II
Jed sighed heavily. Nobody heard. Nobody would have heard him if he'd been screaming. Which might be a handy little fact to know if he stayed here much longer.
The party had been... pretty much what he expected. A whole lot of people drinking alcohol, and apparently unable to cope with the concept that he didn't want to join them. He'd lost count of how many drinks he'd been handed and passed on or put down somewhere. There wasn't any particular reason he didn't drink alcohol, he just... didn't want to. He liked his brain fine as clear as it was, thank you.
Unfortunately, it seemed that having a clear brain severely impaired your ability to enjoy parties. Well, that and the fact that had he been in any position to try and get anywhere with those few girls willing to talk to the short, miserable-looking guy in the corner, the music was cranked up way too high for him to do it. He couldn't talk to people, he didn't know anybody here anyway, and there wasn't anything else for a socially reticent potential priest to do.
Andy and Jason had disappeared. Not that it really mattered, because last time he'd seen them they'd been both so drunk he wouldn't have accepted a ride back home if it was offered. They were probably going to crash out here for the rest of the night, if they didn't find girls to go home with.
Just think, if he'd refused to come he could have been at home right now, with the whole place to himself.
The party was showing no signs of ending any time soon. The thought of sticking it out until the early hours of the morning... He headed for the door.
The cool air outside was a refreshing blast against his face. Jed turned his face to the sky, and saw clouds gathering. Right now, a storm seemed like a good way to break the muggy tension in the air.
There was nobody about outside; cars were parked in the road, but there was no traffic. They'd come a long way out of town, and the thought of walking all the way home was just depressing. He'd follow the road, and see if he could hitch a ride.
Nobody noticed him as he slipped away into the night. Jed tugged his jacket closer about him, and started walking.
Football. Abigail Barrington could take it or leave it.
When it came to football on a fall evening that was now turning decidedly chilly and looking like it might storm, she was definitely leaning towards leaving it.
Still, she couldn't help grinning as Ron came jogging toward her in his football gear. She might not be the world's biggest sports fan, but it made Ron happy, and she guessed she owed him something for the fact he never complained when she bored him stupid with her medical studies. She knew he thought she was more than a little obsessed, cramming before she even started medical school, but being a doctor like her father was all she'd ever wanted to do. She was taking no chances.
Ron beamed brightly at her. "Did you see me?" he asked eagerly. Abbey rolled her eyes.
"No, 'cause I was so busy snoring-"
He leaned in to steal a kiss. "I say again, if you would only let me explain football-"
"I already get football," she snorted. "There is a ball. You move it around the pitch and try to get it in the goal. Did I miss anything?"
"Only a lifetime of glory, dreams, and athletic prowess." He kissed her again.
"You only do that to stop me arguing, don't you?"
"Yeah, that's the main reason," he said dryly.
"How's that working for you so far?"
He grinned and shook his head, conceding defeat. "Listen, how'd you get out here? D'you need a ride back?"
Abbey tilted her head pointedly, and dangled the keys to the family pick-up. "Daddy didn't raise no fools," she smirked.
Ron shrugged good-naturedly. "You can't blame a boy for trying."
"Try telling that to daddy," she said dryly.
"Yeah, maybe not," he admitted. "Listen, can I see you tomorrow morning?"
"I'll be at church."
"Oh, yeah, course." Ron shook his head. Although ostensibly Catholic, Ron's family didn't take their religion nearly as seriously as the Barringtons. She sometimes got the impression he didn't really understand that she went along to church every week because she thought it was important, not just because her parents made her. "Tomorrow afternoon, then?"
"Sure," she agreed with a smile.
He stood and grinned adorably after her as she left. Yeah, a few boring football games were a pretty small price to pay for a boyfriend who thought you were the best thing since sliced bread.
The car squealed past him in a flurry of water. Jed would have been soaked, if it wasn't for the fact that the rain had already taken care of that. It was less priestly instinct than a kind of resigned soggy misery that stopped him from flipping off the driver.
It had been raining continuously for... well, he had no idea how long. It had reached the point where it was like trying to push through a vertical block of solid water, and he wouldn't have been able to see his watch face even if he'd dared expose it to this kind of rain to try.
Maybe, Jed conceded, hitching home hadn't been such a hot idea after all. He hadn't realised how quiet this road was until he'd been walking it too far to turn back. Barely a half dozen cars had gone past him, and once the rain had started, they probably hadn't seen him anyway.
Headlights, behind him. He didn't even bother to stop walking, just mechanically thrust out an arm with thumb upraised.
A mud-splattered red pick-up squealed to a halt. He dashed towards it through the rain as the passenger door opened for him.
The instinct to scramble inside was momentarily hijacked by surprise as he saw that the driver was a girl. To be precise, the exact same girl who'd caused him to drop a medical dictionary on himself that morning.
"Hey there, bookstore boy, fancy meeting you here," she smiled.
Jed frowned in concern. "Hey, what are you doing stopping?"
"You were hitching, weren't you?"
"Yeah... you shouldn't pick up strange guys at the side of the road." He shuddered to think what might happen to a pretty young girl picking up hitchhikers in the middle of the night.
"You're only little; I could take you," she quipped confidently.
He scowled. "I could be a psychopath or anything!"
She snorted in dry amusement. "D'you want a ride or not?"
Jed hesitated.
The rain was hammering against his back like a particularly unsuccessful attempt at a vigorous massage.
He got in.
The girl gave a satisfied nod, and restarted the pick-up. "You're going into South Bend, right?" she asked after a moment, eyes on the road as she drove.
"Yeah."
The cab was beginning to steam up with their combined breath, but the water dripping down his back and from his hair was painfully cold. He shifted in the seat, wishing awkwardly there was some way he could stop himself from drenching the upholstery.
"My house is just on the edge of town," the girl nodded. "But I can drop you down by the bookstore if you like - you live round there, right?"
"You don't have to do that," Jed said quickly. She briefly flicked her eyes away from the road to shoot him a look.
"You're kidding, right? You could drown out there."
"I could hitch another ride. I don't want to take you out of your way."
"Oh, and you were doing so well at that before I came along? I'll take you down to the town," she said, in a tone that brooked no argument.
They drove on. Jed fidgeted in his seat, discomfited by the closeness of the small cab and the way the rain outside made it seem smaller.
"You really shouldn't have picked me up," he told her quietly, after a few minutes of silence.
She gave a dryly amused smile that was already becoming quite familiar, but her tone stayed light, perhaps acknowledging his concern for her safety. "If it bothers you that much, why'd you let me pick you up?"
"In case you picked somebody else up along the way, and they really were crazy." He shifted in his seat. "Also, it was raining."
She smiled, and although her eyes were on the road and not on him it was impossible not to smile back. "You got a name, bookstore boy?"
For some reason, the full name he usually introduced himself by didn't trip immediately from his lips. "Jed," he said quickly. "Jed Bartlet."
She nodded to herself. "Abbey Barrington. And I know we're not exactly meeting, but, you know, pleased to... whatever."
He smiled. They drove on into the storm.