Hi there! I'm trying something new, in a hope that it will assist me in my fight against writer's block. :-) Just to clarify, though there are a lot of the same characters, this story is in no way connected to An Honorary Penderwick. Enjoy!
Five and a half years after Point Mouette...
Skye Penderwick was staring at her cell phone, not believing the conversation that had just taken place. She was getting really sick of this. For the last seven months, she and her family members had been trying coordinate a get-together with Jeffrey Tifton, their best friend. Up until recently, they had been able to keep in close contact and visit often, despite living hours away from each other.
Seven months ago, however, something had changed. All of the sudden, Jeffrey had bailed out of their annual summer reunion. Though they didn't know it at the time, this was to be the start of a trend.
When Skye was in Boston for an MIT conference in September, he, conveniently, fell ill. The plan to have him visit Cameron in October also fell flat when, out of the blue, he had a big music concert back in Boston. They had tried again at Thanksgiving, only to have Mrs. T-D say he couldn't come. Not even Skye could blame Jeffery for that, though. In early December, Skye and Iantha had been in Boston for another conference, and planned to see their elusive friend, and yet, once again, he wasn't available. No explanation provided.
Now, a few weeks later, everything had been set. Mrs T-D and Dexter were going to be in Europe for Christmas, and Alec was going to be in South America, so the plan was to have Jeffrey spend it in Cameron. And yet, at the last minute, he was staying in Boston. Skye couldn't understand it. He had sounded eager enough on the phone. Sure, she had understood the first few times, but this was getting ridiculous.
Anyone in their right mind would think that Jeffrey was purposefully avoiding them. This thought nearly sent Skye up the wall. Jeffrey! Avoiding them! Avoiding her! How dare he? Didn't he know that he was her best friend? For Pete's sake, she hadn't seen him in nearly 10 months. She missed him, and she knew that the rest of her family felt likewise.
Shoving her phone into her pocket, she sighed. Well, she wasn't one to dwell on things. If Jeffrey wasn't going to put any effort into their friendship; if he was, in fact, going to go out of his way to avoid it, then she certainly wasn't going to waste the energy.
Sure, she missed him. She loved him like a member of the family. He was an honorary Penderwick. And yet, Skye knew that friendship lost a lot of its charm when it was forced. She would continue to miss him for a while, but she would eventually get over it. People always did. That was life.
Meanwhile, in Boston...
Jeffrey Tifton threw his phone down on his bed and glared at it. Now he was going to have to spend Christmas alone. Why on Earth had he just done that? And yet, he knew the answer. Skye.
Stunning, strong, stubborn, funny, brilliant, no-nonsense Skye Penderwick who would never speak to him again if she knew how he felt about her. She would never forgive him for 'ruining' their friendship by falling head-over-heels in love with her. The irony was that he was ruining it anyway.
Nine months ago, his emotions had hit him right between the eyes. No warning; just - bang! He was waving to her from the window of the car as he drove away from Cameron, where he had spent his spring break. All of the sudden, someone had said something to her, and she had thrown her head back in laughter. The sunlight had sparkled off of her dark blonde hair, her smile shine bright, and he had almost crashed the car.
That was start of it, and it had gotten worse every day. And so, in order to keep their friendship in tact, he hadn't allowed himself to see her. If he did, he was sure that he wouldn't be able to keep up the facade of friend for more than a few seconds.
And yet, every time he had to call and cancel, it was harder than the time before. He could feel their friendship slipping through his fingers every time he picked up that stupid phone. Skye was very practical and he knew that it was just a matter of time before she stopped trying to keep their relationship going.
The first few times he had left her hanging, she had sounded very disappointed. The tone gradually shifted from disappointment to acceptance. A few minutes ago, however, her voice contained neither of these emotions. Just irritation.
Their friendship was dying because of his efforts to keep it in tact. Life was a funny thing.
One month later, Boston...
Skye smiled at Dr Breskow, a young mathematician and professor who was Iantha's best friend and Skye's house-mate for the week. She was back at MIT for a lecture series, and for an interview with the Dean. The topic of her studies for the next seven days was black holes, and Skye couldn't wait. Penelope Breskow opened the refrigerator and stuck her head in.
"I'm starving! What do you like to eat, Skye?"
"Oh, anything. Surprise me. What does your week look like?"
"Just some classes. I have a group of my students coming over for a discussion of the validity of repeated zeros tomorrow night, which I think you might enjoy. We'd be thrilled if you would join us."
"Cool! I think I will."
Penelope was currently throwing things onto the counter. From the look of it, she was going to prepare a feast.
"Have you call your friend here in town, Skye? We're going to have a lot of food here. Maybe he could join us?"
"Jeffrey? No, I actually haven't called him. This next week looks pretty hectic for me and he's always busy."
The professor paused her frantic preparations and looked at Skye over her shoulder, her expression unreadable.
"Don't you think you should at least call him?" Skye sighed and shook her head.
"No, not really."
"Skye? What aren't you telling me?" The blonde shook her head and laughed.
"Nothing. He's just been busy, that's all. I don't want to be one more thing that he has to do."
"Well, that's life!" Skye nodded. Wasn't it ever?
Please let me know what you think! This will probably be about 4 or 5 chapters long.