Title: Left at the Altar
Summary: It was supposed to be Kimberly Hart's perfect day, but as she learned a long time ago, perfect days are rare for Power Rangers, even former Power Rangers on the day they are to be married. Luckily, there's someone out there who's more than willing to help her at her time of greatest need.
Chapter 3 - "The Cure For a Rainy Day"
Original Posting Date: March 7, 2009
--
It was going to be a bad day, of this Kimberly was already certain. May had left, and June had come and gone, giving way to July and this awful, terrible, God forsaken day. How it could be raining in the middle of July, in Southern California no less, was beyond anything Kimberly could ever hope to comprehend. That the weather gods had chosen today to curse her with a seemingly never ending thunderstorm was absolutely perfect, in a completely sarcastic way of course, just the type of luck that she seemed to have been dealing with more and more recently.
She walked out of her bathroom on this July morning with zero hope of anything good happening today. The day was supposed to have been spent with Tommy, but she had called to cancel their plans upon waking to this, the proverbial cats and dogs who had chosen her one day off this week from her gymnastics studio to rain heaven and hell upon the world. No matter how passionately she loved her Los Angeles Dodgers, she was not about to sit in the middle of a torrential downpour to watch them play.
But the weather was not necessarily the only thing bothering her. The way Tommy had sounded on the phone when she had called just over thirty minutes ago, like he was not even the slightest bit disappointed about the cancellation, was far more irritating than the inclement weather. Over the past few months their relationship had become something that could only be properly defined as weird, and that was taking it entirely too lightly. Weird, especially in the last three weeks, was barely scraping the tip of the iceberg with them.
Now that Tommy was on summer break from school they were spending more time together than ever before. They did everything couples were supposed to do, except the things couples were supposed to do. Neither had even given thought to returning to the dating scene following their respective breakups, and had taken comfort with each other in the shared perception that they were both doomed to fail at love. Best friends was not enough to describe what they had, but a word in the dictionary for them there was not.
Flirtatious banter was commonplace now. For someone who did not know the pair, to see them walking down the street together they would have seemed like any other couple; Tommy with his arm around her shoulder, Kimberly's arm around his waist. Falling asleep on the couch on a Friday night while wrapped warmly in a spooning position had become standard practice as well. They were so dangerously close to being something so much more than this, but it was a fact that neither dared mention to the other.
Pretending that they only wanted to be friends was just as standard as spooning now. Kimberly had spent hour after hour on the phone with both Aisha and Trini, trying to deduce just what it was that was happening between she and Tommy, but patient as they were, the two former Yellow Rangers had recently reached the end of the rope when it came to telling Kimberly that they just could not help her with this one, that she had to figure out for herself what was going on with her Tommy.
More than anything though, she just wished that things actually made some sense for once. Not since Tommy had come back into her life had she been able to lead anything close to a simple life. Truth be told, things always seemed to be more complicated whenever Tommy was a staple in her life. Things were just as complicated and confusing now as they had been when they were teenaged Rangers, aware of their feelings but unsure how to react to them. Alas, once again, everyone but Tommy and Kimberly seemed to know that there was still something there between them.
There was simply too much history between them for there not to be confusion; or at least that was how Kimberly felt. She had no idea what kind of thoughts were going through Tommy's head, and that, more than the horrible weather and his earlier coolness combined, was the primary cause for her current state of irritation. If she could just have a brief glimpse into his mind, just enough to get a tiny inkling of what he was feeling, everything would have been so much easier. Unfortunately, mind reading was not one of the perks that came with having served as one of Earth's only defenders for nearly three years.
"There aren't any perks at all," Kimberly grumbled, as she shuffled around the house in pajama bottoms and a tank top, her hair still wet from the shower. If she had to be stuck in the house all day, she was at least going to be comfortable doing it.
The pot of coffee she had started before getting in the shower was now done, the scent of liquid gold filling her nostrils as she made her way to the kitchen, padding across the living room carpet in fuzzy pink slippers. She retrieved a mug from one of the cabinets, started to pour herself a cup, and let out a startled yelp when the doorbell rang. Someone calling on a day like today was the very last thing that she had been expecting.
"Damn salesmen don't know when to take a damn day off," she muttered, turning for the door, shaking her head in disbelief. "I don't need my carpet cleaned, I'm happy with my cable company, and I don't want to buy any choc—" Her voice dropped off upon opening the door and seeing who was there. "Oh, it's you," she continued meekly, smiling at a slightly wet Tommy, his head covered by a black beanie, the matching hooded sweatshirt he wore spattered with even darker patches from the rain. Then she realized that her hair was soaked, that she had no makeup on, and was wearing sleeping attire, which caused her to immediately freeze up.
"Yeah, it's me," Tommy panted, having just ran from the street, all the way up Kimberly's elongated driveway, with his arms full of bags. "So do you just plan on standing there and letting me freeze my ass off outside, or are you actually going to act like a normal human being and invite me in?"
Blinking rapidly, Kimberly shook her head and stepped back, trying to find her voice as Tommy nodded politely and entered the house. "I, uh, I wasn't expecting you to show up unannounced like this," she finally managed, watching Tommy dump his cargo on her couch like it was his own. It made her smile, realizing she would have done the same thing at Tommy's house if their roles had been reversed. They really were that comfortable with one another.
"I couldn't help but notice," said Tommy, laughing. Kimberly sneered and stuck her tongue out at him as he continued, "Did you really think I was going to let you get out of spending the day with me that easily? There isn't another guy here is there? 'Cause I'll kick his ass if I have to."
Laughing, with another shake of her head Kimberly rolled her eyes and said, "No, there's no other guy here. In fact, last time I checked there hasn't been a guy here in months, unless you count Jason."
Folding his arms across his chest, Tommy raised his eyebrows and asked, "What exactly does that make me then?"
"I don't know, you tell me," said Kimberly, grinning as she shrugged in faux helplessness. "I've seen what Jason's packing. It's still up in the air with you, though."
"Oh, is that so?" Tommy questioned, Kimberly nodding. "Well then I guess I'll just have to prove it to you, won't I?"
Something in between a squeal and a laugh escaped Kimberly's lips when Tommy suddenly shoved his hand down the front of his sweat pants, determined to show her just what kind of man he was. One hand quickly went up to cover her mouth, while the other was being used to waive him off.
"No…Tommy…don't," she managed, struggling with her laughter. "Really…you…don't have to do that. Seriously…it's fine." With no intention of actually exposing himself, Tommy let out an internal sigh of relief that his manhood had not been challenged and he had not been forced to back down, and slowly removed his hand from his pants as Kimberly added, "Oh, thank God. For a second there I thought I was going to need to get a map and my magnifying glass."
"Oh, that's real funny coming from the chairwoman of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee," said Tommy, clapping his hands in mock approval. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for Ms. Bee Sting Boobies herself, Kim Hart! Kim, take a bow!"
"I'll do no such thing," said Kimberly firmly, pointing a stern finger at Tommy. "I'll have you know," she added, holding her breasts, "that I ditched my training bra last week. I finally get to wear big girl ones now."
Tommy just laughed, shaking his head as he started to go about unpacking the four bags that he had brought over with him.
"So what did you bring me?" Kimberly continued, skipping towards Tommy in the living room.
"Well, at first I thought we could just watch the game here, but then I realized it was probably just going to get rained out anyway, so I grabbed some board games from home and stopped at the video store to rent us some movies; figured we could just spend the day inside," said Tommy, holding up a handful of DVD's. "Oh, and I made a pit stop at Mickey D's to pick us up an extremely unhealthy breakfast."
"Sausage McGriddles with cheese?" asked Kimberly, the hope evident in her voice.
"And hash browns," said Tommy, offering her a white paper bag.
Kimberly took the bag without a word, pulled out one of the wrapped breakfast sandwiches, removed the paper, and devoured half the sandwich in two big bites. "Mah heewo…fanks," she sputtered, her hand flying to her mouth to prevent the expulsion of chewed breakfast.
"What was that?" said Tommy, chuckling. "I don't think I've ever heard that language before."
Rolling her eyes, Kimberly stamped her foot impatiently as she attempted to chew her food into something she could actually swallow. "I said," she started after a few seconds, gulping down the last bit, "My hero…thanks. I've been so busy this week at work that I haven't even had time to grocery shop."
"I know," Tommy replied, grinning. "You told me on the phone last night, remember, when you were looking around in the freezer for something to cook and couldn't find anything but a sixth month-old TV dinner and empty ice cube trays?"
"Oh yeah…I'm surprised you actually remembered I said that," Kimberly murmured, her surprise very much genuine. "I guess I must finally be starting to rub off on you; and if you ask me, it's about damn time, too."
"God, I hope not, the last thing I need is to become a vertically challenged, hyperactive, shopping addict," Tommy countered, he and Kimberly sharing a laugh as he continued, "So what'd you end up having last night, anyway?"
"A pickle, two slices of wheat bread, and a box of Rice-o-Roni," said Kimberly, wincing at the mere thought of last night's dinner. That she had had any coffee left this morning had been a minor miracle in itself, one she had graciously thanked the heavens above for.
Tommy narrowed his eyes. "You're joking, right?" he questioned, Kimberly shaking her head. "Alright, that does it," he continued firmly, his voice leaving no room for argument, very much like the one he had used so many times on the battlefield, "we're going grocery shopping later this afternoon and that's all there is to it. There's no way I'm going to let you live off of pickles and boxed rice."
"Wait, wait, wait, hold the freaking phone for just one second," said Kimberly, waving her arms wildly in front of her face. "Did I just hear that right? Did Tommy Oliver really just say that he is going to take me shopping?"
"It's the grocery store, Kim, not the mall," said Tommy dryly, taking a bite from his sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffin.
"Doesn't matter," said Kimberly firmly. "This one is going down in the history books. You have never, and I mean never, offered to take me shopping before."
Hunched over the couch as he searched through the McDonald's bag for a hash brown, Tommy instantly stood up straight and matter-of-factly stated, "Like I just said, it's the grocery store, not the mall. I'm making sure you're fed, not indulging you while you run around Macy's for three hours like a freaking maniac."
Kimberly shook her head dismissively. "Like I just said, it doesn't matter. Shopping is shopping," she replied. "Besides, this is just the first tumble down a very slippery slope. One minute you're taking me to get groceries, and then the next minute you're standing outside a department store dressing room, holding outfits that I can't afford, but have to try on just to prove to myself that I can still pull them off."
"The sex afterwards better be mind-blowing if I'm putting up with all of that crap," said Tommy, deadpanned. This was the perfect example of the type of humor that had become increasingly popular in their day-to-day conversations, saying things to each other that they never would have even thought to say back in high school.
"Oh, you wish you could get this," Kimberly retorted, doing a little twirl and striking what was supposed to be a glamorous pose. "Face it, Tommy, I'm just out of your league."
Tommy shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Yeah, you are, but that's because I'm playing in the majors and you're still putting around in the minor leagues, waiting to get that call up to play with the big boys. It's okay though, Kim, one of these days you'll get your turn, I promise."
Mid-chew, Kimberly's only viable line of defense was to open her mouth and reveal the contents inside. Tommy doubled over, as though to vomit, as Kimberly swallowed and told him, "That's what you get for talking shit, bitch. If you can't hack it with the big girls, get your ass back on the bench."
They went on like this for quite some time, bantering back and forth until both had run out of clever things to say. Some time later saw them sharing the living room couch; Tommy sat in the center with his arms sprawled out behind him and Kimberly laid out next to him, her legs and feet resting comfortably on top of his thighs. SportsCenter played on her big screen plasma television, keeping Tommy distracted in between Kimberly reading aloud to him from one of Cosmopolitan magazine's many dating surveys.
"You usually meet guys at: A)—"
"The gay bar," said Tommy, shooting her a wink.
Kimberly rolled her eyes, immediately regretting that she had ever told Tommy about the boy she had dumped him for, a fellow Pan Global gymnast who had come out to her six months into their relationship. "Stop being an asshole and let me finish," she grumbled, Tommy giving her an apologetic look. "You usually meet guys at: A) Nightclubs; B)—"
"Assholes Anonymous," Tommy finished once again. That one was a dig at Jeff.
"God, you make a terrible girlfriend," Kimberly muttered, kicking the side of Tommy's leg.
"That's because I'm not a girl, Kim," said Tommy, laughing as he shook his head. "What do I care where you usually meet guys? Wherever we're meeting people, we both need to look elsewhere, 'cause nightclubs and the mall just aren't cutting it anymore."
Kimberly laughed and nodded her agreement. "Tell me about it," she replied. "I think I've reached the point of no return."
"You're not talking about—" Tommy started.
"—the Internet," Kimberly supplied. "I saw some commercial where they guarantee you'll find true love in 30 days, or some bullshit like that. I figure I can't have any worse luck than I already do, right?"
Still laughing, Tommy looked at Kimberly and shook his head once more, asking, "We're hopeless, aren't we? I mean, we are really and truly hopeless. We save the world more times than I can even think about counting, and yet can't seem to meet people of the opposite sex who actually understand us."
"Thanks for really driving the point home there, oh great former leader of ours."
"You're welcome," said Tommy, grinning cheekily, sounding almost oblivious to her sarcasm.
Kimberly rolled her eyes again and then returned them to her magazine, forced to read it in silence since Tommy was clearly going to be of no help to her. Within seconds, however, she found herself peering over the edge of the magazine, just enough to get a discreet look at Tommy's face. Did he realize how he sounded? Did he honestly not realize, while unable to admit it out loud, that they were perfect for each other? Oh hell, Kimberly thought to herself, perfect did not even start to do them justice.
But there was still her head, that nagging little voice in the back of her mind telling her that Tommy deserved better than her, someone he could actually trust with his heart. Immature though it may have sounded, Kimberly honestly did not think that she could ever again be trusted in that situation, nor did she think that Tommy would ever be able to fully trust her again either, not after the severe levels of pain that she had already caused him to experience.
"So am I just going to sit here and watch ESPN all day? 'Cause I could have done that at home and saved myself half a tank of gas," said Tommy, after a near thirty minute stretch of time where neither had said a word.
Kimberly looked up from her magazine and asked, "What do you want to do, Tommy?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, looking to the pile of board games on the floor. "Wanna play one of those?"
"Don't you think we're a little too old for Sorry! and Monopoly?"
Clutching his heart, Tommy shook his head. "No one is ever too old for Monopoly. Come on, let's play; it'll be fun, I promise."
Rolling her eyes, Kimberly sighed, closed the magazine, and pushed herself into a sitting position next to Tommy. "You do remember what happened the last time we played this game, right?" she asked, as Tommy went about setting everything up on the coffee table.
"Yeah, I do," said Tommy, nodding, proceeding to set up the game without waiting for Kimberly's agreement to play. "And I hope you've matured a bit since then, too. I seem to remember having to duck several houses and hotels before you ran out of plastic and started throwing the metal pieces at me."
"You were cheating," Kimberly replied adamantly. "Sixteen years old and cheating at Monopoly; ridiculous I tell you, ridiculous!"
"Oh that's right, I was cheating," said Tommy, grinning as he remembered Kimberly's massively dramatic blow up after landing on his hotel-occupied Boardwalk for the third time in six turns, all thanks to Community Chest, a few lucky rolls, and a ride on the Short Line. "You'll have to forgive me, my memory's not quite what it used to be."
Kimberly shuddered and murmured, "Well that's a scary thought for you."
Tommy laughed as he handed Kimberly one of the dice. "Highest roll goes first." Nodding, Kimberly shook the die a few times, blew on it for luck, and let it go. "Nice," he continued, upon seeing her die land on one.
"Fuck off," Kimberly grumbled, refusing to look at Tommy's five.
His first roll of the game was snake-eyes, taking him to Community Chest and then to the Short Line Railroad, followed by an immediate purchase of Park Place after his subsequent roll of double-ones. "And so it begins," he laughed, throwing a five, moving his cannon, and taking two-hundred dollars for passing GO.
Civilized play did not last very long, mostly due to the fact that Kimberly was out of money and had mortgaged off most of her properties after just over forty-five minutes of playing. When she landed on Reading Railroad, one of four railroads in the game, all of which Tommy currently owned, he knew that things were about to get interesting to say the very least.
"I'm done, I fucking hate this game!" said Kimberly, rising to her feet, her face beet red. "I'm sitting on Baltic with crap," she continued, pointing from the lone property she had yet to mortgage, then to Tommy, "and you've got all the stupid little hotels and pink fifties. Where'd you get all the pink fifties, huh, cheater? Kind of funny you're the banker and have all the money, don't you think?"
"Do you want to be the banker?" Tommy murmured, trying desperately not to laugh.
"No, I don't want to be the fucking banker! I want to have never played this game in the first place! I swear to God, Monopoly was designed to tear families apart. I think my parents must have been fans of it."
"It's really not that bad, Kim. I mean, it's just a game—" Tommy tried to reason, instantly falling silent when Kimberly's head snapped to look at him with a look so terrifying that would have made a serial killer whimper.
But that look quickly disappeared as Kimberly's head reminded her that Tommy was not the cause of her anger. "I know," she sighed, shaking head. "It's just…you know how much I hate to lose at things, especially to you. And I'm sorry for snapping at you, but can we just do something else, please?"
Smiling, Tommy nodded and patted the now empty seat beside him. "Come on," he said softly. As Kimberly started towards him once more he continued, "What would you like to do, Kim?"
Kimberly did not immediately answer, instead turning her head to the sliding glass door that led to her backyard. "It looks like the rain's slowing down a bit," she observed, turning to Tommy. "You wanna do that grocery shopping you mentioned before the sky decides to really start crapping on us again?"
Tommy laughed. "Uh, yeah, sure, why not?" he replied with a shrug. "Does fifteen minutes sound good?"
Furrowing her brow, Kimberly asked, "Why fifteen minutes?"
Raising a quizzical eyebrow, Tommy said, "So you can change. Unless, of course, you want to go to the grocery store in Dora the Explorer pajamas and fuzzy pink slippers, in which case we can leave right now."
Kimberly felt like smacking herself in the forehead at that point; hard, too. She had fallen into such a comfortable lull with Tommy in the house that she had completely forgotten about her somewhat disheveled bedside appearance, something that she never would have been able to have done with Jeff, or any of her other ex-boyfriends for that matter.
"What, would you be embarrassed if I went out like this or something?" Kimberly questioned, trying to flip things back on Tommy.
"Nope," said Tommy, shaking his head. "I'm cool with it if you are."
"Really?" said Kimberly, staring at Tommy, her eyes narrowed in disbelief.
Tommy smiled and nodded. "Yeah," he replied, shrugging nonchalantly. "If you going to the grocery store in pajamas and fuzzy slippers is the worst thing that happens to me today, then I'd say I've had a pretty damn good day."
Kimberly could hardly believe what she was hearing. With Jeff, he would have steadfastly refused to go anywhere in public with her until she had made herself more "presentable" first, the same with her last three ex's before him. Again, this was one of those many times in recent memory where Tommy seemed to prove to her once more that he was a man truly in a league of his own. The things that normally would have bothered most guys just did not seem to have the same effect on Tommy.
"So, uh, fifteen minutes then?" said Kimberly, unsure of what else to say. It made her smile to know that there was at least one good man still left in the world; or at least a man with whom she did not already have a firm brother-sister relationship, despite her written assessment of their relationship from some years back.
"Sure," said Tommy, nodding, watching Kimberly walk off towards her bedroom with a wide smile on his face.
--
There was something slightly domesticated about the pair as they walked through a nearby supermarket some forty-five minutes later, almost all to themselves due to it being a weekday afternoon. Tommy was hunched over the half full shopping cart he was currently pushing, Kimberly at his side with a plastic basket on her arm. Stealing glances at one another, smiling when they thought the other wasn't looking; a casual observer could have easily perceived them to be more than they really were.
Up and down each aisle they went, loading up their respective receptacles with all of the essential items, and quite a few extras as well. They were currently in the snack aisle with twenty or so feet between them, Tommy trying to find the cookies that Kimberly wanted while she looked for something else, when she suddenly turned to him and called out, "Tommy, come here! You have to see this!
"Hold on," said Tommy, his eyes scanning the shelves in frustration. He just could not seem to find the cookies Kimberly wanted. "What did you say you wanted again? Double stuffed Oreos, right?"
"Yeah, why?" Kimberly replied. "Don't tell me they're out of them. I need my Oreos, dammit."
Grinning, Tommy looked to Kimberly and shrugged. "I'll keep looking," he said, returning to the shelves. "I'll be over there in a minute."
After a few more seconds a glimmer appeared in Tommy's eyes. There, on the uppermost shelf, hidden between a stack of the reduced fat variety, were the cookies Kimberly had requested, seemingly the last box in the entire store. Tommy felt like a Roman gladiator, victorious amongst thousands upon thousands of screaming patrons in the Colosseum as he reached up to retrieve the cookies, carrying them over to where Kimberly stood, looking oh so proud of himself.
"Found 'em," he told her, dropping the package into her hand basket.
Kimberly smiled, said, "I knew you were good for something," pulled a box from the shelf, and thrust it towards Tommy. "Can you believe this crap?" she continued, shaking her head in disbelief. "I mean, aren't there, like, copyright laws and stuff out there that prevent these people from using our images like this?"
Tommy eyed the box she had given him and laughed heartily at what he saw. They were Power Ranger fruit snacks, designed in the gummy likeness of the five original helmets, as well as the one Tommy had worn as the White Ranger. "Oh, that is too much. We have to get these," he told her, tossing them into his cart.
"I'm glad you're amused," said Kimberly, her hands on her hips, "but you didn't answer my question. It has to be illegal, doing something like that," she added, pointing at the box.
"I'm sure it is on some level, but I'm a teacher, not a lawyer," Tommy replied, shrugging uncertainly. "Besides, what could we do about it even if it is illegal? It's not like we can just go to some lawyer and say 'Hey, we used to be the Power Rangers, help us sue the fruit snack company for likeness infringement.' I severely doubt that these things sell well enough to be worth revealing our identities over. Now, if they were putting our faces on cans of Coca-Cola then that would be an entirely different story. Could you imagine the residuals on something like that? We'd never have to work another day in our lives."
Kimberly rolled her eyes. "I don't care about money, Tommy," she felt the need to tell him, even though she knew that he had only been joking. "I just…none of us did what we did to be plastered on t-shirts and lunch pails and fruit snack boxes. I guess it just bothers me to know that there is some random company out there using us and what we did for no other reason than to make money."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Here," said Tommy, replacing the Power Rangers snacks with a different variety. "We'll just get Superman instead, okay? A fictional, legally licensed character."
Kimberly laughed and nodded as they continued along, content to forget about her disdain for greedy fruit snack companies, at least for the time being. "That reminds me of a joke Trini told me the other night. Wanna hear it?"
"Oh, you tell jokes now, too?" said Tommy, smiling. "This should be rich."
"Are you saying I'm not funny? Because I'll have you know I am very, very funny."
"So funny I forgot to laugh," Tommy replied, nudging her playfully with his elbow. Kimberly glared at him, resulting in an apologetic smile from Tommy as he murmured, "Sorry, you can tell your joke now."
"Thank you," said Kimberly, firmly.
Tommy gave her his full attention as she tried to recount the joke she had heard from Trini but seemed to have forgotten parts of. He was pretty sure she had put the punch line in the wrong place, something about Superman killing someone by jumping out of a window and being an asshole. The joke, if it could even be called that, was not the slightest bit funny, at least not Kimberly's recollection of it, but Tommy still laughed when she had finished, careful not to sound forced as he did so. She seemed so proud of herself that he knew he had done the right thing by pretending that the joke had been funny.
After a few more minutes of walking around they had gathered everything on the list that Kimberly had made before leaving her house and then some. Ten minutes later the groceries were paid for and bagged, she and Tommy walking as close together as was possible without actually touching as they made their way out of the store. The rain had died down significantly in the hour or so they had spent inside, and was now barely even a drizzle, hardly the extreme downpour that it had been earlier.
Kimberly had just popped the trunk on her car, she and Tommy going about loading the groceries inside when she caught something in the corner of her eye that made her freeze on the spot, a sudden tightness forming in her throat. Tommy did not immediately notice and continued to pack the bags away, but when he realized she was not moving and saw the look on her face it became instantly clear that his only concern was for her.
"Kim," he said softly, but she did not respond. "Kim, are you okay?" he tried, a bit firmer.
Blinking rapidly, Kimberly turned to look at Tommy. "It's him," she said hoarsely, staring in disbelief at the man and woman walking hand-in-hand towards them. Tommy followed her gaze and quickly felt the urge to beat the living daylights out of Jeff Reynolds—this time in front of his new girlfriend—return in full force, perhaps even more powerfully than it had been in the moments right before and right after Jeff had left Kimberly standing alone at the altar.
But before Tommy could do anything, or even ask Kimberly if she wanted him to do anything, he found that his lips had become rather occupied and that he was now being pressed against the side of Kimberly's car. Thousands of thoughts flooded his mind as he realized what was happening, that Kimberly was suddenly kissing him for no apparent reason, but one singular thought shone the brightest amongst the rest. It was a distinct sense of pleasure the likes of which he had not experienced in quite some time; since winter break during their junior year of high school, to be exact.
Her lips burned hot against his, the sensation so wonderful that Tommy did the only thing he could think to do. His arms found their way around her slender form as he started to return the kiss with more passion than he had ever thought possible, reveling in the moment, blissfully oblivious to why she had chosen this, of all times, to make her move on him.
Then Kimberly slowly pulled away and everything instantly started to become much more clear to him. He saw Jeff staring at them and sneering, then saw him quickly turn his head when Kimberly looked in his direction. She smiled at her victory over her ex-fiancée as she returned her focus to Tommy, patting him softly on the chest.
"Thanks," she murmured, drifting back to her basket of groceries still resting at the trunk of her car. "You played that perfectly," she continued, a bag in each hand. "For a while there I thought you actually meant it."
"Yeah, well, I figured we needed to make it look good to really get under Jeff's skin," Tommy lied, not missing a beat as he joined her at the back of the car, unable to tell her that he had meant it when she had so obviously not.
The burning sensation on his lips did not subside as they drove home, nor did it disappear as they carried her groceries into the house and unloaded them. Her taste remained as they prepared lunch together in the kitchen, and remained long after they had cleaned up their mess once they had finished eating. The only thing Tommy could think about was the kiss, and how desperately he wanted to do it again. Her lips had awoken something in Tommy, something he could not explain, but that was on the verge of consuming him entirely.
"You, uh, you got some mustard on your shirt," said Tommy, trying to sound casual as he loaded a few dishes into the dishwasher, saying anything he could think of to keep his mind away from what he wanted so very badly.
"Oh, thanks," Kimberly murmured, looking down at the barely visible yellow smudge on her otherwise perfectly white sweatshirt. "I'll go change and then we can watch one of those movies you brought over."
She did not wait for him to reply, instead turning on her heels and making a beeline towards her room before he could say anything at all. The truth was that she too had felt something during their kiss, something she did not fully understand, and needed to get away to make sense of things, if only for a few minutes. Immature as her reasons for kissing Tommy might have been, she had kissed him nonetheless, and in doing so had relit a fire inside herself that had been otherwise dormant for a very long time.
Inside her room she quickly pulled off the minutely stained sweatshirt, but did not immediately seek its replacement. Instead she stood with her back to the door in a pink tank top, clutching the sweatshirt against her chest, wondering how she could have done something so stupid as to kiss Tommy. She should have known that this would happen, that kissing him once would only make her want to kiss him again, just like it had done back in high school. She should have been stronger, should have acted like a grown woman instead of a jealous teenager trying to get back at an ex-boyfriend, but she had made her bed and would now have to lie in it.
Time all but slipped away from Kimberly entirely after she had rejoined Tommy in the living room, trying to act as normal as possible in a situation that made her attempts at normalcy seem rather futile. Normal, no matter how hard she tried, had ceased to exist the second she had chosen to attach her lips to Tommy's for the first time in nearly a decade.
Making it through two full movies with him was practically torture; they sat so close to each other on the couch, but it was not nearly enough, at least not for Kimberly. She found herself longing to be tucked in comfortably against his side, anything just to feel his touch as she had in the grocery store parking lot earlier that afternoon, completely unaware that she was not the only one in the room whose thoughts had remained steadfastly focused on the kiss.
They both tried to make sense of what had happened in their heads, but nothing that either of them could come up with explained what they had felt in those brief moments: the sudden rush, almost like electricity surging through them; the passion, undeniable even if the kiss had just been for show; and perhaps most importantly of all, the way each of them wanted so much more than that which they had already been given.
But they were just friends, Kimberly reminded herself, friends who had just so happened to have shared a mind blowing kiss in the middle of a rainy parking lot. Yeah, because people who were just friends did things like that with each other all the time.
As the credits of Pretty Woman—Kimberly's all-time favorite movie—began to roll, she suddenly pushed herself onto her feet and started towards the kitchen, having been unable to enjoy the movie even in the slightest. She simply could not stand it anymore, being so close to Tommy yet so far away; it was making her question her very sanity.
How could it have come to this, when she had tried so damn hard to keep her heart out of their rekindled friendship? She opened her refrigerator and stuck her head inside, looking around in an attempt to distract herself, but that attempt proved useless as well. Everything in the ice box made her think of Tommy: milk and sour cream were white, and Tommy had been the White Ranger; wheat bread and barbecue sauce were brown, as were his hair and eyes; ground beef resting right next to Swiss cheese, pink and white, side by side once more.
"Oh God," she gasped, tears touching her eyes as her hand flew to her mouth. Was this actually happening to her? Had she really gone and fallen for him all over again, only this time even harder than before?
Biting back her tears, Kimberly forced herself to regain her composure, swallowing hard as she removed her head from inside the refrigerator and pushed the door closed. Taking a deep breath, she turned for the living room and froze before managing a single step. Tommy was standing just feet away, blocking her path, his arms folded across his chest as though daring her to try and get passed him.
"W-what's up?" said Kimberly timidly, unable to meet his eyes for more than a few seconds at a time.
"You tell me," Tommy replied firmly, pulling his leader voice for the second time today.
"What are you talking about?" Kimberly questioned innocently.
Tommy narrowed his eyes at her, letting Kimberly know that feigning ignorance was not going to be a viable defense with him this time. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Kim," he countered, slowly starting to close what little distance remained between them. "The kiss," he continued, approaching Kimberly like a lion to its prey, causing her to unconsciously backpedal towards the wall. "I know you felt it, because I felt it too. It wasn't just a throwaway kiss, some game to piss Jeff off. There was more to it than that."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Tommy," Kimberly lied, the meekness in her voice betraying her as her back ran into the wall, leaving her nowhere else to run. "I just wanted to get back at Jeff, that's all there is to it."
"I don't believe you," said Tommy, now standing right in front of Kimberly as he looked down at the side of her turned head, their faces just inches apart. "You can't even look at me because you know it's true. Whether you want to admit it or not, something happened earlier, something more than a kiss between two friends. There was real passion there, Kim, like we'd finally been given the excuse to do what we've both wanted to do for a really long time now."
"I think you're a little over-confident in your kissing skills," Kimberly replied, finally deciding to push back. She did not enjoy being backed into a corner, physically or literally; Tommy had just done both and taking something like that rolling over was not something that Kimberly was known for doing.
"This isn't a joke, Kim, I'm trying to be real here."
"So am I."
Tommy seemed to ponder that for a few moments, a curious expression on his face as he continued to stare at her. Then, as if it all made sense to him, he nodded once and started to back away. "Fine, have it your way," he muttered, turning around. "I'll see you later, Kim."
Absolute horror flooded her very being as she watched Tommy walk away, her heart slowly breaking with each step he took that carried him further and further from her. She tried to call out to him, but discovered that her voice could no longer be found. Then she tried to go after him instead, only to realize that she was all but paralyzed, rooted to the hardwood floor that she stood upon.
Tears filled her eyes as he disappeared from sight completely, sounds becoming her only given clue as to where he was in the house: the nearby clatter as he gathered his things from the living room; the progressively distant pitter-patter of feet, telling her how close he was to leaving; the whoosh and thud of the door opening and closing, forcing her to recognize how close she had become to losing him for a second time.
He had given her the perfect opportunity to come clean and she had been too stubborn to take it. If she allowed him to leave now, after everything they had been through recently, somehow she just knew that it would be for good, the mere thought of which she simply could not bear to see become a reality.
"No!" said Kimberly, forcing herself to move. She would not lose Tommy, not again.
Suddenly she was running, her socked feet carrying her across the house faster than she had ever run before. The door was thrown open to reveal that the rain had returned to full strength, but she paid it no mind, squinting her eyes as she ran across her soaked lawn to where Tommy now stood, on the verge of getting into his Jeep. She stopped short, however, upon reaching the sidewalk and when realizing that Tommy was just standing there at the driver's side door, staring at her with his hands stuffed deeply into the stomach pocket of his sweatshirt.
"You weren't going to leave, were you?" Kimberly shouted over the pounding rain, more a statement than a question.
Tommy smiled. "Would you have let me?"
"I'm standing here, aren't I?" Kimberly replied, hands on her hips.
"That's not an answer."
Their misty eyes locked through the watery pellets raining down on them, and in a matter of moments their clothes were soaked through completely. The next thing Tommy knew Kimberly was speed walking right towards him; he removed his hands from his pockets and caught her mid-leap, one hand supporting her from underneath while the other found its way into her auburn locks. Kimberly locked her legs around his waist, took his face between her hands, and then they were kissing, kissing as they had never kissed before.
No thunderstorm in the world could have extinguished the fire that burned between them as their lips attacked each other hungrily, their kiss lasting for what seemed like hours, only ending when the need to breathe became overwhelming. Even when the kiss had broken, Kimberly's lips remained within inches of Tommy's, her eyes closed and her forehead pressed against his.
"Feel anything there?" said Tommy, his voice breathless.
"Shh," Kimberly whispered, silencing him with a fleeting kiss. "Don't," she continued, wrapping her arms tightly around Tommy's neck when he started to lower her back to the ground. "Just a little bit longer."
Tommy just smiled, content to remain like this as long as Kimberly wanted to. The rain was unimportant; there would be plenty of time to warm back up later. Right now it was simply two people who cared about nothing else in the world except each other, not even Kimberly's nosy neighbor across the street, an elderly widow with far too many cats, watching them disdainfully from her front window.
"You're an asshole for making me think you were going to leave, you know that?" said Kimberly, kissing his wet lips over and over.
"If you had taken much longer I was going to leave," Tommy replied, running his fingers through her hair as they shared a quiet laugh. "Leave it to Kim to take a dry, perfectly manageable situation and turn it into something overly dramatic."
"Leave it to Tommy to ruin an equally romantic moment by talking too much," countered Kimberly.
"Is that my cue to kiss you again?"
Biting her bottom lip, Kimberly smiled as she looked down at Tommy. "Yeah," she murmured, nodding, "it is."
Tommy was more than happy to oblige, but this time as he did so he started moving them back towards her house. "Can I just say one more thing?" he asked, after breaking the kiss midway up the driveway.
"Go for it, chatterbox," said Kimberly, smiling as she kissed him once more. If kissing Tommy was a drug, then she was more than happy to become a junkie for it.
"You look so fucking sexy wet," said Tommy, grinning up at a now laughing Kimberly.
The trademark bottom lip bite had returned again, coupled with a smile as she gazed longingly into his eyes. She had never quite been able to figure out what it was about him that made her feel this way: so very warm inside; like she and Tommy were the only two people in the world who mattered; that nothing else was important so long as they had each other. Still, it seemed to make about as much sense to her now as it had when they had been teenagers.
"You're something else, you know that?" Kimberly murmured, rubbing the tip of her nose against his. "I don't think I've ever chased after a guy who walked out on me before, and definitely never in the middle of a thunderstorm."
Tommy laughed as he fumbled with the door handle behind Kimberly's butt. "Well I've never had a girl chase after me in the middle of a thunderstorm, so it's firsts for both of us."
"How about another first for us?" whispered Kimberly, gently grazing her lips against Tommy's as he carried her into the house.
The meaning behind her question was not lost on Tommy, but his answer was not one that he was willing to rush into giving. He was forced to set her down at this point, examining her features carefully as he said in a low voice, "There's no going back if we do. A kiss is one thing, Kim, but—"
"Then it's a good thing that I have no desire to go back, isn't it?" Kimberly replied, grabbing him by his sweatshirt, pulling him down to her level, and kissing him hard on the mouth once more. "I know you're just trying to look out for me, but I've never wanted or been more sure about anything in my life, Tommy."
"I've waited half my life to hear you say that," said Tommy, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that this was actually about to happen, the culmination of his teenaged fantasies, and many of his adult fantasies as well.
"Well the wait's over," said Kimberly, her fingertips tugging at the hem of his sweatshirt. "Come on, let's get out of these wet clothes and then we can go take a shower."
Tommy just nodded, allowing his body to drift into auto-pilot mode as Kimberly started to remove his clothes. He felt his body move to help Kimberly, but was far from in control of these actions. "Just remember it was cold outside," he managed to remind her, upon realizing that her fingertips had found their way to the waistband of his sweats.
"Don't worry," she murmured, winking slyly. "If what happened at the concert was any indication of what you're working with, we won't have any problems."
Tommy smiled, suddenly remembering how he had felt after being pressed up against Kimberly from behind, their bodies as close together was humanly possible while still remaining clothed. It was enough to return control of his senses back to him; as Kimberly started on his boxers, Tommy seized her wrists and lifted her arms up, draping them around his neck as he kissed her once more.
The next few hours to follow were something of a blur. Barely able to move, Tommy looked up at the ceiling from where he lay in Kimberly's bed and smiled brightly, listening to the sound of Kimberly's heavy breathing next to him. He could remember vividly their first time in the shower and the way she had clawed at his back, leaving the red scratch marks that he now wore with the greatest of pride. Somehow, someway, they had gone through several position and location changes in a relatively short amount of time, culminating with them in Kimberly's bed, doing something they had not done all day; make love.
The shower; the bathroom counter; the kitchen counter; the living room couch; the living room floor; the bedroom floor; all of it had been primal, a desperate search to find that which had eluded them for so very long, but everything had changed upon reaching the bed. Why, he did not know, but there was just something about it that had elicited an immediate change in tone. In bed he had been slow, tender, his full attention captured by the notion that if this was to never happen again then he wanted something more to remember it by than just the simple carnal pleasure of sex. Any two people could have sex, but to make love was special, just as Kimberly had always been to him; and in those few special moments he had also realized something else.
So long as she wanted him around, Tommy was going nowhere.