Earth Angel

Chapter Twenty-Seven  

(Three Months Later... Salem High School)

Chloe left her last class and headed out the front doors of the school. Phillip, Belle, Shawn and Mimi were outside already and waiting for her.

"Hey guys... You all got out quick."

Mimi grinned and shook her head. "No, you got out slow. Mrs. Snyder must have really been going on..."

Chloe nodded and continued, "And on, and on, and on... She was on a 'tangent' tangent, if you know what I mean."

Belle giggled and smiled at Chloe. "Ahhh, math puns... gotta love 'em."

"So, what's everybody up to this weekend?"

Jan strode up to them and interjected before anyone could answer, "Coming to my house. I hope."

Phillip looked at her in surprise. "Your house? Why? What's going on?"

"Well, today is Jason's last physical therapy appointment, and he's going to be rid of his cane forever."

Belle smiled widely. "Really? That's the best news I've heard all week... He's made such a great recovery. And way quicker than the doctors said he would."

Shawn grinned and muttered, "Must have had the same physical therapist as Brady."

Belle nodded, "Yes, Brady Black... miracle upon miracles. And, now Jason can join those ranks."

Jan nodded happily. "Right, and that's what is going on this Saturday. My parents are out of town... which is nothing out of the ordinary... But, I thought we'd have a big huge party for Jason's recovery at my house. And you're all invited, and basically anyone else you want to bring."

Mimi clapped her hands together. "Yay... it's been so long since somebody's had a big party... I'm totally up for it."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement. There hasn't been much to celebrate in the past year, but things were going so well right now for everyone that it seemed like a great idea.

Shawn grinned and put an arm around Belle. "I think it sounds like fun. I'll be there. Whaddya say, Belle?"

"Me too."

Chloe chimed in, "Definitely..."

Phillip looked over at his happy, smiling group of friends and nodded. "And if THEY are all going, then I HAVE to go."

Jan smiled proudly. "Good. It's at 8 o'clock at my house, just bring yourselves and promise to have fun."

Jan said goodbye and walked off towards the parking lot. Belle shifted her glance back and forth between Mimi and Chloe. She grinned wickedly and spoke, "You two know what this means, don't you?"

Mimi and Chloe replied in unison, "SHOPPING!"

Phillip rolled his eyes and groaned. "Isn't that what it's ALWAYS about?"

Belle paused thoughtfully and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. I just can't wear the same thing to every party, you know..."

Shawn nodded and grinned at her. "Right, because that would be... just plain tacky. We couldn't have our little TinkerBelle wearing something that wasn't befitting her royal status."

Belle rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. "You shush. Shopping isn't just so we can look beautiful... it's all about female bonding. It's like when you guys watch sports together."

Mimi nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly. It gives us a chance to all grow closer together, and if we happen to pick up a new pair of shoes while we're doing it... then who's it going to hurt?"

Phillip grinned and questioned, "Besides your parents' credit cards? Nobody, I guess..."

Chloe nodded in agreement. "Then shopping it is... I'll see you both around noon tomorrow. We can meet at the usual spot."

Belle and Mimi both nodded in agreement, and Belle replied, "Sounds fine to me."

"Cool. Anyway, I gotta go. I promise Nancy I'd clean out my closet and get rid of all the stuff I don't need. Put my winter stuff away."

Mimi cringed at the thought. "Sounds like a blast. Quite a Friday night you have ahead of you."

Chloe shrugged. "No big deal. Didn't have any other plans anyway. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Chloe smiled as they waved her off, and spoke their various 'goodbyes'. She headed home with a sense of impending dread. Staying at home and cleaning her closet certainly wasn't her idea of a good time, but Belle & Shawn were going out on a romantic date, and Mimi had won tickets to a concert and decided to take Phillip since it was his favorite band. Chloe thought about calling Brady, but he had already told her that he was going to be working late tonight. So, tonight it would be Chloe and the mothballs.
***

(Much later... around 8 or 8:30 p.m.)

Chloe had just finished taking the last load of winter clothes down to the basement for storage. She returned to her room and threw herself on the bed with a sigh. She was now tired, hot and a bit sweaty and mussed up from all that manual labor. She had spent the past 5 hours reorganizing everything in her closet and packing up things to put in storage. Nancy had a strange idea of Spring cleaning, but Chloe obliged just to keep her mom from getting into a tizzy.

There was a gentle tapping at her door and Chloe sat up in surprise. "Uhm... come in?"

The door slowly opened and Brady peered around it and grinned. "Are ya decent?"

"Well, I probably look terrible... but I am fully clothed."

Brady walked all the way in and looked her up and down. "You don't look terrible, you look fine."

Chloe rolled her eyes at him. "You're sweet... and a terrible liar too. So what brings you here?"

"I don't know. Didn't have any other plans after work, so I thought I'd stop by and see what my favorite diva was up to. Your mom let me in."

"Oh, well, I'm just finishing up my spring cleaning... God forbid that I wait until Sunday to do it, but no, Nancy wanted it done now. This is MY exciting Friday night."

Brady nodded in understanding. "I thought you'd be out with at least one of the other members of the Saved by the Bell gang tonight."

Chloe shook her head. "Nope, Shawn and your sister have some sort of romantic evening planned. Mimi won tickets to the concert out at the Pavillion, and she's taking Phillip because you know how much he loves the Dave Matthews Band. I think he would have killed her if she took someone else."

Brady chuckled softly. "So it's just you and me, then..."

"Yeah... Did you come straight from work?" Chloe pointed at his clothes. He was dressed in a sharp, gray suit with a blue shirt and tie. She always admired the way Brady looked when he was in a suit, and tonight was no exception.

"No, I went home and changed first, and this was the only thing that was clean..." Brady smirked slightly. "Yes, I came straight here from work."

Chloe grinned. "Well, aren't we a pair. You look like a businessman, and I look like..."

"My maid?"

Chloe cringed and laughed out loud. "Yikes... that bad, huh?"

"No, I'm just kidding..."

Chloe stood and walked towards the closet. "I'm kinda glad you're here... I wanted to show you something."
She reached inside and pulled out a small black box and laid it on the bed. Chloe lifted the lid, pulled out a picture and handed it across the bed to Brady.

Brady looked at it with a smile. "Is this you? You were a beautiful baby."

"Get serious. I had enormous eyeballs, my head didn't grow to fit them until I was like fourteen."

Brady shook his head. "No, you were beautiful."

"Well, thanks... this is one of the few pictures I got when my adopted parents were killed. I was a year old there. And, I only know that because it has the date on the back... most of the stuff in here is random childhood memories."

Brady still held the picture in his hand and laid on his side with his head on her pillow. Chloe laid across from him on the other pillow and would pull pictures and mementos out of the box and hand them over to him. After nearly an hour of sharing her happier childhood memories, and him teasing her, Chloe shut the box and slid it down the bed a bit.

She winked at him and smiled. "Thanks for laying here and putting up with my boring memories."

"No, no, no. Thanks for sharing this with me. I thought it was cool. You always wonder what someone was like before you met them."

"Oh yeah... and what did you learn about me tonight?"

Brady laughed and brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. "I learned that you were exactly the same as you are now, only shorter."

Chloe cringed a tiny bit. "Oh no... Is that a bad thing?"

"No, it's a good thing. A very, very, good thing. But, I'm sure you were definitely a handful."

Chloe shrugged. "Probably... That's why my adopted mother ignored me so much."

Brady looked at her sadly. "Chloe... don't say that. The way she treated you... there's no excuse for it, and it's not your fault."

"You're probably right... I was trying to only have happy stories tonight, but there's a little voice inside of me that creeps in and says, 'Oh but look at all the things that suck, Chloe!'"

"Then the next time that voice creeps up on you, just bitchslap it and tell it to back off or else Brady Black will come after it's sorry ass."

Chloe tried to remain serious but couldn't help bursting into laughter. "Well, I'll remember to keep that in mind. Hey... Brady... I've been meaning to ask you something since you got here."

"Ask away."

"Jan is having this party at her house tomorrow night to celebrate Jason's miraculous recovery. You wanna go?"

Brady paused and looked up thoughtfully. "Who's going to be there?

"Uhm, me... Jan, Jason, Belle, Shawn, Phillip, Mimi... pretty much half of the senior class of Salem High School."

Brady nodded and frowned slightly. "So... high school party? You're asking me to go to a high school party?"

Chloe gasped in shock. "Brady... don't act like such a snob. You hang out with us ALL THE TIME. Now you're too old to go to a high school party?"

"High school parties are boring. They were when I was in high school..."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, that was so long ago when you were in high school. Man, that three whole years really makes ALL the difference."

"Well, it's true... boring boring boring."

Chloe grinned at him and chuckled. "Yeah, because all of your other options for most Saturday nights are SO exciting."

Brady frowned again. "Now you're just being mean."

"Nope, I'm just being honest." Chloe grinned at him wickedly and poked him in the side with her index finger. "Just go, Brady... I promise that it will be fun."

Brady was stonefaced. "No, absolutely not."

"Braaaaaady..." Chloe poked him in the side again. "Pleeeeeease..."

"No, your poking has no effect on me."

Chloe pouted slightly. She poked him in the stomach this time. "Come on, 'Abs of Steel'... live a little."

Brady did not look impressed. "You know, I would have laughed at that... if it were actually funny."

"Awww, Brady... it WAS funny. You're just being a brat." Chloe looked him up and down, trying to figure out where his ticklish spot might be. She had one more guess, and she decided to go for it. "I'm asking you nicely to PLEASE go to the party tomorrow."

"There are only so many ways I can say no..."

Chloe scrunched up her face in frustration and deftly moved her hand up to poke Brady squarely in the base of the neck with one finger. Brady yelped loudly and nearly rolled off the bed. Chloe laughed loudly, and almost so wickedly that it was nearing the sound of a cackle. Brady laid back flat on his back and breathed deeply.

"Oh my God... you are a freak. That is like the only ticklish spot on my entire body. How did you know that?"

Chloe scooted up and laid her arm on his chest, propping herself up to grin evilly at him. "Because... I'm just that good. Now, will you go to the party tomorrow?"

"You know, I was going to go anyway... I just wanted to see you squirm."

Chloe's jaw dropped in shock. "And yet... the tables have turned. You should never play games with me, because I will always win."

Brady chuckled softly. "You are truly wicked... you know that."

Chloe nodded proudly. "Uh-huh... And I still won. Sometimes being bad is gooooood."

"That's what they tell me... You know what, I'm kinda curious... Remember those visions we talked about a long time ago?"

"Boy... do I..."

"Have you had any more since those first ones?"

Chloe nodded and stammered nervously. "Actually... yes... not that often. But, every now and then I have one... And let me tell you, you have to promise me that we won't go hiking the day after my graduation."

Brady looked at her uneasily. "Uhm... okay. I promise. Would something bad happen if we did?"

"Yes, but don't ask me to talk about it because you REALLY don't want to know."

Brady nodded in understanding. "Alright... I'll leave it at that. So, what about your mysterious e-mail?"

Chloe shrugged in confusion. "Don't know... haven't gotten another one or anything. And, since it didn't say anything BAD, I'm not really worried about it anymore."

"Good to hear... by the way, has anyone ever told you that your elbow is very bony and very sharp?"

"No, because it's not."

Brady groaned slightly. "It is when it's pressed into my chest like it is now."

Chloe pouted and Brady figured it was his turn to have some fun. He poked her elbow gently with one finger, but she didn't budge. Brady paused thoughtfully and moved his foot over to kick hers gently, but she just kicked back. He stopped to think and decided to give her a little taste of her own medicine. Brady used the arm that she was laying over to slyly move his hand to the underside of her ribs. He winked at her and quickly tickled her, giving it all he could despite the fact that her body weight was lying on his arm.

Chloe giggled and squirmed until she rolled over on her back and cried out, "OKAY! MERCY MERCY... I'm crying UNCLE... STOP BRADY!"

Brady ceased his torture and positioned his grinning face above hers. "See, I know how to win too..."

Chloe smiled wistfully at him. "Thank you, Brady..."

"For tickling you?"

Chloe shook her head slightly. "No, for doing what I asked you to do. I made you promise not to push me, and you didn't."

Brady smiled sweetly at her. "I always keep my promises."

"Well, thank you... And, I have a feeling that all of this waiting will be ending soon."

Brady looked at her in surprise. "You do?"

"Yeah, I can just kinda sense it."

Brady smiled and whispered to her, "Good..."

The air between them was electric, and you could cut the mounting tension with a knife. Brady moved his face closer to her as if he was going to kiss her, but suddenly remembered that he wasn't supposed to push. He moved his face up further and kissed her on the forehead instead. He sighed almost inaudibly and rolled over on to his back again.

There was a strange silence between them, and Chloe finally broke it by muttering, "So what should we do now?"

Brady shrugged. "I don't know... what are you up for?"

"Well, I look too beyond terrible to think about going out. Want to watch a movie or something?"

"Sure... just nothing romantic or sappy."

Chloe sat up and nodded enthusiastically. "You got it... One order of 'Night of the Living Dead' coming up. I'm going to go downstairs and get some snacks. You know where my videos live."

Chloe stood as Brady was just sitting up. "I certainly do."

Chloe smiled at him from the doorway and then turned to leave. As she moved downstairs, she knew that she had already made her decision. She was just waiting for the right time to break it to Brady and Phillip both.

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