THANKFUL
A/N: Hey guys! I'm here with a new story! Originally I intended this to be a one-shot but let me know what you guys think! If you guys like it, I'll continue! Thanks for all your encouraging words on Bittersweet! You're the best! By the way, I have the next chapter for that story ready and it will be up soon! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron.
All I wanted was to fly home for Thanksgiving, I should've known the entire population of Southern California would too. Sometimes I really regret choosing to go to UCLA for my bachelors degree and not only did I make the mistake of getting a flight home two days before Thanksgiving, but I also got a flight out of LAX, notorious for being one of the biggest and most chaotic airports in the world. As I got a seat at my gate, I pulled out my laptop and started working on a research paper that was due the following week. In the middle of my research, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, I rolled my eyes I knew it had to be my mom wondering where I was. I reluctantly pulled it out and was right: it was my mom.
"Hi mother," I couldn't have sounded less enthusiastic no matter how hard I tried.
"Hey sweetie, I couldn't help but notice that it seems you're a little behind schedule." I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. This week I needed to summon all my patience and strength if I wanted to make it through with my sanity still intact. My mother has always been hard to deal with but as she gets older it just gets worse. She's always been so overbearing and I thought that when I left for college she would ease up a little but now as I'm sitting in the airport I can see that's not happening. I sighed and began to speak.
"Yes mother, I am. My plane got delayed again, but I'm at my gate and I'm sure I'll be home in just a few hours." Luckily for me, a flight from California to Texas only takes about three hours or so and I managed to get a flight without any layovers so I would indeed be home in just a few hours. I could hear her sighing on the other end of the line and mentally prepared myself for the lecture I was about to receive about punctuality or some other bullshit like that, surprisingly that didn't come.
"Ah I see. Well then Cynthia, I suppose we'll see you in a few hours. Safe travels." I cringed at the use of my full name, no matter how many times I told her I wanted to go by Cindy, she was relentless when it came to calling me Cynthia, eventually I just gave in. I hung up the phone and placed it back in my pocket and resumed my research. The assignment was a paper on volcanoes, which I was actually quite interested in. This semester I had to take a geography class as part of my general ed classes and I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I love it. So far, I thought my assignment was going great until someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. After so many years of intense martial arts training, my reflexes were pretty great. I quickly whipped around and grabbed the hand of the person who tapped me and was shocked to see who it belonged to. There's no way, I thought as I stood there staring at them.
"Hey stranger," he said coolly. I could feel all the hairs on my body stand up at the sound of his voice. It had been about six months since I had seen him, but now that I was with him it felt like it had only been a day. I realized that this whole time I was thinking I was just standing there staring at him so I quickly spoke up.
"So Neutron, we meet again." I said trying not to give away my nervousness.
"It appears so Vortex. What are you doing here in California? I thought you went to school back east?" He finished his question and looked down at our hands, it wasn't until now that I noticed my hand was still wrapped around his. I quickly dropped it and tried in vain to keep from blushing. It had been so long since we talked that I forgot he didn't even know I decided to switch schools.
"Yeah I was supposed to, but about a month before I was supposed to leave I got a call from UCLA and it was an offer I couldn't refuse."
"Oh no shit, that's awesome. And UCLA huh? That's where I'm teaching actually!" I had forgotten that he was teaching these days, now that he mentioned it I remember Libby saying something about it but I must not have been playing much attention, I had no idea he was at UCLA either, I might've chosen them from the start if that had been the case.
"Yeah I think I remember Libby saying something about that a while back. What a coincidence, I'm surprised we haven't run into eachother. What are you teaching?"
"Well I've got four classes right now, one is online while the other three are in person. Two are physics classes and the others are calculus. They needed a last minute replacement for calc ones so I stepped in." I hated to admit it, but I was impressed. After middle school, Jimmy left Retroville and went off to college again, I remember secretly hoping he'd come back but he didn't. He came home here and there for the holidays and even came to our graduation, but that was the last time I saw him. I had envisioned running into him again somewhere, but LAX was never one of the places I thought of. I always figured it would be at the Candy Bar or something.
"Well that's awesome Jimmy, I'm happy for you." I wanted to retort with a snarky remark, but after all these years I wanted to show him how much I've matured. I'd like to think that now that we're both almost in our twenties that we can grow up and be civil towards eachother.
"Thank you, what about you though? Whats going on? I can't believe we haven't run into eachother or anything."
"Everything is good, my classes are great, I actually took Physics over the summer, I had Smith though, he was cool."
"Oh no way! He's actually one of my good friends now! Since he's only 28 we actually get along pretty great and hangout quite a bit. It's weird having friends who are at your intellectual level." I shot him a mean look and rolled my eyes. He put his hands up defensively and backed up a few steps.
"Hey I wasn't talking about you! I was talking about Sheen and Carl damn. Come on Cin, you know just as well as I do that they aren't exactly brainiacs." I couldn't help but laugh a little. As great as those two had become over the years, he was right. They both wouldn't be able to tell me anything about Galileo or DaVinci.
"I guess you're right, they miss you a lot, you know. Are you going home? Seeing as how we're in the same gate?"
"Your detective skills serve you well Miss Vortex, I am indeed flying home. I didn't go home at all over the summer because I was teaching so I wanted to make sure I was able to come home for Thanksgiving. Let me see your ticket real quick, I wonder if we're sitting near eachother." I pulled my ticket out of my pocket and showed it to him, sure enough we got seats right next to eachother, what a weird twist of fate, I thought as I heard the announcer say our flight would be boarding soon. I put my laptop away and gathered my bag and noticed that Neutron didn't have anything with him.
"You don't have a carry on?"
"C'mon Vortex, you should know me better than that. Hyper cube." He said with a smirk as he pulled out a smaller version of the hyper cube he invented back in elementary school. Of course, I thought as I smiled knowingly. Before we walked in line a thought occurred to me, where was the hover car and why wasn't he just taking that?
"Hey wait, what about the hover car?"
"I was wondering when you would ask that. It's in Texas, I'd never bring it out to California, let alone Los Angeles. Anyone who saw it would freak out and it would become this huge ordeal. Back home, everyone knows me and who I am and not to try and ask for inventions."
"They know not to ask for inventions because they'd probably just blow up the town," I said with a smirk. He laughed and soon we were on board.
As we took our seats on the plane, I took the window seat while he took the seat in the middle. I noticed the aisle seat was still empty and I hoped that it would stay that way, but as luck would have it some blonde bimbo ended up sitting there. For practically half the flight I had to listen to Neutron talk to her and attempt to flirt with her. It was sickening.
When we landed, almost as if right on cue, my mother called me once more. I answered it and tried my best to stay positive and patient.
"Yes Mother?" I asked as nicely as I could.
"Cynthia darling, are you in Texas yet or not? I tried calling you numerous times and you haven't picked up."
"I just got off the plane mother, I couldn't answer because we were up in the air."
"Hm very well then, I'll see you soon."
I hung up without saying anything in response and went straight to baggage claim without waiting for Neutron. He probably wanted to walk with his new best friend I'm sure. As I waited for my luggage, I heard his laugh from a few feet behind me, I rolled my eyes as I finally found my bag. I picked it up and began to walk toward the exit where I could catch a cab when I felt a hand on my arm.
"Vortex, what are you doing?"
"Um, going to find a cab so I can go home, what does it look like?" I didn't want to be a bitch, but I was tired, hungry and annoyed after listening him babble on with Barbie.
"Well, I can uh.. Take you home if you want? It's not like it's out of the way or anything." I immediately felt bad. Here he was trying to be nice and all I've been doing is giving him nothing but venom. I smiled and agreed and together we walked out to the parking lot, turns out his dad was waiting for him and he gave us a ride home. I hadn't seen Mr. Neutron in months and when I do he always gives a big hug. Even though Jimmy and I have often had our differences, his parents always treated me with nothing but warmth and kindness. I returned the gesture and got into the backseat and we went home.
After about thirty minutes, we arrived at our street, I thanked him as I got out of the car and walked across the street to my house. Right before I opened my door, I heard Jimmy call my name so I turned around and sure enough I had forgotten my bag. I mentally kicked myself for the mistake and trotted back over to retrieve it. As I grabbed it, Jimmy spoke again.
"Nice job Vortex, you sure you didn't leave it on purpose?"
"What? Why would I do that?"
"I don't know, maybe because you didn't want to say goodbye to me yet." Oh god, it seems no matter how old we get, his ego will never dissipate.
"News flash Neutron, we'll both be here all week. I'm sure we'll see eachother at some point."
"Perfect how does tomorrow night sound?"
"Wait what?" Did he just ask me out on a date? Why on earth would he do that? I could instinctively feel the butterflies in my stomach and tried to focus on keeping my cool but he made it hard.
"Yeah I'm having Sheen, Carl and Libby over to the lab tomorrow night if you want to come!" Oh.. So that's what he meant, for some reason I was disappointed and I could only hope that I didn't show it.
"Uh yeah sure! That sounds great, just text me tomorrow when to come over." I said with a smile. As disappointed as I might've been, I was also excited to hangout with the whole gang. What's weird is that I didn't know about it sooner. Usually I hangout with Sheen, Carl and Libby while I'm home and I've been texting Libby for the last week about our plans this next week and she never mentioned going to Neutron's.
As I opened my front door, I found my mom sitting on the couch reading a magazine and my dad was nowhere to be found. I decided to take a seat next to her seeing as how she's been calling me nonstop all day.
"Hey mom," she was so engrossed in her magazine she must not have even heard the door open because when I said hey, she nearly jumped out of her own skin.
"Good Lord Cynthia! Are you trying to give me a heart attack! I swear-CYNTHIA! Oh darling I'm so glad you got here safe and sound!" She wrapped me up in a big hug and for a second I couldn't even breathe, she just kept squeezing me and telling me she missed me. Normally my mom isn't super affectionate, but occasionally she'll crack and do things like this. When she finally released me and I was able breathe again, I got to finally ask her about the whereabouts of my dad.
"Hi Mother, I missed you too. Where's Dad?" I asked looking around.
"Oh you know your father. Our shower head wasn't working quite right so he tried to fix it himself and only made it worse so now he's at the hardware store." Ahhh, makes sense. Growing up, whenever something was broken, my dad would try and fix it but would only end up breaking it more to the point beyond repair.
"He should be home soon though dear, why don't you go set your stuff down and get changed into something nice, let's all go to dinner tonight to celebrate your safe trip home."
"Yes Mother," I replied as I grabbed my bag and head upstairs.
As I changed into a nice dress and a pair of heels, I put on some lip gloss and fixed my hair and makeup. Knowing my parents, a simple dinner would be anything but simple. Growing up, any occasion we celebrated was always done so by dressing up and going to a very nice restaurant, so that's what I prepared for. I heard my dad come home so I came downstairs and sure enough, there's my mom in a beautiful dress looking like she's going to a wedding or something.
"Ah darling you're ready, perfect. I was able to get us a last minute reservation at Marggiano's, I know it's your favorite Cynthia. Now, let's get in the car and get going shall we?" My dad and I followed my mom out into the car and drove off.
As we sat at the restaurant and talked about how my semester was going so far, I heard the familiar laugh I had just heard a few hours prior. I turned and saw the Neutrons eating a few tables over, I quickly turned back towards my parents and resumed the conversation before he caught me staring. Later as my parents looked over the dessert menu, I excused myself and walked over to the restroom. I checked myself in the mirror and fixed my hair, washed my hands and walked out. As soon as I walked out I bumped right into the genius himself.
"Oh Miss I'm sorry- Cindy? Wow you look incredible." Normally I wouldn't believe a word he said but he seemed sincere and it was sweet, I gave him a genuine smile and decided that I would be nice in return.
"Thank you, you clean up pretty great yourself." He made me laugh by fanning himself and making a big deal out of my compliment.
"Miss Vortex that is so nice of you to say. You know I worked really hard on my hair and my makeup and everything, so I appreciate the-" I was laughing and I could tell he was just making fun of me for dressing up so much, I lightly smacked him in the arm. His eyes lit up and he smiled at me. Now that we weren't constantly at eachother's throats, I could see him for who he really was. Even though he can be egotistical, he's actually really funny and very attractive.
"So are you here on a date or something?" He asked me, I wanted to ask why he cared but I just shook my head no and explained.
"No, I'm here with my parents. You know how they can be, everything is a grand occasion and must be celebrated as so." I said rolling my eyes, I then continued to ask him why he was here. After all, it's not like the Neutron's to go out to such a nice restaurant like this. "What are you doing here though? Are you on a date?" I already knew the answer, but I wanted to know if he had a girlfriend and I thought that by asking a question like that he'd indicate whether or not he had one, but he didn't. He just shook his head and put his hands in his pockets as he spoke.
"I wanted to take them out for a nice dinner, now that I'm making a nice salary, I want to do as much for them as possible. Their anniversary was last week actually so I wanted to make sure they got to have a nice dinner." I hated to admit it, but that was a really nice thing for him to do. I also hated that I could feel my heartbeat starting to pick up as I talked to him, I couldn't get my hopes up again for nothing.
"Well that's awesome of you Jimmy, I should probably be getting back to my parents, but I'll see you tomorrow?" I said, trying not to sound too desperate or hopeful. He smiled and nodded his head yes.
"Of course, I'll see you tomorrow Cin, enjoy your night," I smiled back at him and walked away. As I was walking back, I forgot that I would be passing his table and I smiled at his mom and she immediately got up from the table and gave me a big hug. I missed his mom, she's been there for me through a lot. A few years ago my parents were on the brink of a separation and it was miserable, but I found a lot of comfort in her. She always let me come over and do homework there in peace and quiet. Plus, she gives the best hugs, I gave her a megawatt smile as she enveloped me in a hug.
"Aw Cindy! You look so beautiful! I've missed you these last few months, sweetheart! I'd love it if you came over tomorrow afternoon, we could have some lunch, I'd love to hear how your semester is going!"
"Aw I've missed you too Mrs. Neutron, that sounds so wonderful! I'd love to! Just have Jimmy text me whenever!" I said as I gave her one more hug, I waved to Mr. Neutron and thanked him again for the ride home from earlier and smiled at Jimmy who looked shell-shocked. I laughed quietly to myself as I sat down, since he didn't live here anymore he never knew how close I got with his mom, that's really funny, I thought as I sat down.
I woke up the next morning feeling really groggy and stiff so I decided to go for a quick run to really wake up and loosen up my joints. The cool November morning air felt so nice and refreshing compared to the warm California weather where it's still over 80 degrees at all times. As I was finishing up and ready to jog home, I got a text from Jimmy.
'Hey Vortex, my mom wants to know if you can come over around 12:30? And then after that if you wanna just stay and hangout in the lab til the rest of the gang gets here that's cool too.' I smiled, this week was going to be a lot better than I had imagined, I thought as I began the trek back home.
I showered and changed into a comfy pair of jeans and blouse. It had warmed up since this morning but it was only going to be about 70 degrees out today. I still had plenty of time before my lunch with Judy, so I decided to get my laptop out and work on my research paper. It wasn't until I got a call from Jimmy that I realized how much time had passed.
"Hey Vortex, you coming?"
"Yeah why wouldn't I?"
"Well, considering its 12:45, and you were supposed to be fifteen minutes ago, my mom got a little worried."
"Wait what?! It's that late? Oh my gosh I'm sorry, tell your mom I'll be over in just a sec!" With that, I hung up the phone and quickly grabbed my purse and head out the door. I felt so awful, hopefully she'll understand. I walked up to the door and knocked and almost immediately Jimmy answered the door, he had a disapproving look on his face but I could tell it was just to give me a hard time, it wasn't genuine. I cracked a smile at his theatrics and waltzed right past him to his mom in the kitchen.
"Mrs. Neutron I'm so sorry! I got caught up doing a research paper and lost track of time!"
"Oh honey don't even worry about it! I actually just finished a batch of the lavender honey cookies you love! I just got worried that's all." She said as she gave me a big hug then put a tray of cookies on a cooling rack. She was right though, those lavender honey cookies were my favorite. Normally, the sound of a cookie that flavor would gross me out, but these were different, they were like sugar cookies but better.
We sat down and began talking, she asked me the usual questions like how school is going, do I like my professors, we talked about how Jimmy is a professor and how his classes were going. We talked about my parents, my mom specifically and how things are going between me and her. We talked about everything, she's been the one person, besides Libby, who I know I can tell anything to and she won't judge me, I can trust her and that's not something I can say about most people.
"You guys done talking about me yet?" I heard Jimmy say as I reach for another cookie.
"Ehhhh not yet," I replied as I looked at him and winked. I wasn't much of a flirt growing up, but with him I couldn't resist.
"Oh really Vortex?" He was challenging me. My skin was heating up, I knew if I wasn't already blushing that I would be soon.
"Oh yes Neutron," I said as I stood up to face him. As I was about to take a bite of my cookie, he swiped it out of my hand and ate it. My jaw dropped and I stared at him wide eyed, he just smiled and winked.
"You snooze you lose Vortex"
"Well played Neutron, well played."
"I aim to please." He winked at me once more and I knew at this point I had to be blushing, I was so consumed with my conversation with Jimmy that I forgot that his mom was still there.
"Well you guys, I need to go do some grocery shopping, Jimmy honey why don't you and Cindy go get some ice cream or hangout in the lab?"
He looked at me and gave me a sly grin and then said, "Mom that's a great idea! Cindy, let's go down to the lab, I've made some improvements over the years that I'm sure you haven't seen."
"Um, okay," was all I could get out of my mouth. He held his arm out for me and I obediently linked my arm with his and followed him out. I turned back and thanked Mrs. Neutron and she gave me a knowing smile and winked at me. I'll bet she had this planned the whole time, I should've known.
"I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised when you see what I've done with the place." I rolled at my eyes at his cocky attitude but followed him up to the door nonetheless. I looked him at expectantly waiting for him to open the door but he just stood there staring at me.
"Go ahead, open the door." He said to me, I was confused.. Wasn't he the only one who could open the door? Wasn't it DNA activated? Nonetheless I did as I was told and reached for the door knob.
"Access denied. State your name." Vox said in a robotic tone.
"Uh Cindy Vortex"
"Welcome Cindy Vortex"
I was stunned. I looked at him with amazement in my eyes. He granted me access to the lab? I wonder if he did that for everyone. He smiled at me and placed his hand on the bottom of my back and led me in.
"Come on, there's more." I was so intrigued. I excitedly followed him in down the stairs. All the familiar sights and smells I'd grown up with and missed so much. I hadn't been down here in years, so much had changed yet at the same time, so much was the same. As we got into the main area, there were photos all over the lab from our childhood, so many of these I didn't even know existed. There were photos of me on the island, photos of all of us on Mars, a photo of me and Libby eating in the supply closet in the renovated McSpanky's. There were probably two dozen photos of all of us scattered around. One was slightly bigger than all the others. It was of us kissing after our news show. I couldn't take my eyes off it, so many years I've thought of that moment and wished it would've happened again. I guess now maybe it can, but for so long I had lost hope in that.
"That one's my favorite," he said as he stood next to me and pointed to the one of us kissing. I blushed and asked him why. He said that that moment took more courage than any adventure we had ever been on. I couldn't tell if he was just saying it to be smooth or if he really meant it, either way I swooned.
"That's really sweet Jimmy, my favorite is this one," I said as I pointed to a picture of him in his N-Men costume and smirked at him.
"Oh really? Then I change my mind, this one is my real favorite." He said as he pointed to a picture of me and Libby with smoothie coming out of our noses the day he invented that stupid invention that rewinded time. God I hated that day. I playfully swatted his arm and called him an ass.
"Oh I'm just kidding, relax Vortex. So tell me, what has Cynthia Vortex been up to these last few years?" He asked me as he sat down on a couch, I followed him over and wanted to retort with a remark about how if he hadn't gone to college at the age of 13 then he would've known, but I bit my tongue.
"Well, let's see. You know a little bit about my high school career already. I was a cheerleader and soccer player, I ended up being Valedictorian which my mom was pleased about. I mean, other than that it was pretty standard."
"What about dating? You've never mentioned any boyfriends or anything over the years?"
"Eh, you know the guys here. None of them would ever be able to hold an intellectual conversation and other than Nick, none of them are super attractive as rude as that is to say."
"Ahhh yes, Mr. Nick Dean. How did he end up being? I was hoping he'd mature but I never got the chance to find out."
"Yeah the jury's still out on that one. He's still causing trouble every now and then. He's been dating this girl who lives in Houston for like two years now, no one thought it'd last but they're surprisingly really cute."
"Oh okay, well what about college? How's that been? UCLA so far has been pretty good to me, but how has it been for you?"
"So far so good, I can't complain. My professors are okay, I haven't really made any friends and the nonstop California heat kind of sucks but I mean, it's LA, I can't complain."
"Any guys interest you there?" I didn't know why he was so interested in my dating life, maybe he's got a girlfriend of his own and he wants to double date or maybe he's got a friend he wants to set me up with. Either way, as corny as it sounds, no one compares to him. He's always been my standard.
"Eh, there's one but he'll never see me as anything but a friend." As I said that we made direct eye contact and I had hoped that he got the hint but when it comes to romance he was never Shakespeare.
"Well I wouldn't say that. Come on Cin, you're the whole package. First off, you're smoking hot and second, you're brilliant. I mean, I think you're perfect," he finished that last sentence a little quieter than the rest of his response and he looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. I blushed and looked away. I didn't quite know what to say in response to that, luckily I didn't have to though because not even ten seconds later Sheen and Carl were banging on the door to the lab.
"Jim it's us! Let us in!" They kept yelling, as annoying as they can be, they were two of my best friends besides Libby. Over the last few years, I often felt as if I was closer to them than Jimmy was. I felt a little bad for him though because I think he picked up on that a little over the years. Jimmy let them in and they dropped down the tube onto the floor. I laughed at Sheen's dramatics as he yelled at Carl to get off him. When they noticed me sitting there they jumped up and came over to say hi.
"Cin what the heck! Libby didn't tell us you came home already!"
"It's because I wanted it to be a surprise you nimrods," I heard Libby say as she dropped in right behind them. My face lit up and she rushed over and gave me a warm hug.
"Hi guys, I've missed you so much, you have no idea how snotty and fake the people are in California. It's nice to see some familiar faces." I said as I gave each of them a hug. Jimmy came up next to me and waved to them all.
"Uhh don't forget about me guys, you know.. The guy who owns this lab who you haven't seen in months!"
"Oh relax Jim! We were gonna come say hi, we can't wait to hear all about teaching and how that's going," Carl said, Sheen was stuffing some candy bar into his mouth but nodded in agreement.
"Yeah Jimmy, come on. You know I gotta say hi to my home girl first." Libby said as she came up and give him a hug.
"Alright alright, well let's sit down, I'll get some food out in just a minute and we'll watch a movie and hangout, sound good?" We all nodded in agreement and sat down. That night was great, it was some of the most fun I've had in ages. I forgot how funny Jimmy could be, I was laughing nearly the whole night. I noticed as the wore on, we subtly got closer and closer until we were smushed up against eachother on the couch. It was electrifying being this close to him. We all sat and talked and hung out, we reminisced about old adventures, Jimmy's old rivals who all gave up on trying to destroy him. When it started getting late, we decided to call it a night, Carl was the first to leave, then Sheen and Libby and lastly me. For some reason, I was reluctant to go back home, I had so much fun with Jimmy and I didn't want it to end. Right before I was about to walk out, he called my name, I turned around and he walked up to me and kissed me.
"What was that for?" I asked completely stunned.
"I've just been wanting to do that again for a really long time, I'm sorry." He said looking down as he blushed, I put my hands on either side of his face and lifted it so his eyes were looking straight at mine and kissed him. We stood there for maybe five minutes just taking eachother in. He was intoxicating.
"What was that for?" He said smiling and blushing.
"I've just been wanting to do that again for a really long time," I said smirking. He beamed at me and pulled me in close.
"Oh Vortex I've missed you and your wit."
"Same goes to you Neutron, it is getting late though and I need to be up wake tomorrow to set the table and clean the house before my family gets here." I said as I pulled away and head for the door. He followed me and walked me out.
"Goodnight Cin, I'll see you tomorrow maybe?"
"Definitely," he said with a chaste kiss goodnight.
For the first time in years, I've got a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
A/N: Hope you guys liked it! Let me know what you think! And I know it seems like she's kind of trash talking California, it's just out of frustration and how different it is from Texas. I live in LA and I know how frustrating it can all be, but it's not in a negative way!
Please review!:)