Chapter 10: The Homecoming

From now on, a lot more time will elapse between chapters…

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OCTOBER 19, 1979

NEWPORT BEACH, CA

"…And Harbor High's quarterback, Matt Dominic, gets the last play of the game off before time expires. He pump fakes and curls back around to hand off the ball to running back, Jimmy Cooper, the transfer from University of San Diego High School. Cooper manages to find a hole to run through…and he's broken free from the defense! It doesn't look like anyone is going to catch him. And he is going all-the-way! Harbor beats cross-town rival Pacific in their own homecoming football game 23-21 on a fabulous play by Dominic and Cooper! What a game!" the announcer exclaimed, his voice filling the stadium and bringing the cheering fans to their feet.

"Wahoooo! Yeah Jimmy! Yeah Harbor!" Kirsten yelled along with the other cheerleaders, throwing her arms up in the air with her maroon and white palm-palms. Harbor had just won their sixth straight game in a row and more importantly, had beaten Pacific in the Homecoming game and Kirsten was ecstatic, especially since her boyfriend was the hero of the game. She had been dating Jimmy Cooper ever since they had their first date over a month ago, and right now, life couldn't have been better for her.

As Kirsten was cheering her heart out over the victory, she saw Jimmy running toward her and she starting running towards him. He lifted her off her feet into a hug and proceeded to twirl her around in excitement. He set her down and then proceeded to kiss her firmly on the lips.

"I'm so excited for you, Jimmy! You played awesome!" Kirsten told him after they had broken from their kiss.

"Thanks Kirst!" Jimmy said and then kissed her again.

As they broke apart again, Brian yelled over, "Hey Coop! Great game! Coach wants us in the locker room…you know, post-game meeting..."

Jimmy turned back to Kirsten and said, "I'll catch up with you later, then…Courtney's beach house?"

"Yeah, I'll see you there," Kirsten said and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before he turned to leave.

Kirsten watched Jimmy for a second as he jogged away from her to join his teammates. She smiled to herself and she whiled around to find Kelly standing right behind her.

"So, it looks like things are still going well with Jimmy," Kelly stated.

"Yeah, so far so good…hopefully everything will go smoothly with the dance tomorrow…I really like him and I just want the first dance together to go okay."

"Oh, Kirst! I'm really happy for you two! You make such a perfect couple!" Kelly said and then proceeded to hug Kirsten. "And don't worry about a thing…the dance will be fine."

"Thanks Kell," Kirsten replied. "So off to Courtney's?"

"To Courtney's we go!" Kelly stated.

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An hour later, the party was in full swing at Courtney's beach house. Everyone was excited about Harbor's victory, especially the football players, who were celebrating with lots of kegs and liquor.

Kirsten was taking it fairly easy that evening. She had tried to take her drinking down a notch from what it had been last summer, not wanting to let herself get out of control. She had begun thinking more about how her own mother's drinking habits had been a bit out of control for about a month during the summer. Although Kate Nichol was drinking less recently, Kirsten still decided that she didn't want to end up that way her mother had been during the summer.

Kirsten shivered slightly; she was wearing a white halter top with jeans, but had forgotten to bring a jacket and was not planning on drinking herself one that night. Just then she felt something slide over her shoulders and she turned around to find Jimmy putting his letterman jacket on her.

"You were looking cold…" he explained.

"Thanks," she said and kissed him softly.

"I'm going to get a beer…do you want anything?" Jimmy asked her.

"No thanks…I'm set for the evening," she said and held up her plastic glass filled with a low strength margarita, the only drink she was going to have that night…

A few hours later, Kirsten finally decided that it was time to head out. She knew that Jimmy was way beyond gone and she should probably get him home. My how the tables have turned, she thought, considering that a few months ago, she was the one who was drunk all the time.

"Jimmy, ready go?" she asked.

Jimmy turned around to face her, his face a little flushed from all the alcohol he had drank in the past few hours. "Kiiirsten!" he yelled. "Go home…whada you mean…the partay is just starting!"

"Jimmy, the party is winding down…we really should go," Kirsten told him.

"Um, okay, I'll take you home," he said as he started stumbling toward her.

Kirsten almost laughed, "Jimmy, first of all, you are completely wasted so you wouldn't be driving any way…and second, you didn't drive your car here."

"I didn't drive here?" he slurred.

"Nope. Come on, let's go," and with that, Kirsten put his arm around him in attempt to guide him out to her car and prevent him from stumbling. She managed to get him into the front seat and proceeded to drive them home.

Once Kirsten reached Jimmy's house, she pulled over and stopped the car. Jimmy turned to her and said, "Thanks Kirst!"

"Yeah, of course," Kirsten said and then proceeded to lean in to kiss him. The kiss was soft at first but grew more passionate. Finally Kirsten had to pull away and chuckle to herself. Jimmy's kissing abilities definitely diminished when he was drunk, but she decided that teasing him at this point might not be the wisest thing…he would deny it and probably try to prove it again and end up giving her a sloppier kiss.

"Well, I better go in," Jimmy started. Then his voice started to escalate as he continued, "Gotta be stealth!"

"Then you should probably start by not yelling," Kirsten laughed.

"Right, silent," he said whispering.

"I'll call you tomorrow, Jimmy," Kirsten said. She watched him until the front door of his house was closed to make sure he got in okay. Then she started the car and drove toward her own house.

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Kirsten was putting on the finishing touches of her make-up when the doorbell rang. Damn it, they're here already, she thought and tried to finish getting ready as quick as possible. The ten couples in their group were coming over to Kristen's house to take some pictures before heading out to dinner.

Kirsten stood in the mirror, getting a final glimpse of herself. She was wearing a knee length black tube dress that clung perfectly to her slim body. Her hair was done half up with the upper half twisted and pinned with small white flowers evenly dispersed in the back. Her diamond necklace and matching earrings tied everything together perfectly. Her attention was diverted by a knock at the door.

"Come in," Kirsten called.

The door opened, revealing Kelly dressed in a gorgeous silky purple dress that had spaghetti straps and a low v-cut. Her hair was pulled back into an up-do and she wore a beautiful silver necklace around her neck.

"Oh, Kell! You look so beautiful!" Kirsten said as she hugged her best friend.

"You too, Kirst!" Kelly replied. "So, ready to go down there?"

"Yeah…is everyone there yet?" Kirsten asked.

"Um, well, probably half…me, Matt, Jimmy, Courtney, Brian, Amber, Brad, Karen, and Scott…"

"Okay, let's go!" Kirsten exclaimed and the two left her room.

After a good half an hour of picture taking, the group finally managed to leave Kirsten's house and set out on their way to The Arches for dinner. The meal was fairly uneventful…as always, The Arches served excellent food, and the conversations were never ending, with the girls gossiping about the latest scandal in the community and the guys still talking about their 'glorious' victory over Pacific the night before. After dinner was over, the each of the couples got into their expensive new cars and made their way toward the Hyatt Newporter Hotel where the dance was being held.

"Wow! The food there was really great!" Jimmy told Kirsten as they got in the car.

"Yeah, I knew…It's my family's favorite restaurant…whenever we do eat out, which really isn't all that often, we always seem to end up there," Kirsten told him.

Jimmy stopped at a red light and started to make a right hand turned while the light was still red. As he was turning, he didn't notice the car that was making a u-turn that was coming straight toward them.

"Jimmy! Watch out!" Kirsten screamed, but it was too late. A white Mercedes came crashing into the driver's side of Jimmy's car and sent the black Mustang into a 180 degree spin. The car stopped when the passenger side slammed into a light post on the side walk.

Kirsten felt herself being flung into the side of the car as it came to a halt and heard the glass of the windshield crunching and breaking. After a moment she realized that she wasn't really injured save a few small cuts and tried to calm herself down from her blood-curdling scream a second before. She then looked over to Jimmy and said, "Jimmy, are you okay?"

She saw Jimmy move slightly, but his eyes were closed and she was afraid the impact had knocked him out. However, a moment later his eyes slowly opened and he slowly said, "I think so."

Kirsten tried to check him over for injuries and saw that he had a large gash on his forehead, probably from a piece of broken glass from the windshield. She found some napkins in the glove compartment and pressed them to his forehead to try to control the bleeding.

"You're going to be okay, Jimmy…help is on the way," she reassured him.

Police cars and an ambulance arrived about five minutes later. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, but Jimmy's car was in pretty bad shape. Kirsten and the driver of the other car were not injured at all, but the EMTs decided that Jimmy needed to be taken to the hospital for some stitches and allowed Kirsten to ride along with them.

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Meanwhile back at the dance, Kelly was slow dancing with Matt to the Eagle's song "Desperado," when she started wondering where Kirsten and Jimmy were.

Kelly looked up at Matt and said, "Hey, have you seen Kirsten and Jimmy at all?"

"Not since the restaurant," Matt replied.

"I wonder where they are," Kelly said. She was starting to get a little nervous. What if something happened to them like a car accident or something, she thought.

"Don't worry sweetie…I'm sure they're fine…Who knows, maybe they are here, but they decided to check into a hotel room instead…"

"Oh, you can't be serious…Kirsten wouldn't now…I mean they just started going out…they wouldn't be doing that yet…you think?" Kelly said astonished.

"You're probably right, but who knows…maybe Coop is an incredible sweet talker," Matt replied.

"You're full of crap, that's what I think…I'm sure I would have heard at least something if they were planning on doing that…besides, Kirsten was really looking forward to the dance…I just hope they're okay."

"Kelly, don't worry…they'll probably be here soon," Matt said reassuringly.

"You're probably right," Kelly said and gave him a kiss.

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The wait at Hoag Memorial Hospital seemed to be an eternity. Because Jimmy's injuries weren't extremely serious, they had to wait and it took almost two hours for Jimmy to get fixed up. In addition to the gash on his forehead that took 17 stitches to close up, Jimmy also had a mild concussion from the impact and a slightly sprained left wrist. But the doctor thought that he would be fully recovered in about one to two weeks, which both Kirsten and Jimmy were extremely grateful for.

"Ready to go home, Jimmy…I called a cab to take us back since both our parents are out," Kirsten told him.

"Home? We aren't going home. I am getting you to that dance. We still can make it right?"

"Jimmy, it's okay. You need to get home get some rest," Kirsten insisted.

"Kirsten, you have been looking forward to this for weeks now…we are going, even if it's only for one song…I know how important it is to you," Jimmy stated.

"Jimmy, it doesn't-"

"Kirsten," Jimmy interrupted her, "We're going, okay."

"Okay," she relented.

By the time the taxi pulled in front of the entrance to the hotel, Kirsten knew that the dance would almost be over. The pair hurried into the ballroom where the dance was being held and they looked like quite the pair. Jimmy had a large bandage on his forehead and a sling around his arm, while Kirsten's hair and makeup had been a bit disheveled from the events of the evening.

As they entered the room, Kelly spotted them immediately. "Oh my god, you guys! What happened!"

"Car accident…a little trip to the hospital…long stor-" Kirsten said before she was cut off by the voice on the loud speaker.

"Okay, Harbor High School! Last dance of your Homecoming 1979. This is Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight.'"

"I'll explain later," Kirsten told Kelly as Jimmy pulled her toward the dance floor. It was kind of an awkward dance, since Jimmy could only put one arm around Kirsten as the other one was in the sling. But neither one of them seem to really care, as they were both totally absorbed in the moment.

Jimmy looked at his beautiful girlfriend as he danced with her and felt so lucky to have won her over. She was unlike anyone he had known before and he could feel himself falling hard for her. "Kirsten," he started, "I'm so sorry about everything that happened tonight…I totally ruined the dance for you…"

Kirsten smiled slightly, "Jimmy, it wasn't your fault…I'm just glad you're okay…And we were just in time for our dance."

Jimmy pulled her closer and the couple danced it their embrace for the duration of the song.

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I do not own The Arches, The Hyatt, or Hoag Memorial Hospital, all located in Newport Beach.

I know this is the same title as the Thanksgiving episode during season 1…it just seemed appropriate so I borrowed it.