Some Assembly Required
LJ Idol, Week Twelve
Author's Note: This entry is a continuation of the story I wrote in week one, When You Pray, Move Your Feet.
"Okay, which window is it?" Matt demanded, his right arm cocked and ready for the throw.
Tony shuffled his feet, and then craned his neck back for another prolonged look at the row of windows on the house's second story. "The, uh, end one I think."
"Dude!" Matt exclaimed with disgust, relaxing his throwing stance, "didn't you date her for like two years or something?"
"Yeah," Tony shot back, "but we didn't spend a lot of time alone in her bedroom. Her parents kinda frowned on that, ya know?"
"Loser!" his friend scoffed. "No wonder you never told me how far you got with her."
Blushing, Tony took a half-hearted swing at the taller boy, but Matt was too fast on his feet, easily evading the punch.
"Guys," Ben's voice said from behind them, "quit screwing around. Which ever window it is, make a decision, and throw the damned rocks. We're too exposed out here."
It was true. Although the house in front of them was on a cul-de-sac, and traffic at this late hour was unlikely, if a car did turn down the street, the sight of three teenage boys hanging out in a driveway would set off alarm bells in any driver's head. Not for the first time, Tony wondered if he should've come alone.
"Okay, the end one," he finally decided, and stretched out a hand to Matt. "Give them here, I'll do it."
"You?" the blonde-haired boy laughed, and waved him off. "There's a reason no one'll let you pitch anymore when we play baseball."
He stretched, and then with one smooth motion, flung the handful of small stones upward. His marksmanship was perfect, and every missile hit its intended target, tapping on the exposed pane of glass above the window's screen.
"That, my friends," he preened, "is how you give someone a wakeup call."
"It wasn't very loud," Tony objected, staring up at the dark rectangle, "if she's asleep, you might have to do it again."
"Trust me," Ben said, "when he throws rocks at your bedroom window, it's pretty damned loud from inside. Give her a minute."
As if to prove him right, a faint light appeared in the window above them.
Matt laughed, and clapped Tony on the shoulder. "See, step one complete. Now, as long as that's not one of her sisters you just had me wake up, all you gotta do is get her to come down."
Ignoring his friend's enthusiasm, Tony fidgeted from one foot to another, and continued staring upward. "If it was that loud, maybe she's scared. You think she might go tell her parents?"
"Nah," Matt disagreed, "she'd look down first. Wouldn't you?"
"It's not her parents I'm worried about," Ben said, "I see car lights coming down that side street. If they turn in here, we need to haul ass."
Tony glanced over his shoulder, and then faced the house again. "You can go if you want to. I can't leave now."
In the window above, the dim light grew brighter as the blinds were pulled upward. For a moment, Tony stood frozen, gazing at the young girl who was slowly revealed to him. He hadn't seen her for a year and a half, but even at this odd angle, he could tell it was Kellie. Her height, the way she stood, her hair, everything about her was the same as he remembered. Until now, he hadn't really believed it, believed that she had truly come back.
Beside him, Matt waved, then turned and punched his shoulder. "You dog, you didn't tell me she was a babe."
Grinning, Tony stepped in front of him, and motioned to Kellie to open her window. "You never asked."
Kellie hesitated for a few seconds, and then, just as Tony was beginning to fear that she might simply close her blinds and go back to bed, she reached to the center support where the window latched, flipped the two locks upward, and slid it open.
"The car went past," Ben announced, sounding relieved.
"You have a car with more friends in it?" Kellie asked, looking down at Tony with an expression which was difficult to read.
They had exchanged a few e-mails in the months after Kellie left, but it had been increasingly difficult for her to find both free time and a computer with Internet access. As the weeks past, her messages had become more and more infrequent and shorter in length. Eventually, they had stopped altogether. Her voice from above, so long awaited, triggered several memories from their past relationship, and Tony had to physically shake his head to clear them from his vision.
"No, no, it's just the three of us," he stammered, trying to reassure her. "Ben was just worried that if one of your neighbors saw us hanging out here, they might call the cops or something."
"I guess you and your buddies lucked out then," she said, sounding amused.
"Uh, yeah."
He smiled up at her, happy that they were finally talking again, and had to be nudged twice by Matt before he finally noticed.
"This is fun and all," his friend whispered, "but could you ask her to come down?"
"This is a little surreal," were Kellie's first words to him when they started walking.
After she came down stairs, Tony had made hasty introductions in-between her and his two friends, and then, milling around on her driveway, they had briefly discussed where to go next.
"Why don't we just hang out in Kellie's back yard?" Matt had asked, grinning at her.
Clenching his fists, Tony resisted the urge to hit his friend.
"Because," Kellie explained patiently, "my parents' bedroom has windows back there, and my Dad's a light sleeper."
"I think the neighborhood park's our best bet," Tony asserted, again wondering why he hadn't come alone.
"If all four of us walk to the park at this hour," Ben objected, ever the pragmatist, "it'll be noticed. The neighborhood's been pretty jumpy after those kids broke into the pool and wrecked the pumping equipment last month."
"So, we can just take the walking trails behind my house," Kellie suggested. "We'll end up at the park, and it'll have the added benefit of keeping you boys off the streets and away from cop cars."
To Tony, the parallel was bitter sweet, since the park had also been the intended destination the last time he saw Kellie. They hadn't gotten there back then, hadn't even come close before stopping to fight on the sidewalk, but hopefully tonight would be different.
He had hoped that, once Kellie had come down from her bedroom, Ben and Matt, after making nice, would exit stage, or street in this case, left. Neither boy had seemed willing to leave however, and he had felt odd about flat out telling them to get lost after their recent assistance. So, both boys had walked ahead, with he and Kellie trailing behind. Hopefully, far enough behind to avoid eavesdropping.
"What," he answered, trying to ignore the somewhat ominous undercurrent of her statement, "you didn't think I'd come see you?"
She giggled. "No, Tony, I was certain you'd come see me, I just didn't expect that you'd assemble a posse to do it."
"I didn't," he stammered, and then stopped, feeling the hot redness of a blush spreading down his neck. It was dark, maybe she wouldn't notice. "I got excited when I heard you were back, and called Matt and Ben to tell them about you. About us."
He winced, that had been a stupid thing to say. After so long apart, he probably didn't have a chance with her. He had practiced this a hundred times, what he'd say and how he'd act when she finally came back. He'd be happy, but not too eager. He'd be friendly, but not a stalker.
"Tony," her voice was barely audible over the sound of their crunching shoes along the gravel path they were walking, "this isn't easy for me. I know you want to pick up where we left off, but honestly, I don't know if that's possible anymore."
And there it was again, that same sickening lurch he'd experienced when she first told him about going overseas with her parents. He'd felt so hurt and betrayed, so weak and helpless that he'd run away from her back then, shut her out, and probably destroyed what slim chance their relationship could have had at surviving.
"Did you," he felt the bile rising in his throat, and swallowed convulsively. "Did you find somebody else?"
Her arm bridged the gap between them, and slid around his waist. "No, Tony." Their footsteps measured out time, second by second, minute by minute ticking away until she spoke again. "Remember I told you how my parents went to Africa to make a difference?"
"Yes."
"What I didn't realize was how different life truly is over there. I thought it'd be an adventure, that I'd experience things that I'd never imagined before." Again she stopped talking, and their strides ate time together.
"And did you?" he finally asked, feeling lost.
"I saw things that were both beautiful and terrible," she said, speaking slowly at first, and then building to a rush. "I saw people who had risen above everything life had thrown at them, and others who had been completely destroyed. It was amazing, and terrifying, and nothing at all like it is here."
They had emerged from the relative seclusion of the walking trails into the neighborhood park, and were climbing up a hill to the brightly lit parking lot above them. His posse, Ben and Matt, were silhouetted there, patiently waiting for them to arrive.
"I don't know how to do this anymore," Kellie confessed, "my personal limits are all screwed up. Every minute, every second over there, I had to be on my guard. Now, I'm here, sneaking out of my house, walking to the park with a guy I loved once and two total strangers, and it's like I'm in a fantasy world. Am I safe, am I being stupid, is any of this even real?"
They had arrived at the top of the hill, and although Ben and Matt could've easily heard Kellie's last question, they didn't seem to be paying attention.
"I've got some good news and bad news," Matt drawled.
"Yeah?" Tony asked, too shocked to fake more enthusiasm.
"There's only one car headed this way," Ben responded, "but it's a police car. Probably some sort of neighborhood patrol. If it turns in …"
Both boys suddenly crouched.
"Stop, drop, and roll," Matt yelled, and without further warning, both boys were off, plummeting down the hill to either side of them.
Tony gawked at the approaching headlights for a second, and then acted without thinking. Sweeping Kellie off her feet, he rolled her in front of him with a ferocious push, and as the police siren blared behind him, hurled himself after her down the hill. Grass, and sky, and other blurred objects kaleidoscoped through his vision, until, at long last, he flailed to a stop, Kellie lying just beyond him down slope.
He reached out, his fingers barely able to touch her face, and whispered, "Are you okay?"
"I think," she said, as car doors slammed in the parking lot above them, and a spotlight began sweeping from left to right across the hillside, "it was all over for me as soon as I agreed to come down stairs, wasn't it?"
"Pretty much," Tony laughed, unable to stop himself.
"Do you and your posse have a plan?"
"Uh," Tony improvised, "run like Hell until we get to the walking trails, and then keep running until we make it to your house."
"I like it," she said, rolling towards him, "simple, yet elegant." Her face was now less than an inch from his, "and will you hold my hand until we get there?"
"Every step of the way," he promised.
Author's Note #2: And so ends episode number two for Tony and Kellie. I hope you enjoyed where I took the characters in this continuation, and would be interested to know whether you'd like to see them again at some point in the future. As always, thanks so much for reading, and please take a look at the other fabulous entries that are out there in Idol Land this week.
Dan
Author's Note: This entry is a continuation of the story I wrote in week one, When You Pray, Move Your Feet.
"Okay, which window is it?" Matt demanded, his right arm cocked and ready for the throw.
Tony shuffled his feet, and then craned his neck back for another prolonged look at the row of windows on the house's second story. "The, uh, end one I think."
"Dude!" Matt exclaimed with disgust, relaxing his throwing stance, "didn't you date her for like two years or something?"
"Yeah," Tony shot back, "but we didn't spend a lot of time alone in her bedroom. Her parents kinda frowned on that, ya know?"
"Loser!" his friend scoffed. "No wonder you never told me how far you got with her."
Blushing, Tony took a half-hearted swing at the taller boy, but Matt was too fast on his feet, easily evading the punch.
"Guys," Ben's voice said from behind them, "quit screwing around. Which ever window it is, make a decision, and throw the damned rocks. We're too exposed out here."
It was true. Although the house in front of them was on a cul-de-sac, and traffic at this late hour was unlikely, if a car did turn down the street, the sight of three teenage boys hanging out in a driveway would set off alarm bells in any driver's head. Not for the first time, Tony wondered if he should've come alone.
"Okay, the end one," he finally decided, and stretched out a hand to Matt. "Give them here, I'll do it."
"You?" the blonde-haired boy laughed, and waved him off. "There's a reason no one'll let you pitch anymore when we play baseball."
He stretched, and then with one smooth motion, flung the handful of small stones upward. His marksmanship was perfect, and every missile hit its intended target, tapping on the exposed pane of glass above the window's screen.
"That, my friends," he preened, "is how you give someone a wakeup call."
"It wasn't very loud," Tony objected, staring up at the dark rectangle, "if she's asleep, you might have to do it again."
"Trust me," Ben said, "when he throws rocks at your bedroom window, it's pretty damned loud from inside. Give her a minute."
As if to prove him right, a faint light appeared in the window above them.
Matt laughed, and clapped Tony on the shoulder. "See, step one complete. Now, as long as that's not one of her sisters you just had me wake up, all you gotta do is get her to come down."
Ignoring his friend's enthusiasm, Tony fidgeted from one foot to another, and continued staring upward. "If it was that loud, maybe she's scared. You think she might go tell her parents?"
"Nah," Matt disagreed, "she'd look down first. Wouldn't you?"
"It's not her parents I'm worried about," Ben said, "I see car lights coming down that side street. If they turn in here, we need to haul ass."
Tony glanced over his shoulder, and then faced the house again. "You can go if you want to. I can't leave now."
In the window above, the dim light grew brighter as the blinds were pulled upward. For a moment, Tony stood frozen, gazing at the young girl who was slowly revealed to him. He hadn't seen her for a year and a half, but even at this odd angle, he could tell it was Kellie. Her height, the way she stood, her hair, everything about her was the same as he remembered. Until now, he hadn't really believed it, believed that she had truly come back.
Beside him, Matt waved, then turned and punched his shoulder. "You dog, you didn't tell me she was a babe."
Grinning, Tony stepped in front of him, and motioned to Kellie to open her window. "You never asked."
Kellie hesitated for a few seconds, and then, just as Tony was beginning to fear that she might simply close her blinds and go back to bed, she reached to the center support where the window latched, flipped the two locks upward, and slid it open.
"The car went past," Ben announced, sounding relieved.
"You have a car with more friends in it?" Kellie asked, looking down at Tony with an expression which was difficult to read.
They had exchanged a few e-mails in the months after Kellie left, but it had been increasingly difficult for her to find both free time and a computer with Internet access. As the weeks past, her messages had become more and more infrequent and shorter in length. Eventually, they had stopped altogether. Her voice from above, so long awaited, triggered several memories from their past relationship, and Tony had to physically shake his head to clear them from his vision.
"No, no, it's just the three of us," he stammered, trying to reassure her. "Ben was just worried that if one of your neighbors saw us hanging out here, they might call the cops or something."
"I guess you and your buddies lucked out then," she said, sounding amused.
"Uh, yeah."
He smiled up at her, happy that they were finally talking again, and had to be nudged twice by Matt before he finally noticed.
"This is fun and all," his friend whispered, "but could you ask her to come down?"
"This is a little surreal," were Kellie's first words to him when they started walking.
After she came down stairs, Tony had made hasty introductions in-between her and his two friends, and then, milling around on her driveway, they had briefly discussed where to go next.
"Why don't we just hang out in Kellie's back yard?" Matt had asked, grinning at her.
Clenching his fists, Tony resisted the urge to hit his friend.
"Because," Kellie explained patiently, "my parents' bedroom has windows back there, and my Dad's a light sleeper."
"I think the neighborhood park's our best bet," Tony asserted, again wondering why he hadn't come alone.
"If all four of us walk to the park at this hour," Ben objected, ever the pragmatist, "it'll be noticed. The neighborhood's been pretty jumpy after those kids broke into the pool and wrecked the pumping equipment last month."
"So, we can just take the walking trails behind my house," Kellie suggested. "We'll end up at the park, and it'll have the added benefit of keeping you boys off the streets and away from cop cars."
To Tony, the parallel was bitter sweet, since the park had also been the intended destination the last time he saw Kellie. They hadn't gotten there back then, hadn't even come close before stopping to fight on the sidewalk, but hopefully tonight would be different.
He had hoped that, once Kellie had come down from her bedroom, Ben and Matt, after making nice, would exit stage, or street in this case, left. Neither boy had seemed willing to leave however, and he had felt odd about flat out telling them to get lost after their recent assistance. So, both boys had walked ahead, with he and Kellie trailing behind. Hopefully, far enough behind to avoid eavesdropping.
"What," he answered, trying to ignore the somewhat ominous undercurrent of her statement, "you didn't think I'd come see you?"
She giggled. "No, Tony, I was certain you'd come see me, I just didn't expect that you'd assemble a posse to do it."
"I didn't," he stammered, and then stopped, feeling the hot redness of a blush spreading down his neck. It was dark, maybe she wouldn't notice. "I got excited when I heard you were back, and called Matt and Ben to tell them about you. About us."
He winced, that had been a stupid thing to say. After so long apart, he probably didn't have a chance with her. He had practiced this a hundred times, what he'd say and how he'd act when she finally came back. He'd be happy, but not too eager. He'd be friendly, but not a stalker.
"Tony," her voice was barely audible over the sound of their crunching shoes along the gravel path they were walking, "this isn't easy for me. I know you want to pick up where we left off, but honestly, I don't know if that's possible anymore."
And there it was again, that same sickening lurch he'd experienced when she first told him about going overseas with her parents. He'd felt so hurt and betrayed, so weak and helpless that he'd run away from her back then, shut her out, and probably destroyed what slim chance their relationship could have had at surviving.
"Did you," he felt the bile rising in his throat, and swallowed convulsively. "Did you find somebody else?"
Her arm bridged the gap between them, and slid around his waist. "No, Tony." Their footsteps measured out time, second by second, minute by minute ticking away until she spoke again. "Remember I told you how my parents went to Africa to make a difference?"
"Yes."
"What I didn't realize was how different life truly is over there. I thought it'd be an adventure, that I'd experience things that I'd never imagined before." Again she stopped talking, and their strides ate time together.
"And did you?" he finally asked, feeling lost.
"I saw things that were both beautiful and terrible," she said, speaking slowly at first, and then building to a rush. "I saw people who had risen above everything life had thrown at them, and others who had been completely destroyed. It was amazing, and terrifying, and nothing at all like it is here."
They had emerged from the relative seclusion of the walking trails into the neighborhood park, and were climbing up a hill to the brightly lit parking lot above them. His posse, Ben and Matt, were silhouetted there, patiently waiting for them to arrive.
"I don't know how to do this anymore," Kellie confessed, "my personal limits are all screwed up. Every minute, every second over there, I had to be on my guard. Now, I'm here, sneaking out of my house, walking to the park with a guy I loved once and two total strangers, and it's like I'm in a fantasy world. Am I safe, am I being stupid, is any of this even real?"
They had arrived at the top of the hill, and although Ben and Matt could've easily heard Kellie's last question, they didn't seem to be paying attention.
"I've got some good news and bad news," Matt drawled.
"Yeah?" Tony asked, too shocked to fake more enthusiasm.
"There's only one car headed this way," Ben responded, "but it's a police car. Probably some sort of neighborhood patrol. If it turns in …"
Both boys suddenly crouched.
"Stop, drop, and roll," Matt yelled, and without further warning, both boys were off, plummeting down the hill to either side of them.
Tony gawked at the approaching headlights for a second, and then acted without thinking. Sweeping Kellie off her feet, he rolled her in front of him with a ferocious push, and as the police siren blared behind him, hurled himself after her down the hill. Grass, and sky, and other blurred objects kaleidoscoped through his vision, until, at long last, he flailed to a stop, Kellie lying just beyond him down slope.
He reached out, his fingers barely able to touch her face, and whispered, "Are you okay?"
"I think," she said, as car doors slammed in the parking lot above them, and a spotlight began sweeping from left to right across the hillside, "it was all over for me as soon as I agreed to come down stairs, wasn't it?"
"Pretty much," Tony laughed, unable to stop himself.
"Do you and your posse have a plan?"
"Uh," Tony improvised, "run like Hell until we get to the walking trails, and then keep running until we make it to your house."
"I like it," she said, rolling towards him, "simple, yet elegant." Her face was now less than an inch from his, "and will you hold my hand until we get there?"
"Every step of the way," he promised.
Author's Note #2: And so ends episode number two for Tony and Kellie. I hope you enjoyed where I took the characters in this continuation, and would be interested to know whether you'd like to see them again at some point in the future. As always, thanks so much for reading, and please take a look at the other fabulous entries that are out there in Idol Land this week.
Dan