[Insert witty title here] (Viola)

[vinnie]

The courtyard was dimly lit had been decorated to match the theme of the dance and the staff had put out some extra chairs rather than just the few benches that were normally out there. There was a couple making out in one of the darker corners. Vinnie tried his best to ignore them because all it did was make him nervous; he didn't want to feel like he had to compete.

Vinnie lead viola to one of the usual stone benches and sat down. The cool air felt great after being on the hot sweat dance floor. "So. . .this is the courtyard." Vinnie said, "And yeah. . ."

[Viola Hastings]

"So it is," she agreed, having already known. Of course, Viola wasn't supposed to know that, Sebastian however was well aqcuainted with St. James. "So. . .this is nice."

[vinnie]

"Yes. . . indeed it is. . ." said Vinnie, not really sure where to go with this. He thought a more secluded area would be better, but he hadn't thought about the fact that they would be all alone and force to converse. "So, um, how is um, everything with you?" Vinnie asked. He thought that if he kept the question vague enough Viola could say whatever she wanted and perhaps a conversation would stem from that. Hopefully. If not they would just sit there in awkward silence while the couple in the corner continued to make out with no sign of stopping. Christ, how long could they go on like that? Vinnie thought, Don't they have to breath some time?

[Viola Hastings]

Viola could feel the awkward tension in the air, but still had to fight back a laugh at his question. How were things with her? Besides realizing that leading a double life was a helluva lot more complicated than she had thought it would be, her cousin and his girlfriend's relationship on the fritz right in front of her. .. and her best friend having been hospitalized only a week ago. . .oh things were pretty normal.

"Uhh well they're pretty normal," she said after a moments silence. "Thing's have finally settle down after last week. Did you hear aboot that whole ordeal at my prom?"

[vinnie]

((I'm glad you brought it up because I couldn't remember which Home Coming came first))

"Oh yeah, I heard about that-" FUCK! Thought Vinnie. Of course he'd heard about that! He'd just been a complete moron and forgotten that the guy who'd been stabbed was Viola's best friend! Stupid Stupid Stupid! He knew Desmond's cousin had been there, but when Vinnie asked him about it all Ravi said between hysterical sobs was 'Kyan! Stabbed! Toby! Kissed-' then he'd break out into a fresh wave of sobs. With all that was going on in Vinnie's life it was hard to keep track of things; he still kept a close eye on Desmond for fear of him trying something else, the bitch, Prudence, was trying to destroy GSA, and there was the constant battle of keeping boys away from her little sister Lena. How much could one guy be expected to deal with? Between Desmond trying to kill himself, Kyan getting stabbed, and Prudence it was like Gay Teenage Pittsburgh was completely going to shit.

"I'm sorry!" said Vinnie sincerely, "I completely forgot that Kyan was your best friend! How's he doing? Is he still in the hospital?"

[Viola Hastings]

"Oh he's fine now," she assured him. "They let him out of the hospital after two days, but for a while there he had us all pretty scared. Two assholes from GW stabbed him in the parking lot just after they announced homecoming king and queen."

She furrowed her brow as she remembered. It wasn't exactly her favorite prom memory. She could still feel the panic and horror that had taken over when she first saw the blood blossoming on his shirt. She shook her head to rid it of the images and put on a smile instead to hide it, this was a different prom, and she didn't want to ruin this one with left over problems.

[vinnie]

"I'm glad he's alright." said Vinnie sincerely. "Desmond was pretty pissed at Audrey for leaving Ravi there that night, but I guess it's good he was there to help." Vinnie added slowly. Even thought Viola was smiling Vinnie could tell she was still upset about it. Should he give her a hug or something? He didn't want to seem to bold or appear to be taking advantage of her vulnerability. It seemed like the right thing to do, so Vinnie slid over closer to Viola and gave her a quick, almost awkward hug. After he pulled away he sat for a second and nervously played with his hair before turning back to Viola.

"I don't mean to be over inquisitive, but why did these guys stab Kyan? I really didn't get the whole story." Vinnie felt a little guilty and rude asking this of Viola, but he was just very curious. Plus he wanted to get the true story from someone who had been there and not some bullshit gossip. Ravi was useless for the story because every time you asked him about it he would just burst into tears.

[Viola Hastings]

"Oh. . ." Viola said awkwardly. It seemed strange to casually discuss what had been so traumatizing, but she found that she didn't really mind. Vinnie knew most of the story and it was kind of nice for someone else to know everything.

"It wasn't anything Kyan said to piss them off . . .for once," she said to start. "These guys had been giving Toby Vaughn. . .he's a wrestler. . . a hard time because he came out and Kyan Toby and Ravi all got into a fight with them a couple of weeks ago. I guess this was some kind of payback. He agreed to meet up with them after they announced the winner, and I came out to help after I danced with the homecoming king. . .and they'd ganged up on him and Toby was coming to help, but the one guy pulled a knife out and went West Side Story on him."

[vinnie]

"Oh," said Vinnie, "That must be the Toby Ravi keeps talking about. See the way people were talking about here it sounded like someone just randomly came up to Kyan on the dance floor and stabbed him. The way it really happens seems a bit more realistic. Basically it was just a fight that got out of hand?" It seemed better to confirm his thought rather than admit he'd seen West Side Story. Vinnie couldn't imagine being in that sort of situation, Kyan's or one of the witnesses like Toby, Viola, or Ravi. "Have they caught the bastards that stabbed him?"

[Viola Hastings]

Viola had stood still awkwardly when Vinnie gave her a quick hug. She wasn't used to getting hugs, so she didn't' know what to do besides murmur thanks.

"Well, the cops are investigating, but we knew who both the guys were and they're not exactly the easy type to convict. . .so we're hoping they'll get taken to court and at least given some jail time or sent off to juvey."

[vinnie]

"Fucking assholes." Vinnie muttered under his breath. With the way the legal system worked the assholes would probably get off. "Well, you can asked Desmond's dad to help you!" Vinnie said, suddenly having a thought. "He's a lawyer and he usually deals with hate crimes against gays so I'm sure he'd be willing to help! I'm surprised Ravi didn't mention anything. . . I mean it's Ravi's uncle and all."

[Viola Hastings]

"Ravi seemed. .. overly distraught at the time," she said in his defense. She was still obliged to him for having his dad help Kyan so quickly. "I'll tell Kyan about it when I see him later, though."

[vinnie]

Vinnie felt a little bad offering Mr. Giuseppe's help with out asking, but he knew him well enough to know he'd want to help. "That Ravi, he's an interesting fellow." said Vinnie slowly. For as long as he'd known Ravi he'd been a very needy kid.

"Shit, first Desmond now all this shit." said Vinnie, more to himself then Viola. He couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next.

[Viola Hastings]

Viola had forgotten about Desmond in all this mayhem. It had been two weeks ago that he had attempted suicide. Toby had told Kyan who had in turn mentioned it to her.

"Oh right, I'd forgotten about that," she said sheepishly. "How's he doing? He seemed fine at the dance."

[vinnie]

((We're gonna pretend this is before Desmond and Josh broke up, cus even though it's in the same thread as Desmond's third day home, it's meant to be later, Beki and I just got lazy))

"For his first week back he's doing pretty good." said Vinnie, "In fact, he's been doing better than he was in the weeks leading up to the incident. Well, except for the whole Prudence trying to get rid of GSA thing. He's been surprisingly well." Vinnie really was shocked at the complete turn around that Desmond had made in the past week. He was sure there was a lot going on with Desmond that he didn't know about, though.