Kandis vs. “The One” Kirsten Scott

[TheOne]

{1-2 SAMUEL: Chapter Five}

My emotions are flying in all directions... And let's be honest, why wouldn't they be.  I am left here standing.  I am here now, alone, outside, wondering what is going on and why it's all happening around me.  And for once in my life, I don't know what to do about any of it.

I look at one side, with Jake, and realize thre is someone who was the last of a generation in SCW that really fought for change and a new guard... The same thing I have wanted to do all along.  He's someone who gets the idea, he's someone who gets the mission and he was so close before, and then the influx of politicians came in and invaded SCW.  He was seen as one himself, but in hindsight, he was nothing compared to those who have slowly begun to realize they were in a world where there was no competition, but instead just their small group bitching about one another, and ruining it for everyone.  And while their remnants remain, to have someone who wanted to change the culture, change the system, change the IDEA of what SCW was, and make it even more competitive there to help me is something that has definitely piqued an interest inside of me...

But at the same time, this is a stranger...

This is someone, yes, I know from the annals of history, but I don't "know-know..."

And on the other end is someone who isn't a stranger, but is becoming more and more estranged with each passing day because of various issues.  In one hand, it's her own doing, hiding a relationship that would have been fine, had honesty from the start been respected.  But Hailey didn't do that.  She and Ethan hid it from us and expected us, in the end, to be OK with it.  And in the grand scheme of things, we are, but feel she just wasn't as open with Emma and I as the two of them could have been, and now she's looking at me with the same questions.  She believes I have had something in the works I haven't told her about, and am now in the process of replacing her.

And that just isn't true...

But I get she doesn't see it.  She saw what she saw.  She heard what she heard.  She now believes what she believes, and that is something that, on the surface, I can't immediately or magically change.  Instead, I have to think about what my next move is.  I have to think long and hard what the right step will be to keep Hailey believing in the future that I want us to have, and Emma wants us to have as well.  And I can't just chase after her, either.  I can't just run and try and "wing it" because, in her mind, the damage has been done.  The attacks have begun on her, and how she views the situation is something I can no longer control in this exact situation.

It's going to take more...

It's going to take convincing...

It's going to take some kind of intervention.

But for it to work it cannot be something that blindsides her, like most "interventions" do.  Instead, it has to be something she volunteers to go along with, and in the end, pray there is enough trust still lingering for her to agree, go, and hopefully, do the one thing she has refused to do since she and Ethan were walked in on... She's going to HAVE to listen...

With everything happening outside, Emma and Ethan are sitting inside the duplex hearing a stomping up the stairway.  They look at one another, and eventually hear the door to their duplex blast open and bang into the doorstop, ultimately closing on its own, and from the entry way comes Hailey, with ouvious tears coming down her face.

Emma and Ethan both look at one another, and then look down the hallway that Hailey b-lined toward.  They comically make the look multiple times before one breaks the silence, with the only sound of the bedroom door slamming triggering the conversation.

Emma Taylor: Ummm... What the hell?

Ethan looks back at his sister, with his jaw agape and shaking his head.

Ethan Taylor: I... I don't have a fucking clue...

Both are basically frozen in shock, having never seen Hailey show so much raw, and deep, emotion.  After, what seemed like forever, but actually was just a few seconds, Emma is quick to speak back up.

Emma Taylor: Dude... GO CHECK ON HER!

Ethan shakes his head, as if he was in a trance.

Ethan Taylor: OH!  RIGHT!

Ethan hops off of the couch and quickly goes down the hallway and stands outside the door.  He looks around, being one very uncomfortable with confrontation of ANY type, and takes a deep breath before knocking...

Hailey Brooks: FUCK OFF!

Ethan answers from outside the door.

Ethan Taylor: Babe, it's me...

Hailey is having none of it.

Hailey Brooks: WHAT PART OF FUCK OFF DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!

Ethan takes a deep breath before putting his hand on the door and walking in and closing it behind him.  Hailey immediately looks up at him with an angered and tearful look on her face.  Ethan wastes no time in responding.

Ethan Taylor: ... The part in me that loves you, and wants to know what is going on... That's what...

Hailey tries to find the words to respond, and fire back another hate-filled retort, but because it is Ethan she just begins to move her mouth and begins to cry.  Ethan immediately sits down on their bed, next to her and embraces her, and lets the sobbing just commence for as long as Hailey needs.

After a couple of minutes of sobbing, and his shirt having a bit of a wet spot on it from tears, he finally breaks the "silence" of conversation, trying to understand what this is all about.

Ethan Taylor: Babe... What happened?  What is going on?

Hailey squeezes him more and sniffles, before audibly taking a deep breath and slowly pulling back, realizing that her boyfriend is actually there for her and not for any ulterior motive.

Hailey Brooks: She's... She's... She's fucking replaxing me Ethan... She's moving on...

Ethan is still confused and needs more context.

Ethan Taylor: Babe, talk to me, who is moving on?  Who is replacing you?

Hailey Brooks: Kirsten... Kirsten is!  She's gone and gotten someone else to be by her side...

Ethan Taylor: Babe, I'm not trying to be difficult, but I'm confused.  Explain to me what is going on so I can help...

Hailey takes multiple deep breaths, trying to calm herself, finally culminating in one major deep breath.  She wipes her eyes and exhales a lot of air audibly.

Hailey Brooks: Ok...

She takes one more deep breath before continuing.

Hailey Brooks: So I go out there, thinking I am going to talk to Kirsten one on one, and she's not alone.  She's there with Jake Starr...

Ethan stares at her blankly.

Hailey Brooks: He used to be in SCW and wanted a lot of the same ideas she has had about cleansing it of the trash...

Now Ethan understands who the person is, and why it would upset Hailey.

Hailey Brooks: ... And the fact is, she never told me she was talking to him.  She never told me she was thinking about bringing someone else into our little group.  She never talked to me once.  I MADE her who she is.  I MADE her "The One," whether she wants to admit it or not.  And that's not bragging, but she was scared of the world and I took her under my wing.  She's done everything she's done on her own, yes, but I MADE that a possibility.  It's why I don't mind being a "second fiddle."  I get that I failed in doing it myself.  I get I failed in becoming who she did.  And no, I'm not jealous, but what I want to be is the person she trusts the most.  And now she's bringing in someone else?  She's entrusting others to be her advisor instead of me?  And it's because I fucked up and didn't tell her about me having a soft side and wanting to enjoy showing her I wasn't going to live in her shadow, but instead, pursue a romantic relationship?!  Seriously, why is that wrong?!

Ethan Taylor: It isn't, babe... I promise...

Hailey Brooks: Then why, why is she outside, right now, with some OUTSIDER who is trying to take her from ALL OF US?!  Why is she out there listening to someone trying to poison her mind, and telling her not to listen to me?!

Ethan Taylor: Is that what he said to her?

Hailey shakes her head and shrugs.

Hailey Brooks: I don't know but that's what her actions fucking showed.  He would just look at her and she wouldn't react to what I would say or listen to me.  She wouldn't do a fucking thing.  Instead she listened to HIM!  HIM!

GODDAMN IT, SHE LISTENED TO HIM!

Ethan Taylor: Babe... I...

Hailey is having none of his potential "Devil's Advocate."

Hailey Brooks: ... NO!  SHE IS OUT THERE LISTENING TO SOMETHING THIS NEW GUY IS SAYING OVER ALL OF US.  YOU, ME, EMMA, ALL OF US!  She's out there listening to some old guy who is USING her to finish something HE COULDN'T!  He's out there telling her EVERY FUCKING REASON he should be the one to guide her and basically saying why we are nothing...

Ethan Taylor: He said that?

Hailey Brooks: ... Well... No... But FUCK YOU, trust me in what I heard!

Ethan quickly grabs her hands.

Ethan Taylor: Babe... Pause... One second... I don't know what is going on out there.  I'm not going to pretend I know what he's after, or quite frankly who he is and why he's important.  You and Kirsten obviously know that.  I've never been inside this "world" with y'all, and it's why you and I were close.  None of that fucking mattered.  So when I'm asking questions, I'm not doing it to defend anyone, I'm doing it because I don't know what you know.  I don't know what Kirsten knows.  Fuck it all, I don't WANT to know.  But what I do care about is you... And if you're upset, I want to try and figure out what is going on, and see if there is something we are missing, or if it's truly what it seems...

Hailey Brooks: But you fucking say you don't know?  And you want to say you want to see if something is missing?!

Ethan Taylor: Yes because I'm fucking stupid on all of this!  So I can think about things differently... So did he say that, or did you hear that?

Hailey pulls her hands away to wipe her face of the tears and rub the frustration away.

Hailey Brooks: I don't fucking know, OK!  All I know is what I heard... I heard someone there trying to take MY JOB from me... Someone who she was listening to over me.  All I heard was this old man manipulating her...

Ethan Taylor: Manipulating how?

Hailey Brooks: BECAUSE HE'S TRYING TO TAKE HER FROM US!

Ethan Taylor: But how, babe?  I don't get it!

Hailey Brooks: JESUS CHRIST....

Hailey begins to breathe harder, not recognizing that Ethan is legit ignorant to the situation.

Hailey Brooks: HE'S TRYING TO STEAL HER!  HE'S TRYING TO MANIPULATE HER INTO BELIEVING HE KNOWS "THE WAY" TO MAKING HER DREAMS COME TRUE OVER US!  US!  HER FAMILY!  THOSE WHO LOVE HER!  NO... HE DIDN'T FUCKING SAY HE WANTED US TO GO AWAY, BUT THE WAY HE LOOKED AT HER WHEN I CALLED HER AND HIM OUT...

Ethan pauses her.

Ethan Taylor: ... Made them both uncomfortable and they froze and simply looked at one another, and you THINK, and maybe it is right, they were communiicating nonverbally, that they just needed to ignore what you were saying?

Hailey Brooks: I... They both... FUCK ME...

Ethan Taylor: Stop... Take a breath...

Hailey Brooks: I can't...

Ethan Taylor: You can... Now listen to me, and take a breath...

Hailey tries to take a breath, ultimately falling into Ethan's shoulder and losing all control sobbing.  He quickly embraces her.

Ethan Taylor: I promise you... We will get to the bottom of this.  Nobody will break up our family.  I have had to fight that fight before with Emma, protecting her, so I will do the same for you.  I love you, and I get it.  I don't know this guy, and I don't know what's going on, but I also have been through shit like this in the past.  I need you to trust in me.  Trust that I know and I can help us find an avenue to get everything sorted out.

Our family is going nowhere.  Not on my watch.  But we have to believe in one another and ultiamtely TRUST in one another.  I believe in your feelings and TRUST in them 100%.  I also believe there may be more than neither of us know... And THAT is what needs to be understood.  We will get there.  I don't care how rocky it may be, but we will, together, you and I.  Because I'm not letting you fight alone.  You may be that for Kirsten, but it's time you understand I'm that for you... And nothing will ever change that...

As Hailey sobs she slowly pulls back to look Ethan in the eye, and sees pure honesty looking back her way.  It's a look that just makes her breakdown even more into his chest, and him know his role to do nothing at that oment, but hold her, and show his feelings for her, that to this point had been hidden "behind the scenes," but are now at the forefront of this "family's" group dynamic.