real? I wanna know..."
He shrugged, putting the sandwich on the plate and taking longer than absolutely necessary to swallow. "I dunno. I don' like Jono, really, either. You're...like, you're replacin' me, I guess. An' that's hard. An' you ain't anythin' like me, so I can't relate. Differ'nt values an' experiences an'..." he shrugged again, and sighed. "An' I dunno. It's not that I don' like you...I just...don't like you."
Angelo nodded sadly. "I'm crazy about her. You know that? An' if I thought it was the right thing, I'd leave tomorrow. But I already tried that a time or two, an' she wouldn't let me. So I guess I'm stayin'."
Sam still wasn't happy, and he knew he probably wouldn't be for a while...but he could live with that. "Mmhmm. She's stubborn, all right."
Angelo nodded, with a sudden smile that said clearly that was one of the things he loved about her. "That she is."
A deep sigh conveyed the fact that, overall, Sam was much happier to have this whole tangled mess off his shoulders. He didn't enjoy holding grudges, and he didn't enjoy letting things get to him the way this had been. He smiled at Angelo, thinking that mostly, if he looked at it objectively, Paige was a real lucky girl. "And more'n a little self-satisfied sometimes. But she deserves it, huh?"
Angelo smiled back, glad Sam seemed happier with the situation. "Yeah, she deserves everythin' good."
"Which, I guess," Sam said definitively, "means she deserves to have me apologize. For bein' so infernally overprotective." Making sure the counter was clean, he made his way to the kitchen door. "So I reckon now'd be a good time for that. See you later?"
Angelo nodded. "For sure. See you soon."
Sam gave him a curt wave, "Bye, Angelo. Wish me luck." With that, he pushed open the door and strode out, feeling 100 pounds lighter than when he went in.
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