Variation on a Theme, Book 6
Copyright© 2024 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 155: Endings and Beginnings
Monday, June 16, 1986
Breakfast was much more sweet than bitter, but it was a bit of both. Jess, Laura, Cammie, and Mel all had to be at the airport in a few hours. We would probably see Cammie and Mel within a week, but it might be months or more before we saw Jess or Laura.
It might be sooner, of course. The second half of the summer was now wide open, with the France trip delayed until at least Winter Break. I very much hoped it would be at Winter Break, because the alternative was meeting the French relatives at the wedding.
We now had a very good excuse, certainly. No one would expect Jasmine and me to go without Camille and Francis, nor for Camille to leave Francis at home. Both of those would be ridiculous.
Good excuse or not, though, it would be better to meet them before the wedding. The wedding would be absolutely packed with people I needed to greet and spend time with. Inevitably, either the French relatives would get short shrift or longtime friends would. Most likely, all of them would. The whole thing would be a mess.
Not all of the relatives would travel to the US, certainly. We would have to meet some after we were married. That might be fine. I didn’t expect all of my cousins, second cousins, and such to travel, either, though I hoped many of them would. Even so, trying to meet even the ones who did travel would be less than ideal.
It all hinged on Francis at this point. If his doctor decided an international flight was an option, there was nothing preventing us from going over Winter Break. On the other hand, if it was still too much of a risk, we might have to simply run ourselves ragged meeting everyone before the wedding.
Jess, Laura, Cammie, and Mel argued persuasively that there was little point in our accompanying them to the airport, so we agreed to part at the taxi stand outside of the hotel. The four of them were sharing a cab.
We promised Cammie and Mel that we would see them on Friday. Our plan was to spend the weekend in College Station, then return to Houston for Angie’s birthday, followed by the Marshall family trip.
For Jess and Laura, this was an open-ended farewell, though. We did our best, exchanging hugs and kisses meant to last for months.
Jess wasn’t going to be at Janet and Lizzie’s wedding. There was no surprise there. They had never been close in high school. They knew of each other, but barely actually knew each other at all, even with the year Jess and Lizzie had overlapped on Student Council.
She might not have been able to make it in any case. If her audition went well, she might be who-knows-where filming who-knows-what. For my own sanity, I was trying to avoid guessing at what she might appear in next.
As for Laura, who knew? It could be this summer, but it could be at our weddings. Anything in between was much less likely, unless perhaps it was a movie premiere for Jess’s movie. All of us would move heaven and earth to be there if we could.
We hugged (and kissed when appropriate), then bundled them into their cab. It had been a quick visit, but a very important one. Much more important than I had expected, going in.
Once they were gone, we headed up to Angie and Paige’s room and settled down to figure out our summer plans. Everything was in flux with the France trip delayed. Well, except for Janet and Lizzie’s wedding. That was set.
Angie had already been considering trying to add a summer class. Jas, Paige, and I thought following suit sounded interesting. We already had our fall semester settled, so anything in the summer would have to either be an open elective or something we already had the prerequisites for.
I needed to make time for Darla, but I could do that whether or not I was taking a summer class. She was under the somewhat watchful eye of Clara, but went out regularly. Stealing a few hours here and there would be entirely possible.
We couldn’t do too much, but I also didn’t want to do too little. Both Darla and Hank would be happier if Darla was generally clear-headed, not chasing sex just because she was horny and unused to doing without.
Similarly, we could manage Janet and Lizzie’s wedding around summer school. As busy as summer classes could be, most professors were pretty reasonable about the occasional absence. That was true even if it fell on a test day. They would usually let students take the test early or late, unless there was some specific reason to worry about cheating or the like.
Registration for the second summer term was on July 14th, with classes starting on July 15th and ending on August 16th. That would give us two weeks of freedom before fall classes started on September 1st.
We knew the dates because Angie (predictably, in hindsight) had brought the course catalog with her. The catalog didn’t tell us if courses were actually offered, or available, but it gave us dates and potential courses to consider.
After a fair bit of digging, Jas, Paige, and I wound up agreeing on a fairly unusual first choice. Poli Sci 329: Introduction to Comparative Politics covered political systems across a range of types of nation-states. Jas thought it might apply to her potential role as the public face of ‘us’ (or, at least, some of us), and Paige thought it might be useful at a nuts-and-bolts level in managing international business. For me, it was a combination of the two, since my role would blend all of the above. Plus, it worked for my minor.
If that wasn’t available, we would find something else. There were plenty of options.
Angie, meanwhile, wanted either Numerical Analysis I or Combinatorial Theory. She thought both were ‘meaty’ for summer, and might not be offered. If they were, she was there.
Paige said, “If not, you’ll find something else to overachieve in.”
That got us all laughing. It also put a slight blush on Angie’s face. It was true, though. She was, without a question, the most promising sophomore (by class year) or junior (by credits) in A&M’s math program. That much was already established.
Now, to make sure she didn’t wind up living in a cabin and (perhaps with Paige’s help) blowing things up.
There was a flip side to our having increased summer options, and that was fewer winter options. In particular, while we had never actually said we were going to the Rose Bowl this year, it was out now. That certainly didn’t preclude us from helping with the TV segment, but our free passes would have to wait. Trying to be in Pasadena for New Year’s Day would greatly limit our travel options for France. It would work, but no one thought trying to do that much made sense.
Instead, we would see our next Rose Bowl as married couples. There was a certain charm to that as well.
And, heck, it might even get us a mention on the broadcast. ‘Proposal made good’ or something like that. Penny would probably love the idea!
Once we’d finished that, the conversation quickly turned to Jess. It was no surprise to me that they already knew the gist of what we’d talked about. None of them knew how the conversation had gone, though, until I shared it.
The consensus was as I expected. All of them were happy with the idea of Jess as a permanent part of my, and their, lives.
Angie said, “We know you’re the center of things for Jess, don’t worry.”
“Honestly, it’s pretty amazing to be included at all,” Paige said, giggling a bit. “And, I mean, because she’s amazing. I’m not quite as immune to the idea of nailing the hot girl as you seem to be, Steve, but still. Jess is just wonderful.”
“She is,” Jas said, nodding. “And, from a totally practical level, she’s also a great addition to the team.”
“That, too,” Angie said, nodding. “That’s not why, but it matters. We need to be honest about things like that. We’re not using anyone, but we’re building a team. Some of the people on that team are also romantically linked. If we start seducing people just to get them onto our team, that would be bad.”
“Really, really, really bad!” Jas said, giggling a bit.
“Even I think it would be abhorrent,” Paige said, grinning.
“But this starts with you and Jess,” Jas said. “You won her heart, and she won yours. It’s ridiculously ironic, in its way, but I love it, now.”
“It kinda continues what we were saying months ago,” Paige said. “It’s fine for us to add significant others, but we need to talk about it. Like ... a lot! And make sure everyone approves, or generally approves, or whatever we call it. Jess is an easy decision. Thus far, Amy is an easy decision. That doesn’t mean they’ll all be easy.”
Angie nodded and said, “What she said, yeah.”
“You’re thinking something else,” Paige said.
“Um ... yeah. But it’s not about that,” Angie said.
“Tell!” Jas said.
“Well...” Angie said, giggling a bit. “Way back when, I said — and I still maintain — that Steve could have cut a swath through Memorial, collecting panties and leaving a bunch of satisfied girls behind him.”
“He could have,” Jas said, chuckling.
“Definitely!” Paige said.
“I would have included Jess in that, though it would have been conditional,” Angie said. “I mean, she would have had to decide to date a non-jock. The thing is, I never would have predicted that, a few years later, she would be, pretty much, a permanent part of his life, much less a permanent part of our lives.”
“I predicted part of that,” Jas said, snorting. “In totally the wrong way, but still.”
“Did you, though?” I said. “Or did Blue predict it?”
Jas bit her lip, then nodded.
“Blue, really. I believed it because she believed it. Or claimed to believe it. Or whatever.”
“Ancient history now,” I said.
Paige said, “What’s not ancient history, though it also is, is how different all of this is from your first life. You’re still you.”
“It’s about as big a change as Angie,” I said. “One emotionally fraught, abusive relationship then, and quite a few emotionally fulfilling, supportive relationships now.”
“Nah,” Angie said. “I still win. I have the academic thing and the supportive relationship thing.”
“We all win,” Paige said.
“Hell, yes!” Jas said.
The highlight of the day, for me, was having lunch at Windows on the World. Laura had opted out of going, saying it wasn’t for her just yet, or we would have gone earlier. The two of us hadn’t gotten into specifics at all, and I had to wonder if her 9/11 was my 9/11. Perhaps hers was somewhat, or entirely, different.
As a meal, it was ... fine. Nothing to write home about, but enjoyable. As an experience, it was pretty special even without considering the potential future history of this place.
But, considering that, it was ... amazing. This place would — if history repeated itself — cease to exist in a most terrible way fifteen years from now. I firmly intended that history not repeat itself, nor even come close. If that resulted in a different attack that killed different people, so be it. I would berate myself if that happened — quite strenuously if it resulted in people I cared about losing their lives — but it was a risk we took. If you roll the dice, you take what you get.
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