Due to your incredible encouragement, I have decided to add another chapter! But seriously guys, this is it. No more after this. This one has a good sense of closure, which I thought the first chapter had and we all saw how that turned out. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
I woke up late the next morning even though I don't usually sleep in. Then again, I don't usually stay up until three in the morning in front of my house making out with teen geniuses. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have gotten up out of bed. Not only because I was exhausted but also because I wanted to replay the events from last night as many times as I could. Then, not long after I woke, my phone rang, reminding me that Jimmy was supposed to call me, as he promised last night.
But as a precaution, I checked the caller ID before answered. And to be honest, I should have been anticipating this phone call more.
"Hi, Libby." I spoke a groggily into the phone.
"Oh good, you're awake. I'll be over in a half hour!" Before I could even get a word in, she hung up. I smiled knowing she couldn't wait for me to recall last night's events to her.
As promised, exactly thirty minutes later, Libby entered my bedroom after I allowed her to enter. I had just finished making my bed and sat down on it, Libby doing the same.
"So, happy new year!" I said, realizing that this is the first time I've seen her since midnight.
"Never mind that." Libby waved it off. "How did it go with Jimmy last night?" Her eyes lit up as she spoke.
"What makes you think anything happened? We haven't spoken since last night."
"Please, it's practically radiating off you."
"Is not!" I fought back.
"What happened?"
And so I told her everything. From the second I was searching for Neutron in Sheen's house to the kiss we shared on my front steps. Libby was, as always, being a very good listener. Not interrupting and saving all questions until the end.
"Why do you think you did it?" She asked.
"Did what?"
"Confront Jimmy and admit to what you've known all along. And especially now, I mean while the timing's good, it just seems kind of...abrupt."
"I don't know. I guess I just came to the realization that Jimmy and I are the best thing for each other. We make each other better. It would be a crime against nature to allow anyone or anything, especially people like Olivia, to stand in the way of us being together." I smiled and looked back at her. The way she smiled back at me told me that she completely understood what I was saying.
Without a word of recognition from either of us, she continued.
"So what next?" She said with a shred of suggestiveness.
"Not what you're probably thinking, I'll tell you that much." She laughed. "No, once we were out here, we pretty much kissed until we ran out of breath. He said he'd call me in the morning if that was okay with me, which I said it was."
"So that would explain why you've been holding on to your phone since you sat down." I looked down at my hands and sure enough, there was my phone gripped in between my hands. I instantly released it.
"Which is dumb since he's clearly not going to. He said he'd call in the morning. And look, it's almost one." I turned my phone's screen on and held it up to Libby so she could see the time.
"I'm sure he just meant he'll call when he wakes up."
"Whatever." Then as if he knew we were talking about him, my ringtone blasted from my phone with Neutron's name on the caller ID. My eyes widened in shock.
"Is that him?" Libby asked anxiously.
"Yeah." I replied but did nothing else.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Answer it!" I nodded and pressed the 'answer' key.
"Hello?" I spoke once I had the phone up to my ear.
"Good afternoon Vortex." I smirked at the fact that despite everything that happened with us last, we were still on a last name basis with each other.
"Neutron. A little late calling there aren't we? What, did you get in late last night and were so tired that you slept until noon?"
"And who do you think is to blame for that?" I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see.
"So what did you need to talk to me about?"
"What makes you think I need to talk to you about anything?"
"Well, you didn't call just to hear the sound of my voice."
"Maybe I did." I froze. I looked over at Libby, who raised her eyebrow at how smooth she probably thought that was.
"And now you're hearing it." I quickly recovered. "Is there anything you need me to say with it?"
"As a matter of fact, there is. Say yes. Come down to the lab." Neutron requested.
"For what?"
"So we can talk."
"We're talking now."
"Oh, for the love of-." Libby exclaimed as she reached out and snatched the phone from my hand. "Jimmy? It's Libby...the lab?... an hour?...okay, sounds good. She'll see you then... No problem, bye." She tossed the phone onto the bed and smiled at me as if she did nothing wrong.
"What the hell was that?"
"Jimmy wants you to go over to the lab in about an hour to talk. At least that's what he said. What you two actually do down there is your business. Now, get dressed."
"What are you talking about?"
"Cindy, I hope you don't think you're going to meet Jimmy in your pajamas."
"And why should I go down there at all?"
Libby turned back around and sighed heavily, as if she were preparing to explain something to a small child. "Because based on what you told me happened last night, you and Jimmy have a real shot of having something special. Weren't you just saying that you refuse to allow anything to stand in the way of you two being together? Maybe you should think a little close to home. You," She emphasised the 'you' like she was about to insinuate that I was the problem. "need to stop being so proud and stubborn. Jimmy's totally taking the right approach, he's actually trying."
"So you're on Team Neutron now?"
"No. I'm on Team Jindy."
"Team what?"
"Jindy. It's you and Jimmy's couple name."
"Our what?"
"Your couple name!" She said exasperatedly. "You know, when you put two people's names, usually a couple's, together so it makes one word."
"We have a couple name." Allowing it to sink it rather than confirm it. "Who else knows about this?"
"Oh, just me, Sheen, Carl and the whole school." She thought she could say that last part soft enough so that I wouldn't hear her. She was wrong.
"WHAT?"
"Cindy," she sounded like she was getting impatient. "It's not like what you and Jimmy have isn't obvious. Clearly, there's an attraction between the two of you. One that everyone, and I do mean everyone, can see. Don't even pretend you're completely oblivious to it."
"Oblivious to Jimmy and mine's attraction or the fact that everyone can see it?"
"Both. Okay, I'm going to go. Go over to Jimmy's and tell me everything. Well, depending on what happens, maybe not everything. I don't want all the details." I laughed along with a grin.
"Fine. I'll go over and see how it goes. And you already know that I'm going to tell you everything."
"I do. Alright, great! I will talk to you later then." She got up and starting walking towards my bedroom door.
"Bye." I spoke as she was making her way out.
"Oh, and Cindy," she turned back around, apparently forgetting something. "Be nice." She completed with a stern look.
"I'm always nice." I defended myself.
"Sure." Libby spoke as she walked out the door and shut it behind her.
About an hour later, I found myself crossing the street and walking towards the entrance of Neutron's precious lab. While I don't come here very often, I'm relieved that he installed a more logical way for people that don't have his DNA to enter the lab safely.
For his personal use, he still had that DNA scanner. For everyone else's, it was as simple as an intercom system that connected to the lab. All that had to be done was to press a button that acted as a doorbell.
I pressed it once and waited a few seconds for his answer.
"Hello?"
"Neutron, it's Cindy."
"Alright, come on down." A buzzer rang and I opened the door to the clubhouse. The only way to actually get to the lab is the same as it's always been: a slide. I stepped to the hole in the wall where the slide was kept and slid down it, preparing myself for the rough landing. One that surprisingly never came. Instead, I found that I landed on a mattress earlier placed to soften my landing.
Still mildly surprised, I didn't even notice when Neutron appeared out of nowhere and held his hand out to me.
"Glad to see you could come." He spoke.
"Wouldn't miss it." I replied as I placed my hand in his and he helped me up. He instantly walked over to a table and pour something from a bottle into two champagne glasses.
"Is that what I think it is?" I asked as I approached him.
"Relax, it's sparkling cider."
"I didn't say anything." He turned and handed me a glass. "So what's this for?"
"Well, I realized we didn't get to toast to the celebration that is the new year last night, so I figured, might as well do it now."
"Hmm." I sighed as we clinked glasses and drank the liquid inside. "Alright," I began as I reached over to the table behind Jimmy and sat my drink down. "Quit stalling, Neutron. What's this all about?"
"The truth?"
"Preferably."
"Alright," he set his drink down as well. "Cindy, I think we need to talk about our relationship."
And there goes another thing that I was not expecting him to say.
"What relationship?" I asked coldly.
"I'm serious."
"So am I. What do you mean by that? Because if you haven't noticed, we don't have much of a relationship. Hell, we barely have a friendship, Jimmy. We...can't stand each other half the time."
"But the other half when we do, that's the silver lining, isn't it? What if we could make most of our time together good ones? If we could have repeats of last night all the time or at least more often?"
"We can't."
"Why not?"
"Because that's just the way we are. That's how we've always been. You say something, I insult you, you fight back, and then we start arguing. I like it."
"I bet you do. And I do too, but..." He trailed off, exhaling deeply.
"What?"
"Vortex," He went back to using my last name. "You are infuriatingly confusing. You know that right?" I didn't get much of a chance to respond when he spoke again. "When Olivia and I left the kitchen to go dance last night, what went through your head? Be honest."
"I-I don't know." For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to admit what I thought to him. And that included the whole revelation of how we're meant to be together. "I guess, I just- I knew that she had bad intentions and I didn't want to see you get hurt. You don't deserve that. I care about you, like I said last night. Although honestly, I don't know why you were so surprised to hear it. You must have known that."
"I just never thought that you actually did. It was always just a hope, I suppose." I grinned.
"Well, that's stupid. You care about me. I know you do. Because when two people have known each other for as long as we have, there's some sort of... feeling of well-being that you wish for each other. And we definitely have that."
"We do." We looked into each other's eyes then and held our gaze for a while, neither of us moving. Finally, I decided to break the silence.
"As much as I'm enjoying the confirmation of our concern for each other, I have to ask: what brings it up? Why am I really here, Jimmy?"
He opened his mouth but didn't say anything. He looked as if he were searching for the right words. "Don't get all big-headed with what I'm about to say, okay?" He took my silence as an answer and continued. "I haven't been able to get you out of my head since I left you at your door last night."
My eyes widened in surprise. "It's going to be hard to stay humble after that one, Neutron."
"Now you would think it was because of the time we spent together, which it was, partially." He kept going as if he hadn't heard me. "But what really kept me up at night was the aforementioned confusion I have towards you."
"Oh?"
"I just don't understand how one minute you can get all defensive and tough with me and then the next you're gentle and precious and not trying to rip my head off." He said all this while avoiding my gaze, probably out of fear of what would happen if we looked at each other. "But the most confusing part about all this is that whatever way you're behaving, whether it's good or bad, I want to be around it for all of it. I love it when you're angry and yelling at me just as much as I love it when you're not. Which makes no sense, since two different attitudes shouldn't provoke the same reaction. But they do when it comes to you."
"And why do you think that is?"
"I haven't the slightest clue." He replied in a husky tone. I avoided looking into his eyes because I didn't know how much longer I could keep the conversation going if I were to start staring into them.
"I do." I started then swiftly moved to take my champagne glass off the table and began walking towards the couch. It seemed like this was going to be a lengthy conversation and I wanted to be comfortable to have it. "At least I think I do." Jimmy followed and sat down next to me. Not too close but not far enough that it seemed like a rejection. I took a sip before continuing mainly to calm the nerves, which was silly since this wasn't even alcoholic. "Since we're being honest here, I suppose I should tell you what really went through my head when you left with Olivia."
I could see a hint of a smile forming on his face, but he simply nodded his head and urged me to keep going.
"I came to a realization." I started and held on tighter to my glass. It appeared bringing it with me to the couch had been a good idea. It gave me something to do with my hands. "And what I can conclude is that," I released a small breath I didn't realize I was holding. "that we're meant to be together Jimmy. You see," I attempted to explain before he could get a word in. "I've noticed that we make each other better. I'm at my best when I'm working with you or competing against you, but it always involves you. I'm great on my own, sure, but it's always you that gives me that extra push or motivation to do my best. And I always come out on top because of it. Because of you." He looked at me, but I couldn't quite make out the look on his face. "And I hope you can say the same for me." With a tone of finality, I ended my confession to which Neutron appeared to be chuckling.
And then it turned into an obvious laugh followed by him shaking his head.
"Oh, Vortex."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I said, clearly angry. "I just confessed something very deep and intimate about me, and about you, and you laugh?" I practically spat the word, disgusted with him.
"It's not the meaning behind the words, it's the words themselves."
"What does that mean?"
"It means," He began with an authoritative tone, as if saying I should shut up and listen. "that you'll jump through every hoop and obstacle and say whatever needs to be said as long as you don't have to come to come to terms with how you really feel. What you just said, yeah that may be true, but it is not that main reason you came out of that kitchen last night nor is it the reason you're down here today."
He's mad, and while I completely understand why, I'm also not going to give in quite so easily.
"So then enlighten me, what is?"
"Oh no, you don't Vortex. This time you're coming out with it yourself."
"And if I don't?"
"Then we'll stay here, like this, keeping the same old routine we've had since we were eleven. Just dancing around each other like nothing is wrong." I got up and walked towards the other side of the lab, not leaving but not really sure where I was going with the getting up from the couch act.
"Well, don't try to act like you're so perfect." I finally found the words to say. And they seemed to pique his interest. "If you're trying to insinuate what I think you are, then both of us have something to say, correct? Why don't you get off your high horse and fess up?"
"To what?" He replied with a sly smile.
"To-." I stopped myself before I could say anything else. I looked away and rolled my eyes, so tired of this crap.
"I gave you the chance last night you know. When I was questioning you on why it didn't bother you that Olivia wanted to go after me next."
"Yeah, I kind of caught on to that." I said as I leaned against a table.
"So why didn't you say anything?"
"I acted upon it." I reminded him. "Did you completely forget that we kissed twice last night?"
"No, of course not. It's a big part of why we're here in the first place."
"Then, I'm sorry, but I really don't see the problem. If I like you and you like me in the way last night indicated, why are we sitting here having an argument over who's going to admit it first?" Neutron smirked at me, and that's when I realized what I've done.
Damn.
"So you have feelings for me." He repeated to himself, not really asking for further assurance.
"And you do for me too. Don't even bother trying to deny it." I replied.
"I do have feeling for you." He declared.
"Good."
"Good."
What happened next wasn't what would normally happen in those sappy rom-coms where the protagonists would run up to each other and kiss like their lives depended on it. In fact, I still had a question despite the answers.
"Then why do we act like this? We fight over everything. We act like we hate each other even when we know we don't. And people notice, Neutron, they do. Did- did you know that we have a couple name?"
He chuckled. "What?"
"A couple name. That's when you put two names together-."
"I know what a couple name is, Cindy." He said as he got up from the couch and approached me. "What is it?"
"Jindy."
He smiled. "That's cute. And I like that my name goes first."
"Of course you do." By now he had reached me.
"In regards to your first question," When he started talking I gazed up into the bright sapphire of his eyes, paying every bit of attention. "I think it's like what you said earlier. Our petty little arguments are what keep us going. We become better because of it yeah, but it's also how we are. Every couple has that thing that's uniquely theirs and this is ours. We argue like five year olds. And while our intention for fighting may have changed over the years, it's still our thing. Do you fight with anyone else the way you do with me?"
"No."
"Neither do I."
"I guess that's saying something."
"Yeah." He gave a slight nod.
"So," I began as I released his hand and walked slowly halfway to the couch. "What does that mean for us then? Now that we know how we feel about each other?"
"I suppose that now we're a couple."
"No." I replied, thereby releasing the words I had up my sleeve. Jimmy raised his eyebrows, taken aback. "If you want us to be exclusive, you have to ask me correctly." I explained while crossing my arms and standing my ground. He chuckled and rolled his eyes playfully.
"Fine." he began. "Vortex-." I looked at him pointedly. I know he knew what he said wrong. He cleared his throat and started over. "Cindy," He approached me and tugged gently on my arm so I would uncross them then he took my hands into each of his. I looked down at them and realized how much I liked how they looked and felt.
"Cindy," He whispered, calling for my attention. It occurred to me that I had probably been staring at our hands for longer than I thought. When I looked back up at him, I found his beautiful blue eyes gazing into mine. "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"
Hearing the words 'my girlfriend' come out of Jimmy's mouth while he was holding my hands caused a great reaction from me. My toes curled, heat rushed to me face, and my insides got all fluttery. Despite all this, I was still able to release my hands from his, slide an arm around his neck and the other on his shoulder and pull him close enough to kiss him, Snaking both arms around my waist, bringing me even close to him, he kissed me back.
He pulled away when he remembered that he had forgotten something. Or technically, I did.
"Am I supposed to take that as a yes?"
I grinned as I replied. "And you call yourself a genius." I leaned in to continue. Jimmy moved his head, causing me to kiss his cheek instead.
"No." He answered before I had a chance to try again. "If I had to ask you properly then you have to answer me properly." I gave him a look even though I really shouldn't have expected him to say anything else.
With our arms still around each other, I looked into his eyes and smiled.
"Yes, Jimmy." I put a slight emphasis on my use of his first name. "I will be your girlfriend."
He smirked briefly before he said, "That's more like it, Vortex."
"Shut up, Neutron." I whispered before bringing my face closer to his and closing the gap that was between us.
And that's that! Before I begin, I just wanted to say that Jindy is what I like to call Jimmy and Cindy as a couple. I've personally never seen or read it anywhere which I found weird since it's a pretty easy combination of their names. Unless it's something bad and that's why nobody uses it. In which case, please let me know! Anyway, thank you guys so much for your support! It's been fun writing this short story. I should do it again sometime...
Fun fact: last night for dinner, I had paella! For those of you that read my other Jindy story Genius, you understand why this is funny. And if you haven't... go check the story out! Thanks again! Til next time...!
