Chapter 2
I landed the next morning at an airport in Walker, Georgia; about 60 miles from Kingston. After getting my luggage, I walked to the rental car center to pick up a car I had pre-rented yesterday. Then finally, I drove away and was on my way to Kingston.
After about an hour and a half, I was finally nearing Kingston. I was keeping my eyes out for the correct exit but failed to see it. I continued on for about 10 minutes past where I thought it should've been.
"Shit" I cursed under my breath. "Did I miss it?" I asked myself angrily. Finally I noticed another road sign. Hopefully that would tell me where I was. I leaned in closer to the windshield, hoping to get a better look. Nope, not my exit.
But I kept going. I kept going past two more exits, before finally finding an exit to exit on. The exit led to a small road that went into a small, homey, looking town. I pulled into a small dirt parking lot in front of an old-time, general store, looking place. I took out a map from the glove department and looked to see where I was. Not finding my location, I sighed and got out of the car.
I walked into the general store, and heard the ringing of bells on the door. It defiantly had small town feel. I made my way to the check-out counter. The cashier was turned around, and all I could see of her was her light brown hair tied up in a messy bun in the back of her head.
"Excuse me, miss" I spoke up politely.
She turned around and I felt a lump form in my throat. She was stunning. She had gorgeous brown eyes and big, pouty lips. I noticed that some loose strands of hair from the bun framed her face. She smiled at me; she had the most beautiful smile. It was so warm and welcoming.
"How can I help you?" Her southern accent asked.
My mouth couldn't seem to form any words. "I…" I started, but couldn't continue. She looked at me and raised an eyebrow, growing impatient.
"Did you need help finding something?" She tried to help me after a few silent moments.
Finally, I spoke, "I was wondering how to get to Kingston. I couldn't seem to find where I was on the map."
"You're new to these parts, I see" She laughed lightly. "Kingston is just down the road about 15 miles"
"Really?" I sighed in relief.
"Got lost on the freeway?" I nodded. "Yep, those roads are absolutely hellish. Where are you coming from?"
"New York"
"New York? What would a good looking New Yorker like you be doing in small town Georgia?"
My face fell, "I'm here to see family"
"Family, eh? What's wrong, everything's okay, right?" She must've noticed my depressed face.
"My dad…" I stopped my self. "Yeah, everything's fine"
"Oh" Her face fell with mine, but then perked back up again. "Want something before ya get back on the road again? A soda, ice cream?"
"No thanks"
She leaned her elbow on the table and leaned in closer to me. "Ice cream always makes everything better" She smiled and winked at me.
I was about to turn it down again, but thought that an ice cream cone might be nice. "I'll have a small ice cream cone"
"Great! What kind do you want? We got chocolate, vanilla, mint chocolate chip, cookie dough, rocky road, and a few special flavors"
I didn't know what she meant by 'special' flavors, but I decided I didn't care. "Surprise me"
"I'll be back" She went into the back and came out with a huge, waffle cone filled with what looked like rocky road mixed with something else and it had colorful jelly-bean looking things mixed in it. She handed it to me and noticed the strange look on my face. "The bigger the better. Don't worry, I'll only charge ya for the small one"
"Thanks…" I started slowly. "Uh…what is it?"
"It's one of the special flavors. Its rocky road mixed with chocolate chip cookie dough and has jelly beans mixed in with it" I just stared at her with wide eyes. She laughed. "My boss always orders way too much ice cream so he lets me play around with the flavors, mix 'em up, add whatever I want to them. People seem to like 'em and are always excited to see what I come up with next. Probably why my boss lets me keep doing it; big crowd pleaser" I was still hesitant to taste it, but she persisted. "Come on, taste it. I can't promise it won't make you sick though" She winked again.
Reluctantly, I tried it. It actually tastes surprisingly good. It sort of hit the spot. "Wow, it's actually really good"
"Really? This is the first time I've made this kind and you're the first to try it"
"Well I'm honored to be the first. So what do I owe you?"
"$2.75"
I handed her a 5 dollar bill. "Keep the change." I smiled at her and started to walk away but her voice stopped me.
"Stop by here sometime before you go back to the Big Apple. And if you need any help finding your way around these hellish roads, give me a call" She wrote her number down on a napkin and handed it to me with a smile and a wave. "See ya!" She called as I walked out of the store. I looked down at the napkin at her number. Above the number said her name. Elizabeth Swann. Never before had the name sounded so beautiful. I also noticed that she had drawn a little smiley face with its tongue sticking out; I couldn't help but smile at that.
After 15 minutes, I passed a sign that read 'Welcome to Kingston' in big, red letters. And underneath that, in smaller lettering, read 'Population 663'.
Holy crap, I thought. Only 663 people? It's probably one of those types of towns where everyone knows your name and everything that's going on in your life. That must be pleasant.
I drove past a few people standing outside of an older-looking building. They waved to me. I awkwardly waved back. Then, I passed a building with a large sign that read, We'll miss you Bill! Bill was my father.
I continued to pass by people on the streets. At first they just waved at me, but as I got further into the town, people started pointing in the direction I needed to go. A dorky kid on his bike rode a little ways ahead of me, motioning me to follow. I followed him and within a matter of minutes, I arrived at the cemetery. I pulled into the small parking lot and got out of the car. There was a truck in front of me with a man leaning on the back of it. He was tall and thin with shaggy hair and sideburns.
"Hey, Cuz" He began to walk over to me.
I looked at him and squinted. "Robbie?"
He smirked and nodded. Before I knew it, he was hugging me. It caught me off guard and I patted his back. "Will Turner," He said, shaking his head. "It's been too long"
"It's good to see you" I greeted politely when he let go of me.
"This loss…will be met with a hurricane of love" So he was a hippie, I realized. "Come on, everyone's inside"
He led me inside and we walked into a room. The room was full of people sitting in pews, all wearing black. When we walked in, they all turned and looked at me.
"Everyone, this is Will!" Robbie announced. They all said 'hi' and some waved.
"Hello" But I didn't say anything else. What was there to say? They expected me to say something. My mouth opened to say something; what-I didn't know. But before I got any words outs, Robbie excused us and he and I walked out. He may be a hippie, but at least he had good timing.
"I know; it's a tough crowd. Don't feel bad"
We drove to my Aunt Lola's house where a wake was being held. When we walked in, the small house was full of people; most of them I have never even met.
"Aunt Lola," Robbie called through the house, but it was so loud Aunt Lola didn't hear so he kept calling her. "Aunt Lola. Aunt Lola. Aunt Lola! Aunt Lola!" We walked into the kitchen where I saw my Aunt Lola cooking something over the stove. "Aunt Lola, look who's here"
"Who?" She said before turning around. When she did, a huge smile spread across her face. "Will!" The very short, chubby, gray haired woman ran over to me. "Will, it's so good to see you hun" Her accent was much thicker than Elizabeth's.
"Hi, Aunt Lola" I smiled, giving her a hug.
"Look how you've grown. It's been too long, dear. Come, I want show you off to people"
Aunt Lola grabbed my hand and walked me through the house. "That is your cousin Ryan. That's your other cousin, Beth; she's Robbie's baby sister; you remember her, don't ya? Then again I don't think you've seen her since she was three or four" We continued walking through the house and she pointed out people; some I knew, some I didn't. I talked to some of them and most of them gave me hugs.
"Okay," she continues, "that's Floyd and Bob" She pointed to two old men standing in the corner. "They fought with your father in the war. Oh, and dear this is Uncle Stewart." We walked over to an older man that looked slightly younger than Aunt Lola. He smiled when he saw us coming towards him.
"Hey, there Will. I haven't seen you since you were 14." He gave me a hug. They sure like to hug in this family. "So what's it like living big in the city?"
Not knowing what to say, I just smiled. "Good" I left it at that.
"Oh, you must be Will!" A woman who looked the same age as my mom walked up next to me. She was tall and had long, blond hair tied into a low pony at her neck. She was wearing a flowy, flowery dress and had this dazed look on her face. "I'm Bonnie. I was your daddy's first girlfriend" She smiled at me. Aw, so this was the infamous Bonnie; my dad's almost-wife. The woman his family had wanted him to marry instead of my mom.
Before I could say anything, a kid who look about 7 years old, came running through the room. He was screaming at the top of his lungs. I winced as he got louder. Damn, what the hell is with that kid?
When he left, Aunt Lola started laughing. "That's Jeremy; Robbie's son. Precious little tyke, isn't he?"
"Yeah…precious"
Just then someone called Aunt Lola into the kitchen. "I gotta go finish dinner, hun. Keep mingling" She smiled and then she was off. But I wasn't alone for long when I hear someone call me name, or rather screech my name.
"Oh my god, are you Will!" I turned around and two girls who looked like twins and who were maybe 17 or 18 years old came running up to me. They both were rather short and had silky red hair with loose curls and looked like they had just come from the beauty salon. They were wearing very posh-looking clothes, too. Not exactly the type of girls I would expect to see here. "I'm Ella" The same one said.
"And I'm Emma" The other said. They both looked so much alike, and were even dressed very similarly, and I could hardly tell them apart. They were also very giggly; it was kinda annoying. "He is so cute!" She whispered to her twin, but loud enough for me to here. Suddenly I got very uncomfortable.
"Will, my boy! I see you've met Ella and Emma; my friend Edward's girls." Uncle Stewart walked up and put his arms around the girls. "They're also my precious little goddaughters."
"We hear you live in New York" The one named Emma giggled softly.
"Um…," I couldn't decide if I really wanted to confirm that fact to them, "yeah", I said finally.
"Ella and Emma are going to be moving there this fall to go to some fancy fashion school. Maybe you could show them around?" Uncle Stewart asked.
The girls kept giggling. "Yeah, we'd really appreciate that" Emma said.
"Yeah, we really would" Ella agreed. God, why couldn't they stop giggling like 11 girls around that High School Musical prep-boy what's-his-face? That Zac something or other guy. Then if that wasn't enough they started blushing.
"Well, well, well, looks like a couple girls have a crush on you, Will" Great, cause that didn't make me more uncomfortable. "Why don't you girls go find your father?"
"Bye, bye" They said in unison before walking away, still giggling.
The rest of the day I continued to uncomfortably mingle with other people. Some I knew better than others; my Aunt Lola, of course, My Uncle Stewart, Robbie, my cousin Marion, and my other aunt, Kimmy. Thank god I didn't run into the annoying twins again.
It wasn't until 8:00 that I went to the hotel; although it felt much later. As I walked in, there were balloons, signs, flowers, and tons of people crowding the lobby. It looked like a wedding was taking place there.
I checked in at the front desk. It looked like the woman was a bit annoyed with the ruckus the wedding party was making. I walked to my hotel room, set my suit case down, got comfortable on the couch, and turned on the TV. I flipped through all the channels, but finding nothing worth while. I turned it off and just sat there.
I guess I could go to bed. But then I checked the clock. 8:34. Damn it, who goes to bed at 8:34? So I picked up my cell phone and dialed my sister's number.
When she didn't' answer, I left a message. "Hey, Sis, I'm back at the hotel. I'm bored. Call me"
I thought about calling Jessica, but I put my phone away. I took it back out and pressed '1', but before I clicked 'send', I closed my phone again. I really didn't want to talk to her right now. But I was bored. And lonely. Then I thought of something. I took out a folded napkin from my jean pocket. I dialed the number written on it.
"Hello?" A woman's southern voice filled my eyes.
"Hi, is this Elizabeth?"
"Yeah, who's this?"
"This is Will Turner; I don't know if you remember me, but I came into the store today…"
"The NY guy" She finished for me.
"So you do remember?"
"Course I do, I don't give my number out to too many strangers that come into the little shop. Then again, most people that comes in there live within a 10 mile radius of me. That, and the fact we don't get too many weary travelers like you in these parts. So what's up, Will Turner? I didn't catch your name before did I? Well Will Turner, I'm Elizabeth Swann"
"It was nice to meet you, Elizabeth Swann. I just wanted to call and thank you" Just then, the call waiting beeped in my ear and I saw that my mom was calling. "I gotta go; the other line…"
"I'll hold" She stated simply.
I pressed the call waiting button. "Mom?"
"Are you there? How'd it go? Were they horrible to you? Did you meet Bonnie? Ah, they always loved her; I'd knew she'd be there"
"Mom!" I interrupted before she could go on. "I'm here, it went fine, no, they weren't horrible to me; they were very nice. And yes, I did meet Bonnie"
"Did you talk to them about the cremation?"
"We're gonna talk about that stuff tomorrow and" before I could continue, I heard a loud crash from Mom's side of the phone. "Mom?"
"Shoot, Sweetie, I have to go" Another crash. "I'll talk to you tomorrow" Then the line went off. God, I don't wanna know.
Then I remembered that Elizabeth was still waiting. "Elizabeth?" I was silently hoping she was still there.
"Hey you. So let me tell you about the charms of living in a tiny town. While I was waiting for you, the mail man came to my house to drop off a package and said 'I hear you got yourself a new boyfriend, little Lizzie. He's from New York now, is he? Martha saw you two in the shop chatting it up'" She began talking at the speed of light; I could hardly keep up, although when she mentioned that they said I was her boyfriend, I did feel a blush rise in my cheeks. But before she could continue, another call waiting beep interrupted.
"Elizabeth; thanks for you help today, but I have to go now"
"Holding" She sure was persistent.
"Okay" I muttered.
"Hello?" I asked on the other line.
"Will, it's me"
"Jessica?" Why was she calling me?
"I need you to come and pick up your stuff from my apartment. Now"
"What? Now; why?"
"Because I have a date. And if we end up back at my place, he's gonna see your crap and wonder why I have another guy's stuff in my apartment"
"Hold on" I said.
"Will!" She called.
"Elizabeth?"
"So anyway the mail man went on to say"
"Hold on for a few more minutes. Don't hang up"
"Jessica?"
"Come get your stuff!"
"As much as I hate putting a damper on your sex life, I can't come right now. I'm in Georgia"
"Georgia? What the hell are you doing there?"
"I had some family issues. I'll be back home in a few days to get it"
She sighed in frustration. "Fine, I'll just shove it in a closet!" Then she hung up. How did I ever manage to find myself in a relationship with a bitch like her? Oh yeah, she's hot. I took a deep breathe to try and calm myself from the rising frustration and anger towards Jessica before turning my attention back to Elizabeth.
"Hey"
"Good lord, did I win the phone lottery?"
"So finish telling me the story" I lied down on the couch and relaxed as I listened.
"Eh; forget it; I'm over it. So, what's kickin'?"
I laughed. She sounded so perky and happy. "Are you always this happy?"
"Maybe; if you wanna know you'll have to find out yourself" She said in coy voice; but within a few moments she burst into laughter. "Honestly though, people take themselves too seriously. People just need to brighten up"
"I wish I could see it the way you do. Every thing is messed up; it seems like a long shot to even hope to be that happy"
"Are you talking about your father's death?" She said after a few moments.
"That and-wait a minute; how did you know my dad died?" I was completely confused; I didn't tell her that.
"Will, if there's one thing I know, its people. People are always less mysterious then they think they are"
I chuckled. I guess she was kind of right. "Hey, is that 'You Give Love a Bad Name'?" I could faintly hear music in the back ground.
"Yeah, you like Bon Jovi?" But before I even answered, she had put the phone up to the speaker and turned up the music.
You paint your smile on your lips
Blood red nails on your finger tips
I got up and started dancing; I knew I looked like a geek. But hey, no one was around.
A school boy's dream, you act so shy
You're very first kiss was your first kiss goodbye
You're a loaded gun
There's nowhere to run
No one can save me the damage is done
When the chorus started, I could hear Elizabeth singing in the back ground.
Shot through the heart, and you're to blame
You give love a bad name
I play my part and you play your game
You give love a bad name
That's when she turned it back down and brought the phone back to her ear. "So, Turner, your turn; pick a song"
"Okay, hold on" I went to my suit case and got a Bon Jovi CD out. I put it in the CD player, put the phone next to the speaker and pressed play. Music then blared through the speakers.
Tommy used to work on the dock
Unions been strike
He's down of his luck; it's tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man, she brings home her pay
For love, for love
She says, we gotta hold on to what we got
Cause it doesn't make difference if we make it or not
We got each other and that's a lot for love
We'll give it a shot.
Oh, we're half way there
Oh, oh, living on a prayer
Take my hand; we'll make it I swear
Oh, oh, living on a prayer!
We listened to the rest of the song, and then we continued talking. We played each other music; it turns out we like a lot of the same music. Well, accept for her odd fascination with Jimmy Buffett. We talked about anything we thought of; not matter how random or odd it was. It felt nice, being able to talk so freely with someone, let alone someone I met less than 24 hours ago.
Before I knew it, it was almost 5am. I was only wearing boxers, a t-shirt, and a robe. I had gotten dressed for bed hours ago, not thinking I would stay up this late; or rather, this early. But now, I was standing out on the balcony, still talking to her. Although, for the past few minutes we had been in a comfortable silence.
"You still there?" I finally asked.
"Yeah. You tired?"
I was about to say yes, but when I thought about it; I really wasn't tired. I hadn't slept at all tonight, and only a little the past few days. And when I did sleep, it was always a restless sleep. "You know, I'm really not"
"Me either. You know, you're not too far away. We could go get an early breakfast." I could hear the eagerness and anticipation in her voice. It was cute.
--
The songs they were playing for each other were 'You Give Love a Bad Name' and 'Living On a Prayer'- both by Bon Jovi. They are awesome songs! And Bon Jovi is the coolest!