Not the Easiest Thing To Ask

who: caleb and thom
where: mshs music room
when: mid morning

Caleb had shit to do. He'd gotten Leija in to the psych ward that morning, and kind of skipped over telling her about the whole house burning down of it all. She'd not really seemed up for a whole ton of conversing in the first place, which he got. So, he'd just been there with her to make sure she got in alright, and gave her a drawing, one he'd done when he couldn't sleep after they'd put the house out. He'd just been waiting to take her in in the first place so sleep hadn't happened. He'd drawn her a window, and had promised he'd give her new ones each time he visited. He made her a promise that he'd see her as often as he could.

But really, what he was up to now...was not something he was looking forward to. He tracked the guy down easily enough. The few people he asked all said the same thing. If one wanted to talk to Harkin--the music room was where he was going to be. Therefore, that was where Caleb went. And, sure enough, Thom was in there. He drew in a breath before he walked in properly, really not sure what he was even going to say. But, whatever. He walked in, and headed over to the guy. "So. Harkin. This is going to be horribly fucking awkward, so I'm just going to cut right to the chase." he started, never one for social niceties or anything resembling tact or subtlety. "You and I have an ex in common. I just checked her into the psych ward. She needs as many people around who give a shit about her as possible, and I'm hoping you still fit that description."

Thom had been enjoying his time alone, perfecting the song he'd written yesterday - when all of a sudden he was being accosted with news of Leija. And the psych ward. By Caleb. It really killed his buzz on so many levels and he broke off mid-chord, sorting through the info dump he'd just been landed with. He looked up at the other guy, resting on his guitar. "Yeah - I fit that description. What the fuck happened?" he asked, deciding to go for the important points there.

She went batshit insane. She got massively obsessed with me and I don't even know how that happened in the first place. She dropped you like no one's business and switched to me, and we crashed and burned in a week's time but apparently she still has some fucked up focus on me. he thought, but didn't share. "I don't know." he said instead. "I saw her at random the other night and she was talking suicide. I didn't think that was the way to go, and I know I can't help her on my own. Or...even start, really. So...I talked to her about that." he explained. In the back of his mind he was relieved to hear Thom say he still cared about the girl. Otherwise this was going to be a hell of a lot more daunting to deal with.

"Suicide?" Thom asked, looking honestly concerned about that. It booted him out of the almost shock of having someone suddenly dump news in his lap and into actually dealing with the reality of that. "She okay? She didn't - she didn't try anything, right?" he added, putting his guitar to one side, discarding that completely now.

"Not that I saw." Caleb said. But it wasn't like he'd done a strip search. Or checked her medicine cabinet to make sure there weren't empty bottles. "I checked her in this morning, she was...okayish, I guess. As okay as someone seriously contemplating death can be." he answered honestly. "She...said a lot of shit when I talked to her the other night. I think right now she needs people around who give a damn, and who'll make an attempt to prove that to her because I highly doubt it'll be easy to do. She doesn't believe me and I've told her about every time I see her in one way or another." It's just never good enough, because I don't want to be with her.

Thom pulled a face. "Don't know if she'd believe it if I was listed under 'people who gave a damn'," he said, doubtfully. He could imagine that she wouldn't. He really didn't think she'd ever really got him, really understood him. He definitely didn't think he'd ever understood her - not in retrospect. She was a very different kind of a person to the image he'd had of her when they'd been dating - more fool him. But that didn't mean he didn't care about her. He didn't just stop caring because things didn't go the way he'd planned. He simply wasn't wired that way. Now, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't voluntarily speak to her - he didn't need to put himself in the path of being hurt again - but these weren't normal circumstances. And if he was needed, he'd be there.

"With the way she's talking, I'm pretty sure she figures the entire world hates her or something. I don't know. It's fucked up, no matter how you look at it. I just figured you'd want to know. And if you can think of anyone else that she's friends with or anything...let them know. I tried getting ahold of Peyton, but it went straight to voicemail. And honestly I don't know who else she's even been spending time with." Caleb admitted. Leija hadn't ever been big on making friends and influencing people, after all.

"I don't know if she had any other friends," Thom admitted. "She was fairly new in town, and, well yeah. There was a group over summer, but..." But everyone seemed to have drifted from there after Lullaby Draven's death. It hadn't been particularly coherent or anything anyway, just some kids hanging around together occasionally. "I'll make some calls, see if I can find out anything. How's her dad handling the news?" he asked, covering all bases in typical together Thom fashion.

Caleb shrugged one shoulder. "About how you'd expect someone who's wife killed herself then had to be told his daughter was headed that way would be?" he suggested. "I'd guess 'not very fucking well', but I'm not that much of a people person. He was...quiet." he said honestly. "I never really met the guy before, so I can't really say if he was falling apart or not."

Thom nodded. "I only met him the once myself. Okay - I'll... He probably won't want to see me, but hopefully he'll deal better knowing she's getting some help." Thom had to wonder if his mother would know anyone who might be able to help out the family generally. He'd have to ask her - he was seeing rather more of her than he normally did at the moment, though that was only because they'd both been up in the middle of the night, last couple of nights, dealing with their ghostly intruder - something that was shown by the dark bags under the teen's eyes. He hadn't been getting that much sleep lately and neither had his mother - who was getting more and more put out by the behaviour. hell, after they'd spent the night making sure everything vaguely electrical was unplugged and switched off to prevent a fire, she'd even started murmuring about exorcisms this morning.

"If you've at least held a conversation with the man before, then you'd be better off dealing with this. Besides. It...seems a little more like I'm the one who broke her brain, so you're probably a better bet right now." Caleb said, uncomfortable with the statement, but not because of Thom. Just the idea that he'd broken the girl, and he still didn't know how. Or why, or...anything.

Thom caught that and looked sharply at Caleb. He'd tried to stay away from anything to do with his ex-girlfriend and this guy. He simply didn't want to know. Or he hadn't - not though... Now he'd been brought right back into it. "What did you do to her?" he asked, the barest hint of an edge to his normally easygoing tone. Thom wasn't a naturally threatening-seeming person, his air was generally one of laid-back competence, but he paid attention and he wasn't as horizontal as some people who didn't really know him may have thought.

Caleb leaned back against the piano, having expected Thom's reaction. If the guy cared--and he'd said he did and was proving that by asking the right questions--a protective sort of stance was understandable. Caleb would have done the same in that position. "I don't know." he said, not really intimidated. At the moment he figured the more Thom knew about the situation the better, really. It might at least prepare him. "Things got all fucked up after I got out of the hospital. She broke up with you, and things were...I don't know. Fucked up. Then we tried getting together, but it only lasted about a week. And it's been like two months, but she talks like we broke up yesterday. It's...seriously, I just don't know. Closest description I can give you is it seems like she's obsessed, and just doesn't see it." Caleb's tone was honest. He wasn't saying it like it was some great thing, or a feather in his cap or anything. In fact there was that light undercurrent of disturbed feelings that he associated with the entire thing.

Thom didn't know what to say to that. He felt a pang, a reopening of the emotional wound there. That Leija had given up what they'd had for that - for a week. For something that hadn't even worked out. But then again, Thom didn't know what had gone wrong between them, not really - everything had seemed fine, then all of a sudden, one day, it all fell apart. Which, looking at it, would fit in with what the guy was saying now - if in a really worrying and concerning way, that it had been going on that long. He didn't say any of that though, keeping his thoughts to himself. "And you didn't do anything?" he checked, not disbelieving Caleb per se, as just being cautious.

Caleb sighed and dragged his fingers through his hair. "Like what, exactly?" he asked, since as far as he knew, he hadn't done anything. Or, he had, but it was semi-normal personality clash bullshit, not anything that should have resulted in this. But it would help to know what exactly he was being accused of.

"Like I don't know," Thom admitted, not aggressively pushing anything. Not that it would do any good, he figured - if the guy was saying he did nothing, and he did something, he was hardly going to admit it just because he was asked twice now, was he? "I've not exactly been in this situation before, y'know?"

"Neither have I." Caleb said. Unless you count the crazy ex thing. That I've got a penchant for. But they didn't go batshit suicidal on me. "But...no. Shit didn't work out. There were...issues. I knew she was having problems letting go, I just...didn't know things had gone where they did. You don't exactly expect a girl to be..." he stopped short. "I don't really want to get into it." he decided, figuring it would be better for the both of them if he didn't go into super specifics.

"Right," Thom agreed, not really wanting him to get into it either. He really didn't need to know how ZOMG!awesome his replacement was - so much so that she'd literally apparently gone crazy over him. "Well, I'll do what I can," he said, upnodding slightly. "Thanks for letting me know." Since Thom was aware that Caleb didn't have to come and talk to him like this.

"You're welcome." Caleb said in return. See? He could be civil and...relatively human. Right? Right. Whatever. "Guess I'll see you around." he added, before pushing off of the piano to head out. He didn't really figure he was going to hang out and become best buds with the guy. But that had gone better than it could have.