Chapter 7
A Certain Chemistry

Scott

Things probably would have eventually exploded that summer either way, but the reaction would've happened slower without Johnny's visit. Johnny proved himself to be something of a catalyst. I don't think any of us realized how close we all were to the edge of something until he showed up. And when he did, he somehow managed to push us all a little closer to our respective points of no return.

I was indirectly affected by it all—so indirectly, in fact, that I didn't realize at the time how much everything that happened during the next week or so mattered. But it all did matter, even for me. It started me thinking in different directions. It was the first time I really saw Kate.

That morning Adrien had not called Rachel for the usual horsemanship session and also had not answered when she called his cell. It was one of those days when it's impossible to do anything but sweat outside, but bad weather had never stopped them before and Rachel didn't see any reason why it should now.

The only explanation, she explained to me despite the fact that I really didn't care, was that Adrien was losing interest. That idea rocketed her into bitch-mode for the morning. But when we finally did make our way over to the Mansfield's sometime around noon, Rachel found something that considerably raised her spirits.

Johnny had arrived.

About five minutes after Rachel and I got there—while we were all still sort of standing around in the living room—he came down, dragging Kate along with him. Rachel was happily surprised. Actually, everyone except Adrien seemed to be more or less surprised, however happily, and I got the feeling that even his sisters hadn't known yet that Johnny was in their house. Kate took an obscure seat near the edge of the room while Johnny made his rounds.

He came to Jess first. From my position beside her, I was afforded the pleasure of overhearing their conversation.

"Happy to see me?" Johnny asked, swinging his arm around her shoulder and grinning down on her from there.

Jess shrugged and asked, "Are you planning on doing anything interesting?" It was a beautiful display of apathy.

Johnny just laughed. He seemed to have expected this kind of a non-reaction. "I haven't started planning yet. But you know it's always interesting when I'm here.

"Then I guess I'm happy enough," Jess said with another shrug. She clearly didn't care either way. But her indifference wasn't really all that shocking. Jess cared about herself, and she might have been grudgingly staring to care about me. But really the only other person she cared about was Adrien, which I didn't really understand. You would expect her to disregard Adrien above the rest of us. But she cared. She wouldn't admit it, but you could tell.

Johnny moved on. He looked at me and Rachel, with that same half-smirk. "And you're the new extended family," he said, shaking our hands. "I'm sure Adrien and Jess have been making you, respectively, comfortable." There were some obvious suggestions in that comment.

"Johnny, be nice." That came from Kate. Which surprised me, for one, more than anything else that had happened so far.

"Be nice? When did we make those rules?" Johnny asked, as he turned to look at her. Something passed between them without either saying anything, and Johnny immediately moved to say something to Manda. I wondered why Kate was protecting us. Later I realized that she was protecting Adrien.

He hadn't given Rachel a chance to be wonderful to him. That probably should have been a hint, but Rachel didn't take it just yet. Johnny was within her two-week allowance. She wasn't completely committed to Adrien yet. She had admittedly been bordering—teetering—on commitment. But now that Johnny was here I could see her taking five mental steps back. As far as Rachel was concerned, she had just found her very own Heath Ledger—minus the accent but still with all the cash.

"I want that one," she said quietly, for my benefit. Her eyes were locked on her new target. For the record, it was a short-lived desire. By the end of the day she was back on track with Adrien. I suppose she didn't see much of a point in pursing a hopeless cause, which was obviously what Johnny was to her. Just now, though, she was dead-set.

I felt Jess pulling at the back of my shirt then, so I followed her to the couch. We sat, leaving a space between us for the sake of appearances. I decided to gather what I could for Rachel. "When did your brother get here?" I asked Jess.

"God knows," Jess rolled her eyes. She had no interest in the subject, but she seemed to realize I was going to press her further and thus continued. "And he's not really my brother. He's more Kate's brother. Tell Rachel not to bother."

The line about Rachel barely registered. I was busy wonder, to my considerable amusement, whether Jess was reluctant to claim Johnny as a relation on his own merits, or if she simply disowned him because he got along with Kate. Jess read my face.

"Where are you laughing at me?" she scowled.

"I'm not," I lied. "So do you hate Johnny too, or still just Kate?"

"Oh, I don't care about Johnny," Jess waved dismissively. She meant it too.

"And Johnny doesn't care about any of you?" I guessed.

Jess shrugged again. I was boring her. "Just Kate. I don't know. He might not mind Adrien, but Adrien doesn't think so." She was done with the subject and changed it. "What are you doing tonight?"

I looked her over. "We'll see."

Let me clear something up about Jess and me, because I now what you're thinking. There was sex, of course, but it wasn't just sex, me and her. We always had a certain chemistry, especially in the early days. We were both very selfish, and I think we were drawn to that in each other. It's hard to explain, and it isn't what I want to talk about anyway.

What I want to talk about is Johnny with Kate. Or rather, Kate with Johnny. It was quite the phenomenon.

When he was done with Manda, Johnny took a position at the piano, solving the mystery of why the Mansfield's had a piano in the first place. Rachel perched apprehensively beside Adrien. Both of them were warily watching Johnny. Manda took what seat was left to her. When Mathew Wright arrived, he sandwiched himself between Jess and myself, although this didn't stop us from flirting over his head.

For the first fifteen minutes or so, Johnny paid no attention to the conversations around him, flipping through a music book and playing a little a bit of any song he found interesting. I was noticing that Johnny was usurping my position as resident center of attention, but I didn't resent it just yet. At the moment, it gave me an opportunity to observe.

My sister was watching Johnny with increasing lust, looking for any chance to wedge herself into a conversation with him. And so she was obviously frustrated when the first person Johnny talked to was Kate.

When Johnny called her, Kate looked up from a magazine which, in retrospect, she probably hadn't been reading.

"Come on, Beautiful," he said, patting the bench with right hand.

Whatever he wanted her to do, Kate tried to protest. "No way. I haven't played anything since the last time you were here."

"And it was getting a bit dodgy then," Johnny scolded.

"Exactly," Kate said. A trace of a smile was showing around her eyes. She was enjoying the banter.

"Exactly why you need to practice now," Johnny answered.

Rachel saw her chance. "Come on, Johnny. You should know as well as the rest of us that Kate hates an audience."

It was a rare misstep on Rachel's part. Johnny ignored her and Adrien sullenly interjected, "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing." That left the conversation at an awkward place. Kate saved us all by moving across the room and sitting down beside the elder Mansfield brother.

"We can start with Heart and Soul if you like," Johnny said. One got the impression that this was some sort of in-joke, that he was teasing her. In fact, one got the impression that Johnny and Kate were entirely comprised of in-jokes.

"Don't insult my ability," Kate said with mock offense.

Johnny didn't answer her. He was looking through his music book for something specific now. When he found it, he said, "There. Moonlight Sonata."

"No way!" Kate laughed indignantly. "That's way too easy on you. You only have to play like two notes a measure."

I had no idea what they were talking about, but it was impossible not to watch them. Kate grabbed the music form Johnny and started her own search. After a lot more arguing and an amount of flirting that I never would've imaging Kate the Attic Ghost capable of, the two of them settled on a song.

I found myself just as fascinated by their method of playing as I'd been, a moment ago, by their banter. They played one song together—Kate played the right hand notes and Johnny played the left. It was obviously a system they'd been developing for some time.

Let me pause from Kate and Johnny to give you some reactions. I already told you, I found it all fascinating. And Jess was too busing being barraged by her fiancé's mindless blathering to really have any reaction at all. Manda, who of all the siblings seemed to be on the easiest terms with the prodigal brother, had dissected the newspaper and was now updating herself on the latest movie releases via the entertainment page.

But Adrien and Rachel, on their loveseat, both look a little constipated. Rachel, yes, I knew her reasons. But I briefly wondered at Adrien's bitterness. Tensions apparently ran high between the Mansfield brothers. And Kate was a focal point.

But the sharpest reaction came from Aunt Lucy. She entered the room in time to witness one of Johnny and Kate's charming exchanges. Something was sounding off in their song, and after a moment Johnny asked, "You're lost aren't you?"

"Hopelessly," Kate admitted, throwing up her hands in defeat. Johnny kept playing.

"Measure 45," he said. Kate reached to start playing again. "Not yet," Johnny admonished. "Wait for it, wait for it. Okay now."

Kate was laughing so hard she came in a little late with the right hand notes, but she caught up quickly. I looked at Aunt Lucy, standing stiffly in the doorway, her lips stretched into a stern line.

"Kate," she said severely. Kate and Johnny stopped playing. Kate turned around. Johnny kept a hand on her back. "I don't think the table was cleared this morning, Kate," Aunt Lucy said.

But nothing was able to faze Kate today. She was brilliant. She looked at Johnny, and again the two seemed to exchange information without saying anything. Then Johnny teased, "Yes, go clean the fireplace, Cinderella."

"She doesn't have to clear the table right now, Aunt Lucy." Adrien's tone was surprisingly authoritative. I'd never heard him take this tone before. "In fact, it's not necessarily Kate's job to clear the table. Ever."

I don't know why Kate didn't take the freedom Adrien had just offered. You have to understand, Kate is a good person, in every sense of the word. But none of us are good all the way to our cores, are we? Even the best of us have something a little bit awful hidden in our deepest part. Perhaps Kate just wanted Adrien to suffer, at least a little bit.

At any rate, she stood and said, "But I might as well." She exchanged one more look with Johnny, who winked at her, and then she left.

Johnny rose and started out the door. "Where are you going, Johnny?" Aunt Lucy asked him.

"Where am I going?" Johnny repeated, as if the question should've been rhetorical. "You just threw out the only person worth talking to in this place." He looked back briefly at me and said, "No offence, Harrington. I'm sure you're an excellent conversationalist."

"Oh, none taken," I assured him, too highly amused to care if he was mildly offensive.

"I might as well go help the lady do the dishes," Johnny finished. And with that, he strutted out the door with his hands in his pockets. A flustered Aunt Lucy turned on her heals and followed him out.

We were all silent for a moment after they left, recovering from the mighty wind. Then I asked what I needed to know. "So is she always like that, when he's here I mean?"

"Oh God," Jess rolled her eyes. "Johnny and Kate have their own little grown up club of two. Nobody else is invited."

Adrien looked as though he would've liked to be invited.

"How fascinating," I said, looking directly at Rachel. I wanted to see what she intended to do now that she'd seen Johnny Mansfield in action. Rachel shrugged and snaked her arm around the back of Adrien's chair, reclaiming her territory. My sister always has been remarkably adaptable.

That's how I learned, anyway, that Kate Pierson had hidden layers after all. And no, I didn't do anything with that information for a long time. But I knew it, which was the start of everything.

A/N: Whew! These just keep getting longer and longer don't they? Oh, the angst!

lee tea: Indeed. he he. I wanted to give Adrien that sort of dry wit.

Huntress of the stars: S'okay. I'm just happy to know you're still ready and you're enjoying it.

schokolade: I know, I love writing Scott. He's so much fun in his evilness.

NotreDamegirlie: Shout out to you! Did you see my Heath Ledger line? You totally read my mind with that one. I always do throw in a jealousy twist, don't I? Mwahaha

BreezyGirl: I'm glad you liked it. Sorry if Adrien seemed a little bit off to you. He's got a chapter coming up, and I'll really work hard on it this time :o)

BeyondtheSea: Glad you like it. I just started thinking up Johnny in my head and then I couldn't resist writing him, even though he's not really like Tom from the book… at all… but then, Jeremy in my other story ended up being WAY not like the character he was originally indeed to be. Ah well, and so it goes. Lol.

Hollie Black: Mmm. The Mansfields brother. I want one.

Ariel: Yay! New reader! Glad you like it :o)

And Jill, of course: I have read Never Better sporadically and I admittedly have reviewed it far less than I should have. But I still did read your lovely review-a-thon review, and I have to say, I did get some perverse pleasure out of seeing a character endure the kind of persecution that is usually reserved for our girl Becka. Mwahahaha! Shout out to you too! Johnny called Kate Beautiful, yay! I always knew that Johnny's visit was going to be a sort of aha! moment for Adrien. And I knew that Johnny was going to sort of be Kate's boy. But it all played out in the last chapter better than I expected it to. Sometimes I'm surprised myself. Can Johnny have a girl? Hmmm. I don't know. He gets to have an injury (later on), does that count for something? Oh, and I started a Lost sequel. You don't have to read it or anything, but I thought I'd give you the heads up.

Keep reviewing everyone! It seriously keeps me writing. There would be no story without all of you. Cheers!