All Good Things

Oh, great. Nikolette was still there.

Taylor put a palm over her face to hide her messy eyes, and her sobbing quickly idled down to a stop. She couldn't just cry like that, not in front of a potential opponent. That was if she didn't just throw her whole career out along with Morrigan.

She pulled herself back to a sitting position and shook her head, with a far away scowl. There was no use trying to hide her face, it wasn't like Nikolette didn't know she had been crying.

"Which part was the right thing?" She asked. "There part where I said I was trying to help her, or the part where I called her a failure and threw her out?"

"Nikolette turned her head when Taylor spoke. "Well..." She said, thinking about it. "It obviously meant a lot to ya." She said. "And tryin ta help people is always good. I don't think callin anyone a failure is ever good but you shouldn't apologize for yer emotions or feelins. It's not like she did."

Nikolette stood up and shifted so she was facing Taylor. She held her hand out and offered a weak smile. "It's probably too much to ask a leopard to change it's spots, right? It's not like she had gotten better since she started workin for ya, right?"

Taylor's breathing remained rapid and shallow no matter how she tried to calm down. Nikolette's words, no matter how well intentioned, were like the twist of a knife in her belly. She couldn't help but cry again.

"I guess it's a good thing people aren't leopards," she sulked. "Because changing is one of the only good things people can do."

She pulled her legs up in front of her, feet flat on the floor and her knees bent so that she could rest her elbows on them, and put her face in her hands. "I shouldn't be allowed outside. Not until I can learn to act like an adult," she mused pitifully. "It wasn't even her fault. Not really. They don't want me having anything to do with them because of... a lot of reasons. But Morrigan's... sex tape, and taser, and trying to stab Kelly, with me being in her corner, and... me cutting her, I guess it put them over the edge. I mean, I'm just a punk-ass New York City kid with a dirty mouth who can't control her temper, and hurts people for a living. I say bad stuff. Like, all the time. And I do bad stuff. I'm... disrespectful, and I get mad really easy. They were right to fire me, I can't help anybody. Perfect example," she waved her hand in the direction Morrigan had gone.

"So I guess maybe you're right. Maybe people can't change. But fuck I wanted to."

Nikolette let her hand drop to her side. Instead of bringing Taylor up, she sat down on the floor next to her. She'd never really been in this kind of situation before. She really wasn't even sure if her and Taylor were friends. But she'd just seen some heavy stuff and she'd seen Taylor in a vulnerable position. It wouldn't feel right to call her something else now...

Nikolette looked over Taylor. "This... ain't about Morrigan is it?" She asked and turned turned to look at the door. "She just... kinda happened ta be in the wrong spot?' She asked. "Um..." She thought, biting her lip. "Not every good person can be good all the time. If that's the case than how can every bad person be bad all the time too?" She asked. She furrowed her brow. "Maybe I'm not the best judge a character but I think that you do as much right as you can, as often as ya can. That's what it looks like ta me, at least. What makes someone good ain't whether or not they don't do bad things. It's whether or not they realize they do bad things and try not ta keep doin them again."

I'm sorry." She said suddenly. "I'm used ta dealin with machines. people ain't so easy fer me." She said nervously. "Um... if ya wanna be alone, I can leave...' She said quietly, lowering her head.

Taylor held up a hand and let it flop back into her lap. She shrugged. What did it matter what Nikolette did?

"Oh my god..." She said, suddenly stuck with a streak of clarity. "Oh my god, what did I say!" She looked at Nikolette, horrified, pleading with her eyes like she wanted her to say it wasn't so. "Oh my god, what do I DO? I must've really hurt her! I... was trying to. Oh, god, I'm the worst person in the world."

She let her face fall down against her knees while she was overcome by self pity and remorse. Then, suddenly, she jumped to her feet. "I have to call her," she resolved. "Right now. I don't even care if she doesn't want to talk to me, I have to talk to her. Right? Like that's the only... Where's my phone?"

She hurried off to find her phone on the floor where she had dropped it, and immediately speed dialed Morrigan's number.

"And if she doesn't pick up, I'll just text her a billion times. Right? Am I crazy right now, or..." She trailed off.

"Fuuuck..." Morrigan growled as a salty tear splash onto her phone. She'd been turning it on and off the whole cab ride to the train station. She had been so angry that she wasn't even sure who she might dial. What the fuck was wrong with Taylor? MORRIGAN was supposed to be the psychopath but Taylor was off her gourd.

The first thing she was going to do was find Kelly Conway and murder her. Whatever she had to do, she was going to end that bitches career for ruining a good thing. WAS it a good thing? She only accepted the job because she thought it might be fun to be able to taunt Taylor around the clock. That she could find the perfect spot to completely destroy the woman's life. She didn't give a shit about Taylor at all. But, then why did she actually do a good job?

She'd never really had to show affection to anyone that wasn't affection demanded. What looked like a bitchy attitude and fighting with Taylor... maybe that was her weird way of being affectionate with the girl?

When her phone buzzed, she looked down. It was the first time she saw the tear. She hadn't even realized that she'd been crying until she saw it. She wiped away the tear and answered the phone.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!?" She screamed. "Not finished calling me worthless!? If I wanted to listen to shit like that, I would have stayed at Lukretia's." She growled and then suddenly choked up. Her eyes widened. She had LEFT Lukretia to try and get some respect. Now Taylor wasn't treating her any differently. In fact, Taylor was treating her worse. Lukretia acted like Morrigan was worthless but she was never so outright about saying it.

More tears started dripping down Morrigan's face and she had to dig her fingers into her leg just to keep from sobbing audibly. She wasn't going to give this bitch the satisfaction of hearing that. It was exactly what she wanted, Morrigan was sure of it.

Taylor jumped when Morrigan somewhat unexpectedly answered, and cringed at her greeting. She started talking a mile a minute; Morrigan probably wasn't going to give her much time.

"M-Morg! Hey, um, I, uh, I... don't hang up, okay? I just... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, can we talk? I shouldn't have said... anything, and I'm wrong, okay? I'm sorry, can we please talk? Like for real, I just want to talk." She pleaded and paced back and forth and shook her free hand. She couldn't remember any agony in recent history like this.

"Shut up!" Morrigan growled, stifling her exasperation. Hot tears streaked down her cheeks and she shut her eyes and leaned back into the cab's seat. "F-Fuck you..." Morrigan said as her tone quivered. "I don't even know how to FEEL right now!" Morrigan was panting hard into the phone. "I'm fucking PISSED at YOU!" She growled. "And... UNLIKE you, I know that the only kinds of decisions that can be made when you're emotional are stupid ones!"

"So... I'm going to go Brittany's house and fuck the SHIT out of her. Then... I'm going to see how long it takes before I stop thinking about how to end Kelly Conway's career. and yours."

Morrigan paused to catch her breath. "And then, once I've finally cleared my head, I'll call you back and we can talk like adults. But in the mean time? YOU CAN EAT A RUSTY NAIL, YOU CUNT!"

Morrigan pulled the phone away and jammed the end call button has hard as she could, not sure if she was able to choke back the sob long enough to keep Taylor from hearing it.

"Okay... okay..." Taylor kept saying as agreeably as possible while nodding continually. "Okay... I- well... okay."

And then Morrigan hung up and Taylor was left with the phone on her ear and no one on the other end. Several seconds passed before she could bring herself to admit defeat and put her phone away. It was all in Morrigan's hands now.

Kind of. Taylor pulled her phone back out and immediately sent her a text.

im really sorry

She looked up and glanced around to find Nikolette and trotted to catch up to her. "Hey, Nik? Could you..." She hoped this wouldn't be weird. With evidence of tears still in her eyes, she tried a smile to ease the tension. "Could you punch me in the face?" She held up her phone to clarify. "For Morgan."