Ahh the dreaded disclaimer: as usual i don't own any of it.
A Voice From the Past (part 5)
One
month later........October 9
Catie and Tyler
pulled up into the driveway of a small house. As they closed the doors
of the rental car, a bounding 3 year old ran out the door, her curly brown
hair flailing behind her. "Auntie Catie!!!"
Catie scooped
the small girl up in her arms easily. "Hey sweety!"
She walked through
the open door and called, "Hey we're here, anybody home?"
"Catie!" Brooke
yelled from upstairs. "Come on up!"
"Tyler," Val's
voice now called, "Hank and Nick are in the den downstairs watching the
game if you want to join them."
"OK," Tyler called
back, already searching for the stairs.
Catie began to
climb the stairs with Victoria still in her arms. When she reached the
top of the steps, the little girl wiggled so much that Catie had no choice
but to set her down. Victoria then bounded into the first room that she
came to on her right. Before following, Catie took a moment to look around
the quaint little house that Brooke and Nick were renting. Upstairs, there
were three small bedrooms and a bathroom. And from the brief view she had
of the lower level, there was a foyer, a gigantic family room and a kitchen
so large that they had a full sized dining table for eating meals.
She then walked into the room that Victoria had disappeared into just moments
ago. "Brookie this place is nice," Catie said as she walked through the
door. As she looked up, she couldn't help but smile. It was so good to
see the two of them again. It had been nearly two years since they's seen
each other, and they had both changed so much. Val now wore her straight
blond hair softly curled around her shoulders and had thin wire framed
glasses over her bright blue eyes. She looked amazing as ever, and Catie
had to admit that she was jelous of the life that Val had. She was married
to the man that she loved and had an amazing daughter. Two things that
Catie wanted more than ever.
Standing in front
of her, Brooke literally looked like an angel on earth. Somehow in the
past two years she had gone from an awdward teenager to a beautiful young
woman. Her hair fell just short of her shoulders and was at the moment
covered by the delicate lace of her veil. Her dress was absolutely gorgeous
white satin that stopped just above the floor. The neckline seemed to go
straight from one shoulder to the other and the skirt seemed to billow
out from the massive amounts of prettycoats huidden beneath it. Her arms
were covered to the elbow with elegant white gloves.
"Wow! Brooke
you look amazing," Catie said pulling her into a loving hug.
"Brooke looks
like an angel Mommy," Victoria piped up from the corner of the room where
she was keeping herself busy.
"Yes she does,"
Val agreed, "But now I suggest we get you out of this before a disaster
happens." She motioned tward Victoria, who now held a box of markers that
she had unearthed.
"Yeah," Brooke
and Catie agreed simultaneously.
Within a few
minutes, the dess was safely in it's place in the closet and Brooke was
returned to heer jeans and a Kingsport EMS sweatshirt.
"So," Catie said
as they headed down the stairs, "Tell me again why you wanted us all to
stay here. No offense but i don't think that seven adults and one 3 year
old are going to fit in here too well."
"Bacause we haven't
all been together since graduation," Val answered. "This will give us a
chance to catch up."
"Yeah it's like
one big sleepover," Brooke added.
Catie rolled
her eyes playfully. "OK then I guess it's time to unload the cars."
"I'll go get
the guys," Brooke said heading for the basement stairs.
"OK," Val and
Catie replied in unison. They burst out laughing as if they'd returned
to high school.
Still laughing,
Catie turned the doorknob, opened the door, and found herself looking into
a pair of familular dark eyes. Suddenly, she felt as if the floor had been
pulled out from underneath her. She took a few steps backward to catch
her balance. Jamie hadn't changes a bit, maybe a little taller, but other
than that, he was the same boy that she'd fallen in love with years ago.
His hair was still wildly spiked in hundreds of different directions, and
his eyes were as dark and soulful as ever. She couldn't pull her glance
away from them.
"Jamie!!" Val
screamed from behing her, and ran up to pull him into a long hug.
**********************
Jamie sat behind
the wheel of the car staring at the house that lay in front of him. He
couldn't believe that this day had finally come. He couldn't wait to see
everyone again. To see Catie. An all too familular feeling of warmth came
over him as he thought of seeing her again. That feeling was instantly
replace with utter terror as he considered the thought that she might not
want to see him. He tried to shake the thought out of his mind as he turned
off the ignition.
"Well you can't
change your mind now," he told himself as he crawled out of the car and
headed up the path to the front door.
Jamie stood for
a minute on the front steps, too nervous to raise his hand to knock. Suddenly
he heard laughter from th ofther side of the door and it flew open. Jamie
felt the air get trapped in his chest, and he had to force himself to breathe.
He found himself staring down at the perfect girl that he had fallen in
love with in high shool. But, she was somehow different, more amazing.
She had cut her silky dark hair so that it framed her face. A few stray
hairs had drifted acros her cheek and Jamie had to fight the urge to raise
his hand to push it back. He stared into her eyes , afraid that if he looked
away, she would disappear. She was so beautiful.
He faintly heard
Val calling his name, and she came tward him. He pulled her into a hug,
his eyes never leaving Catie. A few moments later, he forced himself to
tear his eyes from her as he noticed more people shuffling into the room.
He looked up to see Hank and Tyler standing behind Catie. He released Val
and went to greet them. Finally, Brooke and Nick enterd the room and Jamie
went quickly to give Brooke a hug.
"Thanks for coming,"
she whispered in his ear.
He nodded in
response, his gaze returning to Catie.
"Well lets go
get everything unloaded guys," Hank suggested. He began to walk out the
open door followed by Tyler and Nick. Jamie reluctantly turned and followed
in suit.
Val then headed
to check on Victoria who had fallen asleep in one of the upstairs rooms.
Brooke and Catie headed to the kitchen to start some spaghetti for supper.
"You do know
that this is totally steriotypical right," Catie commented as Val entered
the kitchen. "The men are out doing all the grunt work and we're in here
slaving over the stove."
"Would you want
to eat something cooked by those four?" Brooke asked motioning out the
window where the guys could be seen talking and unloading the cars.
"OK, point taken,"
Catie replied placing a pot of pasta on the stove.
"So, how does
it feel?" Val asked suddenly, taking both of the other girls by suprise.
"How does what
feel?" Catie retorted, casually.
"Seeing Jamie
again," Val replied as if it were obvious what she meant.
Catie's hand
froze in its place above the stove. She had no idea to put how she was
feeling into words. "I'm not sure..... I think that I...... I'm...."
"Still in love
with him," Brooke finished for her.
"No I'm--" Catie
started.
"Don't try to
deny it," Val cut her off. "Do you honestly think that I could have missed
that look you two were giving each other back there. You couldn't take
your eyes off him."
"But....."
"But what?" Brooke
chimed in. "Catie if your not still in love each other, how do you explaing
the fact that neither of you has had anything resembling a relationship
since high school."
Catie froze at
those words. "You mean that Jamie never-"
"Nope," Brooke
and Val said in unison.
MEANWHILE............OUTSIDE
"So Brooke tells
me that things are going good Jamie," Hank said, trying to break the silence.
"Yeah, yeah they
have been pretty good,"Jamie called from his car, his mind still foggy
from his earlier encounter with Catie.
"Alright, enough
small talk," Tyler spoke up from the trunk of the car that he and catie
had rented. "Time for the important question. Do you still have a thing
for Catie or what?"
Jamie was taken
aback by the question. He raised his dark eyebrows at Tyler. "Excuse me?"
"You barely took
your eyes off her long enough to say hello," Hank pointed out.
"Oh," Jamie said,
a little embarrassed that they had noticed the way he was looking at her.
He shifted his eyes down to the ground and preceeded to study the cracks
in the driveway. "I......"
"We'll take that
as a yes," Nick said, pulling bags of Victoria's toys out of the van that
Val and Hank had rented.
Tyler pulled
his head out of the trunk and appeared in front of Jamie, forcing him to
look up. "So what are you going to do about it?"
"Honestly I don't
know if I'll do anything," he replied thinking outloud. The other three
stared at him, mouths gaping. "What?" Jamie asked defensively. "You guys
it's been five years do you honestly think that she's just been .............
waiting for me all this time?"
"YES!!" They all shouted at him.
Ok, there you have it. What do you
think? I really hope this is still interesting. Just let me know if you
want another one.