Author: bbvc/bbvcool/bobo
Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Once & Again or any of the characters from the show. But the story is mine… yups… and any character not from the show (if I create any).
Rating: PG-13
Synopsis: AU. Jessie and Tad have been together for a while now, and luckily they're both heading back to their hometown after college. Katie is Tad's best friend who is and has been visually impaired for nearly half her life…
A/N: Well, I'm still in the midst of studying for exams in November… so yeah. Life is busy, and I won't be updating regularly until after exams. But this idea just wouldn't leave me alone – I just had to write on it.
Uh, this actually took me longer to write than expected… mainly because I wrote the whole thing in 1st person POV at the beginning but felt it awry, so I had to go through it all again and change everything back to my normal 3rd person POV. Hahaha. If it sounds weird at some places, I apologise… It was kinda hard change from 1st person back to 3rd.
Without further ado, here's my latest piece. One LAST note: time jumps quite quickly for the first two 'chapters'.
Part 1: Introduction…
Life could not have been better for her; she has a loving family… quite a large one as a matter of fact. She also has a boyfriend who absolutely adores her, sometimes maybe a little too much, but there isn't any harm in that of course. I guess you can say that she has had a smooth flowing college career; aspiring to become a doctor and now to place the icing on the cake, she's already earned herself a placement to become and intern at the hospital back in her hometown, Evanston, Illinois. Yes, life couldn't have been any better for her, Jessica Sammler. Sadly, it seems there is always something missing – 'maybe it's the perfectionist in me', she continually tells herself, I mean what could possibly be wrong with a life that seemingly is flawless? - Now anyways.
"Hey Jessie!"
The blonde just couldn't help but smile hearing the upbeat voice of her boyfriend every time on the phone, there's no mistaking him ever. "Hey, what's up?"
"Was wondering whether you might need any help packing up your stuff…"
"I was waiting for you to call," she laughed looking around the mess which she's called home for the past 5 years.
"Ah, I thought so, I'll come by in 10, bye!"
And that was Tad for you, he has got to be the tidiest ex-jock in the history of jocks (stereotypical of course). The greatest thing was, the tidier he is the better for Jessie, because even she must admit, she lives in a total mess of an apartment the majority of the time – not that she's dirty or unhygienic, just messy. All in all, he's punctual, something the blonde still needs to master, he's tidy, caring and everything you need in a boyfriend… was way too caring mentioned?
Now that we're on the topic… well, Jessie met Tad some years ago back in high school, when he was senior and she a junior. He surprisingly tried out for the school play. Yes the lead jock at the time did school plays, thus the surprising factor. Well for the record, he was the lead male, but then again the play's lead character was really Grace, Jessie's sister… or step-sister if you want to be utterly accurate. Anyways, no they have not been dating since high school just in case you were wondering; therefore he wasn't her high school sweetheart or anything along those lines. In all actuality, they didn't even talk much during or after the production; the most they'd say to each other was a nice and polite greeting like a 'Hello' when they crossed paths along the hallways.
May be it was fate that brought them together… corny indeed. But corniness aside for a second, they did manage to choose the same college and somehow on some particular day met each other on the enormous campus. Skipping past all the cheesy bits… when the two really got comfortable in their relationship, Tad finally told her that he had actually wanted to ask her out after the school play, but never brought up the courage to. It was of course totally flattering, though it still felt absolutely weird for Jessie to think about the fact that he had a crush on her since high school. Nevertheless, there they are now, happily dating.
Well, after a confession like that, it was inevitable that the blonde asked why he had brought up the courage to ask her out now. He explained that his best friend, who was also the most popular girl in school at the time, had finally persuaded him to go for it.
Though Jessie thought that sounded fairly weird, because wasn't it a universal rule that the most popular girl would normally date THE head jock? Or perhaps it was the head cheerleader who dated the head jock… or maybe that was Hollywood's stereotypical high school relationships for you. But somehow, it still bugged Jessie out; you'd presume the most popular girl, so he claims, would be fairly decent looking if not drop dead gorgeous, don't all guys fall for those type of girls? Something just didn't add up.
All the same, Jessie never questioned him further, only glad that his friend threw some courage into him – because questions like why your boyfriend never dated their best friend would normally lead to some 'discomfort'. Not that she remembers this girl anyways, probably because she herself was way too buried in her books to have noticed anyways – well that, or she was just excessively self conscious of herself to have noticed others around her. Jessie did however ask Grace about 'Miss Popular' once when they were both home for their annual Christmas dinner.
Grace just shrugged and answered, "Yeah, she was quite the popular little bird…" and then she'd whisper the last bit, "oddly enough…"
Though the blonde tried probing on her sister's "oddly enough," but she just dismissed it and said it was nothing.
Grace… as mentioned before, is Jessie's older sister. Thankfully they have grown out of the days where they were at each other's throat and seemingly on the verge of biting each other's heads off… metaphorically speaking of course. But I guess the distance in their relationship when Grace decided to go interstate for college made it more bearable? Or perhaps it was them growing up and maturing – because now that they both reminisce the past, they realise the things they ever fought over was predominantly small and most impractical things. However, for Jessie, there's no denying that even when they hated each other's guts, Grace was somehow one of the few who really understood her.
Which kind of was the main factor as to why Jessie told Grace about her relationship with Tad first… the blonde could've swore her sister was so shocked she fell off her chair. It's either that or she just dropped the phone. Guess she didn't see that one coming… nor would anyone else for that matter.
Then there's Zoë, Jessie's other sister. She's definitely an eccentric one, not in a bad way by any means. From any recollection, the last time Jessie checked up on her, she was still studying photography… or was it psychology? As you can see, she's very flexible and diverse in her learning. But that's not the only thing… she is also very… um, with no better words at the moment, well, she has a different boyfriend virtually every week. Everyone has given up keeping track of them; it inevitably gave them great headaches. One of Zoë's motto could possibly, 'you have no idea how much you're missing out by staying monogamous'.
Before this tangent extends any further, Jessie would need to do some packing as she has just over a week to pack and leave for home…
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Who would've thought travelling alone to be so exhilarating – definitely not Katie. Okay, 'alone' is a little inaccurate, because she's actually staying with a friend. But for the most part, she wanders around the unfamiliar streets alone; definitely close enough to being alone. She had always thought she'd never be able to do it alone. But here she is, proving herself and the world wrong. It's great when one can just get a break from family and friends, not having them on your back worrying about your every movement. Though she loves her family dearly, it just gets a little suffocating being around them for the 23 years of her life.
Now that she thinks of it, she doesn't even remember when this particular idea sprung into her mind. All she can recall at this very moment is the gruelling process of arguing her way into this trip with her parents, and finally successfully persuading her over protective parents to allow her to go on this trip alone.
'Europe surely is as beautiful as people say it is…' Katie sat thinking on a nice afternoon, enjoying her coffee. Just at that very moment, something vibrating tickled her through her jeans. She slid the phone out of her pocket and flipped it open, "Hello, Katie speaking?"
"Where on earth are you?"
"Europe… more specifically, in London I believe." Smiling at the voice coming from the other end, Katie could just picture the guy's face.
"What the hell are you doing in London? And alone? You didn't bother telling me about it? I just got back to Evanston and went looking for you. Your mom then told me you were on a trip!"
"Woah, hey, hold on for a second, you've gotta quit springing questions at me. Anyways, I just felt like a break from my family, 23 years is a while you know. And yes I'm alone, well… I do have my dog with me. AND, I'm not even living by myself, I'm staying with a friend." The dirty-blonde answered indifferently as she continued to drink her coffee and listened on to his ranting.
"Could've told me, you had me worried! By the way, when did you ever get a dog?"
"Tad, chill out… it's just a little trip; I can take care of myself. And if you must know, I got it a few months after you went back to your cosy life with your girlfriend."
"You know if I weren't so busy right now moving in, I'd book myself a ticket and come looking for you…"
"I know Tad…" I chuckled exasperatedly, "But you know what, I've been here for a week, and it's been nothing short of amazing."
"Yeah well you be careful okay, anyways, I really have to go, my girlfriend really has to learn how to pack and unpack."
Katie shakes her head, "Alright, see you soon!"
As I was just about to hang up, I here him calling for me again, "yeah?"
"When are you coming back?"
"Depends…"
"On what?"
"On whether I want to go back or not."
"You have to."
"Oh yea? Really, why's that?" Ten guesses why! Though Katie personally would like it to be something along the lines of, 'I've missed you, or I haven't seen you in too long.' But knowing him, she has a feeling it has to do with his 'Jessie'.
"You haven't even met Jessie yet, I've talked to you about her for like three years now, and yet you guys have never met." And what do you know!
"And that matters why? Oh, and for the record, you've been talking about her prior to your so called 'three years', I'd say some time…"
"Okay, okay! Is it so bad for a guy to have his best girls meet up! Plus, I'm sure you'd love her. And even if you don't get along with her, for my sake, pretend that you do."
"Yeah, because that is just something you can control… Anyways, any last words?"
"Come back soon!"
"Got the message. Bye!"
"Bye."
A/N: Comments/Criticisms? Or just to drop bye and say hello, whatever is all welcome by me. Want more… well then ask for more… Whether I'll post more is my problem though… moohahahhaa.
Oh, an if there are any errors, or some bits sound totally weird. I'm sorry, it's really the result of a total change of POV.