We Wear The Mask (PASH)-Chap. 2
by Chrissyn
 

We Wear The Mask--Part 2
 
 

Eve was in the kitchen, clad in a robe, at the counter, pouring waffle batter onto the irons. "I don't know, Whitney," she said, shaking her head.
"Mom, I'm not asking your permission," Whitney replied, dressed in jogging attire. "I'm telling you that I'm going to start dating Chad. He's asked me out a few times, and I've always turned him down...But I like him, and I'm gonna start seeing him."
"Whitney, we know nothing about this boy," Eve disagreed. "You know, he's searching for his family. And who knows what kind of people they may be."
"Just because we don't know anything about him doesn't mean he's a bad person," Whitney said.
"Well, I don't think you should be dating someone you don't know anything about." Eve put a few strips of bacon in a skillet.
"That's my choice to make," Whitney said, and exited the room and bumped into TC. "Morning, baby," he said to Whitney and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi, daddy," she said, glumly.
"Hey, what's wrong with one of my favorite girls?" He gently tweaked her chin. "Why your pretty face looking so sad?"
"Ask your wife." Whitney replied.
TC lifted an eyyebrow. "Well, wife, what's going on? Obviously, you two squalled about something," TC said to Eve, and gave her a peck on the cheek. "What? Whit saw a new dress she liked, and you think it's too expensive, and you refuse to give her the bucks to buy it."
She laughed mirthlessly. "I wish it was something like that." She removed the waffles from the iron, and placed them atop a stack on a plate.
"Well, what's going on?" TC asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
Eve looked him squarely in the eyes. "She wants to start dating Chad Harris. In fact, she said she was GOING to start doing it."
"And you definitely don't want that," TC said, sipping his coffee.
"Well, we're in agreement about that? Aren't we?" Eve inquired, studying her husband's expression.
"A few months ago, yeah," TC said. "I would have had your back all the way. But I've gotten to know Chad, and I think the dude's okay."
"Oh, really." Eve gasped incredulously.
"Yeah...Eve, remember, the construction site accident, Chad pushed Whitney to safety. She could have been seriously injured. And there was that confusion with Simone."
Eve nodded. "In his delirium, he told her that he loved her."
"And when he realized he made a mistake...he immediately corrected it."
"Crushing poor Simone," Eve stated emphatically.
"But Simone is young and resilient...she'll recover.
The point is Chad didn't string her along...try to take advantage of her feelings for him...A no-good jerk would have done that... Baby, the boy's worthy of some check marks." He shrugged. "I see nothing wrong with he and Whitney dating."
"Well, I have misgivings," Eve said.

Whitney was in her bedroom, debating if she should go down to the garage and ask Chad if he'd like to have lunch with her at Friendly's later that afternoon.
Her treat. She took a deep breath. What if he turedn her down.
"So! What have you got to lose," said her inner voice. "If he says no, you'll be a bit embarrassed. But you would have tried." Her inner voice was her cheerleader; always gave her advice and pep talks when she felt insecure.
"Take a deep breath," she muttered. "I can't believe I'm edgy like this about asking some guy to go out for a hamburger and fries. Geez!"
"Just think what guys must go through," said her inner voice.
"Good point," Whitney muttered, securing her unruly mane of curls with a scrunchy. She smoothed on a bit of makeup--a tad of foundation to even out her skin, and mascara to enlarge her eyes.
She really liked Chad, and she was tired of resisting her feelings.

Cilla was curled up on the sofa, dressed in the clothes she had worn the previous night. Chad emerged from the bathroom, looking chipper and ready to take on the day.
"Chad, I'm ravenous. Why don't you we go out and grab some breakfast. You can treat me. I haven't had a morsel since that mealy apple and that horrible sub on the airplane. I only eat that junk to silence the growling in my tum-tum."
"Cilla, knock it off," Chad said.
She looked bewildered. "What?" she exclaimed.
"With this trying to be buddy-buddy crap," Chad said. "You and I ain't friends."
"Well, one time, we were more than that."
"That's in the past," Chad emphasized.
"Well, I think you still have a special place in your heart for me."
"Oh, really," Chad chuckled.
"Last night, when I popped up on your door step, with just a few bucks in my purse," she said, coquettishly. "You didn't send me out in the big cold world all alone to fend for myself. You took me in...sheltered me from the elements."

He laughed, shook his head. "Cilla, you something else. I gotta hand it to you. Things were never boring with you around."
"I could enliven things for you here in Harmony."
He shook his head. "I don't need no excitement in my life. I'm kind of like things on a low volume."
"Chad, you still have feelings for me," she said bluntly. "Like I said, you didn't just toss me out last night. You gave me a place to stay...And you took the floor, and gave me the pull-out."
"I'd have done that for any woman," Chad said.
"So you're a gallant kind of dude, huh?" she asked.
He changed the subject. "I'm going to take you over to the Youth Center and introduce you to Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, he can--"
She made a face. "Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald? What the hell kind of name is that? Sounds like a Latin singing sensation."
He shrugged. "His dad, Martin Fitzgerald was Irish and his mom's Pilar Lopez, is Hispanic."
"Oh, so the name's hyphenated?" she stated, understanding.
Chad nodded. "And Luis can help you find a place to stay. Maybe even help you get a job. He's good people. He helped me get on my feet when I arrived in Harmony."
She looked around the drab garage. "Doesn't look like you're standing straight."
"Don't knock it, sugar cube. Last night, it kept your hindparts off a park bench," Chad said, defending his pied-a-terre. "And I'm grateful to the Russells for giving me a helping hand."
She shrugged, and said, "Well, let me get my hair brush. I left it in the bathroom."
She retrieved her brush, and while there, inspected her makeup in the mirror. She heard a tap on the door, followed by the door squeaking open, and a female voice say:
"Hi, Chad."
The girl sounded as if she was smiling, Cilla thought.
"Today, I was hoping we could go out to lunch," the girl said.
Cilla appeared. "Baby, I'm ready," she called.
The girl ceased speaking midsentence when she saw Cilla. Who was this girl with this prominent forehead, Cilla wondered.