A/N: As always, thanks so much to those of you who have been reviewing! The reviews have been so great! Keep 'em coming!
Jamie woke up early the next morning. She went for a run to clear her head. There was too much going on to even keep the thoughts all straight.
Jamie had made it almost a mile from the house when she saw Caleb and a girl with long blonde hair drinking coffee on a park bench. She assumed the girl was Sarah, the girlfriend Caleb's mom had mentioned when she'd visited Jamie and her mom in Miami a few months back. She was just as pretty as Jamie thought she would be. Caleb deserved someone like her.
"Jamie, hey!" Caleb called to her, waving for her to come and talk to them for a minute. "Jamie, meet my girlfriend Sarah," Caleb introduced them. "Sarah, this is Jamie. She's the one I told you about, Tyler's little sister."
"Nice to meet you," Sarah said. She smiled and held her hand out to Jamie. She was very polite and proper. She and Caleb were perfect for each other.
"You too."
"Tyler called me a few minutes ago. He wants me to meet him at your house later. Is everything okay?" Caleb asked. He knew it wasn't. He knew whatever Tyler wanted to talk about had to do with Jamie. But Caleb wanted to give Jamie the chance to talk to him before Tyler did. He wanted to hear her side of the story.
"I guess. It's just sort of complicated," Jamie down-played the situation. She didn't know Sarah at all and didn't want to discuss the situation in front of her. She knew Sarah was aware of Caleb, Tyler, Reid, and Pogue's special-ness but didn't want Sarah to know about her own secrets. "I'm sure everything is fine. Anyway, I still have about half a mile to go but I'll see back at the house later, okay?"
"Sure," Caleb agreed reluctantly.
"Bye." Jamie waved to Sarah. Sarah smiled and waved back as Jamie continued with her run.
"I thought that you said she was turning into Reid," Sarah reminded Caleb. "She seemed perfectly nice to me."
"She is nice. She's just…different." Caleb sighed and ran a hand through his thick, black hair. "She's changed."
"How do you mean?" Sarah couldn't imagine what someone like Caleb could mean by different. He was plenty different himself. Could he mean that she was just like him and his friends?
"She grew up here. Her parents divorced three years ago, when she was thirteen. She moved with her mom to Miami. Now that she's back, she doesn't even seem like the same person. We didn't even recognize her yesterday."
"She grew up. People do that. I'm sure it's just normal," Sarah assured her boyfriend. "She was in a new place and had to change to adapt. It's part of being a teenager."
"She used to be so shy and quiet and sweet. Now she's so tough. She doesn't want to tell us anything anymore. She used to talk to us about everything. She's so un-Jamie-like now."
"What happened? Why did she move back?" Sarah wanted to know.
"Tyler says her mom left. Jamie woke up and she was gone. It's been two weeks and no one has seen or heard from her mom. Her dad made her come back. But when Jamie got here, she looked us right in the face and told us it was because her heart was broken by some boy. I don't get how Jamie of all people could lie to us like that."
"Caleb, her mom left her. She isn't being tough. She's hurt. She was supposed to be able to trust her mom. She just wants to protect her heart from being hurt like that again by someone else that she trusts. Give her some time. I'm sure she'll come around."
"Maybe you're right. We're all just really worried about her."
"You better drop me off back at the dorms so you can head over to Tyler's house," Sarah told him. Caleb kissed her and they climbed into his Mustang.
When Jamie arrived home she saw Tyler's Hummer, Pogue's bike, and Caleb's Mustang parked outside. That meant everyone was there; they were waiting to talk to her.
Jamie opened the front door, but before she could get a foot inside, someone pushed her back out. It was Tyler. "Let's take a walk," Tyler suggested.
"I just got back from a three mile run," Jamie reminded him.
"Jamie, please, just go somewhere with me so we can talk," Tyler pleaded.
"Give me fifteen minutes to get a shower," Jamie agreed. She really wasn't in the mood to discuss anything with her brother at the moment. But when she'd looked into Tyler's eyes, she had seen something that made her feel like she was thirteen again, like her life was simple again, and like her heart had never been broken before. She had missed that feeling and didn't want it to end.
Jamie came running down the stairs fifteen minutes later, showered and changed. She threw her keys at her brother, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her. "You're driving," she called as she passed by him.
"Not your car," he contended.
"What's wrong with my car?" she wanted to know. She stopped by the door to wait for his answer.
"It's got a pink steering wheel cover, pink seat covers, and a pink fury mirror cover. It's a total chick car. I'm not driving it."
"Fine. We can take your precious Hummer," Jamie relented. She couldn't count how many times in the last six months Tyler had called her and talked about absolutely nothing but his beloved Hummer. He was obsessed with that car.
"Where are we going?" Tyler asked.
"Starbucks. I'm totally craving a mocha latte."