The Eleventh Day of Christmas
"Hey Jack, Lucy!"
The Davis' turned around to see Jimmy Barclay waving at them as he ran up from the bus station.
"It's great to see you guys again! It's been, what, two years since the Small Town contest?"
"Yup. We were thrilled to find out you were going to be stopping by here on your way to Pokenberry Falls for Christmas." Jack greeted.
"Well, it's really thanks to Curt; he took initiative for once and called me to see if the four of us would like to meet during the holidays."
"Speaking of Curt, where is he?" Lucy asked, glancing around the snow-covered area.
"Oh, he said he'd meet us at Whit's End. Let's head over there now," Jack suggested, and the three friends headed over to the popular ice cream emporium.
A gust of cold air swept into the shop as the door swung open and Jimmy entered followed by Mr. and Mrs. Lucy Cunningham-Shultz-Davis and Jack. Jared DeWhite's head swung up from where he had been staring at the floor, then glared suspiciously at the newcomer. After a few seconds his gaze dropped back down to the floor.
I knew it… I knew she wouldn't come.
"I wonder where Curt is…" Jimmy wondered out loud, then he spotted the blond man leaning back in a chair at a table nearby. A few seconds later, Curt noticed them as well.
"Hi guys!" Curt called, waving the three over to their table.
"Hello, Curt, It's great to see you again," Jack greeted cheerfully, stopping for a moment before sitting down to offer a chair to his wife. Lucy smiled back at her husband and sat down before engaging Curt in conversation.
"So, how have you been doing Curt?"
"Pretty good; I'm in my senior year of college this year, and after that I'm planning to—"
"Hiya, kiddo!" A voice cut Curt off.
Lucy blinked. That voice sounded very familiar… where had she heard it before. It almost sounded like… no, it couldn't be him…
The brunette woman whirled around in her seat to come face to face with Richard Maxwell.
"Richard!" Lucy cried happily at the sight of her friend. "What are you doing here?"
"I just moved back to Odyssey, and Mr. Whittaker is giving me a job for the holidays. It's only temporary, but I hope to start working here full time if possible. So, what have you been up to? It's been a while since I've seen you."
"Well, first off, I'd like you to meet my husband. Jack, this is Richard Maxwell, a friend of mine." Lucy introduced.
At the revelation that Lucy was married Jack could swear Richard looked crestfallen for a second, but if he was, he quickly hid the fact.
"Wow, you really have grown up," Richard noted fondly. "It's nice to meet you, Jack." Richard managed to keep himself from mentioning how lucky Jack was; the man had to be aware of that fact.
"Well, it's great to catch up with you again!"
"Hey Richard, are you just going to do catching up or are you going to give me a hand over here?"
The five turned in their seats to see Jason Whittaker standing there, balancing two trays of hot chocolate.
"Oh, uh, sorry Jason." Richard apologized, then grabbed one of the trays. "Hot chocolate, anyone?"
Lucy giggled slightly. "Sure."
Jared DeWhite let out a sigh. Mandy had said she'd meet him here this evening, but in a few more hours there wouldn't be any more evening left. He shouldn't have gotten his hopes up… he knew she rarely thought of him even as a friend in the best of circumstances… but he had his paranoid younger self to thank for that. I mean sure, the president was most likely an alien, and he was positive someone would soon try to capture him and use his brilliant mind to try and enslave the human race (it was only a matter of time, really); but he sometimes wished he hadn't acted quite so weird around Mandy. Then maybe she would feel the same way about him as he…
The bell above the door tinkled merrily, and Jared raised his head slowly… to see Mandy enter. He best friend Liz was with her, but hey, at least she came!
"Hey Mandy," Jared said, trying to act casual. "So you came."
"Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?"
"We are getting free hot chocolate out of this, right?" Liz stipulated as she and Mandy sat down.
"Yes," Jared sighed. "I… uh, I am really glad you came Mandy."
The girl smiled softly, then reached her hand out under the table and squeezed Jared's hand.
"Of course, Jared."
Jared grinned back at her.
"Woah, what's going on?" Liz exclaimed loudly.
"Uh, nothing, nothing," Jared said quickly, pulling away from Mandy and looking away, trying to act like he was looking for one of the employees to order their drinks.
Mandy giggled. Jared was always interesting, that was for sure.
Author's Notes: Here's my first AIO fic! Sorry it didn't turn out as well as I hoped, I was kinda tired while writing this. ^^" And Connie and Eugene are in the picture but not here, so… sorry!