Another blank page and I have NO IDEA how to gear this story toward the ending I want… I shall just have to start and see what they do and HOPE… :sits and sighs toward screen:
When we landed in Carmel, everyone was there waiting. Well, OK, not 'everyone,' but the whole Ackerman clan. Mom, Andy, David, Jake, and Dope—err, Brad. Old habits die hard… Mom and Andy still lived there, but the other three didn't. Strike that, Brad did. He was a fitness trainer in the area. Jake was a cop in San Francisco. A/N: I couldn't put Jesse or Paul in a uniform as I've seen done in fics, (drool drool), so I did this instead! David went to a community college in Wisconsin. Kidding. He went to one you might've heard of… Yahlay or something. Kidding again. He went to Yale. Restrain your shock, please. He was a major in some science field whose name I can never remember. Now, I'm not in a position to find any of the Ackerman men attractive, but absence makes the heart grow… less revolted… I could see why they all had girlfriends. I couldn't see why one of them was Debbie Mancuso, but that's Brad's bad taste. They had been on-again-off-again practically since graduation. It'd be nice if they'd stop dumping each other, but their getting married would mean seeing her at family reunions! Shudder. Jake was going out with some girl who had once been falsely accused of something or other… She was an author. She made it sound like he had seen her truly innocent heart when no one else would… which might be true, but she does write romantic fiction. Her name was Tina. That's there for Proma ! (because her name is Tina, remember,) and also for Tina Hakim-Baba whose name popped into my head with the romance fiction thing… Keep in mind that I'm finding this stuff out about at exactly the same time you are… And David was with a Philosophy major. She was probably about as smart as him, but he was all facts and she was all concepts. David wrote me a lot.
I hugged Mom, Andy, and David. Sounds mean, I know, but Brad and Jake didn't exactly mind. No one said anything out of the ordinary until we were in the car. Gina and Claire got a rental. Tim had been in the back last I'd seen. Jake finally broke the silence.
"So you're fiancé is… a ghost?"
"Yups."
"Are you nuts?"
"Nope."
"I liked it better when I thought you were in a gang."
"Lovely."
Mom decided to interrupt then. "So is he… umm… here now?"
"No," I replied patiently. "The car's too small."
"I see…"
"Some people have met him… Claire has…" I left it open in case someone decided to add something.
"I have…" Trust David! He always was my favorite.
"What?" Andy exclaimed incredulously.
"Yeah, that one time, when Suze was at the school exorcizing that girl who killed herself and Jesse couldn't go save her so he came to my room and told me to go get her, remember? Man, it was scary. And half the school fell down and they said it was a highly centralized earthquake?"
"Umm… yeah," I agreed.
"THAT was what you were doing at the school?"
"No, of course not. My gang was having a meeting."
"Suze!"
"Yes, that was what I was doing at the school. So, anyone else seen Jesse?" I asked pointedly.
"No," Brad replied.
"Brilliant response."
David looked twice at him, but everyone else seemed to think he was just being himself.
"So umm… Susie… how are you planning to… err… have the wedding?"
"Well, we've found a tux for Jesse…" A man about Jesse's size had died at a black-tie affair and was willing to lend him the tux. I reminded him that no one would care if he showed up in his usual outfit, but he said it didn't feel right, and Claire was on his side because weddings were supposed to be… yaddah yaddah yaddah. Claire had mentioned how funny it would be if she mediated the owner of the tux during the wedding and his clothes went with him and Jesse's clothes were suddenly gone. I agreed that it would be incredibly funny, but that if she did it, I would have to kill her. Gina was under instructions not to let her leave the chapel during the ceremony, just in case. "And I'm wearing Mom's dress from when she married… from her first wedding. And Father Dom's marrying us, of course."
"Didn't you invite your old friend… Paul?"
I gagged. "The fact that he isn't dead yet is not my fault."
"Yeah. I heard he was behind that kidnapping."
"You heard from whom, Brad?" asked his father curiously.
"Oh… you know… her friends…"
"Which ones?" I asked, having fun now.
"Umm… CeeCee…"
"Really? 'Cause I could've sworn CeeCee heard it from you…"
"Umm… Adam?"
"I'm pretty sure he'd have told CeeCee first…"
"Well… it was someone."
"Of course it was…" David was now looking between Brad and me. But apparently, most people don't immediately think that the informant might've been dead, because no one else did.
"Whatever."
"Oh, and Jack's coming to the wedding. He's flying first class. He'll be here tomorrow."
"Who?" My mother looked blank.
"Jack Slater. Paul's little brother?"
"Why is he going but not Paul?"
"Because Paul is evil and Jack is cute."
"Oh…"
"Paul kidnapped Jack too… Stupid bastard was gonna kill me…"
"Susannah!" That was Mom.
"Well it's true!"
Andy changed the subject to how we'd missed Carmel. Well, except for Brad.
When it turned to my turn, I said "Well, I really missed Debbie." I thought a moment. "No, wait, I'm wrong."
"Suze!"
"Yeah, yeah…"
Then the topic changed to the weather. Yeah, that wasn't contrived. A/N: Can anyone think of a less… you know… literate word than "contrived"? cuz we kno our Susie isn't the brightest fish in the drawer. Sorry. Am sick, am cranky, and am taking it out on EVERYONE! But eventually, we got to 99 Pine Crest, where we were staying. I went up to my old room, and Jesse was already sitting on the window seat, just like he used to. The guys were helping me with my suitcases and Mom was walking us up.
"Oh, hey! Guys, Jesse. Jesse, you know Mom, Andy, David, Jake, and… umm… that other one."
"Susie!"
"And Brad. Whatever."
"Nice to meet you," said Jesse politely to the two or so people who may have been able to hear him.
"You too!" responded David excitedly, because an actual dead person was actually talking to him and no one was in danger.
"What did he say?" asked Andy.
"He said screw all you people," answered Brad.
"Bradley!" his father rebuked.
"He said 'nice to meet you,'" corrected David.
"Umm… You too!" Mom replied courteously.
"So, Jesse, did Gina and Claire get to their hotel?"
"If they hadn't arrived safely, I seriously doubt I should be here now."
"Fair point. Hey Mom, have CeeCee and Adam gotten here from Seattle yet?"
"They're driving over." With gas prices what they were, of course, they had an electric car. A/N: Remember, u guyz, it's 10 yrs in d future, so gas prices r gonna be like 200 bucks per gallon or some'n… "They'd crossed the border into California this morning when they called, so it should just be a couple more hours."
"Wow! I'm unbelievably bored just thinking about it!" I caught a glimpse of green from my hand. "Oh, that's right, Mom! You haven't seen my ring!" I displayed it proudly.
"Oh, Susie! It's gorgeous!" Brad quietly left the room. Well, not quietly, but he obviously thought he was. Jesse followed him. They could actually talk if no one else was around. I doubted that was high on Brad's priority list, but who cared about Brad? Jesse just wanted to be acknowledged. And possibly to annoy him because of the "screw you all" comment in front of a lady. Mom, not me. Hah.
"Thanks for the moving help, guys! And Brad, wherever he went…"
They left my room to help the boys get settled and I lay down on my old bed. This room was very girly, wasn't it? Nostalgia swept over me for a moment, and then boredom. So I went to check up on the girls and Tim. They were, of course, fine, though Gina complained that it was kind of weird listening to the other two talk since she couldn't see or hear Tim… We girl-talked for a bit and then I went home. The week passed in a pretty uneventful way, but it seemed interesting to me because I kept getting to see people I'd missed. Wow. It sounds really boring reading it. That's pretty cool! Like I'm normal or something! And then the wedding day. Yay!