Never Alone
Summary: It's been nearly a year since they lost the pants. Lena is going to France, Carmen is staying in Maryland, Bridget is on her way to Argentina and Tibby… is a very confused chica. BridgetEric TibbyBrian CarmenOC Lena?
Ch. 1 Return to Bethesda
A young woman, nearly twenty, ran through the busy streets in Bethesda. Her long blonde hair trailed behind her, causing frequent stares, mostly from men and boys. But the girl didn't care. She had to get there before her friends got pissed. Luckily, the woman was a good runner, thanks to years upon years of playing soccer.
She sprinted over to a building, seemingly deserted, and jumped. Down came the fire escape, and she quickly climbed up it and stumbled into the room it lead to, where three other woman around her age were sitting in a circle with candles lit.
Bridge panted, "Sorry I'm late, guys, but my train only just got in."
One girl, half Hispanic, shrugged and said, "It's okay Bee."
"Yeah, we were just chewing on gummy worms and waiting around," another one, with long hair and a smirk on her face, laughed.
Finally a last one, with a camera in her hand and her eyes rolling, shrugged, "Well, I was just taping them chewing on gummy worms."
The blonde laughed. She took her usual place in the circle, and bit down on a gummy worm.
Bridget had changed little over the past year. Eric and she were still going strong, and he was coming with her this summer to Argentina. At the beginning of the year, to supplement her archaeology major Bridget had been taking a paleontology class, and found that she loved that even more than she loved archaeology. Bridget changed her major and signed on for a dig in Argentina over the summer. She couldn't wait to see if she could find some of the largest dinosaurs such as Argentinosaurus… earliest dinosaurs like Eoraptor… even some creatures from the late Permian, like Gorgonops. Eric was tagging along because he "had nothing better to do this summer, and didn't want to be separated from her like last summer." Bridget couldn't wait to see what she could find of the distant past, although she would probably only find a few little bones or even nothing unless she was really lucky.
Carmen had also changed little, except she had gone back to her former self rather than returning to her invisible state. She began pursuing acting, but as a hobby rather than a career choice (where her career choice was and always would be journalism.) She ditched Julia and made some other friends on campus; Maggie (known as Mags,) Leah, Mark and Dan. Maggie was a writer, like her, but more of a novelist than a journalist. She was writing books, but was also majoring in history to be a history teacher at the same time (she knew better than anyone that writing could not really support you unless you wrote something as popular as Harry Potter.) Lea was an artist, like Lena, but she drew Anime and such, and was making up her own magna book while taking Japanese Art courses. Mark was a chemist, and a good one at that, and Carmen practically had to drag him out of the lab to hang out. Finally, Dan was probably the nicest guy Carmen had ever met. He was brilliant at Math, and was planning on becoming a Chaotician, or a mathematician who dealt especially with chaos and the chaos theory. Carmen was sometimes overwhelmed by his intelligence, Dan was pretty much a genius, but she still loved to hang out with him. And Dan, unlike Mark, came out of the math buildings a very healthy amount.
Lena was still working hard in her art. She planned to be a High School art teacher, but also wanted to paint and sketch her own stuff. She was going to France this summer to view some real art and get a real cultural experience. Lena had finally managed to semi-forget Kostos, even after what had happened at the end of the last summer. She had broken it of with Leo, too, but they did keep in touch as friends and occasionally messed around (she didn't let anyone else know about that, though.) Leo was going to France as well, but Lena told him that it was going to stay in that friends-with-benefits state. She hoped that Leo would be okay with it, and felt sure that he was. Tibby had offered to come with her, she needed to film something exotic over the summer, but Lena didn't really want people to know that she was messing around with someone uncommitted so much, and that occasionally still she imagined that it was Kostos.
Tibby was… Tibby. She had worked hard during the school year to make up for her incomplete last summer, and was nearly finished, she just needed to make a small film over the summer. At first, Tibby had jumped at the chance to go to France and film, but now… now she was not so sure. Tibby decided she would look around and decide, but she definitely wasn't going to go around filming Bethesda. Brian told her he would be with her, whatever she decided. Brian… Tibby couldn't help but be confused around him. Sure, they hadn't gone back to the innocence, that was impossible. However, they could have gone back to the bliss… but they didn't. Brian was on his guard. Tibby had hurt him too much, and now Tibby had to suffer. But she would make up for it all this summer… oh yes; she would, no matter what.
Bridget crossed her legs uneasily and nodded at everyone, "Well, even though the pants are nonexistent, I believe that we all know the drill. We still have to write to each other regularly. We still have to communicate. We still have to meet up at the end of the summer and relive details. We still have to… damn! Most of the rules were based around the pants," Bridget sighed, "So… what else?"
"How about, when we send a letter, we send along a little object or picture or something that symbolizes what happened that we're writing about in the letter, and at the end of the summer we will collect all those objects and pictures and put them together in a box, and label the box 'Summer 2008?'" Lena asked cheerfully.
"Yeah! I love that idea!" Carmen squealed. Bridget nodded eagerly, and Tibby smirked.
"So it's settled then. Well… I guess we should probably go," Lena sighed, "I've got a flight to Paris tomorrow."
"Yeah, I've got to get packing. What does one wear to Argentina, exactly?" Bridget raised an eyebrow.
"Who knows?" Tibby shrugged, "I've got to get started deciding on where to go. Maybe California. Or… ooh! Italy!"
"Where are you going to get the cash?" Carmen laughed.
"If I let you come with us, you can help pay, rich chick," Tibby smirked. Carmen shrugged.
"I would, but you're trying to fix things with Brian, and I'd just get in the way," Carmen laughed.
"Thanks for your money support," Tibby sighed sarcastically. Carmen had gotten a lot of money from working in various localized productions of Shakespearian plays.
"I'll loan you some money, chica, if you promise that you will go to Italy, it's so romantic there," Bridget laughed.
"You don't exactly have money to spare," Tibby laughed.
"Actually, I do. My Dad paid me way more than he needed to for this trip to Argentina, and Eric is bringing a lot of money too. I can give you plenty," Bridget nodded.
"Well… thanks! That would actually be really great," Tibby grinned.
"Well, now we're all doing something interesting this summer except you, Carmabelle," Lena looked evilly over at Carmen.
"Yeah, so? I plan to wallow in my own filth, thanks," Carmen laughed.
"You might not want to do that," Bridget smirked, "Until after you hear my little 'proposition' for you."
"Really? Do tell," Carmen sat up eagerly.
"There is one thing that you do not have in common with the rest of us, my friend," Bridget began.
"What? That I'm not a white chick?" Carmen laughed.
"No," Bridget sighed, and then turned to Lena and Tibby, "Guys, do you know what I'm talking about?"
Tibby, looking confused, shook her head. Lena looked towards the sky for a moment, then her face got a look of apprehension on it and she nodded eagerly, grinning evilly at Carmen.
"Is it," then Lena whispered something into Bridget's ear. Bridget nodded, smirking.
"I'll tell poor Tibby," Lena laughed, for Tibby still looked horribly confused. But that was nothing next to Carmen, who was groaning in an urgent need to know. When Lena got done telling Tibby, Tibby burst out laughing.
"That's right! Time for Carmen to jump on this bandwagon! Just don't go into it too hastily, Carma, if you do you will be scarred," Tibby smirked.
"Here's my proposition for you, Carmen. At the end of the summer, I will bake all the birthday cakes, one for each of us, if you do this. If you don't do this by the end of the summer, you'll have to bake all the birthday cakes. Deal?" Bridget grinned.
"Sure," Carmen shrugged, "what is it?"
"You have to loose your virginity."
SOTTP
Carmen had protested out the wazoo. She cried and told them no, how the hell could she do that, she wasn't some sort of slut. The other three girls then argued back that they weren't sluts either, and that if they could figure it out she certainly could.
So Carmen was trapped, and she definitely did not want to have to bake four birthday cakes.
Lena had left early in the morning, and Carmen and Tibby were sitting on Bee's bed, watching her pack for Argentina.
"So… hmm… should I bring this?" Bridget held up a very thick dinosaur book (let's just say that in her tomboyishness as a child, she also was somewhat… dinosaur… obsessed.)
"If you can fit it, Bee, be my guest," Tibby laughed, "You'll probably need it on this trip."
Bridget grinned and stuffed the book into her backpack. She zipped up her suitcase and looked around her room.
"Well, I guess I'd better call Eric. He said he would come pick me up, our flight is tonight," Bridget sighed.
"We'll miss you, Bee. Don't let those old skeletons eat you," Tibby laughed.
"Yes, and don't let Eric distract you from those old skeletons, either," Carmen laughed. Bee smirked at them both.
"Tibby, did you tell Brian about you idea yet?" Carmen continued to ask. Tibby nodded.
"He was all for it. Little does he know that this won't only be a movie extravaganza, it will be the most romantic summer of his life," Tibby grinned evilly, "I'm going to fix this.
Carmen rolled her eyes, "Good luck with that."
Tibby and Bee turned to Carmen, smirking at her. Carmen looked up, "What??"
"How are you planning to fulfill your duties this summer?" Bridget laughed.
"I have no clue, I'll check in when I'm a little closer, like I've been on a date, alright?" Carmen snarled, still angry that she was being put through this.
"Okay, okay, geesh, don't be so defensive," Bridget shrugged. So did Tibby. Carmen sighed, groaned and laid back on the bed. This was going to be a long summer.
