CHAPTER TEN.

Three Months Later.

Randy was nervous to be going home for the first time in three months. He knew a lot had changed. He called Jess once every two weeks, wrote her every week, and did everything he possibly could to stay in touch with home. He knew that his uncle Marty, and his two little cousins, Gracie and Claire, were living in the Taylor house, and that was probably going to change the mood of the holiday.

He pushed the door to the house open, and exclaimed a simple greeting of, "Feliz Navidad, everybody!"

"Hey!" Tim looked stunned but happy to see him. He pulled his son into a hug, and then released him.

Jill said "Oh my God", seven or eight times before she reached him, and then said, "Randy! What are you doing here? Oh my God! I sent all your presents to Costa Rica!"

"That's okay, don't worry," Randy assured them, as his mother gave him a bone-breaking hug. "Well, Lauren had some extra Aeroplan points, and I figured, "Hey! I can't spend Christmas without my mom and dad!","

"Excellent!" Tim exclaimed, clapping him on the back.

"He gets to spend Christmas with his mom and dad?" Claire said, looking upset, before dashing off.

"Claire, wait!" Gracie ran off after her twin sister.

"I'll be right back," Jill sighed, shaking her head, and going to tend to her nieces.

"It's their first Christmas since the separation," Tim explained, "It's kind of rough for them."

Randy nodded, showing he understood, when the door swung open.

"Dad, you better come quick, Baby Jesus is smoking!" Brad exclaimed.

"Oh, no!" Tim shook his head, "And, hey, look, Randy's here!"

"Hey, man!" Brad was about to hug him, when Tim yelled, "BRAD!"

"I gotta go," Brad said hastily, running back outside.

Randy was only alone a few moments, when Mark came inside, "Oh, hey, Randy!"

Randy opened his arms for a hug, but he was left hanging, as Tim yelled, "Mark! Grab the fire extinguisher!"

Mark sped past him, into the garage and on his way out, he said, "Welcome home!" Before running outside.

Randy dropped his hands to his side, and sighed. "Merry Christmas, Randy. Would you like a cookie?" He moved towards the counter, "Gee, thanks, don't mind if I do."

He was suddenly feeling a little less enthusiastic about being home for the holidays.

After watching his brothers pretend to clean his room, Randy said, "Hey, you wouldn't know if Jess is home, would you?"

Mark and Brad exchanged a look, which Randy didn't understand, and Brad said, "I don't know, man, I know Veronica's home though, so you could go over and see."

Randy nodded, and grabbed his winter coat, before going up the stairs.

"Where are you headed off to, sweetie?" Jill asked, looking at her son, and smiling.

"I'm gonna go see if Jess is home." Randy replied.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure she isn't. I think she might be up at the school, helping to set up for the Christmas pageant." Jill replied.

"She's helping set up for the Christmas pageant?" Randy repeated, looking confused.

Jill nodded, "Uh-huh, her and that girl, Jenny Higgins? They volunteered to help out."

"Oh, okay," Randy felt disappointed. He was really looking forward to see Jess. He was just going to have to wait, he supposed.

"Do you want to help me make cookies in the mean time?" Jill asked.

"Okay," Randy nodded, he was about to start helping her, when Tim yelled, "JILL! I need some help! And bring the first-aid kit!"

"Oh, sweetie, I'll be right back," Jill sighed, and then Randy was alone, again.

He'd come home so that he could spend time with his family, and his best friend, but it seemed like all he'd been doing since he got home was not spending time with them.

Randy came upstairs, ready to iron his sports coat for church that night, when he felt his jaw drop. In the kitchen, leaning against the counter was a girl, a girl he was sure he'd never seen before. She was wearing a pale blue jumper that hugged her curves, and white leggings.

"There he is!" Jill exclaimed.

When the girl turned around, Randy felt his heart stop. It was Jess. Her long, curly hair hung around her face, her usually bitten, jagged fingernails were manicured, and… was that makeup? Suddenly, the look exchanged by Brad and Mark made total and complete sense.

Jess actually physically squealed, before launching herself at him, and hugging him tightly.

Randy was a little bit stunned, not just because she was hugging him so tightly he could hardly believe his tomboy best friend was dressed like a girl.

"I can't believe you came home and didn't tell me, you big jerk!" Jess exclaimed, loosening her grip on him long enough to hit him on the arm before hugging him again.

"It was a last minute thing, Jessie, what can I say?" Randy felt kind of breathless.

"It doesn't matter," Jess shrugged, and let go of him, "I can't believe you're home! I missed you so much!" Her curls were bouncing as she bobbed her head excitedly.

"I missed you too," Randy nodded, smiling at her. "I was going to come right over to see you, but Mom said you were helping out at the school for the Christmas pageant."

Jess nodded, "Yeah, Ms. Waller recruited me after you left. Jenny and I decided it would look pretty good on a resume too."

"Good point." Randy nodded.

"Anyways, I have to head over there soon, but Nick mentioned you were home and I had to come and see you! You guys are coming to watch the pageant tonight, right?" Jess looked from Randy to Jill expectantly.

Jill nodded, "You betcha! We bought the tickets first day they came out!" She looked at Randy, "And we have an extra one. We bought it for Al, but he can't come."

"Great," Randy smiled.

"And we can hang out after?" Jess looked at him expectantly as she pulled on her coat.

"For sure,"

"Good," Jess smiled, as she pulled on her coat, "I can't wait to hear all about Costa Rica."

Randy smiled, "See you then, Jess."

"Do you need a ride to the school, honey?" Jill asked.

"Nope, Jenny's coming to get me," Jess replied, "See you guys at the school!"

When Jess left, Randy looked at Jill, "Who's Jenny?"

"Oh, you know, Jenny Higgins." Jill said, "You and Jess went to preschool with her."

"I didn't know she and Jess got along," Randy remarked.

Jill shrugged, "Well, after you left, Jess didn't want to hang around Milo so much," Randy's heart fluttered at this, he wasn't quite sure why. Jill continued, "So she started hanging around Jenny, and Jenny's the force who got Jessica to give up ripped jeans and her brother's t-shirts." She smiled slightly, "She's a really sweet girl. Brad's taken her on a couple of dates," She caught the look her son was giving her, and said, "Jess didn't replace you."

"I wasn't thinking that," Randy lied.

"Of course you weren't," Jill nodded, smiling faintly, "Just give Jenny a chance, she's really nice. You never know, the two of you might get along."

Randy shook his head, "I doubt it."

This chapter was a lot of fun to write, I'm not really sure why, haha. (: Anyways, thank you guys so much for all the reviews, they're making me so happy! Just to let you all know, I now have photos of all the original characters used in this story on my profile, under The Best Girl characters, so check them out! (: Also, I'm going away for the weekend, so I may be able to update at some point tomorrow morning, but most likely it won't be until Sunday. Thank you again for all the reviews, please keep it up! (: