I am very, very sorry for the wait. But hey, for those of you that have been here with me since the beginning, you know you've waited longer. Thanks so much for the love the past couple of chapters! I hope you guys enjoy this one!

THREE MONTHS LATER

Jimmy's POV

"So you have done it before?"

"Well, I mean," she started. "I had to have a way of… finishing back when we weren't doing it." I turned with a huge grin on my face.

"Seriously? You really did?"

"Yeah." Cindy nodded. "We only went so far and it's not like the hormones stopped when we did. When I had to, I'd just… take care of myself." She ended with a shrug.

"So whenever we were fooling around down here, you would go home after and get yourself off?"

"It wasn't every time and it wasn't immediately after. Don't flatter yourself. But on several occasions, yes."

"Damn." I chuckled. "I had no clue."

"What can I say?" She lifted herself up on her forearm, the sheet sliding slightly down her body, and faced me. "Even though I didn't want to admit it, you somehow always had me thinking about you." She leaned in to kiss me then, one that didn't last very long since her exhaustion pulled her away. "Did I mention how great it is that you put a bed down here?"

"No, but I can't believe the idea didn't occur to me earlier. I could have spent all those late nights on this instead of the couch and easily keep an eye on all the experiments I still had running."

With a playful pout, she looked at me

"Oh, so you didn't do it because of me?"

"I suppose that is a bonus." We smiled at each other as we laid back down on the new bed I had built in the lab. It wasn't anything overly glamorous. A full-size bed with some spare sheets, an extra comforter I found in my closet, and a couple of pillows made it up. Despite being pushed against a corner of the lab, it still looked out of place, but since I only have a limited use for it anyway, that factor wasn't going to be much of a concern.

My girlfriend's constant presence however, did provide another good reason for having it.

She let out a sigh, thankful for being able to rest.

"Still tired?" I asked.

"Yup." I noticed that she did not answer sarcastically. "Why is it that the move back home from freshman year is much more tiring than going into it?"

"Probably because all the eagerness and excitement for it to start is the exact opposite of how it feels when it ends."

"Hmm."

I've been back for a few days, so I can't really complain about being tired when I've been getting plenty of long awaited good night sleeps. For now, the same can't be said for Cindy.

It sounds crazy, but a mere 24 hours ago, Cindy was still in New York, making sure she had completely cleared out her dorm before returning her key and officially being done with freshman year. Sonya, whose finals were apparently held early on in their exam week, was able to leave two days before she was.

Her flight home wasn't until seven at night. As much as I would have loved to see her right away, I knew it would be better for her parents to be the ones getting her from the airport. Naturally, by the time she arrived at her own home at nearly one in the morning, she was exhausted.

While her sleeping in would have been perfectly understandable, not to mention well-deserved, she managed to get up and come over to the lab this morning, an act that, since I was so excited to see her, I was quite happy about.

And if what we've been up to for the past few hours says anything, she was excited to see me too.

"So are you ready for this weekend?" She asked me.

"Kind of. More nervous than anything else. It is the first time the town actually asks me to use my inventions for amusement."

This year is the 100th anniversary of Retroville's founding and this weekend, we're having a city-wide festival to celebrate. To kick things off, there's going to be a parade on Saturday morning featuring one hundred participants. While that thought alone is enough to make me want to pass, my role in it, not to toot my own horn, makes it an event that is not to be missed.

The town council reached out to me a few months ago and asked if I would be able to assist them in the technical and electronical aspects of the event. It's not so much that they wouldn't be able to do it, just that with my help, it would run a lot smoother.

They requested a lot of state-of-the-art stuff, including some things that I, lucky for them, have already mastered long ago.

It included aspects such as high definition projections so videos could play on the most prominent floats as they were moving. There was also finding a way to eliminate excess wiring for light and audio equipment on the main stage for performances and coming up with an effective and hygienic way to remove the inevitable trash buildup for the weekend. In short, they wanted me to help modern it up, which is somewhat ironic, considering what's being celebrated.

What I was most eager about, however, was the fireworks show on Sunday night displaying town highlights from the past 100 years. It was, I can honestly say, the most grueling part of it all. But with how confident I am that it will be a success, the effort seems to be worth it.

I don't even know how I managed to be in charge of this while staying on top of my schoolwork, especially being half a country away.

But they don't call me a genius for nothing.

"It's going to be great." Cindy spoke as she reached out and squeezed my hand in support. "Just, you know, don't blow anything up." At that, I cocked an eyebrow.

I knew that no matter how much I meant it, there's always a possibility I wouldn't be able to keep that promise.

The days and hours leading up to the parade's kickoff seemed endless. In the time I've been home, it seemed like I was working day and night to get this perfected. I knew that, as a whole, this was one of the most intensive and, dare I say, passionate experiments I've ever done. It was not hard to figure out why.

I know that I've still got a lot to make up for all the chaos I caused as a kid, so if doing this works in my favor in any way, it has to go flawlessly.

Finally, it was Saturday morning and by the time the parade started at ten AM, I felt that I had already been awake for more hours than there were in the day. I was on high alert all morning and was only able to calm down when the final float passed the end of the parade route. It had all gone as best it could possibly go and while I was grateful for it, Cindy finding me shortly after the parade ended with a smile on her face and congratulating me was so worthwhile.

She wasn't the only person praising me either. As we walked up main street, looking through all the attractions and vendors, many people, some I recognized but some I didn't, came up to me and shook my hand or complimented me or something of that variety.

After a few times, Cindy grinned and I knew she did it in a way that would make it impossible for me to ignore.

"What?" I asked her with a smile of my own.

"You're so popular now."

I shrugged, not wanting her to think I'd let it get to my head.

"It's better than how it was before. With everyone hating me."

"No one hated you, Jimmy. You were just… being yourself. You weren't exactly very easy to handle back in the day. Besides," she leaned in closer to me, "you're much too smart for this town anyway."

"Don't I know it."

Cindy's POV

I don't know why, but I was expecting essentially that reaction from him.

Jimmy smugly said it immediately after I spoke, probably barely processing my words and only heard the compliment.

Except I do know why.

When he first told me about this opportunity the town was providing him with, I thought it was great.

For the most part, his experiments were all a private matter and mostly used to his own benefit. As many people know, some of the times he tried to use them to help others, it didn't go very smoothly.

In time, he caused a lot of damage, and not just in a physical way. He got himself quite a reputation, one that, at some point, he would have wanted desperately to get rid of.

I thought back to what my dad had said about Jimmy when we had Liam over for dinner over a year ago. Even though Jimmy's role in my life has changed dramatically since then, my dad isn't really the kind of guy to let things go. So even though he never mentioned it to his face, I knew that he, along with many other townspeople, still considered Jimmy to be somewhat of a nuisance.

So naturally he took on this unprecedented chance to change his image in the community for the better.

Unfortunately, Jimmy took what should have been a humbling experience and turned it into everything but. He's become, for lack of a better word, arrogant. Admittingly, it's very much how he used to be as a kid. Only now, as an adult, it's not quite as bearable.

And because this was all about him, there was very little room for me in it.

Obviously, I want Jimmy to be happy. That's always been much easier said than done. So being the supportive and loving girlfriend can take its toll when it doesn't even seem to be noticed. No matter how much I try to ignore it, that's how I've been feeling every day since I got back from school.

"Hey," I spoke as I reached for this hand. "So this is nice and all but now that that parade is over, do you want to maybe head over to my place? My parents are here at the carnival too but they have some errands to run after so they won't be home for hours," I smiled up at him, fully aware of how blunt I was being.

"Oh, umm, maybe later. They're going to make speeches thanking all the people involved over at the main stage in a bit. I was going to ask if you wanted to go over there."

Is he serious?

"Actually, I-I think I'll just go home," I decided. "I'm feeling kind of tired."

Jimmy gave me a quizzical look.

"You were just suggesting that we go back to your house together and now just want to rest?"

Well, at least he caught that.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" I asked, not meaning for it to sound so ill-tempered.

"Are you angry with me or something?"

"No, of course not."

"You are," he immediately accused. "You always get like this when you're mad."

"'Get like' what exactly?" I crossed my arms as I spoke. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it, likely because he also noticed the small group of people looking over at us. Approaching me and putting his hand gently on my back, he guided me off the main road where all the booths and vendors were to one of the side streets and away from the crowd.

"What is going on with you?" He demanded to know.

"With me? I'm not the one going around acting like an egotistical jackass."

"Excuse me?!"

"You-," I shuddered out a breath, not believing I was actually going to have this conversation. "Do you really not see how you've been acting?"

"What do you mean?"

"Jimmy, it's nice that they let you do this, but all you've done is talk about it and how you've done such a great job."

"And I'm not allowed to be proud of myself and all the hard work I've put in?"

"Really? So you don't remember that your HD projector was based off one that I helped you with when they asked us to assist in the eighth grade art fair? Or that your garbage disposal machine is a larger scale of what you invented when I suggested you find a better way to have Goddard go to the bathroom?" All that was essentially true, not that Jimmy seemed to realize it until now. "I may not be a super genius as you consistently remind everyone you are but don't go giving yourself all the credit."

"So you want me to thank you? Is that all?" Jimmy practically yelled.

"At least that would get me some kind of attention from you."

"What are you talking about? We've been together every day since you got home!"

"Yeah, to do all of this!" I gestured back in the direction of the event. "That's all you've been focused on. Don't you get it?" His features softened and I knew it was because of the quiver in my voice. "I-I just wanted to spend time with you. This is the first summer that we'll be able to be together. I-." My eyes were starting to well up, no matter how much I tried to hold it in. "I thought you would want the same."

"Cin-."

"No, just…." I held up a hand to stop him from getting closer. "I'm going to go home. This is important to you, so go ahead and indulge in it all you want. Maybe I'll call you later and we can meet up. Okay?" I wasn't sure if I was serious or not about that last part.

"Alright, fine." The words sounded harsh although his voice was gentle. "If that's what you want."

I didn't say another word as I turned away from him and shook my head.

Phew. Get ready because the next chapter will be intense. I normally don't tell you what to expect ahead of time, but I'm making an exception and telling you that the next chapter will be their one year anniversary…. Sort of. I've had it planned out for a while so I, for one, am really excited. Hope you are too. Please leave a review!