Here's another chapter! I'm on a roll here! And to all of you who reviewed, I've left you comments at the bottom of the page. Hope you like this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron.
Chapter 5: One On One
"OK, Jimmy, I know that you think all of this is pointless," Cindy said as they approached James' mansion for the second time that day. "But can you at least act a little supportive?"
Jimmy frowned. "Of course it's pointless, Cindy!" he exclaimed. "James finally got Betty; why should he care about Cynthia?"
Cindy gasped. "How could you say that?" she demanded. "I thought you were all for getting them back together, you—you selfish brat!"
A grin played on Jimmy's face, and he shook his head. "Of course I am. I was just trying to show you how ridiculous that sounds!"
Cindy's mouth dropped open. That wasn't her idea of a joke. "Not helping!" she exclaimed with a huff. "Look, on second thought, just don't say anything. OK?"
Jimmy rolled his eyes as she turned and knocked on the door. Why did she have to act like she was in charge of everything? He was getting pretty sick of it.
James opened the door, and Jimmy and Cindy were reminded of how Cynthia had looked not that long before—dull and listless eyes, pale skin—as if there wasn't any life left in him. Finally he spoke. "Please tell me that you have good news."
Cindy had to admit that James sure didn't look like someone who had just won over the girl of his dreams, but she reminded herself that he was probably only dealing with the consequences of his stupid actions. "Actually, Jimmy couldn't persuade either of us, so I came to hear your side of the story." She smiled. "Is that OK?"
James really didn't want to explain the situation any more, but he did have a soft spot when it came to Cindy. He nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's—that's fine, Cindy." He motioned towards the living room sofa. "If you want, you can have a seat, and"—he turned to Jimmy—"do you want to go see the lab so I can talk with Cindy one on one?"
Jimmy's mouth dropped open. "Are you kidding me?" he exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "That would be the best thing ever!"
James smiled and pointed. "Go down that hall, turn right, and take the elevator on the left down to the basement. You'll have to use the retina scanner before it starts moving downwards, but that shouldn't be a problem."
"Whoa!" Cindy shrieked, eyes widening in awe. "We have an elevator?"
"Cynthia had me install it," James explained.
"Sweet," Cindy muttered. Louder, she asked, "Do you—or did you—always listen to her?"
James nodded. "Most of the time. She's a really big help with my inventions, you know."
"You let her help you with your inventions?" Jimmy gasped in disbelief.
"Yeah." James shrugged. "That's what I just said, isn't it?"
"That's crazy!" Jimmy exclaimed. "Are you out of your mind? You know the rule. No females allowed in the lab."
"Yeah?" James laughed. "Try telling that to your wife." Cindy giggled.
"Well, I'm going to go check it out," Jimmy declared. "Have fun with your little talk." With that, he turned around and went off down the hallway that James had mentioned.
"OK, Cindy, let's get started," James said, taking a seat next to her. "Where should I begin?"
"Well…" Cindy furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "I need you to convince me that you haven't been secretly dating Betty. So why don't we start with the time that you realized that you were in love with me—er, I mean Cynthia?"
James took a deep breath. "Well, I realized I wanted to marry her when we were in college," he began. "I was seventeen years old. You see, when I was twelve I realized that I was ready to go back to Pomona and complete my college degree. By the time I was sixteen I had already earned my masters degree, and I took up a job as a professor while I worked on my doctorate. Cynthia just happened to be in my Physics 101 class. We struck up a friendship, which I found out later was just a part of her plan to embarrass me in front of my class. She was trying to get close to me so that I would share a theory with her that I was working on, but the plan backfired. Not only did I fall in love with her, but she also fell in love with me. I proposed to her and she accepted. We were married in June, immediately after she turned eighteen."
"Wow," Cindy exhaled. "I can't believe you got married so soon. Eighteen is a pretty young age to decide whom you're going to spend the rest of your life with. Besides, didn't you want to wait until you were sure that you could support a family?"
"I admit that I might've rushed things a little," James replied, "but I already was able to support both Cynthia and myself. I had come up with a few inventions that skyrocketed in sales, and I had a steady income flowing from my teaching position. I even owned my own home, although it wasn't quite as big as this one is. I was just so infatuated with her that I felt like I couldn't wait any longer."
"Do you think that was a mistake now?" Cindy asked.
"Well, I had been feeling that way…," James started to say, "but then I decided that no matter what comes of our relationship, the two years we spent together were the best years of my life. I wouldn't trade anything for that."
"You mean, you'd never go back in time to prevent yourself from marrying her?" Cindy wanted to know.
"No, I wouldn't," James said firmly. "I wish that she could see how much I love her. I would never do anything to hurt her like this."
"But what about Betty?" Cindy persisted. "Remember how much you liked her? Don't you still feel that way?"
"Cindy, that was in fifth grade." James shook his head. "I'm twenty now. Do you really think that I would still have a crush on her? She's changed a lot, and I realized a long time ago that she wasn't the one for me."
"You know, I think I'm starting to believe you," Cindy said with a sigh. "This makes everything so much more complicated. All I had to do was try and get you to apologize, but now I'm going to have to help change Cynthia's mind."
"Well, look at it this way: you're the same person," James reminded her. "So if anyone can change her mind about me, wouldn't it be you?"
Slowly a smile spread across Cindy's face. "You're right!" she agreed. "Now all I have to do is come up with a plan."
Thanks for reading Chapter 5! Now, to get on to those comments...
XxDoCxX: Thanks for the quick review! Sorry about the ending. I guess I could've made it stronger... Oh, well. I'm just glad that was the only thing you found wrong with the chapter. Looking forward to your next critique!
The J.A.M. a.k.a Nubmuh i: Cindy just flew off the handle when she heard the story on TV, as did Cynthia when she first heard Betty's story. Then, of course, she wanted to take Cynthia's side immediately. Cynthia already explained her feelings in the last chapter about why she believed Betty and not Jimmy. Libby doesn't necessarily believe Betty; that's why in the first chapter she wanted to hear what James had to say on the radio. However, she does want to stick by her friend and support her view. Last but not least, Jimmy always hides his feelings. Although he may not be happy with the situation, deep down inside he likes being married to Cynthia.
Lady Lola Laflaunda: You've got that right! Maybe Cindy can help clear that up soon. Glad you like the story!
Aaliyah93: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I hope to be a writer in the near future, and I'm a real big grammar freak! LOL. I can't stand when something is incorrect grammatically. I even try to fix my friends' stories, but unfortunately most of them hate it when I do that. To answer your question, James sounds like a smart adult, and not like a surfer dude as he did in TTB.