Summer Song – Chapter 10

It was back to work the next morning and sure enough Chloe was doing her job just as usual, not a rhythm skipped, not a step missed. She barely looked up when Phillip came over and said hello.

"Hi." she said, her voice even and her face just about the same. She hadn't moved a muscle yet, other than her throat of course, although that was debatable.

"So how you doing? Okay?" A loaded question considering the context.

"Yes. I'm fine." She said as she continued sanding, looking closely at the beautiful wood grain. Even spaces, straight lines, predictable patterns looked unnatural while messy, jumbles fit together like pieces in a puzzle. Organized chaos the scientists called it. She slid her hand over the ragged, wavy lines, wiping off the sand dust.

"You're kind of quiet."

"I don't feel much like talking."

"You know you shouldn't wipe off the shavings like that. You'll get splinters."

"Phillip, do you mind? I'm trying to concentrate. I didn't get much sleep last night. You know you might want to concentrate a little too. It's one thing to hammer your thumb. It's another thing to saw your hand off."

"I guess you're right," he said as he tried to refocus on the rather dangerous power tool he'd unwisely chosen to work with, but eventually gave up. "Chloe I'm not trying to... I just thought we could hang out a little. You did say you'd forgive me that we could be friends again. So..."

"Phillip," Chloe said finally turning around, "I said I'd probably forgive you and that we'd probably be friends again, in the future, maybe. Look, right now I can't..."

"You're still upset. I know but..."

"I'm not angry at you. I just don't feel... I don't know what you want me to say."

"I'll do whatever it takes, Chloe."

"Well technically you still haven't apologized."

"Okay. I'm sorry. I am, so sorry."

"Not that it changes anything."

Phillip laughed in frustration which did not amuse Chloe at all. He waited for her to say something.

Seeing that Phillip was not going anywhere Chloe said in an exasperated tone, "I don't know what you want from me. And it doesn't help to have you hover over me watching every move I make."

"Sure." he said.

"So how'd it go?" Jason asked with more enthusiasm than tact.

Shawn turned to Phillip and answered Jason with a shrug.

Jason said "Oh."

Shawn waited for the biting comeback but instead he heard Phillip say. "Hey it almost worked just Chloe... It wasn't a bad idea really."

There was a time when Shawn was the interloper and Phillip the one begging Jason to give him a chance, sort of like Belle with Mimi and Chloe. Jason and Phillip were peas in a pod, cards in the same deck, planks in the same front porch. Shawn smiled as thought, planks, fits 'em both. Jase and Phil, the blond, classically proportioned Abbott and Costello of the speedboat set. Of course some things never changed.

"So how are you doing?" Shawn asked.

It was Jason's turn to shrug. People didn't often ask him how he felt and he wasn't sure what to say. Good ole Jan. In a soap opera, Jan would be the bitter girl with a sad story lurking beneath, the harsh exterior revealing a soft, vulnerable inside. In life Jan was as one note as she seemed. Mean, nasty, snobbish and when you peeled away the layers all that you found was a rocky, sharp-edged, core.

"I'm fine," Jason said with the first real smile Shawn had seen on his face in a while. "Not sure about Phil here."

"I'm fine except for that stupid board dinner next week. Family members expected. My dad's going to want me to show up in a monkey suit... Now... the worst time ever."

Shawn and Jason looked at each other. "Shall I say it or shall you?" Shawn said.

"Be my guest, Brady."

"Thank you so much kind sir."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Phillip asked.

Shawn put his arm around Phillip and said "Phil my man. Hospital board dinner. Answer me this Phil. Who's the chief of staff at Salem University Hospital?" Jason came and joined Shawn, putting his arm around Phillip's shoulder as well. "A family affair." Jason added. "With a dance floor and since most of the board is about, say, eighty years old..."

"I'd guess most of the guests would be rather senior." Shawn continued.

"He doesn't get it." Jason said.

"I get it. I get it." Phillip answered. "A lamppost would get it. Just leave it alone, okay?"

"Okay." Shawn said but there was the smallest trace of a grin on Phillip's face.

Belle and Chloe were huddled together talking and glancing back at Phillip from time to time, giggling. They walked right past him and as Phillip turned to look at them Belle gave Phillip a pointed stare, looked back at Chloe and broke out laughing. The grin of a few minutes back had already disappeared.

Phillip, true to his word kept out of Chloe's way for the rest of the day and the next few days as well. Phillip watched tapes of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and even - ugh - Barney, he read every appliance and computer manual he could find, he counted the ceiling tiles in the basement; he did any unstimulating thing he could imagine and still thoughts of Chloe would push through. Yet he could do this. He would do this.

By the end of the week Shawn had noticed a change in his friend. "Welcome back to the world Phil." It was good to see Phillip smile even if it was held in place by SuperGlue. Common wisdom said that the inside was what counted but what you did on the outside counted for an awful lot and more than once those insides got pulled right along. "Should we celebrate your freedom?" It was the official end of Phillip's grounding. Shawn was pretty sure sneaking out in the middle of the night to sing under Chloe's balcony was not a formal release.

"Okay, what's the plan?"

"True joy," Shawn said. "We're getting up a bunch of guys for a little session of the world's greatest living sporting game..." He picked up the hockey stick that was lying on the ground. "Get your skates and we're gonna fly."

"Brady, how come we celebrate my freedom with your game?"

"Hey wouldn't want to overexcite you. We gotta start slow, you know with a game in which I can cream you."

"Hah."

"Come on. Skating's in my blood man."

"Blood's the word Brady." Jason said. "Count me in."

Although few people admitted it there were times when a small town full of lush trees and sweet, green hills was not all it was cracked up to be. A nice slab of good old fashioned concrete could be quite a wonderful thing. Phillip wasn't quite ready for the buddy buddy routine with Jason but an empty parking lot was an opportunity you didn't refuse your worst enemy and Jason, wasn't that. No, certainly not an enemy.

"Don't sell Shawn short. He's got family tradition behind him." Phillip said.

"I've seen your dad at Salem Park pond. Pathetic." Jason said.

"Not his dad, his mom."

"Your mother played hockey? I knew that smile looked too good to be real."

"Not hockey you idiot. Figure skating. Shawn's mom is amazing. She's like got this whole room full of medals." Phillip said.

"Real impressive." Jason said as he curtsied and tried to leap in the air. He fell flat on his face.

"You want to come see her trophy shelf? You might want to know what one looks like."

"Hey Belle, Chloe... Come here. Mimi, you too. You wanna come with us? The Salem High parking lot is empty and we've got it."

Belle looked at Shawn like he'd just broken out in tears of joy at the thought of new street signs. "So..."

"We're getting a hockey game going. Bring your roller blades ladies."

"You're kidding." Belle said. "Besides, I like my teeth."

"Can't argue there. Meems?"

"Oh no." She said waving her arms around in horror.

"Okay you three can ref."

A disappointed Jason came over and said, "Clyde can't make it. He's got to take his dog to the vet. Larry has to help out at his dad's store and Marcus has to pick up his little brother from camp. Alan's got a sore ankle."

"Hey that still leaves four. We play two a side, no goalies."

"Uh uh. Bryan went home sick today."

"Man. Okay. You and me, one on one."

"Hey, what about me?" Philip said.

"You and me against Jason. I can deal with the handicap."

"No way, no way this'll work."

The three argued, unsuccessfully trying to shout over each other until a loud whistle interrupted.

"Hey, hey. What about me?" Chloe said.

"What about you?"

"To play. I'll be your fourth."

The guys stood with their jaws hanging open.

"You want to... you? But..."

"Belle has been instructing me in the finer points of rollerblading..."

"She's a natural." Belle said.

"-and Craig's a big Black Hawks fan so..."

"Wait a second." Shawn said. "Watching a game on TV is one thing but... and you're..."

"A woman?" Chloe looked down over her body. "Well what do you know? Explains a lot."

"Fine with me." Shawn said.

Jason shook his head at Shawn.

"All right. Chloe's with me. Phillip, you're with Jason. We all meet at the lot in an hour."

"You and Chloe? Ah, victory is sweet." Jason said. He almost suggested a bet but decided against it.

"Hey, I could beat you with my arm in a sling and my skates bolted to the ground." Shawn said.

"Yeah right..."

At skating Chloe was no match for Shawn or even Jason or Phillip, but she held her own. At first she hung back watching the others but she was a fine athlete and after a little practice was stick handling, making passes and shooting right there with the rest of the guys, She'd just missed a shot on goal and Phillip and Jason were right on her tail as she skated back to her own goal. She spotted Shawn and sent him a perfect pass which he promptly put in the net. Chloe looked particularly pleased with herself, which Phillip noticed, none too pleased himself.

"That doesn't count." he said angrily.

"What?" Chloe said.

"No goal. That was a two line pass. We said the red line was from space 54 to 66, the blue line is from space 14 to 24 ..."

Shawn said to Phillip, "You know we're not playing for the Stanley Cup here." He turned around. "Belle? Does that goal count?"

"Of course."

"Belle?" Phillip said frustrated. "Belle doesn't know a blue line from a red lipstick."

Even Jason rolled his eyes at Phillip who said "Fine," with a shake of his head.

Phillip won the next face off and raced toward the goal with Chloe and Shawn hard on his heals though neither had a chance of catching up. "You play chess?" Chloe shouted. Phillip slowed for just as moment as he turned and said "What?"

"You play chess?" Chloe said again. This time a confused Phillip stopped dead. Chloe gave him a nice shove with her hip and skated off with the puck on a breakaway. "Check mate!" she yelled back as she scored.

At this point Phillip was literally seething. "That's not fair." he cried out. "She deliberately... she distracted me."

"My, my." Chloe said. "A well-honed athlete such as yourself making excuses. Isn't the mental game the most important thing?"

"Yeah Phil." Shawn said. "You know Coach Sanders motto, 'The only two excuses are death or dismemberment and dismemberment depends on what limb is involved.'"

"Shut up Brady."

"We are a poor sport, aren't we?" Chloe said. "But then you can't stand to lose. Of course once you win, game's over and it's not so much fun anymore. Maybe you should keep that in mind."

"Let's just play." Phillip said stalking off.

"Phil, game's this way." Shawn called out.

Once again Phillip won the face off but Shawn chased him into the boards, well not exactly boards - more like the chain link fence that surrounded the parking lot. Jason caught up and as the three battled, hacking and slicing, Chloe snuck up in back of Phillip who still had control of the puck. She grabbed the edge of Phillip's shirt and placed it on a knot in the fence. Of course when Phillip finally managed to break free and skate away he was in for a little surprise. By the grace of the natural Kiriakis balance he managed to stay on his feet but not by much. Shawn and even Jason couldn't help laughing and Belle, who'd seen the whole thing was in absolute hysterics.

"What is that? Look at this." Phillip yelled showing the tear in his designer tee shirt.

"Phil, I don't think..."

"This is not fair and you know it." Phillip yelled as he stomped on the ground.

"Hey, I don't think there is anything in the rule book that says you can't do that."

"You know what she was trying to do." Phillip said as he looked at Chloe's smirking face, leaving no doubt as to how his shirt ended up where it did.

"Ya gotta play heads up man." Shawn said still a little too amused for Phillip's sake.

"You saw what happened. This whole game. And that was a two line pass. And she was offsides just now."

"Phil, it's only a game." Shawn said.

"Oh yeah. Chloe's game. Make a fool out of me."

"Make a fool out of you?" Chloe yelled. "You come to my house in the middle of the night, wake up my neighbors - believe me, Nancy was not pleased... not that you stuck around to find out."

"What? You were the one who ran..."

"Coward."

"First you get mad because I don't say anything. When I try to talk, you get offended. You tell me I'm hovering. So I stay away. But then I'm being a coward. You tell me to apologize. I do. You practically bite my head off. You know what? I've had it with this game. There's no way to win."

"Right, winning. That's all you care about."

"I've had it. I surrender." he said as he picked up one of the white rags used as a goal marker and threw it at Chloe. "I give up." he said slowly. "I give up." He raised both his hands and faced away from Chloe.

"That's it. Throw in the towel. Just like you."

"I'm tired and I'm going home." Phillip said as he walked off the lot taking big, fast strides never once looking back.

"Hey if you can't stand the heat get out of the... hey if you can't..." Chloe's voice trailed off as Phillip disappeared out of sight. He wasn't coming back.

"So what are you guys standing around for? Aren't we playing hockey?" Chloe said to the group of eyes staring at her. They were looking at her strangely as though trying not to let on the men in the white coats were on their way with the butterfly nets.

"Uh, we lost... one of our players..." Shawn said hesitantly.

"Fine. You and Jason play. Belle and I have things to do. Right Belle?"

"Right." Belle said. "Sure. Mimi?" And the three of them left Shawn and Jason to play a nice quiet game of one on one.

As they walked down the street Chloe kept turning in different directions, looking around every corner, through every tree, for someone or something but without any luck.