Summary: Izzie Leyton has a dream and nothing and no one can or will get in her way…until she meets Jeff Hardy. Jeff/OC
Authors Note: Ok, so I know that I should concentrate on Coming Home, but this has been swimming around in my mind for a few weeks now, so here you go! I promise a Coming Home undate within the next week! And per the usual, I don't own anyone or anything except Izzie, Mia, and my other OC's. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays All!!!! )
Dare to Dream to the Extreme
Dream big. If you can dream it you can do it. Dreams do come true. Work hard and you can accomplish anything. We've all been told these little antidotes throughout life. Although now, looking back, I'm pretty sure that my parents told me these things to shut me up and send me off somewhere to work hard at something so they could have a moment's peace.
I mean, I get it, really I do. I totally understand why they wanted me out of their hair. I wasn't the average child who you could plop down in front of a Disney video and keep entertained for a few hours. I wasn't a bad kid either though; I just had a lot of energy and constantly wanted someone to play with. In other words, I was a hyper handful who sent my poor mother running in circles while at the same time trying to pay attention to my two brothers. I'm pretty sure the most commonly used phrase in my house always seemed to begin with "Isabelle Madison Leyton! Stop (insert my misbehavior of choice here).
I always loved sports, always knew I wanted to be an athlete. I never had the natural talent, I always had to work that much harder than the other girls who were blessed with those uber-genes and could run, kick, hit, whatever...just that much better than the rest of us. But I had the heart. I was the first one to arrive and the last to leave. I played sports during every season throughout my childhood and into high school. I didn't discriminate, I loved them all. That all came to an end during the last game of the regular season of my senior year lacrosse season. I had already accepted a full ride to Northeastern University, care of the Women's Soccer program. I was the captain of lacrosse team and we were one game away from making it to the playoffs, a feat never achieved by our school. I had already had one of the best games of my life. That's when it all came crashing down upon me. I went to steal the ball from my opponent, who really didn't take it all too well. That's when she decided to try and trip me up. Her trip attempt didn't make me fall; however, it did somehow manage to jam my cleat into the ground, while the rest of my body continued to stay mobile. I tore my ACL, MCL, and PCL all in one fell swoop. So it was bye bye scholarship, bye bye NEU. My parents couldn't afford it, and financial aid wasn't going to give me much help. I didn't have horrible grades, but they defiantly weren't enough to get me more money for school. So I got sent off to a state school where I spent my first three years pouting about the injustices of the world and how I was never going to play a sport ever again. The only activity I was able to do was dancing, which I did enjoy, but for me, nothing was like scoring the winning goal, hitting that last free throw, or checking the hell outta some bitch who tried to hit me in lacrosse.
In the middle of my senior year of college, I finally realized that although I couldn't play sports, nothing could stop me from writing about them. From then there on, I researched the hell out of every graduate journalism program within 150 miles of Boston. When I found the program at Boston University, I got my heart set on it. Too bad wishes and dreams can't pay a 50,000 tuition bill. Nothing seemed to fall into place for me. After graduation, I was going to have undergrad student loans, as well as other bills to pay, including rent, as I wanted to be independent and had impulsively signed a lease on an apartment right outside of Boston in the great city of Somerville (or Slummerville, as I've known it to be called.) with my friend Mia. I told myself that I would take a few years to save up some cash and then head back to school, on to my destiny to become the greatest sports writer ever. I was not giving up on my dream; I wouldn't allow another one to be stolen away from me for something as simple as money.
Fast forward three years and I'm embarrassed and sad to say that, if anything else, I've let my dream slip out of reach in favor of getting by. Which is how I've ended up at my current place of employment. After sticking it out at a horrible state job that didn't pay worth a damn (but looked good on a resume and where I hoped that I might make some connections to get back into school), and a somewhat terrifying 3 month stint of unemployment after my boss didn't get re-elected to his position, I was now working about 70 hours a week as the receptionist/office manager/administrative assistant/office bitch at an insurance agency, which is where I find myself today, a Saturday.
Per the usual, I'm the only one in, but I have so much work to get done for my bosses big presentation next week coming in Saturday was my only choice. At least I don't have to worry about ringing phones and people coming at me from every direction asking me to "please, just do this one thing for me!" I glance at the clock, and its 2:30. My stomach is damn pissed that the only substance it's been allowed today is coffee so sugar heavy that I'm shocked my teeth having disintegrated yet. I need the caffeine and sugar to keep me going through these crazy hours. I know it will pay off and my bosses will notice, I'll get that raise they've been hinting at, and I can get back on track to my dream of BU.
I hear a loud knock on the door and I'm a bit taken aback, no one is in on Saturdays, not even the cleaning people. Hesitantly, I tiptoe up to the door and peer out the small window pane. A smiling Mia is waiting on the other side. I unlock and open the door to let her in.
Mia Saldini is the epitome of everything that I am not. She's tall, a total knock out, what with her long dark brown hair, deep soulful brown eyes and she's got that perfect body that makes every guy want her and every girl hate her. We met at orientation at college and have been inseparable ever since. She's just starting up her 2nd year of grad school, fully financed by her uber-rich father, who also pays her rent, bills, and pretty much everything else she wants. It's not that I'm jealous of her, it's just that...ok, yeah, I am...you got me. I am jealous of her.
Mia's come with her two step sisters, six year old Savannah and three year old Carley, in tow. That's her trade off with her father; he pays for everything and she watches the girls whenever her step mother, Julie, asks her too. Mia and the girls have hardly walked though the door before little Carley runs over to jump into my lap.
"Izzieeeeeeeeeeeee!" she shrieks excitedly. "Izzie it's snowing out!!!!" Her blonde curly pigtails are bouncing up and down and she's got a huge smile on her face.
"Hi Carley, Hi Savannah." I smile at the girls. Mia is holding out a large brown paper bag.
"I come bearing gifts" she says with a smile. My eyes widen and I grab the bag from her. I open to check out the contents. An Italian sub with everything (extra hots!) from my favorite deli around the corner from our apartment and a nice big bag of plain potato chips. SCORE!
"Oh you SO rock my world right now! How did you know that I was starving?" I say excitedly, shaking the bottle of ice tea that I had bought earlier in the morning.
"Please Izz - every night when you get home, all I hear about is the bag of Doritos and handful of M&M's that you managed to eat in between running around like a maniac." scoffed Mia.
I pick up my sandwich to take the first fabulous bite, pickles, hots, onions, and all sorts of fabulous-ness in store for me. Then I put the sandwich down and give Mia a look.
"What do you want?" I ask skeptically.
Mia feigns her innocence "Why Isabelle, I am shocked and saddened that just you think I would want something in return! Here I am trying to be a nice person, bringing my most favorite room mate in the world something for lunch and you..."
"Save it Saldini. What do you want?" I ask, trying to hide the smirk that's threatening to break out.
"Come out to Estate with me tonight, I need a girls night out!" she says, smiling brightly.
"Girls night huh?" I ask, raising my eyebrows "You and Jason got into another fight didn't you?"
Mia and her boyfriend Jason are either constantly fighting or having extremely loud makeup sex. Thank god I've learned to sleep with headphones on.
"Come ON Izzie, we'll have such a good time! Have some drinks, do a little dancing, meet some guys... You need to blow off some steam Izz, all you do is work anymore. I never see you!" Mia is starting to pout worse than little Carley when she doesn't get her way.
"Mia," I halfheartedly protest "I don't have the kind of money to go to Estate, that place is one of the most expensive bars in Boston!"
"Ahhh yes," she says, her bright smile returning "Tonight is on Daddy!" she holds up a platinum AmEx and waives it around.
"Mia..." I begin, but she cuts me off
"Come on Izzie, I won't take no as an answer, we need to go out and have some fun!" says Mia with extra enthusiasm that I know she's thrown in there just for me.
I let out a deep sigh and she knows she's won. "Great!" she says excitedly "I got us on some list, not VIP, but hey, at least we don't have to pay a cover to get in!"
"Ok, Ok, fine," I relent "But for now you have to leave, if I'm going out tonight, I have to get this all done by 6."
"See you at homeeeee" she says in a sing-song voice, snatching a pickle from my sandwich and walking to the door as the girls blow goodbye kisses at me.
Eight hours later I find myself inside Estate, next to an extremely excited Mia. She's just bought us each a Redbull and Grey Goose and she's grooving to an old Dr. Dre tune that's playing over the sound system. She's gorgeous as usual, sporting a silver halter top and black miniskirt with a pair of black knee high stiletto boots. I'm constantly comparing myself to her. I guess my best asset is my pale green eyes, or at least that's what my former boyfriend told me was what "salvaged me" I'm five foot five with an athletic build that was starting to boarder on somewhat chubby until I took up dance two nights a week eight months ago. My hair is highlighted to a pretty shade of caramel and honey blonde and tonight, against my wishes, Mia has dressed me in her super tight emerald green tube top and my only pair of "going out" jeans (far too skintight and constricting if you ask me) with a pair of black pumps. Since my usual attire is business casual, it's pretty damn safe to say that I feel like a fool right about now and am defiantly going to need another one of these drinks before I feel comfortable.
Mia's reading my mind because before I notice she's gone, she back beside me with a refill. It's moments like this that I know Mia is probably one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. She grabs my hand and pulls me onto the packed dance floor as a Rhianna song starts up. "C'mon Izz! Let's dance!" she says with a smile. I oblige and we push our way though a group of people and get into our own little groove. I love to dance. It's pretty much been my only outlet for the past 7 years since I couldn't play any contact sports. Five songs and one Kamikaze shot later, I'm starting loosen up and am actually happy that Mia dragged me out tonight.
As I'm about to wipe the beads of sweat that have collected on my forehead and suggest a trip to the ladies room and then over to the bar, Mia is walking away. Who the fuck is she talking to? Oh you've GOT to be kidding me. My eyes narrow and I walk up to where Mia is standing on the outskirts of the dance floor, standing next to Jason.
"Mia?" I'm looking at her, but her eyes are locked onto Jason, a flirty smile on her face.
"Oh hey Izzie," Jason finally acknowledges me. Mia is finally out of her Jason trance and realizes that she just walked away without saying a word. She knows I hate that.
"Izz," she begins, her face quickly switching to an apologetic look. She grabs my arm and pulls me a few feet away. "Izzie, we just need to talk for a few minutes. Ya know, smooth over everything that happened last night? Give me 20 minutes and we can return to girls night, we'll even hit up some Chinese after, like we used to! On me! I swearrrrrr! Just give me 20 minutes!" She's pretty much begging now. She hands me a twenty and pushes me towards the bar. "Go grab a drink and I'll be back in no time at all! Promise." she gives me a huge smile.
She knows I can't say no to her, I've never been able to. "Ok Mia, but just 20 minutes!" I say sternly. I point to a cluster of couches and chairs. "Meet me there in 20 minutes!"
She gives me a Cheshire cat grin, nods her head and scampers off to meet Jason and I make my way to the bar.
Fifty seven minutes later I'm nursing the vodka tonic I bought with Mia's twenty and I'm so pissed I'm pretty sure my eyes are shooting flames at this point. I finish it off and angrily slam the glass down on the bar. Four calls to Mia's cell have gone unanswered. Normal rational people would have done one of two things by now. Get the hell out and take a cab home or start talking up someone at the bar to find someone else to hang out with. Of course, I have done neither. I'm still in the same spot she left me in almost an hour ago and she's nowhere in sight.
With a sigh, I pull on my black cardigan, walk downstairs and out the door, hoping that some fresh air will clear my head and I can figure out what exactly I'm going to do.
The Boston air is crisp and cold and there's big fat snowflakes falling from the milky dark night sky. It's only the first weekend in November, but we've already got four inches of snow on the ground and it's been freezing cold since after Columbus Day. I can't complain, since I've been a Boston girl all my life, I'm used to this, but I can't help but shiver a bit in the cold and pull my cardigan closer around me. I take in a deep breath in, letting the icy air fill my lungs until they start to sting a bit.
Me being me, I know that as much as I want to leave Mia here, I won't. I know I know, I'm too nice, but the different scenarios of everything that could go wrong if I did leave her here swim around in my brain, and I figure I'll get myself another drink to nurse, stay in one spot for the rest of the night and hope to god that she walks past. I mean, she wouldn't have left already, right?
I push a stray strand of blonde hair behind my ear and turn to walk back into the pulsing club. I turn and walk smack into a something. I teeter off balance in the three inch black heels that Mia was insistent that I wear and fall smack into the middle of a pile of snow to my left. Wicked fucking awesome. (Please read my glowing sarcasm here honestly, short of my ex-boyfriend Mike making a cameo appearance tonight to berate me for one thing or another, this night couldn't get any worse.
I take in a deep breath and am about to get up when a pair of arms grabs me around the waist and pulls me up. What the fuck?!?
"Oh wow, I'm so sorry darlin'!" a slight Southern drawl fills my ears and I look up to see the someone that I crashed into. The first thing that catches my eye is longish brightly multi-colored hair. My eyes connect with the owner of the hair and he gives me a crooked smile and brushes the hair out of his face.
I want to be pissed that my ass is soaked and I'm totally freezing right now, but his eyes are making that real hard. Dammit.
Mystery man starts the brush the remaining snow off my sweater and gives me another apologetic look.
"I really am sorry, I need to start looking where I'm going from now on." he drawls again. I can only stare. He looks kind of familiar, but I can't quite place him. Ok Izz, now you're starting to look like a freak. Say something you idiot!
"Oh hey, no harm no foul, right?" I give him a brief smile and am about to walk past him since I'm pretty sure he thinks that I'm a total freak of nature right about now.
"I'm Jeff" he offers up as I'm walking back towards the entrance.
I look back and give him another smile. "Izzie," I say extending my hand to shake his.
"So Izzie, what may I ask are you doing outside on a night like tonight? It's freezing out and I still can't believe that it's snowing! It's only November! Not even winter yet!!" he says with a laugh.
"Ahhh, you're defiantly not from around here are you?" I say, giggling a little.
He gives me a sheepish look. "What gave me away?" he asks.
"Well, your total shock that the weather could be like this before winter 'officially' starts." I respond, still not able to take my eyes off him. Ok Izzie, you were doing good for a second, now you're starting to go in freak girl mode again. Let's settle it down now.
He gives me another crooked smile. "Boston girl?" he questions.
"Born and raised!" I say proudly.
"Cameron, North Carolina." he states. Ahhhh, that explains the accent.
"So Izzie, Estate not really your scene?" he asks "That why your outside hangin' with the snowflakes?"
"Ehhh, no, I mean, yes, I mean...I guess it used to be, but now I'm not so sure anymore. I'm here with my roommate Mia, well I came with her, but she met up with her boyfriend, she was supposed to talk to him for just a few minutes and now it's been an hour and I can't really find her. I don't want to leave her here and she's not picking up her phone..." I ramble on. Ok Izzie, just stoppppp talking. I'm sure this guy is just trying to be nice and have a little friendly conversation with you, and here you go spilling your guts to him. Pretty sure he doesn't care.
He gives me a sympathetic look. "That sucks, I'm real sorry. Look, I'd really like to make up for the fact that you just took a swan dive into some snow care of me. Why don't go back inside so you can warm up and you can let me get you a drink?"
Ok, I am SO not in the habit of going off with random guys and letting them buy me drinks. I mean, I've seen enough Lifetime movies about roofies and crap to last me a lifetime. But I can't seem to shake the feeling that I know him from somewhere and his eyes are so damn inviting that before I realize it, I can hear the sound of my own voice telling him yes, that would be real sweet of him.
Nice going Izz, hopefully the reason he looks so damn familiar isn't because you saw him on America's Most Wanted or COPS. Ughhhh...you dumbass.
Read and review!!!! MissyKate