Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once: I don't own any of the characters and I'm not making money off of doing this. This is simply for fun.
Present Day (December 31, 2008, Miller Residence):
"So, have you found a date yet?" Kaleb Miller asks Rodney as he takes a seat on one of the patio chairs. Rodney gives him a confused look. "Jeannie told me about the wedding you're going to. Seems like it's almost like going to a reunion, too."
"Yeah, I guess so." Rodney agrees as he sips his wine. "Sheppard and Ronon are going to be there. Teyla… that's gonna be weird, I don't know how that's gonna unfold." Taking another sip of his wine. "Oh and Elizabeth and Jennifer, too. At that very moment, Jeannie walks out the door with Madison by her side. Madison takes a seat by Rodney's feet as she waits patiently for the fireworks to start. Kaleb stands up to give his seat up for Jeannie.
"Are you boys talking about the wedding?" Jeannie asks.
"Yup." They both say.
"So you found a date yet?" Jeannie asks Rodney as she takes a seat.
"Nope." Rodney replies. "I was thinking of asking my neighbor."
"The hot one. The one who hates your guts?" She asks with a laugh.
"She doesn't… I dunno. I'm all out of options." Rodney says defeatedly.
"Why don't you ask Jennifer or Laura?"
"First of all, Ronon might kill me…"
"I thought you said that they…" Jeannie starts to say.
Rodney cuts her off with "But that doesn't mean he's over her. Like I said, that man fell really hard for her. So she's hands off." Rodney says. "Cadman on the other hand, well we dislike each other."
"Hey don't knock it til you try it." Kaleb puts in.
"Well that's easy for you to say. You don't know the girl." Rodney says with a smirk.
"Actually I do." Kaleb tells him.
Rodney looks confused. "Geez, Mer, you really never listen to me, do you?" Jeannie says with frustration. "I just told you a few weeks ago that Laura and I have kept in touch."
Ignoring his sister he continues to say "Well I've confirmed it with Sheppard. Carson and Katie are going." Rodney says, his eyes glazed over as he downs his wine.
Flashback to Senior Skip Day (June 2nd, 2000):
Rodney and Radek make their way through the crowded halls of the school building. It's senior skip day and all the seniors are headed to the beach. A tradition that's been going on for several years now. A day of skipping school without repercussions. Something all the seniors were looking forward to. It was something Rodney had been looking forward to, although, he never let anyone know that. However, today, it just doesn't hold an appeal anymore. What's the use? His Girlfriend dumped him. And he and his best friend aren't talking. And what's worse is that his Girlfriend and his best friend are now together.
They pass Elizabeth and Mike talking, they see her nod in agreement. As Rodney and Radek walk through the double doors and out into the sun, they scan the area for people they can hitch a ride with. Rodney spots Carson pulling the passenger door open for Katie. His new girl. And his new car. A car that was given to him by his mom a week before Prom. A car he never got to ride shotgun in. Carson turns around just in time to see Rodney staring at them. Carson tries to smile. Rodney makes a face.
Rodney turns away from him to look straight ahead of him. Jennifer is thrown over Ronon's shoulder. Barbaric. The caveman had just clubbed his mate. If it only were that it easy. Scanning the crowd again he says to Radek "Hey, so any thoughts?"
"I was thinking, maybe we can pay the bus driver to bring us to the beach." Radek replies without looking at him.
"Yeah, that would be cool." He says sarcastically. "Well, no choice, let's ask he-man over there if we can hitch a ride." He says with a sigh as he nods towards Ronon. They both break off in a run, shouting Ronon's name as he starts his truck.
X
Sitting around the campfire, Rodney, Radek and Mike are toasting marshmallows for the smore's that Jennifer, Elizabeth and Evan are making. Laura and Marie approach their group. "You guys mind if we join you?" Marie asks.
"The more the merrier!" Evan says to her. "Have a seat." He tells her with a smile, patting the space beside him. Marie blushes at this and takes a seat on the towel.
"Hey so what happened to Bates?" Rodney asks Laura, looking up at her.
Pointing towards some trees. "Passed out over there." Laura answers nonchalantly. Bates is leaning against a tree, his arm around another girl, both asleep. Laura grabs a stick and sits by Rodney. Taking a marshmallow from the pack she skewers it and roasts it in the fire.
"So who's the girl?" Rodney asks, nodding towards Bates and the sleeping girl.
"Some girl he met down by the shore." She says with a smile. "Not from Atlantis."
"You don't seem to mind." Rodney says, a confused look on his face.
"Well, it's not like we're official or anything." Laura says with a shrug. "He needed a date to the prom, I needed an all access pass to any senior shindig." Laura says matter of factly. Seeing rodney's expression. she continues to say "Don't act so surprised, McKay. Besides, It's not like I gave up my virginity or anything." She tells him with an evil glint in her eye. Rodney chokes at her bluntness. Laura smiles, satisfied with the reaction she was expecting from him.
"How are you getting home then? I don't think that Mr. Wonderful over there would be sober enough to drive you home later."
"Rodney McKay, are you offering to drive me home?" Laura flirts with him, batting her eyelashes.
"No!" Rodney almost yells, catching some of their companions' attention. "I don't have a car."
"Well that's too bad, then." Laura says, faking a pout. "I guess I'll have to charm my way into someone else's car then." She says with a wink. Rodney blushes at this.
Back to the Present:
It's funny how he started to think about Katie, but ended up thinking about Cadman instead. Somehow she wormed her way into his thoughts.
Laura Cadman had always been a thorn to his side ever since grade school. It didn't help that she lived right across from him. She was always hanging around him, but he learned to live with it and tolerate her presence. But one day, fifth graders from their rival school found him walking alone through the park as he was cutting across it to go home. They started picking on him, pulling his backpack and scattering his books. It was unfortunate that his two friends were not there. The one time Sheppard and Evan were not around, because they were on a school field trip to an lemon farm, and he was exempted. For some reason Little Laura Cadman had skipped school and followed him. She should've just stayed at school. It was embarrassing enough that they were picking on him. But she had to come to his rescue. She was able to fend them off for a bit one by one, but when the fifth graders started cooperating and teaming up in twos she and Rodney made a run for it. They got away, but not before he heard them call him names like "wuss" and "sissy la-la". When they got to his house he screamed at her to get away from him. That he didn't want a girl defending him. That it made things worse for him. She ran away in tears. But being a little boy, it didn't really mean that much to him.
The tables turned when they reached Junior high. He went from dorky to dorkier. He was chubby and had zits that popped in his face like there was no tomorrow. Laura on the other hand had gone from a freckled-faced, red-headed scrawny girl in pigtails to an alabaster-skinned, fiery-haired gorgeous teen. She was always getting asked to dances. Even when she was a freshman, juniors and seniors flocked around her. She wasn't a flirt. She was just naturally friendly and playful.
*Boom*
Fireworks burst in the sky. Madison starts jumping up and down, pointing at the beautiful lights. Kaleb bends down to kiss Jeannie on the lips.
"Happy New Year!" Madison yells.
Laura Cadman. Maybe there's hope. She's probably a bombshell now. No pun intended. But what would she want with him? "Hey sis, so is um, uh, Laura taking anyone to the wedding?"
Jeannie smiles at this." I told you already, no."
Rodney smiles stupidly at this.
TBC.