Torn
Vada walked into her room and sat down. She thought to herself about all sorts of things when she was alone. However this time she thought about nick and Thomas J. If Thomas J. were still alive I wonder what he would think about me kissing nick. Or even knowing him for that matter she thought as she looked up at her popcorn ceiling. She had always hated her popcorn ceiling. The popcorn made it extremely hard for her to stick glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. Her thoughts were mixed on the popcorn issue and the nick and Thomas J. issue. She usually didn't like to think about Thomas J. It was the one thing that made her feel sad. She felt that his death was her fault and couldn't let it go. She remembered when Nick had purposely fooled her into thinking that he dropped her mood ring into the tar. She had been so mad at him. But she really didn't know why. Why did I freak out?? she thought I mean. I know he was my best friend but losing a mood ring shouldn't have made me freak out. As she thought about this, she could here a distant replay of Thomas J's last words to her "...would you think of me..." his voice sounded faintly in her head "...well, if you don't get to marry your teacher..." She had answered yes but would she really have married Thomas J.? Especially with nick around now. Things were so confusing. She lost herself in thought until the doorbell snapped her back into reality. She flew down the stairs expecting it to be the workers bringing in another dead corpse. I hope it's not two days old again she thought as she reached for the doorknob. She opened the door. Without looking up to see who it was she plainly asked, "is it two days old again?"
"What are you talking about," said a confused but familiar voice.
Vada looked up to see not a worker, but nick standing in front of her.
"Nick?" she asked blushing, she had forgotten that he was coming to visit for 5 days. "I am so sorry, I thought you were...oh never mind, come in."
Nick stepped in as Shelly and Vada's father came up behind her.
"Hey, nick how's your mom and bill doing?" asked Vada's father, "I heard the wedding's coming up pretty soon."
"Yeah, everything's completely hectic, that's why they sent me here, but I don't mind since Vada's also here," Nick replied.
"Vada will show you where you'll be staying, just try not to wake the baby ok?" said Shelly putting a finger to her lips when she mentioned the baby.
"Okay Mrs. Sultenfuss," said Nick as Vada grabbed his bag and started up the stairs.
When they were in the quest room, neither of them knew what to say. Breaking the awkward silence Nick finally said, "you know, you didn't have to bring my bag up."
"It was the least I could do after you helped me so much last summer, and besides, how else am I going to pay you back for the nice earrings you sent me?" said Vada.
"Oh, you got them, do you like them?" Nick asked.
Vada curled her hair around one her to reveal the earring placed neatly in her ear, "yup," she replied.
"They look really good on you," said Nick, " oh but one is coming out." he got up and tightened the backing on her earring. Realizing what he was doing he quickly backed away.
But Vada had liked the feeling, "I don't think its tight enough," she said sitting on the couch and trying purposely to not get her earring. Nick walked over and tightened it more. They looked at each other. Nick took out something from his pocket.
"It's wishing dust," he said as he sprinkled on top of them both. As the sparkles fell, Nick brushed his fingers against Vada's cheek and they leaned closer to each other. Their lips met in a soft kiss. I wonder what it would be like if thomas j were here right now thought Vada, remembering her earlier thoughts. All of a sudden a familiar voice cleared his throat. Automatically thinking it was her dad or Shelly, she said, "it not what you…" but she didn't finish because it wasn't her dad or Shelly clearing their throats, it was THOMAS J.!!!!!!!!!! "Thomas J?" Vada cried in disbelief, "but…how can you…you were dead I saw you!" she sputtered.
"you wished me here," said Thomas J. "the wishing dust remember? And who is this your kissing?" he looked at Nick with a rather jealous and angry face.
"oh right, umm Thomas J, this is Nick and Nick, remember when I told you about my friend?"
"y..e..a..h??" said Nick, freaked out.
"well this is him," said Vada.
"are you kidding?" said Nick.
"She's not kidding, trust me," said Thomas J. "oww!" he cried suddenly, putting his hand to his face.
Vada gasped as he took his hand away, the scars from the bee stings were still there. "oh Thomas J. the bee stings. It's my fault you died, if I hadn't lost my mood ring this never would have happened."
"no its not Vada, I did it for you, you're my best friend and you always will be," said Thomas J.
"hey I just thought of something, if Thomas J is supposed to be dead, what are we going to tell Shelly and Vada's dad," said Nick.
"we won't have to worry, except for you two, no one else can see me or hear me," said Thomas J "though I wish I didn't have to see or hear you Nick, I saw what you and Vada did last summer."
"why are you getting so emotional?" asked Vada.
"uhh, no reason," Thomas J. said quickly. Nick saw right through him, he knew he would talk with Thomas J later.
"well, whatever, I've got to go now, the funeral's about to start and I have to make sure everything goes okay." Vada said as she hopped off of the guest bed and walked out of the room.
Nick and Thomas J were left alone. Again an awkward silence filled the room. Nick broke it again by saying, "you like her don't you."
"what are you talking about?" said Thomas J, confused.
"Vada," Nick said, "you like her don't you."
"of course I do, she's my best friend," said Thomas J, pretending to be dumb.
"no, no, no!" said Nick, "I mean you like her!"
"why would you even think that," said Thomas J nervously.
"oh please you were so jealous when you saw us together," said Nick knowingly, "trust me, I know a lot about jealousy." he said, remembering when Bill had gotten jealous when that cardiologist made a move on his mom.
"I…uh…don't know what y-your t-talking about," said Thomas J nervously. Nick cocked a brow and Thomas J knew his gig was up, "ok, ok. I like her. But I hate it. She is --or was anyway-- my best friend and I'm not supposed to feel that way about her."
"you can't help it when you've been bitten by the love bug," said Nick.
"yeah I guess, but it doesn't matter. I can't do anything about it now. I'm dead," he said wiping something from his eye, "I mean, I always wanted to tell Vada I liked her, but before I had the chance, I died."
"how long are you going to be here?" asked Nick.
"wish conjures only last for 5 days why?" asked Thomas J in reply.
"I'm going to help you tell her that you liked her before you go back to heaven," said Nick.
"really?" said Thomas J. excitedly, "you're willing to sacrifice your vacation for me." Nick nodded, "Now I know why Vada likes you so much Nick, you're really nice."
"well, it's a once in a life…I mean dead time thing," said Nick jokingly, "come on, let's go down stairs, I've always wanted to see a funeral."
They walked out of the room and downstairs.
After the funeral, Judy had come over and asked Vada to go with her to her house for a second. When Vada left, Nick and Thomas J started thinking of a good way for Thomas J. to tell Vada that he liked her. Their first plan was to go to their favourite place, the old tree. They figured it would be a great spot for Thomas J to get a romance vibe out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE NEXT DAY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas J and Vada sat by the tree. They remembered all the fun times they had at this spot. Nick, who was watching from a distance, saw them telling each other "remember that time…" things. He saw them look in each other eyes. He began to feel weird. A sort of angry feeling, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He began to get closer to them. When they were in his earshot, he stopped and ducked behind a bench. He listened carefully, the conversation was still mainly about remembering old times. Suddenly, there was silence. Slowly, Nick looked up from his hiding place. He saw Thomas J and Vada leaning into each other. The wave of the unknown feeling washed over him again. He quickly got up and cut right in between them. "uh…we better go it's getting late," he said quickly, pulling Vada up and pushing her away. He grabbed Thomas J too and pulled him. Why did I do that? Nick thought and he pushed Vada and pulled Thomas J. why did I freak out? he didn't know why he had done it, all he knew was that day 1 was over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Day two~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The plan for today was that they would go to the place where Thomas J died. It would be a good sentimental place for Thomas J to reveal his feelings. It started off the same as yesterday, Thomas J and Vada talking about way back when and Nick watching from not too far behind. Thomas J was asking Vada if she remembered when they were little and thought about going to live with the brady bunch. But Vada wasn't really listening. She was thinking about the yesterday. Why did Nick do that? she thought Wait a minute, what was I about to do! I almost kissed Thomas J! What was I thinking! I almost wanted to!!! It's a good thing Nick was there to stop me.
"...Vada?" Thomas J said, "earth to Vada."
"Huh? what?" said Vada, snapping back to reality.
"I asked you if you remembered when we were going to live with the Brady Bunch?" said Thomas J.
"oh sorry, yeah I do," replied Vada.
"Remember when we...uh...you know...kissed," Thomas J said blushing.
"Yeah," said Vada, "we wanted to see what the big deal was."
He stared at her and she stared back. Both of them didn't know what to do. Thomas J leaned closer to her. She found herself leaning closer to him. Their eyes closed and they both braced for impact. But before they could kiss, Nick stepped in between them.
"Uh," he stammered, trying to think of something to say, "l-look at that...that...that...that bird over there," he pointed, looking relieved.
They both turned and saw the bird. It was a plain and ordinary bird with brown speckled wings and a light grey head. They looked at him with cocked brows. He blushed and they got up to go home. Why did Nick do that? Vada thought as the three of them walked home Why does he keep doing that? She didn't know why he had done it. All she knew was that Day 2 was over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Day Three~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By now Thomas J was getting frustrated. Three days had gone by and he still hadn't told Vada how he felt. So much for Nick helping me thought Thomas J Everytime I try to tell Vada I like her, Nick gets in the way. Why is he so determined to ruin my chances?? Thomas J thought as he walked with Vada to their third destination, Thomas J's house. They climbed onto the abandoned balcony. His parents had long since moved out. After their son died, they felt that the house had too many memories. Vada and Thomas J sat on the rail. Nick waited behind the house. This time it was Vada's turn to remember something. She started to tell Thomas J about a time when they had been there. Like Vada yesterday, Thomas J wasn't listening. He kept thinking about why Nick was getting so emotional everytime he tried to tell Vada how he felt. He decided that today was the day. He wasn't going to give Nick the chance to get in the way. He grabbed Vada by the shoulders and pulled her close to him. He got ready for the kiss he had been waiting for when Nick shouted. "Vada it's your dad!"
Vada pulled away from Thomas J and looked out into the street. Sure enough, her dad was walking towards Thomas J's tombstone which his parents requested be located by their house. Thomas J, Vada, and Nick scrambled to get out of there before they were discovered. They ran back to the house Why did Nick interfere again?? Thought Thomas J as they ran Why does he keep interfering? He didn't know why Nick had done it. All he knew was that Day three was over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Day Four~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the last straw thought Thomas J. I leave tomorrow. There is no way Nick will stop me today.
That's it thought Nick if he tries to kiss Vada again today, I'm going to bust!
Why are Nick and Thomas J looking at each other like that? thought Vada I thought they would be best friends by now.
They all thought to themselves as they walked to the pond. Silence filled the air the whole way. When they were finally at the pond Thomas J did something drastic. He grabbed Vada again and pulled her close again. Nick tried to interfere but before he could do anything, Thomas J grabbed him and pushed right into the water. Vada gasped and ran over to the edge of the pond. She held out her hand to help Nick. When Thomas J saw what he had done, he rushed over to help too. When they had gotten Nick out of the water Vada stared at them both. Then she ran home. She knew why they had done it, Thomas J knew why they had done it, and Nick knew why they had done it. They knew that Day Four was over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Day Five~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Neither Nick, nor Thomas J, nor Vada had spoken to each other all day. They pretty much kept to themselves. Until Vada confronted both of them.
"Ok, what's going on?" she asked, staring at the both of them.
They looked at each other and knew it was confession time.
"Well Vada, I've been meaning to tell you this, I love you, I've always loved you," said Thomas J.
"I love you too," said Nick, "I was jealous and worried that you liked him better than me."
"Wow," said Vada, "I love you both, but I know I could never choose between you two."
"I know you can't Vada, so, you and Nick should be together," said Thomas J.
"what?" said Nick and Vada in unison.
"I see now why Vada likes you Nick. You like her very much," said Thomas J, "and besides, I'm dead, so it's not fair if Vada doesn't get either of us. Vada deserves better than me anyway. The only person I can think of whose better for her is you."
Thomas J took both of their hands and placed them together. Vada and Nick looked at each other.
"I just hope I'm worth more than ten dollars this time," said Vada jokingly.
Nick laughed and leaned closer to her. She leaned in closer to him. They kissed. Thomas J smiled, glad to see his best friend so happy. They pulled away from each other and saw Thomas J begin to fade.
"Thomas J you're fading!" said Vada.
"I'm going back to heaven," said Thomas J.
Nick put his arm around Vada's shoulders and they both watched as Thomas J faded until he was gone.
"Goodbye Thomas J," Vada whispered. Then from out of nowhere, Thomas J's glasses appeared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLANG BLANG BLANG BLANG!
The alarm woke Vada up with a start. Had it all been a dream? she wondered. She looked at her bedside table. Sitting on it, were Thomas J's glasses. She looked up at her popcorn ceiling and smiled. For a split second, she saw Thomas J's face. He winked and disappeared. Leaving a smiling Vada and a sleeping Nick behind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE END~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~