Kim smiled and turned around. "Hello Katherine." The shocked looks on their faces made Kim smile inwardly.
"Kimberly?" Kat looked at the petite brunette in shock. She hadn't expected to see her, though it really shouldn't surprise her as she knew that Tommy and Kim had been best friends in high school. She looked over the girl, taking note of her appearance; Kim still looked the same that she did in high school, except, now, her brown hair was longer, reaching the small of her back and her body was a bit more tanned and toned. Kat couldn't believe how gorgeous the girl had become.
"What are you guys doing back here?" Kim asked. "You're not supposed to unless you've got a pass."
"We could ask you the same thing," Veronica sneered.
"None of your business," Kim glared at the dark haired girl before looking back at Kat. "Uncle Jon says you want to see Tommy."
"Yeah," Kat nodded.
"Why?" Kim asked.
Kat opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Melanie.
"Whoa!" her attention was past them. "Is that Tommy?"
Kat and the others looked to where she was staring and couldn't help the gasps that escape them. Tommy looked different; his long dark locks were gone, now he had them cut short and spiked which looked beyond hot, he wasn't as tanned as he used to be, but it still looked amazing on him, and his body was slightly more muscled than it was in high school. Kat had thought that high school Tommy was hot, but the Tommy walking towards them now was beyond hot, he was drop dead gorgeous.
Oblivious to the group of gawking women, Tommy walked up to Kim, and pulled her against him in a tight embrace. "Man! Still can't believe we did it, Beautiful!"
"You did it Tommy, and everyone knew you would."
His smile grew at that. "This just feels right doesn't it? I mean, how perfect is it that everything is coming together like this, first with my carreer taking off, and now the ba-"
"Tommy!" Kim interupted him.
"What? Worried about the camera crew? Who cares if they find out, I don't want to hide it and if th — Kat?" Tommy stopped, finally noticing the blonde and her possey, all of whom were still staring in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"Um...Hi Tommy," Kat shook the uneasiness in her stomache and moved to give him a hug, but was stopped when not only did Kim step into her path, but Tommy moved back.
Tommy looked from Kim to the blonde and back again. Everyone stood there awkwardly for a moment, before Uncle John came over, interupting. "Hey, guys, sorry to intrude, but KLTV is over there and want Tommy for a quick interview."
Tommy nodded, "Yeah, I'll just...uh, Kim?"
Kimberly smiled at him. "Go ahead Handsome. I'll catch up with you in a few."
"Okay," Tommy pressed a kiss to her cheek before throwing one last parting glance at the girls and walking away, still in shock. The last time he had seen Kat was graduation; after the blonde's brutal rejection, he had spent the rest of his senior year putting her out of his mind. By the time graduation was over, he was well on his way. His life had gone on, his career took off, he had gotten closer to Kim, and he hadn't thought about Kat in years.
Kat, whose eyes were still on his retreating back. Her gaze broken by Kimberly's voice."What are you really doing here Kat?" The blonde turned her eyes back to Kim.
"I wanted to see Tommy," Kat answered. "I wanted to—
"You wanted to what?" Kim interrupted. "Oh, let me guess, you heard he was racing and you decided that since he's famous now, he's finally good enough for you."
Kat said nothing as she knew that Kim had hit the nail on the head. She looked to her friends, hoping they'd say something, but they were too busy staring at Tommy's form.
"Let me tell you something Katherine," Kim took a step closer to the blonde. "You had your chance with Tommy. He was so in love with you when we were in school and even though I thought you were nothing more than a stuck up, snobby bitch, I would've bit my tongue if I had seen that you made him happy. But you didn't; instead, you ripped out his heart and walked all over it.
"Tommy is the sweetest guy you could ever hope to meet. He would've treated you right, like you were the most important and precious thing to him and you couldn't see past his appearance to see that. All that mattered to you was how a person dressed or how much money they had. Sure Tommy wore shirts that hung off of him and his jeans were always messed up by oil or whatever, but that was only because he was such a hard worker. He was the kind of guy that had preferred helping his uncle out rather than going to a party."
Kat looked away briefly at Kim's words; she knew the brunette was right, about everything; it wasn't anything she herself hadn't thought about, but it still made it hard to hear.
"He was patient and understanding and so totally different from the other boys at school," Kim continued, "meaning, he wasn't a jerk. But you couldn't see that; you couldn't bring your head from out of the clouds long enough to realize that you would have had such an amazing guy as a boyfriend. Well you know what Kat? It was your loss and my gain."
"What?" Kat looked at her with wide eyes.
"Tommy finally saw you as the bitch you were," Kim said, "he finally realized that the only thing you had going for you was your looks and once all that was stripped away, well, what's left just wasn't so appealing anymore. He finally saw that you were nothing more than a spoiled, rich brat that thought the world revolved around her. God, Tommy was so focused on you that his eyes would always find you whenever you were in the room, and you didn't even care enough to notice."
"I did," Kat whispered, but Kim heard her.
"Well, it's too late for that now," Kim smiled. "You see Kat, you and I are complete opposites; not only because of our appearance, but because I was able to recognize a good thing when it was in front of me. And now, I have the most amazing guy totally in love with me. The thing is Kat, in a way, I kind of owe it to you. Tommy was my best friend, and only after you broke his heart did he let me heal it. And only then did I realize that my love for him was way beyond that of a friend. He deserved so much more than you, and once he broke out of that shadow, he could see it as well."
Kat was quiet for a short while as were her friends and they were all looking at Kim.
"Make him happy," Kat said finally.
"I don't need you to tell me that," Kim rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I already do and I plan on doing that for a very long time." Not knowing what to say Kat just nodded. Unfortunately, Tanya wanted to get the last word. "Yeah, okay, maybe Tommy got with you after Kat, but you were just the replacement. Second best. Kat could have Tommy if she wanted him, because he wanted her first." The other's, discluding Kat, nodded in aprovement. Kim just smirked. "Oh really? Alright, wait here." The brunette disapeared for a minute, but returned quickly.
"Well?" Tanya insisted.
"Tommy will join us in a moment," Kim told them," Then you can tell him that for yourself."She told Kat, "Though I really do think your chances are slim."
"And why's that?" Kat asked, unsure how the events had turned this way.
Kim laughed a little. "Well I highly doubt Tommy is going to leave me, his wife, for you, the slut that treated him like dirt, especially since your best defence is your little support group here," she pointed at the other girls, causing Tanya to sneer, "And I'm...well, I'm carrying his child. Who do you think has the better chance?"
Kat's mouth gapped open, just as Tommy walked up. "Hey babe, he put an arm around Kim's waist, "Sorry, they had a lot of questions, now, what was it you needed?"
"Oh not me, Kat." Tommy turned to the blonde, an eyebrow raised. She saw it then. Every horrible thing she had said, or aloud her friends to say, judging people just for having less than she did. Because none of that mattered now. Because she had nothing to show for it. Kimberly hadn't been anything special, or had anymore than the next girl, but she had gotten so much more than Kat, in the end. She had seen a dimond beneath the rust. And she could tell in the way Tommy curved around her small form, that this was where he had always wanted to be. And he was happy, despite what she had done to break him, even if it wasn't on purpose. Guilt of her own foolishness swelled within her.
"Yeah...I was just wondering if we could talk?"
"Sure..." Tommy said hesitantly, glancing down at Kim.
"Do what you need to." She told him, taking his hand and squeezing it.
"Thanks," He smiled at her.
"I'll be by the car, you know the others are gonna want to celebrate."
"Okay, I'll be there in a sec."
She nodded, and Tommy watched her until she disappeared from sight, then turned back to Kat.
She faced the other girls. "Hey, I'll catch you guys in a bit,"
Taking the hint, they agreed to leave, knowing smiles on their faces.
"So you wanted to talk?" Tommy asked once they were gone.
"Yeah...Tommy, I...I owe you an apology. I was horrible to you in school, and I thought I needed- or wanted more and I-," she stopped, struggling to word it right.
"Why now?" Tommy asked, "After all this time? Why now?"
Kat sighed. "Well I heard about you racing and I came with Tanya and them to watch. We were gonna try to get into the pit to see you, but Kimberly, well, she wasn't having it. And she kind of gave me the slap I needed, so to speak."
A smile played on Tommy's mouth, and Kat couldn't help but notice how good he really did look. "Yeah, Kim's got that way about her." He told her.
"So is it true then, about the two of you, I mean." Tommy outright grinned at this.
"Yeah, we got married two years ago."
"And the baby?"
Surprise covered Tommy's face for a moment. "She told you?"
Kat nodded.
"Well then, yeah, she's pregnant. A little over two months along."
She could hear the pride in his voice, and it was something she could understand. It's the same she felt about Jack.
"That's sweet. Do you know what she's having yet?"
"Not yet, but..," he smiled sheepishly, "I kinda want a boy."
That made her laugh. "Oh, I bet! They're a mess though. I have a little boy, so trust me on that one."
"Really?" Tommy questioned.
"Yeah, long and complicated story. But I wouldn't trade him for the world."
Tommy nodded, looking off in the distance. "Man things have changed since high school."
She laughed shakily. "You can say that again!"
She looked up at Tommy and he was staring at her. "Thank you, Kat, really, I...I appreciate it."
"It's the least I could do, and I really am sorry."
"Don't even worry about it...so, I guess that's it."
"Yep," Kat shrugged, "Guess life goes on like normal, congrats on your win, and give Kim my best."
He nodded, running a hand through his hair. "I will, so I'll see you around or something...maybe you can catch a race when we reach the big leagues."
He was joking, she knew, but she still felt compelled to say, " Yeah, you'll make it there, Tommy, but I don't know if I'll catch it. I think we've said everything we need to, and maybe this is all that needs to be said. Now we both have closure, right?"
Her eyes teared up a little and Tommy pulled her in for a light hug.
"You know, your not all bad Kat, and some day, a lucky guy is gonna give you the world. It just took me a while to see that that guy was never meant to be me. Kim's always been my happy ending, it never would have worked between us."
She wiped her eyes, nodding her agreement. "Yeah, but thanks for giving me the chance to tell you I'm sorry."
"No problem, Kat. It was nice to hear. And I meant what I said, you'll find your Mr. Right one day."
"Yeah, I just guess it wont be a greasy race car driver,huh?"
Tommy laughed at that. "Ha, no, probably not a greasy race car driver."
She looked at him one last time."Goodbye Tommy. And thanks.
"Thank you, and take care of yourself." She rolled her eyes with a smile.
"Always have, anyway, I should go."
"Yeah, Kim's waiting on me..."
"Okay, well good luck."
"You too."
And with that she turned to leave, and Tommy for the first time noticed he felt peace in a way he hadn't expected. Shaking his head, he went to find his beautiful wife.
"She gone?" Kim asked when Tommy walked up to where she was talking with Rocky, Jason, Aisha and Trini.
"Yeah," Tommy smiled at her before turning to the others. "Hey guys."
"Hey Tommy," they all answered, following with congradulations on the win.
"Thanks, it actually went better than I planned." He said, coming up behind Kim, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her hard against him.
"So," Aisha looked at her friends. "What'd Kat want?"
"What do you think?" Kim snorted. "Now that Tommy is famous and dresses really good, she finally wanted him."
"She actually thought she had a shot?" Jason raised an eyebrow before turning to look where the blonde and her friends who were just exiting the gate.
"Nah, she actually wanted to apologize for being a bitch back in high school." Tommy informed them.
"Wow..really?" Kim asked, turning to look at him.
He smiled down at her. "Yeah, aparently whatever you said to her hit a mark.
Kim just grinned, leaning her head back against his chest. "Well she needed to hear it."
Tommy hugged her to him, "Thank you babe,"
She nodded before she relaxed into his body, fully.
" So, Lunch?" Aisha suggested.
"Definitely," Rocky nodded enthusiastically causing the others to laugh.
"That doesn't surprise me," Trini shook her head with a smile. "'Sha, your man has a bottomless stomach."
"I know," Aisha groaned as she started walking to where their cars were parked.
Trini, Jason and Rocky followed her laughing.
"You ok?" Tommy stopped Kim before she could move to follow their friends.
"Never better," Kim smiled up at him. "It actually felt really good to say those things to her. I've been wanting to since high school."
"I know what you mean," Tommy laughed before he kissed her. "I love you Mrs. Oliver."
"I love you too Mr. Oliver," Kim smiled at him before she smoothed down the t-shirt she was wearing, grabbed one of his hands and placed it on the now visible small bump. "We both do."
"And I love you both too," Tommy smiled before kissing Kim again. "I love you Beautiful."
"I love you too Handsome," Kim grinned at him. "Now, let's go eat, I'm starving."
The end!