Disclaimer: See chapter one.
A/N: Had to revise chapter three. Picked up an error that I didn't realize I had made until it was too late...whoops. Oh well, the point is, I fixed it. And I got a review as well, so it's been a pretty good day! Speaking of which...
adriennelane- Thanks! I'll keep trying to do my best. I just hope that I'm getting them in character correctly.
A/N 2: This is a long one...hope you all enjoy it!
Chapter Four: Remembering
Lauren sat and listened intently as Wesley told her about his travels, all the things he had seen, all the things he had heard, and all the people he had met. She was amazed at how much he had done in the years since she had seen him last, and she told him as much.
"It must have been so wonderful, seeing all those new places and people," Lauren said with a sigh. "Wish I could do something like that. Just pop in and out anytime I want to and go anywhere I wanted."
"Maybe I'll come back sometime and just sweep you off your feet," Wesley said with a grin. "Your parents would love that."
"I can see it now," Lauren said, beginning to laugh. "'Oh and by the way Mom, I'm leaving tonight. With who? You remember Wesley, don't you? Damn, can't talk anymore, he's here! Bye!' She'd have a fit to beat ANY of the ones that Audra has had in the past."
"Wait a minute," Wesley said. "Who's Audra? I don't remember anyone named Audra being around when we were kids."
Lauren grinned and reached for her purse. She dug through it for a moment, then pulled out a picture and handed it to Wesley.
"That's Audra," she said.
"She looks a hell of a lot like-wait a minute, is she..."
"No! My god Wesley, what kind of girl do you think I am?" Lauren said with a laugh. "She's my little sister."
"Oh great, not another one..."
"She acts more like me and Willa than my cousins, so you have nothing to worry about. In fact, she's a bit more well-behaved than I was at two."
"And some of the kids from back home have scars to prove it."
"In my defense, I was only doing what Willa couldn't. I'll bet you anything that if her arm hadn't been in that cast, she would've knocked him flat in less than a minute."
"That's no excuse," Wesley said, doing a perfect imitation of her father's voice. "You knew it was wrong and you shouldn't have done it." Lauren was desperately trying to choke back a laugh, but she was losing the battle.
"I was two! I had no other options!"
"You didn't have to bite the kid...a nice kick in the shins would've done just fine."
That was the last straw. The laugh that Lauren had been trying to hold back came out in a burst of air.
"Well I'm not the one that tripped the kid!" Lauren said, remembering the second part of the incident. "What possessed you to do that?"
"It was a classic opportunity that couldn't be passed up," Wesley deadpanned as he tried not to laugh.
"That's my saying and you know it," Lauren said, laughing all the while. "I'm sorry, but you now owe me $10. Any currency that you choose will suffice, so long as it equals the amount owed." The money comment was the last straw for Wesley, who burst out laughing.
"Boy, did we do a number on that kid," Wesley said after they calmed down.
"Yeah," Lauren said, looking nostalgic. "It's a wonder Drew ever spoke to you again after that..." This caused a fresh outbreak of laughter, which gave way to a remembrance of old incidents and schemes.
"Remember when we accidentally broke Mrs. Johansen's window?" Wesley said.
"How could I forget?" Lauren said, grinning. "That's the day that my mom took away my slingshot! I don't know what caused her to think that two twelve-year-olds shouldn't have those..."
"And then your mom broke another one of her windows trying to get rid of the dead rat in my backyard?"
"That was awesome!" Lauren said, beginning to laugh again.
Wesley smiled and said, "You could hear Mrs. Johansen scream all over the neighborhood..."
"A crowning achievement," Lauren said. "One of our best, and we didn't do anything except supply the weapon!"
"Your mom had really good aim..."
"She still does. Just ask Willa what happens every time she tries to sneak in the house late at night."
"Well, since Willa's not here, I'll have to settle for asking you. What happens?"
"Mom goes outside with a slingshot and fires rocks at the ladder Willa climbs up," Lauren paused. "We never did get those slingshots back, did we?" They began firing off a stream of "remember when's," each one getting progressively closer to the last day they had seen each other.
"Remember when Chris almost blew up his classroom? I didn't think a kindergartener could do that much damage..."
"And the looks on the teachers' faces when he, literally, crashed our kindergarten graduation?"
"And the wild graduation party we had at the end of sixth grade!"
"Yeah...was your mother ever surprised when she saw you dancing on the coffee table..."
"I wasn't the only one dancing on the coffee table! Who got up there with a couple of his friends and started doing that ancient YMCA thing?"
"It was a dare that I was paid well for. And at least I wasn't the one mattress-surfing down the stairs!"
"You're such a liar Wesley. I was right behind you! Unless that was someone else telling me to just hold on and not worry about falling off...which we did anyways..."
"I think I still have a bruise from where we hit the wall."
"I think the wall does too..."
"At least your mom wasn't too mad at us."
"That's only because we moved the party next door...it was YOUR mom that got pissed off at us."
"Ah yes, but I wasn't the one that made the bonfire in the backyard."
"That wasn't me either."
The two of them paused for a moment, trying to remember who had set the gigantic pile of leaves in Wesley's backyard aflame and used it as a celebratory bonfire.
"Willa," they said at the same time.
"How did she manage to sneak out of the house, though?" Lauren asked thoughtfully. "I thought she was grounded that weekend..."
"I bet one of your cousins broke her out. Alex did look suspicious when he left that time. But he also looked suspicious when he was found in a broom closet with Dora at the school formal..."
Wesley's voice trailed off into silence. He knew he had brought up the one thing that neither of them wanted to talk about: the infamous school formal, the one where he had left Lauren waiting for him while he had gone off with Delia Thomas. He looked at Lauren, who was absentmindedly playing with her napkin, folding it back and forth into different shapes, not saying a word.
"Is it too late to say that I'm sorry?" he asked her quietly. She was looking down at the table, and he could see that even the mention of the dance hurt her. He reached across the table and took her hand, and was surprised when she didn't pull away from him. "Lauren, please, just say something. I don't care if you yell, or scream, or use language that we both know would get you grounded if your mom heard it, but please, say something."
Lauren looked up at Wesley, her eyes brimming with tears. Wesley cringed. He couldn't stand it when she cried. Not when they were kids, and not now.
"You really hurt me, you know," Lauren said. "Or maybe you didn't know. It doesn't make any difference now."
"Lauren, I didn't mean to, I swear," Wesley pleaded, trying to stop her from crying. "I just want you to know that I'm sorry that I was a jerk, and it wasn't something that should've cost us our friendship. That last week, when we weren't even speaking to each other, that killed me. It killed me to know that I hurt one of my best friends that badly. That's why I was so glad that you gave me this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black box, setting it in front of Lauren. "I knew it meant that you didn't completely hate me, and that made me feel a bit better."
Lauren let go of Wesley's hand and opened the box. She smiled as she saw the box's contents: a golden butterfly on a delicate gold chain. Her necklace. He hadn't gotten rid of it. She looked at Wesley, stunned, and said, "You kept this?"
"I figured that I'd never see you again. Sometimes, I wanted to get rid of it. It reminded me of you, and I still thought of you as one of my best friends, but it also reminded me of what I had done. But then again, it reminded me that you forgave me enough to want me to remember you. That was reason enough for me to keep it. That, and I figured you'd kick my ass if you ever came to get it back and I had sold it."
That had done it. Lauren laughed, and wiped her eyes with the badly folded napkin. "Well then," she said. "I think there's something I need to give you in return."
She picked the gold pin up from its place on the table, where she had laid it when she had spotted Wesley. She turned his hand over, gently opened his fingers, and placed the pin in his hand. "I kept it for the same reasons you did," she whispered. "Except I knew you'd never think of hitting a girl." She smiled as she watched Wesley put the pin on. She could tell that he had missed having the pin, just as she had missed having her necklace.
Then he did something that surprised her. He stood up and walked around to her side of the table. He then picked the necklace up out of its box, undid the clasp, and gently placed it around her neck. He redid the clasp, and sat back down. Lauren touched the necklace gently, as if she didn't believe that it was there.
"If you're wondering how it looks with the dress, it looks perfect," Wesley said.
Lauren blushed, something she hadn't done in a while. They had settled what they had come there to settle, and now there was nothing left to do but talk. And talk they did! Lauren told Wesley all about her music studies, and Wesley told Lauren about working on the Enterprise. When they finally stopped talking, Lauren looked up at the wall clock and became visibly worried.
"What's wrong?"
"I was supposed to be back at my grandmother's house two hours ago," Lauren shyly admitted. "I'd better get going." She stood up, picking her coat up off of the back of her chair as she did. She was surprised when Wesley stood up as well and said, "I'll walk you back."
"Huh?" Lauren said, showing an uncharacteristic bit of stupidity. "Why?"
"Well, for one thing, it's dark as hell out there, and I know your grandmother well enough to know that she doesn't want you walking alone after dark. And two, you think I'm too damned lazy to walk anywhere occasionally? Wait a minute," he said as he saw Lauren beginning to laugh again. "Don't answer that. Don't even try to answer that. So, am I permitted to walk you home?"
"Let me think about that for a minute or two," Lauren said, putting her hand on the side of her face and drumming her fingers, obviously being sarcastic. She smiled after a moment and said, "Yes."
They talked the entire way back to Lauren's grandmother's house, mostly talking about when they were younger and all the stunts and practical jokes they played. Suddenly Lauren stopped walking and laughed out loud.
"What's so funny?" Wesley asked her.
"I just thought of something," Lauren said.
"Well, what was it?"
"I'm wondering what my grandmother is going to say when she sees me walking up the driveway with you..."
"And why is that so funny?"
"I'm also wondering if she's going to have a slingshot on her when we get there," Lauren choked out. They laughed the entire way back to the house.
Lauren looked up at the windows of the house, checking for lights. The only light she saw on was from a room that was only occupied by one person on the family visits to Grandma's house.
"Uh-oh," Lauren whispered.
"Why are we whispering?" Wesley asked.
"Willa's here," Lauren said. "Damn it! If she catches me out here, I'm fried!"
"Well, what do you think is gonna happen to me?" Wesley asked, beginning to panic. "I know quite well where I stand with you at this present moment, but I don't think Willa likes me all that much..."
"If she comes down here, I'll take care of her," Lauren whispered, motioning for Wesley to be quieter. "I think the best thing for you to do would be to make a quick escape."
"Not without saying goodbye I'm not," Wesley said, pulling Lauren close to him and putting his arms around her. "I'll see you later?"
Lauren pulled away from him and looked him straight in the eye. She smiled and said, "Count on it Wes," before running up to the door. When she reached the door, she paused, then turned and ran back down the driveway to Wesley. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him gently on the cheek, then turned and ran back to the door.
Wesley grinned as he walked back to his mother's house. The meeting had definitely gone better than expected. He touched the spot on his face where Lauren had kissed him, and thought, "Finally, everything's back to normal." He didn't know-or maybe he did-that back at a room in the large house he had just left, Lauren was smiling and thinking the same thing.