Disclaimer: I own nothing IaHB related. Yeah, we've all seen this sort of disclaimer before.
Note: Many, many thanks to Bea
for being my beta reader for this chapter.
I would have been truly lost without you, oh great Jedi writer. And for D.C., Mo' and Bea: July is good for
me for our little 'excursion'. DC how
is the soundproofing of your basement going?
(Again, people, it is an inside joke.)
K, thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed so far. You guys have been absolutely
wonderful. And don't forget to review
this chapter, k? Thanks lots.
A dark cloud of gloom seemed to hover over the table in the center of
the room. It rumbled and roared and
every once in a while, Brooke thought she saw a lightning bolt or two flicker
in its midst. The people under the
cloud seemed oblivious to its presence; they were too caught up in their own
saddened state to care about the symbolic cloud that they had created. They sat in different postures, trying to
look comfortable, relaxed and happy.
They all failed miserably.
Val sat up, her back as straight as it could go. Her hands were in her lap, fiddling with the
small ring she wore on her right ring finger.
She looked about the room as if searching for something, anything to get
her mind off of the person that sat next to her. She had to overwhelming urge to look at him, but she tried not
to. It wouldn't do to be reminded of
the person she could not be with.
But, she did want just a little peek.
Just to see what he was doing.
It wouldn't hurt anything, would it?
It would only be a little peek.
She'd look real quick and then look away before he could catch her
eye. No big deal, right? Val steeled herself and then, without moving
her head at all, turned her eyes to look to the left of her.
Tyler sat next to Val. He
played with the corner of his folded napkin and wished that he had never come
to the reunion in the first place. It
would have been so easy, he thought in hindsight, to have just thrown the
invitation in the garbage as soon as I got it.
But, no, I had to come and see her.
He was painfully aware of the fact that she sat right next to him. She was like a beacon to him, calling to him
even though no words were spoken. He
tried his best not to look at her.
Looking at her would only remind him of what could have been. Tyler looked at the person sitting on his
left instead.
Hank looked as if his best friend had died. He stared deep into the clean dinner plate that was in front of
him as if it would somehow tell him how to make everything all better. It was somewhat ironic in a way. Hank had spent his whole career trying to
save people, fixing them up and making them all better. But, when it came down to it, he couldn't
even fix himself.
He wanted Melanie, needed her.
Life, he knew, would not be the same without her anymore. Hank could just picture himself sitting in
his office after the reunion. He would
not be the same person if he left on bad terms with Melanie. Hank knew Melanie had changed him in a way
that there was no going back from. And
therefore, picturing himself in his office was suddenly a bleak picture. I don't want her to leave me, Hank said in
his mind over and over again. He
wondered what she was thinking of at that moment.
Melanie's mind was on fire. She
was still angry, but she tried very hard not to show it. She had leaned back against the back of her
chair and had sat very, very still. Her
eyes flicked this way and that, every once in a while landing on Hank to give
him a dirty look. Yes, she wanted him
to know that she was mad at him. After
all, he was the cause of her annoyance.
She still was perturbed to the utmost degree by the things Hank had
said in his room. We were not kidding
ourselves, she told herself fiercely.
And it can work out. She
wondered if he really felt as he had said or not. Was there any possibility that his actions in his room were just
a front for how he really felt? Men,
Melanie thought. They are so incredibly
annoying. Melanie looked at the person
sitting next to her and wondered how he could seem so relaxed.
Jamie was slumped in his chair, pretending to be so relaxed. He looked around nonchalantly as if nothing
was wrong. Inside, though, everything
was wrong. Caitie was sitting next to
him. She was so close that he could
have reached out and touched her, but he was afraid to. He was afraid to do anything involving
Caitie, even talk to her. The idea that
Caitie was not going to be with him scared him more than anything.
And he kept looking at her, trying to drink her image into his
memory. He did not ever want to forget
what she looked like. Every time his
eyes would fall on her face, though, Jamie felt as if he died a little more
inside. Man, he would miss her so
much. He turned to look at her again.
Caitie stared at Jamie. She
wished the nervousness in her stomach would leave. It was such an unpleasant feeling. She just wished that Jamie wasn't going to leave her the next
day. But, how could she make him stay
with her? How could she tell him that
Melanie's words had made her understand what was really important to her? She didn't want to leave him at all.
It was all too much for her to comprehend. She had definitely not been looking for a relationship with Jamie
when she had come to the reunion. All
she had wanted to do was convince herself that she had had only a silly crush
on him in high school. Falling for him
all over again was simply a perk of coming.
Except, at that moment as Caitie stared at him and saw the overwhelming
sadness in his eyes, the perk seemed more like a curse.
……………………………………
Brooke approached the table like it was a tiger ready to strike. The occupants of the table were in a rather
grim mood, she knew, and it would not do to scare them right off with too much
peppiness. No, this must be perfect,
Brooke thought. Everything must go
according to plan.
Brooke knew that her plan
could go one of two ways. It could be a
huge success. Then all of the people at
the little table would leave the dinner in pairs. Or it could be a huge flop, in which all of her favorite people
would probably end up more depressed than before. Of course, Brooke hoped it would be a success.
She wanted to see these
people happy. They had always been such
a big part of her life and each of them deserved a little happiness in his/her
own life. All this stuff about living
separate lives after the reunion is nonsense, she thought as she neared the
table. They have done the whole
separate lives thing. Now, it is time
to be together.
She knew that all they
needed was a little reminder of how they felt for each other. They just needed to remember what it was
like when they first realized they loved the other one. And Brooke was just the person to help them
with that.
"Well guys," she said,
coming to a stop next to Val's side at the table. Six pairs of eyes turned her way, each of them mirrors of the
next. Yes, they were definitely in need
of some cheering up. "I have to say
that it is so good to see you guys again.
I mean, I haven't seen any of you for so long.
She looked around the
table and smiled at each frown. Soon,
she thought to herself, those frowns will disappear. Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. Well, at least she hoped that the frowns
would disappear.
The cloud of gloom
overhead rumbled again.
"There's Val, who is the
head of a big corporation." She looked
at her sister. "I bet that whole
competitive nature really comes in handy there."
Val tried to smile, but
found that she couldn't really manage it.
She looked up at her sister and tried hard not to look at Tyler, who sat
right next to her. Was it her
imagination or was he looking at her?
She wished that she could look just once to see where his eyes were, but
she was afraid to. What if he is
looking at me, she thought. It will
just make it worse to know he's thinking of me.
"Hey," Brooke said,
breaking into Val's thoughts. Val
turned her attention back to her sister.
"Do you remember that bottle and can drive where you were so competitive
with Jamie and Caitie?"
Val turned in her seat
and looked at Jamie. She had really
hurt him bad that time, when she had questioned his character. She had even called him a bonehead,
something that she had regretted instantly when she had found out that he had
been standing right behind her when she had said it. The whole bottle and can drive incident had made her realize that
she was a bit hyper-competitive.
Caitie and Jamie both
smiled at her and for the first time since arriving at the dinner, Val smiled
back. She would have bet her entire
corporation that they were remembering everything that had happened then
too.
"We almost didn't win
that thing because of the stupid Spreewell preps," Caitie mentioned.
"Yeah, if it hadn't been
for the video tape in the back of Hank's car, we would have been sunk," Val
added.
A round of smiles graced
the table as all of its occupants remembered how Val had found the
instructional video in the back of Hank's car.
The squad had then told the guys from Spreewell that the tape was from
the surveillance camera at the station.
The Spreewell can-stealers had been a bit nervous then and had wanted
nothing more than to get their hands on the tape. Too bad it was really an instructional video on how to get rid of
medical waste. Of course, the boys from
Spreewell never knew that until after the squad got their cans back.
Hank chuckled,
remembering how stupid the boys from Spreewell had been. "Well, we almost didn't get them back, even
with the video. If it hadn't have been
for those girls putting paper hearts on the cans that they colleted for
Tyler….."
He let the statement hang
in the air and everyone laughed. Val
turned to look at Tyler, forgetting that just moments ago she had been afraid
to even meet his eye. In that second of
time, she forgot all about not getting too close. She forgot all about the fact that she would be leaving
tomorrow. They were just as they had
been in high school. Tyler and
Val. No problems whatsoever.
"Yeah," she said,
teasingly, "Tyler's little fan club came to our rescue."
Another laugh circled the
table and Brooke smiled. Was it
working, she wondered. Was it really
working? She looked at Tyler, whose face
had turned a bit red. He was staring at
Val in a bit of wonderment. Brooke's
smile deepened. It appeared that it was
working just fine.
A small portion of the
gloom cloud slowly disappeared into the air.
Tyler laughed. "Well, don't forget, I had to spend time
with them at the mall after that."
Brooke smiled again, deviously
this time. That, she knew, was her
cue. "Yeah, you were always doing great
things for your friends. Remember when
you gave Val that Leprechaun good luck charm when our dad was in the hospital?"
Tyler and Val stared at
each other quietly as if seeing something only they could see. Perhaps, Brooke thought, they are reliving
the moment from so many years ago when he gave her that awful thing.
"I still have it," Val
said quietly.
Tyler smiled, a bit
surprised. "You kept it? I didn't think you would."
Val returned his smile
with one of her own. A warm feeling was
starting to grow within her. She didn't
know exactly where it came from or what exactly it meant, but it was there. She liked the feeling, though. It was something that she hadn't felt
before. But, she thought contently, it
was something she definitely could get used to.
"I keep it on the desk in
my office."
Slowly, Tyler reached
over and touched Val's hand. She
started to pull her hand away and then stopped as if she thought better of
it. She smiled shyly, and then spread
out her fingers so that Tyler could fit his own in between. Brooke watched as Tyler interlaced his
fingers with Val and they stared at each other as if nothing was wrong at all.
One pair down, Brooke
thought. She looked at Jamie and
Caitie, who were watching Val and Tyler with slight interest. The sadness in both of their eyes had not
faded yet and Brooke wondered if she would be able to succeed with this
couple. Val and Tyler were so easy, she
thought suddenly. Jamie and Caitie
might be a bit harder. But, Brooke was
willing to try anyway.
"So, Caitie is a writer
now," she said, directing everyone's attention to Caitie. The young author squirmed a bit in her chair
at all the attention. "You know, I always
had a feeling you would be, especially after that whole writing contest
fiasco."
Caitie smiled and looked
at her best friend in the whole world.
She remembered well how she and Val had entered the same contest, not
knowing that the other had entered. She
had been so upset that Val would take over the one thing that Caitie could do
well. Caitie had worked hard on her
essay about who was an inspiration to her.
It was just one of life's ironies when Caite and Val found out that they
had written about each other. But, in
the end, it had worked out fine because neither of them had won the
contest.
"I never would have
stayed in the contest at all if it hadn't been for Jamie telling me that I
should," Caitie said, turning her gaze to meet Jamie's. Jamie smiled, and put his arm around the
back of Caitie's chair.
"Yeah, well it was a good
essay. And besides," he said, a cocky
grin forming on his lips, "that Tim Doherty is such an apple polisher."
Everyone laughed at
Jamie's perfect imitation of what Caitie always said in high school. Caitie turned and smacked Jamie on the arm,
playfully. In Caitie's opinion, it was
true, though. Tim Doherty had ended up
winning the contest because he had written about the teacher being an
inspiration to him. A true apple
polisher, indeed.
Brooke smiled. This was just too easy. "Yeah, and remember Billy? He was a great guy, wasn't he Caitie?"
Caitie rolled her eyes
and shook her head. There were many
adjectives that she could think of to describe Billy and 'great' was not one of
them. She had really liked him,
though. At least, that was until she
found out that he was only using her to make his father and stepmother mad at
him. See, Billy thought that if he told
his father he was dating Caitie, he would be so upset that he would send him to
live with his mother. Yet, the plan had
backfired when Caitie had found out the truth and had paid his father and
stepmother a little visit.
"Yeah, he was a real
gem," Caitie said in her usual sarcastic tone.
"He really used you,
didn't he? I mean, he was even dating
someone else at the time he was pretending to date you." Brooke finished her statement and watched as
Jamie sat up a bit straighter in his chair and leaned a bit more towards
Caitie. His arm still lay protectively
around the back of her chair.
Brooke, though, was not
the only one to notice Jamie's reaction to her words.
"You know, Jamie wanted
to beat this guy up for you," Hank mentioned, watching as surprise graced
Caitie's face. He was surprised Jamie
hadn't told Caitie about that part a long time ago. "Yeah, Tyler and I both had to hold him back from going after the
guy."
"I hated that guy," Jamie
said darkly, his eyes narrowed as if he were remembering exactly what Billy had
done to his Caitie. Caitie looked at
him, waiting to hear what he would say next.
Jamie shrugged. "He was being a
jerk to you and I didn't like it. I didn't like how he was treating you."
It was nice, in Caitie's
opinion, to know that Jamie had cared for her that much, even then. She wondered vaguely just when it was that
he had started liking her as more than just friends. Was it then? Or was it
sometime before that?
Caitie smiled at Jamie
and a bit of his dread fell away. He
loved her smile, even though it was usually followed with some rather tart
remark. Jamie remembered how annoying
it had been when he had seen Caitie smile like that at Billy. Man, that guy was such a jerk, Jamie
thought. He stared at Caitie, noticing
that the sadness in her eyes had softened a bit into something else. He wanted to think that he knew what the
look in her eyes meant, but he didn't want to hope too much. It's just your imagination, he told himself
harshly. She knows as well as you do
that she is leaving tomorrow. But,
still, as Caitie moved her chair a bit closer to Jamie's own, he couldn't help
but hope that the next day would never come.
Jamie edged closer to her and moved his arm that was draped over the
back of her chair so that his fingers rested on the shoulder farthest from
him. He squeezed her shoulder lightly
and then smiled back at her.
A large piece of the
cloud of gloom suddenly dissipated into the air. It was much smaller now, Brooke noticed. Only a tiny bit of it remained and it seemed
to be congregating right over the heads of Hank and Melanie. Thunder rumbled within the cloud. Ah yes, Brooke thought warily, the real
challenge is those two.
She wasn't sure how she
was going to handle the Melanie/Hank situation. It had been so easy with Tyler and Val and Jamie and Caitie. They had practically been begging for help
with their relationship. All she had
had to do was remind them of times when they had been the closest in high
school. No big deal whatsoever. Yet, Melanie and Hank were different. They were both quieter about their
relationship since it had just seemed to literally bloom overnight. But, Brooke could tell that Melanie was mad
at Hank for something. Heck, anyone
within a fifty-mile radius could have been able to tell that. She kept looking at Hank every few minutes
and giving him dark looks.
Brooke wondered what it
was that Hank had done. She imagined he
had said something stupid, something that would have made Melanie so very
upset. But, what could it have been? Brooke was not a mind reader and she was
having enough trouble as it was not laughing at them. Jeez, she thought as she watched Melanie shoot Hank another dark
look and Hank bow his head in return, they are acting like a married
couple.
I guess we know who is in
charge in that relationship, she thought, smirking. And then another thought flitted across her mind. Brooke's mind grabbed hold of it before it
could get away and she smiled as an idea formed in her head. What if…, she thought to herself. If Melanie has a temper, she thought
deviously, she might get jealous easily as well. Of course, there was only one way to find out.
"You know, Hank," Brooke
started slowly, "I saw Jasmine a little while ago. She looked really nice and she was asking about you."
"Yeah?" Hank asked, not really interested. Sure, Jasmine was a nice girl and all that,
but he didn't want to see any other girl.
The only person he wanted to see was the girl sitting next to him,
shooting him dark looks. He wanted to
spend the rest of his life with her, but he was afraid to tell her that
now.
"Yeah, you should go find
her and talk with her. Who knows? Maybe you guys will end up spending the rest
of the reunion together," Brooke said, watching not Hank, but Melanie very
closely.
Melanie narrowed her eyes
and stared at the dinner plate before her.
She crossed her arms over her chest and then mumbled under her breath,
"over my dead body."
She looked around to see
if anyone had heard her, but the other two couples at the table were already in
their own little world. It must be
nice, Melanie thought and then the image of Hank and Jasmine together entered
her mind. She gritted her teeth.
No, Melanie thought. There is no way that Hank was going to end
up spending the rest of his time at the reunion with Jasmine. Melanie had spent most of high school trying
in vain to be the girl's friend. And
one day, she really thought that they had gotten rather close. That was, of course, before Jasmine told
Melanie that Melanie was not cool enough to hang out with her. Apparently, Jasmine had seen Melanie as Hank
had seen Melanie in high school- just one big pain in the butt.
Melanie had never liked
Jasmine since that time and she was NOT going to let Hank hang out with the
girl as if they were best friends or something of the sort. Melanie's blood boiled at the thought that
Hank might be smiling at someone else that night. That he might actually leave her and be with someone else.
Slowly, the anger seemed
to melt away as she realized what she was afraid of. It wasn't the fact that Han had thought her job would separate
them that had gotten her so mad. And it
was not the fact that he had acted all macho when he had told her. It was simply the fact that he had voiced
what she was thinking. She had been too
scared to say it before. She had been
too scared that she would lose him for good if she asked him what would happen
after the reunion. And now, he had
beaten her to the quick. He had voiced
her fear loud and clear. Melanie did
not want to lose Hank.
She turned to him, so
much fear and hurt in her eyes. It was
almost like the homecoming dance all over again. She had to act strong as she had then, didn't she? She had to act as if it all did not bother
her in the least, didn't she? Show them
what a good sport you are, she had told herself the night of the dance after
talking with Hank. Don't let them see
the tears. But now, the tears were
already threatening to come.
"I'm still mad at you,"
she said through watery eyes. Her voice
lacked the determined quality it had before and it was hard for Hank to really
believe that she was mad at all.
"Mel," he started and
then stopped when he saw the first tear run down her cheek. Hank leaned closer to her, a brushed the
lonely tear away with the pad of his thumb.
Melanie sat up straight
and sniffed once. She pushed her hair
out of her face and tried to calm herself.
She had wanted to show Hank how mad she was and this not helping at all. And if she looked over there once more and
saw his brown puppy dog eyes looking at her with so much concern……….
Melanie took a deep
breath. "I'm fine. Really, I am," she said, smiling slightly at
Hank to show that the spunky Melanie was still there. Don't let them see your tears, her mind whispered. "Everything is fine."
Hank smiled sadly. He wished that Melanie's words were
true. He really, truly wished that
everything was fine just then. And he
wished that everything was going to be fine the next day and the day after
that. But, in actuality, nothing was
fine. Hank knew this way too well.
"No, Mel, it isn't fine,"
he whispered and then he leaned forward just a bit to kiss her softly.
Brooke grinned as she
looked around the table. Tyler and Val
were looking at each other shyly, as if they were on their first date. Caitie and Jamie stared at each other
wordlessly, lost in their own little world.
And Melanie and Hank? Brooke was
the happiest with that couple. They
were kissing as if tomorrow didn't matter.
The cloud of gloom had
disappeared completely.
"So, does anyone want to
tell me what they want to drink tonight?"
She asked and was happy when she got absolutely no response.
"Does anybody remember
the time that Jamie gave mouth to mouth to a dead dog?" She tried again. And again there was no answer.
In fact, there was no indication that any of the three couples had heard
a word she had said.
Brooke took one last look
around the table and then walked away slowly, the grin still plastered on her
face. "I rock," she whispered as she
made her way through the maze of tables to the kitchen. She couldn't wait to call Alex and tell him
what she had done. "Mission accomplished."
K, well, only one more chapter to go. The last chapter will be about what happens
the next morning when they all are ready to leave the reunion. I really, really want to get this done
before I leave for vacation on Saturday.
But, if I don't, it will definitely be up when I get back in about two
weeks.
So, what did you guys
think of this chapter? Don't forget to
review. Thanks.