The wedding was as lovely as it could be for it being his father's and his mother's replacement. Landon had sourly watched as they had their first married kiss, and went to have their first married dance.
All his buddies had been invited - All of them but Dean and Tracie showed up. Landon had shrugged it off, but he figured he had apologized and given her a cheapo gift and all things were "right" in their world for the time being. After the new couple's first dance, Landon walked up to his father.
"Dad, why wasn't Reverend Sullivan doing the ceremony?" he asked, confused. In this small of a town usually all the weddings were done by the same Reverend. But the one who did his was unfamiliar to him.
Worth gulped, "The Reverend was out of town on business."
"Oh."
Landon left his father, not bothering to tell him "Goodbye" or "See ya later." He went to the other side of the room, where he saw Jamie again.

She looked so much different then from high school - some how older, and had dropped the old clothes and hairstyles. The dress she had chosen was excellent - Her hair loose and in perfect waves. A hint of silver eye shadow covered her beautiful brown eye's lids. He was drawn to her, and without realizing it was following her.
Jamie soon noticed, and turned around toward him and came up to him. "Hi Landon. Did you need me?" she asked, wondering what in the world he was doing.
Landon continued to stare at her while he spoke, "No."
"Right," she said slowly, and turned and walked away again.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Landon had decided to move to Beaufort again. It didn't feel as close or confining or even hostile anymore. It felt peaceful- as long as he didn't see his mother again. She had really pissed him off. And on the plus side, his father said he could live in the guesthouse out back and he would pay for him to go to a community college. With his grades, it was impossible for him to even go to a state university.
Landon didn't bother to go back all the way to San Francisco. All he had was junk anyway.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was his first day going to Beaufort Community College, and he was nervous because he hadn't been in school for 2 years. Would he be the old one? The stupid one? He decided to calm his nerves with a cup of coffee.
He drove to the local "The Circle" coffee lounge and bakery. They had excellent croissants. He ordered coffee, bit of sugar, and two croissants. He gathered his purchases and turned around to see Jamie, once again.
But this time she didn't act as if he was a stalker. "Landon," she said, waving, "Join me?"
"Sure," he said. He couldn't have said no, could he? He sat down while she was staring out the window. "So," he said, "How's life treating you?"
Jamie took a sip of her coffee, "Very good, thank you. I'm alive." Landon didn't understand, so Jamie explained farther. "In our senior year, I thought I was going to die from leukemia." Landon was taken aback, not knowing what to say.
"Oh, um, I'm sorry?" It came out like a question, and instantly he wished he could have re-said it. Jamie didn't notice, though. She was staring out the window again. "Are you, uh, waiting for someone?"
"Yes, my father. He is supposed to be back from business and meet me here." Right away his mind screamed "SHIIIIIIIITTTTT," but Landon ignored the fact of how much more discomfort there would be when he got here.
Soon the Reverend's figure appeared before the glass doors and entered. He saw Jamie, waved, and went to get a cup of Folgers's. He sat down, next to Jamie, across from Landon.
"Hi daddy," she said, sounding like a nine year old in his ears, "How was your trip?"
"Awful," he said, "Just plain awful. I didn't know if you go to a hotel in Mexico, you had to check to see if they had air conditioner." Jamie gave him a sympathetic look, and Landon felt he was intruding on some "family" time. He took the rest of his coffee and half a croissant, and started to leave.
"Where are you going Landon?" asked Jamie sweetly.
"Ah, well, I thought you two might want to be alone. To catch up, I mean."
"Thank you for the consideration but you can sit down if you like."
"Well, no, I have to go to class anyway. Bye Rev, bye Jamie." He took his trash and dumped into the bin. He wondered, "Why the hell does Jamie have to be so nice that when you say no you feel guilty?"