HowCouldIForget

Disclaimer: As you all might have already guessed by now, I don't own any thing related to In A Heartbeat. The only thing I own is the story and basically the characters that I made up. OK, enough with the babbling. Let's get to the story : )

A Date to Remember

How could I forget?

Staring out the window, Caitie sat on her bed with a journal on her lap. She has not been able to stop thinking about what had happened the whole day. A part of her is screaming to make up with Jamie, but pride always got its own little ways. Val's last words played over and over again like a broken record. 'Is this really worth it? Is this really worth it? Is this really worth it? Is this really worth it? I don't know. Is it? This is the worst day of my life!' Out of frustration, Caitie threw her journal across the room towards the door, which at the same time opened, hitting Colin, her younger brother.

"What did I do?" he asked in an aggravated tone. "I'm telling Mom!"

"No, Colin, wait!" she called out but stopped when she knew he wouldn't hear her. "Forget it."

Caitie paraded across the room and picked her journal up. A few minutes later, Casey, her other older sister, came into the room.

"What was that flying journal all about?" she asked Caitie. "What did the little brat do now?"

"Nothing," Caitie said. "I was just frustrated."

"Guy problem?" Casey asked.

"Isn't it always?" said Caitie.

"Oh, speaking of guys, there's a delivery guy downstairs who has a package for you."

"What?"

"He has a package and he needs a Caitlin Roth to sign it."

"Fine," she said as she headed down the stairs.

From the door, a mischievous smile became evident on her sister's face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caitie opened the door, but whom she saw was no one she expected to see.

"Jamie!" she yelled at here. "What are you doing here? What did you do to that delivery guy?"

"I am the delivery guy," Jamie said with a sheepish smile. "Surprise!"

Caitie turned her head towards her upstairs bedroom and glared at Casey who was smiling intently.

"I'm going to kill you," she told her in a silent tone, but loud enough for Jamie to overhear. "What are you laughing about?"

"Nothing," said Jamie.

"Well, I'll see you later," Caitie said as she proceeded to close the door.

"Caitie!" said Jamie as he blocked the doorway. "We have to talk."

"About what?" asked Caitie, who loosened her grip on the doorknob.

"You know what I'm talking about," he said as pushed the door open. "Please?"

"OK. Talk."

"Can we go for a walk?" Jamie asked.

"Do you want to talk or walk?"

"Both," Jamie said as he started to head down the street.

Caitie just looked on as he continued to walk away.

"Are you coming or not?"

"Do I have a choice?" she asked as a smile started to creep on her mouth, but stopped immediately. 'Don't let him talk his way out of this.'

"Not really," Jamie said.

Caitie locked the door and went after Jamie. For a long time, neither one said nor spoke a word. Nighttime has just fallen on Kingsport, and the atmosphere was getting cold. Caitie cursed herself for forgetting to take her jacket along with her. She looked over to Jamie and his leather jacket. Usually, Jamie would offer his jacket to her.

"Are you cold?" asked Jamie, causing Caitie to divert her gaze.

"No," she said even though her teeth were chattering.

Jamie started to take off his jacket and give it to her.

"No, thank you," she said.

"Fine," said Jamie as he dropped his jacket to the ground. "Then the ground will take it."

With that, Jamie walked away. Caitie decided to continue, but all her mind wanted to do was pick the jacket up. In a battle that lasted in mere seconds, her mind had won. Caitie picked the jacket up and caught up with Jamie without saying a word. Jamie had a little smile on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After minutes of walking, the two reached Kingsport High School. They headed towards the bleachers as though they were programmed to do so every single time. Caitie was now starting to get annoyed. With this much distance, she wouldn't be able to return home and eat dinner on time.

"Jamie," she said. "What did you want to talk about? I'm already late for dinner."

"I wanted to talk about what happened earlier. And don't you dare even mention tacos."

"You're the one to talk."

"Well you're the one who's being difficult and stubborn."

Caitie just glared at him.

"Difficult? Stubborn? That's it, Jamie Waite. I've had it with you."

"And I've had it with you. So what if I don't know what today is? Who cares?"

Caitie felt like screaming. She turned her back to him and headed under the bleachers.

"Jamie, you are the most insensitive person…" she began to say slowly as she saw what was laid in front of her. "…I have ever met."

In front of her was a small table for two covered in red cloth. 'A candle light dinner?' Caitie closed her eyes over and over again, but what she was seeing was no illusion. Gradually, she turned around to Jamie, who was literally standing behind her.

"Happy one-month!" he smiled at her.

"Did Val…" she began to ask.

"No Val. Only me."

"How…"

"I knew all along."

"But…"

"I wanted to surprise you."

Caitie just looked at Jamie. She was surprised all right. Right now, she doesn't even know if the person standing in front of her was the real Jamie Waite.

"You did all of this? For me?"

"Yea," he said as he gave a small laugh. "Is that so hard for you to believe?"

"Well, it's just that you don't seem like the type of guy…"

"What type of guy?"

"Like I would expect Tyler to do this, but you don't seem to be the Tyler kind of person."

"People change."

Caitie gave him the first genuine smile he had seen her give him all day.

"What?"

"That's exactly what I said earlier today."

"We do that a lot," Jamie said as he remembered the last time a similar scenario happened. "Remember Dr. Seuss?"

"Yea. Jamie?

"What?"

"I'm sorry about what I said with Bobbie and all."

"That's all right. I'm not even thinking about her right now. Tonight is all about you and me."

Jamie grabbed Caitie's arm and led Caitie to her seat.

"Wait," she said. "They must be looking for me at home."

"They know," he told her. "Well, Casey did."

"If that's the case, then what's for dinner?"

Jamie smiled at her and dramatically pulled off the cover of her plate. When the food was revealed, Caitie couldn't help but laugh at the irony.

"Tacos?" she said with a laugh.

"What did you expect?" he said. "Besides, I missed lunch today."

"That's really romantic of you."

As they were about to finish eating, Caitie looked at Jamie with a serious look on her face.

"Jamie," she said. "I thought this day was going to be the worst day of my life, but you have proven me wrong. Thank you."

"Don't thank me quite yet."

"What do you mean?"

"I have something for you."

Jamie stood up and went over to a secluded spot on the ground. As his hands were revealed to her, Caitie saw a wrapped box.

"What is it?"

"Why don't you open it and find out?" he said as he handed her the box.

Caitie eagerly opened the box. She knew it was uncharacteristic of her, but like she said, people change. Piece by piece, the wrapper fell to the ground. Caitie realized that the present resembled a small frame. Little did she know that it was much more than a 4x6 rectangle.

"Wow," was the first word that came out of her mouth. "I can't believe this."

"Do you like it?" asked Jamie.

"Of course I do," she said as tears started to fall out of her eyes. "No one has ever done this for me before."

"And I have never done this for anyone else except you," Jamie said as he met Caitie's lips halfway.

The two were now oblivious to everything around them. On the corner of the table laid the present: a frame that contained a picture of the two during Jamie's race. At the bottom were two tickets from the movie where they shared their first kiss and first confessed their love for each other. Truly, it was a date to remember.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE END!!! That's all for this story. I hope you liked it! Installment #4 of the NOEBY Series is coming soon. I'll be back! ~ Scarlet182