Summer Surprise Pt. 03

Disaster strikes for one of the roommates. Chloe seeks comfort from her friends. Erin and Barbara play a joke on Marty. This chapter contains lesbian and oral sex as well as regular sex. My thanks to FatChick4Erotica who is helping me edit all of the Summer Surprise series. Any remaining errors are mine.

Summer Surprise, Part 3 - Disaster

Things were going pretty smoothly for everyone until a Monday in mid-April. Matt and Dianne came home from class to find Chloe crying piteously on the floor.

"Chloe, what's wrong?"

"They killed her, Matt! They killed her!"

"Who's they and who's her?" Dianne asked.

"Monica! They killed her!"

"Monica is dead?" Matt asked, shocked. "Who killed her?"

"Haters! The haters killed her." Chloe descended into gut-wrenching sobs, so hard she couldn't speak.

Matt picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. Dianne got some washcloths to use as cold compresses. When she got back, Chloe was curled up in a little ball, still bawling her eyes out. Matt had his arms around her trying to comfort her. Dianne folded one after wringing it out and putting it on her forehead.

When her crying had died down a little, Dianne asked, "What happened, Chloe?"

"Monica was at an LGBTQ rally she helped organize at the U of W in Madison. They do them at the colleges when the students are there instead of June when they hold most of the Gay Pride stuff. Some asshole plowed into the crowd with a big ass pickup, killing over a dozen people and wounding dozens more. Then he started shooting, trying to kill as many people as he could before the police killed him. She died alone, Matt. I wasn't there with her when she died. I was working on my next play. She died alone. Why can't people leave us alone? What did we ever do to them?"

Dianne and Matt started crying as well. They'd come to know Monica well over the past several months and she had become a substantial part of their lives.

"How did you find out, Chloe?" Dianne asked.

"She had a card in her pocket asking that I be contacted if anything happened to her. The police found it and called me."

"Do her parents know? Do yours?"

"I'm reasonably certain the police called her parents before they called me, but I haven't talked to anyone. How am I going to live, Matt? How can I go on? Monica meant everything to me. All I see is a fucking hole so deep and black I'll never be able to crawl out of it."

"I don't know, Chloe," Dianne said, "but somehow you do go on. As time passes you feel a little less horrible every day. Then one day you realize that your pain has eased a little. You come to an understanding that you have survived and you're not going to die, no matter how much you may have wanted to."

Chloe started crying again, body-wracking sobs. "Dianne, call my family and Chloe's. They'll want to know," Matt said.

"I don't have the Hamilton's phone number."

"Use my phone. It's in there."

Dianne nodded. She got Matt's phone and started making phone calls. She phoned Chloe's family first. They hadn't heard anything and were devastated to hear Monica was dead.

"Oh, no," her mother said. "How is Chloe taking it?"

"She feels like she's going to die, or wants to. We are all devastated."

"We'll be there as soon as we can."

"Thank you. She'll need as much support as she can get."

"Thanks for calling us."

Chloe's parents lived in Manitowoc, clear on the opposite side of Wisconsin, so it would be several hours before they arrived, even with the best of driving conditions.

Dianne called Georgina next. Since she was using Matt's phone, Georgina answered, "Matt, did you hear what happened in Madison? Some idiot plowed into a crowd of gay supporters. It's all over the news."

"Georgina, this is Dianne. Monica was at that rally. She was killed."

Silence, then "Oh, no! Poor Chloe. How devastating for her. We'll all be there as soon as possible, even Ethel, but it may take awhile because Elaine and I are both scheduled to work tonight and we'll need to find replacements. I can't believe this happened."

"Thanks, Mrs. Sanders. I know Chloe will appreciate it. Matt and I will too. We were all close to Monica."

Until people showed up, there was nothing more to do, so Dianne went back into the bedroom. She curled around Chloe, on the opposite side of Matt, cocooning her in loving arms. About two and a half hours after the phone call, there was a knock on the door.

"It's probably your family, Matt. I'll get the door."

When Dianne opened the door, she didn't recognize the people standing there.

"Hello, you must be Dianne. Where's Chloe?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton?" Dianne queried, quasi-recognizing the voice from the phone call earlier.

"Yes, I'm Mary Jane Hamilton. A lot of my friends call me MJ. This is my husband, Ben. I'm sorry we're not meeting under better circumstances."

"How did you get here so fast?"

"About ten minutes after you called, we got a call from a woman named Ethel. She told us to go to the Manitowoc civil field and there would be a helicopter waiting to take us here, plus a rental car and motel room on this end. I thought it was a cruel joke at first, but she said she was a friend of Matt's mother. We took a chance it wasn't a joke and here we are. I have no clue why she did this for us."

"As she said, she's a friend of Matt's mother. She'll be arriving shortly too, and you can meet her. Chloe is in her bedroom. Matt's in there with her."

Dianne followed them into the bedroom, where Matt was holding Chloe, still tightly coiled in the fetal position.

He looked up as they entered and said, "Chloe, your parents are here. I'm going to leave you with them for awhile.""

Chloe opened her eyes, saw them, and started crying again as she reached for her mother.

"Oh, mom. They killed her, mom. They killed my Monica. What am I going to do?"

Matt got up and Mary Jane took his place, enveloping her daughter in a motherly embrace.

"Hi, son," Ben said. "Let's give them a moment alone. I'd just be in the way for the moment." They stepped out of the room. "Thank you for being there for Chloe. You've always been there for her."

"She's always been there for me too, sir. It's mutual. This is my girlfriend and Chloe's roommate, Dianne. We're all devastated by Monica's death. We considered her part of the family."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Dianne. Ben Hamilton. Chloe's told us so many good things about you. I wish we'd met you before. This is a piss poor way to make your acquaintance."

"You too, sir."

"Please don't call me sir, Ben is fine. I'm so glad Matt found someone nice to date because he was the first young man Chloe brought home that didn't make me cringe. For a time, I even thought he was going to be my son-in-law, until Chloe discovered her sexual identity. He's a stand-up guy for remaining such good friends with my daughter after what she did. I wish we'd been better parents, but at least she had friends like you and Matt to get her through it."

"You're a better parent now, Ben," Dianne said. "It means a lot to Chloe for you to come. I know it does."

Ben started crying and Dianne pulled him into an embrace, gently patting his back. "I'm so sorry, Ben."

"Monica was so fucking nice. Chloe lit up around her. I finally got it, you know. How some people are just right for you, no matter who they are."

Ben sobbed quietly for a few minutes, then wiped his eyes. "I have to be strong, you know, for Chloe. She'll need someone to cling to."

"I don't think she'll mind you're unhappy too, Ben. I think she'll appreciate you loved Monica enough to feel pain," Dianne said. "It's nice to know you're not the only person who suffered a loss. Knowing how badly my husband's parents felt after his death helped me get through it. I knew I needed to be strong for them. If not for that, I might have gone to pieces."

He nodded and went into the bedroom with his wife and daughter.

Dianne and Matt sat on the couch, just holding hands. There was another knock on the door a half-hour later.

"That's got to be your family, Matt. I'll get it."

"We'll get it together," Matt said. "I can't sit anymore."

They stood up and answered the door. As soon as they opened it, Matt's family and Ethel came flooding in. A round of hugging and crying amongst everyone ensued.

"Did Chloe's parents make it okay," Ethel asked.

"They did. They're in with Chloe now," Matt said. "Thanks so much for your help."

"It was nothing. What's money for if you don't do something good with it. Georgina and I are going to start cooking comfort foods. We've got a couple bags of groceries out in the car. If you could help bring them in, Matt, that would be fantastic. Elaine and Dianne, you must know where everything is. If you could show us where the pots and pans are, we'll go ahead and get started."

Matt went out to the car and got two grocery sacks filled with food from the Festival Foods store. He brought them inside and noted that there were a number of pots and pans already out. He emptied the bags out on the counter and Georgina and Ethel started mixing stuff together.

"A nice stew, some lasagna, some chili for later, and brownies with vanilla ice cream," Georgina said. "We need to find out from Monica's parents what the funeral arrangements are going to be, including where the funeral going to be held. One of you should talk to them. Do we even know if they know about Monica yet?"

"Chloe thought the police had notified them," Dianne said.

"That's some shitty news to be delivered by strangers. Where do they live?"

"Milwaukee," Matt said. "But if they know, they're likely in Madison by now."

"You're probably right. Maybe we should have delayed a bit before coming. At the very least, they'll probably need to get some clothes from here, maybe some of Monica's other things, jewelry and such. Do we know how badly Monica's body was injured? Will it be an open casket or closed casket ceremony?"

"I don't know anything except that she's dead," Matt said. "I don't know what Chloe was told when the police called her. I'll have to get Chloe's phone because I don't know how to contact them."

"Go ahead and grab it. She won't want to talk to anyone for awhile anyway and you should probably start making some other calls. Monica and Chloe had other friends who should be notified. This is a sad business, but things need to be done."

"Chloe's new show was supposed to start in two weeks," Dianne said. "I'd imagine she's not going to be able to do it now. We might want to notify the Community Theater."

"Don't cancel it yet," Ethel said. "That should be Chloe's decision, but let the theater know it might affect her ability to go on."

"I heard the University is planning a memorial service for the dead, in a week, at Camp Randall Stadium," Elaine said. "Chloe will probably want to attend that."

"They might do one here too," Matt said. "Monica went to school here. They might not even know Monica is dead yet."

"I can't believe anyone would do what that person did," Beth said. "I heard some of the people killed weren't even LGBTQ affiliated; they were just there to support friends or family who were. For goodness sakes, there was even a baby killed. Who would be so angry and why?"

"I don't know. It seems like hate groups are getting more and more violent," Ethel said. "And not just hate groups. Even the crazies are becoming more violent. For example, that guy who did the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Las Vegas was not the only venue he checked out before shooting there. It seems he just wanted to kill a whole bunch of people for no reason."

"I'll start making some calls," Matt said. "I'll get Chloe's phone, ask her if there's anyone special she wants notified."

Matt went back to Chloe's room. "When you're ready, my family would like to see you, Chloe. Plus I need to talk to Monica's parents and other people, so I'll need your phone to make the calls. Is there anyone you think should be notified from around here?"

Chloe gave him seven names. "Tell your family thanks for coming. I'll be out there in a little while."

"I'll call the Dean's office and let them know about Monica, and we thought we'd call the Community Theater, too."

"I suppose. I can't see myself doing the show anymore. The reason I didn't go with Monica was to study my lines for the damn show. I should have been there with her. She shouldn't have died alone."

Ben said, "It may be horrible of me to say so, Chloe, but I'm happy you weren't. I think you've got a lot to give the world yet, and I'd have hated to see your life snuffed out so young."

"I agree Chloe," Matt said. "As bad as losing Monica was, losing you both would have been a hundred times worse."

Matt got her phone and left her with her parents again. He started by calling Monica's parents. Monica's father answered the phone. His voice sounded like gravel rubbing together.

"Mr. Franklin, this is Chloe's friend, Matt. I wanted to tell you how sorry we are about what happened and what a huge loss Monica's death is to all of us. She was an incredible person we all loved deeply. Chloe is especially inconsolable, sir, she keeps saying she wants to die too."

"Thanks for calling Matt."

"You're welcome, sir. I also wanted to find out about her services. We'd all like to be there."

"I don't know anything yet. The police haven't released her body, and we don't know when they will."

"Are you still in Madison, Mr. Franklin?"

"Yes. We got here about two hours ago. I had to identify her body. Matt, you can't believe what that madman did to her." He started crying again.

Matt waited for him to regain his composure. While he waited, Ethel asked if they were in Madison. Matt nodded.

"Tell them as long as they need to remain in Madison, they can stay at my house. I'll let the maid know to set up the guest house for them and bring in food. Here's the address and phone number." She quickly wrote down her address and phone number, handing it to Matt. "Anything they need, let me know."

Georgina hugged Ethel, then gave her a quick kiss.

When Mr. Franklin was coherent again, Matt said, "A friend of my Mom has a house in Madison where you can stay as long as you need. The guest house will be waiting for you. Anytime you're ready, I'll give you the address and phone number. Also, please let us know when you've had a chance to make arrangements."

"Give me a second. Tell your friend thanks. I feel useless right now."

About a half minute later, he said he was ready, so Matt gave him the address and phone number. Ethel was already on the phone with her staff making arrangements.

"We'll talk to you later, Mr. Franklin. Again, our deepest sympathies for your loss," Matt said.

Matt finished up by making calls to all of the people Chloe had asked him to call, including the Dean's office and the Community Theater.

"Do you know for sure Ms. Rogers won't be doing the show?" the theater manager asked.

"Not for sure. Right now, she's out of sorts, doesn't know what she can or can't do. I think she'll have it figured out in a couple days."

"Please let her know we're sorry for her loss. She's extremely talented. We'll miss her if she can't perform."

"I'll tell her."

Some of the other people Chloe had asked to be notified began showing up, friends of either Chloe or Monica or both. A couple he recognized included Erin, the first person he'd dated after Elaine.

When Matt introduced Dianne, she said, "No wonder I never had a chance with you."

"It wasn't you, I swear, you seemed like a pretty nice person from what I can remember. My head just wasn't on straight. I'm afraid I was so out of it I don't actually recall much of our conversations."

"That's because there wasn't much conversation to recall. No worries, Chloe warned me, said you might not be ready yet. Hi, Dianne, my name is Erin."

"Matt didn't say much about the others he dated, but I think he said you're in the theater with Chloe?"

"I'm surprised he remembered that much," Erin laughed. "Matt was pretty much a lump of seaweed. I'm glad someone managed to yank him out of the doldrums. Yes, I work in costume design and set decoration. I was scheduled to be one of the bridesmaids for Chloe's and Monica's wedding."

"Were they going to have best man," Dianne asked, "or twice the bridesmaids?"

"Chloe hadn't said anything yet, but she was going to have Matt be best man. It's not like he needed to be fitted for a dress, so she was keeping it secret for a short while longer."

"Erin, let me introduce you to the rest of my family," Matt said, suddenly sad all over again, knowing again how huge Chloe's loss was. He took her hand and walked over to his family. "This is my mother, Georgina, her partner, Ethel, and my sisters, Elaine and Beth. Everyone, this is Erin, Chloe's friend and one of the bridesmaids scheduled for her wedding."

They drew her in and made her feel welcome. Around five, Chloe came out of her room accompanied by her parents. She'd made an attempt to clean up, but her eyes were puffy and red from crying. She tearfully hugged and greeted everyone who'd come before having food thrust on her by Georgina as she sat down on the couch, too exhausted to continue standing.

"I can't believe Monica is now nothing more than another anti-gay statistic," Chloe said, tearing up again.

"Didn't you say that statistics don't change people's minds, Chloe?" Dianne asked. "You told Monica you have to make it personal. So it seems to me that you need to make what happened to Monica personal, so everyone who didn't know her, knows her; who she was, what she was, and what she stood for. Everyone who died today. It has to be personal."

"Dianne is right, Chloe. Everyone should bleed the way you're bleeding now. Otherwise, things will never change," Matt said.

Chloe suddenly stopped crying and instead started thinking. Where her mind was going, no one knew.

"They've posted video online from the rally this morning," Beth said. "It's hitting the major news networks. It's horrible."

"I want to see," Chloe said.

"I don't think you should, Chloe. It's dreadful and appalling. It will make you sick," Beth said.

"No. I need to see it. I need to see what happened to my Monica, what they did to her. Give me your phone."

Beth reluctantly handed Chloe her phone. Dianne and Matt held her as she watched the large truck careen through the huge crowd, people scrambling to get out of the way. They gasped with her as the man jumped out of the truck after crashing it into the stage and opened fire with a handgun, changing clips twice, before he was killed himself. Chloe watched it twice, choking back sobs, before handing the phone back.

"People will bleed," she said, "but I'm going to need the help of everyone here and then some."

"What do you need?" Matt asked.

"We'll need the names of everyone killed or injured today and everything else we can find out about them, including why they were there, even if we need to speak to their families or friends."

"It will probably take a day or two before they release the names of everyone because of family notifications," Matt said, "but we'll do all we can."

"Great. The world is going to know their names. Monica will not be forgotten."

******

Later that evening, Matt's and Chloe's families left to spend the night in a motel paid for by Ethel. The plan was for them to return the following day. After everyone left, Chloe retired to her bedroom exhausted and grief stricken. Matt and Dianne straightened up the apartment and then went to bed shortly thereafter, making love in order to get something good from an otherwise wretched day. Just before they were about to go to sleep, Chloe knocked on their door.

"What is it?" Matt asked.