A Side Order of Fate

Chapter 7

A/N: Before anything, I want to mention I rewrote chapter 6. Um, it's mostly the same but she no longer sounds like a prostitute and there's an explanation for some things. I recommend reading it first. (Oh, Conrad's part is the same, Marie's is different). PS. Not really edited, sorry. :$

Conrad

Conrad woke up slumped against something hard. He felt cold and alone, the rain he saw splattering the window only augmenting to the feelings.

He remembered kissing Ella and telling her about Marie. He had cried into her soft hair and made her promise not to leave him. Like Marie did.

Conrad yawned and stretched his stiff arms. He pulled off the blanket that hadn't been there last night. Maybe Ella covered him with it. Where was Ella, anyway? He wandered into the kitchen calling her name. Stumbling on the cold floor, he rubbed his eyes. When he removed his hands he saw spots and while temporarily blinded bumped into the kitchen table. Something white and blue fell off and floated to the floor.

He bent down to pick it up. It was a note with his name written on it.

Conrad.

I'm taking Mikey to school and then I have to work an early shift at the diner. Make yourself at home, there's eggs and milk in the fridge and the frying pan is above the sink. Feel free to use the shower if you don't want to go home.

There's a key underneath the flower pot on the porch. Can you lock the house when you leave?

Thanks. Meet me for lunch?

Ella.

He smiled at the note. She must have scribbled it out in a hurry, because there was a spot of dish soap and syrup on the white paper. He ended up frying an omelet and eating it out of the pan. He couldn't find any clean plates, they were all in the dishwasher which he put soap into and started.

He ended up going home to shower because he had no clean clothes with him. Not before he looked around the house though.

The pictures that he'd seen on his first visit to Ella's house had left him slightly curious and he took a couple minutes to walk down the hall. Most of the pictures were of Ella and Mikey laughing and generally being happy. Some had an older woman. In a few pictures she was bald, but in others she had a full head of hair the same colour as Ella's.

He assumed the woman was Ella's mother. He remembered her saying something about her having cancer. She probably went through chemo, which from the sounds of it was unsuccessful. Conrad looked away, he couldn't bear to look at anymore pictures.

He had left the house with an empty heart and a slowness to his steps. His feet dragged down the front porch stairs as he walked along in the direction of his apartment.

The fact that she had lost a mother who had loved her so completely made Conrad feel guilty for having such a bad relationship with his own and not doing anything about it.

He didn't attempt to fix the rift between himself and his cold calculating mother. It had grown too big for anything he said to fix it. He didn't much care though, it seems that he had hated him when his dad walked out with a younger women. Conrad had bore the brunt of her anger as he looked just like his father.

His mother had a new husband every time Conrad turned around. Currently she was on husband number twelve, an overachieving college professor that bought his mother many gifts.

Conrad gave the guy another two months before she got bored of him. He felt a bit of pity for the guy who had no idea what he had gotten himself into. His mother was trying to replace Daniel, his absentee father, but Conrad knew she would never succeed because she would never find another guy excitedly like him.