9Epilogue: That Would Be Perfect
July 4, 2006
Jamie walked up to Chuck's house and knocked on the door. They were having a Fourth of July party and a bunch of people were invited. Jamie smiled as the door opened and Greg appeared.
"Hey, Jamie!" he exclaimed. He gave her a hug and pulled away, leaving his arm around her waist.
"Howdy," Jamie held her plate of brownies close to her chest. "The party hasn't started yet right?"
"Nope. You know Chuck wouldn't start it without you," Greg grinned as they walked outside.
It had been over a month since the weirdest ending of school ever. Greg's dad and Barbara were staying for the summer and Gloria was staying for a little while. Chuck's mom was with his dad and they were going to have their own little party. Shawn, Natasha, and Robert were coming also. Shawn understood the situation with Natasha and Robert and was perfectly fine with it. Chuck also knew about Greg and Jamie's date, which had turned into the beginning of a relationship. He, also, was perfectly okay with it. Joy's family was doing better. Not perfect, but better.
Jamie leaned into Greg as they entered the back yard. Natasha and Robert were seated at the table sipping at their drinks, while Gloria and Shawn were barbecuing hamburgers. The two friends walked over to the chip table where Chuck and Joy were eating some of the many snacks. Jamie greeted them both with a hug and a smile.
"Enjoying the food?" Jamie asked. She laughed as Chuck nodded with a mouth full of tortilla chips.
Greg removed his arm from Jamie's waist and grabbed a chip. He put it into his mouth and immediately his face lit up, "Oh my gosh! These are amazing!"
Jamie tried one also, "Dude! Where did you get these?"
"My mom made them before she left," Chuck replied. "Good right?"
"Very much so," Jamie replied. She set her plate of brownies on the edge of the table and took another chip.
"Jenna's in the bathroom if you're wondering," Joy said, noticing Jamie looking around.
"Oh, thanks," Jamie replied. "I'm going to go check on those burgers. Anyone want to come with?"
Greg nodded his head, "I'll come."
Chuck and Joy shook their heads. "We'll stay here," Chuck said. "More food."
"Suit yourself," Jamie laughed. She and Greg walked over to the barbecue where Shawn and Gloria were talking animatedly about something that Jamie didn't understand.
Ever since Gloria was "rescued" from Carson and friends, she and Shawn had gotten very close. They explained to Greg and Jamie that Gloria was undercover, when Carson had figured it out and used her for leverage with Shawn's group. They also explained that Fred knew about the whole thing and that was when he decided to join Carson. Jack didn't know any of this until Shawn had told him the day after Carson was taken down.
Natasha was told this the day Shawn took Jamie to his house. At that time, they didn't know about Fred, but Shawn saw some shifty behavior happening. Robert had no idea about any of it until Shawn and Gloria told him together.
Jamie had been staying with Shawn for a while to let Robert and Natasha and Jenna spend time together. Her mother had told her that it was important to spend some time with Shawn, but when she was ready, it would also be important to spend time with Robert. Finding a relationship with him would be difficult, but workable.
Jamie walked up behind Shawn and gave him a big hug, "Hey, Shawn."
Shawn turned around and smiled when he saw Jamie, "Hey there! Get those brownies made?"
"Yes sir! I hope their good," Jamie pulled away from Shawn and gave Gloria a hug.
"I'm sure they'll be delicious," Gloria replied. "And how is my wonderful son?"
Greg smiled and gave Gloria a hug, "Wonderfully perfect."
"Good," Gloria said. "The burgers should be ready in a few minutes."
Jamie moved to stand next to Greg, "That's good. Chuck's about to eat himself to death."
Gloria laughed, "We wouldn't want that to happen."
"Not at all," Jamie replied. "Do you guys need any help?"
"I don't think so," Shawn flipped a burger. "Thanks for offering though."
"Okay. Just call if you need anything."
"Will do," Shawn replied.
Jamie took Greg's hand again as they walked back to the food tables. Jenna was standing with Joy and Chuck, listening to their conversation. Jamie led Greg to a small space near the ever-popular tortilla chips. She gave Jenna hug, "Heya, Squirt."
"Squirt?" Jenna asked as she pulled away.
"It shall be your new nickname," Jamie declared.
"When are the burgers going to be ready?" Chuck interrupted.
"In a couple minutes," Jamie replied. Just as she finished her sentence, Shawn called from the other side of the yard that the burgers were ready. "Just kidding," Jamie laughed.
Chuck shook his head and piled a napkin with tortilla chips. The five friends walked over to the table and took their seats. Once Shawn set the plate of burgers down, the party-goers all dug in and piled their burgers with mustard, ketchup, lettuce, and onion. The meal continued in silence as everyone finished off their burgers.
"When do ya'll want to start fireworks?" Shawn asked, breaking the silence.
"Depends. How big of a box did you get?" Jamie took a sip of her water.
"One of the biggest boxes they had," Shawn replied.
"Holy crap, you serious? Dude, those things were monstrous!"
"So once it gets dark?"
"At the latest."
"Well, now that's settled, I guess we better go get it set up. Anyone want to help?" Shawn stood up and pushed his chair in.
Jamie, Greg, Joy, and Chuck immediately stood up. "Yup," they said in unison.
Shawn smiled, "Then we better get to it."
The five walked out front where Shawn's car was parked. They pulled out the big box and set it next to the table they had set up on the grass. As they were pulling out different fireworks, Greg somehow found his way over to Jamie.
"Ready for hours of fireworks?" he asked.
"Always," Jamie replied. "Best time of the year."
Greg laughed and gave Jamie a kiss on the cheek, "I always knew there was a reason I liked you."
"Because I like fireworks?" Jamie set a few sparklers down.
"Exactamundo."
Jamie grinned, "You're such a dork sometimes."
"And proud of it!"
Chuck cleared his throat and handed Jamie a couple more sparklers, "Don't mean to interrupt, but we kind of have everything set up."
Jamie looked over the table, "I guess we do. Did someone go tell-?"
"Joy already left to go tell them," Chuck interrupted.
"Oh okay. I guess we could just sit down and wait." Jamie walked over to a group of chairs and sat down. Greg and Chuck sat on either side of her.
Within seconds, Jenna, Joy, Natasha, Robert, and Gloria were in the front with the rest of the gang. They all found their seats and settled in for a long night.
Shawn did a few fireworks and then paused for some of them to do sparklers. Jamie, Chuck, Greg, and Joy all grabbed one and started twirling them around.
"You know, I never knew how fun sparklers were," Chuck said to Jamie as he was spelling out his name.
"Have you ever done them before?"
"Surprisingly, no," Chuck replied.
"Well, that's a shocker right there!"
Chuck laughed and put his sparkler in a bucket of water once it went out. The four friends sat down again to watch fireworks.
For the next hour Shawn set off firework after firework and finally they were done. It was still a bit early so the group sat outside to watch the fireworks from the stadium a couple blocks away.
"Joy, weren't you scared of fireworks when you were younger?" Jamie asked.
"You were scared of fireworks?" Chuck asked.
"Yes, I was. I'm not a big fan of things that light on fire. Not cool," Joy replied.
"Wow," Greg said.
"It's not that bad, you know! It's just a small fear."
"Not that. The fireworks," Greg pointed and the foursome looked up to see fireworks bursting through the sky.
"Oh wow," Jamie whispered. "That's really pretty."
Red and yellow sparks jumped through the sky followed by small green dots. Jamie looked at the sky full of awe and almost screamed when Greg grabbed her hand.
"It's just me," Greg whispered.
"Sorry, you just scared me. That's all," she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and looked back at the sky.
The red yellow, green, purple, and blue sparks continued to jump through the sky for the next few minutes. But too soon, it was over. Jamie reluctantly let go of Greg's hand and stood up to stretch.
She heard someone snoring behind her. Jamie turned and saw Joy's head on Chuck's shoulder and Chuck's head on hers as they both slept. Jamie chuckled and turned around. Greg stood before her, making Jamie nearly fall back.
"Enjoy the show?" Greg asked.
"Very much so," Jamie replied.
Greg wrapped his arms around Jamie and pulled her close to him. "This would be fun to do again."
Jamie nodded. Anything she tried to say was muffled by Greg's chest.
"We're all going to miss you next week when you go to camp."
Jamie shrugged.
"Especially me."
Jamie smiled.
"I mean everyone will miss you, but I'll probably miss you the most," Greg let go of Jamie and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Oh really?" Jamie asked.
"Yup."
"And you'll miss me the most because…?"
"Well, it's just I won't have someone to watch movies with. Chuck and I can't annoy you. Joy and Chuck can't comment on your driving. The usual."
Jamie shook her head, "I knew I was right when I said you were a dork."
"You know why I would miss you," Greg smiled.
"Actually, no, I don't."
Greg put a hand to his chest, "How could you not? I won't have someone to tell my deep dark secrets to."
"You have Chuck."
"But I can't do this to Chuck," Greg smiled and kissed Jamie.
"That, you can't," Jamie murmured.
"I tried to tell you," Greg said. He kissed her on the cheek and took her hand. "But we still have the whole week."
"That we do."
"Should we wake up the sleeping duo?" Greg asked.
"Most likely." Jamie snuck up behind Joy and Chuck with Greg right next to her. They carefully poked each sleeping friend. The two woke up and looked behind them, startled.
"I was really comfortable, you know," Chuck said.
"Me too," Joy agreed.
"Well, I guess you just had to wake up!" Jamie smiled.
"I guess, we'll just have to throw you in the pool," Chuck said and winked at Joy and Greg. They all nodded and turned toward Jamie.
"No, you don't!" Jamie defended herself.
"I think we do," Greg replied.
Jamie backed up and Chuck, Joy, and Greg followed. "No, it's okay. You don't really don't need to do that."
Greg laughed as he picked her up in his arms and nodded for Chuck to open the door, "Yes, yes we do."
Joy helped Greg carry Jamie through the house and out the back door. Jamie tried to jump out of their arms, but they both held tight. Before Jamie could react, the three and thrown her into the pool and jumped in after her.
Jamie laughed as they all swam toward her. "Thanks a lot guys."
"No problem!" They all said in unison.
Greg walked over to Jamie a moved a piece of wet black hair out of her eyes. "Maybe we should have a pool party next time?"
Jamie nodded. "That would be perfect."
A/N: YES! THIS SHALL BE MY FIRST FINISHED STORY IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE!
Excuse my little rant. Okay, I'm pretty sorry about the sucky epilogue. I might take it down and just leave the last chapter up, but if you guys like this one and want me to keep it up, just PM me!
I think I shall take down my other story. I need a few weeks to gather my thoughts and I don't think I'll post that one again for a while. I have the summary for an upcoming story kind of set and I think I know how I want to go with it. It might take me a while though.
Thanks for all the support. I shall thank each of you by name:
greentree211
R8R
Suzuki-chan
HNSscribbles
somuchformyhappyending
rubberduck07
Thanks so much for your reviews and thanks to those who read this! Love ya'll! Till next time!