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 (February 18, 2009):
Marie, Laura, Jamie, Katie and Patty have decided to head down to another bar called Azul. Apparently it's frequented by a lot of locals. Katie, patty and Jamie are a bit unnerved by the looks they've been getting. Laura asks the bartender "What's up with all the looks?"
"You're not locals." The bartender says. "So where are you ladies from?"
"All over. I'm getting married on Sunday." Marie tells him.
"Really? Well in that case then, first round is on the house." The bartender says as he pours their drinks.
"Wow, thanks." Jamie says, grabbing her glass.
It's an outdoor bar. There's also an indoor one with two floors. But the outdoor bar is so much better because of three swinging canopied dining sets that face the street. So they occupy one that's sitting in the middle.
There's another mixed group standing by the bar. Most of the girls look to be Asian. Laura sees that they've got tokens on the counter. She gets up to tap one of the girls on the shoulder. "Hi!"
"Hi!" Says the girl.
"I was wondering… what are those for?" Laura asks.
"These chips you mean?" The girl says. "You're not from around here are you."
"Is it that obvious?" Laura asks. Marie stands up to join her to listen in on the conversation.
Another girl answers Laura. "You get them at happy hour. It was hours ago. I'm Cathy by the way. And this is Nina."
"Laura, and this is my best friend Marie."
"Hi!" Marie says. "So how do the chips work?"
"At happy hour, instead of getting a drink for half price like other bars do, you get a chip." Cathy answers. "So the next time you wanna get a drink, you don't have to pay."
"Cooool." Laura draws out.
"Way cool." Nina says. "We actually save these. So when we're like broke, we just take these with us and we can still get a drink."
"Now that's what I like!" Laura says. "So do you come here a lot?"
"Yeah. We usually end up here after coming from somewhere else." Nina replies. "So what are you girls doing here in Palm Springs."
"Wait, don't tell us… bachelorette party." Cathy guesses. "Who is getting married and where's the tiara?"
"Close." Laura replies. "Marie, here, is getting married. But we already had the bachelorette and bachelor party. But it was just drinking ad having fun. No tiaras, no games, strippers."
"My wedding is on Sunday. My fiancé and I didn't really want parties. So we chose to just have drinks with our really close friends." Marie tells them.
"So how'd you and your fiancé meet?" Nina asks.
"We've known each other since pre-school." Marie answers.
"Oh, how cute!" Cathy says.
"Oh it's not what you think." Laura says, laughing. "Long story short, Marie was in love with him since we were in pre-school. But they only got together in our senior year."
"But we went our separate ways after graduation." Marie explains. "And then my other best friend, Jennifer…"
"Who's incapacitated by the way." Laura adds.
"By incapacitated do you mean, drunk?" Nina asks.
"Drunk, wasted, intoxicated, smashed, sloshed. Whatever you wanna call it." Laura says to her.
"So this Jennifer…?" Cathy asks.
"She set me up in a blind date." Marie continues. "Which was weird, because she never does that sort of thing. So I figured that the guy must be really great. When I got to the restaurant, Evan – my fiancé – was there."
"Aw, that's sweet!" Cathy and Nina say at the same time.
X
"Made some new friends?" Jamie asks.
"Locals. They're pretty cool." Laura tells them.
"They suggested a few places to visit." Marie.
"So what were you girls talking about with them?" Katie asks.
"They asked how Evan and I met." Marie says.
"Radek told me the short version." Patty says. "But he said that there was something between you two in high school also."
Flashback to Senior Skip day (June 2, 2000):
Ronon asks the group around the bonfire who needs a ride. Marie is about to answer when Evan pulls her away and leads her towards the shore.
"What are you doing?" Marie asks nervously. They've known each other for thirteen years already. And thirteen years later she still can't form a single coherent thought when she's around him.
"I think Ronon and Jennifer need to be alone." Evan tells her.
"Oh." Marie. "You think…?"
"Not my business – not yours either." Evan says to her, nudging his shoulder against hers.
Marie is at a loss for words. Her head full of things to talk about, but her mouth isn't cooperating.
"So what's new?" Evan asks.
"Huh?" Marie says, thrown off by the question. "What do you mean?"
"Any plans for the summer?"
"Not really. Laura is going to Hawaii this summer." Marie tells him.
"Don't you and Laura spend summers with each other?" Evan asks.
Marie is surprised that he knows this. Evan beds down to pick up a seashell and then hands it to her. "Yeah. I spend one summer with her and her family, and then the next summer, she spends it with me and mine." She turns the seashell over to inspect it. "This year, my parents want me to concentrate on my playing the piano."
"What for?" Evan asks her.
"Pre-College." Marie says. "Julliard."
"When's your audition?"
"I already had it in March." Marie tells him. "I've already been accepted."
"How long will you be staying there?" Evan asks as they flop down on the sand.
"It's for thirty days. But only every Saturdays."
Evan counts with his fingers. "That's seven and a half months." Evan says.
"It'll be between September through May. Holidays already accounted for."
"So you're not gonna be in Atlantis this year? How come I'm only hearing about this just now" Evan asks.
"We're not exactly best friends."
"I dunno, Ko. It's not gonna be the same without you…"
Yeah right, like you ever noticed. Marie just shrugs. "I want this. Besides, Laura says she's come visit me."
"What about the rest of us?" He asks as he draws circles in the sand. Marie gives him a look that says 'whatever'. "Come on Marie! We've known each other since kindergarten. We ate paste together!"
"That was a long time ago, Evan." Marie says. "You discovered Kate Heightmeyer. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be at the bonfire with her right now?"
"Do I detect a note of Jealousy?" Evan teases.
Marie makes a face and then says "You didn't answer my question."
"I'll answer yours, if you answer mine." Marie doesn't answer, but gives him an exasperated look. "Fine. We kinda broke up."
Well this is news. Marie wonders. "Kinda?"
"It's not like we were together." Evan says.
"Yeah you were."
"No. Everybody assumed we were together. We were dating – casually." Evan explains.
"Ugh!" Marie groans as she gets up to walk away.
"What?! I'm a growing boy" Evan yells but laughs at the same time.
"Ugh!" She groans again.
"Oh come on Ko!" He says, getting up to catch up with her. "I'm sorry! I was just teasing!" Grabbing her arm and pulling her to face him. "Are you jealous?"
"Why the hell would I be jealous?" Marie asks, trying to hide the truth. Fortunately it's dark and Evan can't see her eyes.
"I dunno. Anyway, like I said, we broke up. Kinda. It was a mutual decision."
"When?" Marie asks, pretending not to care as she brushes the sand away from her legs.
"Prom. At the party." Evan tells her as they continue to walk along the shore. "So, you're gonna be spending this summer here then."
"Yup. That's the plan." Marie says, and then asks "Why?"
"Nothing." Evan utters. "I realized just now that I'm gad that I turned down my dad's offer to take a cruise. Marie Ko, you and I are gonna have a great summer.
And he was right. They did have a great summer. Marie played the piano for a few hours everyday. But since both her parents were musicians they were always attending events so they could never monitor her. They actually thought she was playing the piano every other hour, when in fact she would play in the morning when they left, sneak out of the house with Evan and then come back before they arrived home.
That summer, she and Evan spent their days either at the beach, the park or just the mall. He knew that her parents were very strict and wanted her to focus on her piano playing. It was one of the reasons he stopped playing with her when they were litte. It seemed that she wasn't allowed to have fun. And having a boy as a friend was a no-no. But they had so much fun with each other now that it didn't matter at all. Sometimes they can even just lay on a picnic blanket and watch the clouds go by without saying a word for hours.
School was gonna start in a week. And they were both dreading it. She would be leaving for New York pretty soon. Evan was in her garden standing below her window, throwing pebbles at her window, like he did for the past couple of months. Marie throws her window open and climbs down the lattice wall against the house.
"Hey you." Evan says.
"Hey you." She says back.
"Come on." Evan says, grabbing her hand as they run across the yard.
Evan brought her to a secluded spot near the river. They've been coming to this place since summer started. She's sitting on a swing tire that's suspended by a rope tied around a branch. Evan is standing behind her, pushing the tire swing back and forth.
"So, you gonna give me a call when you get to New York?"
"Of course I am."
"What if you meet some guy over there? You might just forget about me." Evan says.
"How am I ever gonna forget about you? Like you said, we used to eat paste before." Marie says with a laugh. "Besides, so what if I do meet someone? You should be happy for me."
Evan twists the tire swing around so that he can have Marie face him. Without warning he bends down and kisses her. Marie didn't even have time to react before she feels his lips move over hers. Very skillful lips. No tongue, but still very skillful. When he pulls away from the kiss, her cheeks are burning.
"I – I…"
"Promise me you'll call me." Evan says.
"I promise." Marie says, still shocked.
"Good. I should get you home." He says to her as he takes her hand. The walk back home is deafeningly silent. He helps her up the lattice wall and waits til she gets inside her room.
X
Marie, waves goodnight at Evan and then shuts her windows. Suddenly her room brightens up. Her mother is sitting on her bed, and her father standing by the door, his hand perched on the switch.
TBC.
Note: Sorry to leave you hanging guys.:)