Hello! It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. This story I wrote at the beginning of the year and I really enjoyed tackling this one. At first when I got the idea, I thought that I would keep it for myself as just a daydream. But this year I've been really getting over myself and ignoring inhibitions and writing things that would normally just be little details in the world that I write about. So I decided to write and upload this! It was fun for me to go back to the early days of Jordan and Lynne visiting from 'up there' as well as some James and Misty friendship. I hope you enjoy :)
Ages:
Misty: 27
James: 34
Lynne: 30
Jordan: 32
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!
The lavender haired male's tongued moved to the corner of his mouth and then he appeared to suck in his cheekbones, his eyebrow twitching ever so slightly. Immediately, the orange haired female knew. Looking over at her good friend opposite her, Misty peered over a photograph in her hand and shot her own eyebrow fully up. She knew him too well. He was clearly trying to hide his amusement.
"Found something funny?" Misty made her voice towards James sound sharp and direct but when his head travelled in her direction and his eyes widened innocently, she found herself smirking to contrast her tone.
James' previously twitching brows rose slowly up on his face and his eyes continued to widen. After giving himself a moment to study whether she was actually having a go at him or not, he sensed her light-heartedness and his almost mischievous countenance soon returned.
He resumed trying to conceal his amusement but then he openly grinned, his shoulders being the part of him to twitch as he at last stopped himself from laughing heartily aloud. With a swooshing motion, he turned the photograph around which was in his own hand and showed it to the younger female.
"I think you must've found the safety scissors again here once more." smirked James and then after only just turning the photograph around to show Misty, he leaned forward while still crossing his legs in the carpet of her living room and offered it to her. Her fingers had only just touched the corner edge of the photo as she accepted it when James added, back fully on his bottom once more. "Bless. Not quite as skilful as your daughter."
Misty's eyes weren't given the chance to actually look at the photograph which was tickling her best friend so but she immediately shot him a look. James said nothing, innocently humming and trying to rummage for more images that captured his attention.
I moving closer to her side rather than to his, Misty's eyes wandered down to the photo then in her own hold. For a while, I watched her expression more than I looked at the memory in her hands instead. Her lips sought refuge closer together and though her own brow twitched, it was for a far different reason than James' previously had done.
She hated the fact that James had a reason to laugh at her! I looked properly down at the little glossy piece of card and even though I had the smallest of smiles on my face, my heart swelled more than anything.
Bless. Bless indeed. Bless for real. A moment had been captured on camera of Misty about three years old and having given herself a bit of a haircut!
I had the inclination to nudge even closer to Misty but then decided not to, not wanting her to think that I was being patronising. Instead, I watched as her initial stubborn expression melted away when James stopped laughing at her and became occupied sifting through all the photo memories instead.
The gentlest of sighs could be heard. Misty's head turned from side to side. The corner of her mouth quirked upwards along with her eyebrow. At least there were similarities between her and her daughter. Although she had to admit that Katie even far younger than her at that age could've done a better job at playing hairdressers.
"Not everybody had an Uncle James to practice on since they were barely walking, you know." Misty ventured in an abrupt voice once more but that time, straight away James knew that she was mucking about again. His eyes travelled up over another wad of photographs in his hand and although his smirk was hidden, it was given away by the twinkling in his eyes.
For a second time, James was silent. And it allowed Misty to continue enjoying the photo of her even if it did make her cheeks feel warm, focusing on the background and trying to scan any other, smaller details.
I knew that she didn't have a great deal of memories surrounding her life with living parents. But I also knew that the ones that she did have were particularly vivid. I gladly welcomed inviting myself onto her lap when her hand absentmindedly wandered to my head and rested there while she looked at the backdrop of the photograph.
It appeared to be a bathroom. She wished that she had more memories of there and that time, the steamed up and echoing room filled with perhaps the warm laughter of her parents. She wished that she could remember.
"So what kind of photos are you looking for?" James interrupted Misty's scanning and pondering and he interrupted mine as well. For a rare occasion, he hadn't seemed to notice that he interrupted anything until it was a little too late. "Is there a kind of theme you want or…?"
He trailed off when he noticed Misty's head bowed down as she scanned with all her might to find something – anything. I gathered that she didn't exactly know what she was looking for. But she would most likely know when she found it.
James looked over at me as I filled my vision with him and he pressed his mouth together, offering me the apology instead. He remained quiet after that. But there was no reason to be regretful. I imagined that Misty knew she was being spoken to, and the sound of her dear friend's voice lent its tunes as almost a soundtrack to her musings.
Slowly, she looked over at him again. Because she was met with a smile that was fully revealed that time rather than the mouth being concealed and the eyes like shining armour, she felt able to carry on and be casual about everything. Misty had no reason to hide anything. Especially not from James.
"Oh, I don't know. Just really nice and clear ones. Nice and clear memories." She dodged saying the word 'happy' in front of 'memories' and I don't think that she needed to. Like what she was searching for, that was clear enough. James nodded in response and put his tongue in the corner of his mouth for a different reason that time. "It's about time, don't you think? I want this baby to grow up with photos of her grandparents all around her."
Misty pulled her legs nearer to her with me still perched close to her stomach. She smirked, her lip curving upwards wordlessly addressing how bad she and Ash had been at getting their new home up and running. It had almost been a year! However, James didn't seem to think anything of it. I gathered that he of all people believed that a home was something to be decorated slowly and thoughtfully over time, rather than hurriedly putting everything in place just to seem like you had everything together.
Though he didn't say anything of the sort, he probably thought it. Yet again, he remained quiet. And it gave me the chance to think of other things, my head switching from tilting up towards Misty with a smile to down towards her belly.
Yes, my best friend and his wife had made yet another little delight and I couldn't feel more aglow. The fact that Misty wanted to make another, nurturing nest for her newest baby made my chest swell and my smile widen. As well as that, I too couldn't wait to see Jordan and Lynne's faces dotted around the house all the more so rather than holding my breath and hoping they would visit again.
In that moment, most of my thoughts were on the new Ketchum baby. And to stop myself from positively bursting at the idea of what she may be like, I nuzzled my cheek vehemently against Misty's belly. She immediately chuckled to herself while sifting through her own pile of photographs and cupped her hand around my cheek, inviting me closer.
At six months pregnant, she displayed quite the belly and I could kid myself that I could feel her little kid pressed up against me too. But then again, I felt that as soon as she told me that she was expecting. And in other instances, I knew that I knew even long before.
I could feel James giving me a bit of an arch browed look as I became mesmerised by my own thoughts of Ketchum baby number four and practically clung to the bump but I didn't care. I didn't care one bit. And rather typically, he seemed to brighten and almost join me in the joy when someone breezed through the room.
Knowing that her daughter had got the itch to put photographs of her and her husband and their little family way back on the walls of her home since she had come to visit, Lynne breezed through the living room already with a smile on her face. In fact, the skirts of her dress tickled my other cheek that wasn't pressed against Misty's belly as she swanned past.
"Oh, isn't that simply precious?" she began and initially, it was anyone's guess what the orange haired woman from above was finding so sweet. Then, my cheeks turned a redder shade than normal when it seemed to be me who caught her attention! "Who's going to be the best uncle to the new bundle?"
Lynne squatted down right close next to her daughter but instead of making a fuss over her at first, her attention was directed towards me. Her delicate and pale fingers reached out towards me and rather than feeling her skirts causing a breeze which fanned against my cheek, I felt her touch there instead.
She poked, squished and squeezed my cheek and then when I briefly pulled away from nestling against the bump so closely, both of them got a lot of attention. It felt wonderful! I had a strange mix of hot embarrassment from getting caught being so soppy to feeling euphoric at the hands of Lynne.
Misty shook her head fondly at everything that was going on. But she would go on to shake her head for a different reason with what happened next. James obviously had these words running through his mind as a bit of a joke but surprised himself by actually coming out with them.
"I am." answered James. And no sooner had these words tumbled out of his lips, although his cheeks didn't quite turn the brilliant hue of my own, he did appear to swallow rather abruptly and pretend to look away. He tried to pretend he hadn't said anything!
Of course this wasn't the case and Misty gave him a bit of an unamused look before shaking her head at him. However, Lynne saw the funny side of it and actually understood James' humorous intention.
I had two lines over my face when in the next couple of seconds, the orange haired woman from above stopped devoting her attention to me and stood up, wandering over to James instead. Once she was hovering over him, she greatly surprised him by taking hold of his face as he tried to look away and pinched his cheeks as well.
"You're going to be a beautiful uncle as well, James, dear." Lynne told him, humouring him in return but also a fluttering of sincerity floating out from between her lightly glossed lips. She squeezed cheeks a little more and patted them.
Misty had the urge to scoff! But when she saw her best friend's face screwing up at the continual embarrassment that his joke had never meant to be heard, she shared a look with me and we both laughed together.
Meanwhile, James desperately tried to make the interaction seem a bit more normal.
"Come to have a trip down memory lane?" he asked Lynne, the creased paper quality to his face and his light left eye squint remaining even in the seconds that she had stopped touching at his face and gave Misty a motherly touch on the cheek instead.
Misty smiled at either her touch or her best friend's words, I didn't know. I hoped that it wasn't because I moved off her lap once more! I moved closer to the pile of photographs that James was sorting through. I wondered what gem he would find next.
Lynne moved to demurely squat down once more and this time, she was right next to James rather than Misty and me. Her dress the shade very much the same as a blend of her daughter's eye colour billowed down towards the floor and she had to adjust herself gracefully not to tread on any hems.
Immediately, her eyes were like the sun shining down on the ocean during a summer's day as she prepared to answer, her hands resting on her knees.
"Oh, I remember everything as though it was yesterday." Lynne answered. Though her eyes scanned the various piles of photographed – some sorted and sifted through and others not – her eyes sparkled all the more as if she had absorbed each and every memory. But then she switched positions, leaning past times and gesturing to the pile that he had been adding order to. "May I?"
Misty's head turned as she was curious as to what Lynne was asking permission to do. But soon enough when it became clear, she shoulders moved just an inch and she resumed rummaging through the pile of her own.
James of course nodded straight away. He wouldn't have dreamt of telling Misty's mother that she couldn't have a root through the pile of memories that were very much hers and made up the threads of whom she was, and who she was going to become.
Accompanying that nod, an even, smile came from James as well. Lynne properly reached past him and managed to collect quite the bundle in just one of her very narrow and feminine hands. In the meanwhile, he found himself looking at her and this made me look at him!
While he didn't quite stare, his gaze was certainly lingering. And it dropped to and fro from certain places of her body to other parts. His eyes only wandered from her craning porcelain neck and then down towards her collarbones but his eyes darted quite a few times! I tried not to have the inclination to snarl at him.
But Misty didn't have the same need to keep her reactions to herself. Her expression just doing the talking first and foremost, she looked stony faced over at her best friend. When he didn't catch on and continued – in his mind looking with no ulterior motives - his best friend allowed her actions to do the talking instead.
Holding a photograph near to her mouth as a guard, Misty pretended to cough. As she did so, she spluttered out a word that was an adjective. But it could have been a rude word! James immediately looked up from what he hadn't realised he was doing. Misty played it off like she genuinely had something in her throat and this made me suck in my cheeks.
Lynne was none the wiser. And she smiled softly at one particular photo that was in her hands now that she had stopped leaning across James and was seated next to him.
"Oh, it's my Jordan. So handsome." She began as if she was thinking her thoughts aloud just for her and didn't mean for anyone to hear. In spite of James previously giving Lynne quite the study, he appeared to have a twinkle in his eye all the more with the sweet way she spoke about her other half. As well as this, he didn't dream of craning until she invited him to look too. "This is an alternate photo to the Navy one of him. I like it just as much."
And following having a little bit of a moment to stroke the cheek belonging to the photograph captured picture of Jordan, she smiled more to herself and then she smiled at her daughter. Lynne handed the picture over, wanting her to see it as much as she enjoyed laying her eyes on it once more.
As I looked over at Misty and shuffled closer to her once again, I knew that she felt similarly. Though she saw the face of her father a lot more than the years after he had passed away, she still relished that sensation of getting to see his younger years as well.
Mother and daughter had a bit of a moment together, sharing small talk and tit bits, all centred around the yellow haired sailor that had been captured on camera. James didn't dream of interrupting. I didn't either.
Despite my prior inclination to get him to stop looking at Lynne, we were then united in our ability to mind our own business. In addition to that, we knew that the two of them had time up make up for. And so, we both occupied ourselves with our own thing. Actually, we were occupied by the same thing when we both started looking through that pile of his together.
James picked up an image on the floor between forefinger and thumb and somehow like he always seemed to do, he found a treasure straight away. The smile that took over his face following that showed exactly that.
But Misty believed that he had found something embarrassing again! She looked between narrowed eyes over at him but James shut her down, wordlessly shaking his head. He was quick to explain what sort of thing he had found and oddly serious, and gentle too.
"It's your Mom." His placid voice started and he looked over at Misty as he explained but he soon forwent looking at her any further and turned his attention to Lynne. Her attention had been turned to him when she heard these words. Before handing the picture over to her, he told her. "You look a lot like your daughter there. Katie too."
Lynne's fingers were then filled with the photographic memory of quite a long time ago. We would go on to learn that that was taken just a few days after Misty was born, hence why she was looking a little more peaky than unusual. Not that James thought so. He didn't dream of saying it but he believed she looked as lovely as ever.
Misty tried to follow suit and not look over too much while James and Lynne were looking at the picture together. She waited her turn. Her mother cupped one hand against her own cheek and held the picture in her fingers with the other.
"I'm touched." She responded to the fact that it was thought she had resemblance to Misty and Katie too. I had a bit of the same feeling as Lynne and wanted to have a peek at the picture but then felt enjoyment out of watching Lynne's expressions change instead. The corners of her eyes creased and her eyes became shimmering sapphires. "Misty was our loudest baby, no doubt. I'm sure Jordan looked much better than I did during that time in our lives."
Like a toddler being embarrassed by their mother in public, the corners of Misty's nose creased and the tip of her tongue appeared in between her lips. In fact, she seemed to squirm! Why did Moms have to do that?
Still, she had to recover promptly because Lynne stopped looking down at the photo of her twenty seven year old self and handed it to her daughter who was then of the same age, inviting her into the viewing of the photo memory that had previously just been for her and James.
After he curiously watched his best friend's expression as she too looked down at the photo of a younger version of her mother, he turned back to Lynne. He looked right at her in close proximity, the tip of his tongue travelling along his lower lip.
But then he just ran a hand through his hair with photograph-less fingers and questioned the orange haired woman from above.
"So are you close to my age in that photo, Lynne?" he asked, his fingers still tousling through the soft locks of his that were the same lavender as when I had met him all those years ago. Just for a second, I thought I caught Lynne getting distracted by looking at him, just like had happened for him with her.
However, she then had to answer. And straight away, her lips became a line that appeared just a touch sad. Misty looked over at her mother as well as she shook her head, pulling her legs to her chest at the same time that James did.
"Oh, oh no, dear. I wasn't around when I was your age." Lynne replied, her lips twitching upwards in a smile. She then accepted the photo back from her daughter, her eyes remaining of the same quality but there was an understandable and undoubted wistfulness dancing in her pupils.
James felt a hitch catching at his throat and his face drew backwards, his brows moving higher on his forehead rather than staying in their normal place. Of course. Of course that had been the case.
What an idiot, he thought to himself. He knew in which the age Lynne had passed away – Jordan too. He had been told plenty of times.
I didn't know whether to find it admirable or all the more heart-breaking when both Lynne and Misty were pretty much numb to this. The mother of the two occupied herself with reaching across James once more. Her daughter pressed her lips together; I believed this was wordless empathy towards her best friend over the interaction that had happened, as her hands hugged tighter around her knees.
James didn't know what to say. He felt foolish. But he knew he had to say something. His hands dropping out from seeking refuge in his silky locks, he knew that he couldn't just say silent. He was not for a single second hesitant over showing his own empathy and his remorse.
"Oh…" his voice started. Misty's head remained thoughtfully and absentmindedly looking down to the images on the floor that she had sorted through and had yet to assign them to a spot in the empty frames dotted around her home. Contrasting this, Lynne's gaze met James' right away. "I'm sorry."
Instead of the word 'right' following the initial uttering that came from him, James felt it right to offer an apology. As well as this, it was what he wanted to do. It was true. More than anyone, he hated that Misty's parents had been taken from her, whether it was circumstantial or at the own hand of oneself.
Misty stayed quiet, still looking down at the photos that she had added order to. In the meantime, after looking into the eyes of James, Lynne shook her head and looked away. But I noticed that she didn't tell him that there wasn't anything to be sorry about.
Sure, he not thinking his words through and remembering things that he should have known could have warranted him saying sorry. But there was something to be a little bit sorry for over the fact that both she and her other half had lost their lives so young. This was why she didn't say anything on the matter. And this was why she moved onto other things instead.
"I only wish that I could take photographs when we're 'up there' as well. We've had some nice times that I would like to look at as well as remember." She spoke in a similarly wistful way but the way in which she played with the hem of her dress showed that ease was returning once more. And once again, I didn't know if that was breaking my heart more or stitching it tighter together. "I'm going to leave you two to it. Katie was reading a book and I have to say, I thought it looked rather enticing!"
The corners of Lynne's mouth quirked upwards. And with that, more of the whites of James' eyes could be seen than normal as he watched Lynne lightly slap her hands against her own knees before she rose upwards once again, leaving all of the photographs and their memories behind.
Yet before he could look over at his best friend and wonder (and lose sleep over) if his words had been the reason for her departure, he felt the cool, steady touch of the hand of Lynne and it somehow switched his mind off from having all of his thoughts, not just those ones.
He didn't offer her the smallest of smiles in return but he did look up at her. James instead allowed Misty to be the one to speak a goodbye. Holding more pictures in her hands once more and feeling me climbing onto her then outstretched legs a second time, just one corner of Misty's mouth curved towards the ceiling.
"See you in a few hours, then." Misty humoured her mother. She didn't exactly know her to be the greatest of book worms. But like her granddaughter, she loved a good story. So she knew that she was likely to disappear for hours on end into another world just like Katie!
Lynne did catch on to this and not only did she give her daughter a movement of the mouth that was equal parts smile and smirk, but she also lifted her hand to wave her fingers. Then, she was off. She headed off towards her granddaughter's bedroom to see that she was still absorbed in that world.
There was just James, Misty and I left, just like it had been before. But for some reason, the space felt a little emptier. I knew why. I had begun absorbing the silent worry that couldn't help but occupy James' mind once again in spite of the fact that Lynne had actually reached out to him to reassure him.
Part of me thought about going over to him to offer him comfort. But the truth is, before I could fully make my mind up or properly move a muscle, Misty got there first. Showing that she was equally as intuitive as her mother and it came from a family trait rather than some sort of angelic power, wordlessly, her legs stretched out even further and to rest partially on the legs of James.
The same effect was had. Feeling his best friend's touch, the thoughts belonging to James came to a halt. I saw him nod his head to himself. There was no use crying over spilt milk. It was a very real and valid thing to fret about, he believed. But he also had to believe both Lynne and Misty when they wordlessly showed no reason to linger in remorse. And so he did.
James nodded a little more outwardly that time. He even started to smile in a languid fashion. But then something came bounding into the room which caused all those previous thoughts to fly out of the window. Or rather, someone came bounding in!
Only just finished his work out in one of the other areas of the Ketchum home, Jordan barged down the door and stood in the middle of the carpet, close to us all and dripping with sweat. The glistening quality of his top lip as well as the panting that halted his breath showed that it had not only been a successful exercise session but an intense one.
"Whew!" was all he said at first, stripping himself of the black vest top that had previously been practically stuck to his body after all the heart hammering that had been going on. Misty looked up and smirked as he used that sodden piece of clothing to wipe his brow. "I am beat. You still looking through stuff?" He took strides closer to Misty. A pause. His voice then came out even more booming when he looked down at the photograph on the floor that had failed to be hidden – the one of young Misty and her make shift haircut. "Awww. How adorable!"
Once again, I was left laughing as that being-embarrassed-in-public-by-a-parent expression took over for a second time that day. James laughed alongside me, glad to fully let go of any uncomfortable interaction or feelings from before. Then, Misty was the one left glad.
She was grateful that although her father reached down and clumsily ruffled her twenty seven year old locks with his clammy hand, even he knew not to offer too many hugs just after a work out!
Jordan took a step back, his breathing still not evening out as he laid his black vest top to rest over his shoulder like a sweat rag and he ran his strong fingers through his damp locks.
"Whew." He spoke those words again and Misty was just thankful that he didn't announce how badly he was starting to smell! Human noses couldn't detect it but I was certainly beginning to sense a ripened quality to the air. "I need to shower. Where do you keep the clean towels?"
I tried not to inhale too much as Jordan's eyes scanned the room, looking past James and looking right at Misty. But since his daughter had secretly tucked all evidence of embarrassing photos away from prying eyes, she had got down into rummaging for new photographs.
James had made himself at home long before Ash and Misty actually moved into that property of theirs so, his hands moving to his hips, he prepared to stand up and help Jordan out. He looked to Misty first rather than the yellow haired male.
"I'll go." he told Misty, his hands lingering on his hips as he fully rose up from the carpet. She had just enough time to lift her legs off him before they got lifted up as well. James' eyes moved to where Jordan and upon seeing he was copying his hands, his damp hands clutching to his hips, he addressed him with a smile that was more polite than easy-going. "Follow me."
And with that, Misty nodded her head but I'm not sure it was meant as encouragingly just before Jordan did indeed follow James. To stretch my legs a little bit as we had all been at that task for a good couple of hours at that point, I followed them as well. I began to think that the lavender haired male was awfully brave when he went to the enclosed space that was the linen cupboard with the yellow haired male!
"Let's find you a towel." James filled the silence as they ended up in the cupboard together and he began rummaging through the towels belonging to a family other than his. He knew which ones belonged to whom and which ones were for guest. And he knew which ones were for a bit of fun.
He muttered things to himself and he muttered things to Jordan that were mostly small talk as he searched for a towel that was on the larger side for the tall and broad stature that belonged to Misty's father. I knew that he was just filling the silence and that was down to the fact that he couldn't help but feel his eyes bulging when he saw Jordan's muscles fresh from a work out – and he couldn't help but look down at his own, tattoo decorated arms that were rather on the thin side.
However, blurting out past the mundane musings of James and while they were both in the cupboard together, Jordan put an end to both his words and insecure thoughts.
"Misty okay?" he asked. Straight away, James' face told all as he paused mid searching for an appropriate towel for Jordan to use after his shower, a crease forming between his brows and his eyes squinting together. An explanation came. Jordan spoke like his daughter wasn't practically in ear shot. "Looking through old pictures and stuff? She's not sad?"
James' hand remained paused in mid-air, his fingers hovering just above a pink and flowery child's towel that he was not going to offer to Jordan. That was one of the few times that he had spoken something vaguely emotional with Jordan.
Nevertheless, he had come out with it so he obviously meant that there was a great deal of care there. James answered honestly, his lips pressing together, that time in more genuineness rather than obligation.
"She seems fine. I would steer the conversation or her attention elsewhere if she got a little wobbly." He told Jordan and his large, looming height. At such close proximity, he could see the blank expression and frown that began to decorate his face. James was forced to hurriedly add. He managed not to lose his sincerity. "Or listen of course."
Jordan's bordering on steely, protective glance lasted for a minute more. But then with an inhale, it disappeared almost as quickly as it had formed. Once more, he blurted out a torrent of words. They were a great contrast compared to the previous ones!
"Can I have this towel?" he asked, his hand barging completely past James' lingering one and grabbing hold of one that was a royal blue colour decorated with very vibrant orange fish even though I knew how old the towel to truly be.
A pause. One single pause. James noticed my presence and looked over at me. I looked over at him from just outside of the cupboard, one of my ears in the air and the other falling down across my face.
"Sure." He then replied, his voice coming out as if he believed Jordan was joking. Apparently Jordan was not from the way that he quickly grabbed hold of the towel before James could change his mind and a very white toothed grin appeared. He managed to resist shaking his head and continued while noticing the other male's very noticeable dimples. "Sureeee." That time that word came out more amusedly and compliantly. "Let's just hope that one keeps you dignified."
And with that, Jordan didn't really know what James was talking about but he still continued showing off that grin and even patted James on the shoulder. The poor lavender haired male almost flew out of the cupboard!
But instead of dwelling on that, he continually shook his head and even grinned a bit to himself while walking away from the cupboard as Jordan headed for the shower. He knew that that tattered child's towel was unlikely to do the job for the yellow haired male but he didn't dream of standing in the way of his choices.
When James returned back to Misty in the living room, she had a choice of three photographs splayed out in front of her. She didn't need her best friend's advice on it and she didn't need mine either after I hurried to follow him back to the scene.
Misty had made her mind up for herself. She had a specific photo frame with three different compartments so she was going to have all three in it. Almost as soon as James sat back down opposite once more, his legs folding all over again, she pushed them towards him.
As I crept nearer to her, I observed that she had an expression that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It was almost hopeful. Yet had an indignant quality to it also. In that moment, I figured that I should probably just wait for what she had to say.
"Don't you think it looks like my dad is singing in this picture?" she asked. She had slid all three of the photographs across the carpet to her best friend but then went the extra mile and pushed that particular one even closer to him. While he looked back at her rather than down and ran a hand through his hair, she added. "The way his mouth is moving."
She clearly knew what she thought, James observed. And so, after running a hand through his hair and lightly touching in between his own brow like he was pushing glasses further up his nose, he looked down and had a peep himself.
That time, instead of patiently waiting my turn, I couldn't help but look down as well. I had a smile on my face once I did. I was glad to have looked down at all of the pictures but especially the one that Misty was trying to get James to notice the same things about.
It was a photo of the Williams' girls yellow haired father with an equally yellow haired girl perched on the end of his knee. I recognised her to be Daisy and figured that she had to be about six or so. Bundled up in the crook of Jordan's arm was a little swaddled baby and I knew without having to linger that it was baby Misty.
My heart felt it was going to burst. With sadness or joy. Or both.
"I don't see it, I'm sorry." James burst Misty's bubble but he didn't mean to. And although he didn't see what his best friend was seeing, it didn't mean that he stopped trying. After his locks felt the touch of his fingers once more, he picked the photograph up to have a proper peer. Thoughtful hums escaped his throat. "He just looks like he's smiling. It's a lovely photo either way."
This was evidently not the answer that Misty was hoping for. It couldn't be blamed on pregnancy hormones the way that she felt the need to snatch the photograph back and go on looking herself. Though she didn't do this at all, I knew that she imagined herself doing so. Her eyebrows knotted together and she looked over at James, almost willing him to see what she saw. And know what she knew.
He felt her gaze on him and he looked back, a small wave of air escaping from his nostrils. His eyes glossed over with a wave of compassionate understanding and then his words were filled with this as he edged closer on his bottom to Misty, their knees almost touching.
"Look… I know that you say you remember your father having the most wonderful voice. But I've simply never heard him sing. Your mother? Yes." James started and despite Misty's eyebrows letting their tight hold go of each other, her eyes still locked onto his with an adamant quality. He chose his words carefully before proceeding. "Don't get me wrong, your dad loves music. But when I'm playing stuff or I put it on for him he just…"
Words trailed off. Apparently this was exactly what Jordan did. James' gestures also summed up what Jordan did. He parted his lips and parted yet bent his fingers just so. Misty sighed again. She really did lean forward and take the photo from her best friend again but it couldn't be said that she snatched it.
James didn't need to look at me to fathom that Misty hated not being believed. That wasn't the case. He did believe her. He knew she had certain very strong memories of Jordan when she was a young child. But though the looming and stoic man did also have an energetic and bounding quality to his character as well, he had never caught him humming – much less singing.
A pause happened and James was the instigator of this. He didn't allow air to escape from his lips. He didn't want Misty to think that he didn't believe her. He wanted to believe her. He also wanted the evidence almost as much as she did.
"Why don't you ask your sisters if they remember or have a video of it or something?" James tried to ask. He tried to be helpful. But this made it seem even more that he thought it was all in her head. We shared a look again and that time, my gaze lingered.
I told him that he wasn't being helpful. He looked away because he knew it. He finally sighed. But Misty moved on. She ignored his suggestion. She ignored her own thoughts. She moved on to other things. She picked out another photograph and keeping with the subject of her sisters, she slid that one closer to James as well.
She forced a mischievous grin at first and then the more that it remained and once James looked quizzically over at her, the more it became genuine. The diamond in her eyes returned.
"So which of out of all me and my sisters is the cutest?" she asked James and practically immediately, he groaned out loud! This in itself spoke everything that he meant without him having to say a single word. "C'mon! We're a relatively cute age there so you gotta pick one."
My own smirk returned as well. I even hopped onto the shoulder of Misty. My paws were comfortably resting on the crook of her neck as she tried to encourage.
James' eyes shot and locked onto Misty's. At first he didn't touch a single corner of the photograph like all of those young girls were going to appear in real life and he had to judge which one was the sweetest. He finally did pick it up. But he barely looked at it, instead still looking at the in the flesh version of his best friend.
"I'm not playing this game." He retorted, his voice sounding as stoic as Misty's father could be known for. Her neck near me sloped and with a squint in her eye, her expression was very telling. James remained wide eyed and insistent. "It's a trap! If I say all of you then I seem like a push over and if I say none of you I'm the mean guy who judged little girls." James gathered his thoughts. "If I say you are then-"
Misty's eyes honed in on James' eyes further. Her brow elevated up.
"It's a lie?" she finished off for him. She was nearly interrogating him! I had the smidgen of feeling sorry for him in my belly when I knew that he was right – there was no answer that made him seem just and fair. However, I knew his past and I saw him looking at Lynne so I made that sympathy disappear.
James deadpanned at his best friend. He could not believe he was thirty four years old and still getting himself into traps like that disguised as easy going jokes. He faced his fear and held onto the photograph, looking down at the picture in his hands.
It was an adorable photograph and all of them looked rather sweet in their different ways. Six year old Daisy. Four year old Violet. Two year old Lily. Baby Misty. Of course he was going to gravitate towards the baby version of his best friend. It was the spitting image of Katie and he could not believe so much time had passed since she was that age.
Katie. Katie. Words filled his brain. He felt he had a way out.
"I'm not playing this game." He stood his ground and he handed the picture back over to Misty, trying not to throw it like a paper aeroplane into her lap. She rolled her eyes as if to say he was the one who was a child. James shrugged. He didn't care. Humour twinkled in his own eye when he saw the beginnings of it causing Misty's mouth to widen. "It's not fair! It's the equivalent of Jayden growing up and posing the same question to Katie. And we all know-"
We never found out what we apparently all knew. In the middle of James and Misty's foolish shenanigans, they hadn't even heard Jordan somewhere along the house not only slamming the bathroom door shut but the water of the shower beginning to run as well.
However, we very much heard the sounds that were coming from that particular room once we had actually honed in on it. I was rather unsettled that I hadn't noticed it first. I was annoyed about it too! But then I jumped down from Misty's shoulder and looked at her face and all those feelings washed away like the water in the bathroom.
I didn't care anymore. I only cared what we were hearing. The warmest, deepest, richest singing voice was travelling through the Ketchum house from one of the showers in one of the bathrooms. It was Jordan.
Every single day. Every word you say. Every game you play. Every night you stay. I'll be watching you.
We had all been shocked into submission as our ears focused. And then as we stopped using that sense of ours so much, we looked at one and other but before long, we were up on our feet and we all couldn't help but wonder where the sound was coming from.
Of course we knew. Of course it was perfectly clear. It was perfectly obvious! Just as Misty had described. Her father had the most wonderful voice. And we all heard it clearer and clearer and it caused the blood to pump in our brains as we trailed to stand directly outside the bathroom door that Jordan had previously slammed and had gone unnoticed by us lot.
Oh, can't you see. You belong to me.
My mouth hung a little bit more open and my eyes felt the air hit them further as they widened when James was the one who moved more boldly than the rest of us. Giving his best friend one more look, he crept forward along the wooden floor. The wooden frame of the door felt his touch and then his ear pressed directly up against it.
Misty scolded him in spite of everything.
"James!" she hissed. Still, she didn't do anything else. She was the one who lingered further away from the rest of us and the door and it was lucky she was so near to the bottom of the stairs because she had a bit of a sit down.
I'm sure that her mouth had never felt so much like a desert. And in contrast, her eyes had never longed to feel such a downpour. She hadn't meant to prevent her best friend. Somehow although she had longed to be right, now that she had been right it seemed so private – so personal.
She wasn't sure she wanted to share it with anyone. She wanted it for herself. She wanted her father's voice for herself. She wanted it like how she knew he used to sing her to sleep.
James' body moved away from the door but his ear remained pressed close to it. He whispered in response. That wasn't him trying to be stealthy.
"I can't help it. It sounds beautiful." He responded to the woman and although Misty had started to feel quite conflicted, all of a sudden, that melted away. When she heard James' unguarded response and heard him describe her dear father's singing as beautiful – and saw his singing was almost like a magnet and pulling the lavender haired male in, sticking him to the door – she couldn't help but feel very differently.
Her eyes fluttered shut as she let out the softest of chuckles. As she did so, I noticed the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She was glad to share it with him. She was glad to share it with me. She was glad to share it with people who understood the wonderful moment that we were sharing.
How my poor heart aches. With every step you take.
I knew that I shared so much with all of the people in my life but I sudden understood the gravity of all that with the feeling that entered my heart when James had the same expression as Misty there and then. Almost hugging the door and his ear still attached to it, his own eyes fluttered shut. He shook his head.
He should have known that Misty was right. And he should have anticipated that she was going to be beyond right.
What he should have also anticipated though was that, Jordan being Jordan and our lives being our lives, such a wonderful moment was going to be abruptly ended. Barely giving James any time at all to scramble back from his position against the door and me only just getting out of the way before he tripped over me, the bathroom door suddenly lurched opened.
The door barged open by of course Jordan. He was done with his singing in the middle of the song. He was done with his shower too. Leaving the water running in there, he had only just had enough time to wrap the towel around the lower part of his body before the door swung open.
Very differently in comparison to my previous enjoyment of what was going on, I had to bite on my cheeks not to laugh when James looked as though he was playing musical statues in the middle of the hallway to look as though he hadn't been eavesdropping on Jordan's singing.
Jordan looked at James at first, wondering what an earth he was doing. He looked at me, my expression still lingering on relief that I hadn't been tripped over and amusement at the ex-rocketeer – and also the sheer gladness that I had been around to once again be proved that Misty was often right.
Jordan looked over at his daughter. Since her eyes had fluttered upon, she all of a sudden felt a little out of place and that she shouldn't have been listening to her father, much less enjoying it. Her eyes felt pretty damp as her eyes darted to and fro on him, her cheeks feeling flushed.
Misty remained perched on the bottom step of the stairs, her hand shakily reaching up and clutching onto the bannister. Jordan's gaze lingered at his youngest daughter. He didn't say anything for a good amount of time. He looked as though he wasn't going to say anything.
And then out of nowhere, his studious and serious expression melted away. A goofy one came in its place. Simultaneously making sure his towel was being held up with one hand and the other somehow trying to conceal the rest of his upper body, his head bobbed in a flamboyant gesture.
Jordan grinned at Misty, his eyes squinting and also dazzling a brilliant sea green that lit up the halls of the Ketchum Household.
"Don't you worry about a thing. Your old dad won't embarrass you any longer!" he told her and with that, he scurried off, one hand still trying to demurely cover up his upper body while his hand clutched onto the royal blue and orange towel which ended just above the knee cap.
In his wake, he left a trail of a voice that followed him all the way down to where the pool was to have a swim following his shower.
Every move you make. Every vow you break. Every smile you fake. Every claim you stake. I'll be watching you.
The voice faded away and the double doors leading off to the swimming pool slammed shut. Misty didn't know what to do. She didn't know whether to laugh. She didn't know whether to cry. She didn't know whether to shake her head. She didn't know whether to cover her eyes!
But then when she looked over at James who was already looking over at her, a bit of teary disbelief already in his meadow green eyes, she knew exactly what to do. She knew exactly what to feel. Her instinct was to move towards the arms of her best friend so she did exactly that.
She fell into his arms and hugged him tight around the neck, letting out a noise which I knew to be a mixture of laughter and tears. James exhaled immediately against her, hugging her with the same tightness and warmth back. He was in disbelief. He was disbelieved. He knew he should have believed her. He always had in his heart. But now he was overjoyed to have the evidence.
James pressed a kiss to the top of Misty's head and pulled her closer as they circled each other, swaying while they embraced. And for once, I had no ounce of jealousy in my mind or hotness filling my belly when my best friend's wife had run to the ex-rocketeer first.
I was left with the serene filling in the pit of my stomach as was Misty in the minutes and the hours after all that had happened. She had been right. She had been so very right.
Misty's memories had been faultless. Yes, her Mom often sang and almost all the time filled the hallways of her home with her own lilting voice. But her Dad did too with his warm tones. And it was that sound that she remembered most. And his laughter too.
She never would have dreamt that she would get to hear it in person all over again and after all of those years. It was better than a dream. It was reality. It was a reality that she could share with more of the people that took up spaces in her heart. And I for one couldn't ask for more that I had been around to hear one of Jordan's first songs back on earth once again.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) One thing I really enjoyed portraying in this story was the uncertain, new relationship between Jordan and James! We all know they end up with a very close bond, but it's early days here and they're surveying each other. You can see a blossoming something between James and Lynne though! You learn something new about Jordan here. He does indeed have quite the skillful voice and this occasion will certainly not be the last time he lets it rip on earth :P Thanks again and I will be back next Wednesday so see you then!
Amy signing out :)