* I hope you like this! Please leave reviews!
A New Life
-Chapter 20: Goodbye for Now–
"You know there's only a few days left of summer Jimmy?" Alice asked for what seemed like the millionth time.
"Yes, I know perfectly well summer is almost over. So what?"
"So we need to have the talk."
"'The talk'?"
"Yes, you know, about you and I separating during college, which happens to start next week."
"What's there to talk about? We both agreed we would hold out and wait for each other. And we'll see each other as much as possible. You know visits, video chats, you name it. So what's the big deal?"
"I just wanted to make it official, we're not dating anymore."
"So what are we doing then?"
"We're a couple separated by half a state. That's all. So we won't be able to go out on dates or anything."
"So then how do you want to do this?"
"Well we can make it official now. Maybe we'll see each other before we leave. Okay? Does that sound good to you?"
"It works…I guess."
Two days later Jimmy, Alice, and Sam met one last time on the board walk.
"So this is it, huh?" Sam said solemnly.
"I guess so." Alice replied glumly.
"Remember every chance we get, we're going to see each other Alice. And that goes for you too Sam."
"Man I'm starting to have flashbacks. Remember that time when we where eleven and we were on a campout and…" Sam began to recall.
"And you fell asleep and took a nose dive right into the camp fire. I jumped up and yanked you out before you even knew what was going on. Yeah, good times man." Jimmy said with a slight laugh in his voice.
"And remember all those fights you got into? Wait…that might not be a great thing to bring up." Sam cringed.
"Yeah, actually it is worth mentioning. I remember there was the one in ninth grade. Well… the last one in ninth grade. I was such a hothead back then. Anyway, Andy Corelli, who just seemed to get bigger and bigger every day. He tried to grab me from behind and throw me to the floor. He ended up almost pulling off my shirt, and everybody saw all my fat."
"Dude, you where never fat, you where just a little on the chubby side back then. But it went away." Sam said, correcting him like any good friend would do.
"Speaking of your shirt almost coming off, there was that time we were in the Stewarts house I think, during an earthquake. We fell on top of each other and your shirt came up. They thought I was trying to take your shirt of and make out with you." Alice said, blushing a little bit.
"That was awkward. Cause they didn't really know we were serious back then." Jimmy said, blushing as well.
"And of course when we where twelve and I first realized I liked you. I talked you into kissing me under the board walk. Even then you were a good kisser."
"And you where better. I said I didn't like it, but that's only cause I was twelve and it was embarrassing."
"You guys can't forget all those times we messed with Mr. Connor in homeroom. He was convinced we were all insane. Like the time we got everybody in the class to pretend they were dead. We cracked a beaker with some liquid in it. Then we all slumped down in our chairs and played dead. Some of them where even hanging over the front of the lab tables. And the fake face blood from the drama kids put it over the top. It was worth the weeks' worth of detention." Sam laughed.
"Yeah, that was always hilarious. But who says we're not insane?" Jimmy said. Just then his phone vibrated. He activated the audio call feature and listened for a minute, then hung up.
"We'll it's that time. I have to go finish packing." Jimmy told them.
"Yeah, me too." Alice said.
"Me three." Sam joked. Sam and Jimmy hugged each other goodbye.
"I'll miss you Sam I am." Jimmy said, using a joke from their childhood.
"I'll miss you too big Jim," Sam retorted, "I might see you just a little tomorrow."
Jimmy and Alice shared a short kiss, and a warm, tight hug.
"Remember, I love you Jimmy."
"And remember I love you too, Alice."
That night when all of the packing was finished the Okens sat down at the kitchen table to talk. It was a bittersweet conversation, but one that had to take place.
"So my son's gonna be a doctor." Oliver said, smiling with pride.
"And your other son's gonna be a pro-baseball player." Jimmy said.
"You could be right Jimmy," Lilly said, "But right now it's about you."
"Well, just so you know Michael, I'll go to every one of your games, if you do make it pro." Jimmy said.
"You're such a great big brother Jimmy." Lilly smiled.
"And Michael is a great little bro, aren't you little bro? Well I'm not sure I call you 'little bro' for much longer, by the time I come home for Thanksgiving you'll probably be taller than me."
"So you're definitely gonna try to visit us a lot Jimmy?" Rose asked.
"That's the plan. By the way since we're on the topic of what we call each other, you guys think it would be alright if I go by 'Jim' from now on, instead of 'Jimmy'? You know since I'm going off to college and all. I wanna feel more grown up." Jim asked, hoping they would just go along with it.
"Well sure, I think we can all live with that, Jim." Oliver said with a grin.
"Since he's going with 'Jim' now, I'm gonna try out 'Mike', okay?" Mike inquired.
"Okay, so Jimmy, I mean Jim is going to college, Michael is now Mike, so what other changes are there?" Lilly wondered aloud. No one said anything. But Mike was holding back a little secret of his own, that due to his excitement, he would not be able to keep a secret for long.
"One thing I'm still wondering, Jim, is how strong you are? Cause you're always showing off. So I gotta know." Rose said.
"I am not always showing off. Besides, how are you planning on finding out?" Jim asked, subconsciously flexing his very large right bicep muscle.
"See if me and Mike arm wrestled you together, who would win?" Rose suggested.
"You're on little sis." Jim declared. Mike who was now several inches taller than Rose, and had bigger hands clutched his palm to Jim's palm.
"You haven't got a prayer little bro." Jim boasted. Rose gripped Jim's wrist directly below his hand.
"Alright let's do this thing." Jim stated. Rose and Mike both began to push against Jim's superior strength. He made a face that suggested he was struggling to hold up against them. His muscle rippled from the force he was applying. As they got his hand close to the table Jim relaxed his face and pushed both of their hands in the opposite direction onto the table.
"Are you kidding me?" Jim said sarcastically, a grin of triumph on his face.
"Wait so you where just stringing us along the entire time Jimmy?" Mike said, bewildered.
"Exactly, Michael. I could practically bench press both of you at the same time. It wasn't even close with you two. Sorry little bro." Jim said.
That evening Jim was brushing his teeth while wearing an undershirt and sweat pants when Mike walked into the bathroom.
"You know, I wish I was as strong as you Jimmy."
"No you don't. It's not that big a deal."
"Well, okay, maybe I don't wanna be as muscular as you but I wish I could get a little muscle. All I am is skin and bones. Pretty soon I'm gonna be this tall, skinny, awkward freshman. People are gonna make fun of me."
"No they're not, you're gonna be the most awesome kid in Malibu, now that I'm not gonna be here. Everybody likes you, you don't ever hafta worry about that. You know I used to be really chubby, nobody ever made fun of me for that. The only guy that could have ever done that was ten times bigger than me at the time, and now he's my friend. Trust me you're fine."
"I'm not so much worried about people making fun of me. It's just that I never really got the hang of this whole diabetes thing. I've always been a whole lot thinner since it happened. And I've never been able to change that. Now that I'm taller, even Charlie's not as skinny as me. And he's always been that way. I know he had cancer. But he got to a healthier weight after that. I never did, after the whole diabetic attack. I mean look at me, I'm a stick. It's terrible." Mike said, lifting his shirt up to reveal his incredibly thinned body.
"Okay you're gonna hafta deal with that. You are way too skinny. Here's what you do. You try to increase your calorie intake, and balance your insulin with it. Get mom and dad to help you work out a system. Trust me, it's worth it. If I wasn't leaving tomorrow I'd help you do it. But you will keep me updated about this. If you don't make any progress I'll be forced to come home and deal with it. You don't wanna take that heat for that do you little bro?" Jim said sternly, but in a very brotherly manner.
"No, guess not. I guess I don't have a choice. I'm gonna hafta fix this."
"You're right. You don't have a choice. Besides having to face my wrath, if you don't deal with it, you're gonna start having real problems. You might start blacking out, you'll be tired all the time, and all sorts of other really nasty things."
"Speaking of feeling bad, Charlie has to sit down all the time when we're all out doing stuff. He won't admit anything's wrong but we all know there is. Today we had to walk him home from practice early."
"So that's why you where late helping us pack?"
"This is serious, Jimmy. Like I said, he looks healthy in the weight department. So it's not that. Any ideas?"
"I'm not a doctor, I'm not even a pre-med student until Monday, but I think he might just be overtired. But he probably needs to see his doctor cause it could be more serious. If he doesn't seem like he's keen on that idea, you and your friends might wanna stage an intervention, you know go together and talk to his parents. He's a cool kid; you don't wanna see anything bad happen to him."
"Sounds like a good idea, maybe I'll try it."
"First you and your friends should confront him. See if he'll do it without the intervention. Cause for all you know, he may just not be getting enough sleep. But if he's really defensive about it you might wanna talk to his parents like I said." Jim said as they both walked out into the upstairs hallway.
"Jimmy, I'm really gonna miss you after tomorrow. I'm already starting to miss you and you're not even gone yet." Mike whispered.
"I miss you already too little bro. Don't tell her this but I'm gonna miss Rose a little too." Jim whispered back.
"Let's try to remember all the good times. Like when I was two or three and you used to take me to the park to feed the ducks. And how you taught me to surf. And all the help you gave me when I was in the chair."
"That's not the best time, little bro, the chair. We did get a little closer as brothers, but I think the real milestone in our relationship as bros was, as sad as it sounds, when we both got diabetes. It brought us really close. I don't ever wanna lose that with you little bro."
"I don't think that'll ever happen. I mean we'll always have diabetes. And Wilford Brimley III will always say it 'Diabeetus'."
"Hah, yeah. But I meant we'll never lose that connection. We're a lot closer than most teenage brothers that're four years apart in age. We're really cool with each other."
"Yeah, that's never been a problem, not really. But you're right, us both of having 'diabeetus' helped." They both laughed quietly.
"Okay, I'll see you in the morning." Mike said, he walk off in the other direction. As Jim moved toward his room, Rose came out of her room, which was next door to his.
"I'm gonna miss you too Jim. You've always been a great brother." Rose whispered.
"What do you mean 'been'? I'm always gonna be."
"True and we've always had a lot of fun."
"Speaking of fun how was your date with Alex today?"
"Amazing. He's the best boyfriend in the world."
"Modesty was never really yo' thang, was it?"
"Yeah, not really."
"You know, I'm really proud of you, dating Alex. He's always been good to you. He's perfect for you. You couldn't possibly do better."
"You wanna know something? I'm in love with him."
"I don't doubt it. Isn't it great?"
"The best. Umm, see you in the morning."
"See ya."
Jim turned and went into his room. His eyes closed and he was asleep before his head hit the pillow. He slept in his bed for the last time as a permanent resident of the Oken house.
"Jimmy, Jimmy, wake up Jimmy!" Lilly Oken yelled up to Jim who was trying to sleep through her beckoning voice.
"I'm… I'm up." Jim said groggily, his eyes jolting open.
"Jimmy, you need to get dressed where heading out to your school in a half an hour." Lilly told him.
"I'm going to college mom; I'm not saving the world, I think it'll still be there when I get there even if we don't leave in exactly thirty minutes. And I asked you to stop calling me that." Jim said.
"Fine, JIM, get dressed and get downstairs and help us pack your things into the moving van." Lilly responded.
Jim Oken pulled on an undershirt and a pair of shorts. It was a hot today and he was going to be doing a lot of hard work moving his things into his college dorm room. He jogged down the stairs to where all of his things where gathered together to load into the moving van that his father Oliver had just backed up to the back door. He turned around as his beautiful fifteen year old sister Rose walked down the stairs.
"All that eye make-up makes you look desperate Rose." Jim teased her.
"I liked you better when you had long hair!" Rose said.
"That was five years ago." Jim replied.
"I know, you where cooler then!" She stabbed back at him.
"You where ten, we were best friends then, and you thought I was superman." Jim said, as he hoisted two very heavy suitcases under his especially muscular arms, trying to prove he still was superman.
"Show off!" Rose exclaimed.
"Less talk, more work you two." Oliver said as he entered the room.
"Nah, you're still cool, I just liked the long hair!" Rose said.
"Thanks little sis!" Jim said.
"You guys are too petty!" Mike said as he tripped on the bottom stair coming down.
"You're not the only one that can lift things Jim, see!" Mike said lifting two empty plastic crates onto his shoulders.
"Impressive, Mike!" Robbie Stewart commented, Jackson's son, with a smile as he entered in front of his father. The crates began to slip out of Mike's grasp and fell to the floor. Behind Robbie was Alex, Rose's new boyfriend. Everyone in the house approved of him much more than her first boyfriend, they knew him, and knew he could be trusted. He had come to help them pack Jim's things into the van. But everyone knew that was just a pretense to see Rose. He was going to have to wait until the evening came to see her again when she got home. As he walked into the living room Rose met up with him and they kissed lightly on the lips in greeting.
"You're such a dork Oken!" Susan Stewart, Miley's daughter, remarked, smiling at him, as she walked in with her mother.
"I told you when they where little, that crush Mike and Susan had was just a phase, and I was right!" Miley said as she walked in.
"Don't be so sure Miley. That's how I was towards Oliver when we where thirteen." Lilly said.
They slowly but surely got everything into the moving van. Jim hoisted most of the heavy things into it. Mike was careful with everything he carried. So he managed to only break a few light bulbs. Of course they all gave him a hard time.
"Michael can you grab that last bag and then we'll be done." Jim said to him.
Mike did as he was asked and then they were done loading his brother's things. As it was time to go a somber mood fell over them. For the Okens it was their brother or oldest child, he was leaving them for the longest time he had ever been away from them. And he wouldn't be back again. At least not in the way that they were used to. He would no longer be living with them. He would be home for the holidays of course, unless he wanted to stay with new friends he met at school. For the rest of them it was a great friend, leaving them, which they had come to know and love over the years. They knew they were going to miss him. What with his power workouts and his cool attitude, and his ability to be there for any one of them whenever they needed him.
"So how are you gonna make it without your girlfriend, Alice?" Rose teased Jim. Mike made a mocking pouty face at him.
"Very mature you guys! I already said goodbye to her. We both agreed we'd keep in touch and we'd be together whenever we could." Jim responded maturely. No one said anything because they knew it was a sensitive line of discussion. They all prepared to part ways. The Okens were all going to see Jim off, so it was time for the rest of them to say goodbye to him.
"Good luck Jim, I'm glad you didn't turn out to be a donut like your dad." Miley said as she hugged him.
"Hey, I heard that!" Oliver whined.
"You'll make a great doctor, Jimbo!" Robbie said giving him a one armed hug.
"Make us all proud Jim." Jackson said, shaking Jim's hand.
"You've always been such a special person; I know you'll make lots of good friends in college." Marlene, Jackson's wife, said.
"We all love you Jim, make sure you visit lots. I'll try not to pick on your brother too much!" Susan said as she stretched up and hugged him.
"You have to call whenever you can Jim!" Sam said. He was going to a different college, which was half a state away, so they wouldn't see much of each other over the next four years. The Okens all piled into the cab of the moving van. Mike slipped and fell out and had to hold back tears. He didn't want to look weak or something. They didn't speak much on the trip up. But when they where only ten minutes or so away Jim spoke up.
"So, Michael, you're gonna do you know what about you know what? Right?"
"You mean getting Charlie to see a doctor about all his fainting. Yeah, I'm gonna do that."
"That too, but I meant the other thing." Jim said, giving his brother a look.
"What other thing?" Lilly demanded.
"He'll tell you later." Jim informed her.
"Okay, fine."
"Speaking of things I need to tell. I've been waiting for the right time to say this. Umm… I've got a girlfriend." Mike said, only half certain he wanted to say it out loud.
"What? Really? Way to go!" Oliver said.
"Tell us about her. What's her name? What's she look like? And how long have you been seeing each other?" Lilly questioned him, not so politely.
"Her name is Kate Austin. We have homeroom together this year. She's got green eyes and black hair. We've only been out once. So… that's about it really."
"That's great little bro. Wish I'd gotten to meet her." Jim said.
"We're here. Everybody get out." Oliver said as he pulled into a parking space in front of the dorm building. When they got to Jim's dorm room they were all ready to get out of the van. It had been a long ride getting there. Once again when Mike went to get out of the van he slipped and fell onto the curb. It took them a solid half hour to get all of Jim's things into his room and put them where they belonged.
"I talked to housing before we left, my roommate won't be moving in till some time on Monday, so I guess you guys won't meet him. I don't even know his name." Jim said as they went back outside. And after a brief tour of the campus it was time for the Okens minus Jim to go home. Lilly cried as she hugged her son goodbye.
"I'm going to miss you so much Jimmy… uhh Jim. You have to stay in touch with us a much as possible. Call us every night before you go to bed, ok?" Lilly said through light tears.
"I won't. But I will try to call every weekend or send home a video message, for a while at least, till I get used to life here." He replied with a pretend macho attitude, when really he was fighting back tears too, because he was going to miss his family and everyone back in Malibu. Rose spoke up next.
"Don't do anything too crazy, but have some fun." Rose said hugging her older brother.
"Be safe and be cool, Jimmy!" Mike said to him.
"You too, little bro." Jim said giving Mike a big hug.
"Make us all proud, and remember you're Smokin' Oken! By the way I think those girls that walked by where checking you out." Oliver said, and then he hugged his son. Jim blushed and shrugged it off.
"I'll see you guys soon." Jim said, as they piled back into the van. He watched them go, and then retreated back into his new home. He wondered to himself, as he sat alone in the kitchen, if this was somewhere he'd find he belonged.
Notes to the readers:
*Reviews are much appreciated!
-This is not the final chapter. As I said, this will go past the ending of "Meant To Be" (which was part of this chapter). There are several chapters still left to come (3 or 4) before the end. The next two chapter's (21 and 22) will be posted at the same time. So please do not get discouraged if they don't get posted for several weeks, they are special chapters and need a lot of effort to write (I try to do this with all chapters, but these are extra special).
-I would like to thank any of the people that have stayed with this story all this time, and hope you will stay with it to the end. I have enjoyed writing this story, and hope anyone reading it enjoyed it too.
** This is the twentieth chapter of my story "A New Life". If you haven't read my first saga you may not know where these characters are coming from. So you might want to read it, or at least "Meant to Be Parts 5-9". This story takes place before the end of "Meant To Be".
***Lilly and Oliver, and Miley and Jackson are in their thirties/forties. Jimmy is 17, nearly 18. Rose is 15, nearly 16. Michael and Susan (Miley's daughter), and Robbie Rod (Jackson's son) are 13, nearly 14.
****If you want to find my other stories (My first saga) click on my screen name on the top of this page, and you can find my stories on my profile. If you want to stay updated as to when I post new chapters, please subscribe to my username!