Endless Roads

Chapter 7 - Finding a New Start

Three Days later…

Tommy's POV

For days I made repeated visits to Jason's apartment, hoping I could fit in an apology, but no matter how hard I tried, Kim just wouldn't see me. I felt so horrible about what I said. It replayed through my mind like a broken record, making me feel angrier with myself. I guess I was just so furious that I was never informed with what happened to Kimberly, that it led me to say those things. What I said was harsh, and I could feel the impact it had on Kim when I saw her face. There had to be a way for me to apologize to her. I couldn't forgive myself for saying that Kimberly deserved to be in that car accident and get involved with drugs and alcohol. I just had to find a way to let her know that I didn't mean what I said, and so I sat there on my bed thinking of what to do with Kat silently sleeping next to me as I thought.
When I got home that night three days ago, Kat kept bugging me about why I came home so late. I wanted to tell her what I had just found out, but I wasn't sure if I should of. I already got Kim upset; I didn't want her to get even more upset for me telling everybody what she kept a secret for so long. So I told Kat that I stayed over for dinner at Jason's. It set her off a little bit because she wasn't invited, but I told her it was her problem because she didn't want to go out for coffee that morning. I hated when Kat and I had arguments like that. It just made things uncomfortable for us when we were in bed at night. She'd just ignore me and not talk at all, facing her back towards me as I tried to apologize for whatever we fought about. And we did that exact thing that night. I was tempted to say to her that Kim told me the truth about what happened to her, but I knew I couldn't do it.
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Kim sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in her hands. She silently looked out the apartment window, staring at the busy streets of Angel Grove. All that went through her mind was the night she told Tommy everything, the awful thing that he said to her, and the way she exploded at him. Tommy finally knew the truth. The one thing that she was set out to do was finally over, and deep inside she didn't know what to do next. She ignored Tommy because she was too embarrassed to show her face. Jason had heard that Tommy was thinking Kim was just mad at him, but the truth was she wasn't mad, more like confused; confused at what was her next move.

"Kim?" Jason replied.

"Yeah?" a startled Kimberly responded.

"Aren't you going to get dressed?"

"What for?"

"Uh hello! You did say that Lacey's flight comes in today, didn't you."

"Oh! Yeah… I guess I've just been a little distracted." Kim rubbed her eyes.

"A little?" Jason raised his brow.

"Okay, a lot." Kim admitted. "I just can't stop thinking that Tommy knows now… he knows everything."

"Kim, its no big deal."

"No big deal? You think this is no big deal, you don't know what I've been through, Jason!" Kimberly snapped. "You may have been there for me, you may have known all my secrets, but never was I convinced that you knew what I was going through."

"Okay, so maybe I don't know what you've been through, but I do know that you've been taking things way more seriously than they seem."

"What, you think I'm exaggerating?"

"No, I just meant that you blame yourself for Craig's death, but it wasn't your fault. I've told you this a million times, if you weren't the one driving you would have been dead as well. And the way you think that after all that you've been through your world is over… well it's not. Okay, 'cause you've spent almost a year in rehab and getting yourself better again. Rehab is all about starting over… and you can start over. You can be the person you once were, but you just won't let that happen…"

"That's not true!" Kim snapped.

"It is… I tell you this over and over again, but it just doesn't seem to get to you. You can be the old Kimberly. You just don't try. I see you, and all you do is watch other people's lives go well, but you don't do anything to yours."

"I did do something."

"Oh yeah, and what was that?"

"I came here didn't I?"

"And what else do you expect to do?"

Kim remained silent. Jason just stared at her and raised his brow.

"See my point." He said.

"You know I think back to the way I used to be… I was a completely different person." She replied. "That old Kimberly is the person Tommy knew, and the one that he was in love with. And telling him what I went through must have hurt him completely, knowing that the Kimberly he knew is gone."

"The old Kimberly isn't gone. The Kimberly you were in Florida is gone. Like I said… you can be that old Kimberly again."

"It's not that simple." She shook her head.

"It may not be, but it beats not doing anything." Jason muttered. "In fact, you've already started, you came back here."

"Well what do I do next then?" Kim whispered.

"Well first we gotta go pick up Lacey." He smiled. "But after that, I suggest you tell Tommy that you're not mad at him, 'cause he's just been walking around everywhere thinking that you hate his guts."

Kim laughed. "He still thinks I'm mad at him?"

"Yeah."
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At the airport…

Jason's POV

I was nervous as hell as I stood at the arrival's gate in the airport. The thought that Lacey was coming here freaked me out. I knew that once I let her go it would have been too painful for me to see her again. That's why I remained in Angel Grove because I thought that it would be my only escape from seeing her again. Leaving her may have been the biggest mistake of my like, but I knew I had to come back here. I was gone for almost seven years. I missed my friends, I missed my family, but when I came back; I missed Lacey the most. Then one day Kim called me. She told me Lacey was moving on and started a new relationship with Trent. The pain to hear the news was unbearable. So I decided that I was going to stay here in Angel Grove indefinitely. Keeping my distance away from anything to do with Lacey helped. But now she was coming here! Here, to Angel Grove, and she was going to be staying in MY apartment. I could recall the argument that Kim and I had when she told me that Lacey was coming. I completely freaked out when I heard that she arranged for Lacey to stay at my place. What bugged me the most, was that I knew that Kim arranged it on purpose. I told her that I missed Lacey, and she deliberately planned for Lacey to stay there.
But I couldn't stay mad at Kimberly; she was going through her problems too. Now that Tommy knew what happened it was time for her to tell the rest of them. What I couldn't get over, was how Tommy reacted like a jerk saying that Kim deserved what she went through. It was completely uncalled for, I never imagined Tommy saying something that harsh to her. And when he left, Kim totally fell apart. She told me how she regretted even coming back here, and then cried herself to sleep that night. I'd give an arm and a leg just so Kim's life could get back to being normal again. I remember when I first came to Florida, and found out what Kim was doing, I'd sit by myself and just think things over. I'd just sit alone somewhere and be stunned at what was going on. It took a long time for me to be able to face the fact that Kim's life was a serious problem. But at that point, I was too late. Kim already had been kicked off the team and months after the car accident happened. When I heard about it, that's when I was convinced that Kim needed to get help. So right after her recovery in the hospital, I took her to rehab. I really didn't want to leave while Kim was in the middle of it, because she needed my support. But when I talked to Lacey, she promised me she'd be there for her. And months later, I got a call from Kim. It was the greatest news I'd ever heard. She had recovered and was feeling a lot better about herself; a lot better; that she decided it was about time she came back to Angel Grove. But noticing how she was acting now, she didn't seem all that better. She still blamed herself, she still couldn't admit that she could start over… she still felt for sorry for herself. And what scared me was that if she kept up being like the way she was she might end up doing drugs and alcohol all over again. So my biggest hope was once Lacey arrived it would make Kim feel better.
Suddenly Kim squealed, and I knew that Lacey had just came out. My heart started racing. I didn't know whether to walk towards her or turn around. But soon enough, my eyes met hers. The same light brown eyes, long black hair and her brightening smile. She looked exactly the same when I left her. And it made me feel even worse. She was the same beautiful girl that I fell in love with, and she was standing right in front of me.

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"Lace! Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're here!" Kim squealed, giving her a huge hug.

"Trust me, I feel exactly the same." Lacey muttered. "Anywhere is better than being in Miami."

"Well you'll definitely be safe here."

"Hey." Jason replied softly.

Lacey turned her head towards him and gave him a blank stare. She could see how uncomfortable Jason might have felt, in fact, she was a little uncomfortable about it too.

"Hey…" she muttered.

"So Lace…" Kim butted in, staring at her luggage. "Is this you're stuff?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, you sure don't travel light."

"That's 'cause I don't plan to go back to Miami any time soon. So I took everything."

"What?" Jason blurted out. "How long are you planning on staying here?"

"As long as it takes. There is no way in hell I'm going back there if Trent is."

"He got out?" Kim asked.

Lacey nodded.

"Who paid his bail?" Jason asked.

"His brother Dan…" Kim replied.

"Man, that dude is all about trouble. I knew he would get himself into shit one day and it finally happened. Alleluia!"

"Yeah well as long as I'm on this side of the country and he's on the other, I'll be fine." Lacey smiled.

"Well why don't we get out of here." Kim said giddily. "We'll talk on the way."

"On the way where?" Lacey asked.

"Jason's place." Kim smiled, looking over at Jason, who gave her a mean glare back.
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Driving in the car on their way to the apartment…

"So this is Angle Grove." Lacey Chastenburg replied, sitting in the passenger's seat in Jason's Explorer.

"Yeah it doesn't really add up to Florida expectations does it." Jason muttered, keeping his eyes on the road.

"No, but it is cute."

"Cute?" Kim replied, from the back of the car.

"The small city thing… you know."

"Gotcha." Kim nodded.

"So what do you guys have planned for me tonight?" Lacey asked.

"Huh?" Jason mumbled.

"Well obviously I'm gonna have to meet all your friends, why not tonight?"

"Well I guess we could all do something tonight." Kim replied. "You think all the guys will be available for tonight Jase?"

"I know Rocky, Billy and Aisha will be." Jason answered. "I talked to Rocky yesterday, they said that they were thinking about going to see a movie or something."

"You in for a movie?" Kim asked, looking over at Lacey.

Lacey scrunched up her face and shook her head.

"How about Glitters?" Jason replied.

"What's Glitters?" Lacey asked.

"It's a club." Kim answered.

"Clubbing! Now that's something I'm in the mood for."

"Me too." Kim smiled.

"Alright I'll go make the call." Jason replied, and reached for his cell in his jacket pocket.

"Who you calling?" Kim asked.

"You're favorite person." He muttered, as he dialed. Kim stayed silent in the back of the car, as she watched Jason waiting for someone to pick up on the other end. Lacey noticed the silent Kim sitting behind her and was full of curiosity.

"So who's this favorite person?" she turned to ask.

"You should know."

"Oh… what's his name…. Teddy?"

"Tommy!" Jason exclaimed. "Hey man, what's up?"

"My mistake." Lacey mumbled. "So have you told anyone yet?"

"Yeah… I told him." Kim responded, as Jason continued chatting away with Tommy while driving.

"Everything?"

"Yeah… every detail."

"So how did he take it?"

"The way I expected him to. He was completely furious."

"Tommy says hi you guys." Jason interrupted. Kim and Lacey nodded back.

"Furious huh? Did he say anything?"

"I'll tell you this, he was a complete jerk." Kim whispered, keeping her voice down so it wouldn't pick up on Jason's phone.

"Why?"

"Well according to him, noting the way I dumped him, and the way I never really kept in touch with anyone, he said that I deserved it."

"Excuse me?"

"My words exactly."

"Jason could I have the phone please." Lacey said immediately.

"What?" Jason replied, in confusion. He didn't have time to pass the phone to her. Lacey had already grabbed it out of his hands.

"Hi… this Tommy?" Lacey politely replied. "Hi, Lacey Chastenburg here, I'm a friend of Jason's and Kim's. Anyway, I just learned a little something you said to Kim, and I would just like to ask you a question." She started to talk bitterly. "Has anyone come up to you today and called asshole? … No? Okay well I AM! Saying that Kim deserved what she's been through can only come from someone who is truly retarded! You are fucking messed in the head. So why don't you shove your foot up your ass and think twice the next time you open that mouth of yours, okay?"

Kim and Jason were shocked to here Lacey's sudden outburst. It came out of no where, but it was kind of funny. Kim's stunned face slowly turned into a smile as she started to chuckle. Jason looked in the rear view mirror to see Kim's face red of laughter. He slowly took the phone out of Lacey's hands and put it up to his ear.

"Hey, Tommy?" He replied. "Sorry about that."
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Author's note:

Sorry for the late update guys… I just came back from a vacation, but I'm back on track!!
Well anyways, I hope you liked this chapter… it didn't really have Tommy/Kim action, but I
promise there will be more… AND PLEASE keep up with the reviewing!! There's no use to
go on if no one reviews. lol!!