Part Three: Dammit Janet

The sun is setting as Em puts another piece of wood on the fire she's built on the beach by the lake. The little beach they used to come to sometimes when they wanted to look up at the stars, or just be alone. Getting face to face with everyone after so many years... it seemed like it was a good choice for the meeting.

She's not sure what to expect, the dark-haired girl who now crouches by the fire, staring into the orange flames as the sun reflects off the mirror-like water. Everyone said they were coming -- Jaden, Andy, George, and Faye... but who knew if they'd all show? Em had more or less disappeared, back in the day, and she's now found out that Mikey more or less did the same. Life went on without them. So now, what would it be like with them both coming back to Boulder City? How would each of them explain?

George arrives and gives Karen a hug. "STP sucks," followed by her response "Yeah they do, like your mom." He hands her a joint he'd rolled on the way, one of two, and she peels off, gravel spraying at him. Hoisting his 12 pack of PBR, he walks to the fire.

He walks the last two hundred yards to the old campsite, and sees her then, his old friend, crouching by the fire. He follows the lines of her form in the light, trying to gauge who she is by her posture and clothing, and wondering what she will see in him.

"Morgan?" he calls, and hefts the beer case up as if to say, 'I brought beer because I'm a hero' or something like that.

Andy had only been here once or twice since the group had gone their separate ways. It looked the same even if the two already there by the fire had changed. His meeting with George in the library was about a year ago now and they still met for coffee a few times a month, but he still hadn't sorted through his feelings about him. He was nervous about seeing Em. He had thought about her from time to time and their brief intense minutes in the cabin and the fact that even though she was Robin at the time, she was still Em. He could have his pick of Robin types now and suddenly looks weren't so important anymore.

Taking a deep breath he approached the fire. "Hi George. Em! Good to see ya!"

She had indeed changed. Looked more... mature. Her eyes looked a little jaded though. Like life had handed her a bag of rocks.

He thought about asking what she had been up to, but given the rumors, that would not have been cool, so he asked for a beer instead. It would give him something to do with his hands.

"I'm in training so I can only have one.... well maybe two, " he didn't want to be a total stick in the mud.

"Where are the others? Am I early?" he asks as he pops the top off his PBR.

"George," Em says softly as her old friend arrives, standing up as he approaches with his offering, and his trepidation. Morgan has changed and matured in the intervening years, but there's still not much to her as she suddenly rushes towards the other teen she once knew so well. She's wearing jeans and sneakers, a knit sweater with sleeves long enough to cover her hands and an expression of joy as she embraces the college student.

Her eyes are wet as she hugs him -- hugs him tight. "I missed you, Georgie," she sniffles, choked up as she presses her face against him. "So much."

---

A moment later, Andy is arriving, and Em's composed herself. She's wiped the eyeliner that ran off her face, and he gets a hug too. It's harder because he's so tall and Morgan is five foot nothing and a half. "Holy shit," the brunette says from his arms, looking up at him. Her hands go from around his neck to his shoulders and she smiles. "Andy! You're like... damn!"

George is nearly overwhelmed when she sniffle hugs him, and he squeezes her back just as fiercely. "Only half as much as I missed you, co-president." He lays his head on the top of her head.

When that is done, he offers her a beer and opens one himself, and is about to ask all the questions when he hears Andy's clunker pull up. "Andy," he explains. When it backfires, he adds, "I think he put diesel in the tank once and is too proud to say anything," he jokes.

As the tall handsome kid walks up, George hands him a beer.

Then he moves away, so they can say hi, too.

After receiving the invitation from Em to meet her at the lake, Faye immediately accepted. Only later, she realized she never asked what Em's intentions behind it were. Was it a date? Meeting at the lake sounds like a date, right?

Since she felt bad asking her now - it would be awkward regardless of which answer she'd get - she decides to just assume it is one and prepare for the case it isn't.

She once again spends a long time in front of her closet until she settles on a more grunge look - ripped jeans, a low-cut top and a dark jacket, together with her new boots that's she hasn't worn often enough for them to really be comfortable yet.

Telling her mom she's going to the library to get a book before it closes, she leaves the tiny container apartment and jumps into the shitty old car that's all they can afford anymore, not least of all because of the price of her therapy and treatment.

She drives to the gas station and picks up a bottle of wine - not the cheapest - and then heads over to the lake. Before she arrives at the designated spot, she can already hear voices. So it's a party, not a date. No problem

But once she approaches further, she recognizes the boy next to Em. George!
And then she sees the other one, Andy!
Freezing in place, she stares at them. Her old friend group. She can't see Jaden yet but he'll probably get here as well. How could Em invite all of them and forget to even warn Faye? Fuck!
Unable to decide whether to approach them or just turn and run away, the tall blonde just stands at the edge of the campfire's circle of light and stares at the group with wide eyes.

"Yeah," he says to Em chuckling. "I grew a little." Despite the constant presence of eye candy dangling on his arm at school, and constant hugs from other girls, Em's hug while nice at first, felt awkward in the ensuing seconds. He gave her a warm hug back anyway whch was a little ungraceful due to the beer in his hand. He was genunely glad to get the hug and thank God he didn't blush. "I hit my head on a lot of doorjambs these days," he says, thankful to have something not too stupid to say as he eases out of the hug.

He's too fixated on not appearing silly to notice Faye standing at the edge of the firelight.

Jaden reaches out and puts his hand on Mi... well, Faye as George told him Mikey goes by now.
For reasons that he still hasn't understood, it kinda made some sense to him for Faye being Faye.

"You know it's not polite to lurk around people unannounced, right? Either get over it and move or turn around and leave. I can make some kind of excuse for you if you'd prefer..."

He said and putted his other hand on her other shoulder as Faye turned around gasping.

"But I'd prefer you'd stay. Let's have a beer Faye, I'm thirsty. We have quite some catching up to do. I'm also quite certain that everyone would prefer that you'd join us. Don't look surprised; the old gang getting back together? I'm eager to listen to what you former brats have been up to." he said and gave her a wide grin.

"Whaddaya say? For old time's sake?" offering her his arm to walk together.

Em is just breaking her awkward hug with Andy as Faye arrives at the edge of the firelight, and she looks distractedly at those luminous and fearful eyes as she squeezes Andy's hands with hers before letting go. Glancing up as she finds a beer thrust into her hands by George, she says, "Yeah, a little. Sheesh! Six three?"

Then the diminutive dark haired girl cracks her beer and beckons with her free hand towards Faye -- at about the same time Jaden comes up behind the tall blonde.

Faye jumps in surprise when Jaden puts a hand on her. She turns and stares at him in surprise as he talks to her. When he says her name, she grows dead serious. Throwing a glance over at Em and George, she narrows her eyes and looks at Jaden. "How in the living hell do you know who I am?", she asks, completely ignoring the arm he offered her.

"You know I'm in college right? Astrophysics are fun you know. Getting a band together as well. Remember when I was trying to get you all into forming a band with me? Fun times!" he said and chuckled.

"And you know Georgie. George. Geez we're grow old!... Don't judge him too hard, he meant good you know... He didn't want us to get caught by surprise and have a weird reaction in you. He did it because he cares Faye; we all care. Hell, life happens you know? We might have gone on separate ways, but we're definitely no strangers you know... Do not make a fuss about it. George is George, me is me and I can tell that you're finally you. Let's get going now. I'm still thirsty and we seem to have attracted some attention. If you please." he said and pointedly offered his arm again.

Faye doesn't even listen to him as he continues speaking. As soon as he mentions George, she turns and runs into the circle of the light and right up to George. She throws the wine bottle to the ground where it bounces but doesn't break and grabs him by his collar, pulling it up. Back in the day, she was strong enough that she could have really pushed the much shorter Georgie around but he's taller than her now, as well as heavier and stronger. Still, he can feel how furious she is.
"I told you that in private!", she shouts in his face, leaning into her anger to keep tears from forming. "Do you know how many days I was staring at the phone gathering the courage to tell you? You had no fucking business telling anyone about me! Why don't you just hand out flyers in town. Or better yet, why not make a website? Let the whole world know about me."

George feels his stomach drop, and is suddenly the awkward kid trying to not get thrown around by tougher kids.since things never change.

"I know, Faye, I know. I was worried about Jaden making a scene, but after I told him, I felt sick about it, that I'd betrayed your trust. It was just him, but I'm really sorry."

He looks down at her and says quietly so only she can hear, "I'll leave if you want. That's fair."

"I want to break your fucking nose, George!", Faye shouts at him. She really does want to, but it's so difficult to stay mad at someone who's being so sincerely apologetic so after a moment, she grunts in frustration and lets go of him. She runs her hands through her hair and curses again. She closes her eyes to try and get her anger under control. A second later, she opens them again and growls at George: "Just get me a beer or something."

Jaden runs right after Faye, but not in time to avoid the scene.

"Geez Faye. Geez! I was the first one to lose touch with the rest of you lot. I was pretty pumped about getting to college and all, so I've missed a bunch of stuff I guess... Sorry guys... I was an ass for not checking in and all..."

He looks around and pauses for a minute.

"Oh hi guys. Good to see everyone. George, you dawg! We go through so much trouble back in Columbia to get our hands on a couple cold ones. Glad you have your ways. Would you pass one over here buddy?"

He leans in and mouths "Sorry dude".

George passes beers to Faye (opening hers) and then one to Jaden, smiling grimly at the crack. "My fault, dude."

"You look great tonight," he says to Faye. "Em is back! It's so great to see my friends together again."

Em watches as the scene unfolds -- as it goes from a tense moment, almost a standoff -- to an explosion of raw emotion and near-violence. This is... not how she saw this going.

Beers being handed out takes the edge of things, but Em can tell from the looks on their faces that Andy is confused and Faye is still angry -- really angry. And it's partly her fault, Morgan knows.

"Faye. It's my fault too, I'm sorry. Sorry I didn't tell you everyone would be here. I was really afraid you wouldn't come if you knew. And you really need to know that we aren't the people you need to worry about telling. We're your friends. We've been through... like everything together. Right? I thought it would be a nice scene at the lake and you could tell Andy and Jaden about... you finding yourself. I know it'll be hard -- so hard -- with some people... but it should be easier with us."

The expression on Em's face as she stands before the fire is sincere, and a little pained. She really didn't want it to go this way...

Andy for his part stays silent. He has no idea what's going on initially, and he feels kind of shy with his old friends, almost as if he doesn't know them anymore or even fit in. He thinks he recognizes Faye from somewhere but he can't quite place her. The way she is behaving is odd as if there is some secret that some know and some don't ..... and then he gets it. Bam! It smacks him right on the forehead. But he doesn't know what to say so he continues to say silent, takes a few subtle steps back from the fire and drinks his beer, thankful that it's dark outside.

"And maybe you could both explain why you just left us without a word? Not even an 'I'm alive, bought a hat,' just silence. Like we meant so little to you that whatever you were going through was our fault."