Episode Ten

Med Center

Jamie slowly walked down the hall to the room he had been directed to. He had an appointment to meet a counselor first, and then after that he was going to see a doctor to make sure there weren't any lasting pyschical injuries. The only problem was that the closer he got to the counselor's office, the more he wanted to turn and walk away. He reached the door and reached for the doorknob only to have the door jerk open just as he grabbed the knob.

"Hey, you Jamie Bowen?" the man on the other side said, a smile on his bearded face.

Jamie nodded. "Uh... yeah."

"Paul Thomas," The man said, holding out his hand.

"You're the counselor?" Jamie asked, surprised, as he shook Paul's hand.

"Yeah, they seem to think that guys in suits will scare off kids and teens and guys like me can befriend them."

"Oh."

"Come on in."

Jamie entered the office, relaxing slightly when he saw it had a very lived in feel to it, right down to the worn recliners. "Nice office."

"What can I say, most shrinks hate me for being so relaxed," Paul replied, gesturing for Jamie to take a seat. "I want to let you know that you're in control here, Jamie," he added, closing the door. "Anything you tell me stays in this room, we can talk about whatever you want, even if it's not the specific reason you're here."

Jamie took a deep breath and let it out nervously. "I don't even know what to say."

"Whatever you want," Paul replied, sitting down across from Jamie. "We can start with your family and friends. Tell me about them."

Jamie nodded, relieved to have a 'safe' topic to start with. "It's just me and my dad. My mom died when I was 8."

"Siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins?"

"No siblings, Grandma Ginny and Grandpa Ian died when I was 14. My Gramma Isa lives in Chicago, with my Uncle Gee and Cousin Rena. I've got my dad's half brother, Uncle Laurence, his wife, Aunt Catherine, and my cousin, Laura, here in Heaven Falls. But Laura and I kinda don't get along as well lately, and Aunt Catherine's kinda snobby," Jamie said. "My dad's engaged, so I'll have a stepbrother and a stepsister by this summer."

"You looking forward to that?"

Jamie shrugged. "I'm not getting along with David lately, same reasons I'm fighting with Laura. But I like Jenny. She's a sweet kid."

"You wanna talk about why you're not getting along with Laura and David?" Paul asked.

Jamie sighed and started playing with the bottom edge of his shirt. "They ditched me at a party. And I got hurt. Bad."

Brady House

"Summer! There's someone here to see you!" Janice Brady called upstairs to her daughter.

Summer jumped off her bed, smiling and checking her hair. "Is it Jamie?" she called as she ran out of her room and down the stairs. "He promised to take me for a ride in his jeep after his appointments, but he didn't know when he'd be done..." she trailed off when she reached the kitchen and saw her guest. "Nicole?"

"Summer!" Nicole Howards squealed, running over to embrace her friend.

Summer returned the squeal and wrapped her arms around Nicole. "What are you doing here?!"

"St. Catherine's is closed until Febuary. The furnace exploded last weekend!" Nicole explained. "So I convinced Mother to let me fly out here to visit you! How are you? Do you like school here? Tell me everything!"

Summer laughed and pulled Nicole upstairs. "First, I'm going to school, with guys!"

"Hunky guys?" Nicole asked.

"Oh yeah, very hunky. One in particular..."

"Tell me everything!" Nicole pleaded as she and Summer jumped onto Summer's bed.

"Well, his name's Jamie..."

Virginia's Diner

A few hours later, Jamie walked into the diner and sat down in a booth, feeling worn out after his appointments.

"You okay?" Laurence asked as he walked over.

Jamie nodded slightly. "Yeah, just tired. Can I get a BLT and a Cherry Cola?" he asked as he started to look in his backpack.

"Sure thing, I'll send Laura over with your soda in just a minute."

"How'd you talk Laura into working here?" Jamie asked, trying not to laugh.

"I threatened to cut off her allowance," Laurenca replied, smiling. He turned and headed towards the counter to give the cook Jamie's order.

Jamie pulled a sketchpad out of his back pack and set it on the table along with a pencil case. He zipped his bag closed and started sketching with a pencil, his hand moving slowly at first, but picking up speed. By the time Laura came over with his soda, he had finished a rough outline of his mother's face.

"Look's just like Aunt Elly," Laura said as she set the soda down.

Jamie looked up briefly, then back down. "Yeah, well, that's who I was trying to draw," he replied, a hint of humor in his voice.

"Listen, I'm sorry, okay? We shouldn't have ditched you at that party. But David wanted to go off and..."

"I don't wanna know what David wanted to do," Jamie interrupted, smiling up at his cousin. "Trust me I don't."

Laura laughed. "All right, I won't go into detail. Anyway, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Just don't expect me to go with you guys to parties anytime soon. If ever again."

"Okay," Laura agreed. "I'll get you your food as soon as it's ready."

"Thanks," Jamie said, all ready returning to his sketch. After a few more quick strokes, he stopped and signed his name in a lower corner before flipping to a new page and starting a new sketch.

"Dad should have you design the news ads for this dump," Laura said as she returned with Jamie's burger 10 minutes later.

Jamie laughed. "Nah, then he'd have to pay me."

"What, you're too cheap to do it for free?" Summer asked as she and Nicole walked over.

"Sums? What are you doing here?" Jamie asked, quickly closing his sketch pad.

Summer smiled, having seen the half done sketch and recognized it as her own face. "Well, you were supposse to take me for a ride in your jeep today. So Imagine my surprise when Matt calls home and tells me he saw you sitting here looking kinda down. Of course I grabbed my jacket and rushed over, in the freezing cold, to check on you."

"I completely spaced it," Jamie said, hitting his forehead. "I'm sorry. Today was just... stressful. Beyond stressful."

"It's okay," Summer said sitting down and pulling Nicole down with her. "Jamie, this is Nicole Howards, my best friend from New York. Nicole, this is Jamie Bowen, artist extrodinaire."

"I'm no artist," Jamie replied, sliding the pad back into his backpack. "I just doodle a little."

Laura snorted as she came back with menus for Summer and Nicole. "Yeah, and Michealangelo just played with lumps clay," she said with a smirk.

"Shut up, Laura!" Jamie said with a laugh.

"Hey, it's true, Jamie, you are an artist," Laura said, laughing a she left again.

"I hate her," Jamie said.

"No you don't. Though you seemed to at your party last week," Summer said, smiling. "What happened?"

"I dealt with a few issues," Jamie repleid vaguely. "And Laura apologized for what made me mad, so..." He shrugged, then looked over at Nicole. "So, what brings you all the way out to this dump of a town?"

"I think it's a nice town," Nicole replied. "Really small, but nice."

"It is, but my family's been in this town for almost 120 years, so this place is old news."

"120 years?" Summer said, surprised. "Wow."

"Non stop. But one of my ancestors was around when the town was founded. They left for a while after that, then came back just in time to get into a feud."

"A feud?" Nicole asked. "Cool."

"Not cool. The Bowen's had decent money in 1860, when my ancestors, James Bowen and Abby Lawson came to town. We weren't rich, but we had money. James also got some money from his foster father. But the Grants managed to take it all away from James and Abby in 1881, along with their home. Ever since the Grants and Bowens have despised eachother."

"Which explains why you and Aaron Grant are always at eachother's throats," Summer replied in understanding.

"No, that's because Aaron's a jerk!" Jamie replied, laughing.

Parking Lot

Outside, a young man with bleached blonde hair sat in the driver's seat of a sedan, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. He was glaring through the front window of the diner at Jamie and Summer. Summer reached across the table and grabbed Jamie's hand, laughing and smiling widely.

"We're not over, Summer. You're going to take me back," he muttered under his breath. "I don't care what it takes."

End Of Episode Ten