And It All Comes Back To You
According to everyone they spoke to, they were experiencing the hottest summer on record. The temperature during the day always hit over 110 degrees, while at night it lingered at around 85. The grass was burnt to a yellow-brown colour and, no matter how much the gardeners watered them, the flowerbeds around the barracks were reduced to limp dying plants. Heat evaporated off the tarmac paths, there seemed to be no shade no matter where you went and, typically, James was having a bitch of a day.
"You thought you saw someone in the jungle?" James questioned the other men in his security team, who had been ordered to help him on his quest to find the other members of his crew. Most of them didn't look very pleased about that, but James didn't care; if his people were out there, he was determined to find them no matter what.
"...Maybe. We just...I don't know, Jim....It might have been a Hostile...It might have been just...something else..." stammered one of the Dharma workers that James hadn't fully gotten to know yet. Phil Something-or-other.
"Somethin' else?" sighed James.
Phil looked around at the other men for help. Miles shrugged before looking away, keen to stay out of an argument with James. Jerry was rooting around in his backpack for a bottle of water. Jin, whose English had already greatly improved during the four months they had spent living with the Dharma Initiative, simply stated, "It's the heat. It's too hot for us to be out here in the jungle."
Resigning to the fact that he wasn't going to get any more work out of them today, James picked up his backpack before roughly slinging it onto his left shoulder and headed back to the van. He screwed up his brows in a desperate attempt to shield his eyes from the harsh glare of the sun. He didn't think he had ever been so hot in his life, and all he wanted to do was get back to his house and take a long cold shower, followed by an ice cold beer. Bliss. He had a niggling feeling in the back of his mind that he was forgetting something, but as they drove up to the motor pool to drop off the van, his eyes focused on his house, the air-con and the refrigerated beer. Like a blinkered horse, he focused on nothing but the house, practically flying up the path as fast as the gruelling heat would allow him, to get to the haven within.
Juliet was sat with her back pressed against the wall of the motor pool with her hands on her head, trying to hold her long hair up off her neck, her attempt to keep herself cool failing miserably. She could feel her pale skin burning and she wanted nothing more than to hide inside, away from the scorching sun and preferably in front of an air-con with an ice cream cone in her hand. Perfect. She spotted the blue Dharma van slowly making its way from the other side of the valley, winding roughly along the bumpy road. James was so determined to keep searching, he'd told her that pretty much every day since they had arrived there. They liked to talk a lot.
Some days they'd discuss the small things – favourite movie, favourite book, favourite candy bar. At other times they ventured into more sensitive territory. How James felt to lose his parents. How Juliet felt when her parents divorced and her dad moved away to another state. James knowing he had a daughter somewhere out there. Juliet knowing she had a sister and a nephew somewhere out there. James killing Anthony Cooper. Juliet killing Pickett. They found it easy to talk to one another and had a great deal more in common than they both initially expected. She hadn't yet told him about being kept on the island by Ben until she solved the fertility problem, although she imagined that some day they would be having that conversation. James still hadn't opened up to her regarding his feelings for Kate. If he still loved her. Or not.
The van pulled into the motor pool and five of the men from the security team stepped out looking exhausted; they'd been searching all day in this intolerable heat. James is coming over for dinner tonight, Juliet reminded herself, making a mental note to go get him some beers from the store room when she finished work. She expected him to look over at her and wave, like he usually did when he walked past the garage, but instead he didn't even look over in her direction. Shrugging, Juliet had a final sip of her bottle of water before standing up and getting back to work.
"I don't know what to say." James said, holding up a single flower and his face, which he had obviously sunburnt at some point during the day, was forced into a smile. He was attempting to look adorably cute. Only, his eyes betrayed him and they revealed his true need to be forgiven.
"That for me?" Juliet replied wryly, her face expressionless.
Knowing that flashing his trademark dimples worked like a charm on every woman he'd met EXCEPT Juliet, he held the flower a little higher but kept his gaze firmly focused on her. Honesty. Juliet respected honesty, he told himself, there's no point in lying to her. She could read him like a book anyway.
"I remembered that I'd forgotten somethin', but I couldn't remember what it was that I'd forgotten...and we had some beers, cranked up the aircon....I just plain forgot, I'm sorry." James said apologetically, as good as throwing the already droopy flower into Juliet's hand.
"You're over two hours late for dinner and you bring me a wilting flower to say sorry?" Juliet asked sternly. They stared at each other for a few seconds before a huge smile broke across Juliet's face and she leaned forward, slightly touching James on the arm, "Just don't let it happen again!"
"What's for dinner, honey?" asked James as he stumbled into Juliet's house. The combination of all the alcohol he had consumed that evening and the unbearable heat finally started to affect his senses, making him unsteady on his feet. Not missing a beat, Juliet firmly wrapped her arm around his waist and helped to guide him onto the couch where he slumped heavily onto it, pulling her down with him.
"I ate my dinner two hours ago James. And you're drunk."
"Me? Drunk?! No! Never!" chuckled James, keeping his hand spread across Juliet's lower back, "I am not! Just a few beers.....You have pretty hair."
Juliet laughed, "And now I know for sure that you're drunk!"
"I mean it, Buttercup," he said dreamily while twirling a section of her hair around his finger, "You're excellent with a gun and now you fix cars too! Is there anything you can't do?"
"I can't get you to show up on time!" giggled Juliet, as she lightly slapped him on the chest. Their blue eyes met and their faces were only inches apart. Their gazes held only for a second before both of them looked away. Juliet stifled her laugh nervously, but noticed that James was gently rubbing her back with his thumb. It surprised Juliet how much she enjoyed this simple comforting touch. It surprised James how normal it seemed to be this content with her.
They sat like that in serene silence for at least a minute before he whispered, more to himself than to Juliet, "I think I'm over her."