Summary: A series. At the ten year suite-mate reunion with all of your Hartfeld friends, Chris honors a pact that you made during senior year. This is for anyone out there like me whose MC dated James and missed her chance with Chris due to his emotional unavailability in Book 1 (or anyone who just loves Chris Powell, really).
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters originally introduced in The Freshman. This series takes place mostly during a time jump. This series will be based on my own perceptions of the characters, and not all recollections of their history together will be cannon to each reader.
The next morning, you roll out of bed at 10:00 am, throw on a sundress and stroll into the kitchen. On the counter, you find a plate of leftover pancakes and a pot of coffee already brewed. Seeing this, you rule out the possibility that you are the first one awake for the day. Shrugging, you begin to prepare your pancakes with lots of maple syrup, taking in the beauty of the silence.
Just a few minutes later, Zack appears in the doorway, hair a mess, t-shirt wrinkled, and stretching with a yawn. Wordlessly, the two of you clink your coffee mugs together. Zack picks up a note off the counter that reads:
‘Went out to the beach! Towels are in the downstairs linen closet.’
Zack looks up at you, “How did we end up being friends with the early risers?” Turning on his heel, he sighs and takes his coffee back into his room to change. You shake your head to yourself as you smile.
When you get down to the beach, there are blankets, umbrellas and coolers lined up not too far from the shore. You see Chris and Zig tossing a football around and Abbie reading a book under her sunhat. As you set down your bag, undress, and begin to apply sunblock, Chris glances in your direction. The next moment, you notice the football fly past Chris’s head and head straight toward Abbie!
Everything happens too fast for you to think on your feet. “Abbie, look out!” You wince, covering your eyes with your fingers. Abbie looks up just in time to gasp and block the football with her open book, deflecting it down into the sand. “Hey!” she calls, “Would you watch out?!”
You bend down to pick up the football from the sand next to Abbie’s chair. “Are you okay, Abbie?”
She sighs, but smiles in your direction. “Yeah, thanks. Hard to believe that those two actually played football in college, huh?”
Chris jogs over to the two of you, trying not to laugh. “I am so sorry, Abbie. I- I must have been distracted. I promise to be more careful”. You hand Chris the football and he flashes you a charming, nervous grin, which you return.
Your eyes seem to follow Chris while he runs in the sand, skin bronzed and muscles toned. You watch him for a few seconds before even realizing that you’re doing it. “It appears that some things from college haven’t changed”, says Abbie, breaking your daze-like state. When you turn to her, she’s smirking at you, sunglasses resting on the bridge of her nose. “See something you like?” She asks.
You scoff, somewhat unconvincingly, “What? You mean Chris? No…”
Abbie cocks her head and raises her brow at you.
You find yourself turning to look back in Chris’s direction as he throws his head back in laughter. Hesitating, you mutter, “Well… maybe.”
When Abbie chuckles, you lift your finger at her, “Hey, don’t you tease me, I just saved your life!” At this she laughs even harder.
You spend much of the day on the beach sunning and swimming. Zack is in charge of DJing, and occasionally he and Kaitlyn bicker about music. As a few hours go by, you smile to yourself, embracing the warm feelings of the sun and the nostalgia.
Later, as you’re drying your hair gently with a beach towel, you sit down on your blanket, which is next to Abbie and Tyler’s umbrella.
You turn to Tyler, who has a white, lifeguard nose. “Hey, did you guys ever hear back from James? I hadn’t seen him much in the group chat”.
Tyler takes a large gulp from his soda and nods, “Yeah, he reached out to Abbie and I this morning. Rosa’s due to have the baby any day now and was sentenced to bed rest, so they couldn’t make it for the whole weekend”.
“Aw, bed rest, huh? What a bummer”, you reply.
“He said he’ll try to meet us out for dinner tonight, though! And he sends everyone his regrets and his love”, Tyler adds.
“Well, I’m sure everyone will totally understand if he can’t make it, given the huge and exciting circumstances, but it would be great to see him!”
————-
In the mid afternoon, you head back to the house for lunch, after which some of your friends settle in for a nap and others lounge around quietly. You decide it would be a good opportunity to take a walk and explore the town. Announcing your plans as you head for the door, you stop in your tracks when you hear, “Hey, wait up. I’m coming with”.
You look over your shoulder toward the staircase where you see Chris pulling on his shoes. “Alright,” You start with mock reluctance, “but you’d better keep up”. Chris follows you out with a grin and the two of you head toward town on foot.
As you and Chris walk along a main strip with shops and cafes, the two of you get to talking about old times and recent times, telling the stories of past relationships and how they didn’t work out.
“I always knew you’d be out there breaking hearts,” Chris teases. You shove his shoulder gently.
“It wasn’t exactly like that,” You admit.
A quiet moment passes. “Hey…” He looks at you and takes you by the wrist, “It might seem like things got messed up, but, I believe everything happens for a reason”.
Chris’s hopeful eyes warm your heart. “You really do, don’t you?”
Before he can answer, Chris stops in front of a storefront and, when he looks into the windows, gets a certain look in his eye. The corners of his mouth curl upward. Clueless, you follow blindly as he drags you through the doors of a bookshop by your hand. You giggle at his sudden crazy determination. You try to probe at what he’s up to, but he shushes you and continues pulling you around the aisles. Finally, Chris comes to a stop and you practically bowl him over from behind. His fingers brush over the spines of several books on the shelf before he pulls one out and turns to you, smiling like a madman.
“What’s this?” You ask tentatively.
“A few months back, I found this book in a shop,” he says, “Something about it reminded me of you. I don’t know why, but I was drawn to it somehow. I… I sat down on the floor that day and read through the first few chapters in the store”.
Once you can bring yourself to stop wildly searching Chris’s eyes, you lower your gaze to the book in his hands. Carefully, you run your fingers over the softcover, admiring the artwork.
“I know this is gonna sound crazy,” He continues, “but I never bought it”.
You look up at him, confused.
“I just… had this feeling that I wasn’t meant to finish reading it yet. I’d planned to pick it up again the next time I was in a bookshop… maybe have the same experience. But, things have been so busy…”
You shake your head at Chris and begin to page through the book. “…You’re weird, you know that?”
“Don’t you see?” He points to the book, “It’s just like I said: everything happens for a reason. I’m here with you, we come across this bookshop which just so happens to carry the book, and now, I can send it home with its rightful owner”.
You laugh, “Well, don’t you want to finish it?”
Chris shrugs, “I’d much rather hear your gushing recount after you’ve finished it”. He begins to retrace his steps to the front of the store and you follow.
“You’re that confident in your recommendation, huh?”
He ignores your comment as he takes his change from the cashier and hands you a little brown shopping bag. “Besides, I’ve got my own life story to finish writing. Can’t lose focus”.
Standing outside the shop, you look Chris in the face sincerely. “Thank you, Chris, this was really thoughtful of you”.
He smiles silently and pulls you under his arm into a hug.
After a bit more exploration, you return to the house to freshen up for the evening’s festivities.
————–
Close to sundown, you’re fastening the back of your earring when you hear Tyler calling from the foyer that the cars have arrived. You and the rest of your friends begin piling out the front door while Tyler stays behind to count heads. Parked in front of the house are two black cars, each with an Uber decal in its window.
“So,” you lean towards Zig, who stands to your left, “I guess nobody will be the designated driver after all?”
At first, Zig shrugs in no one’s general direction. When he turns to you, his words seem to get caught in his throat and his brow furrows gently.
Your face mirrors his in response, “What is it?” you ask.
He clears his throat as you raise an eyebrow at him and he says, “Nothing, it’s just… you look really good”.
His compliment takes you by surprise. “Well,” you smile, tucking some hair behind your ear, “thank you, sir. You look pretty dashing, yourself”. Laying your hand gently on Zig’s arm, you give him a quick once-over. His jeans are fitted, shoes are shiny, and blazer is pressed crisply over his chest. When he shifts his weight, a slight summer breeze embraces the both of you. “Maybe a little overdoing the cologne, though”. You laugh.
He smiles, “I appreciate the review” and leads you carefully down the steps of the front porch.
As you’re approaching the car, Zack steps in line with you and Zig. “Yeah, yeah, you look good, you smell good, sure. But more importantly, am I not killing this outfit?” He steps back and does a little twirl on the pavement, showing off his fancy getup.
You grin at Zack, “I couldn’t outshine you if I tried. In fact, why don’t you sit next to me so I can feel important?” You slide into the back of the Uber with a few of your friends following behind.
“And to answer your question, by the way,” says Zack, “Abbie thought it better that nobody drive so that we can relax and have drinks”. Abbie is the last to get in and she shuts the car door behind her.
She chimes in, “Yeah, I thought about it, but quite honestly, we don’t want a sequel to the adventures of suitemate reunion number six”, she smirks as she fastens her seatbelt.
“Oh, please!” Zack exclaims in response. You laugh.
“What happened at reunion number six?” Zig asks.
Abbie replies, “Zack had one too many to drink and threw up in his lap in the driver’s seat of his car. Tyler and I had to circle back around and pick him up from the parking lot. He rode the whole way home in his underwear and it reeked”.
“Oh, dude!” Zig frowns.
Zack rolls his eyes, “First of all, I stand by my story that I was poisoned by the food. Second, those pants were expensive! So trust me, it hurt me more than it hurt you”.
Catching a glimpse of Zig’s face as he struggles to hold in his laughter, you can’t help but giggle. Zack nudges you with his elbow and you digress, “May they rest in peace”.
Just then, the silence is broken by the sound of Abbie’s phone ringing. She puts the call on speaker so that you all hear Tyler’s voice on the other end:
“Come in, Boomer, this is Cobra. Have all the passengers boarded?”
You and Zack exchange a confused look. Abbie replies into the phone, “Affirmative, Cobra”.
Tyler then asks, “What’s your 20?” to which Abbie replies, “Approaching Chapel Street”.
You hear Tyler’s voice through the speaker saying, “Copy that, Boomer. Over and out. Oh, uh, love you. Over and out”.
When Abbie ends the call, she turns to see the three of you staring back at her, speechless. “What?” she asks, “It should come as no surprise to any of you by now that Tyler and I are dorks”.
“Cobra, huh? An interesting code name for Tyler, don’t you think?” Zack is the one getting nudged in the side now. You pantomime zipping your lips closed and throwing away the key.
When the driver pulls up in front of the restaurant, you step out of the car and see a familiar face waving at you from the entrance. James Ashton: Wearing a new suit, but the same charm. Memories from college come flooding back to you as you walk towards him and wrap him up in a hug. It has been quite a while since you’ve seen him last.
“James! I’m so glad to see you! Congratulations on almost being a daddy!”
He thanks you with a big, toothy grin and a squeeze before he reaches out to greet the others. You all gather into a small crowd, dressed to the nines, and you enter the restaurant to be seated.