Disclaimer: I own nothing IaHB related.
Note: Okay people, I swear this fic will end soon. Trust me, I want it to be over with as much as you guys do. One more chapter…… I know this chapter is short. But, to make up for it, I am going to release the next chapter within a day or two. That way, you kind of get two for the price of one. Cool, huh?
The house sat a ways back in the woods. It was a rather spacious home, as Jamie would have it no other way when it was being built. After living so long in a small dorm room and then a cramped apartment with Mike, Jamie craved space. But, in the back of his mind, he had known that he wouldn't always be living alone in the house. And for the last few months, he hadn't been.
The bottom half of the
house was divided into the kitchen, dining room (which Caitie and Jamie never
used. They liked to eat in the living
room), guest bedroom/bath, and the living room. The second floor held the master bedroom, the main bathroom, an
office (which had been Jamie's but lately, Caitie had kind of taken it over
with her writing stuff), another guest room and (Caitie had been surprised at
this one) a small room, whose walls were covered in shelves of books that Jamie
had collected all his life. Jamie, it
seemed, was a closet avid reader.
A double car garage sat
solidly next to the house, harboring Caitie's car, Jamie's Jeep and of course,
his beloved Harley.
The house was surrounded
almost completely by forest, giving the owner the privacy and solitude that he
had wanted. The long driveway curved
through the woods, coming out finally to the main road, just a mile or two from
the main drive to the camp. And, of
course, there was a small dirt road that edged off of Jamie's driveway and led
straight to the camp parking lot. The
gate at the camp to this road was
closed tight most of the time, unless Jamie called mike at the camp to let him
know that he was on his way. Then Mike
would open the gate, but then close it right after Jamie arrived so that no
curious visitors ended up at Jamie's house.
Usually, the house was
rather quiet, as Jamie spent most of his time during the day at the camp. Most of the time, the only sounds that could
be heard were the singing of the birds as they ate seeds from the couple of
feeders that Caitie had hung near the house and the incessant clicking of the
computer keys as Caitie worked on her chapters. But, on this day, other sounds were in the air. On this day, Caitie and Jamie were not alone
in their home.
"Can we help?" A voice called from the doorway to the
kitchen.
Caitie glanced behind her
and saw Val and Tyler peeking cautiously into the room. She smiled. It was just so like them to volunteer for everything- even something as
simple as helping to cook dinner.
She took a look around
the kitchen, noting what still needed to be done. Jamie was working diligently at the stove, making the sauce
perfect. Caitie, herself, was chopping
up tomatoes for the salad. And the
pasta was sitting in a china bowl on the counter along with breadsticks in an
oval bowl.
"Everything is pretty
much taken care of here, guys," she said. "but if you want, you can carry that stuff in and put it on the table,"
she added, nodding towards the pasta and breadsticks.
Immediately, Tyler and
Val were at the counter, eager to help. They quickly whisked the food up and away to the dining room. Caitie snickered. "Some things never change," she whispered.
"I'm glad they all came,"
Caitie whispered to Jamie as she cut another tomato for the salad. "I mean, none of us really got to talk at
the reunion."
Jamie nodded
absent-mindedly, stirring the spaghetti sauce again. He scooped the long wooden spoon up and out of the pan, lifting
it to his lips. Just a smidge of
homemade sauce flavored with tomatoes, mushrooms and basil slid into his mouth
and down his throat. Of course, Jamie
left a little on the spoon for Caitie. He knew he'd be in big trouble if he didn't. being the culinary expert of the house, Caitie always sampled the
spaghetti sauce before serving it to guests. As she always told Jamie, "it had to be just right".
Of course, if it had been
up to Jamie, he would have just popped open a jar of store-bought sauce and
thrown it in the pan. But, he also knew
what a scolding he would get from Caitie if he did that. He could still remember the fist time they
had made spaghetti after she had moved in. He had grabbed the jar of sauce out of the cupboard and had twisted the
cap off, intent on pouring its contents into the pan. But, a gasp behind him had made him stop and look behind
him. She had stood behind him, looking
at him as if he had suddenly grown a second head. Then she had narrowed her eyes and said something rather sarcastic
about how homemade sauce is always better than store-bought. Caitie had walked to the refridgerator then
and had started pulling out ingredients for them to make their own sauce. The lecture on why homemade was better had
lasted until they sat down to eat.
There was no winning such
an argument against Caitie, Jamie knew. God, he loved her for it- homemade spaghetti sauce and all.
"Here, try this," Jamie
said, turning from the stove and putting a cautionary hand underneath the
lifted spoon. It would not make Caitie
happy to get sauce all over the wooden floor, either.
Caitie turned from her
position at the counter and stooped just a bit to taste the sauce. Her tongue darted out and in her mouth
quickly and she closed her eyes. Mmmm,
she thought, perfect. So much better
than store-bought.
"It's just right, she
said with a smile.
Jamie nodded, pleased
that she approved and then turned back to the stove and turned off the
burner. Grabbing a couple of pot
holders off a nearby counter, Jamie picked up the pot and started to make his
way to the door, which led to the dining room.
Caitie grabbed the bowl
of salad she had been working on and followed close behind.
"Oh! Hey, Jamie," Caitie said right before Jamie
walked though the doorway. He glanced
back at her, waiting for her to continue. "I hope you don't mind my inviting Kiandra to this."
Jamie flashed her a
devilish grin. "Nah, I don't mind as
long as you don't mind that I invited Mike."
……………………………………
Kiandra sat back in her
chair and breathed deeply. She had
eaten way too much spaghetti. It was
just that the sauce was so good. It definitely could not have been store bought. A small voice in the back of her head
reminded her that no there was no way she was going to be able to fit into that
nice little black skirt she had bought the other day. But, she just blocked the voice out. It had been worth it.
She smiled as someone
made a joke and everyone else laughed. It was a bit strange being there, surrounded by Val's friends. For so long, she had been the friend that
Val joked with and hung out with. All
of Val's friends from Kingsport had simply been in the background. But, now here they were, shining as bright
as the sun and Kiandra kind of felt out of place, left in the shadows. They had stories to tell, reminiscing to
do. But, she didn't know anything about
the places and people that they talked about. It was like she was from a totally different world.
Ah, well, Val is happy,
she thought. It wasn't that she was
jealous of Val's other friends. It was
just that she wished she could be in on the laughter too.
She knew a bit about the
squad that they all used to be on. Val
told her a few stories of some of their calls. And she knew just a bit about each one of the people around the table,
as Val had told her about them as well before they even got to Jamie and
Caitie's house.
"Hank and Melanie are the ones who are engaged," Val said as she swiveled in her seat in the front of the car. She looked at her friend in the backseat before continuing. "Hank was the leader of us EMT's. And Melanie was the girl who always had a crush on him, but…..never got the chance to get too close to him."
Tyler, from his seat
behind the wheel, snickered. "Until
now," he said, grinning into his rearview mirror at Kiandra.
"Yeah," Val agreed
smiling, "until now. Jamie and Caitie
are the ones who live in the house we are going to. They were both kind of the punks when we were in school. You know, the nonconformists. In fact, Jamie started on the squad only
because of the fact that he had to do community service."
Kiandra pursed her lips
and tried to think of Val, the Val she knew so well, being friends with someone
who was forced to do community service. It was hard to think that Val, the poster-child for conformity had been
friends with such nonconformists. The
picture was rather intriguing, though.
"You'll
love Caitie," Val continued. "I think
you guys will be friends by the time we leave."
"That's great," Kiandra murmured before turning her attention to the window next to her. She watched as houses and trees flew by in a blur and she thought of how she did not really know any of these people at all. Strange, she thought. This is Val's life before we met. And now I am going to see exactly what it was like. Kiandra was intrigued and a lot excited to be confronting this past part of her friend's life. She couldn't wait to get there.
But, everyone had
neglected to mention that the person sitting to the right of her at the table
would be there. She wished that they
had given her some warning that he was going to be there and what he looked
like. If she had had some warning,
perhaps her hands would not be constantly flicking about nervously, looking for
something to do. And perhaps she would
not keep pretending to look at Val and Tyler, who sat adjacent to her, in order
to get a glimpse of him in her peripheral vision.
Everyone- Hank and
Melanie, Jamie and Caitie, Tyler and Val, and of course, Kiandra had already
started eating dinner when there had been a slam at the front door. Seconds later he had appeared in the doorway
to the dining room and Kiandra's jaw had dropped. It was as if every guy she had ever admired for their looks
suddenly looked pale and sickly. This
guy was beyond hot, he was amazingly beautiful.
He was around
Jamie's height. Not short, but not too
tall either. He had long curly blond
hair, which he had pulled back into a ponytail. Kiandra might have been sitting halfway across the room, but she
would bet all the money in her savings account that his eyes were brown.
He had stopped
beside Caitie's chair to drop a kiss on her cheek and then exchange friendly
barbs with Jamie over the portion of spaghetti that he had almost missed
because he was late. Caitie had quickly
introduced him to everyone around the table and he had exchanged a greeting
with everyone. And when it came her
time to be introduced, he had turned his gaze on her and Kiandra had almost
melted into the floor. Her eyes had
locked with his own and she had smiled as he said a simple, "hi." Jackpot, she had thought. Brown eyes, indeed.
Kiandra had been
thrilled when she realized that the only empty chair at the table was next to
her. He had sat down next to her and
her strength to calm her nerves promptly got up and walked out the door.
Now, she looked
around the table and realized once again that she really was not a true part of
the world that they were describing. After all, the only reason she was there was because she was Val's
friend. But, heck, as long as she could
sit next to this guy for a little while longer she would be fine.
"It's weird for us
outsiders, right?" A voice from beside
her said and Kiandra's heart jumped.
She turned in her
seat, her hands fumbling with the spoon she had used to stir her coffee
with. Brown eyes gazed at her warmly
and Kiandra found herself smiling before she realized what she was doing.
"Yes," she replied,
"It's strange to hear them talk about Kingsport when I have no idea what it is
like.
Mike nodded and
brought his own coffee cup to his lips for a quick sip. "Yeah, I've only been to Kingsport twice,
when I went with Jamie to visit his family. But that was in college and Jamie never told me all of the stories that
we are hearing tonight."
Kiandra nodded, not
knowing what to say. She had managed to
get one sentence out just seconds before, but now as she looked at Mike, she
realized that perhaps she wasn't going to be able to get any more out. Her tongue felt like it was covered in glue
all of the sudden. Jeez, she
thought. I am in rough shape.
Guys had never
affected her this way at all, not even close. Usually, she was able to deal with them coolly, efficiently. She had never lost all of her wits
before. Well, of course, that was
before Mike had walked into the dining room.
"I'm only here
because I am a friend of Val's," She blurted out and then mental smacked her
forehead. Had she really just said that
out loud to Mike? Oh Lord, please let
him not have heard me, she prayed desperately. Of all the things she could have thought to say at that time, she never
thought she would come out with something that sounded so stupid.
Mike grinned and
leaned back in his chair. His eyes
rested on her as if trying to assess exactly who she was.
"So,
Kiandra-friend-of-Val's, why don't you tell me about your life?" He said after a moment.
…………………………………….
Caitie smiled as
she glanced over at Mike and Kiandra. It had been such an act of luck that Jamie and her had thought along the
same lines when they had invited old friends to this dinner. She just hadn't known that it would turn out
to be a better idea that it started out being. If Caitie wasn't wrong, Mike and Kiandra had been talking away for at
least twenty minutes now, blocking out the rest of the table as if they did not
exist.
Perfect, Caitie
thought and then turned to the person next to her as he squeezed her hand under
the table.
Jamie smiled back
at her and nodded towards Mike and Kiandra, a ways down the table. "Who would have known?" He whispered to her and then leaned close to
kiss her cheek.
It was such a smile
gesture and after living with Jamie for months now, one would think that Caitie
was used to such a thing. But still
every time Jamie kissed her, she felt the same tingling in her stomach that she
had felt the first time.
Caitie glanced away
from Jamie and looked across the table to where Val sat next to Tyler. Val, catching her eye, smiled at her and
then looked pointedly at Kiandra and Mike. Caitie nodded and both girls grinned. They couldn't have planned it any better if they had tried.
Okay, so I have no
idea where the whole Mike/Kiandra thing came from. I was simply working on the whole Jamie and his spaghetti sauce
crisis thing and then Mike and Kiandra kind of popped up and said, "You know
what? We like each other. Write us in this part." So, I said, "Sure, why not?" Thus, this whole thing began. Strange, I know. Anyway, one more chapter after this (hopefully). That is, of course, unless other characters
start standing up and making demands.