"Jamie, get the door," Ms. Carter said as she smoothed her dress and checked her hair in the mirror.
Jamie set the ham down and laid the oven mitts on the counter before opening the door.
"Hi," she said to the two men at her door.
"Hi there, sweetheart," the older man said. He look around 40, past his prime, but not ready to be. In a Hawiian shirt over a pair of khaki cargo shorts, he looked like just another tourist here in sunny Florida.
"Come on in, dinner just got done Mr. McCarthy. My mom's just finishing getting dressed." The two stepped in as she closed the door behind them.
"You got a nice little place here, we came over once when the last tenants owned it. I was glad to hear they moved, though; most boring old hag. Always complaining about the noise! There are always some teenage boys around the place, like it was going to be quiet!" he said as he put his hand around the boy's neck and massaged the taunt muscles there. The boy, looked about Jamie's age, around 14 or so. He had blonde hair, a deep tan, the brightest blue eyes, and the most amazing smile. He flashed that at her now as he shook his head and rolled his eyes a bit at his dad's actions. The boy was gorgeous, there was no denying it. He may be young but his muscles were already hard, she didn't know what kind of athlete he was, but he was definitely an athlete, probably a good one. He looked like he knew it to.
Jamie led them to the dining room just as her mom emerged from the hallway. Her mom always knew how to make an entrance; she looked stunning, as usual. She appeared just as they sat down wearing a short, form fitting black dress.
Delilah Carter was 37 but no one had ever accused her of looking it. She had perfectly curly black hair that framed her face, accenting her deep green eyes. She was only 5' 5", petite, but wearing three inch silver stilettos it wasn't the word that came to mind. Jamie's mom always had a way of making people look at her, it was something Jamie envied, and hadn't gotten from her.
"Randy, so nice to see you again. I'm so thrilled you could make it," she said walking toward Mr. Mcarthy.
"Oh, no, Delilah, I'm so glad we came, you look amazing," he said this pulling out a chair for her, and checking out her ass the whole time, Jamie noticed. "This is my son, Ryan. My fighter, he's the best mixed martial arts fighter in the state, won 10 statewide tournaments, and not even fifteen yet. Haha He's gonna be one of the greats, this one." he said as he sat down.
"Really? That's amazing! This is my Jamie, you two are about the same age. Do you go to Cypress Creek?" she gushed as she started to pass the meat around the table.
"Yes, ma'm," Ryan said, flashing his brilliantly white smile again, "I'll be a freshman there this fall."
"Perfect, that's what my Jamie will be. I'm so glad she'll know somebody, when she starts." Ms. Carter gushed, not noticing her daughter's eye roll at the potatoes or the embarrassed flush creep into her cheeks.
Ryan did, though. The girl was alright, nothing up to his standards of course. But it had been a boring week, maybe he'd mess with her later, besides she could grow into something. I mean look at her mom!
The problem was that Jamie didn't look anything like her mom. She was already taller at 5' 7", which was good, it helped with her volleyball. She had light brown hair that was bleached to near blonde from the summer sun, it was long because she rarely bothered to have it cut and it was rarely found out of the messy bun it was thrown in now. Jamie also had acquired quite a tan this summer, which helped accentuate her stormy blue eyes. Jamie had the makings to maybe one day be pretty but she was still just awkward. She just hadn't grown into herself yet; her mother insisted she would and she would be gorgeous, but Jamie wasn't so sure.
"This is delicious, Delilah. With Ryan's mom gone, we don't often get a home cooked meal," Mr. McCarthy praised, after eating a nearly a quarter of the ham and a good portion of every side dish on the table. In between the retelling of every one of Ryan's most impressive fights, which were only slipped in between the telling of the few small fights he had been himself, most of them hadn't even made it to T.V., of course.
"Actually- ow," Jamie began before being interrupted by a pointy toe to the shin.
"Why thank you, Randy, I don't cook much any more with it just being me and Jamie. More potatoes?" she said shoveling more onto his plate but never letting her eyes leave his. That fascinated expression hadn't left her face the whole meal as she kept and endless flow of food in his plate and wine in his glass.
Ryan was having trouble holding back his laughter as Jamie rubbed her shin. It was obvious that Jamie had cooked the meal and that her mother had never been near a stove in her life. Which was relatively true; Delilah had gotten married at 18, divorced at 19 and had been hopping from husband to husband since. She had been divorced four times, thus far, which accounted for the elegant and beautiful possessions that were draped everywhere in the house. These possessions accounted for the smaller two bedroom house. It was a quaint little house, perfectly fine for the two ladies, but it wasn't near what Ms. Carter believed they deserved. It wasn't near as spacious as...the McCarthy's house, for instance.
"Make sure you save room, I have some homemade cheesecake for dessert." Ms. Carter said leaning over to pour more wine in Mr. McCarthy's glass, making sure he could see just how well endowed she was. "Jamie, why don't you start to clear the table," she said without ever actually taking her attention off Mr. McCarthy.
"Ryan, you help her." Randy said taking a drink and putting another forkful of potatoes in his mouth. Jamie stood taking her and her mother's plate while Ryan gathered some of the other dishes off the table.
As he followed her through the door to the kitchen he finally let loose of the laugh he had been holding for the better part of the dinner.
"Wow, your mom is really something," Ryan said setting the dishes in the sink.
"Yeah, because the Tyson wannabe is a real winner" Jamie replied as she pulled the cheesecake out of the fridge.
"At least he's not some completely obvious gold digger!" Ryan said raising his shoulders a bit.
"I never said she wasn't," Jamie said looking up sharply from the cake she was cutting, at the hardness of Ryan's tone. "but at least she's not vicariously living though me." They stared each other down for a minute before Jamie began to cut the cake again.
"Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. Can we both agree that our parents are being a little ridiculous?" she asked glancing up.
"Yeah, sorry, they both are a little over the top. Sorry about all the fight stories." Ryan replied as he put the dishes in the sink.
"Sorry about my mom's cleavage basically falling out on the table," Jamie replied placing a piece of cheesecake on a dessert plate. Ryan laughed as he handed her another plate. Then he looked out the slight opening in the shutters of the island window into the dining room.
"They aren't missing us at all," he said. Jamie looked over and moved closer to see the adults staring at each other, smiling, talking, and laughing. Then she stopped messing with the dessert.
"Do you wanna go watch TV while we eat this?" she said, looking directly into those blue, blue, eyes, only inches from hers. He flashed the magnificent grin again before, taking two of the plates of cheesecake and forks and heading toward the door. Jamie gathered the rest and set it down on the table as they walked by, the adults barely looked up.
Ryan came over a few afternoons over the next couple of weeks, mostly to help them move in, but their friendship really started about two weeks later.
"Hey, Ryan, can you come help me. I have to put some of these boxes in the attic but some of them are too heavy for me to lift over my head. No, genius, there isn't an actual ladder, I'm on a step stool. Fine, bring a ladder, either way, are you going to come help?" Jamie said into the speaker of her cell phone, a smile on her face. "Yes, I have food, who doesn't have food besides a house with only guys. Alright, thanks." she answered as she flipped the phone closed.
Within 15 minutes Ryan was over trying to direct a ladder through the too small hallways of her house. He finally got the ladder into the laundry room and set it up underneath the hatch in the ceiling.
"You were using that little stool? Did you get any boxes up there? Even you aren't that tall, Carter." He said as he moved the stool out of the way. "Here hand me the box," he said as he began to climb the ladder.
"Well, I basically threw the boxes. It's not like anyone cares what was in them anyway," she said handing him up the biggest box. He smiled down at her and climbed up through the opening.
"Jeez, you really just threw them, there all around this opening, I can't see past them." Ryan called down before completely disappearing through the hatch. " Oh my God, you got come see this, come on." His face appeared over the opening, his eyes excited and broad smile on his face. He beckoned to her, calling again, "Come on!"
Jamie made her way cautiously up the ladder, when her head finally emerged all she could see was cardboard but as she stood up on the attic floor she saw what he meant. Basically there was a second living room in her attic, granted it looked to be from the 70's, but still. There was a mustard yellow shag rug, a light brown sofa sitting atop it. There was an old school TV, with a NITENDO hooked up to it. Not to mention the record player in the corner with about four crates of records. Both of them were just wandering around looking at everything in awe.
"Maybe the last tenant left it. Should we call and find out?" Jamie said as she began to flip through the records.
Ryan laughed, "No way did the last tenant leave this. She couldn't have gotten up here if she tried, she was like 80. I doubt she was a big Nintendo fan either." He pointed out as he walked over to the gaming system. "This stuff has to have been here for ages! It's coated in dust!"
Jamie looked over at him but instead noticed boards covering a window on the wall. She walked over and peaked between the boards. It was Ryan's backyard, well you basically saw the tree form the backyard, but you could see the fence line between her's and Ryan's properties underneath the branches.
"Ryan come look at this, this tree ends up perfectly at the window, it's like it was planted there on purpose!" Jamie pointed out as Ryan crossed over to look. Ryan looked at the tree, then around the room again, and then down at the girl beside him.
"Jamie, did you ever have a club house when you were little. Like a tree house or some little place that only you and your friends knew about and no one else, especially grown ups were allowed in?" He gazed down at her, face completely serious.
"No," Jamie answered.
"Do you want to have one now?"
So that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, they spent most evenings up there that summer. Of course, things like a refrigerator, stereo, DVD player, and better gaming console made there way up there, but mostly it just stayed the same. They would sit and play video games, watch movies, and listen to old records for hours, sometimes talking, sometimes not. Ryan had his entrance by way of the tree, and soon a secret hatch was put in Jamie's ceiling. Sometimes one would be up there by themselves, but most likely if you found one, you found the other up there. They weren't always doing things together; sometimes Jamie would read, Ryan would practice fighting on the punching bag in the corner, Jamie practiced guitar, Ryan played video games, etc. It didn't seem to matter so much what they were doing, but more that they had a place to do it. A place where they didn't put up with over the top parents, who incidentally now spent most evenings out together, and nights at Ryan's house.
This rather put out Ryan, so sometimes Jamie would here him in the middle of the night come upstairs. Often on those nights when Ryan woke up to the dingy brown of the couch he would also wake up to breakfast left for him on the little table. They never really talked those mornings, sometimes he would eat and just make his way home, sometimes he would stay up there all day.
It wasn't long before Jamie figured out that it wasn't always the "sleepovers" that brought Ryan to the attic late at night. Ryan's father expected a lot from him, he expected him to be the fighter that he never was. He expected him to win, to be the kid in high school with all of the friends, the hottest girls; he expected Ryan to have it all. And sometimes Mr. McCarthy took it a little hard when he felt Ryan wasn't living up to his potential. Those nights tended to bring Ryan to the attic, too.
Well after a spending about two months this way, Ryan and Jamie were pretty good friends by the time the first day of school started, that's why the first day of school came as such a shock to them.
Mr. McCarthy drove the two to school and dropped them off in front of the steps.
"Okay, you ready?" Ryan asked.
"Of course," Jamie answered simply, hoisting her bag higher on her shoulder, and started up the steps. Ryan grinned and followed suit. They walked through the door and immediately Ryan was swept away by a crowd of adoring boys.
"Ryan, where have you been?" "Ryan you weren't around at all this summer!" "Ryan you wanna hang out after school?" "Ryan we have first period together, if you need help-" they were all yelling as they led Ryan away.
Ryan was walking backwards try to see Jamie, "I'll meet you at lunch, sorry!" He tried to apologize but Jamie could barely hear him through the crowd. She watched him be swept away before she was practically pushed over by the people rushing past her, no crowd was waiting for her, for sure.
Jamie made it to her locker and began to put her books away. She wasn't alone; another dozen freshman who were just trying to keep their heads down and get to class where the could hide themselves behind some books in the back row.
There was a loud crash as textbooks went falling to the floor. Jamie looked down as a dirty blonde head of hair quickly fell in front of red cheeks as Jamie's locker-neighbor bent to the ground.
"Here," Jamie said handing her a biology book.
"Thanks," the girl said looking over at Jamie with a smile, "I'm Terry Ryner, I'm new." She shrugged.
"Me too. My names Jamie Carter," Jamie said returning the smile.
Despite his promise to see her at lunch, Jamie didn't see Ryan until she got home after volleyball try-outs. Delilah picked her up in front of the school in her sleek black town car (donated to the fund by husband number 3). Jamie climbed in sweaty, hair in a mess, and threw her bag in the backseat.
"How was your first day? Meet any cute guys?" Delilah asked as she pulled onto the street. Jamie laughed, "Well one of them nearly ran over me on my way to biology, does that count?"
"No." Delilah responded dryly, "Do you have a lot of classed with Ryan?"
"I don't think so but as he was incessantly surrounded by a crowd of adoring fans, I barely glimpsed him most of the day." Jamie responded looking out the window.
"Well, honey, you know if you would just try doing something with your hair, maybe a little mak-" Delilah began.
"Haha, I really don't think that would make enough of a difference, Mom. It's whatever, I made a new friend, a girl name Terry." Jamie said, "How was your day?"
"Oh it was alri-Oh look there's Randy!" Delilah squealed as she waved and pulled over in front of the mailbox and rolled down her window.
"Well, hi there,gorgeous," Randy said as she stopped leaning into the window to kiss her. When they continued for a few seconds, Jamie decided she could walk the last hundred yards. As she walked down the hedge row she saw Ryan and large group of kids all around the pool. Ryan happened to look over and saw her as she was walking by and waved at her. Jamie waved back before turning the key and heading inside her house. Just as she threw her bag down on her bed there was a knock on her window.
It was Ryan.
"Hey, get your ass over there," he said leaning on the sill, completely aware that he was flexing every muscle in his back for anyone who may be looking.
"I don't know, Ryan, it really doesn't look like my scene." Jamie said looking over at the crowd of people around the pool.
"Please, don't give me that, put on your swimsuit and get over there. How did try-outs go?" he asked turning to look over at the party and flash his killer smile at a pretty brunette in a kelly green bikini.
"It went well, I'm pretty positive I made it," Jamie said not missing the smile.
"I knew you would," he said turning back to look at her, "I want you over there in five minutes in the smokin' blue suit, I'll introduce you to everyone. Do not make me come back over here, Ms. Carter." He threatened walking backwards toward the property line and then hopping over.
Jamie closed the window and got dressed.
"Hey, there you are," Ryan shouted walking toward her and putting his arm around her shoulder and walking her over to the party. Jamie spent the next half an hour being introduced to what seemed like every kid in the school and standing around while Ryan joked with his buddies and flirted with every girl in sight. Of course, Terry wasn't at the party, so Jamie knew basically no one. She tried talking with some of the girls but couldn't contribute much to conversations about boys she didn't know and designers she didn't care about.
Eventually Jamie just jumped in the pool, simply to have something to do. When she came up out of the water it was directly in front of Ryan.
"Hey," he said looking down at her through his sunglasses. "Sorry I've been busy, are you having fun?" he asked as he sat down to dangle his feet in the water.
"Yeah, it's alright," Jamie lied, treading water in front of him. It's not that she couldn't see why all the girls were drooling over him, she could. I mean, sitting there in some classic, sporty red trunks, totally tanned looking at the light reflecting off the water onto his gorgeous, taunt muscles, it was kind of obvious. From what she had seen of him today, though, he was so different then what she knew. He treated his friends like servants, more than friends. He just expected things to be done for him, and what's worse was they were. All the girls drooled over him, and all the boys obviously wanted to be just like him.
Maybe he had tried to be that way around her at the beginning of the summer, Jamie didn't really remember. Jamie wasn't very good at dealing with that crap, though. So all summer, if he had wanted a drink, he had got up and got it himself. They may have flirted back and forth but Jamie never fawned over anybody that way. I guess he must have missed it, Jamie thought as she got up beside him.
"Are you having fun?" she asked toweling her hair dry.
"Yeah, I guess I hadn't realized how little I had seen my friends this summer," Ryan said.
"Yeah, I guess we didn't see much of anybody, haha. Well I actually think I'm going to head out, I have to go make dinner for my mom." Jamie said getting up dripping water all over him and smiling. "Come over if you're hungry, when your friends leave."
That was the start of what their friendship really looked like, once school started. Jamie never really fit with Ryan's friends but yet her and Ryan always fit somehow. They rode to school together, they still hung out in the attic when they didn't have other things going on that night. Ryan was always at Jamie's volleyball games and Jamie was always at his fights. They didn't sit together at lunch, they had their own tables and sometimes Jamie would go to Ryan's parties but more often than not she didn't. However, when they got old enough to drive, all Ryan's friend's knew who got the front seat. That's how they spent the next year and a half.
Ryan was always different around his other friends but things really started to change about half way through their sophomore year. That's when Baja Miller came to Cypress Creek.
They made it, through, the first half of the year just like the last. When they returned from Christmas break someone had switched lockers, though. The girl wasn't new, she had been there all year, but for some reason she had switched lockers at semester, right next to Jamie's. The first day back Jamie was putting her books back in her locker when Terry bounced up beside her.
"Heya, did you get a car for Christmas?" she asked smiling, she knew the answer.
Jamie laughed, "Oh yeah, a brand new convertible. You?" she answered as she threw her bag over her shoulder.
"Brand new mustang," Terry answered rolling her eyes. "Justin got a 1970's Trans Am, though. The kids in this school have way too much money." She said as they turned toward homeroom. Then they heard the familiar smack of books hitting the floor. They turned to see a platinum blonde head of hair quickly bent to the down.
"Hey, I'm Jamie," Jamie said as she bent down and handed her a book. She took it and looked up, "I'm Baja, Miller." She answered with a smile.
Baja spent the next few afternoons at either Jamie or Terry's house. Naturally, it wasn't long before she had to be introduced to Ryan, and from there it's all history.
The next few years saw nothing but changes. Ryan got more popular and he took Baja with him. Ryan and Jamie stayed friends, maybe they didn't hang out as much once he started dating Baja, but they stayed basically the same until the summer before senior year.
"Ryan, you can't treat Baja like that. She's a person not another fight medal to drape over your arm. Do you realize you didn't talk to her once at that party yesterday until Jason came over to talk to her. He was asking her about homework and all of a sudden here you come swaggering over to assert your dominance!" Jamie was practically yelling up in the attic.
"I do not need you to lecture me, okay, Mom!" Ryan turned, angry. "Baja is fine, just because I don't fall all over her like-"
"Like she deserves, like you know any other guy, that wasn't completely self-centered, would be!"
"Uhhh! I am so sick of you lecturing me. 'Ryan you can't talk to Baja like that' 'Ryan why don't you treat your friends better' you know what nobody complains about how I treat them.-"
"No one complains because then they might lose the chance to hang out with the immortal Ryan McCarthy. They let you treat them like shit because no one wants you as an enemy, Ryan, and you know it." Jamie said getting right in his face. They had been fighting a lot lately. Ryan's head had been getting bigger and bigger and Jamie was getting tired of being the one who had to try and deflate it, it was becoming nearly impossible.
"It doesn't seem to bother you!" Ryan shouted back, getting angrier by the second.
"Yeah, well what are you gonna do hit me Ryan? Are you gonna KO me or are we gonna go for the tap out?" Jamie shouted back getting frustrated.
"No, I'm gonna leave," Ryan said walking to the window, "And until you learn to appreciate what I do for you, I mean let's be honest, you would be no one in that school without me, I'm not coming back." Ryan said and with that he vanished out the window and down the tree.
That was the last time they were in the attic together. Some nights Jamie heard him climb up there, he must have fought with his father, as their parents had broken up years ago. She never went up, though. From then on she drove herself to school, when they saw each other they didn't even acknowledge it. Jamie watched when Jake Tyler came to school. She watched the fights unfold and became more and more disgusted with Ryan. She was still friends with Baja and helped her when Jake was being an asshole. But she refused, point blank, to involve herself with Ryan's stupidity anymore.
In the meantime, Bobby came into Jamie's life. Bobby Cavaw had graduated the year before and had been partners with Jamie on a science project. Jamie hadn't even thought of him again, until he showed up at one of her summer volleyball games. He was working at a motorcycle repair shop in town and he had just come back to watch her in a game. They hadn't really met until the spring, when volleyball season was over, and he was curious. He came up to her after the game and asked her out, just because he had always wanted to.
So Jamie got her first boyfriend and he was wonderful. He was exciting; as he took her for rides on his motorcycle. He was sweet; he'd wait for her after her practice with her favorite drink and snack just so they could sit a talk for a while. And he was passionate; the way he looked at her made her feel beautiful, something Jamie had never really felt before. They went on dates, out to eat or the movies, or they just hung out at her house. Jamie's mother was oblivious as she had just started dating a new man herself. It was fun, Jamie had never had someone pay attention to only her. It was different, it had never really bothered Jamie to be a background kind of girl, but it felt really good to have someone notice you, all the same. In exchange, maybe Jamie ignored that Bobby liked to drink a little too much on the weekends or that he could get a little possessive or jealous when he took her out. It never got out of hand and Jamie could handle it pretty well.
Well she thought she could…
After a few months, around the time Jake started to make a splash at school, Jamie started to get real tired of taking care of a drunk, jealous, and usually angry Bobby on Friday nights.
It was one of those nights where she was just going to hide his keys and leave him because he was being obstinate and Jamie didn't have the patience. They were at his friend Stewey's house and she knew he would crash on the floor of one of the bedrooms, like he had a hundred times before. She was just walking out the door to head home when he caught up to her.
"Where do you think you're going? You're not just going to leave me here again, like some drunk," Bobby said and grabbed Jamie's arm.
Jamie pulled her arm free, "But you are drunk and I'm tired of arguing. I'm leaving and you aren't driving. I told you, you can ride with me, I'll drop you off-"
"No, I'm not ready to leave."
"Then I guess you're shit out of luck, aren't you?" Jamie said as she started to walk towards her car again.
"Why do you have to be such a prude? If you want to leave, fine. Just give me my damn keys," Bobby followed her yelling, swaying just a little bit as he walked.
"No, you are in no condition to drive, Bobby-"
Bobby grabbed Jamie by the arm and yanked her towards him. As she stumbled he put his hand around her jaw and jerked her head up to look at him. "Now look, I'm getting pretty sick of this holier-than-thou attitude. I want my keys." He squeezed her jaw and upper arm as her spoke
Jamie jerked her head free and tried to pull away but he grabbed onto her other arm as well and held her tight.
"Bobby, you're hurting me, let go! Let's just go talk about it inside." Jamie was starting to get a little scared, he had never been this intense before.
"I'm done talking, I want my keys," Bobby stared down into her eyes, his hot, beer breath on her face. His expression changed he leaned down and kissed her, still gripping her upper arms. Jamie tried to pull back he just pushed her up against the car.
Jamie brought her knee up, catching him in the thigh but making him pull back enough that she brought a hand up and slapped him. He turned around and slapped her back, and tried to grab onto her again. This time, Jamie didn't hesitate but pushed him, on his unsteady feet, and punched him as hard as she could, just like Ryan had taught her. Bobby reeled and covered his nose. Jamie immediately jumped in her car and locked the doors. Then she sped home, locked herself in her room and spent the night crying.
Jamie didn't see Bobby the rest of the weekend, although he did try to call her at least once an hour. On Monday at school she wore long sleeves to make sure the bruises he left were completely covered. Everything was fine, except he was there after practice, as if nothing had happened.
"Jamie, I'm sorry. I got out of hand, I was drunk. I should have been thanking you for taking care of me. Please, Jamie, I'm so sorry." He just kept apologizing as he followed her through the parking lot toward her car.
"Stay away from me, Bobby." Jamie commanded as she got in her car and locked it.
He was there every day. He would apologize some days, some days he would get upset at her dismissal and cuss and hit her car. But he could never do much in the school parking lot. Jamie didn't know what to do. The only person she had told was Terry, her only suggestion was to go to the police, but Jamie wasn't sure she was ready for that.
Over the next couple of weeks he slowly disappeared and when she didn't see him for three straight days she sighed in relief.
The day after the big fight at The Beatdown, was also the day Jamie found out what Ryan had done to Max. That night she went up to the attic, and began throwing everything in the fridge into a bag. She was crying as she started tearing down the posters of fighters on the wall. She just startedpulling down another one when someone grabbed her hand, "What are you doing? Are you insane?" it was Ryan.
"Am I insane? Am I insane?" she screamed jerking her hand free. "You're the one who has gone insane. I'm so disgusted with you right now I want to puke just looking at you!" she yelled as she threw the poster at him.
"What the hell, Jamie, I haven't even talked to you- hey watch it" he ducked as she started throwing Gatorade bottles at him.
"You didn't have to! You nearly killed Jake Tyler in that fight you two had-
"I did not, it's not my fault he wouldn't tap, and he made it through fine, nearly broke my jaw, in case you cared"-
"Yeah, well how about Max? Huh, how'd Max do in that fight?" Jamie said tears streaming down her face. Ryan looked down and backed away from the intensity. " You even cheated in a fight, I heard. You treated Baja horribly! Who are you. Ryan? How could you do that? You nearly killed Max, one of the easiest-going kids in the school. So that you could have your stupid fight, you beat someone into the hospital. I don't want to even be around you," she said it all at such an intense whisper that it was worse than yelling.
"Wait, Jamie," he grabbed her wrist to stop her.
"Don't touch me!" she screamed and jerked back. When she looked up Ryan saw legitimate fear leave her eyes and looked down ashamed.
"I'm sorry, Jamie," he said and turned and climbed back out the window.
Baja Miller was sitting at one of the outdoor tables in the courtyard, waiting for Jake to get to school. Then all of a sudden Ryan McCarthy sat down at the table.
"Hey Baja," he said flashing his smile.
"Hi, Ryan," she answered confused.
"Look, I just came over to apologize to you," he looked down, "I know I didn't treat you very well, you know there at the end. I'm not going to apologize to Jake. I may have been an ass, but I'm not going to apologize to him. But I do want you to know I'm sorry." he finished looking uncomfortable.
Baja just looked at him, "I don't think I've ever heard you apologize before." she stated in utter astonishment.
"Yeah, well, I'm not sure I realized how bad I had gotten, but it was pointed out to me just how far I had gone with this." Ryan said looking over at the door of the school, where Jamie happened to be standing with Terry.
"Oh, I see," Baja said with a knowing smile, "I always liked you better after you had a talk with Jamie, I always liked that she had the guts to tell you what you needed to hear. It's alright, Ryan, I know how you got to be you. You did get really extreme but if you promise to never let it get that far again, I think I can work on forgiving you."
"Oh it will never get that bad again, I guarantee it," Ryan replied emphatically. Then he looked down again and pulled a letter out of his backpack, "speaking of extreme, could you possibly give this to Max too?"
"Umm, yeah, I can do that I guess," she said slowly taking the letter.
"Look, tell him I don't expect him to forgive me, ever, but I just need to do this anyway. Thank you, Baja," he said getting up as he saw Jake walking toward the table.
"Hey, man," he said putting his hand on Jake's shoulder as he walked by.
"What was that?" Jake had to ask as he sat down.
Letter to Max
Max,
There is nothing I can do to make up for what I did to you. But all the same, I want you to know that I'm sorry, so sorry. I could never excuse what I did to you and I don't expect you to ever forgive me, I don't deserve it. Just know that if there is ever absolutely anything I can do for you, you name it, it's done.
Ryan McCarthy
Then late on a Friday night Jamie heard a banging on her door. Her mom was gone again so she went to see who it was. When she looked through the peek hole and saw Bobby, her heart started to race.
"Go away, Bobby" she yelled through the door.
"I want to talk to you! Let me in, Jamie!"
"No!"
"Fine," and with that a bottle smashed through the front window.
Jamie screamed and shielded herself from the glass before running toward the window. Bobby had started to climb in when she started hitting him with the lamp off the table.
"Ow, stop that, you bitch" Bobby fell back from the window but when he got back up he just reached through and grabbed her by the waist and dragging her through the window, across the broken glass.
"Let go!" Jamie screamed as the lamp smashed into the side of the window and dropped from her hand.
Bobby threw her to the ground, "all I wanted was to talk but you gotta make everything so fucking difficult." He knelt over her, pinning her arms on the ground. "Now all I want is you to hear me out, you just never listen, that's your problem. You're just always right! Miss (grunt) perfect (grunt)!" Jamie was fighting against him.
"Help! Help!" Jamie screamed before a large hand covered her mouth. But that was all she needed. She quickly snaked her arm around his, bridged to push him up, and brought her leg up to push away and create as much space as possible. She rolled away and toward a little angel statue sitting on the lawn. Bobby grabbed onto her leg but not before she had it in her hand and turned over and struck him as hard as she could. Bobby went limp.
Jamie pulled her foot from underneath Bobby's arm and reached over to check his pulse. After finding one, she climbed back into the house and called the police.
It was a long night, police came and took Bobby and got a statement from Jamie. Bobby was officially arrested and charged with assault and a restraining order filed. Jamie was so exhausted; she didn't go to bed until after three. She was still in bed at 9 the next morning.
This was about the time Ryan swung in through the attic window. He had been at the fight club all night and never knew the police had been there. Everything looked just the same, the food and posters still littered the floor where Jamie had thrown them down only a few days before. He picked the majority of it up and set it over in a corner before knocking on the trap door that led down to her room.
"What?" came the muffled reply from below.
"Jamie, can I talk to you?" Ryan called through the ceiling. There was thump and some ruffling around downstairs before Ryan felt the trap door pull down. Soon Jamie's long, light brown hair popped up over the floor and the full length of her body came into view. She was wearing ridiculous looking boot slippers with soffee shorts and a fight club t-shirt that used to be Ryan's. Her hair was a mess and there were bags under her eyes.
"What do you want, Ryan? I'm tired, it's been a long night," she walked over to the couch rubbing her eyes before sitting down.
Ryan cautiously walked over to sit down next to her. "Well to be honest, Jamie, I've just, I uh, well the thing is," he stopped and took a deep breath, "I just wanted to apologize." he said and looked up at her. He got up and paced running his hand over his hair. "I know I got insanely full of myself, and I know I took things, way, way too far. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," he said sitting down again and putting his face in his hands.
She sat down next to him and put her hand on his shoulder and he pulled up with a cough.
"Ryan, what's important is that you've realized it, maybe a little late, but you always were a little slow," she said smiling at him.
"Haha, you always did tell me like it is," he looked over at her with a grin. "And you never would have let my feet get that far off the ground. I should have listened to you way back at the beginning of the summer, maybe we would never have gotten this far."
"Yeah, well, we always knew I was the brains and beauty of this operation, you're just the brawn," she laughed and pushed him a little with her shoulder before leaning against him for a hug.
"Oh I missed you," Ryan said as he hugged her.
"I missed you too," Jamie said.
They sat there for a few minutes when Ryan looked down at her legs and saw the deep scratches from the glass on them.
"Jamie, what happened to your legs," Ryan said pulling back and reaching down to examine the scratches. Jamie pulled her shorts down to cover them.
"Nothing, just fell and scratched myself, no big deal." Jamie said, a little flustered, not wanting to have to admit about how bad things had gotten with Bobby. "Let's go make breakfast."
"Jamie, those don't look like nothing," Ryan said getting up to follow her. Jamie bent down to pull up the door and started to climb the stairs while hiding some of her other bruises.
"Ryan, just drop it."
Ryan looked at her and knew she was lying, that she was avoiding something. So he knew he couldn't drop it, "No, what's going on Jamie." Ryan reached out for her arm once they reached her bedroom floor and turned her to face him. "Did you-? Did you do that to yourself?" he asked staring into Jamie's eyes with concern.
Jamie pulled back," No! what-? No!"
"Then what's going on, Jamie, you're lying. You don't lie." Ryan said letting go as she pulled away.
Jamie sighed and sat down on the bed, exhausted by the emotional night and now morning. "Look, Ryan, it was just a really long night last night. Last couple of weeks, actually," Jamie put her head in her hands. "I just got mixed up into some stuff and it kind of came to a head last night, but it's all fine now." She looked up and smiled, "really nothing to worry about."
Ryan sat down beside her, "Jamie, come on."
It was getting to be too much, it had been too long a night. Jamie felt like everything was building up, she was tired of lying and she just wanted it to all go away. She looked up into those piercing blue eyes and felt it all start to bubble over, everything from the last couple of weeks, she started to cry.
"I wanted to call you. Two weeks ago when it happened, I was scared he was going to show up here, then. And then he was there after school, every day, and I didn't know what to do. Then last night, God last night," Jamie was full on crying now. "I was so scared, I thought he was going to- I mean, for a minute I thought I wouldn't be able to stop him-." She started sobbing and Ryan pulled her to him.
"Jamie, what are you talking about what happened?" Ryan was alarmed, he couldn't actually recall Jamie ever being scared or crying for that matter. He rubbed her back and told her it was alright, that he was right there, nothing would happen, and let her cry herself out. Eventually Jamie ran out of tears and leaned back to wiped her face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to unload on you like that," She leaned back but Ryan kept his hand on her back, still rubbing it.
"It's fine, it's always fine. Jamie, you gotta tell me what happened," he said leaning down to catch her eyes, so she wouldn't look away.
"Ryan, did you know I've been dating someone for the last few months?" Jamie asked.
"No, I mean I saw a bike here a few times and thought that was odd for one of your mom's boyfriends."
"Yeah, no, he wasn't here for my mom. It was Bobby Cavaw, he graduated last year, we had science class together. He asked me out at the beginning of summer volleyball. Everything was fine, it was great! He was so exciting, and funny, and he…he made me feel beautiful and special." Jamie said looking away. She slowly stood up and crossed her arms over chest and walked across the room and back before turning to face Ryan again.
"He liked to party a bit, but it wasn't that big of a deal, until it was. A couple of weeks ago, we were at a party at a friend of his' house and he had gotten really wasted. He refused to leave with me so I took his keys and went to get in my own car and leave. He followed me out and we argued and he got really upset and he grabbed my arms. I yelled at him and he got mad at me and then he just kissed me!" Jamie threw her arms up in the air and started pacing. "He wouldn't let go and he just kept kissing me. So I kneed him and pushed away and when he tried again I slapped him. Well then he slapped me and so when he came at me again I punched him in the nose as hard as I could. I actually think I may have broke it, it's still a little bruised at least." Jamie stopped pacing and took a big breath and sat back on the bed. "He's been showing up at school ever since, after volleyball practice, apologizing and then getting mad, but he couldn't really do anything in the school parking lot" Jamie put her head back in her hands, "then last night, he showed up here, drunk. He broke my front window when I wouldn't let him in and ended up pulling me through it, that's where I got the scratches. He had me pinned to the ground but I managed to get out from under him and grab that angel statue out of the garden and hit him with it. From there I called the cops and they came and got him." Jamie finished and leaned back trying not to look directly at Ryan.
Ryan was boiling mad, Jamie may have not noticed it but he had tensed more and more throughout her story. He gathered control of his temper as he turned his body to face her. He pulled Jamie to look at him again. Then he put his hand under chin so her eyes would meet his.
"Jamie, I am so sorry you felt like you couldn't call me. I am so sorry this happened to you, and I am so sorry you've had to deal with it on your own." Ryan reached down and took her hands. "I swear, Jamie, nothing like that will ever happen to you again." He looked into her eyes, "Jamie, you are special and you are beyond beautiful and you should never have had to put up with something like that just to make you feel that way" He reached up and put his hand on the side of her face, letting his thumb wipe away the tears still on her face. "I'm sorry I never let you know that. Jamie, I don't want you to ever again feel like you can't come to me, okay?" Jamie turned into his hand and smiled.
"If you promise to not let your head get too big to listen to people, I promise not to let mine get too big to ask for help." She looked deeply at him, "thanks, Ryan." Then she leaned forward into Ryan's chest again and just let him hold her for a minute.
"You got it," Ryan said leaning down and kissing the top of her head.