"Either you are getting better or I am getting worse," Zack teased as he patted Jason on the shoulder.
"Yeah," Jason twirled the football in his hands and grinned at his friend who started to walk back across the grass to receive a pass. He stopped halfway when he saw the look on Jason's face. He reapproached him.
"Hey... you good?" Zack asked standing in front of Jason with a concerned look on his face.
"Oh... uh yeah," Jason said, his eyes moved past Zack to a nearby picnic table. His eyes fell on one in the group gathered around it. Zack followed Jason's eyes and then turned back to him.
"So what's up?" Zack asked. "I know she is your girl but you seem unusually distracted by her today."
Jason smiled sheepishly as he twirled the football once more and nodded for Zack to follow him. He led them farther away from the picnic table and the group of friends. He stopped underneath a tree and turned to face Zack.
"So..." Jason began, he took a deep breath. "I have been thinking."
"Uh-oh," Zack teased, prompting a grin and shake of the head from Jason.
"I have been thinking about... Kim and I... and you know I am crazy for her right?" Jason continued.
"I have noted that, yes," Zack agreed with a wink.
"Well... I was considering," Jason's eyes moved over to the table and back to Zack. He raised his eyebrows.
"For real?" Zack asked, his tone excited. "IS my boy thinking about poppin' the question?"
Jason gestured for Zack to keep his overly excited voice down. He then nodded and grinned.
"Yes... I have been thinking about it," Jason confirmed.
"That's great," Zack commented.
"The only thing though..." Jason paused. "We got college coming up, and we are young and..."
"Now don't stand here and talk yourself out of it," Zack said.
"Well... it's... things have happened recently that made me think more about that you know?" Jason elaborated. Zack nodded as he recalled Jason confiding in him over a pregnancy scare a couple of weeks back.
"Yeah," Zack agreed.
"So I don't want to rush anything that maybe she isn't ready for, heck maybe I am not," Jason said.
"I get that," Zack said. "If you want my two cents..."
"Please," Jason urged.
"I love both of you, and more than that I love how happy you guys make each other," Zack smiled. "If you are happy there is no rush... you are young like you said."
Jason nodded as he glanced past to see Kim looking in their direction. She smiled at him and he reciprocated.
"I think you will know when it is right... you won't have any doubts or fears if it is time," Zack continued. "That's what I think anyway."
Zack shrugged and gave Jason a good-natured pat on his shoulder and grin.
"Thanks, man," Jason said.
"It's nothing," Zack reacted. "If you do decide it is the right time, you know I will be over the moon for you guys."
"You're the best," Jason said as the two clasped hands before making their way back over to the group of friends.
"The food is ready," Trini greeted them as she fussed over the spread on the table.
"Looks great," Zack picked up his pace as his stomach growled.
Jason was slower to reach the table and was more focused on Kimberly. He slid onto the bench next to her and immediately reached for her hand to give it a squeeze. This prompted her to turn to look up at him.
"I love you," Jason said just loud enough for her to hear before he focused on getting him a plate of food.
(****)
"This is really nice," Billy said as he leaned up against the tree behind him. He glanced over at Kimberly who was sitting next to him finishing off a piece of watermelon.
"It really is," Kim said as she looked out across the park to see Jason, Trini, and Zack involved in a rather spirited game of dodgeball. A laugh from Trini as she nailed Zack with a hit to his backside prompted a giggle from Kimberly and a smile from Billy.
"So..." Billy spoke up. Kim turned to him.
"I can say... on some level I didn't expect to return to earth and see you and Jason had gotten so close," Billy stated. He shrugged. "BUT in some ways, I am not surprised at all."
"Really?" Kim asked as she glanced over at the subject matter as he chased Zack with the ball looking for the perfect time to hit him with a throw.
"Do you remember right before we became Rangers?" Billy asked. The question perked Kim up as a memory immediately came back to her.
"I think I know what you are talking about," She answered surprised to feel her cheeks blushing slightly.
"In my garage... we had all gathered to study," Billy continued as Kimberly nodded. She now knew exactly to what he was referring. "Everyone left but you..."
"Oh gosh," Kimberly let out a small laugh.
"You just blurted it out," Billy now laughed.
"I did," Kimberly agreed with a shrug.
"When did he get so cute... I think were your exact words," Billy grinned as he recalled the moment.
"I was so confused," Kimberly said. She leaned back up against the tree to match Billy's posture. "We had been friends for years but for some reason... I guess hormones were catching up with me..."
Both laughed.
"That evening he was right next to me as we studied, he kept hovering over me and he smelled soooo good," Kimberly recalled with a big smile as she watched Jason expertly duck a throw from Trini. "I felt like I got hit with a Mack truck."
"Yeah... it showed," Billy responded prompting Kim to turn to him with a sheepish grin.
"Do you think he noticed?" Kim asked, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about that evening.
"I am not sure," Billy replied with a shrug. "If he did, he never mentioned it to me."
"I avoided him like the plague for the next couple of weeks," Kimberly confessed. "I was not ready to deal with whatever was happening."
"I noticed that too," Billy replied. "It was weird for a couple of weeks but then everything returned to normal... until the.. well the Ranger stuff happened."
"Yep," Kim agreed.
"From time to time over the last few years I thought about that," Billy confessed. "So that is why I say I am not totally surprised to see you guys together now."
"In some ways... I wished I had just gone with that feeling then... but in others, I am glad I fought it," Kim said. "Because maybe things would have worked out differently... and I am glad they are just as they are now."
Kim returned her attention back to the other three just as Zack got beaned by Jason and waved his hands in surrender as all three laughed. She made eye contact with Jason and suddenly she was transported back to similar thoughts she was having that night in Billy's garage. Only this time she knew exactly what to do with them.
(****)
"You are quiet," Jason commented as he glanced over at Kimberly sitting next to him in his truck. She was staring out the window with a smile on her face. She turned to him.
"Just thinking," She replied.
"Deep thoughts?" Jason asked.
"Maybe," Kim answered as she shifted in the seat to turn more in his direction. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course," Jason replied shifting his eyes from the road in front of them and then back to her.
"This might seem random," Kim began. "Do you remember about two weeks before we became Rangers, a Friday night studying for the big history exam in Billy's garage?"
Jason recalled for a minute before the evening came back to him and he nodded.
"Okay..." Kim said. "That night... does... do... anything special about that night to you?"
"Special?" Jason asked. Kimberly wrinkled her brow as she attempted to search for a better way to ask the question.
"Like... that night where you trying to..." Kim paused. She laughed a little. "This is silly."
"Silly can be good," Jason replied amused at her.
"You were..." Kim paused. "All night you kept like... every time I turned around you were right there, and your body was always touching mine and why oh why did you wear that cologne that night?"
Jason stared blankly at her for a couple of moments as she sat there exasperated. He then began to laugh, a deep chest laugh at first before it came out in its full-blown nature. Kim shook her head at him.
"Seriously though... do you know what I am referring to?" Kim asked reached over to playfully swat his arm.
"I..." Jason caught his breath between a laugh. "I think I do..."
"What is so funny then?" Kim asked.
"It took like four years for you to say anything?" Jason asked the smile still firmly on his face.
"I didn't know what to feel or think about all of that," Kim replied, defensively but partially smiling herself.
"I'm sorry," Jason shook his head as he shifted down a gear and slowed the vehicle to make a turn down their street. "You want the truth?"
"Yes I do," Kim replied.
"I was maybe fishing a little bit," Jason said, this time with a sheepish grin of his own. Kimberly's eyes widened in mock outrage.
"Jason Lee Scott!" Kimberly scolded him. He defensively put up a hand.
"Normally I would never... you know... cause we were friends," Jason continued. "That night though, I kind of... I don't know... you smelled nice too by the way."
Jason shook his head.
"Well... I guess I got carried away, but you did not show it if it had any effect and I honestly considered the whole thing a big failure," Jason replied with a chuckled before slowing the vehicle to pull it into the parking lot of their apartment. He got their usual parking spot and shut the vehicle off.
"Ask Billy if it had any effect," Kim replied.
"Really?" Jason asked, intrigued.
"You hadn't much more than got out of the door than I was spilling my guts to him... poor guy... I don't think he was ready to comprehend any of that then," Kim replied laughing fondly.
"He never told me," Jason said.
"He knew I'd kill him," Kim countered quickly as the two turned to each other. There was a silence that fell over them as Kim reached out to take his hand. She held it in hers running lazy circles over it while grinning at him.
"Is this your way of getting back at me for that night?" Jason asked as Kim bit her bottom lip.
"Maybe," Kim answered with a small shrug. "Is it working?"
"Maybe," Jason echoed. After a few more seconds he opened his door and got out. He stuck his head inside right before closing the door. "Should I go put on some cologne?"
The smirk on his face was too much for Kimberly and she scooted across the seat and stuck her head out to give him a kiss.
"Not too much," Kim whispered as their lips parted.
"Got it," Jason replied as he held her hand as she got out of his truck and the two made their way up and into their apartment.