You and I Both
: I'm so happy that I can breathe a little easier right now. My life had been a living hell lately. Thank you for all who have reviewed, your reviews mean a lot to me. I'd managed to steal times here and there and here you go, chapter sixteen! Hope you enjoy: )
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Chapter sixteen: Not a very happy birthday, Tommy.
-Tommy
The Juice Bar
" Hey, Trini, where's Kim?" Tommy asked. Today was his birthday. Finally, the youngest son of Benjamin Oliver was no longer sixteen. Jason and Zack had kindly thrown a small party at the Juice Bar. The Asian girl glared openly at him, making him raise one eyebrow. " what? Is she okay?"
Kim was absent today. She didn't show up yesterday and after getting the same ' I'm sorry, Tommy, but Kim's gone to bed already,' for the fourth time from Ms. Hart, his worry growing. It just wasn't like her, at all. Tommy's not too sure that her daughter was, like she told him, had tucked in bed and went to the dreamstate already. Jason told him that she wasn't feeling well but she would be just fine. Tommy needed more than that.
" She's fine," was Trini's short answer. She looked down at her hands, clearly avoiding his eyes.
" I don't think so," Tommy moved closer to her and took her glass, putting it on the counter. " come on, tell me. She got me worried,"
Trini gave him a skeptical look. " Oh really?"
Kim was definitely NOT okay. Tommy mused quietly.
The Hart residence
Kim hugged her stuffed animal closer to her chest. This was terrible. She felt like shit.
" Kim, Kimberly," Trini said once she arrived. She practically flew to the park after receiving a phone call from her bestfriend. Kim sounded so empty on the phone and that was no good. Kimberly was never that type of person.
Kimberly lifted her head. She had chosen to stay at the other side of the superstore. On the backdoor to be precised. She didn't want to be seen by Tommy or Marissa. "Trini,"
Kim looked awful. She obviously had been crying, her eyes were red and puffy. Her clothes were soaked and the expression she wore making Trini wince. Kim reminded Trini of a lost child.
" Kim, honey, what happened?" it's already dark by now and it's drizzling. Trini took off her jacket and put it around Kim's shoulder.
To make the story short, Kim explained the whole thing. She had never felt any happier to see her friend. Kim appreciated Trini's offer to go straight to the two persons who had abused Kim, mentally, and kick their ass off to the planet Pluto but no, Kim had told her not to. After what had happened, she didn't want anything to do with a guy under the name Tommy Oliver. End of discussion.
She caught a cold and her fever made the world seemed to spin around. Her body ached everytime she tried to move and her wrist was still cracked. The latter was totally sucks. After doing it almost every single day for the last twelve years, putting gymnastics aside was tormenting. It's a good thing that less than a week, she didn't have to wear the cast anymore.
Kim was as sick as someone could be expected to be after standing under the rain for almost ten minutes straight and twenty minutes for waiting for her bestfriend to pick her up with all wet from head to toes. Kim was as sick as a dog.
Although she could reckon her being sickness had a good side effect. Lying here on her comfortable bed was so much better than being in that birthday party. Jason would brush off all her reasons and since she didn't tell the boys about yesterday's fiasco-,
A knock on her door cut off her trail of thoughts. She didn't open her eyes. Keeping them close reduced all the dizziness. When she replied her voice was hoarse. " Come in," her mother, despite everything, treated her very very well that it touched her. And also doubled the guilt in her heart. Kim, of course, didn't tell Caroline the real reason she went home like a drenched cat. Although her strict refusal to receive any phone calls, Tommy's phone calls had probably made her mother curious and sensed there's something off.
" Kimberly?" a voice asked after the door was closed. Kimberly immediately snapped her eyes open. She felt like she wanted to be sick.
" Tommy?"
Standing on the dark of her room was Tommy Oliver, the last person she wanted to see at the moment. What was he doing in here? What nearly made Kim laugh was the fact that he still got enough guts on him to actually come and see her.
" Yeah, Trini said you're sick so I came," he said as he walked closer. His worry expression looked so sincere that she almost forgot about him and Marissa. Only for a brief second. Her Asian friend's face popped in Kim's mind and she stifled a growl. Trini Kwan! " your mother sent me up here, she thought maybe you could use a company,"
Kim snarled. Her face was hot, both because of the fever and the anger that'd boiled her blood. She didn't even want to ask what the hell he's doing here instead in his birthday party. " I don't want to see you, Tommy. Not now, not ever. Get out," that, she said it. Simple but clear. Something that even his brain could take.
His face went blank. She gave him time until her words sink in completely. " What?"
" Are you deaf or something?" she said harshly. " I said, get out," if only she had the strength, she would've already stood on her her feet and pushed him out of the room. " leave,"
" Okay, so what did I do this time," Tommy crossed his arms. Even in the dark, his eyes seemed to shine, looking at hers.
" Still need to ask? I don't want to explain. Like I said, I don't care. Go away. You don't want me to call for my mother, do you? So she could kick your sorry ass out of this house," Kim shifted a little, glancing away. If only the circumstances were different, she would kick his sorry ass personally.
" You didn't show up yesterday," he began softly. " I tried to call you a couple of times but your mom said you're sleeping already. I was worried,"
" So I was the one who didn't come yesterday?" she had the strength to nearly bark at him.
" You weren't there when I got to the park," Tommy said, pulling out a chair from her desk and planted himself firmly on it. He wouldn't get out until he knew everything was okay between them. " it's raining cats and dogs last night. And then you got sick. I thought maybe you-,"
" Tommy, shut up, get up and get out,"
" What's wrong, Kim? I'm sorry if I did something wrong but-,"
" If?" Kim decided to blurt it out already, not really care about anything anymore. " I saw you, Tommy. Ring a bell?" The sudden change of expression told Kim that she had succeeded in opening his eyes. "now you understand? Get out, get out!"
He rose from his seat under a second. " Kim, I can explain. I was-,"
" I don't care and I don't want to know. But I know I don't want to see you right now," Kim said, blinking back the tears that had blurred her vision. The ache in her heart had no match, not even to the headache she had. " please, Tommy?" to stress her words, Kim moved and lay on her side with her back towards him.
The first drop of her tears streaked down across her face and landed on the pillow when she finally heard the soft thud of the door being closed, knowing that he might have just walked out of her life and not just her room.
Tommy pressed his forehead against the wall beside Kim's room. Everything was perfect. Was. Now it's ruined.
Tommy tapped at the steeringwheel, following the rhythm of the country music played on the tape. He was not a fan of country music, but this one was not too bad. It's David's, actually. He must have just grabbed the case and forgot about the cassette. See? It was not just him. The bad memory. It ran in the family.
Tomorrow was his birthday and today was the day where he would go on a date with Kimberly, or collect the down payment, like he had pointed it out. It's all the same. Him, Kimberly, together. Whatever they called it was not the problem.
If he didn't make it to the Park in fifteen minutes, that would be a problem. And there's something that he thought would definitely extend his time to get to the park.
" Marissa?" the traffic light was still red. With the jeep position on the left line of the road, he couldn't miss the sight of the auburn girl, crying. It was a busy avenue so meeting her here was not too surprising. But seeing a sixteen year old girl crying in the middle of a busy street was kind of confusing.
" Tommy?" she lifted her head, looking surprise yet a little bit relief.
" Are you okay?" he had to ask. It's just in his nature. Then her lips started to quiver and he knew she was about to cry again. Impatient honks startled him. The light was green already. " get in the car,"
She seemed to be hesitant for a while but then walked around and climbed into the passenger seat.Tommy looked at his watch and swore under his breath. Kim would kill him, that's for sure.
" So, what happened?" he asked as he steered the jeep to the direction to the Park. Tommy glanced at her before returning his eyes back to the road. Kim would not like this.
" It's, I just got a terrible news from my mother," Marissa said, both of her hands clutching her skirt tightly. Tommy waited for her to continue. " my grandmother, she, she died," her tears broke free once again. " she has a heart attack this afternoon,"
Tommy went quiet. He didn't know what to say except offering his condolences." I'm sorry," his grandmother from his father's side had also gone already. It happened when he was twelve. That was a hard time for him, especially when he'd developed a strong bond with Nana Andie. It crushed him when Dad delivered the bad news. He still wrote to grandma Georgie every once in a while, but even though he loved her just as much as he loved Nana Andie, it wasn't the same.
" We're taking the night flight to Canada and I thought I could use some fresh air, you know," she said between sobs. " I hope it would do me good,"
" I understand," he nodded in understanding. " do you want me to drop you off to your house? Or somewhere else?"
" If you don't mind, I was hoping you could accompany me for a while? I don't want to go home, it upsets me to see my parents break down," she whimpered, looking at him with teary eyes. Tommy tried to concentrate at the road. He couldn't turn her down. Based on experience, he knew that Marissa wouldn't be alone right now.
" Why don't we get you a nice cup of hot chocolate? I know a place that serves the best chocolate in town," which was located near the park. Tommy continued in his mind. He could leave for a while and go to Kim. She wouldn't be happy but she would understand, Tommy knew that.
Marissa gave him a light smile. " Thank you. I appreciate it so much, Tommy,"
With that he drove them to the Angel Grove Park, sighing when he saw he was ten minutes late already.
The Small Café could be found at the Grove superstore. You couldn't exactly call it a café actually, but it's nice, nonetheless. He ordered drinks for them and they sat at the table near the window.
" My grandmother, she used to make me a hot chocolate whenever it's raining," she wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
Now that she mentioned it, Tommy noticed that the weather had changed. The sky's no longer brilliant blue anymore. His eyes looked at the swaying trees. Tommy turned to Marissa, who now had resumed her sobs.
" I have to go for a while," he stood up from his chair. " I promised Kim I would meet her at five and it's five thirty right now,"
" Oh," Marissa looked up at him. " I'm sorry. I don't know that-,"
" It's okay," he assured her. " let me take Kim here, okay? Then we all can talk,"
" No, I'm fine. You should go to her. I'm sorry, it's just," Tommy's eyes widened when she began to cry again. Dealing with crying girls was not his department. Never. Marissa grabbed a tissue paper from the table." Could you stay for a little while? Just ten minutes, I just, I don't want to be alone,"
" Marissa…,"
" Then you and I go to Kimberly," she went on. " I'll explain to her what made you come late and I'll go home by myself,"
His eyes softened and he sat back. Just 10 minutes… Kimberly would understand.
Instead in those 10 minutes, it started to rain heavily. Tommy moved on his seat. This started eating him alive.
" Wait here, I'll be right back," he stated, getting up to his feet. " don't go anywhere,"
When he arrived at the place they had promised to meet up at, Kimberly was not there. He had assumed that she possibly had gone to someplace to get cover from the rain.
She did, didn't she?
Now she was lying on the bed, with cold and high fever. She obviously scolded him for not being there yesterday and for being with Marissa while she was out there under the rain. Kim saw them together and had misinterpreted it.
Damn.
" Tommy," Ms. Hart called out when he's walking pass by the living room. " going home already?" she was sitting on the comfy pale green colored sofa. Tommy impulsively walked closer. She stood up, lying the book she was reading on the table. ' How to Make a Simple and Delicious Dinner for Your Family' was the title. Now he was sure, he had seen the same cooking book in his house. Either it's a very popular guide book about how-to-make-a-decent-meal right now or it was a gift from his father.
" Yeah, Kim needs her rest," Tommy didn't know what reason Kim'd told her mother but judging from Caroline's warm smile, it seemed that Kim didn't let her know her real reason.
" Ah, happy birthday, by the way," Ms. Hart outstretched her arms and hugged the tall boy. " it's a shame that Kim chose this day to get sick," she joked. " that kid has prepared...," Tommy's eyes followed her. She picked up a small bundle of wrapped gift from the sofa and handed it to him. " I think this is your birthday present from Kim. She left it here after wrapping it up,"
" Thank you,"
After saying good bye to Kim's mother, Tommy walked to his jeep. He felt guilty. So very very much. It shouldn't happen this way. This wasn't the plan. He's not too sure if he wanted to get back to that party. He should, he knew that. But the thought of Kim refused to leave his mind.
' To Tommy Oliver'
It's written in front of the blue envelope that was sticked on one side of the present. He opened it and pulled out the card inside.
' I won't say anything! Unwrapped this A.S.A.P!' – Kimberly
Tommy smiled sadly. He leaned back and slowly began to rip the polkadots wrapped paper. He found a small bear in it and Tommy couldn't help his laugh. She was the first girl that had ever given him a stuffed animal. The first. And the only. That's why Kim was so special.
There's a paper on the bear's smiling mouth that said, ' Kiss me!'
Kiss it? Was this for real? As silly as this looked, he secretively stealing a glance or two at the neighbourhood around him just to make sure there's noone near him to see him kiss a bear. And he did kiss it.
The sound that came out after his mouth left the bear's nearly made him drop it. It was talking! With Kim's voice. Okay…
' Hey, you. I'll give you time to recover, just in case you've never seen a talking bear before,' Tommy smiled. ' so, this thing is cute, huh? Honestly, what drew me to it was its smile. Cocky, full of confidence. A perfect duplicate of yours, Tommy. I found this at the mall, which reminds me, I've never dragged you to come along with me. Don't worry, Tommy dear, your time is near. Even I took Billy to come with me!' he laughed. Jason and the others had told him about Kim's infamous shopping trips. Meanwhile, the bear kept talking. ' okay, anyway I should go quick. This brand new talking bear only offered one time chance to speak so no mistakes are accepted here. I only have eight minutes and thanks to my babbling, it leaves me about six minutes and forty seven seconds to go.
So, today is your birthday. I won't start with saying all the cliches, like I hope you get everything you want in your life, or I wish you all the best in the world, or that you have to be better than the previous year! Oops. I think I just said them, didn't I? But one thing I couldn't not mention. DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT MEMORY OF YOURS! It gets worse and worse by the day. Tommy grinned. He could picture her standing in front of him with her hands planted on her hips and saying all that.
And… don't change. Yeah, you hear me right, Buddy. I actually don't want you to change from an egoistic, selfish, irritating, arrogant, mean jerk with a short term memory into a good, angelic, perfect your parents' dutiful son. Gosh! Look what you've done to me! You're such a bad influence, Oliver.
But of course, I don't mind if you can act nicer, kinder, more polite, more gentle, more understanding, sympathetic towards me. I also won't mind a double cheeseburger, French fries and a strawberry milkshake that you could leave anytime in my locker. Or my home. Hint hint. Doing backflips is tiring, you know.
Another thing. You should stop that habit I noticed you'd developed lately. Stop blaming yourself. You know, like that one time when your student twisted his ankle so he has to miss the Junior Karate Competition. It's not like you could've prevented it. You're not even there. That's not your fault. Understood? Okay, forty seconds left.
I'll stick to my promise. I'll give you that alarm clock first thing in the morning so you wouldn't have any excuses to be late again. And Mr. Kent wouldn't find a motive to use you to practise his abnormal punishment. Wow, two presents! That means you have to at least give me three on my birthday. Kidding.
Once again, happy birthday, Tommy Oliver.
P.S. : If you want to hear my lovely, beautiful voice again, just follow the instruction. Kiss me!
The record ended there. Tommy closed his eyes, pressing the bear to his chest.
Kimberly Hart.
He would fix this mess. He must.
Just wait, Beautiful…
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: Finally, I used the beloved nickname! That's the end of this chapter and thank you for reading. I didn't center this chapter around Tommy's birthday but I gave some explanations about what had happened. If the next week isn't as bad as before, the next chapter should be up soon. Please don't forget to leave your reviews, they brightened up my sucky days. NO FLAME!
- Yuuri ; )
