MY NOTES: Gracias to all my reviewers! You are the greatest! Thanks especially to Sunny and Shannon! Happy Easter, a little late, y'all! This is my Easter Bunny thing... I think! Oh, well! The Easter Bunny left a plot bunny for my next story in my Easter basket.lol. I've been working really hard on a story about Gerry's kids. You know, the ones that I created in my last fic? I can't believe this! This thing was originally supposed to be a one-shot ficlet about Sunshine missing Cali, but it turned into a full grown plot bunny. Sorry, I'm over-using the bunny metaphor, huh? Special thanks to Shannon for letting me know that my "first kiss" thing wasn't stupid. I loves ya, chica! So, here I sit, eating a Cadbury caramel egg and being ready to get this over with. Not because I don't like it, but just because, I like the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a fic. This is probably my favorite fic by me... Even though I like Gerry better than Sunshine...
Chapter 11: Landslide
Rachel couldn't believe she was leaving. Time had flown, and she was going to move to New York on Saturday. It was Tuesday. She and Ronnie were in their last week of school together, and they were trying to enjoy it while they could. But Rachel couldn't enjoy it much, because she was leaving soon. It almost hurt everytime she kissed Ronnie, or he put his arm arm around her, because she didn't know when it would happen again. Or if it ever would.
That day, after school, Rachel found Julie. "Julie, can I talk to you real quick?"
"Sure," Julie replied. She followed Rachel to a shaded place. "What's up?"
"I...I just...I need to ask you to do me a favor, and I don't know how... I..."
"Rachel, you can ask me anything. I'll do what I can."
"I want you to... I want you to take care of Ronnie for me. I want him for the rest of this week, but when I leave, you take care of him." Rachel began to cry. She hated to cry. She hated everything about crying.
"Rachel, Ronnie's a big boy. He can take care of himself," Julie said with a smile.
"You know what I mean, though. I want you with him. I can't think of any one at this school I'd rather leave him with than you."
"But, we decided not to date. We have nothing in common."
"I think you have a whole lot more in common than you think you do," Rachel said softly. "I need to know that I'm leaving him with someone special. Someone like you."
"Oh, Rachel, you know that Sunshine's his own man. He ain't gonna just go out with me because you want him to."
"Well, maybe not for a while. But I think that Ronnie will find out that he cares about you. I know he does, Jules, and I'm not even Ronnie. But I can read him. He cares about both of us."
Julie shook her head. "I'll let him decide. But if he wants me, I'll take care of him."
Rachel found herself wondering how Ronnie had loved her for so long. So, maybe they were both a little different than everybody else, but...Rachel was always a little pessimistic. Julie was ever the optimist, and she was able to almost constantly do one thing that Rachel could rarely do. Make Ronnie Bass laugh. And inside of Rachel was a small part that she thought would never trust a man completely enough to marry him. And Ronnie deserved somebody that would one day be able to give him a family. Ronnie loved kids, and Rachel wasn't even sure she wanted kids. Ever. She wanted to be her own woman.
She wanted to go to UCLA and major in photojournalism. And Ronnie wanted to go somewhere on a football scholarship. Nothing they wanted was the same.
Julie was just the opposite. She wanted to have a big family and she said she wouldn't even mind being a stay-at-home mom. She was going to college, but she wanted to go to a two year technical college to become a nurse.
"Look," Rachel said, "I'm going to have to head home. Rev and Laura are probably waiting. And I have to talk to Ronnie about tomorrow night, but...Just think about it, Jules. Just think about it."
Julie nodded.
Rachel ran down the halls to find the only boy she'd ever loved.
Ronnie was standing with Petey, Rev, Julius, and Alan. "What's up, guys?" Rachel called as she approached them.
"Hey, babe!" Ronnie called, putting on his best smile.
"Hey," she replied, immediately giving him a hug.
"Where's mine, sweetness?" Petey asked, waggling his eyebrow.
"I can't tell ya," she replied.
"Why not?" Petey asked.
"'Cause it isn't a place that a lady should mention out loud. At least, not in public," she responded with a grin.
"Oh! Petey got told!" Julius exclaimed, a grin spreading across his face. He stuck out his hand for a low five. Rachel slapped him one, and Julius said, "Check this out, y'all. This girl got more soul power than most sisters."
Rachel grinned. "Thank you. I think."
"Oh, it's a major compliment, baby doll," Petey said with a obnoxious grin.
Petey said he had to go, so he ran down the hall. "You seen his new car?" Rev asked.
"No. He has a new car?" Rachel replied.
"Yep. And he likes it better than his girlfriend," Ronnie added, his beautiful smile making Rachel's heart ache.
They went down the hall to check out Petey's new car. It was really nice. Rachel liked it alot. It was a light green '63 Thunderbird convertable. "Man, Petey!" she exclaimed. "This is awesome!"
"So will you go out with me one time?" he asked with a playful grin.
Rachel playfully bonked his head with her American Government book. He looked hurt. "Now, sweetness, that's no way to treat your boyfriend's best friend."
"Oh, come on, Petey. You know I'll never go out with you. Especially after the things Julius and Big Blue told me about yo' momma."
Julius cracked up. Blue gave Rachel a grin, and Ronnie whispered, "Oh, boy...Here we go..."
Rachel, however, didn't elaborate on exactly WHAT Blue and Julius had told her. She just gave Petey her best, "I'll never tell you anything" smile, and turned around. "Hey, Rev, you ready?"
"Yeah, I guess so," he said, shooting a meaningful look Ronnie's way.
Rachel hadn't missed the look, but she had no idea what it meant.
"Oh, uh...Rache, you want to go to the park with me before you go home? I need some help on my geometry homework..."
She gave him a questioning look, but when she received no answer, she said, "Yeah, I guess so..."
"Good, let's go." He took her hand, and the two of them left Petey and the others to go to the Camaro.
After they had been in the park about an hour, Ronnie suddenly seemed to catch on to the geometry homework, and he said, "Well, baby, we better get you back before Rev has a conniption."
Rachel laughed. "Yeah. He can tend to overreact, huh?"
"Oh, yeah. I don't want him to get peed off at me."
"Me, either."
Ronnie leaned across the table to give her a soft kiss, then stood up and grabbed his books. He insisted on carrying her book bag, too, and she laughed at what they had come to refer to as "Southern gentleman crap."
They rode to Rev's laughing about first one thing and then another, both having pushed it to the back of their minds that they had only three and a half days left together. Ronnie got out of the car and then opened her door for her. She climbed out and took the arm he offered. The two of them walked inside together, and...All of the Titans and their girlfriends, and all of Rachel's other friends were standing in the living room under a big banner that said, "WE'LL MISS YOU, RACHEL!" It was signed by everybody.
It was all Rachel could do not to cry. She had the best friends in the entire world. Everyone was there, from Gerry in his wheelchair to Derrick and Big Blue. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her. She found herself travelling around the room, hugging everyone. She started at one end of the room, with Gerry, then Emma, then Julie...By the time she had hugged everyone, Gerry exclaimed, "Good grief! Me and Emma didn't do all that food shoppin' so we could sit around waitin'!"
Julius said, "Yeah! Not to be a rude guest or anything, but I'm hungry!"
"Fine!" Rachel said. "Let's eat!"
They went into the kitchen, where there were all kinds of sodas and foods. Rachel, as honoree was forced to go first, followed by Ronnie, then the rest could just fall into place.
Rachel found a spare minute and walked over to Gerry, who was, for once, by himself, too. Emma was talking to Julie, and Julius was with his girlfriend/Petey's older sister, Rhonda.
"Hey, Rachel!" Gerry said, with, what was reffered to as the "Classic Bertier Smile."
"Hey, Gerr. How's it goin'?"
"Fine, I guess. Just...OK... How 'bout with you?"
"Fine. I just...I can't believe it, Gerr. For the first time in my life, I feel like there's nobody who understands. Everything and everybody I love are just being snatched away...I don't understand it myself...I mean, I loved my mom, but...what if she's changed? Or what if she doesn't love me anymore? I mean, she's left me before. Why wouldn't she do it again?" she brushed a tear from her cheek.
Gerry put his big hand on her shoulder. She found herself wondering what had made her open up to the big former-linebacker. "Believe it or not, Rachel, it sounds alot like bein' paralyzed."
"Huh?"
"Well, alot of the things I loved, like playin' football, and doin' my normal activities, not to mention my Camaro," (he added the Camaro with a smile) "were snatched away from me after my accident. I wasn't even sure that all of the people I loved were gonna stick around. And I felt like nobody understood. Or cared. And I tried to shut people out. Including Ma. And she loves me more than anything. She wants to help. And some things I won't let her do for me. But some things I can't do. And it is the worst thing I've ever experienced having to let other people help me do things that I always did on my own. But don't shut Sunshine or your other friends out. Give 'em a chance. They may not understand, but they'll do what they can. That's all anybody CAN do."
She looked up from her seat beside Gerry and said, "Thanks, Gerr. Thanks alot."
"Anytime. You can give me a call anytime you need me, and I swear Emma won't mind," he grinned. "At least not too much. But how could she help being jealous with a handsome guy like me?"
Rachel laughed. It felt good to laugh. She gave Gerry a hug and a teary smile as "Surfer Girl" came on the radio, which Petey had made sure was on. The guy couldn't stand a party without music. He said it was like peanut butter without jelly. "I better go. I promised this dance to Ronnie."
"Sure," Gerry replied.
She walked over to Ronnie and closed her eyes as his arms went around her. She thought of their first dace, which had been to this song. Ronnie was a terrific dancer despite the other Titans' allegations that "for a white brother, he's totally without rhythm." Rachel wished that the moment would never end. She held onto Ronnie for as long as she could. The music had stopped, and she still kept holding on. She loved him so much.
They walked over to the sofa and sat down side by side. "Are you OK, Rache?" Ronnie asked with concern.
She looked across the room at Gerry, who gave her a reassuring smile, and said, "Yeah. I'm gonna be fine."
Saturday came all too quickly. Ronnie, Julie, Emma, and Gerry, as well as the Basses and Harrises gathered to tell her goodbye. She gave them all hugs and cried a whole lot. And then it was time. Ronnie drove her to the airport alone in his truck. They had shipped most of her stuff, but Ronnie joked that with all the things she would pack, they were going to have to take the truck anyway.
As they rode, Rachel turned to Ronnie. "I want you to be with Julie, Ronnie."
He shook his head at first, but as she begged, he finally agreed. He said that it would take some time, but if she really wanted him to, he would.
He stayed with her in the airport until her plane boarded. Then, he took her in his arms one last time and kissed her. She clung to him, feeling sorrow rush through her. As tears flooded her eyes, she said, "Goodbye, Ronnie. I'll love you 'til I die."
"And I'll love you longer," he replied. He didn't take his eyes off of her until she was on the plane. Then he watched the plane take her away.
A/N: OK! Done! Sorry! I didn't intend for it to be sad at first, but those darn "muses." They start yelling at you and they won't shut up until you do what they want you to. Oh, well. My next fic has to be happy! What is this? All my fics end up being 11 chappies. Well, I only have 2 fics, but, you know what I mean...
Later! And if you've read all this, I send you a computer hug. Whatever that is... D
