A/N: I'm trying to be faster here. I was going to end it with this chapter, but then I got into the whole Kacie-Tony thing which came out of nowhere. Also, I went back and read the first chapter and I feel like the worst writer ever considering the mistakes I found and the discrepancies there. For instance I mentioned a Loren and haven't said that name for the rest of the story. I think I turned Loren into Linda and just totally forgot about Loren. I'll try to incorporate her into this chapter. I feel so horrible. I'll make it up to you guys by trying to write a really long chapter. Once again, sorry for long updates and suckiness seeing as my writing is being horrible write now.
Dedicated to…hmm…to—Hatty because she deserves every dedication I give out for being there for me whenever I have something I need to talk about and for being the big sister I never had.
Love, hugs, and kisses cupcake!
Disclaimer: Don't own…
On with the story…
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Chapter 8: Afraid of Different
"Well, we should probably figure that out considering I'm still in high school and you're off in the college life," Kacie responded.
"Yeah, well college life isn't all it's cracked up to be. The drinking and partying thing never appealed to me like it did to my dad and Lola. I'm more like my mom," Tony explained.
"Sure, but I'm sure girls are all over you. You're not ugly by any means and you're sweet and smart. Any girl would die to have that kind of guy in their life," Kacie shrugged hopelessly.
"Yeah, well girls were all over me when I was in high school, too, but I never gave them a second look now did I?" Tony countered.
"Nooo, now why was that?" Kacie asked with a small smile.
"This beautiful, smart, athletic, amazing girl stole my heart as soon as she beat me at my favorite video game and then rubbed it in my face," he answered her as he let go of her hands and wrapped them securely around her waist.
"Yeah well, you sucked at that game," Kacie grinned at him as she poked his chest then wrapped her arms around his torso, "What should we do?"
"I think that if we still have these feelings, there's a reason that we have them. I think that if we want this to work, it will. I also think that we left things horribly when I left for Yale. What do you think?"
Kacie tighten her grip and kissed his chest affectionately, looking Tony in the eyes the whole time, "I think you are absolutely right."
They smiled at each other and simultaneously leant in for a kiss.
Outside
As Colin and Lola made their way back inside, Lola tried to strike up conversation.
"What about Loren?" She asked.
"What?"
"You know, that girl that you always hung around with. What happened to her?" Lola asked.
"We dated for a long time. She moved and her school changed. Jamie, Cam, Linda, and I talk to her occasionally. Mostly Jamie though. He talks to her about his parents and any girl problems, so she probably knows all about you," Colin threw her a smirk as he stuck his hands in his pockets.
"What did you two decide after she left?"
"We didn't. We were in a fight right before she left. We never said anything final, so now when we talk, we act like nothing happened," Colin shrugged and looked down at his feet.
"You should talk to her about it. If you don't, Jamie and I will connive and make it happen," Lola threatened playfully and bumped her shoulder with Colin.
"Yes, ma'am," Colin answered with a smile as he slung an arm around her shoulders.
The rest of the night went by peacefully. Kacie explained everything about the situation and apologized for any mixed signals. Colin smiled and accepted her apologies. Conversations were carried, and soon enough the only people left were Lola, Tony, Jamie, Mercy, and Travis. By this time it was around two o'clock in the morning.
Rory and Jess had come home shortly after the kids and went to bed with a short warning to leave at a reasonable time which meant before three. Of course, the exceptions were Mercy and Jamie. Mercy because she's…Mercy and Jamie because they felt as if he was their son and didn't like him having to stay in such a bad environment. He often bunked at their house on the couch or in Tony's room on the floor.
Lola plopped down in Jamie's lap as she came in the living room from seeing the others off, "Did you call Maria earlier?"
"Yeah," he answered as he left a tender kiss on her neck, "She said mom has been drinking more."
"I'm sorry," Lola said quietly as she buried her face in the crook of his neck tiredly. He scratched her back lightly as she drifted to sleep.
"So Mercy, how did you like everyone?" Jamie asked.
She shrugged, "They seemed nice enough."
"You don't like them," Tony announced.
Mercy gasped and hit Tony on the arm, "You know nothing," she scowled at him.
"Yeah, right, and chickens live on the moon," Tony laughed at her.
"I liked them just fine," Mercy insisted.
"Right, that's why you were shooting Linda glares the whole time she was here," Travis cut in.
"Shut-up!" Mercy yelled at her brother and hit him up the backside of his head.
Jamie laughed along with them and tried to sooth, "Mercy it's okay. Not many girls like Linda. That's why her best friends are guys. The only girls she's friends with are her sister Kelly, an old friend, Loren…and Lola…sort of."
"Why don't girls like her? She seems fine to me," Travis smirked and high-fived with Tony.
"Exactly," Jamie said, "Girls are jealous of Linda and therefore, don't like her. They think she takes all the attention," he explained.
"I'm not jealous," Mercy pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Mercy, don't even worry about it. Linda won't even mind. No one will," Jamie tried to reassure.
You see, Linda was five foot seven with long platinum blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes. She talked easily with guys and guys loved her. She wasn't clingy, she wasn't stupid, and she didn't desire constant attention like most girls. She was just a girl who liked to have fun and hated drama—which girls often brought. It was natural that girls hated her.
"I want to like her," Mercy muttered, "I want to like all of them, but ever since we were born it's always been me and Lili and Colin, Colin and Lili and me, no one else. Then middle school came around and she got all those new friends, but then lost almost all of them. I love Colin to death. He's my best friend just as Lola is. We've always been the three musketeers…kind of. Anyway, so then there was Brent and Kacie who I don't mind at all, they're great. It's just now, with all these new faces, I feel like I'm loosing her," she confessed, her eyes downcast as she pulled at an invisible loose thread.
The room was silent as Tony and Travis stopped their game and put down the controllers almost simultaneously, "Mimi…," they trailed off together.
"I'll just…take Lola downstairs," Jamie said somewhat awkwardly. He positioned his arms, one under her knees and the other around her back, and picked her up. She stirred, but Jamie soothed her, "Go back to sleep baby," he said and kissed her forehead. He continued down the stairs while Travis got up and went to where Mercy was sitting in the corner of the couch.
"Mae, you know you're not loosing Lace and you know you never will. What made you think these things?" Travis inquired as he scooped his baby sister up in his arms.
"For real Mimi, finding another friendship likes yours would be like trying to pin jello to a tree: hopeless, useless, and impossible. Lola adores you. You are her best friend excluding relatives," Tony assured.
"So, what brought this up?" Travis asked again.
"At dinner, Brent announced that he got a boyfriend and her and Kacie jumped up all excited and asked him all about it. He, you know, squeezed them to him and they hugged him back and I took a picture, but really I was jealous. They were so in sync," Mercy confessed as she laid her head on Travis' shoulder while Tony sort of massaged her calves soothingly.
"Oh Mae, why would you worry about something so silly. You know Lola would never leave you behind. Besides, it's the four of us forever right?" Tony said.
Mercy smiled, "Yeah, I guess your right," she conceded.
"Of course we're right," Travis boasted.
"Oh shut it," Mercy said as she hit him lightly.
"You love me," Travis insisted as he kisses her temple.
"I don't think I have a choice," Mercy grumped.
The boys laughed out loud while Mercy tried to hold in her laughter, albeit barely.
Meanwhile Downstairs…
Jamie carefully maneuvered himself down the stairs without dropping Lola and placed her gently on her bed. He kissed her on the forehead and was about to get up when her arm grabbed hold on his arm. She smiled with closed eyes and pulled him down with her.
"Just stay with me for awhile," she whispered.
"Okay," Jamie said quietly back.
"I love you," Lola said dazedly.
"I love you, too, babe," Jamie replied and held her tighter in his arms.
Next Morning
Beep Beep Beep!
"Hun, get up," Jess nudged Rory.
She grunted.
"Seriously Ror, you have to get up," Jess insisted as he crawled over to her.
She was on her stomach, her head facing away from Jess. He crawled over so that his top half was hovering above her. He swiped her hair away from her neck and trailed kisses up to her ear. Once he reached his destination, he whispered in her ear, "Time to get up babe," and then kissed her earlobe and all the way back down her neck to which she moaned softly and finally sat up.
"That's a nice way to wake up," Rory said as she stretched.
Jess grinned his lopsided grin, "I thought so."
"I need coffee," Rory announced after she had stretched.
"Let's go," Jess sighed as he swung his feet over the side of the bed and followed behind Rory down the stairs, his hands on her hips.
The sight they saw as the reached the bottom made them smile.
In the corner of the couch was Travis with one leg hanging off the couch and the other lying on the couch, sitting up, with Mercy between his legs, curled into his chest, his arms tightly around her. Lying down the other end was Tony who was using Mercy's legs as a pillow.
Rory grinned and ran into the kitchen to get a camera as Jess lagged behind with a smirk in place.
After Rory had taken a picture, she padded back into the kitchen where Jess was sitting at the kitchen table, reading glasses on, pencil in mouth, coffee cup in hand, and manuscript out in front of him. Rory laughed slightly and poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Where's Jamie?" Rory wondered out loud.
"Uh, I don't know," Jess replied absentmindedly, already absorbed in his work.
"I'm going to check Cook's room," Rory said and wandered over to the basement door which was open.
She walked slowly down the stairs and peered over the railing to see Lola and Jamie—fully clothed and above the covers—snuggled together on Lola's bed. She moseyed on back upstairs and sat across from her husband.
"They're asleep in Lola's bed," she informed and then took a sip of coffee.
Jess' eyes bugged out and he immediately set down his cup of coffee, "What!?" He whisper-yelled.
"Don't worry Dodger, they're fully clothed and above the covers. They probably just fell asleep by accident."
Jess visibly relaxed and went back to his manuscript, "Okay, good. Let them sleep. I don't think everyone left until two last night."
"Yeah…well I'm going to go get ready. Remember, we have that lunch with T today at one. Don't be late!" Rory chided and walked back upstairs with her coffee in hand as Jess continued making marks all over some poor author's manuscript.
Twelve Thirty
Jess was rushing around to get ready just as Jamie emerged form the basement, rubbing sleep from his eyes, "Hey Jamie," Jess greeted as he dashed around the kitchen, looking for something.
"Hey Jess, your keys are in the top draw to the left of the stove," Jamie said groggily.
"Thanks," Jess said hurriedly as he snatched up his keys and ran for the door, giving Jamie a pat on the shoulder as he went.
Jamie shrugged and went to pour himself a cup of coffee. Soon enough, the other teens emerged from their various sleeping spots and grabbed some coffee too.
Twelve Fifty-Nine; Café in Hartford
Jess rushed in the café and skidded to a stop at the table where Rory Mariano and Tristan Dugrey were seated, "I'm not late," he said exasperatedly.
Tristan chuckled, "No, you're not," he appeased and motioned for Jess to sit down, "So, let's get down to business first and then we'll order lunch and catch up."
Rory and Jess agreed and Jess pulled out the manuscript he had been editing for days from his side bag. He plopped it on the table, "I just finished it today."
"Jeez Ror, I thought you were good with English," Tristan chided.
"I am, but when the ideas are coming faster than my fingers can type, I tend to make more mistakes," Rory explained.
"Well, let's take a look and then decide what we're going to do."
The House
"Where's dad?" Lola asked a while later as they all sat on the couch—clad in the pajamas they should have worn to bed.
"He left around twelve thirty. Didn't say where," Jamie answered as he rubbed her arm up and down absentmindedly.
"Oh," Lola replied tonelessly.
Around four Jamie went home to check in with Maria and his mom then grabbed some clean clothes and went back to Lola's. That night, Rory, Jess, Lorelai, Lola, Tony, Jamie, Mercy, Travis, and Colin had dinner at the diner as they annoyed Luke to no end by taking up the entire counter.
Travis left the next day as did Mercy, but Jamie stayed with Lola for the rest of the day working on their project. Well, more like talking and learning even more about each other. Jamie stayed at his house that night because it was a school night. He picked Lola up for school and as usual, they ate at Lola's and then went to school. This had been the routine since they had been dating.
Then came the day that everyone was dreading…the day that Logan would return: drunk and delusional.
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in the Mariano house. Tony was on his way home from the week visit he had just spent with his parents and baby sister. Rory and Jess was lazing in an armchair together as Lola and Jamie were sprawled out on the couch entwined together as they watched The Breakfast Club. Jess was sitting with his legs spread and his back slouched in the oversized armchair they had positioned in the living room with Rory curled up on his lap. He had his arms wrapped tightly around him, rubbing her sides methodically. Jamie was laying flat on his back, his head propped on the arm of the couch with Lola laying half on top of him and half between his body and the couch—their legs entwined. Lola had her head resting peacefully on his chest and her arm under her own chest, curled into him as Jamie gently scratched up and down her back with his left hand, his right positioned above his head.
It was silent save for the sound of the TV and both Mariano girls were getting drowsy.
Jamie lay there thinking just how damn lucky he was for having snagged a girl like Lola. She was amazing. She was beautiful and sexy and she always seemed confident in herself and others. She was smart to and always tried to be polite. You knew if she liked you or not because if she didn't, she wouldn't give you the time of day. He loved her with everything he had—a greater love than he had had for Diane by far. Diane had been his first love—and would always be his first love—but his feelings for Lola were just different.
Lola's thinking was slightly different. She was scared. Scared that any love could be greater than the one she had shared with Dennis. She never got her end with Dennis and she was scared the same thing would happen with Jamie. She loved Jamie with her whole heart and knew it was real but…that didn't subdue her fear. As if sensing her fear, Jamie stopped rubbing her back and looked down at her. She looked up sensing his gaze.
"What?" she whispered.
"I don't know, I just, sensed something was wrong—are you okay?" he asked concernedly as he stroked her cheek lovingly.
"Yeah I'm fine, just a little scared," she admitted.
"Of what baby?" Jamie asked sincerely.
Lola reached up, cradled his cheek in her hand, and then ran her thumb over it, "I didn't get an end with Dennis—and I want one with you. If I don't get it…I don't know if I'll be bale to bounce like last time," she sighed out.
"You'll get your end," he reassured with a smile as he stroked her hair.
"How do you know?"
"Because I love you with everything I have," he whispered and was about to give her a gentle kiss when they heard a screeched and then a crash outside.
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A/N: Okay, so I know it wasn't as long as I planned, but I'm trying to make my three-day deadline. I actually like this chapter very much and hope you guys do too. Some parts not BETAed. I posted this at 12:02am so I didn't technically make my three-day deadline, but come on, cut me some slack, eh?
