*Jamie and Rebecca*

May 1st

Garland knocked on the door, and then stood back to prepare himself. The door wasn't halfway open before he began yelling out, "Well, look who it is! The most God-awful, turd-licking asswipe on the planet!"

Val didn't even miss a beat. "Wow, rectum-breath! Long time no see."

Garland and Val grinned at each other and shared a high-five.

"What on earth are you doing down here?" Val asked him.

"Oh, I did some coordination with Ashley. She said that you guys were pretty much going to be kicking it here alone tonight. Thought I'd come crash your party and bring a couple guests."

Val glanced behind Garland then and saw Rebecca coming up the walk with a tote-bag.

"Hey, Val," she said with a big grin. "You mind if I come visit for a couple days?"

"Not at all!" Val gave her a big hug and let her go inside to squeal with Ashley. "Yeah, it's definitely good seeing Rebecca again, I've talked to YOU more often than I have her since Spring Break. Come on in, we were about to start a movie but we could just hang out -"

"Just another second," replied Garland. "That's guest one of two."

A tall, slim guy with straight brown hair came up behind Garland. "What's happening, Jacob."

"JAMIE?!" Val shoved Garland aside and practically knocked Jamie over from gripping him so hard. "I didn't think you were going to be out for another few weeks!"

"They let me out on good behavior," Jamie replied with a smile. "Pretty hard to believe, huh?"

The three guys went into the living room to meet up with Rebecca and Val's girlfriend Ashley.

"I can't believe the change in you," Val was marveling. "I mean, you shot up at least a foot and a half, your hair's . . . well, it's natural shade, I only see one earring. Your voice sounds about a thousand octaves deeper . . . "

"Yeah, I know. You're pretty different yourself. And when Garland told me that you two finally made amends, it blew my mind. That's all I hoped for from the beginning with you two." Jamie grinned at both the guys and wrapped an arm over each of their necks. "Check us out, Rebecca! We're the three musketeers!"

"The three stupidteers is more like it," she replied, laughing. Jamie broke free from his grasp on Val and Garland to go give her a big kiss.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Val waved his hands, laughing. "What's with that? I thought you moved to Tooler to be with Garland, Becky!"

Garland grinned and plopped on the couch next to Ashley. "Well, that was the tentative plan in the beginning, but . . . "

"The kind of relationship we would have had wasn't appropriate for Garland's beliefs. I respected that, dumped him, and now I've found the hunk of my life." Becky fluttered her eyelashes at Jamie and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Jamie kissed her on the top of the head.

"Rebecca's quite the affectionate young woman," Jamie added, wiggling his eyebrows a little bit.

Val laughed. "Hey, whatever works for you guys. Becky and Jamie, go for it. Ashley and I hooked up since Spring Break, I'm very happy to say."

Ashley glanced at Garland. "And whatever happened with you? Are you and your friend Genesis together now, or . . . ?"

"Not officially, but it's cool. We spend a lot of time together. We love each other." Garland shrugged. "I'm definitely holding out for her. One of the many reasons why I had to dump Becky."

"Hey, I dumped you."

"No, I dumped you."

"No, I dumped you."

"No-"

"Enough, or I'm going to dump ALL of you," Val inserted. He shoved Garland down so that he could sit next to Ashley. "So you guys can stay for a couple days?"

"We have to be back in Tooler by tomorrow night," Garland replied. "I've got school Monday and Rebecca's got work."

"And I've got to look for a job," added Jamie.

"Right. But we've got all of tonight and tomorrow until we have to go."

"Well, feel free to make yourselves at home," Val told the three of them. "My mom won't be back until tomorrow anyway, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

"Cool stuff. Where's the kitchen?"

Val pointed a finger and Garland sped away in search of junk food.

Jamie and Becky were snuggling at the foot of the couch. Ashley smiled over at them.

"I'm sorry to hear about you and Gar, Becky, but it looks like you're really happy where you ended up."

"Definitely," she replied. "And hey - nothing lasts forever, anyway. You've got to go into every situation, figure out why you're there, do what you're supposed to do, and move on. Sometimes it hurts, all the moving on, but hopefully you have some really good memories from everything once you leave. And that's what keeps it alive."

Ashley smiled. "You definitely sound like you're doing well, Becky."

"How could she not be," said Jamie softly. "She's right where she's supposed to be."

"I think you all are," replied Val. There was a sudden loud crash from the kitchen. "Except maybe Garland . . . hang on, I'll be right back."

"I'm right where I'M supposed to be," Ashley said. "I want to get as much hanging out with you guys in as I possibly can until you go back to Georgia. Who knows when I'll get to see you again?"

And everyone agreed, because the only thing certain about the future was it's uncertainty. Who knew when fate would bring their paths together again?

THE END

(A/N ok, I'm terribly sorry the posting of this story has taken so long. It is over now, and the next story is much more interesting, I promise. Hope that you liked it though! Thanks for reading!!!!)