Stand By Me
Chapter One
January, 2005, Pine Valley, Pennsylvania
Amy Cohen, with her hair band between her teeth, swept fingers through her black hair, sweeping it back and into its usual tail; making it tight, she finally secured it with the blue band, grinning to herself as she checked how it looked in the mirror. "Hah!" she whispered triumphantly.
Stepping out of the car, she took off across the pavement, stepping brightly onto the sidewalk in front of the store, her blue eyes excited behind her glasses. Stopping in front of the store, she studied the shadowy insides of the empty place, shaking herself when she began to wonder if there were shapes moving inside.
Maybe Micaela's right; maybe I am just an over-grown five-year old.
The thought brought a smile to her face and she picked nervously at the bottom button of her blouse, finger nails catching on the dark plastic shape. Turning from the store, she looked back at the blue car, decided that she should stop leaving her cell in the car… she was a grown woman and she was as ridiculously forgetful as a five-year old.
Sheesh, Micaela knew her too well.
Swirling her cup of coffee with a twist of her wrist, she took a sip, sighing as she checked the time; she was early, so maybe she should sit? She looked down at the sidewalk, grimaced, and decided against it, especially with her new skirt. Why not go sit in the car until she got here.
However, her concentration turned right back to the empty store at her back when she caught the dart of movement from within. Setting her coffee at her feet, she took a step closer to the wide window, peering in for a few moments before, with a snort of embarrassment, she slipped her glasses off.
Ahh, much better… She concentrated, studying the lumpy shapes and the flat expanse of the counter, head tilted… and there it was again, a shape in the background. Rolling her shoulders, Amy contemplated this. Maybe the other woman had gotten here earlier?
When the door just a few feet to her left slammed open, along with a jingle of a bell, she spun to the sound, and then issued a breathless squeak of pain when her foot hit her coffee, sending a spray of hot liquid against her leg. With a savage whisper of "fuck!" she shook off her leg furiously, the clothe of her skirt rippling with the movement.
The cause of her fright looked rightfully guilty by the time Amy had calmed enough to give him full attention. Tall, needing a shave, very nice leather jacket… with both hands out in a soothing position, he quickly offered up a nervous laugh of "Whoa, Gidget, easy there… I didn't… I didn't mean to make you go all hyper."
Amy, thoroughly embarrassed by now, tried to fight down the heat rushing up her neck and into her face and wished unhappily that she'd left her hair open; it was always so easy to use the thick black tresses to hide her frequent intimidations of ripe tomatoes… she sighed, shook herself and gave him her full attention. "No, it's okay, I was the dummy who sat my coffee right by my feet… you just spooked me, that's all."
"Huh." He laughed, shook his head in amusement. "I seem to spook everybody in this town. Hopefully, it'll stop after I stop being a newbie."
"Oh, great… I'm a newbie too!" Her desperation for some ice for her leg forgotten, she looked at the stranger with more interest. Sticking one hand out, she grasped his and shook it happily, laughing, "I just got to town yesterday… and I've already been to the jail." At his arched eyebrow, she shook her head with another laugh, offering, "No, not me… I was just bailing out my boss."
"Hmm… well, you're boss sounds interesting." When she pulled back her hand, he let his hands drop into his jacket pockets and watched, brown eyes glittering with humor, as she tapped one foot against the wet cement. "So, what are you doing here, at an abandoned store?"
"Um, looking to buy it, or, at least, maybe, borrow it or…" Amy gestured, grinning, "I just want to get it so I can sell things."
"There are better abandoned shops you know."
This time it was her eyebrow that rose, and he laughed and, wow, they were both really big with the laughing today weren't they? "Isn't this one a little bit too far away from the business district?"
"Um…" She frowned, looked back at the shadowy inside and then looked back at him, asking, with a self-mocking grimace, "There's a business district?"
"Yes," he laughed and then, so fast she jumped about a foot, grabbed her wrist and hauled her right back towards her car and she followed, stumbling in her effort to keep up. As soon as they reached the blue metal, he released her. "Here, do you have a piece of paper or a notebook or something?"
"My boss does but I've got the mental capacity of a five-year old so…" She let her sentence trail off, eyes watching as he opened the car door for her. Like a perfect gentleman. "Say, do they have restaurants near this business district? Because I'm supposed to have lunch with my boss and I have no idea where to find food outside of a McDonald's."
"Yeah, I remember that feeling…" He patted his pockets, rolling his eyes and muttering as he apparently searched for paper. With a snort of disgust, he looked around, looked back at her, and cocked his head. "No paper. I've lived in Pine Valley as long as I have and I have yet to remember to take paper with me."
"Why don't you give me directions?"
"Uh… would that be okay?" At her look, he chuckled and then suddenly paused, stilling and studied her with brown eyes. "You don't even know my name yet, do you? Here," he took her hand again, shook it more gently than she had, offering, "I'm Jonathon Lavery… I don't really have a nickname though, but you can call me Jonathon."
"I'm Amy. And, since Amy is such a short name anyway, you can just call me Amy."
Grinning, he held open the door, waited until she had climbed back in behind the wheel before going around the back of her car and climbed into the passenger seat. Buckling his seatbelt immediately, he watched as she started up the car, backed out of the parking space… risking only one glance over his shoulder at the abandoned store.
"This is kind of fun," Maggie noted, glancing over at Bianca, in her Christmas hat. She was adorable in green and red, all decked out in holiday style. The girls' presents were scattered around our out-stretched legs and Bianca was halfway through wrapping one. "I always used to hate wrapping presents."
"Well," Bianca laughed, batting her eyelashes in a classic Kane face, "back then you didn't have me to help."
"Okay, what?"
Bianca grinned, no, she leered at Maggie, eyebrows raised in a ridiculously sexy look. "Come on, don't tell me you haven't thought about unwrapping me on Christmas?" At Maggie's furious blush, she laughed again, throwing back her long fall of black hair. "We are so bad."
"No, you are bad and you have corrupted me. See, I was once as innocent as a… What's an innocent animal?"
"Baby chicken."
Maggie nodded, grinning." Yeah, right, a baby chicken. Before you got your hands on me, I was like a newborn chick, all innocent and adorable and so very full of non-guiltiness!"
Bianca blinked once, then twice. "Full of 'non-guiltiness'? Is that even a word?"
"Of course it is." She finished wrapping the box of ducky toys for Miranda, set it aside and shifted full attention to the taller girl. "See, you're like… a female David."
"Now, I'm a devious doctor with a heart of gold toward all blonde Southern Belles and women called Greenlee or Kane women?" She looked shocked, eyes even wider than usual. "I mean, is that a compliment or an insult?"
"You corrupted me. Once upon a time, all I did was read books and write things. Now, I'm running around Pine Valley, spending half my time chasing you around our place to jump your bones. This is not what good girls do."
Bianca's grin was pure evil as she leaned over, dark eyes getting, somehow, even deeper than usual. "Then I'm very happy I got my hands on you."
Ooh, double-speak at it's best, people. Maggie smiled slightly when Bianca reached out to brush hair from her face. "So you like me, what, bad?"
"Hmm, yeah, I think so," she murmured before kissing her, cradling her face…
The jolt of a weight against the table beneath her jolted Maggie out of her Bianca-as-Miss Clause fantasy; hoping nobody noticed her blush, she quickly took her soda, thanking the waitress and watching, embarrassed, as the waitress sauntered away. Looking down, she found to her dismay that there a small puddle of drool on her textbook.
Quickly wiping it up with a napkin, she took a sip of her Coke… and immediately choked it out, gagging on the taste of Diet Coke. Her Bianca fantasy was over, her textbook was drool-y and, damn it, she didn't want Diet Coke! Leaving everything at her table, she stomped forward to the counter, fully intending to get what she wanted.
Halfway there, the door swung open and she turned partly at the sound of Jonathon's laughter… there he was, in his usual jeans and jacket, and, hey, he was laughing, which was a good thing as far as Maggie was concerned. Wait, who was he holding the door open for? She leaned forward, putting her weight onto her toes as she tried to give herself an extra inch or two.
Holy shit… She was taller and no longer in her old clothes that Owen hated buying and her hair was longer, but, it was Amy. It was Amy the Aimless from her big grin and sparkling eyes to the way she swung her bag happily from her fingers. Maggie had a strange reaction.
If someone had told her that Amy would be showing up in Pine Valley today, she would have been okay with it, would have probably not thought too much of it. Yet, her reaction now… Maggie's heart, calming after it's bout of Bianca-itis kicked right back up, a steady pounding against her chest.
Amy… she shouldn't be this excited about someone she hadn't seen in years… they'd lost contact… yet, right now, the sight of Amy chatting it up with her boyfriend was the happiest thing she'd experienced in what felt like years… Amy, despite everything and all the time, she was a friend…
Somehow, the other girl heard the squeak of breathless excitement even across the restaurant and, her reaction was priceless. Shoving her bag into Jonathon's chest, she took off like a living torpedo, slamming into Maggie and locking both arms around the smaller woman.
Maggie closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of caring in strong arms and the breath against her neck… Amy laughed, bouncing on her heels, squealing in excitement… Amy still cared, even after all this time… Maggie, groaning, hugged her right back, ignoring the annoyed waitress who had gotten knocked out of the way by the hyper-active little pagan.
Maggie desperately prayed that Amy would be staying.
Only in Pine Valley could two women reunite after, what, years? Shaking his head at the sight of the two women sitting at the table, chattering, he simply enjoyed the image of Maggie laughing like she should… but, with a sigh, Jonathon turned away, stepping out into the morning air and dug his phone from the pocket, quickly punching in the numbers.
And, like always, all he got was the message, "Hey, this is Ryan Lavery. I'm not around right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to ya as soon as I can, okay?"
He snapped the cell shut, shoving it into his pocket, shaking his head in irritation, and, finally, he slammed his open hand into the brick at his side… the flash of pain cleared some of the haze of his anger away and, with the cacophony of his fears cleared, he let his eyes wander.
He was an adult, he could handle this, he could take care of all of this… rubbing his aching hand, he studied the gum stuck to the sidewalk, decided somebody needed to pick it up… he crouched, fingernails catching onto the sticky, dirty pink mess… he picked at it, tore it away and rolled it up, rolled the mess between fingers before straightening and tossing it into the bushes at his side.
His mind was quiet and, for a long moment, he stood silent, considering going to Fusion, telling Rye… no, he was an adult, he could handle this, deal with this like an adult… he was an adult. He had to go back anyway, had to get his car… he turned, headed back in to tell Mags that he would be gone the rest of the day and would be home later.
She stared down at the black and white image, fingers tracing the words that ran across the page of straight lines… "Chandler Baby Memorial"… she looked up, her dark eyes settling on the phone, waiting for her to type in JR's number. She turned from the paper, turned away from the phone, wrapping her arms around herself as she forced her mind away from what she should be doing.
Miranda… with Mom and Uncle Jack, happily visiting with her auntie Lily and uncle Reggie. Bianca sighed, ran fingers through her hair and, suddenly, spun, stalking back to the phone and grabbing it up, punching in numbers… "Hi, this is Maggie Stone, but, as you can tell, I'm not around so, leave a message would ya?"
Bianca hung up; flinging the phone down, it hit the floor, bouncing to land beside the couch. Shaking, attempting to block voices from her head, she grabbed her coat and fled her place, intending to find something to block all of this out…
AN: Read and review, people! This belongs with my strange trilogy that includes "Love Story" and "Selfless" and I hope you enjoy it!