A/N: Thanks for the reviews on the previous chapter, folks. Always much appreciated :) Now, how about half a chapter with the girls and half a chapter with the boys, just catching up and figuring things out? ;)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 12
"And so, I just went ahead and poured out my heart to Lavon, hoping that I wasn't making a complete and utter fool of myself, and I am happy to report that he reciprocated all of my feelin's. He has completely forgiven me for my awful behaviour after George Tucker came home, and still loves me as much as he ever did," said Lemon, with a smile on her face a mile wide. "I am more than happy to officially have you two girls be the first to know that Lavon and I are a couple. We're going to start over, for real this time, out in the open where everybody knows about us. I swear I have never been so happy in my whole life!"
"Oh, sweetie, I am so happy for you!" Annabeth enthused, trying to hug Lemon without either of them spilling their wine - not an easy feat!
Zoe took her turn at congratulations then, clinking glasses with Lemon and assuring her room-mate that she was genuinely thrilled that everything had worked out so well.
"I mean, I can't say I'm exactly surprised that Lavon was happy to have you back in his life," she admitted. "The truth is, I'm pretty sure he has been pining for you the entire time I've known him. Of course, I didn't know it was you right away, but still. He really loves you, Lemon, I know he does.'"
"I know it too," she said, smiling yet, "and I love him, so much I can hardly bear it. I just know we're going to be so happy together."
"Well, I am sure you're right on that," Annabeth agreed. "Even if I am a little jealous. I have to confess, until you told me about your feelings for Lavon and what had happened with you two before, I'm willing to admit that I had some designs on the mayor myself."
"Oh my God!" Zoe gasped. "That's right. You always did like Lavon."
"You did?" Lemon asked, eyes shooting back and forth between her friends as if she were at a ping pong match. "AB, you had a crush on my Lavon?"
"Lemon, I didn't know he was your Lavon then," her friend pointed out, "and yeah, maybe just a little crush," she confessed in a small voice, blushing even as she said the words.
Zoe laughed because it was impossible not to, given the embarrassment evident on Annabeth's face and the shock of Lemon's own expression. It made her very glad that she only saw Lavon in a big brother kind of way herself. This little group needed no more overlap on who wanted to be with whom!
Of course, just thinking about all the triangles that had existed in their assorted love lives over recent months brought Zoe back to the man that had stood between her and Lemon for so long. Of all the people involved, Zoe couldn't imagine how George Tucker might react, if and when he heard that his ex-fiancée was now out and proud in dating the guy she had an affair with a year ago.
"Not wanting to throw a big bucket of cold water on this happy little celebration," she said then, topping up all the wine glasses in the hopes of keeping the frivolity going in the light of the question she just had to ask next, "but what about George? I mean, does he know about this?"
"He does not," Lemon admitted, staring into her glass. "Like I said, you two are the first to know, outside of Lavon and myself... and possibly Wade. He was hanging around the house when I got there, and even though he left pretty fast, I get the feeling maybe he knows something was going on."
"Well, he did not hear that from me," said Zoe fast.
"Or from me," Annabeth chimed in, presumably realising when she got twin looks of confusion that nobody ever suspected her. "Right, Zoe is dating him, that's why she might've told him. Why would I have told him? Crazy thought!" she said with a giggle, taking another long drink from her wine glass. "Single lady, right here. Who am I going to tell any secrets to?"
"Oh, sweetie," said Lemon, all full of sympathy for her oldest and dearest friend. "You will find somebody, I just know you will. Someone as darlin' as you won't be alone for too long."
"Absolutely," Zoe agreed without pause. "You're a real catch, AB. Smart, funny, beautiful. Any man in town would be proud to date you, I just know it."
Annabeth looked between her two friends with a dubious expression.
"You're not about to suggest George Tucker, are you?" she asked warily. "Because, much as he is a fine man and all, I really do not wanna be the one to take on y'all's cast offs that way."
"No, no," said Lemon firmly, shaking her head. "Gosh, you and George? That would not work out at all."
"Yeah, I don't see it either," said Zoe after giving it a moment's consideration, "but there has to be someone. I know there must be, and we will find him for you, because you are an amazing person, AB, and you deserve just as much luck in love as me and Lemon have found."
"Well, yes, I would like to think so," AB agreed happily, toasting those remarks with her glass before she drank some more. "As it is, the Halloween party at the Rammer Jammer is only a week away and, of course, I am dateless."
"I'm sure we can do something about that," said Lemon thoughtfully. "Who do we know who is single and looking for someone? Except for George Tucker, of course," she asked, looking to Zoe for help.
She opened her mouth to give an answer, but unfortunately, no-one immediately came to mind. This was going to require a serious amount of thought.
Wade was just noodling around on his guitar, thinking how it was too early to go to bed but too late to go out. He had hoped to take Zoe out on another date tonight, but she had already arranged to spend some time with Lemon and Annabeth Nass, which apparently, she didn't feel right about cancelling. That left Wade at a loose end on his night off,
He had gone to call on Earl for a while, but once that was done, and he had got the drunken old fool put to bed, it was back to the gatehouse to sit alone. Wade had tried heading up to the main house, see if Lavon wanted to hang out, but apparently, he was up to his eyes in mayoral duties that he had pushed aside all week long to spend more time rekindling with Lemon.
Heaving a sigh, Wade looked out of the window, across to the gatehouse where Zoe used to live. He liked it much better when she was right there within easy walking distance. It suited him fine to have her close enough that he could just call out to her and she'd hear, that he could just drop in on whenever he felt like it, and she could do the same. Of course, the place was dark and empty now.
"'Cept that it's not," Wade muttered to himself, casting his guitar aside and scrambling to move closer to the window when he was sure he saw movement on the front porch of the carriagehouse.
It could be Lavon, come over to check on something, though Wade knew his landlord usually asked him to do that kind of thing. It might even have been Zoe, calling back to look for something she left behind, though at this point, Wade doubted it. There wasn't exactly a whole bunch of crime went on in Bluebell, break ins, burglaries, and the like, but somebody had come creeping around the place and Wade planned on finding out just exactly who that somebody was.
Just as he was about to leave the gatehouse, he turned back, picking up the nearest thing he might use as a weapon, just in case. It was only a piece of two-by-four that he had left over from some home improvements for Lavon, but it was something. Hurrying across the way to the carriagehouse, he crept up onto the porch and leaned in close to the door, just listening. Wade heard nothing. No footsteps, no voices, not a sound. He knew he hadn't been seeing things, so somebody had to be in there. Halloween might be right around the corner, but Wade didn't believe in ghosts and spirits coming to haunt places, so there had to be a person there.
Pushing the door open, he winced at the loud way it squeaked and stepped softly inside, not an easy feat in his boots, but he tried. Moving through into the next room, he suddenly noticed something stirring on the bed. Maybe even in the bed.
"Zoe?" he said softly, unable to think why she would sneak back to her old place to sleep, but unable to come up with any other explanation.
Reaching for the switch, Wade took a deep breath and then flipped the lights on, 'weapon' raised in his other hand, just in case. He got a real shock when he realised the person lying in the bed was actually a friend of his, and even the lights coming on hadn't managed to wake him up.
"Tucker?" he said, dropping the piece of wood now and moving closer. "Hey, George, what in the hell are you doin' here?" he tried, poking at his buddy.
Suddenly, George came to very fast, looked up at Wade and yelled in panic, causing Wade to startle and do the same. The two of them just stared at each other for a long moment after that, Wade shocked to see George and George seemingly shocked to find himself in the carriagehouse at all, from the way he was looking around the place.
"What...? What happened?" he asked then, shaking his head. "Where...? Am I in Zoe's carriagehouse?"
"Technically, it's Lavon's carriagehouse," Wade told him. "In case you forgot, Zoe moved out a while back."
"Right. Yeah, and moved in with Lemon." George nodded, seeming to be getting his bearings back now as he ran a hand over his head. "But I still don't understand what we're doing in here. Did you bring me here?" he asked Wade, apparently serious in his question.
"Yes, George. I got you drunk and tried to get you into somebody else's bed," he said, completely deadpan, rolling his eyes for good measure. "What's the matter with you?" he asked crossly then.
"Wade, I'm serious. I don't know how I got here... and apparently, I'm not wearing an awful lot," he said, starting to throw the covers off and then thinking better of it when he noticed his state of undress. "Wow, this is not good."
Wade really didn't know what to think. He'd known George do some crazy things over the years. Well, moderately crazy, it was usually Wade himself or even Lemon in her high school years who exhibited the really wild behaviour. George wasn't in their league. He wasn't even so much of a drinker that he was likely to have gotten real drunk and landed up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but what other explanation was there?
"So, you're tellin' me you seriously have no idea why you're here?"
"Sort of," George said then, his hands briefly covering his face. "I mean, there is one possible explanation, I guess. Like, maybe I started sleepwalking again."
"Sleepwalking?" Wade echoed. "Since when do you do that?"
"I don't," George insisted. "Well, I did, but not since I was nine years old."
"Huh. Okay then," said Wade, rubbing his chin as he considered what this all meant. "So, sleepwalking, that's medical. You think we should call a doctor or somethin'? 'Cause I'll bet Zoe would-"
"No!" said George sharply, looking awkward in the very next moment. "No, I don't think we need to call Zoe... or Brick either. I'm pretty sure I know what's going on."
"Good." Wade nodded. "'Cause I would love to hear the real good explanation for why you suddenly started sleepwalking, twenty years after you stopped, and ended up all the way over here in your underwear. I mean, come on, George, what if...?"
He stopped short of asking the question when his friend suddenly met his gaze. Seemed Tucker knew what Wade was going to say, and maybe that was the whole point of all this. 'What if Zoe had still been living in the carriagehouse?' That was the question, and of course, the answer would be that George would've climbed into bed with her. Wade didn't know too much about sleepwalking, but he wasn't a complete dummy. He knew about dreaming and sleepless nights and a little of how that whole subconscious desires thing worked.
"Wade, I'm sorry," said George then, even as his friend sat down very suddenly on the end of the bed. "I know what this looks like, and I swear to you, I didn't know. Well, I mean, I did know that I had feelin's for Zoe, because we all know I have those. I just hadn't realised that... that they were as strong as this. That I would actually..."
Wade shook his head, though he couldn't have said whether he was trying to dismiss George's concerns or say he didn't believe him or what. Mostly he figured he hoped to shake some sense into the mess of thoughts in his head right now. It wasn't working.
"You come here, in your sleep, because you wanted to be with Zoe," said Wade then, a statement not a question as he turned to stare at George.
"Maybe," he admitted. "I don't know for sure, Wade. You know, she has been on my mind a lot, but then, I'll be honest, so has Lemon. I heard that she and Lavon... well, that maybe they were going to get back together. For all I know, my subconscious dragged me here to confront the mayor."
That did make some sense, Wade supposed. Both theories checked out and could both easily be true. Not that it really made him feel any better. No matter what George did or didn't feel about the Lemon and Lavon situation, there was no denying he still had feelings for Zoe. Hell, he just said as much, not a minute before.
"You know, you had your shot, man," he told George crossly. "You and Zoe, you coulda been together but..."
"But she chose you," said George with a look. "Come on, Wade, don't try and tell me I made the choice, because I didn't. I left Lemon at the altar, for crying out loud. I picked the woman I wanted to be with."
"No, you didn't, Tucker," Wade insisted, getting just as loud and aggravated by this whole thing as his so-called friend was. "You didn't pick Zoe, you backed out on Lemon. The two might be connected, sure, but it never had to be one or the other. You coulda picked nobody. I gotta remind you that for a while there, that was exactly what Zoe did!"
"I know." George nodded in agreement, his voice back to a more reasonable level by then. "But in the end, Wade, she chose you. And now Lemon has chosen Lavon. And I don't know which one is bothering me more, and it's stressin' me out, and maybe... maybe that's why I'm sleepwalking again," he said, shaking his head, because presumably it was all guess work and he really didn't know for sure. "Given the only doctors in town are my ex-fiancee's father and a woman who I have very mixed-up feelings for, I'm guessin' I'm not gonna figure it out any time soon."
Wade sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. The last thing he felt like doing was feeling sorry for George Tucker, and yet, here he was doing it. Couldn't be too much fun to go from two women who love you to none at all in the space of a few weeks.
Much as he always thought he would forever by second to George in Zoe's eyes, Wade had learned in the last while that it was not the case. She had her shot with Tucker and she declined the offer. Now, Lemon was back with Lavon, the two of them determined to have a real, out in the open relationship. Where did that leave George? Apparently, sleepwalking to other folks houses in the middle of the night with barely a stitch on.
Standing up from the end of the bed, Wade retrieved his two-by-four and headed for the door.
"I'm gonna go grab some pants and a shirt you can borrow," he yelled back to George, "and then, I will drive you back to your place. I'd take it as a kindness if you could try and stay there this time, okay, Tucker?" he said, smirking some.
George sighed and smiled back at him.
"Thank you, Wade. You know, you're a real good friend, always have been. I would hate for anything to-"
"It won't," said Wade, before he was even done saying it.
After all, they both knew just exactly what, or rather who, they were talking about.
"I'll tell you this, George Tucker, what I feel for Zoe Hart, it's like nothin' I ever felt for anybody else before."
"I know," said his friend, nodding his head. "I see what she means to you, and honestly, the last thing I wanna do is get in the way of that, Wade. Maybe Zoe just isn't the one for me like I thought she was. Maybe it was just her connection to New York, or me looking for an excuse to not marry Lemon, or both. I don't know, but I promise you, if things don't work out with you and Zoe, it won't be anything I did. I'll make sure o' that."
Wade was just a little moved by his friend's speech, so much so he didn't really have a verbal answer to give to it, except a quietly muttered 'thank you'. He cleared his throat then, and continued on.
"I'll go grab those clothes for ya," he said, heading back home to do just that. "Damn weird night off this has turned out to be."
To Be Continued...