By: kf6tac (Brian) and Jamie Sommers
Email: kf6tac@yahoo.com
Rated: PG-13
Synopsis: This story is about Landon and Jamie’s
budding relationship. They’ve had their
first date; Landon has told her he loves her, now they have to face their
friends, their family and their own fears.
Written from both Landon (written in bold print by kf6tac/Brian)
and Jamie’s (written in italic print by Jamie Sommers) POV.
When I got home from
Jamie’s house on Saturday evening, I almost ran into my mom as I headed up the
stairs. She was on her way down with a
basket full of laundry.
“Oh Landon, how did
everything go with Jamie?” she asked excitedly. I guess she really picked up on how special Jamie was to me. Things weren’t like this with the
girlfriends I had before.
“Everything was great,
thanks again for the sparkling cider! It
really helped.”
“How did Reverend
Sullivan take this all?”
“Well… I guess he was
pretty cool with it. He helped me set
everything up on the balcony. Although
I still get the feeling he doesn’t quite trust me. Can’t blame the guy though.”
“Just give him some time
Landon,” she said. She immediately got
that “I’m feeling guilty” look though, and I could tell we were both thinking
the same thing: ‘How much time can I really give?’
“Why don’t we invite him
and Jamie over sometime?” she offered after a few seconds of silence. “It can be a family meet family thing. I know we’ve been going to his church for
years, but we’ve never actually sat down and had dinner with him or anything
like that.”
“Do you think he’d go
for it, mom?”
“He’s a nice man,
Landon. I think he’ll agree to it.”
I considered calling
right then to ask, but my mom brought me back to reality and pointed out that
it was almost 11PM. And besides, he had
said he was getting ready to turn in before I left. We agreed that we could meet up with him after church.
Things were bustling at
church the next morning. It was like
everyone in town who ever went to the church, even just once, had showed
up. Of course Jamie was still quite the
focus of attention, and everyone who hadn’t been in church for the announcement
last week gathered around her before the service to talk to her. I saw Belinda’s parents there, but I noticed
that Belinda herself hadn’t showed up.
As a matter of fact, I hadn’t heard or seen much of her since last
Sunday. I was thinking about that when
Eric came up and clapped me on the shoulder.
“Hey Landon, how you
doin’ bro?”
“I’m great man, how
about you? And hey, how was Prom and
that ‘hot date’ of yours?”
“It was great, I’ll have
to tell you all about it. Did you and
Jamie do anything?”
“Yeah, I uh… I sorta
brought the prom to her.”
“Man, I always knew you
were the ladies’ man Landon.” I
chuckled at that one. Eric was always a
funny guy.
“Thanks. So what brings you here to church? You never struck me as the serious
church-going type.”
“It’s this whole thing
with Jamie, ya know? It got me
thinkin’… maybe I should start getting a little friendlier with ‘the big
guy’.” He shifted his gaze upward, and
I knew what he was talking about.
“Yeah, I know what you
mean. Hey, I’ll have to catch you later
– looks like the service is about to start.”
“Alright Landon, call me
sometime dude!”
After the service, my
mom and I hung back until the crowd had left and we could talk to Jamie and her
dad. I offered the invitation to them
to come over for dinner sometime during the week; Reverend Sullivan initially
tried to turn it down.
“Landon, we really
wouldn’t want to trouble your mother.”
I glanced over at Jamie,
and she replied in kind, “We don’t want to put any extra burdens on her,
Landon.” I knew Jamie was being honest
about that, and it seemed like her father was too. He honestly didn’t seem to dislike me as much as before.
“Oh it’ll be no problem
at all,” my mom chimed in. “I love cooking
for guests. And besides, Landon can
give me a hand. I’ve trained him
well.” She said that last part with a
grin.
Reverend Sullivan
pondered it for a while, and then he agreed.
“As long as it’s no trouble to you, we’d love to come.”
“That’s great!” my mom
exclaimed, and I could tell she was genuinely excited about having guests
over. It had been awhile since we had
anyone over for dinner. “How does
Friday evening sound? It’ll be at the
end of the school week, so no one will have to hurry through dinner to do
homework.”
And so the planners were
marked, times were set aside, and everything was good to go. My mom and her ideas… she’s a genius, I tell
you.
“Do you need us to bring
anything, Mrs. Carter?” Jamie asked politely.
“Just yourselves, Jamie. We’ll take care of everything. Oh and don’t worry about dressing up, we’re
pretty casual about our dinners.”
“We’d better get going,
Jamie,” Reverend Sullivan said after looking at his watch. “It’s getting pretty far into the day. Thanks again for the invitation, Mrs.
Carter.”
“You’re always welcome
at our place, Reverend. Come along,
Landon. We’ve got a dinner to plan.”
“Sure mom just give me a
minute,” he turned towards my father and said, “Would you mind if I had a
moment with Jamie sir?”
“Well…uh…of course. I’ll meet you at the car Jamie.”
“I guess I’ll meet you
at the car too Landon.”
“ ‘kay mom.”
We just stood there
holding hands and looking at one another until our parents were out of sight,
then we stepped into each other’s embrace. He looked over in the direction that
they had walked and kissed me when he saw that that no one was watching.
He buried his face in my
hair and said, “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
“Are you doing anything
special today?”
“No. Not really.”
“Would you like to? Maybe we could go see a matinee or
something?”
“Landon…I’m kind of
tired…” I felt bad having to turn him down, but I was really feeling the
effects of last night’s “prom” and this morning’s church service.
“That’s okay…we don’t
have to do anything at all. We could
just sit on your porch for a while or…I just wanna spend some time with
you.” He tucked his head down enabling
him to be eye level with me and asked, “Do you think your dad would be cool
with me stopping by later?”
“I don’t know about my
dad, but I know I would really like it.”
He walked me to my car
where my father was waiting and kissed my cheek. “See you later.”
We spent the afternoon
together sitting on the porch swing. My
father conveniently had some things to take care of in the yard, but we didn’t
mind. We could just be together and not
do anything at all and that would be enough for us.
Going back to school the
next day was a little hard—I just wasn’t feeling…right. Tuesday I went back to the doctor and wound
up getting my medications increased.
They made me tired and a bit lethargic so I was pretty grateful Landon
had four of my classes with me. At
lunch we would sit outside under a tree and I would usually fall asleep while
Landon would hold me. He was the best
pillow a girl could ask for.
On Friday I woke up with
a slight fever but I didn’t stay home from school. If I had then we wouldn’t be able to go to Landon’s for dinner
and I really wanted to go.
“Hey? Are you okay?” Landon could tell something was wrong the minute he saw me that
morning. “You look like you don’t feel
well.”
“No. I’m fine.
I just have a little temperature.
It’ll go away.”
He gave me the same look
that my father had mastered over the past two years. The one that says, ‘Jamie…don’t push yourself.’
“Seriously Landon. I’m fine.”
Monday at school was
typical. Well… almost typical. I felt terrible because people kept looking
at Jamie. Everywhere we went, people stared. And it wasn’t the same surprised look we got
when we first walked on to campus holding hands. They all looked at her like she was some new student, someone
they had never seen before.
‘Can’t you leave her
alone?’ I wanted to scream. ‘Can’t you
see that she’s the same person? It’s still
Jamie Sullivan!’
I felt bad because I
knew all Jamie had wanted was to live a normal life. I wondered to myself that if I had gone after her that Friday
night, maybe she wouldn’t have had to tell everyone else. Now it just seemed like everywhere we went,
people backed off as if they would break her if they stood too close. Whenever we went into a room, people stopped
talking about their lives and quieted down, as if they didn’t want to hurt
Jamie’s feelings by letting her hear about their “normal” lives.
Jamie tried to be
strong, and she didn’t complain about anything. I knew it hurt her though.
I could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice. I could tell from they way she held my hand
a little bit tighter, stayed just a little bit closer to me whenever we walked
through the halls. We both did the best
we could to deal with it. We went
through our daily routines like nothing was new. We still met each other between classes, went to our shared
locker together, and ate lunch outside beneath the trees. A few times Jamie would fall asleep there
while we waited for class to start again, but I didn’t mind. I just kept her close to me.
After a long week of
school, Friday night finally came. My
mom made a pretty big meal, and while I was helping her out in the kitchen I
wondered what we would do with all the leftovers. It was clearly too much for four people to handle.
‘I guess I know what
I’ll be eating for dinner the next couple of days,’ I thought to myself as I
prepared the salad.
As my mom was setting
everything out on the dinner table, I heard a car door close. I looked out the front window and I saw
Jamie and her father coming up toward the door. She was wearing the pink sweater I gave her. I knew she had woken up in the morning with
a slight fever, so I hoped it was keeping her warm enough.
“Mom, they’re here!” I
called as I walked over to the front door.
I opened it as they got to the top of the steps, and I welcomed them
both in.
“Come on in, dinner is
just about ready. My mom is just
finishing things up in the kitchen and then she’ll be right out. Here, let me get your coat Reverend.”
“Thank you, Landon,” he
said as he handed me his jacket. I hung
it up on our coat rack, and when I turned around my mom was already in the room
greeting the two of them.
After a few minutes of
conversation, we all sat down at the table.
My mom had really gone all out for this dinner, and we even had a few
appetizers before the main course. By
the time we were done eating almost two hours had passed, and looking around
the table I could tell everyone was quite full. There were plenty of leftovers, and I figured I was right about
my dinners for the next few days. After
dinner, my mom suggested that Jamie and I have a walk outside and watch the
sunset. Her father gave me quick
glance.
“Sure, we’ll be right
outside if you guys need anything.” I
said it partially to reassure Reverend Sullivan, partially to deliver the
‘face-value’ of the words.
Dinner that night was
wonderful. Landon’s mom had made quite
a spread and afterwards she suggested that Landon and I go outside and enjoy
the sunset while she and my father had their coffee. Have I mentioned how much I love this woman? She was more than incredible...she
was…amazing.
“It’s a little chilly
out here. You wanna wear my jacket?”
“No. I’ll be fine.”
He led me to the bench
that was attached to their side porch and we sat down in our customary
position—with me in the crook of his arm.
“Thank you for inviting
us over for dinner tonight. I think my
father is actually enjoying himself.”
“Your welcome. What about you? Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Mmmmm. Always…whenever I’m with you I enjoy
myself. It’s funny,” I turned to look
at him. “We don’t even have to do
anything…we can just sit here and not say anything and that’s enough.”
He kissed my forehead
and said, “Just being with you is enough for me.” After a beat he said, “That Friday and Saturday were the worse
days of my life.”
He didn’t have to tell
me which ones he was speaking of—I knew.
“Mine too. I hated having to
tell you the truth,” I paused, “but more than that…I hated you not knowing the
truth.”
“I hated not seeing
you…not being able to talk to you… I
never wanna go through anything like that again.” He kissed my head again and whispered against my skin, “I’m so
sorry for how I handled that. I
should’ve come after you. I just didn’t
know what to do.”
“Don’t be sorry Landon,”
I turned to look at him. “You handled
it just fine. I was the one that handled
it poorly. I should’ve trusted
you. I should’ve told you sooner.” I began shaking my head back and forth
trying to erase the uneasy feelings that those memories brought to mind.
“Hey,” he placed his
hands on my face and held his forehead against mine. “We both made mistakes, I guess we’ll just have to learn from
them.”
“I love you,” I leaned
in and placed a soft kiss on his lips.
“I love you too.”
Settling back into the
crook of his arm I said, “You know with everything that happened…I’m not
sorry.” I knew I wasn’t explaining myself very well, but I tried, “What I mean
is…I don’t regret what happened. If
anything, it brought us closer.”
I could feel him smiling
against my forehead. “Yeah…I guess it
did.” After a minute he asked me,
“So…do you have any regrets?”
“You mean about us?”
“About
us…life…whatever.”
“Just one. It’s stupid, but…”
“What?”
“I regret not taking the
time to build my telescope.”
“Can’t you do it
now? How much time do you have before
the comet comes?”
“A few weeks…almost a
month.”
“Well, that’s enough
time, isn’t it?”
“Yes…I suppose, but…” I
didn’t have to say it--he would understand.
I’m just not capable of that anymore.
I was getting too weak. “Do you
have any regrets?” I asked him.
“Just one.”
“Hmmm?”
“Not getting to know you
sooner.”
I lifted my lips up to
meet his waiting ones, “I guess I was wrong.
I have two regrets.” I smiled
and laid my head against his shoulder.
My fever was coming back…I could feel it. I closed my eyes and listened to the water lap behind us once
again falling asleep to the steady beat of his heart.
##
Jamie and I watched the
sunset over the water, and then we talked for a while. We talked about everything that had happened
two weeks ago, and I realized that we both were scared to death that Friday and
Saturday. It was good to know that even
when we had problems like that, Jamie and I shared the same emotions. We talked about regrets, about how I wished
I had gotten to know her sooner. She
brought up her telescope that she had wanted to build, and I realized that even
though there was a month or so left before the comet got here she probably
wouldn’t be able to finish her telescope.
I felt bad about that, she had seemed so excited about seeing the comet
when I first ran into her in the cemetery that night… it seemed so long ago,
but it was probably only a month or two.
Jamie fell asleep on my
shoulder sitting there in front of the water.
I pulled her sweater up over her right shoulder, to make sure she
wouldn’t get a chill sitting out there.
I looked up at the sky, and watched as the stars slowly came out. I heard her breathing softly as she slept,
and I decided that she was going to see that comet when it came around. I had never built a telescope before, but I
already had Jamie’s first telescope to use as a model. I wasn’t a math whiz or anything, but I did
know a thing or two about proportions and how to expand the scale of something. I figured I could find out how big of a mirror
this new telescope would need and then just change the size of the rest of the
parts. I would have to get her
telescope though…
“Landon!” It was my mom. “Reverend Sullivan has to get going soon.”
“We’ll be right there,
mom!”
I didn’t want to wake
Jamie, so I cradled her in my arms and lifted her up. She mumbled something of an objection, so I just said to her,
“It’s alright, Jamie. I didn’t want you
to wake up.” She smiled at me, and
before closing her eyes again she wrapped one arm around my neck.
“Don’t worry, nothing’s
wrong. She just fell asleep, that’s
all,” I said as I approached the house.
Reverend Sullivan was standing at the door and I didn’t want him to
worry. I carried Jamie out to her
father’s car, and I set her down in the passenger side.
“I’ll talk to you later,
alright love?” I whispered to her.
“Mmmmm hmmmm. Good night Landon. I love you.”
“I love you too, Jamie.”
I shook her father’s
hand, and before he left I asked him, “Reverend, is Jamie’s telescope at your
place?”
“No,” he said after
thinking for a while. “I believe she
left it at the cemetery.”
“Alright. Thanks.”
I watched as they drove
off, and then I went back into the house.
I was pretty wiped out, but instead of going right to bed I sat down and
started to do some calculations for Jamie’s new telescope.
My father helped me get
ready for bed and tucked me in making me feel like a little girl again. “Daddy?” I asked as he pulled the comforter
up to my chin.
“Yes.”
“It was nice tonight,
wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was. Very nice.”
“Yeah,” I rolled over
and touched my little stuffed bear that Landon had won for me a few weeks
ago. “I’m glad you’re getting to know
him. He’s really not as bad as you
thought. He’s such a good person daddy
and his mother…”
“She’s a good woman.”
“Mmmmm, yes she is,” I
thought about the afternoon she had set up mine and Landon’s lunch then laid a
blanket out by the tree for us. “She’
very supportive of Landon and me. I think
she can see how much he loves me.” I
was falling in and out of sleep and I wasn’t sure if I heard him right or if it
was just my imagination.
“Yes…we all can. I’ll try Jamie. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try.”