Afterboom - Chapter 37

A couple of days later

"Aubrey! Hey Aubrey!" Ronnie called out running towards her jeep on October Road and placing his hands on her hood as he ran in front of her jeep.

"Suicidal, much?" she asked annoyed sticking her head out of her window as she pulled over to a screeching halt.

Ronnie was clearly out of breath so he took a minute to stop seeing spots. "Ronnie what is it?" she demanded, agitated.

"I just saw you drive down Elm so I ran over to say 'hey'," he said waving at her and smiling sheepishly and still a little out of breath.

"Elm is like two blocks away," she exclaimed in disbelief. She peered over her shoulder trying to estimate the distance, "You ran two blocks... just to say 'hey'?" She asked baffled.

"Well I didn't think you'd drive down two blocks that quickly," he said defensively, "it seemed like a reasonable notion at the time," she smiled at him and then broke out into a light-hearted chuckle.

"You are unbelievable, you know that?" she said in awe, shaking her head and she continued to laugh, "Get in," she ordered nodding her head towards the passenger seat.

"Where are you going?" he asked alarmed when he saw luggage in the back seat.

"You mean, before, I nearly ran you over with my car?" she asked her eyes dancing with laughter.

"Well, yeah. Yeah, before that," he blushed.

Her face grew serious, "I was leaving town for a while. Heard Fitchburg is great this time of the year," she remarked dryly.

"Fitchburg?" he shouted wide-eyed, "Aubrey that's a whole county away!"

"I know that. It's lack of proximity seemed to be the selling point when I picked it," she said raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow his way.

"Why're you going there?" he asked, sadness creeping up in his voice as he looked down. He reminded her of a drowning puppy after it had just been rescued, "Did I really mess things up that bad at Hannah's engagement? Because I swear, Aubrey, I thought he left for a good ten more years. How was I supposed to know that his conscience would bring him back? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm happy he came back home, but I would have been a lot happier if his timing were as good as his gesture, the idiot," he said with a lopsided smile, "Before I stuck my foot in it."

"Oh there were many things that brought Nick Garrett back, his conscience wasn't one of them," she retorted, staring straight ahead, lost in thought.

"What are you talking about?" he asked confused.

"Are you getting in or not?" she challenged.

"Are we going to Fitchburg?" he asked excitedly running around to the passenger seat and getting in.

"Belt up," she instructed, pulling out of the spot in the side of the road.

"Do people know you're leaving?" he asked jabbing his thumb back towards the ridge.

"People? No. I can't imagine 'people' kicking up much of a fuss about me leaving," she said with an edge of resentment.

"What're you talking about?" he asked confused, before he added, "Why else would Nick come back?" he said, desperately looking for ways to make her feel better.

"You really do live in your own little world don't you?" she asked bluntly, but instantly wish she could eat back her words when she saw his hurt expression.

"Ronnie, I'm—" she began.

"I know people think I'm just a high school graduated bum living at home with his retired father, not amounting to anything. But if people would just stop trying to protect me from the big bad mean world," he spat, "then maybe I wouldn't have to live within the confines of my own." He finished looking outside his window.

"I'm really sorry. I'm just mad at Nick and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You don't deserve that. It was unfair," she said sincerely. She finally pulled over and parked.

Ronnie looked around, for the first time since they got on the road, to see where they were. His breath got caught in his lungs.

They were overlooking an open, sprawling field of deep pink magnolia shrubs that looked so magical that Ronnie inhaled sharply to make sure it wasn't a dream.

She turned to him slowly and said, "Ronnie you're not a high school bum. You're so sweet and funny and cute it's unbelievable sometimes that you're still single," she said gently, leaning towards him.

He looked up at her, "Nick says it's because I don't get out much," he stated.

"I think it's because you tend to hide away in your brother's shadow. I don't get that, when you have so much to offer everyone," she said sincerely.

"Really?" he asked with his all-time famous puppy dog eyes that could make even an angry person melt.

"Really. I'm surprised that you have to be told that. Your innocence allows you to appreciate what most of us take for granted. I think that's what people love about you. Which makes me understand why your family 'protects' you from everything unpleasant. They don't want the bad stuff to overwrite the good in your life," she said smiling tenderly, "No one thinks that you're stupid or unhinged," she assured him patting his hand.

He was mesmerised by her eyes, "Why were you leaving Aubrey? " he asked softly, "Don't you get how much people are going to miss you when you're gone?"

His sincerity brought tears to her eyes but she quickly wiped them away, "Nick and I broke up, Saturday night," she blurted out.

"Really?" he asked not being able to stop the hope from rising in his voice.

"You don't have to sound so happy about it you know," she said whacking his arm with a slight trace of a smile.

"No! No, no, no! I'm genuinely sorry that you guys broke up," he said sounding in no way sincere. What was the point when she already saw through him?

"Ronnie it's not that I don't like you. I think you're great. Amazing even. But it's just that I don't see me being good for you," she said.

"There you go again assuming you know what's best for me. I thought we weren't going to do that," he protested.

" I'm more like my father than I would like to be but that's the way it is and I don't think I could stand to hurt you, another person I really care about." She insisted.

"Hey I totally understand," he said enthusiastically, "which is why I have it all planned out," he said taking a piece of paper out of his pocket as she stared in disbelief.

"You made an actual plan?" she asked her eyes popping out. No man had ever gone that far to prove himself to her before. And she should know, cause she'd been with her fair share.

"Yeah," he said like it was something completely natural.

"Like a plan of how we could date?" she asked trying to get her head around his gesture.

"Well it's not so much a plan as it is a.....life map," he said more pleased with his choice of words.

"Life map," she repeated still shocked, looking over his arm at the paper.

"Yeah you know, like for instance, we don't have to date straight away, I mean look," he said engrossed in his piece of paper, pointing at two stick figures, "This is where we are now. I think it will be cool if we just remained friends for a while, you know nothing too complicated. And then around February next year we could mull over Valentine's Day gifts, as friends," he paused for dramatic effect, "or not, that's up to the February Us," he continued excited about his life map. She just stared at him and smiled.

She saw two squiggles on the end of the page and pointed to it smiling, "What are those?"

He looked up at her shyly, "Um... that's when we go to Six Flags. Roller coasters freak me out, and since you seem to be such a daredevil I thought maybe you could come with me."

She could have sworn her heart stopped beating for a whole three seconds as she stared at Ronnie's face. This was a side to Ronnie she never thought existed. Or at least she never thought she'd ever see. But now that she had, gripping the steering wheel was all she could do to keep from pulling him into her arms and just.....kissing him. Like really.....kissing him. It wasn't a feeling she was familiar with and it scared her to feel that way about a guy she barely knew.

"We have to go," she said abruptly turning on ignition.

"What? Aubrey," he said zapped out of his explanation, "what are you talking about?"

"I'm not good enough for you Ronnie, can't you understand that?" she asked him, her eyes pleading, "I'm the love 'em and leave 'em type. Except this time, when I met my match in your brother," She admitted tearing up. "Why would you want to get stuck with a person who lives a nomadic existence like me anyway?" she asked tears streaming down like an unstoppable wave of sadness.

"Because you still have to work on your ball swing . How do you expect to get good if we never go bowling enough?" he asked confidence rising in his voice. He was kind of glad she was as vulnerable as she was. It caused him to take charge for once. Most of the time she intimidated him with her confidence and he never got to say how he really felt.

She smiled kindly at him, "And you'd be willing to fix my ball swing even if we never actually get around to dating?" she asked.

"Well your ball swing, your bowling shoe lace-tying. I mean we can't work on all of that in just one nigh Aubrey. These things cannot be rushed," he said in a superior tone, "And then there's the whole Ac/Dc song choice thing. Face it, you have a lot to learn, kiddo," he said shocking himself and her by his choice of words.

"You are so full of it!" she laughed whacking his arm, "My AC/DC song choices are just fine thanks, which is more than I can say for your "You Shook Me All Night"," she said smugly laughing.

"Look I know what it's like to love someone and have them feel the same way, only about someone else," he said in a more serious tone, "but you can't leave just because of one lousy hiccup. That would be like quitting a sport because of one lousy game," he reasoned.

"Maybe the sport is just benching me, did you ever think of that?" she asked studying him. She noticed he had a beauty spot on the left side of his neck. She thought it looked adorable and the thought made her giggle.

"Oh no. No, no. I don't want to hear about the romance of being a loner and – " he was interrupted by her laughter, "what're you laughing about?" he asked smiling at her.

" Nothing," she said shaking her head but this only made her laugh harder. If only he knew how frivolous what she was laughing about was.

"Are you laughing at me? Wha – do I have chocolate on my face? God – I can't believe dad! I asked him a million times how I looked before I left the house," he began a tirade.

Her face grew serious as she looked at him intently, "you didn't just see me driving down Elm Street did you?" she asked shocked, "You came out hoping to bump into me." she concluded smiling, touched by the effort he took.

He just stared at his palms, "Dad said no girl likes a slob."

She grinned broadly, "I guess he never really knew me then."

Ronnie looked up and smiled bashfully.

She instinctively patted his knee and said, "Okay dude, time to head back," she said smiling, "care to drive back, I think I want to take a better look at that paper you're holding that still has your clutch marks on it," she teased noticing how tightly he held on to his plan.

"Where are we going?" he asked getting out of the car to get into the driver's seat, "I don't mind driving."

"To follow through on your plan."

[Author's Note: Hey guys after a 4-part intense run through of everything every OR fan was left hanging about eg Sam's paternity etc. I thought we could move on to a more cheery subject. I know the chapters were too short so I improvised in this one. Lemme know what ya thinkin. A big thanks to ALL of you who reviewed and encouraged me to carry the plot further. A special shout out to AdOring18, my big sis in the US, who inspired me and showed me how to keep it real! Keep those reviews coming guys, that, as it turns out, is my only Kryptonite!]