A Journey Through Time
Chapter 11

Tommy dug the peroxide and ointment out of the medicine cabinet while I flipped the toilet seat down and sat down. I was toying with the idea of whether I should tell Tommy about seeing Ruth and Dale again because they hadn’t actually told me anything. Would he worry if I told him or would he be relieved that they were still alive? Should I keep it to myself to prevent him from worrying? I sighed in defeat; I couldn’t keep anything from Tommy, it was against my nature.

“I saw Ruth and Dale again” I said. I watched him for his reaction but luckily it was small. He froze for an instant as he was pulling down a red colored rag and his eyes flashed over to meet mine. He wet the rag and then kneeled in front of me.

“Are they okay?” he asked. I breathed out in relief and tilted my head back so he could clean the scrapes again. Tommy wasn’t worried about me seeing them again, he was worried for their well-being. Or at least that’s how he made it seem, there was still some hesitation in his tone, like he hadn’t said all he wanted to.

“They’re beat up a little more, but nothing too bad. Dale told me what it was that we saw in the basement and those dogs that chased Moira and I” I said. Tommy nodded and I waited for him to ask but he never did. I kept quiet while he coated my chin in antibiotic ointment and washed his hands. He sighed deeply and grabbed a towel to dry his hands before kneeling back in front of me.

“I’m sorry Ness, I’m glad to hear that they’re still okay but I feel like all we ever talk about is people and creatures from the Hidden” he said. I looked down and slid my hands into his. At least he wasn’t upset with me and he was kind of right. Ever since we’d gotten back from the Hidden, we’d barely talked about anything else.

“I wish we could take a day off from all of it” I murmured. Tommy grinned and pulled me to my feet so he could wrap his arms around me. I didn’t know what he was so happy about all of a sudden, but I went with it. I raised my eyebrows and gave him a questioning look. He chuckled lightly.

“Why don’t we? We can make an entire day out of it. It’ll be out first official date and we can leave Black Hollow. I’ll take you to Tamryn, how does that sound?” he asked. I couldn’t stop myself from throwing my arms his neck and pressing myself against him tightly. Tommy laughed. My parents used to take me to Tamryn every year to see the crepe myrtle trees but they stopped when I got into high school thinking I was too old and I wouldn’t like it anymore. Tommy was the only one who knew I still missed it.

“That sounds perfect Tommy” I said. When I pulled away, I saw that Tommy was still grinning and I shook my head. He leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips before picking me up and carrying me out of the bathroom. I squeaked lightly but the sound was muffled against Tommy’s lips. He set me gently on the bed before breaking the kiss.

“Good, I’ll even ask my mom to make us a picnic. Come on, we should get back to sleep” he said. I moved back so he could slide under the blankets and then I curled up to his side again. I rested my head on his shoulder and layed my head on his chest so it rose and fell along with his breathing. Long after Tommy had closed his eyes and his breathing had started to even out, my eyes wouldn’t close. I watched Tommy’s eyelids twitch over his dancing eyes, his nose would scrunch in a cute way every now and then, and his lips would tremble with the strain of holding back a yawn. He was so tired so why wasn’t I? As soon as I started thinking about Tamryn again, I figured out the answer. I was too excited.

“Tommy, I’m too excited to sleep” I whispered. I’d thought he was asleep until a smile broke the serene look on his face and he started laughing. He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at me. I put the most innocent look I could manage on my face but that just made Tommy laugh again. Yeah, I’d never been good with looking innocent.

“I know, I’m excited too but you need to get some more sleep or you’ll be too tired to go tomorrow” he said. ‘I doubt that’ I thought, but I didn’t say that out loud. I just curled back into Tommy’s side and closed my eyes. Eventually I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, it was morning and Tommy was shaking me awake. It was obvious from his hair that he’d just woken up as well; one side and the back were pressed flat against his head and the other wide was ridiculously curly. The hair on top of his hair was sticking up to a certain length and then it bent over to the top of his head. I giggled lightly and raised my hands to comb my fingers through his hair; it didn’t help. He chuckled lightly and shook his head, making his hair bob slightly.

“I know, I’ve tried that already. I need a shower” he said. He pressed a tender kiss to my lips before shutting himself in the bathroom. As soon as I was fully awake, I was excited again, Tommy was taking me to Tamryn! That was all it took to get me out of bed. I gathered my clothes and went into the hall bathroom to take a shower. I tied my hair back in a tight fishtail braid and got dressed before going down to meet Tommy. I found him in the kitchen with his mom, making the picnic we were taking with us.

“Good morning dear, are you excited for you date today?” Matilda asked. Tommy grinned when she said the word ‘date’ and I grinned back. Matilda was dicing lettuce and I noticed two little bowls on the counter next to her. So she was making us salads for our picnic. The picnic basket was in the sink and there was already ice and drinks in it. Everything was coming together.

“Yes, I’m so excited. I haven’t been to Tamryn in years” I said. Tommy grinned again over his mom’s head and bit his bottom lip gently. He seemed so happy that he was doing something that made me happy. I was glad that he was as excited as I was. Matilda smiled and split the lettuce between the two little bowls. Then she started dicing a tomato. It was probably a good thing Tommy and I had such similar tastes.

“Well I’ll get your picnic all together; why don’t you and Tommy pack up his jeep?” she suggested. Tommy and I left the kitchen and he stopped me in the living room. He wrapped his arms around my waist and swung me in a circle. When he put me back on my feet, my knees buckled and he had to hold me up.

“Sorry, I forgot that did that to you” he said. I chuckled lightly and buried my face in his shoulder. Any time Tommy lifted me off my feet; it took a while before I could stand again. He made me weak at the knees and he didn’t even have to kiss me, although that did it too.

“It’s okay, what do we need to load in the jeep?” I asked. Tommy set me on my feet again and I backed up a few steps. He chortled lightly and kissed my nose.

“The jeep is already actually packed; we’re just waiting on the food. We’re gonna take this blanket to have the picnic on” Tommy said. I looked over to where he was pointing and I saw a traditional red and white checkered blanket. I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my lips; he was so determined to do everything the right way, it was sweet. I put a hand against his cheek and he leaned his head against it.

“I love that you’re doing all this for me Tommy, it’s so thoughtful” I said. Tommy smiled and pulled me back against him. I wrapped my arms around his neck. He studied me for a minute before smiling and biting down on his bottom lip again. He kissed me gently on the lips and buried his face in the crook of my neck. It was slightly awkward with the height difference but it was still sweet. Finally he pulled away and nodded towards the kitchen.

“Why don’t you help my mom, I have to get one more thing out of my room” he said. I nodded and headed back into the kitchen while he went upstairs. I helped Matilda load food into the picnic basket until it was full and then she helped me put it in Tommy’s jeep. Tommy ran downstairs as we were coming inside and I saw him slide a small grey box into his pocket. Matilda must not have seen it because she didn’t say anything.

“Everything is ready Tommy, you guys have fun today” she said. She kissed me on the temple before kissing his cheek and pushing us out the door. We were quiet until we were in Tommy’s jeep on our way out of town. Tommy reached across the console, grabbed my hand, and kissed it. I smiled at him.

“I hope you enjoy today Ness, I’m excited to see your reaction” he said. I took his hand in both of mine and squeezed it gently. No matter how the day turned out, I would love every second of it just because it was Tommy’s idea. When I finally got control over the urge to squeal, I turned to look at him.

“I’ll love every minute of it Tommy because it was all your idea. I didn’t know you could be so romantic” I said. Tommy grinned and winked at me. Tamryn was two towns away from Black Hollow so it was a couple hours away. The first thing I noticed about Tamryn when we got there was the dark storm clouds hanging over us. Tommy automatically took on a worried look as he gazed out the windshield but I was so determined not to let anything spoil my day.

“I hope you brought an umbrella Tommy, it looks like we might get some rain” I said. Tommy smiled slightly and shook his head before looking sideways at me. He didn’t look surprised so he obviously knew me and besides, I’d always like the rain. And maybe I’d get lucky enough to get my passionate kiss in the rain. Tommy drove through town to the late where we unloaded the stuff for our picnic. I stood staring out at the late while Tommy spread the blanket out on the grass under a huge weeping willow tree. At least it would keep us dry if it started raining. The lake was beautiful, even without the sun shining on it. It was a clear blue color with small boats floating along the surface, or ducks swimming along. Kids were playing and splashing in it; no one was worried about the coming storm.

“Ness.” I spun around to replace Tommy kneeling on the blanket next to the open picnic basket. I quickly joined him and since it wasn’t quite lunch time, we just munched on the fruit Matilda had put in it. There was a faint breeze coming off the water and it carried with it the smell of the coming storm. I inhaled deeply and smiled; I loved the smell right before a storm. I looked back at Tommy to replace him smiling at me. I raised my eyebrow.

“Do you remember our first trip to the lake in Black Hollow? And that tall metal post in the water?” he asked. I started laughing and had to cover my mouth but I nodded my head. Tommy, Cayla, and I had spent a good two hours up to our knees in the water playing with his huge metal post. The thing had to have been about seven feet tall, a few hundred pounds in weight, and we were knocking it over into the water. Then we’d stand it back up and knock it down again. The post was hollow and full of mud so every time we stood it back up, we were all splattered with mud.

“We were all so dirty when we left and burnt to a crisp. I got in so much trouble” I said. Tommy laughed at the same time that he took a drink of water so it went down his windpipe. He coughed for a little while and then laughed some more. I smiled and shook his head; nothing seemed to faze Tommy.

“I did too and I was so burnt it hurt to lie down. I slept sitting up for about a week” he said. I started laughing again and this time I couldn’t stop. It didn’t seem to bother Tommy though; he just sat and watched me with a smile on his face. When I finally did stop laughing, my eyes were blurry with tears and there was a cramp in my stomach.

“Do you remember that Halloween that you scared that little girl?” I asked. Tommy grimaced slightly but chuckled afterwards. My parents had let us turn the garage into a haunted house one Halloween and Tommy had dressed up as the guy from Scream. He’d scared us all when he got there because we hadn’t known what he’d be wearing. But then just after it got dark, a woman brought her two young daughters to get candy. The younger one couldn’t have been more than about five and was dressed in a homemade Little Red Riding Hood costume. Her sister was just a couple of years older and was dressed as Little Bo Peep. Well when Tommy saw the car pull up in front of the house, he hid behind one of the bushes outside the garage. As soon as the two little girls got close, Tommy jumped out from behind the bush and scared them. They both screamed but poor Little Red Riding Hood turned and ran back to the car.

“I felt so bad about that because I didn’t know they were so young. I’m just glad her mom didn’t yell at me” he said. I laughed lightly and shook my head. I’d felt so sorry for the little girl that I’d given her a huge assortment of candy, enough that it almost filled her bag. And Tommy had felt so bad that he’d kept his mask off the rest of the night.

“Do you remember our senior prank at the high school?” he asked. Oh god, I don’t think I’d ever forget that. On the last day of school, our senior class had layered the front parking lot with tarps and sheets of plastic and turned the entire lot into one huge water slide. Even the teachers were sliding around on it. We were the only senior class that didn’t get in trouble with our senior prank.

“Do you remember Coach Howard and Mr. Lewis launching the underclassmen across the parking lot?” I asked. Tommy started laughing so hard he had to take the grape he’d just put in his mouth out or he would’ve choked on it. Coach Howard and Mr. Lewis were the youngest teachers at the school at that time, and they’d been helping the underclassmen get a good slide in. They’d each take an arm and a leg and just propel them across the plastic. Some of them were moving faster than the water.

“That was the best prank anyone ever pulled at that school because we got everyone else out of class too” Tommy said. I laughed lightly and nodded my head. Around that time, we were noticed by a few straggler ducks that came up out of the water to investigate our picnic. Tommy and I both fed them what fruit they would eat and they calmly waddled back into the water. Tommy seemed a bit shaken by their appearance but he’d never been a fan of big birds. It hadn’t bothered me at all though.

“Okay, traumatizing moment over. What do you say we go see that pond surrounded by the crepe myrtles?” he suggested. I grinned widely and nodded my head. Tommy chuckled lightly and started packing up what was left of our picnic. While he carried the basket back to his jeep, I shook the grass off the blanket and folded it back up. I found Tommy waiting at the back of his jeep, his hands in his pockets and a determined look on his face. I threw the blanket in with the picnic basket and turned to look at him.

“What’s wrong Tommy?” I asked. He took a deep breath and raised his head to lock eyes with me. There was a look of such intense desire in his irises that my breath caught in my throat. Tommy had never looked at me that way before, or at least I’d never seen him look at me that way. He cleared his throat and pulled his right hand out of his pocket. In his palm sat the little grey box I’d seen him slip in his pocket at the house.

“There is something I wanted to give you, I’ve kinda had it awhile” he said. He sounded slightly ashamed but I couldn’t focus on anything but the jewelry box in his hand. It took me several seconds before I could force myself to reach out and take it. And then as soon as I had it in my hands, I realized I’d overreacted. It wasn’t a ring box; it was too big for that, it most likely had a necklace in it. I let out a silent breath of relief and wrestled the lid off the box. Nestled in tissue paper was a small heart shaped silver locket. The face was outlined in diamonds and engraved inside them was ‘From the moment we met….It was you.’ My mouth fell open and I looked up at Tommy. He had a huge smile on his face and his cheeks were tinged pink.

“Open it” he instructed. I popped the locket open and inside it was another, smaller heart shaped pendant with an Amethyst stone in it. I almost laughed at the irony until he rolled back the sleeve on his right arm and showed me the new charm on his chain bracelet. It was an exact replica of the pendant in my locket except his stone was an Emerald. That was my birthstone………………………………….and Amethyst was his. I finally understood the idea behind the gift but it made me wonder how long he’d been wearing my birthstone on his wrist.

“Tommy, it’s beautiful. And the birthstone idea is incredibly thoughtful. I love it, thank you so much” I said. I threw my arms around his neck with the box still in my hand and he squeezed me tightly for a few seconds before pulling back. He took the locket from out of the box and clasped it around my neck. He patted the locket against my chest gently before facing me with a blinding smile.

“How about that pond now?” he asked cheerily. I let him help me up into his jeep and I sat quietly as he pulled away from the lake. He was cheery after being embarrassed so recently which only meant one thing: I’d missed what had embarrassed him. His nerves had shown up at the very beginning, just as soon as he’d taken the box out of his pocket. He’d said something too but I’d been too busy panicking at the thought of replaceing a ring that I hadn’t really payed attention. Crap, what had Tommy said? That he had something he wanted to give me and then something about how long he’d had it. My eyes jumped up off the locket and I found myself staring at the side of Tommy’s face. I could hear his voice clearly in my head. ‘I’ve kinda had it awhile.’ Just how long was that?

“Tommy, how long did you have this necklace before you finally gave it to me?” I asked. His good-natured smiled faded and the nervous look returned. That long? Sheesh, and I thought I was shy. Tommy always claimed that he wasn’t good at hiding his feelings, and that he was pretty confident with girls but apparently those two traits didn’t go together when I was involved.

“I got it as a graduation present actually and then I couldn’t work up the courage to give it to you. Same thing happened on your birthday, and Christmas, and Valentine’s Day, and your birthday again. I’ve had it a little over a year” he said. I started laughing but then immediately slapped my hands over my mouth. It wasn’t right to laugh at Tommy because of that because I probably would have done the same thing.

“It’s good to know I’m not the only one that panicked at the thought of doing something romantic for you” I said. Tommy laughed lightly and switched hands on the steering wheel so he could reach over and take my hand. I smiled and laced my fingers through his. I would never get over the feeling of holding Tommy’s hand. The weather had worsened slightly during the drive but it hadn’t started raining yet. There was a slight chill to the breeze and the smell of rain was stronger. Tommy helped me out of his jeep and immediately draped his jacket over my shoulders. That was a normal reaction for Tommy; any time he thought it was cold outside, he would put his own jacket around me. It was one of the many considerate things about him.

“Do you remember when we first met Sean and Moira………………………………………….” I cut off when Tommy sent me a sharp look. Of course he would remember what Sean had done when I first met him because it was the main reason we both didn’t like him. I’d had on a brand new button down pale pink shirt and I guess Sean had wanted to see more because he’d come up behind me in the hallway full of students and ripped my shirt open. Tommy had been so furious with Sean that his first instinct had been to hit him.

“I still think Sean should’ve gotten in more trouble than I did” he said. I nodded in agreement. Tommy had been suspended for a week and Sean had only had to take sexual harassment classes. We stepped out of the trees to where the pond was and we both forgot our anger. The pond was a huge oval filled with crystal clear water and about ten giant gold fish. Floating on the surface of the water were hundreds of thousands of purple crepe myrtle flowers.

“It’s so beautiful” I whispered. My eyes were glued to the water and the flowers but I saw Tommy turn his head to look at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched his eyes light up and he wrapped his arm tightly around my wrist. As much as I wished I could look at Tommy, I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the water. He didn’t seem to mind though and he kept his eyes on me.

“Not as beautiful as you” he whispered. That got my attention and I was able to pull my eyes away from the pond. Tommy smiled when I met his eyes and leaned down to kiss me gently. A loud clap of thunder broke us apart and I cringed slightly against Tommy. I loved rain storms but I didn’t much care for thunder. Tommy chuckled lightly and wrapped his arms around me for a minute.

“Wait here” he muttered before marching quickly passed me. I watched him approach a man selling different kinds of flowers. He said a few words to the man and he handed over a single stemmed flower. I didn’t get a chance to see what it was before Tommy hid it behind his back. He handed the man a bill and walked back over to me. He grinned widely but he kept the flower behind his back.

“Close your eyes” he said. I gave him a skeptical look but sighed and closed my eyes. I heard Tommy chuckle lightly and then I felt a baby-soft petal touch my lips. I was about to open my eyes when the scent of the flower hit my nose. It was a rose. My eyes flew open and I almost snatched the flower away from him. Roses were my all-time favorite flower and I absolutely loved the smell of them.

“Tommy!” I exclaimed. He laughed lightly and wrapped his arms back around me. I leaned my head against his chest and held the rose up to my nose again. The smell filled my lungs and I sighed in content and closed my eyes. Tommy pulled me along the path under the crepe myrtle trees and I kept my head against his chest.

“I understand why you love this place so much, it really is beautiful” Tommy said. I smiled and leaned my head back so I could look up at him. He looked down at me and smiled before winking. Another clap of thunder made me jump and we both looked up at the sky through the trees. The clouds were almost black and the humidity in the air was heavy.

“It’s gonna rain soon, maybe we should head back to the car” Tommy said. Almost as soon as he got the words out, it started raining. It wasn’t pouring; it was just one of those steady pelting rains. We were mostly protected under all the trees so all we felt was a misting. I had no idea what possessed me to pull away from Tommy and sprint directly into the sheeting rain. The drops felt like getting pelted with pebbles but the water felt good on my skin. I turned my face to the sky and closed my eyes before stretching out my arms to the breeze. My face formed into a grin and wit the rose still in my hand, I started to spin. The sound of Tommy’s laughter hit my ears a second later and I spun faster so I started laughing too. I must have slipped at some point because I landed on my back in the wet grass and stared, still laughing, up at the sky.

“Nessa, are you okay?” I heard Tommy’s voice before I saw him. He pulled me back to my feet and started to pull me back to the shelter of the trees but I stuck my heels in the ground. That didn’t do much because I just slid across the wet grass but Tommy felt the resistance because he turned around to look at me.

“I’m fine Tommy, I’m not even hurt. Come dance with me!” I called. Tommy gave me an odd loo but he was already wet so he let me pull him back out into the rain. I threaded the stem of the rose through my braid so I could take Tommy’s hands. I spun him in circles until we were both giggling hysterically and sliding all over the grass. We finally came to a standstill and he had to keep me from falling over again.

“Tommy, have you ever wondered what it would be like to kiss someone in the rain?” I asked. Tommy’s smile faded and for a minute, his face was free of any expression, then a different smile broke out across his lips. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me flush against his chest, and bent his head to kiss me. I couldn’t help but smile; he’d grasped exactly what I’d wanted. I could taste the rain on his tongue and his lips were slick with it but the kiss was absolutely perfect. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted me off my feet and spun me around. He kept his balance until he put me back on my feet and then we both went sprawling in the wet grass. I don’t know how but we must have turned at some point during the fall because I landed on top of Tommy instead of the other way around. I braced my hands on his chest, planted my elbows in the grass, and lifted myself up so I could look down at him. He pushed a lock of wet hair behind my ear; I smiled.

“Now I don’t have to” he murmured. I giggled lightly and shook my head, dislodging the strand of hair he’d just put behind my ear. The cold must have finally gotten to me because a small shiver traveled through my body and I gasped lightly. Tommy’s happy smile vanished and he wrestled us quickly to our feet, keeping his arms tight around me.

“Come on, we need to get you warm before you catch a cold” he said. We jogged through the rain to his jeep where he opened the umbrella for me, pulled his soaked jacket off my shoulders, and wrapped the warm picnic blanket around me. He helped me up into the jeep and cranked the heater. I would have argued at any other time but I hadn’t realized how cold I really was until I was in Tommy’s warm jeep.

“We won’t be able to finish the rest of our picnic” I pouted. Tommy glanced over at me and chuckled at the look on my face. He reached over and pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders and adjusted one of the vents so it was blowing on me. Tommy really was worried about me but he was as soaked as I was. Shouldn’t he worry about getting sick too?

“Baby, my first priority is to get you home and get you warm; we can try the picnic another day. Preferably when it’s not supposed to rain” he said. Tommy’s words registered in the back part of my brain somewhere but mostly I was focused on what he’d just called me. ‘Baby?’ I thought. A warm feeling filled my chest and I pulled the blanket up over my mouth to keep any high pitched noise that might escape at least muffled. Hearing him call me ‘baby’ was better than hearing him call me ‘honey’. At this point, I didn’t care if I got sick, I’d gotten my passionate kiss in the rain and with Tommy Collins of all people! I squealed quietly and I thought I got away with it because Tommy didn’t react but then I saw the smirk on his face. Well damn, he’d heard me. At least if I did end up sick, he’d be there to take care of me. Bonus! I giggled lightly.