Okay, I decided to separate the paragraphs better so you could read it better! Sorry it took so long, but I'm new at this…so it might get better as I go along writing!

Chapter 10: The Reunion
Jack's Point of View

After watching Rose walk confidently into Chippewa Falls High, I got into my car and started it up. Looking at the clock, I groaned; it said it was 5 minutes before I was supposed to already be at work. Driving away, I smiled. Rose was so good for me. She had broken down the walls I had built up around my heart, and now sang a sweet song to soften the pain. It was working, and I couldn't believe anyone would take the time to love me. I hadn't cared that she had seen my cry; many guys would die before letting a girl see them cry. But I was different; us guys have feelings too. And it was also different because I had felt something for Rose that I hadn't felt with any girl I'd ever dated before. There was a bonding, and trust that was an underlying understanding that we both shared in each other.

As she had described what Cal was like, I shuddered. Hell on earth. That's what it seemed like to me. Yet she was so sweet after grandma and I had showed here there was nothing to be afraid of here. We had coaxed her into the light, and she was standing looking at me with trust in her eyes for me to show her the way. I would try as hard as I could fulfill her needs, and be as understanding and loving as possible. I didn't deserve someone like her, but for some reason she had come along in my life. It was the first time in a long time that something had hit me in between the eyes and sent me a message that said, "You asked for help, here she is". It took me awhile to act like I cared, but it was the way she had of melting any thought of pushing her away like I had every one else that told me she was special. She was so full of spunk and fervor for life.

I parked in front of the blue and yellow building named Frankie's, and opened my door. Running to the front door, I opened it and burst inside leaving the bell ringing in my ears.

"About time you got here, Dawson." My boss said from behind the counter.

"Sorry Frankie, I had something to do this morning. And I'm on time."

The big man grunted, "By a minute."

I had to smile at his gruff voice. He would never fire me even if I was late. He seen me as too good a worker. I walked up to the door, slipped through it, and came up behind the man quietly.

"You have anything for me to do?"

He jumped off his chair and pretended to glare at me. I smiled. My boss and I had a friendship that consisted of teasing each other and getting on each other's nerves when he was in a bad mood.

"I promise, Dawson, you could be a tracker you move so noiselessly. Ms. Moore has been waiting for 15 minutes in the waiting room for you to get here. You know she won't settle for Timothy to work on her car. No," Frankie tried to imitate Ms. Moore's voice, "I must have Jack do it. He has worked on my car ever since I had that car, and no one else will do."

I burst out laughing, "You just did an excellent imitation of her, Frankie, complete with the hand motions. I'll go see what she wants done."

"Not to mention that Jack put your transmission in wrong. 'Well, he must have been having a bad day then.'"

"No, a very good day, Frankie. That's when-"

"Stop talking and get to work, boy!" he yelled in mock anger.

I shook my head and laughed. I walked into Frankie's waiting room, if you could call it that, and looked for Ms. Moore. Ms. Moore looked up from her Home Interior's magazine.

"You have finally gotten here! I have been sitting here for 15 minutes waiting for you to get here. I need my brakes fixed, remember you told me they had to be changed in about 3 months? Well, it's been 3 months."

"Okay, it won't take long."

"Thank you. I need to get to my salon appointment. I have a dinner to go to tonight, and must look presentable."

"You always look more than presentable Ms. Moore."

"Don't you start giving me that, go tell that to your girlfriend. I'm too old for you too be flirting with."

Your not that old; you can't be older than 50."

"Oh, go away. I ain't telling anybody my age."

I laughed and turned to walk away. Ms. Moore was one of our regular customers, always getting her precious '62 Ford worked on. The woman had to be around 65, but I enjoyed having a little fun and teasing her.

"Bout time you got here, Jack." Another one of Frankie's workers named Adam called to me as they saw me walk towards Ms. Moore's car.

"I had to drop my girlfriend off at school, and she held me up." I knew it wouldn't get past them.

"More like you held her up."

"Really, she locked me outside my car while she was in there filing her nails. Then she started it up and threatened to drive away while I was leaning against it. I finally thought to check and see if my door was unlocked and she'd left it unlocked the whole time, and I didn't even think of it."

The guys laughed. I saw Adam get underneath another car. He glanced over at me, "So what's the real story?" He emphasized the word real.

"That is the real story."

"Right, Dawson. We know you better than your grandmother does."

"I don't know about that, I think she's kinda psychic sometimes."

I opened the car's hood and propped it up. It was going to be another long day. 'I wonder what Rose is doing right now?' I wondered. Probably in class listening to the teachers drone on and on about something boring like the rules of the classroom. 3:00 couldn't come fast enough.

2:55

My foot tapped the floor and glanced at the clock again for the 5th time that minute. Only one minute from the last time I looked. 2:55. This Modern Interior magazine was killing me. I guess a woman would want to look at something like this that showed you all kinds of things to do to fix up their house. But why would a guy? They would if they'd already looked at every popular mechanics and motor trend one within the last couple weeks. My eyes ran across a page that had an ad for Huggie diapers. The magazine was going on the table, I thought as I threw it on the table by my chair. Frankie had let me off 10 minutes early because there was nothing else to do. My eyes flew to the clock, realizing I hadn't looked at it in the last second or two. Close enough I thought as I jumped up from my chair, I would just have to sit there and wait for her to come out of the building.

"Later Frankie!"

"See ya tomorrow Jack!" I heard him call as I walked out of the door.

When I got to the high school, I pulled up on the curb and waited for school to let out. I laid my head back against the headrest and I closed my eyes. My stomach growled and I remembered I hadn't eaten anything since about 11:30. There was a knock at my window and I jumped, my gaze flying to the person. God, she was so beautiful. She grinned at me and backed away, waiting for my door to open. I motioned for her to get in the other side, but she shook her head. I opened my door and immediately took her into my arms.

"I missed you." Her eyes were sparkling from the sun that was shining on her. There was a sunny halo around her fiery hair that was glowing.

"I missed you too." My hands rubbed a spot on the small of her back, and I smiled when I felt a chill go down her spine.

"I want you to meet someone, Jack." All of a sudden she was serious. There was something in her eyes that said I had to, whether I wanted to or not.

"Okay," I agreed, and let her go. She started walking behind the building to the field and a couple jungle gyms that were still there. Two figures sat on them, and I had a feeling that they were who Rose wanted me to meet.

As we came closer I saw that they were two guys who were about 18 and 19 years old. They were comfortable, chatting away and I heard some of what they were talking about. Going to the basketball field and playing some one on one. I hadn't played basketball in such a long time, just because there wasn't really anyone to play with.

A flashback captured my attention for a second, and I saw Fabri and I playing on the ball court a couple blocks away from the school. Fabri. I hadn't thought about him for so long. The familiar ache settled in my stomach, knowing how hurt he must have been with me just leaving. I couldn't handle answering the questions and showing the emotion that I'd locked away. That was then, though. But I would probably never see or talk to him again. He could've moved back to Italy. Or he could still be mad at me, and not want to talk to me even if I did see him somewhere again.

"You stay here, Jack. I'll wave you over when it's okay to come." The pressure on my arm from her hand warned me not to disagree.

I nodded. "Okay."

She walked to the gym and climbed up on it. The guys were surprised like they hadn't been expected him, but welcomed her anyway. I strained to hear some of the conversation.

"Sorry, I know this is your place to talk-" I heard Rose say.

"Don't worry about it, we were just going to go to the basketball court to play a game." The statement was spoken by a 18 looking red headed guy.

"Okay. I want to introduce you to someone," said Rose.

A black haired guy started to turn around.

"No, don't turn around. And don't look. In fact, close your eyes."

I smiled; this must be something special for her.

"Okay, hurry. I hate suspense, just to let you know." Said the red headed guy. The guy with the black mop of hair still hadn't spoken. He seemed familiar, but I didn't know anyone from the high school. And how could I recognize someone from the back and that I'd never met. Well, I could recognize Rose from the back, but…

I stopped the thought when I saw Rose wave to me. I started walking toward them and climbed up on the jungle gym, all the memories from the school coming back after 5 years. I looked at the red headed guy and remembered that I had seen him in school, but never went up and talked to him because he was in the "bad crowd" which wasn't so bad anymore. They were the cool people. Looking back, I almost laughed. I had thought I was so cool.

When I looked over at the face of the black haired guy, I almost fell off the jungle gym. Fabri. I couldn't stay here; what if he was furious at me? I couldn't stay here and endure the pain of him rejecting me like everyone-. No, Rose hadn't. Remember that, I forced myself.

I felt a hand on my arm and knew she had read my thoughts. She looked at me and I saw her love in the actions.

"It's okay. Really. Stay here, please." There was something in her voice that made me listen to her.

I nodded. The red headed guy head tilted to the side and a smile grew on his face. I had a feeling he knew who was here.

When Rose turned to the read head, I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down.

"Okay Tommy, you can open your eyes." She said softly.

His eyes flew open and his gaze met mine. His mouth dropped open,

"J-"

Rose touched his arm and shook her head. He understood, Fabri would freak out.

"You're Rose's boyfriend?" Tommy asked.

I nodded.

I heard Rose say softly to Fabri "You can open your eyes now Fabri."

"What could be so important-" he gasped and shock showed on his face.

"Jack!" He reached out and touched me, probably making sure he wasn't just dreaming. "Where have you been!"

"I couldn't come back, man. I couldn't handle the questions that were going to be asked. And as much as I loved you and you were best friend, I couldn't even face you."

He nodded as tears fell from his eyes. He swiped at his eyes. "I can't believe you're still here. 5 years. I counted, Jack."

I knew he would. We had been brothers, even though not biologically. It was like seeing my brother after 5 years of being away from him.

"I'm such a wimp, crying because you came back."

"Hey, guys can cry too." I muttered.

I looked for Rose. She wasn't there. My eyes flew to the ground below us and then to the field. I saw her form slip around the other side of the building. My heart swelled with the love that ran through me. She had left us alone, knowing it was a private moment. I would never be able to thank her.

I heard the wonder in Tommy's voice as he said "You have something good in that girl, Jack. Don't you let her go or I'll-"

"Oh believe me, I don't plan on letting her get away any time soon."

"When did she come here?" Fabri asked.

"Around October 5."

"And Today's December 14. How long have you been going out?" Tommy's curiosity was getting the best of him.

I smiled. "For 2 months."

They whistled.

"So you wanna go play some ball while we catch up on the 5 years you've been away?" Fabri asked, his Italian accent still the same as I remembered it.

"Sure!"