Snow & Steam
Thursday in Clover, North Carolina
"Yeah, Mom. No. No. Yeah. OK. You're kidding! No way! Ugh. Fine. Good. That sucks. OK. No. Yeah. Love you, too. Bye."
Jason flipped his cell phone shut, glancing up at his friends. It was nighttime and they were all seated in the gazebo, looking up at the stars and sipping their iced teas.
"Mom says it's going to be snowing back home soon."
Brenda's eyes bugged out. "You're kidding!"
"I wish."
"Oh, that's terrible," Elizabeth wailed. "It's freaking April!"
"I know," Sonny agreed, setting his glass down. "Damn New York cold fronts. I blame the Canadians."
Jason smirked. "What don't you blame the Canadians for?"
Sonny slid him a sidelong glance. "Shut up."
Brenda chuckled, settling back against the wooden railing of the lit-up gazebo. They were the only ones sitting there, due to some sort of implied code that stated that if a group of people were occupying the popular spot, no other group should encroach. The Atlantic ocean glittered, dark and distant despite the fact that they were sitting right on it, and the stars twinkled merrily above. "I can't believe this is our last night here."
Elizabeth closed her eyes. "I know. I loved this. I don't know how I'm going to leave." She opened her eyes, letting them wander from one person to the next. "This was the best vacation ever."
Jason smiled slowly. "Definitely."
Sonny nodded. "I'm so glad we followed you girls up here."
Elizabeth licked her lips. "Don't you mean that you're so glad you took Brenda's orders and delivered Jason down here for me?"
Sonny bit his lip to force back laughter at her candidness, his eyes flickering over to Jason, who was already laughing openly. "Sure. If that's how you want to look at it."
"It's the truth," his best friend chuckled, his blue eyes twinkling. "Everyone knows it."
Brenda pretended to pout. "You mean we didn't do a very good job being all secretive?"
Elizabeth watched her, bemused. "Barrett, you two were more obvious than an elephant at a ballet studio."
"You make no sense sometimes, Beth."
"Stuff it or I'll tell the clown story, Corinthos. You know I will."
"Yes, ma'am."
The four friends sat in a contented silence, their minds wandering back over the past week in the charming little town of Clover. Sonny and Jason were introduced to some of the nicest people they had ever met, people that they were sure were a dying breed. They had spent hours on the beach with the girls, sleeping in the sun, and had even tried surfing on the choppy waters of the Atlantic. Though it was a far cry from the smooth waves of the Pacific, they still enjoyed themselves. They loved exploring the town with the girls, who acted as their official tour guides. They'd walked through the town in the dead of night, the wee hours of the morning, whispering and laughing to themselves. They made the gazebo their own, even took a gander at the infamous thicket that had failed to protect their two friends from a bunch of over-zealous cops. They'd taken the girls out on a paddle-boat, had visited Dot in her little jewelry shop, had thrown a football around with Marleen's two grandsons, Emmitt and Brant.
For one week, they had forgotten all about the petty little concerns of their lives in sleepy little Port Charles. No more worries about college or finishing senior year or being busted for one thing or another by the suddenly paranoid and extremely picky parental units. No more chores to be done, no more fights with annoying siblings, no more back-breaking studying.
For this week, they were free from it all, and it felt like paradise.
Clover had sucked away all their worries, all the tension, everything that was worrying them. It made their problems seem so small - so conquerable, so insignificant - and filled them with invigorating strength and confidence.
In short, it had been a wonderful vacation.
"We have to come back here," Brenda said softly, her eyes tracing a constellation in the pitch-black sky. "All four of us."
"Maybe before college?" Jason suggested. "That would be nice."
"Before college," Elizabeth agreed. She set her glass of almost finished iced tea on the railing and scooted closer to Jason, taking advantage of the fact that his arms were stretched over the wooden railing and leaning into his side. His fingers instantly fell on her shoulder, rubbing absent circles there.
Brenda's toes tapped a soundless beat on the floor. "So, are you boys driving back up with us?"
Jason looked at Sonny. "Are we?"
Sonny shrugged. "You want to? We don't have to use the round-trip tickets."
Jason glanced down at Elizabeth before setting his chin on her soft chestnut hair. "Let's do that. Besides, the girls are driving back - they'll leave a day before us anyway, if we decided to fly. What are we going to do here by ourselves?"
Elizabeth shifted, looking up at him. "But I thought you guys liked it here."
"We do," Jason assured her, gently massaging her shoulder. "But it's mainly because of you two."
"Aww," Brenda teased. "Jase, you are just so damn sweet."
"Can it, Barrett, or I'll toss you into the water."
"You do and you die, Morgan."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah - I'll kick your ass."
"I'd like to see you try."
"Boys, boys," Brenda broke in, her eyes sparkling as she waved her hands at them. "Please, no need to fight over me."
"You wish, midget."
"Jason?"
"What?"
"I may be a midget, but you're an ass-clown."
"Hey! Don't call him that!"
"I'll call him whatever I want!"
"Fat chance!"
Jason and Sonny grinned as the girls lazily pretended to fight, punctuating their retorts with mid-air fist shaking. "Looks like the teams have changed slightly, Sonny," Jason grinned. "Who would've thought that a couple of microscopic brunettes would break us up?'
"First, I did," Brenda replied witheringly. "And second, stop talking like that about yourselves. We broke you up? Geez - I'm getting weird vibes."
Elizabeth laughed when Sonny and Jason both glared at Brenda for daring to suggest something like that. Cornered now, Brenda had little choice but to surrender.
"Fine, fine, I'll shut up."
"Good," the boys huffed in unison.
"Sometimes, Brenda," Sonny began with his most-used phrase when it came to his female friends.
"You make absolutely no sense," Jason finished with a scowl.
"Aw, look, Bren," Elizabeth crowed, "they're finishing each other's sentences!"
"Oh, aren't you boys just something else!" Brenda teased, clapping her hands together. "I don't know, Beth, something tells me that you and I will always be close seconds when it comes to these two."
"OK, now, you know you need to stop," Sonny burst out, almost unable to look Jason in the eye after the girls' teasing.
"Yeah, that's enough," Jason agreed firmly.
"Oh, gosh, Bren, we're hurting their feelings."
"You're right, Beth - we're sorry, boys. Do you need a minute? A tissue, perhaps?"
"What are you saying?" Sonny demanded. "That we're too feminine?"
"I don't recall saying that," Elizabeth replied calmly, fighting back a ghost of a smile. "Do you, Bren?"
"Not me," the brunette insisted. "I just realize how sensitive these two are. We have to be extra careful not to hurt their feelings."
"True," Elizabeth pretended to sigh, looking straight at Brenda and ignoring the way Jason glowered at her. "We're just ganging up on 'em, Bren, and we can't do that."
"Not to this dynamic duo," Brenda agreed. "And what a duo, huh? They're better together than peanut butter and jelly."
"Who's the peanut butter?" Elizabeth wanted to know as Sonny and Jason's eyebrows descended further and further down their faces.
"Sonny - he's the thicker one," Brenda replied, tapping her skull with a polished finger.
The two girls sat still for a moment, just staring at each other, willing each other not to start laughing and ruin the effect it was having on their respective boys. Sonny was so angry at their insinuations that he was about to start spewing fire.
Suddenly, Brenda just burst out laughing, slapping her knee while trying to suppress it.
"What?" Elizabeth asked, amusement making it hard for her not to smile. "What?"
"Remember SNL?" Brenda replied, referring to a late-night Saturday comedy show. "The Ambiguously Gay Duo?"
Sonny and Jason's eyes widened when Brenda finally said the word, and their fists clenched as Elizabeth howled with laughter.
"Face it, Beth," Brenda winked at her best friend, who was now wiping tears from her eyes. "We'll always be second best when it comes to these boys."
The boys had had enough with their not-so-subtle insinuations, and looked at each other for a quick moment, both of them nodding as they wordlessly agreed on what to do.
"You know what?" Sonny's growl was lost against Brenda's lips as he pulled her face to his, kissing her roughly. Brenda laughed against his mouth and pushed him lightly, but her teasing had already had its desired affect - Sonny was ticked and wouldn't back off so easily. She let him wrap his arms around her waist and pull her to him until there wasn't an inch between them on the bench. His tongue was already exploring her mouth and she chuckled to herself as she looped her hands around his neck, not noticing that Jason was exercising the same tactic on Elizabeth.
He had effectively pulled her into his lap, as he somehow always managed to, and the two were in a close embrace. Her fingers were already spearing through his dark golden hair and his were splayed out against her lower back, right over the waistband of her cotton capris.
The foursome spent several more hours there, under the glow of the gentle white lights of the gazebo, the solitary illuminated dome against the dark backdrop of the Atlantic and the tranquil nighttime sky above.
After reluctantly drifting back to the hotel and snatching a few hours of sleep after successfully beating back their anxiety-induced insomnia, they awoke with the sun to bid farewell to their safe haven.
Sonny and Jason scurried back and forth from the girls' room to Mr. Barrett's blue Lexus, doing their best to cram all of their bags and supplies into the trunk. They didn't have much trouble - thankfully, the Toyota company equipped their best luxury vehicle with a trunk big enough for Ted Kennedy to stow away in if he so chose to.
Brenda came out then and helped them rearrange the cargo in the trunk for some more space, and then directed the boys to the junk she and Elizabeth had buried the backseat under, the same junk the boys would have to cram in the trunk if they wanted a spot to sit.
Finally, everything was put away and the trunk was closed. Sonny and Brenda went to go pay the bill at the front desk and Jason ducked into the girls' room to help Elizabeth grab the last of their trinkets.
She was coming out of the bathroom then, an extra pair of flip-flops dangling from her fingers. Her arms were filled with various articles - a small notebook, a pair of socks, several bracelets, a head band, and a stack of CDs.
"Can you do me a favor and check the dresser drawers for anything I left?" she asked, dumping the junk on the bed in order to rearrange it in her arms so that she wouldn't be dropping something every two feet.
"Sure," he nodded. He pulled open all the drawers, finding only a red clamp thing that he knew girls put in their hair. Why, he didn't know - it looked like one of those steel bear traps. He tossed it into his other hand and noticed her hemp necklace - the lucky one - still lying on the dresser.
"You almost left this behind," he smiled, dangling it from his fingers. She looked up and smiled at him.
"Good thing you picked it up, then." She started backing towards the door. "Let's go - we're sure we have everything?"
"Yes, ma'am," he nodded, shoving the red bear trap in his pocket. He looked at the necklace for a moment before putting it on himself and walking out of the room with her. He softly shut the door behind them and helped her dump the rest of the assorted crap in the trunk.
Sonny and Brenda appeared almost instantly from around the corner, both of them laughing while Brenda pretended to shove him.
"Are we ready to go?" Elizabeth smiled, picking the juice boxes and empty soda cans from the car and tossing them to Jason, who shot baskets into the nearby garbage can.
"Yup," Brenda nodded. "Throw me my visor, will you?"
Elizabeth gave her best friend the white visor and her dark glasses, and Brenda put them on.
"OK. Now we can go."
She unclipped her keys from the belt loop of her denim miniskirt and made sure all four doors were unlocked before sliding into the drivers' seat to warm up the car.
"I would like to take this opportunity to officially call shotgun," Elizabeth announced primly, sliding her own blue sunglasses into place. She cleared her throat daintily. "SHOTGUN!"
Sonny and Jason both jumped at her yell, convinced that both of their girls were crazy. They pulled open the back doors and slid into the back seat, yelping when the hot leather burned the backs of their legs.
"Damn it!" Jason swore, lifting his bottom from the scorching leather.
"And of course, we have to be wearing shorts," Sonny muttered, doing the same.
"Sorry about that," Brenda shrugged before turning back to the wheel and shifting gears.
"Yeah, this car's like an oven sometimes," Elizabeth chipped in, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.
Sonny grumbled under his breath. "And we notice that you girls have sheepskin covers over your own seats," he pointed out.
"But of course," Brenda snipped, smirking.
"Isn't it wool?" Jason wanted to know.
Sonny shook his head. "In this case, it's called sheepskin, even though the covers are clearly wool. Don't ask me why."
"Huh."
"You boys comfortable back there?" Brenda asked, fixing her rearview as she slowly reversed.
"Yup," came the reply as she began pulling out of the parking lot. She drove through Clover one last time with all four windows and the moonroof down, and the foursome shouted out to their friends in town that they'd be back in a few months.
Presently, they pulled onto the highway and Elizabeth turned on the radio to the oldies' station and turned the volume way up. Sonny and Jason were amazed to learn that the girls had driven down to North Carolina all the way from New York without stopping for the night. Brenda informed them that if they wanted to be home by midday Saturday, they'd be doing the same.
The drive went by pleasantly and the teenagers took turns at the wheel. Elizabeth napped on Jason's shoulder in the back while Sonny and Brenda played Punch Buggy as Sonny drove. When it was Jason's turn to drive, he warned them that he was prone to falling asleep, so the girls made sure that his plastic soda glass was filled to the brim and blasted the radio as loud as it would go.
They made good time, arriving back in Port Charles at a little after one in the afternoon just as Brenda had predicted. Brenda dropped the boys off at their houses, and Elizabeth at hers before finally arriving at her own.
Her parents were sipping tea in the den and Brenda didn't even bother bringing her bags in from the car. She flopped into the house - dressed now in warmer sweatpants better suited for the bitterly cold New York day - and sank into one of the armchairs. Her parents wanted to know how her vacation went, and Brenda filled them in on the important details. She let the cat out of the bag and said that Sonny and Jason showed up coincidentally as well, all the while stressing the fact that the boys were only friends from school that taught them how to paddle a canoe and improve their serves in volleyball. Her parents believed the lie and deemed Sonny and Jason innocuous, and Brenda breathed a sigh of relief at having escaped a scolding.
Despite the fact that their daughter was almost visibly falling asleep right before them, Brenda's parents insisted that she eat some sort of meal before going to bed. She scarfed down the turkey sandwich and salad her mother prepared as quickly as she could, not wanting to fall asleep at the dining table, and then trudged up to her room.
Without even bothering to change into her pajamas, Brenda flopped down on her bed before realizing she was cold. After a heavy sigh of irritation, she managed to move her body enough to burrow under the flowery pink comforter, and was asleep in no time.
Sonny and Jason had similar experiences; as soon as they entered their homes and flung their duffel bags onto the floor of the foyer, their parents bombarded their exhausted children with eager questions. Did they have fun? Did they learn something new? How was the weather? Did they bring back any souvenirs? Snap any pictures? Was the food good? How was the drive?
Jason's parents extracted every detail about a certain petite brunette daughter of two of their former colleagues from their embarrassed son, all the while cooing about how wonderful it was to see Jason so serious about one girl, and inwardly hoping that this wouldn't just be another in their son's long string of meaningless flings. Jason excused himself from the Spanish Inquisition by ordering AJ to take his bags up to his room, grabbing a slice of cold pizza from the fridge, and almost falling asleep on the floor of his bedroom.
Sonny walked in to warm hugs from both his parents, who had prepared some hot cocoa and peanut-butter-graham-crackers to help their son beat the New York arctic freeze as he regaled them with charming anecdotes from his trip. Their dream didn't play out as planned, though - when they came back with the snack and beverage, their youngest son was fast asleep on the couch.
Elizabeth, however, did not receive such a warm welcome. She let herself in to a chilly house - her father had a terrible habit of pushing the thermostat way down every time they left the house - and staggered in under a heavy load of luggage, which she conveniently left outside the coat closet for her father to take up to her room at a later time (served him right). Her grandparents were away at their weekly salsa lessons at the Port Charles Ballroom, and Sarah had left for college already. Her sister did, however, leave her a nice little gift on the coffee table - On the Road by Jack Kerouac, a book Elizabeth had been meaning to purchase for more than a year.
She mulled over whether or not to warm up some food, but decided not to in the end - sleep seemed like the much better option. So when her parents came home from Mercy Hospital in the evening, they found their precious baby daughter lying across her bed with her shoes still on. Already incredibly guilty about missing her homecoming, they could do little but remove her sneakers, take off the hemp necklace that had to be itching like crazy, tuck her under the covers, smooth back her hair and press a kiss to her cheek.
The kids spent a good deal of time sleeping in their rooms, as if knocked out by industrial-size horse tranquilizers. Their parents and siblings tried to make as little noise as possible until nighttime came and they were able to retire themselves.
When the morning arrived, the still weary travelers awoke at the same time as their parents. All four kids shared breakfast with their families, going over every small detail of their time away for the enjoyment of their parents. The siblings - only AJ - couldn't really have cared less, and spent their time making animals out of the scrambled eggs.
It was around lunchtime that the kids hit full sloth-mode. It was as if they had all spontaneously yet simultaneously realized that school commenced the very next day, and were hell bent on cramming in as much inactivity as possible. So they lounged around at the dining table or in the kitchen. Or they slumped on the couch and stared at the television without being even mildly interested in anything playing. Or, they sat on the floor of their rooms and studied the walls - the bed was not an option anymore, as all four of them had slept so much that they feared bedsores if they so much as looked at their unmade beds.
It was sometime after lunch that the phone rang at the Webber residence. It was none other than Brenda, asking if Elizabeth could come over for some last-minute before-school goofing off, and if she could stay for dinner. Both of the Drs. Webber had to report to the hospital that evening, and they saw little problem in letting their daughter spend time at the Barret house.
So Elizabeth arrived at her leisure and the girls ended up baking cookies and watching old Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movies. Mr. and Mrs. Barrett announced that they were going to a 'little function' at Mr. Barrett's business partner's home, and Brenda informed Elizabeth that it meant that they wouldn't be home until the wee hours of the morning.
So the girls did what they did best - they ordered pizza and sat in Brenda's cozy den with their Dean Martin CDs playing at full blast. They talked relentlessly about everything and everything - boys, school, friends, not-friends, teachers, Clover, Dot, their futures, their pasts, and everything in between.
It was at nine o'clock, after they had cleared away the dishes and disposed of the pizza box and soda cans that they decided to call Sonny and Jason and see if they could also come over.
Both boys replied that they could, and Brenda instructed them both to put on their swim trunks underneath their clothes.
Presently, the doorbell rang and Brenda ran to open it. When she did, she stood agape at the scene in front of her - it was snowing! Fine flakes were being sprinkled down from the heavens and the ground was already covered under a light layer of the glistening powder.
Jason and Sonny hurried in, brushing wet snow from their down jackets. Brenda took their coats and waited as Jason removed his gloves, noting how he rolled his eyes at her after indicating outside through the window with an I-told-you-so expression.
The boys were only too happy to see Elizabeth sitting in the den, but soon insisted that they turn off the Dean Martin love songs that were currently being blasted to every single room in the house via the intercom system Mr. Barrett had installed a few years back. It was still his newest toy, and it caused him infinite joy to be able to sit in the den and carry on a conversation with his wife as she hurried around upstairs, trying to find the pumps that matched her merlot jacket and pull the curlers from her hair while re-typing her presentation notes for the meeting. Besides that, he loved to buzz in to the family room and speak in booming tones to his daughter and all her little friends, most of whom were so stunned by the way his voice rattled through the room as if he were some omniscent and omnipotent God that they could only mumble back in return, afraid of saying the wrong thing and offending the divine being.
Instead, the boys chose to play Brenda's Simon and Garfunkel CDs, making air-guitar motions to the frenetic notes of Cecilia. But that was before they found her Doors CD, and spent nearly half an hour yelling, "Come on, baby, light my fire!"
Brenda was watching them with one eye glued out the window, where the snow was coming down thickly. Sonny's voice grabbed her attention but she never turned away from the window.
"So, what's the big mystery, Barrett?" he asked, stretching out on the carpeted floor. "Why did we receive strict orders to wear our trunks?"
"Yeah," Jason agreed absently, thumbing through the magazines that her father kept in the den at all times.
"Actually," Brenda smiled cheekily. "I was thinking we could all get in the hot tub."
Jason's eyes widened at the mention of the hot tub, and instantly landed on Elizabeth who was still calmly sipping her soda and didn't seem as affected by Brenda's Most Brilliant Suggestion in the History of the Universe Ever. "Sounds good to me," he agreed readily. "Let's do it."
"You're drooling, Jase," Sonny muttered to him before turning to Brenda. "Are we allowed to?"
Brenda nodded. "I've had friends in there tons of times before and my parents never cared." She left it at that, hoping that Sonny wouldn't need her to clarify that yes, she had boys in the hot tub with her and a couple other girls.
But he didn't, choosing instead to just nod his head. "Sounds good. Is it inside or something? In the basement? Because I've never actually seen it."
"No, it's not in the basement," Elizabeth replied slowly, finishing her soda with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "But you'll see it soon enough. Why don't you boys just change here - and remember to take off your watches - and Brenda and I will change upstairs, grab some towels, and meet you down in five minutes?"
Jason nodded, the thought of sitting in a hot tub with Elizabeth allowing him to do little else.
The girls disappeared and were down in under ten minutes dressed in their bikinis and holding four fluffy towels.
"Here," Brenda said, shoving one at Sonny as Elizabeth handed one to Jason. She wrapped her own around her shoulders and discarded the slippers she wore around the house. Next to her, Elizabeth was doing the same, draping the fluffy red terry cloth over her shoulders and hugging it tight in the center as Sonny and Jason just stood by, confused.
"Um, where are we going?" Sonny asked, hesitantly mimicking Elizabeth's movements.
"Outside," Brenda announced, already opening the screen door that led to a screened patio which opened into the back yard.
"What?" Sonny asked. "Out there?"
"It's snowing!" Jason added, holding his yellow towel over his shoulders.
"Gee, thanks for that, Einstein," Elizabeth responded playfully as she shoved both boys to the door. "Just follow Brenda."
Brenda took a deep breath before opening the patio door. The second she did, she leapt out into the inch of snow that had accumulated, biting off the shrieks that threatened to escape as her toes wiggled in the freezing fluff. Sonny and Jason were pushed out next, and followed quick on her heels as she raced to the waiting hot tub. Elizabeth checked the lock and sprinted after them, careful not to make too much noise with her yelps as she bounded down the steps that led to the tub.
Brenda discarded her towel on one of the wicker chairs before jumping in, and Sonny and Jason followed suit. Elizabeth came last, tossing her towel on the farthest chair and carefully getting in. The water was boiling, and also too high for her to sit comfortably in. Jason couldn't help but snicker as the petite brunette drew her legs up and sat on them, the water now an inch below her chin.
"Wow," Sonny breathed, staring out at Brenda's enormous backyard now blanketed with glittering snow and noting how his breath froze in the air even though the rest of him was submerged in warm water. "This is really nice."
Brenda smiled in satisfaction. "Yeah. It was either this or a pool, and I chose this."
Sonny grinned. "Good choice."
"I think so, but sometimes I look at it in the summer and think, 'What was I thinking?'"
Next to her, her tentative boyfriend shrugged. "Well, you can always come over and hang out at my house - we have a pool."
"Oh, yeah," Brenda mused, tapping her chin as her face broke into a dazzling smile. "Well, that settles it - I know where I'll be living this summer."
Jason opened his mouth, ready to unleash one zinger or another, but then closed it. "Too easy," he confided in Elizabeth when she nudged him questioningly with her elbow.
"Remember that time Moose jumped into the pool and Lexi had a heart attack?" Elizabeth laughed, remembering Sonny's summer pool party from last year. Jason must have been there, but she hadn't noticed him at the time, and Elizabeth decided that she must have been temporarily blind during junior year.
As if in answer to her question, Jason began to chuckle. "That was the best," he chortled. "And your mom came out because Lex was screaming, and tried to get the dog back in the house but he wouldn't listen to anyone-"
"And we all started yelling, 'No, Moose! Go, Moose!' and swinging our arms around like maniacs," Sonny joined in, leaning his arms against the outside of the tub. "Poor dog was so confused."
"He's a great dog," Elizabeth reflected, her lips curving into a slow smile at the mention of Sonny's spirited pooch.
"What breed is he?" Brenda wanted to know as she pulled her hair up into a bun.
"He's a curly-haired Black Lab," Sonny replied, kicking up the water by swinging his legs. "He's freaking huge."
"No kidding," Elizabeth agreed, and Jason watched in fascination as she regally swept up her wavy chestnut locks into a loose bun and fastened it in place with the same red bear trap he'd found in the dresser.
Sonny snickered. "He loves to tackle Beth," he explained to Brenda. "Every time she comes over - Pow!" He made a smacking motion with his palm. "And then he goes crazy and starts licking her, and only Ric and my dad are strong enough to pull him off."
Jason's mind mused over the injustice of a dog being so free of societal proprieties as to lick its visitors - one in particular - and he was jolted out of his reverie only when Elizabeth slid a short distance across the bench and leaned into the crook of his shoulder, still shaking with laughter at the memories.
"Remember when it was Ric's wedding anniversary?" she asked Sonny, her eyes glowing. "And he was home from Texas?" She turned to Brenda, shaking her head ruefully. "I show up with cookies, right? I rang the doorbell and Ric answered it. So he gave me a hug and I said congrats and all that, and I go to hand him the cookies, and all of a sudden - out of nowhere - Moose comes barreling down the hall and smacks into both of us. The plate - thank God it was disposable - just goes flying and the cookies fall all over the kitchen and this dog is just leering over me, licking my face and tickling me with his feet. And then Sonny's parents and Ric's wife come running down the stairs to see what's wrong because I am screaming to beat the band - well, technically, I was squealing because he was tickling me - and it took both Ric and Sonny's dad to pull that big lug off of me."
Sonny was laughing heartily now, leaning his head back against the rail. He snapped upright when Elizabeth's foot made contact with his knee, still chuckling.
"And what is this one doing?" Elizabeth demanded, playfully glaring at her friend. "Standing by the sink and laughing his butt off. Didn't even try to help."
She shook her head reprimandingly at him and Jason laughed when Sonny just shrugged.
"What did you expect? Those cookies weren't for me, after all - what did I care?"
"I've made you cookies plenty of times!" Elizabeth cried indignantly, kicking her leg at him again.
"No you haven't," Sonny disagreed, sending a wave in her direction. The snow was still coming down, and a light layer had settled on his head, making his dark hair a gleaming silver in the dark night.
"OK, you're right," Elizabeth smirked. "And it's a good thing, too - you don't deserve any cookies." She glared pointedly up at Jason as soon as the words left her mouth. "And no off-color comments about Sonny getting cookies, either."
"Great - suck all the fun out of my life."
She laughed, hitting him lightly on his bare chest. She was being forward with him, she knew that - under normal circumstances, she would not have dreamed of cuddling up next to him in the hot tub. But these weren't normal circumstances - things had been going so perfectly in Clover, and she and Jason had really made progress. So she decided it was okay, and shoved her guilt at her flirtatious behavior aside. And besides, Jason didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, his hand was already underwater, sneaking toward her waist...
Elizabeth reached down and grabbed his hand, threading his fingers with hers and giving him a gentle shove that let him know she was wise to his games.
He grinned sheepishly down at her, his eyes twinkling silver in the night. "Can't blame a guy for trying."
Her smile was one of disbelief, and she just shook her head at him while burrowing into his shoulder once more. His hand rose from the water and fell on her shoulder as it always managed to and he massaged slow, absent circles against it.
Sonny and Brenda had been watching this exchange keenly, and offered the pair two Cheshire Cat grins when they looked up.
"I never knew you were one for PDA, Jase," Brenda teased, flicking a few drops of water at him.
"Can it, midget."
"Jerk-face."
"I'm warning you, Jason-" Sonny shook his finger in what he hoped was a menacing manner.
"Give it up, Sonny," Elizabeth snickered. "Jason here's found his spine."
Jason laughed, his hand never moving from her shoulder. "Are you saying I was his lackey before?"
"No," Elizabeth assured him. "More like minion."
Jason's lips curved into a mock scowl and he gently squeezed her shoulder as she laughed. When she threatened to pull away, he ceased and pulled her right back into place.
There was a lull in the conversation which Sonny felt he had to fill by cursing the weather.
"Damn snow."
Brenda nodded, looking up at the sky. "It's April, for crying out loud. We were home free for months, and just as spring is about to hit, we get this."
"At least it's wet, " Elizabeth supplied. "It's not going to stick much more. And it'll melt in no time, especially since the forecast said we'll be warming up as soon as this cold front moves on."
"I like the snow, actually," Jason sighed, stretching his arms out behind him. His head was tilted back, his eyes closed, and Elizabeth watched in silence as tiny snowflakes floated lazily down and claimed a spot on his handsome face. "Reminds me of Idaho when I went skiing with my dad and my cousin Ned."
"You went skiing?" Brenda asked, interested. "My father's always trying to get me to go, but I keep turning him down. It scares me," she added defensively when Jason shot her a quizzical look as if to say, what sane person would turn down skiing?
"It's a lot of fun," he assured her. "When you go flying down those hard slopes with nothing but the wind whistling past your ears and slamming into your face...Oh, I can't even describe it. It's amazing."
Elizabeth smiled when he spoke of the wind, remembering their slow-dance at the Four Leaf.
"Me and Ned must have gone up and down those slopes all day long," he continued, brushing his hair back from his eyes. "My dad, on the other hand, just stood sideways on the mountain, not moving a muscle, and just told everyone he was catching his breath, like any minute he was going to go swooping down the mountainside when in reality he'd still be there two weeks later." He shook his head ruefully. "Crazy man. And then he tried snowboarding with me and Ned. What a disaster!"
"Oh, dear God," Sonny guffawed. "Mid-life crisis or something?"
Jason nodded. "Must have been."
Brenda snorted. "Those are a riot."
Elizabeth agreed. "And quite profitable, actually. When my dad went through his, he bought a Mustang. Super-sweet one. And then he decided it wasn't enough, so he bought this big-screen television and this amazing Mac laptop because...well, OK, I still don't know why, but he bought a ton of cool stuff. And the bottom line was that I got to keep everything but the car, although I am allowed to take it out sometimes."
"Wow," Brenda whistled. "Pay dirt."
"Big time."
"The only thing I remember about my dad's mid-life crisis is that he wanted to get buff," Brenda said slowly.
There was a brief silence before everyone burst out laughing, Brenda included.
"It was the funniest thing ever," she got out between laughs. "He turned half the basement into a gym and I'd go down there and see him in his European sweats trying to benchpress. I almost had to call the paramedics once."
"What happened?" Elizabeth asked, thinking of how Mr. Barrett didn't look any more muscular.
"He gave up," Brenda shrugged, "and went back to fishing. But still, the MLC was damn funny."
"I have a feeling we're going to have to deal with those all over again during the summer," Sonny broke in, rolling his eyes. "I don't know about you guys, but my parents are already freaking out, even though I'm only going to NYU."
"Yeah," Elizabeth replied, furrowing her brows. "I've been meaning to ask you - why are you going there? Dude, you got into Yale."
Sonny shrugged. "I didn't really like the environment at Yale. I know that sounds kind snobby, but it's just weird. And plus, NYU is going to pay full tuition and stuff since I'm going to - most likely- be the valedictorian. They'll totally set me up for undergrad, and I figure that I can always transfer out or do graduate school somewhere with a bigger name."
Elizabeth was nodding her head slowly. "Makes sense. OK."
Jason was shaking his head disdainfully at his best friend. "Valedictorian. You nerd."
Sonny didn't say anything in reply, choosing to just roll his eyes at the joking remark.
"So where are you going, Jase?" Brenda asked, crossing her legs primly.
Jason let out a long sigh, and Elizabeth watched the way his chest rose and fell. "Uh, either the University of Illinois or Boston University."
"Why Illinois?" Brenda asked, wrinkling her nose. "That seems really random."
Jason shook his head. "No, not really - they're one of the top business schools in America."
Brenda shrugged. "So what're you leaning to at this point?"
"Honestly?" he asked. "Boston. I don't know if I want to move that far away."
Sonny nodded, smirking at Elizabeth. "Well, Beth has no problem whatsoever," he teased knowingly. "She can't wait to get away."
"Where are you going?" Jason asked, peering down at the petite beauty in his arms.
She was biting her bottom lip as she always did when she was thinking or nervous, and he discovered a new personality quirk of hers that he found absolutely endearing. "Well, my parents want me to go to Johns Hopkins because they want me to go into medicine," she explained. "But I don't really want to. I didn't like the school that much - I don't think it's the one for me."
"Which school is the one for you?" he asked, his fingers gently stroking her upper arm.
"Stanford," she replied instantly without skipping a beat. "Beyond all doubt, Stanford."
"Have you been accepted?"
She shook her head slowly. "Not yet. Their website said that it should be coming literally any day now."
"Ooh," Brenda crowed, rubbing her hands together. "Anticipation!" Noting the apprehensive look on her best friend's face, she was quick to reassure her. "Don't worry, Beth - you'll get in."
"No way you won't," Sonny chipped in, nodding his head firmly.
"They'd be crazy not to accept you," Jason announced, his voice strong and resolute. "You have nothing to worry about."
Elizabeth continued mauling her bottom lip. "I sure hope so."
"I know so, Little One," he corrected her, wagging a finger at her nose. "So remember what you once told me? Don't be nervous."
She smiled at his words. "Did I really say that? Man, I am such a hypocrite."
Sonny and Brenda laughed easily, twining their fingers together under the warm water.
"So, Beth," Sonny asked, "What's your second choice?"
Elizabeth thought for a moment. "I don't really know," she said finally with a twinge of guilt. "I applied all over, but I don't really know. I guess it would be the University of Chicago. Brenda and I visited it over the summer."
Brenda nodded. "Good school. I think you'd fit in there, too, but Stanford is definitely my first choice."
"Gee, that makes two of us," Elizabeth teased, chuckling when Brenda stuck her tongue out at her. "That was a fun trip, though."
"I feel a story coming on," Sonny prodded, grinning at her.
Brenda just shook her head. "Oh, man."
Elizabeth bit her lip again, smiling nervously at Sonny. "There's a story all right."
Sonny was confused, and darted a glance at Jason to see if he knew what was going on. "So? Go on."
Elizabeth sighed, stretching out and leaning more comfortably into Jason. Her nose was already frozen and she rubbed her warm fingers over it. "Well, we took the tour of the campus and then decided we wanted to go shopping on Michigan Avenue."
"But of course," Sonny interrupted, rolling his eyes at Brenda who wasted no time in shoving him lightly.
"So we finally catch a bus - the number 6, just like we needed - and we're talking away, waiting for our stop. But the bus is winding through the town and making it's way even deeper into the South Side, the most dangerous part of Chicago. And then it stops at this one street corner and the lady behind us is like, 'That's it, girls, end of the line!'. And we look at each other in pure terror."
"It was bad," Brenda agreed, shaking her head. "It was seriously so dangerous - I still haven't told my parents about that."
Sonny was snickering now and she smacked his shoulder. "Hello? Think about it - two high school girls, little ones at that, stranded on the bad side of Chicago with a lot of money. It was not good."
Jason nodded in agreement, his jaw set and brows slightly furrowed. "It's not a joke, Sonny - something could have happened to you two," he added, directing the last part to Elizabeth. He didn't even want to think of all the terrible things that could have happened - and their parents had absolutely no worries about letting their daughters traipse about in a different state?
"Woah, Jason," Elizabeth cut in, sensing his agitation. "Yeah, we get that it was dangerous, but it's not like we planned it. It just happened - we ended up taking Number 6 Southbound instead of Number 6 Northbound. How were we to know?"
"So what happened?" he asked, trying to lighten his tone, but unable to stop from thanking God that both girls had escaped the situation unharmed and were able to laugh about it to this day.
"We went to the front of the bus and talked to the bus driver, and she told us to take the bus across the street," Brenda continued. "We were about to step off but as soon as we faced the door, we saw this man peeing on a telephone pole."
Elizabeth grimaced at the memory.
"And our driver yelled at him, too - something about not having any respect for himself. So we ran across to the other bus, and the driver told us his bus wasn't the right one and to wait on the corner for the next bus. And the next bus that pulled up was the same one we were on - apparently the driver didn't realize she'd be switching! So she let us on without paying-"
"Because we had absolutely no change," Elizabeth interrupted.
"And we finally got to Michigan Avenue and blew a significant chunk of our fathers' money."
"Woah," Sonny whistled. "Quite a story." He glanced at Jason across the hot tub. "Just remind me to teach you about bus and train schedules."
Elizabeth burst out laughing. "Yeah, good idea - we don't have much luck with trains, either."
"What are you talking about?" Jason asked suspiciously. "Is this another narrowly-escaped-death story?"
"No, no," Brenda reassured him. "We went to New York once last year to check out the Van Gogh exhibit."
"It was me, Bren, Lexi, Lauren, and Sydney," Elizabeth continued. "So we ended up taking the train down there, and it wasn't so bad - it took about two hours from Port Charles. So we get down there in the morning, check out the museum - Starry Night was even more amazing than I could have imagined - and shopped a bit in Manhattan before taking the train back."
"And apparently the last train stop is Rockford," Brenda cut in. "It's the end of the line. So we're on the train and having so much fun that we totally missed our stop."
"What?" Sonny asked. "You missed it completely?"
"How freaking hard is it to listen out for 'Port Charles'?" Jason demanded, wincing and shutting up immediately when Elizabeth lightly smacked his chest again. This time, however, he captured her hand in his and held it to his chest, pretending to be oblivious to her startled look and paying attention to Brenda instead.
"Shut up, Jase," she tossed back before continuing. "So we eventually figure it out by asking another family, who wasn't too pleased with us because we were making way too much noise, and they told us we were almost at the end of the line."
"We told the conductor what happened," Elizabeth broke in, "and he told us to sit in the first car because the train would be going back anyway. We finally got home about an hour later than we planned to."
"You girls are ridiculous," Sonny huffed. Brenda shot him a disapproving glare and he shrugged his shoulders. "What? You are."
"Clown story."
"Damn."
"Thanks, Beth. He gets a little out of control sometimes."
"No prob. You just have to rein him back in."
"I like how you're talking about me in third person."
"Shut up."
"What were we talking about, again?" Jason cut in.
"Trains and buses," Brenda informed him, casually looping an arm around Sonny's neck. He looked up at her in surprise but it was fleeting, as a satisfied smile crept onto his face and he snaked an arm around her waist.
"Cars are much better for you two, then," he asserted. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he pointed at his best friend. "Dude, Jase, remember when you got hit by that car in Miami?"
Jason groaned. "Wasn't that the most random thing ever?"
"Oh, my gosh," Elizabeth exclaimed. "What happened? Were you okay?"
He shrugged his shoulders dismissively, trying to dispel her fears. "Yeah, seriously, it was nothing."
"What happened?" Brenda inquired, her eyes wide and round.
"We were walking down the street in Miami, Florida," Jason began as Sonny smiled. "And just so you know, Miami drivers are completely psycho. Apparently, they don't believe in stopping for stop signs. The thinking down there seems to be that if you stop at a stop sign, the other motorists will assume that you're a tourist and by that virtue alone, unarmed, and they'll help themselves to your money and medically valuable body organs."
Elizabeth giggled, listening closely to his humorous account of events.
"Seriously. And they're not much better at stoplights. Green means to proceed. Yellow means to proceed much faster. And red, naturally, means to proceed while gesturing fanatically."
Brenda burst out laughing, shaking her head at Elizabeth as she did so as if to say, do you believe this guy!
"So, anyway, there we were, two bumbling tourists from New York," Jason continued, grinning at Sonny, "who actually expected these drivers to stop at stop signs. The result was basically that this woman driver had to slam on her brakes as we were in the middle of the cross walk, and I had to leap backwards like a character in a cartoon movie on rewind, and her car banged my knee."
"Don't worry," Sonny assured Elizabeth, whose mouth had long ago fallen open on a silent gasp. "He was fine. It was actually pretty funny."
"Yeah, nothing too serious," Jason nodded. "Besides, since my parents are doctors, I was able to remember what leading medical authorities say to do if you're involved in an accident or whatever - punch the car."
Sonny snorted. "It's true."
"You really did?" Brenda asked in amazement.
Jason nodded. "Yeah, I punched the car while pointing at the sign and yelling, 'THERE'S A FRICKING STOP SIGN'!"
"Tell 'em what she did, Jase," Sonny goaded, his dimples appearing as he grinned.
"She rolls down the window," Jason chuckled while rubbing his chin. "And expressed her profound regret by shouting, 'DON'T HIT MY - unladylike word - CAR, YOU - very unladylike word-!'"
"Oh, dear Lord," Brenda laughed. "You're kidding!"
"She said that?" Elizabeth asked incredulously. "But it was her fault!" Jason just shrugged, smirking at Sonny. "So what did you do?"
"I just walked a bit down the crosswalk where Sonny was so that I was closer to her window, and I said, 'Oh, I'm sorry about hitting your car with my fist, lady. It should have been a frickin' hammer'. And then we just walked off."
"Did you get her license plate number?" Elizabeth demanded. "You could have pressed charges."
Sonny grinned. "How stupid do you think we are? Of course we got the number!"
Jason laughed. "Yeah, we just filled out a report and that was that. I would have loved to see her face when the cops came knocking on her door."
Brenda nodded her head firmly. "Serves her right."
Many more stories followed that night as the foursome enjoyed the freezing evening in the hot tub. Brenda related stories about how she once hid a stray dog in her room for a week, and then one day when her mom was doing laundry, it somehow escaped from her room and jumped in the laundry basket, causing Mrs. Barrett to almost faint away.
Jason regaled them with stories of fairly growing up in General Hospital - rollerblading down the halls, playing hide-and-seek with his little brother, and generally running amok with the inhabitants of the childrens' wing.
Sonny related stories from his trip to Cuba and how he almost got trampled by a donkey, and Elizabeth told them of when she and her older sister had sneaked out of their house - from their second-story bedrooms - and organized a spontaneous party at Sarah's best friend's house. Their mother needed the car in the morning, though, so Sarah and Elizabeth pulled in around five, and at six their mother was in the driveway and ready to go. Amazingly, she never realized that the car was already warm.
Jason had laughed in amazement as Elizabeth told one story after another, and he had called her a rebel. She'd giggled in agreement, confiding to them that the first thing she had done when they'd moved into their house in Port Charles was check to see if the screen in her bedroom window came out.
Brenda teased Sonny relentlessly about his squeaky-clean reputation, and the dark-haired boy had blushed until he remembered an event that proved to his friends that he most certainly was not as angelic as they believed.
With dimples out in full force, a grinning Sonny boasted of the time - earlier this year - when he had cut off a cop while driving. He laughed as he told them of how he changed lanes before a signal and pulled to a stop, and heard a horn. Looking back, he saw Officer Smiley raising his hands in a profane gesture. He had laughed all the way home, still unable to believe he had actually done that.
The stories continued long into the night until Elizabeth looked at Sonny's watch on the nearby chair and saw that it was almost midnight. She reluctantly pulled out of Jason's arms and crawled out of the tub, shivering as the cold April air swirled about her. Within ten minutes, all four of them were inside and partially dried off, and within half an hour they were all standing at Brenda's door, waving goodbye and bravely stepping out into the snow.
Their parents, thankfully, weren't too upset at the fact that they arrived home late. Elizabeth and Brenda's parents weren't even home by the time the party ended, but Sonny and Jason's were. So after spending some time with the folks, or in Elizabeth's case, her tabby cat, the kids drifted off to their bedrooms and fell fast asleep, not to keen about having to wake up to an alarm clock the next morning and begin the rest of the school year.
