Disclaimer: Alright, you know
what I have to say, I own nothing. Characters and the stuff from the show
belongs to Disney, uhh, I don't know who the Three Musketeers belong to.
Chapter One
Shake Things Up
Jamie
Waite lay in his bunk at the Kingsport EMS station, bored out of his mind. "What
does a guy have to do to shake things up around here?" he wondered,
frustrated. It was summer, but an extremely uneventful one. His best friend,
Catie Roth, had gone to New York for the entire summer, and despite his
persistent begging to go with her, she'd merely left him, with a promise to
write and call, at the airport. His only other source of amusement, his
motorcycle, was at the repair shop for an indefinite amount of time with a
blown engine. As a result he was stuck in Kingsport, with Hank, Val, and Tyler
for company. "I'm stranded with the Three Musketeers of Overachieving."
He thought miserably, looking at the three other EMT's that shared the room
with him. Val was sprawled upside down on the couch reading one of her fashion
magazines. Her blonde hair brushed the carpet and her long legs stuck straight
up in the air. "Looks like a blonde fruit bat." Jamie muttered bemusedly. Tyler
was rocking back in his chair, half-heartedly scanning the paperback book in his
hand, though Jamie noticed that he hadn't turned the page in ten minutes. Hank
sat at the counter, busily finishing the last of yesterday's paperwork. Jamie
felt his brain slowly begin to decay from lack of use. "I need to improve
the dull lives of these Super people!" he decided finally, but he couldn't
think about what he could possibly do. He didn't feel like pegging them with
the expired IV bags from last weeks inventory, and he'd already taken them to
an under 21 club earlier this summer- which he quickly decided he would never
do again. Ever. What he wanted to do
was pull a prank, a monumental one, one that had the possibility of lasting the
entire rest of the summer. His dark eyes scanned the common room far a victim.
Hank was way to serious, if Jamie did anything to him he'd probably mutter
something about "jeopardizing the seriousness and professionalism of the
squad." Or something like that. Val was, in a word, emotional. Happy or sad,
Jamie didn't really want to deal with that, and he also didn't want to face the
wrath of Catie for upsetting her. That left one person- Tyler. Good old Tyler.
'He's too nice for his own good anyway." He watched as Tyler glanced at Val for
what seemed like the 50th time in 5minutes, and a plan formulated in
his mind. Tyler would beat his head in, for sure, but this was just too good
NOT to use. "Hey Val." He said suddenly. The perky blonde looked up from the
article she was reading.
"Yeah Jamie?" she answered. Jamie's
heart pounded against his ribcage, and he swallowed hard before speaking.
"Can I, uh, speak to you for a sec?
Like, outside?" he asked nervously. "Really smooth Waite… what are you
nervous about anyway? It's just Val." "Maybe it's the possibility of being killed by a raging football
player." Another nasty voice said in his head. Tyler
and Hank were staring at him suspiciously, Val sighed
"Does it really need to be that
private? I mean, normally I'd go, but if you haven't noticed, it's like 100
degrees outside, and I really don't want to leave the nice air conditioning."
She put on her pleading face, the one that guaranteed she'd get anything that
she wanted. Jamie nodded slowly, and she gave a relived sigh, "besides, it's
only Hank and Tyler in here, and I'm SURE that they wouldn't pay attention if you
didn't want them to, RIGHT GUYS?" They nodded innocently and turned back to
what they were doing.
"No, I guess it's alright if they
here, better sooner than later anyway." It took everything Jamie had not to
smirk. He'd wanted Hank and Tyler, especially Tyler, to hear what he had to
say. On cue, they looked up, interested. Slowly, he stood up and walked towards
where Val now sat upright on the couch. "Keep a straight face." He
commanded himself silently, taking a deep breath to stifle any laughter. Before
anyone knew what was going on Jamie had dropped down on one knee and taken her
by the hand. Hank, Tyler, and Val thought he'd gone insane, it showed on their
faces. He concentrated on staring into Val's crystal blue eyes.
"W-w-what are you doing." Val stammered,
utterly bewildered. Strangely she found herself unable to disconnect herself
from is gaze. A smile crossed Jamie's face
"Val, I know that what I'm doing
now is, well, beyond odd, but it took me a year to get the nerve to do this…"
he began, "I guess, what I mean is, that I, well, I've been completely crazy
about you ever since I first saw you at EMT orientation." Val gasped, her hand
flew to her mouth
"J-Jamie, I-"
"Just let me finish ok?" Val
nodded, and Jamie took a deep breath, "I was just wondering if…" she looked at
him expectantly, "ifyoumaybewannagooutsometime." He said quickly. She gaped at
him, understanding the meaning of his brand new word, but unable to respond to
it. Tyler and Hank stared disbelievingly, their mouths hanging open as Jamie
gently kissed her hand. It was finally Hank that spoke.
"Ahhh, I get it man, very funny.
HaHa?" he said with a hopeful laugh. It was way to weird to actually be true.
Jamie's face remained completely serious. Apparently it wasn't a joke.
"Jamie," Val began cautiously, her
composure regained. Instinctively she looked over at Tyler, his face frozen in
utter disbelief. Her brain short-circuited. For once, she had no idea what to
do. She knew she could just break his heart, but if she accepted she would then
ruin any chance she had with Tyler. "Jamie, that is really one of the sweetest
things that anyone's ever said to me." She smiled, "Unexpected, yes, but
sweet." She allowed a laugh to escape from her glossed lips. "It's just that I
had no idea about how you felt and you really caught me off guard and-" she
paused as she saw his face fall, "- I'm not saying 'no'… just, I kinda need a
little time to think about this." She said gently, Jamie nodded slowly, the
smile coming back to his lips.
"I understand Val, I mean, I
shouldn't have put so much pressure on you- I'm willing to wait for you to
decide whatever you think is right." Relief washed over her, and she bent to
give him a soft kiss on the cheek.
"Ok Jamie, I promise to give you an
answer soon." She stood up and began to walk out of the room.
"Wait, where are you going?" Jamie
called after her.
"Just to the convenience store at
the corner, I've decided that I need a slushie after all this." she replied,
already at the station door.
"You umm, want me to go with you or
anything?" he asked.
"I'll be alright, just sit tight
and I'll be back in a second." She needed alone time, and a short walk to the
corner provided a good opportunity to sort out her confused thoughts. "You guys
want drinks?" she yelled on her way out. A collective call of "Sure, Thanks!"
came from the common room. She pushed glass doors of the station open and
walked into the mid-morning sunshine.
***
As soon as he was sure that Val had
left the station Tyler sprang out of his chair towards Jamie.
"WHAT-DO-YOU-THINK-YOU'RE-DOING." He sputtered furiously. Jamie backed away
from him defensively.
"H-hey,
you were never going to ask her out anyway, she what's your problem?!" Tyler
growled at him in response, his glare focused on the glossy pink lip print that
Jamie had intentionally neglected to wipe off his cheek.
"You KNEW how much I like her! But you asked her out
anyway, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! She's not even your type! What about Catie, or
Bobbi?" Jamie rolled his eyes.
"First
of all, Bobbi is ancient history, and Catie is my best friend! Besides,
Val is, is, just perfect for me!" he sighed dreamily, a stupid grin on his
face. Hank had to physically restrain Tyler before he steamrolled Jamie. After
a few minutes Tyler finally spoke.
"Jamie,"
he said a little too calmly, "This is joke another one of your famous pranks,
isn't it? You just wanted to tick me off, come on man, it's alright, I won't
tell Val." It was Jamie's turn to glare
"Is
it so unbelievable that someone besides YOU likes Valerie Lanier!? Huh!? If you
haven't noticed Tyler, she's gorgeous! Completely and totally! Not to mention
sweet and cheerful, and caring and fun to be with… just generally a desirable
person! Guys are going to ask her out, ok?" The anger in Tyler's face was
replaced with a pained expression.
"You
don't think I know that? Every time I'm around Val I have to deal with guys
drooling all over her! And now, the one place I thought I could be with her
without any of that happening, here, with you guys at the station, YOU START!
And what's worse, I've never seen her any closer to saying 'yes' before!" Jamie
stared at his friend, who was now sitting forlornly on the couch.
"She,
she was going to say yes?" he stuttered incredulously. Hank shot him a glance
that said "don't push it."
"Well
guys, it seems to me that we've got ourselves a healthy competition going
here." A female voice said in the doorway. They looked up the see Brooke, Val's
12-year-old sister, staring down at them with a funny smile on her face. She'd
heard everything that had been going on. "The only thing I can think of is for
you guys to do is try and see which one of you can win over my very confused
sister." She knew already who would win this contest; Val had a crush on Tyler since
they were in the 9th grade. She turned around and strolled back into
the file room, leaving them to think about what she'd said. Jamie glanced over
at Tyler.
"I'm
for it, you?" Tyler nodded thoughtfully,
"May
the best man win."
***
AN: Ha! How do you like that for a chapter ending! LOL. REVIEW
PLEAAAASE! I'll try to get the next chapter out soon, maybe by Friday or
Saturday… Tell me what you want to happen, because if I get no response I'll
assume that it sucks and stop writing. DON'T FLAME! I don't think I could
handle the rejection!
