Apotheosis

Truth be told James never thought he would make it this far, in fact, at first he thought he was crazy, senile or suffering from dementia.

But the longer he stayed, the more he became convinced that it was real and not the ravings from the imagination of a lunatic. He was actually back and not sitting in a care home, dribbling into his shirt like his father had been at the end.

“You actually got a basket?”

James blinked, from his musing, looking up and seeing his twin studying the picnic basket, he had on the island in the kitchen.

“Yes?”

“What’s this?” She walked over, pulled a bottle of wine out.

“A fake Cabernet Sauvignon.”

She blinked and looked at him, “how’d you score this?”

“He asked me,” Mom said from behind them. “I figured as he has been behaving and showing his maturity, I’d buy him a nice one for the date. Besides, it’s just non-alcoholic grape juice in a fancy bottle.”

“Besides,” James shrugged. “I’m not really into wine, more a spirit guy.”

Mom gave him a stern look.

“Just sayin’,” James winked.

He placed everything he prepared, sandwiches, artisanal cheeses, grapes, deserts, lots of goodies for the picnic.

“You’re going all out?”

“Yes,” James smiled, “How is Justin? Has he done anything for you yet?”

She scowled and walked off, James took that to be a hard no. He packed everything in and headed out.

He smiled.

James biked to her house with the basket, and thought it’d be great when he could drive, although it would mean less exercise, still he would continue jogging in the mornings to keep his physique.

Knocking on the door, her mother welcomed him, “She’s just coming down.”

“Sure and thanks,” she nodded. He waited, she came down and he whistled slowly as she did a twirl. Carrie was wearing a pair of knee length shorts and a collared shirt over a tank top.

“I thought this was just a date in the park, I didn’t know we were going somewhere fancy?” She laughed and they got their bikes and rode out.

Once there they picked a nice spot, out of the way from everyone else. He didn’t want to be disturbed from his relaxing picnic.

“You alright?”

“I am now,” he uttered as he admired her form, she rolled her eyes and he put the basket down, pulled the blanket out and spread it out. “Hungry?”

“Yes, you?”

“Famished,” James said as he removed everything from the basket.

“You even got wine?”

He laughed, “No, it is sparkling grape juice. We are a little young to drink and your father would kill me if we were arrested for possession of alcohol

He removed the plastic stopper from the bottle, filled two paper cups and handed one to her, which they tapped them together.

“Paper?”

“I figured they wouldn’t break,” she snorted in amusement.

“You’ve done this before?”

“No first time actually,” in both realities. He paused and mused on that. “It’s always been a fantasy of mine.”

“Take a girl to a picnic,” she smiled, leaving the thread hanging.

“Yes,” James smiled enigmatically, not really answering.

“Wow that actually tastes quite good,” she blinked in surprise.

“Yes I thought so,” he nodded. “I wasn’t sure at first, but mom suggested it.”

“I see where you got your taste from,” she grinned.

“I’m always learning.” James paused, “So are you still planning on training camp for the summer? It’s a shame you will be gone as I was hoping to go running with you in the morning.”

“I’m sure,” she grinned. She stretched out and picked up a few grapes. “Open wide,” she instructed. When he complied, she tossed a grape at his mouth, hitting his nose.

“Sure you don’t want to switch to basketball camp?” James joked. Carrie leaned over and kissed his nose where the grape hit. James turned his head and gave her a brief kiss on her lips. Laughing, Carrie stood and threatened him with another grape. She wound her arm up to throw and then popped the grape into her mouth.

“My plans are unchanged. I am doing training and then visiting all of the relatives. So I won’t be around for summer James, will you be okay?”

He nodded, “I’ve got work to do as well. Plus summer school is going to take up most of my time, so in a way I’m glad that I won’t keep you waiting for me to have free time.”

She nodded, “Okay that’s reasonable, I mean we can still call each other.”

“Very true,” he agreed.

She held out her hand, he grabbed it and she pulled him up off the ground, the two took a walk around the area, holding hands. She pursed her lips and grinned kissing him, they then stood for a moment and kissed properly.

“Wow,” he breathed.

“I know,” she smiled.

They got back to the blanket, where he packed the remains of their lunch while she sat. Once finished, he joined her and they laid down, he kissed her some more, gently moving his hand up her body. He got to her small breast, which he gently cupped. She didn’t respond at all, so he sat there feeling its softness, firmness and its contours.

“Beautiful,” he uttered.

She still hadn’t said anything, which concerned him. Frowning slightly, he went to move his hand under her top, but she shook her head, telling him it was too far. Smiling he instead slid his hand over hers, intertwining their fingers, the two relaxed and they cuddled instead.

He was okay with that, it was further than he’d ever gotten in his last life time at this point. Eventually though, the date drew to a close and it was time to go back, he rode with her back to her house and then headed home.

James arrived and dumped all the trash, pondering his future and what it would entail, he also thought about Amanda and what she had shown him and what that would mean for their relationship. She’d not said anything about it, or repeated the incident since. He shrugged it off and headed to his room.

There was a knock and Amanda walked in, James frowned but kept his thought to himself as she closed the door.

“So?”

“So?”

“How did it go,” she asked.

“Well.”

“You got lucky?” She grinned, her innocent tone betraying her clearly devilish intentions. It was stated as a question but also a statement at the same time.

He frowned, “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”

“No?”

“Manners maketh the man,” James quoted. She shook her head, “I won’t tell you and break her confidence like that.”

She nodded, “Alright don’t tell me, I’ll get it out of her.”

“Fair enough and that is her right to do so if she wants,” he shrugged. “But you won’t hear it from me, and if you tell her, remember, I have a photographic memory, I’ll remember every word of this conversation.”

She frowned, and he gave her his best innocent smile. She didn’t know that about him, he’d kept that a secret, yet another secret she was finding out. Amanda sighed and left.

James went back to his book.

School resumed its normal tedious pace and James went back in feeling chirper, even Pat took notice of the good mood and commented on it.

“You scored right?”

“No,” James said as he slammed the locker closed, “And why does everyone want to know, it’s driving me nuts.”

“Because, you having a girlfriend is so fucking out there, it’s in orbit.”

James laughed, “Yeah, alright. I’d never tell anyway. I like Carrie too much to ever tell stories”

“What was it you said,” Pat said mentally searching for the quote. “Manners make the man?”

“Maketh,” James winked. “And correct, women don’t like it when you blab Pat, remember that.”

“I will oh wise Jedi Master.”

James laughed, “Time for class Padawan.”

The bell rang and the two split for their receptive classes.

It was finals week, well except for the AP Class. That one was a party and a lot of nervous laughter as everyone was on tether hooks waiting for the results. The other finals were relatively easy; stress free compared to the AP exams and contained no surprises. James still couldn’t believe that he was prepared for the tests. The first time through his father looked at his grades and grounded him for a month, going so far as to take his video console and lock it in the trunk of his car.

This time, his parents were thrilled.

How things had changed, he had mused.

Amanda was a little sullen; she did not seem as confident with her studies and growled at him whenever he offered to study with her. She wanted to prepare by herself, which illustrated how much they were drifting apart.

Last year, he never studied and she knew not to depend on him. Now when he offered, she immediately shut him down. James decided he was too busy for all of the drama. He had the summer to try and reconnect with Amanda. He’d hoped the computer would be seen as a peace offering, but the benefit was fleeting. Looking back, he realized that she reveled in being the “good” twin and was now a little resentful that he was overshadowing her.

James sighed and sat next to Robin in the lunchroom on the last full day of school. “Looking forward to the summer?” he asked.

“Of course, I’m not like you, going to school year round. I intend to relax, help dad at the office and enjoy myself. I see a lot of swimming in my future,” she said, smiling.

“I might as well go to school, Carrie’s running off.”

“How long is her training camp?”

“Six weeks, then off to visit the relatives. She will be gone most of the summer.”

“Plus you are on a mission to make up for the years of being a slacker. So her being gone is convenient.”

“True, but I do enjoy running with her. Care to take her place every morning?”

“Absolutely ... Not. While you are running, I will be asleep. Besides,” Robin continued, “Mom wants me to sort through all of the things in the attic and basement. That will be enough exercise.”

“How much are they paying you?”

“Free room and board, plus no yelling at being lazy.”

With that, James stood, gave her a wave and wished her a happy and carefree summer. Now he had to wait – for his grades, AP results and then on to summer school.

For the next two weeks he split his time between work, Carrie and surfing the web. Compared with 60 years from now, the web was tortuously slow, fragmented and obtuse. That night at dinner, Mom served a bakery cake as a special treat. After everyone had a piece, she passed out the grade cards that had arrived today.

“In previous years we gave you the report cards in private, since we didn’t want to embarrass James.”

“Hey why do I get picked on,” he grinned.

She smiled and carried on, “With this year, we now longer have to do this. Rachael, go ahead and we will start with the oldest.”

Rachael took a bite of cake and then opened the card, “Three As and Three Bs. This is what I expected and means there will be no difficulty with the school acceptance.”

Dad clapped his hands and congratulated her.

Cheryl opened her envelope, “Four As and two Bs.”

Mom smiled, “Excellent. Now you James.”

James forked another bite of cake, “Mom, this is great. I’ve been so focused on my nutrition that I missed having any desserts.” He then opened the envelope, glanced at it. James looked up, opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again.

“You know I think this is the first I’ve seen James speechless,” Dad said with a shit eating grin on his face. “Don’t leave us hanging kiddo.”

James mused, “Jeeze. I got the jackpot!”

“All A’s?”

“I know,” James nodded, surprised himself.

Dad and his sisters all rushed to congratulate him for this huge accomplishment. His Mom spoke for all of them, “James we are all so proud of you. This last year has been remarkable in so many ways. You have really made a huge change and we all recognize it. Now, last but certainly not least, go ahead Amanda.”

Amanda opened her envelope, announcing “Five As and one B.” As the family congratulated her, James seemed to detect an undercurrent of unhappiness as if she was upstaged by the others.

Dad stood and handed James a final envelope, the AP results. “This came two days ago, but we wanted you to open it with your family here to support you.”

James internally grimaced, ‘I’d prefer to open it in private in case I bombed. No chance of that now.’ Opening the envelope, he scanned the letter and looked up, “I passed both tests with the maximum score of 5.”