Hi everyone! I just wanted to make a quick not saying that the part that's written in italic is a flashback! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Derrick Harrington stepped out of his BMW convertible and onto his driveway. With a small smile he looked at his childhood home. It hadn't changed much since he was last there. He noticed that freshly planted flowers lined the garden beds, but otherwise it was the exact same. That fact made him feel warm and content inside. Sighing, he popped his trunk open and grabbed his bags. About a second after he rang the doorbell, the door swung open to reveal his mother. He couldn't help but grin at the sight of the petit woman. Michelle Harrington was positively beaming at the sight of her youngest son.
"Derrick!" she all but shrieked in happiness, pulling him into a tight embrace. He smiled and couldn't help but hug her back.
"Hey mom," he finally spoke, pulling out of her embrace. "How are you?"
She smiled fondly at her son and patted his cheek. "I'm great, honey. How are you?"
"I'm doing good, mom," he responded, still smiling. It felt like forever since he last saw her. Though he would never say it aloud, he was a momma's boy. He had missed his mother more than he realized.
"It's good to see you, hun." Michelle told Derrick, helping him inside.
"You too. It feels like forever since I last saw you," he told her. She playfully scowled at him.
"It has been forever. You should've come visited during spring break," she responded. Derrick smiled sheepishly. He should've, but he ended up going to Cuba with his friends from college.
"Where's dad?" Derrick asked his mom, carrying his bags in.
"In the living room," she replied, leading him through the kitchen. He looked around the familiar setting, and smiled at the scent he had grown used to.
As they entered the living room, Derrick not only spotted his father sitting on the leather couch, but a familiar looking boy who resembled an older version of himself.
"Pat?" Derrick cried in shock. Patrick Harrington grinned at the sight of his younger brother and stood up from the couch. Michelle beamed with pride at her two sons. Patrick approached the younger boy and held his arms out. Derrick despite being eighteen going on nineteen, ran into them like he did when he was a kid. Patrick and Derrick had a good relationship. Derrick looked up to his older brother in a way most boys did when they were young. After the boys hugged, Patrick grinned and ruffled Derrick's newly cut, dirty blond hair.
"Hey, bro," Patrick laughed, "how's college treating you?"
Derrick shrugged. "It's been good."
James Harrington decided to step into the hallmark moment by standing up from the couch and walking over to his two sons. He clapped Derrick on the shoulder and gave him grin. "Hey, son. How've you been?"
Derrick smiled and hugged his dad, forgetting all about keeping the reunion manly. Derrick missed his family. Go ahead, sue him. "I've been great dad. How 'bout you?"
James smiled at the two boys, then his wife. "Never better, son. Never better."
Michelle clapped her hands together and urged them all into a group hug, ignoring the boys protests.
"You only said Sammi was coming home," Derrick accused his mother after the group hug. The family sat scatered around the living room, Derrick in his arm chair, Patrick sitting across from him, and his parents on the couch.
His mother slyly grinned and shrugged her small shoulders. "I didn't say only Sammi was coming home. I just mentioned her, you didn't ask me about Patrick. And I thought it'd be a nice surprise, considering you haven't seen your brother in long time." Across from him Patrick sent him a grin.
Derrick raised his hands in mock surrender. "Sheesh, okay I get it."
"When is Sammi arriving?" Patrick spoke up.
"Your sister will be coming home tomorrow," James replied. "And guess what, you two get to go pick her up." Both Harrington boys groaned and slouched into their seats. Michelle grinned at their reactions.
"Think of nice this will be! Neither of you have seen your sister in a long time, so it'll be wonderful for you to go pick her up!" Michelle exclaimed. The two boys shot her a disbelieving look.
"Does she know will be the ones picking her up?" Derrick asked. Both parents shook their heads. The brothers looked at each other with identical smiles.
"Then this could be fun," Patrick replied slyly.
[*****].
Massie Block exited her bathroom and went into her closet. As soon as she got home, she immediately showered to get off the gross airplane germs off her. After dressing, she flopped onto her king sized bed and looked up at her ceiling. It was weird being back in Westchester, but she liked it. She had missed it. She glanced at her nightstand and noticed she still had pictures of the PC lining it. Turning on her side she grabbed the photo frames and examined them. Most of them were just of her and Alicia, Dylan and Kristen. She had one with Claire in it, but that was taken before the fall out they had with her. Massie didn't know why she still had that one. She thought back to about mid-way through senior year and everything that happened. She let out a un-ladylike snort at all the drama that was caused all thanks to Claire.
It was like Lake Placid all over again. Claire, not being able to handle her alcohol well, had gotten drunk really fast at party. And in her drunken state, ended up kissing Josh, who at the time on a "break" with Alicia. Josh, who didn't exactly know what to do, quickly got away from Claire. Dylan, who witnessed the whole thing ran to tell Massie. Word quickly got around, and soon Alicia and Claire were in a full on argument about it. Josh wasn't to blame, because he did the right thing of pulling away from Claire and telling Cam. Dylan said Josh was telling the truth, so he was innocent. Claire was the one to blame, yes she was drunk, but when she sobered up, she said some things to Alicia that was just unforgivable. So then Claire was kicked out of the PC. End of story.
Massie continued to look at the photos and froze when she noticed the frame that held a photo of her and Derrick. Why did she still have that? Frowning, she picked it up and studied it. One of their friends must have taken it when they weren't looking, because in the photo Derrick held their intertwined hands up to their faces as they smiled at each other, not even looking towards the camera. Massie felt numb looking at the photo. They had been so happy back then. Then it all broke apart. All the couples did.
Not only did Claire ruin her relationship with her and Cam, she ruined Alicia and Josh's. Even though Josh was innocent, Alicia was still hurt. So like at Lake Placid, to get back at Claire, Alicia kissed Cam. So her relationship with Josh ended.
Then there was Kristen and Kemp. No one even really knows what happened between the two of them, not even themselves. It just… broke. Out of the blue, Kemp ended it. Kristen always suspected that Kemp had either cheated on her and didn't have the heart to actually tell her, or he found someone else. Dylan and Chris were the same. It didn't work anymore so Chris dumped Dylan. By the way thing were going, they knew it was going to happen, and it did. And soon enough BOCD's Golden Couple broke up too.
Massie remembered the Friday night sleepover, where all of them had just ended their relationships. The girls had just cried together and wondered why on earth this all had to happen to them. They stayed in bed and just watched sad movies. It was horrible now that she thought back to it.
Putting the photos down, Massie laid back on her bed. Soon many old memories came flooding back.
[*****].
Kemp Hurley kicked one last soccer ball into the empty net in his large backyard. Exhausted, he collapsed onto the green grass. He shielded his eyes from the sun as he stared up at the blue sky.
"Rabbit," he mumbled to himself as he stared up at clouds, trying to determine what they looked like. His mind drifted back to one warm summer day two years when he had laid in the same spot. Only difference was that Kristen had laid beside him. He was enveloped in the memory.
"This is dumb, Kemp," Kristen protested as her boyfriend pulled her to lie down on the grass.
"No it's not. It's fun," Kemp insisted. Kristen rolled her eyes but remained silent. Kemp pointed up to one cloud. "It looks like a flower."
Kristen examined the cloud. "I guess it does," she said.
Kemp grinned and nudged her. "Your turn."
Kristen sighed and looked at clouds. "That one looks like a cat," she said, pointing at the fluffy white cloud.
Kemp smiled. "See isn't this fun?" he questioned.
Kristen felt a smile play on her lips. She liked these moments when Kemp was childlike. Not at all like his player, bad boy reputation. It showed he cared. She turned on her side so she faced him. He raised his eyebrows at her, a smirk forming on his face.
"You're such a child," she mumbled, smiling at him. He propped up on his elbows and grinned. He wanted so badly to just kiss her right there and run back into his house and make her the happiest girl in the world. He tucked a piece of blond hair behind her ear.
"Forever young, babe." Kemp replied. Kristen let out a laugh at her boyfriend's response. Kemp loved her laugh.
"You're funny," Kristen told him, leaning over to peck him on the lips. Kemp hooked his arm around her waist and brought her to his chest. They just laid there together, continuing to name clouds. Kristen glanced at him and smiled. Catching her staring, Kemp smirked and kissed her.
Sitting back up, Kemp rested his head in his hands. God, why was he being such a girl? He was such a wuss. Kemp stood back up and picked up a stray soccer ball and whipped it towards the net. He ran a hand threw his brown hair and walked back into his house. He needed to man up. He had to stop thinking about Kristen. She didn't matter anymore, none of the girls did. All they had done was screw up his and his friends lives.
[*****].
Chris Plovert anxiously glanced around the market, nervous to find a familiar face.
"Chris, hurry up!" his younger sister Abby called, already turning to the next aisle.
"Why again are we the ones grocery shopping?" Chris frowned, looking around the Whole Foods. Abby rolled her eyes at her older brother's antics.
"Dad's at work, mom had to see a friend and Madison's at her play date," Abby explained, reaching up to grab a bottle of olive oil. Chris sighed as he pushed the cart, following the younger girl.
"Alright, so I'm going to grab the milk. You wait here," she ordered. Chris mock saluted her as she skipped off the dairy section.
Tapping his fingers on the cart's handle, he looked around the grocery store. He silently prayed that no one he went to school with would happen to walk by. He rubbed the back of his neck and checked the time on his phone.
"Chris?" he heard a familiar voice say from behind him. Just his luck, someone he knew was here. He inwardly winced and reluctantly turned around to find who was speaking to him.
"D-Dylan?" he stammered for a moment, taking in the beautiful red head in front of him.
She looked equally as shocked to see him standing in Whole Foods. "The one and only," she gave him a small smile. "What are you doing here?"
"Um grocery shopping with Abby," he told her, still taking her appearance in. Her red hair was in a simple ponytail and she had minimal make up on, her skin already slightly sun kissed. She was dressed in summer ware and she looked slightly toner that she had about a year ago. Overall she looked good. Really good. "What are you doing here?"
She lifted the bag of whole grain popcorn she was holding in her right hand. "Just stocking up on a few things."
Chris smiled at her. "Right, I know how much you like that whole grain popcorn." He replied, remembering her favourite snack. He noticed Dylan stiffen a bit and he realized what he just said.
"I didn't mean it like that! I just know that popcorn is one of your favourite snacks and yeah…" he quickly replied, feeling awkward and flustered. Dylan smiled a bit at hurried explanation.
"It's fine, Chris. Don't worry," she replied. The name felt odd on her tongue, having not said it in a while.
"How are you?" Chris asked after a moment of silence.
"I'm good. How about you? College good?" she politely responded.
He nodded. "I'm fine. College has been going well."
She nodded back, slightly biting her glossy lip. Dylan opened her mouth to say something right when Abby came back, holding a carton of milk.
"I got it! I had to ask a worker to go in the back and grab-" Abby started before realizing who was standing in front of her and her brother. "Dylan!" she exclaimed, placing the milk in the cart before throwing her arms around the older girl.
Dylan stood frozen for a second before quickly hugging Abby back. "Hey Ab," she said. "How are you?"
"I'm great! How're you? How's school?" Abby grinned widely at her brother's ex. Chris felt a pang of something at the sight of her sister talking to Dylan. It just reminded him how well Dylan had gotten along with his family. She used to come over and help Chris babysit his younger sisters. She would always buy Abby something and sat through endless tea parties with Madison. He used to love seeing Dylan interact with his baby sisters, now the sight just made him feel regretful and brought old memories back.
He watched as Abby spoke rapidly to Dylan, who smiled and listened carefully. Finally when his sister stopped to catch her breath, Dylan checked the time and realized she had to head back home.
"It was great seeing you!" Abby told her one last time, hugging her goodbye.
"You too Abby," Dylan told her. She turned to Chris. "I'll see you around, Chris," she mumbled.
Abby elbowed him and he cleared his throat. "Yeah. It was nice seeing you," he mumbled back, glancing down at his hands. He could have sworn he heard Abby sigh in disbelief. With one last wave, Dylan walked away.
Once she was out of sight, Abby slapped his in the arm. "What was that for?" he exclaimed. She just shook her head at him and walked to the next aisle. With another glance at where he had stood with Dylan, he followed his sister.
A/N
Thanks for reading! And please tell what you guys thought of the Harrington family moment, what happened between the PC and the Briarwood boys, the Kristen and Kemp flashback and Dylan and Chris' encounter! Please tell what you guys would also like to see happen next! Thank you for all the support I've gotten so far. You guys are the best.
~Caitlin.