Let's Positive Thinking

[Super Llama†]

((Maria Graham and Duncan McMahon continued from Master Exploder))

"Zach!" Maria grinned and pounced on Zach as he opened the door, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. "I haven't seen you all week!"

"Whoa! Hey!" Zach exclaimed, stumbling a bit as Maria latches onto him.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" She said, letting go after a moment, a hint of concern in her voice. Underneath the enthusiasm, Maria was rather nervous. Zach had acted uncharacteristically withdrawn for the last two weeks after the concert was over. She'd been unable to get a hold of him most of the time, and when she did he made it clear that he wanted to be left alone for the time being. When she finally got the phone call that he had something important to tell her, it was easy to assume that whatever it was wouldn't be good.

"Well, come on in." Zach replied, shutting the door behind them and heading into the living room, setting down on the couch while Maria followed after her. The normally-upbeat girl was starting to show unease as she sat down next to Zach. She REALLY didn't want to be here, listening to what was certainly bad news.

"Uh, s-so...what is it?" Maria stammered a bit, shifting uncomfortably as she waited for Zach to speak up again. Zach took a deep breath.

"Well, at the concert, you remember that guy that came backstage after the show?"

"Oh, yeah. You went off with him and did...something, right?"

"Well, it turns out he was with a record label. It's a minor label that only really exists around here, but it's still a step up. Anyway, he liked our performance, and he said once everyone gets out of high school we could probably try for a record deal with them."

Maria's eyes lit up as Zach mentioned a record deal. "Zach, that's great! That's what you always wanted!" She let out a sigh of relief. So that's what this was about. And here she was thinking it was something ba-

"Well, actually there's a problem with that." Zach continued. "You see, there WAS a problem he had with the band, and he said it could even be a deal-breaker if we try and go for a record deal."

"Huh?" Maria said in surprise. "Er...what problem is that?"

"You."

The revelation stunned Maria. It took her a moment to register it, and that moment allowed Zach to continue uninterrupted. "Well, you see, he said you were a little too wild, and it got intrusive at times." That WAS true. She didn't have very much restraint when she was on the drums. Thinking about it, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty that it was causing trouble now. But, no biggie, right? All she had to do was just rein it in a little bit. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

"Ah...uh...okay. I mean, I just have to hold back some, and then it shouldn't be a problem. Then we can get our record deal."

"Actually..." Zach sighed, pausing a moment before speaking up again. "I think it's time you left the band."

The statement hit Maria like a megaton punch. She wondered if she had heard it right. Surely she was just hearing things. That's it. It wasn't that. She should just ask what he said, and actually listen better this time, and he'll say something better than that.

"...what?"

"And, well, it'd probably be best if we break up, too. It would be pretty awkward if we kept seeing each other after this."

And there was the two in the one-two punch.

No.

No no no no no no.

No.

This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Not only was she getting kicked out of the band, the band she helped create, but Zach was breaking up with her, too? And all because some guy said he didn't like the way she sounded? The normally energetic and active girl stood perfectly still, but underneath that was anything but still as the initial feeling of bewilderment was starting to give way to a whirlwind of emotions. Mostly anger.

"Look, this wasn't easy for me. I had to think about it for a whole two weeks before I came to this decision."

Oh, really? A whole two weeks? And that was supposed to make her feel any better about it!? He said some other things to cover his own ass, but she didn't hear any of it. But finally, she managed to catch Zach saying something else that managed to catch her by surprise.

"...so I think we shouldn't say anything about this to the others. We could just say you left on your own. Otherwise, the guys would probably fight this."

...WHAT!? After all this, he wanted her to keep quiet about it to save his own reputation, too!? That was it. She couldn't just sit there and do nothing. She had to do something, anything. Scream, cry, hit him, tell him how much of a bastard he was, then go out and tell Winston and Warren anyway. Tell them how his girlfriend and fellow bandmate turned out to be expendable fodder to be tossed aside when it suited him. He just stripped away two of the most important things in her life. Come on! Do something!

She smiled.

"O-okay." Maria said shakily. "I mean, i-it's what you always wanted." She was horrified by what came out of her mouth. What was she doing? She had all these horrible things she wanted to say, but they just wouldn't come out. She spent all this time burying her anger deep inside, putting on a friendly face for everyone, always trying to avoid conflict. And now, when all she wanted was conflict, the friendly face held it back.

"I'm glad you understand." Zach said. "I was afraid things would get ugly."

THEY SHOULD BE GETTING UGLY! SHE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO MAKE THINGS UGLY! JUST DO IT ALREADY! QUIT BEING SO GOODY-GOODY, GOD-DAMMIT!

"I...I guess I should p-probably go." Maria choked out, getting up carefully and heading towards the door. She felt like there was a neutron star was the very core of her being; all the negative feelings she wanted to let out, instead buried inside her and so heavy it felt like it would crush her. She fumbled with the door knob to the front door for a moment before she got a hold on it and opened the door.

"...good bye."

"Good bye, Maria." Zach said, leaving Maria to walk out the door a defeated girl, not just by him, but by herself as well.

Zach leaned back against the sofa as Maria left, letting out another deep sigh, telling himself that he did the right thing. Maria was a good girl. It might take a while, but she'd bounce back. She was just that kind of person.

He was silent for a few minutes before reaching for the remote and turning on the TV.

----------

Maria opened the door. "Hey, Duncan!" She said, smiling as she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him inside.

"Whoa! H-hey, Maria." Duncan said, stumbling a bit as he came inside. By all rights, he should be at home finishing up his homework and getting ready for finals, instead of here spending a Sunday afternoon hanging out with Maria. But Maria had been very insistent when she called to ask if he could hang out. There was something odd about the call that made him think something was up, so he decided to lie about finishing his homework and come over anyway. Hopefully this wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass later. She seemed as cheerful as ever, though, so maybe he didn't actually have anything to worry about.

"I got Hellboy on DVD! You haven't seen Hellboy yet, right?"

"Er...actually I have." He said, having seen it when it was still in theaters. "I wouldn't mind watching it again, though." He looked around, noticing that he hadn't seen Maria's mother yet. "Is your mom home?"

"No, she's off on another one of her business trips. She's been going on a lot of them lately." Maria said, heading into the kitchen and pulling out a bag of popcorn to stick in the microwave, while Duncan headed towards the living room, spying the DVD case on a coffee table in front of the sofa. "Hey, you remember that Orville Redenbacher commercial? Where they tried to bring back Orville Redenbacher, but it just looked really creepy?" She said as the sound of the microwave running could be heard.

"Oh, yeah." Duncan said. "So...uh, did you talk to Zach again?" He noticed that he was met with more silence, save for the popping of the popcorn. "Uh...Maria?"

"Oh, uh...yeah, I did." Maria said, and left it at that.

"Uh...so, have you figured out when the next concert thing is? I'd be happy to go, but hopefully it won't be as rowdy as the las-" He was interrupted by a loud and plasticky thud on the kitchen floor, which caught Duncan by surprise. Heading into the kitchen, he caught Maria bending down to pick up a large bowl.

"Uh...whoops." Maria said, laughing a bit, though the laughter sounded pretty forced. "I...I-I don't know when the next concert is." As Maria went to grab the popcorn out of the microwave, Duncan noticed her hands shaking. "Well, popcorn's ready."

"Maria, is something wrong?" Duncan stepped forward with a concerned look on his face. Though she was still smiling and attempting to act cheerful, she was clearly distressed about something.

"N-no, nothing's wrong." Maria replied, dumping the popcorn into the bowl and moving quickly towards the living room. Duncan could've easily just left it at that, but he felt compelled to press the issue.

"Maria, is there really nothing wrong?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Maria..."

"Let's just watch the movie, okay?"

"Maria, I don't believe you. Something's wrong."

"Duncan, everything's okay."

"No, it isn't. Is it about Zach? You started acting like this when I brought up Za-"

"THERE'S NOTHING WRONG!"

Duncan was taken by surprise as Maria snapped at him, and apparently so was Maria. The two of them stood for about a moment of awkward silence before Maria sat down, setting the popcorn on the coffee table. "There's nothing wrong...okay?"

Everything told Duncan to just drop it, but he couldn't bring himself to. "Yes there is." He continued, sitting down next to Maria. "I wish you'd just tell me."

"There's nothing wrong! Why can't you just drop it?" She said, more pleadingly than before as she started to rock back and forth slowly. "Please...just drop it."

"Maria..."

"God dammit..." Finally, tears started to fall down Maria's cheeks, and suddenly Duncan didn't know what to do. Before he could start regretting pushing the issue so hard, Maria broke out sobbing, and she suddenly started leaning against him.

"Maria...he's not...hitting you, is he?"

"No...no, that's not it..." Maria started to talk about what had happened at Zach's house yesterday, and as Duncan listened he was shocked and appalled by what he had done. What an asshole! How could he have done something like that?

"But...that wasn't the worst part." Maria continued. "I had all these things I wanted to say to him, all these things I wanted to do, but...but I didn't say or do any of it. I just smiled and walked out, and let him walk all over me without a single protest. What the hell is wrong with me?"

Duncan wasn't sure what to say, or if he should even say anything. He just sat and listened, watching as Maria broke down and bared her soul to him. It was just then that he realized that he had never seen this side of her before. As long as he remembered, he'd always seen the Maria that was never troubled by anything. That no matter what happened, was always there with a smile. It wasn't that he thought that she was never bothered by anything. That's just stupid. It was that he never expected that she was holding it all in like this. To be honest, it depressed the hell out him, made him feel more than a little guilty realizing that she could've been silently suffering like this for far longer than he knew, and he was just too stupid and inattentive to pick up on it. Maria was the oldest, the best friend she ever had, and after all the things she tried to do for him he had only barely even begun to pay her back.

Friend...

Maria still felt miserable, but still greatly relieved as she had finally started getting the ordeal with Zach off her chest. She doubted she could ever let it all out like she had with anybody else. Not even with her mom or Zach when they were still together. She couldn't help but feel that of all the people she knew, she could tell Duncan anything if she brought herself to. Maybe that was why she was so insistent on him coming over. Out of all the people she'd met, Duncan was always the one she'd considered her closest friend.

Friend...

The two of them looked at each other, saying nothing. After a few moments, something clicked.

And they kissed.

Neither of hem knew how long it took, but once it broke, Duncan's head was swimming, and he couldn't seem to form a coherent thought. As Maria moved in for a second kiss, though, it became apparently to him that this was wrong. She had just been dumped, and doing something like this so quickly, it would just end in disaster.

"W-wait, no." Duncan said, pulling back, and Maria looked back over at Duncan in confusion before she finally came to her senses, settling for resting her head on his shoulder.

"I...I'm sorry."

"Er...let's just...watch the movie." Duncan reached carefully for the remote. Fortunately, the DVD was already inside the player, so he didn't have to get up at all. He felt too drained to pay attention to the movie as it played, though. Soon, his mind wandered off to other things, an inner voice beginning to scold him for chickening out like that (which he quickly squashed best he could.) The 120 minutes went by a lot faster than he expected, and the two of them spent a while longer just watching the DVD menu loop.

"...I have to go. It's a school night, and mom will probably start calling if I stay too much later." He regretted having to go and leave Maria by herself, but he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.

"Okay." Maria hesitated for a moment before sitting up straight, letting Duncan get up. He walked slowly towards the door and opened it, standing there for a bit.

"...see you tomorrow." Duncan said, and walked out the door.

Maria sat there for a while longer. She considered getting up and going to bed, but finally just fell over onto the sofa, falling asleep within minutes, the looping music from the DVD menu the only sound in the house.

{{continued in Let the Dance Begin!}}